The Red Hand

Chapter 134 – A Nice Dinner.

Akagi and Kana enjoyed themselves for the rest of the day as they wandered around the city, exploring and adventuring. Omara was a lively and interesting town, and both had fun discovering all sorts of unique things within the Spirits' home. As the day wound down and the streets got quiet, the two sisters decided to call it for the day and headed back to the inn for dinner.

"That was a pretty fun day, all things considered." Kana smiled.

{I could have gone without our discussion of the entertainment district though, and that whole incident at the inn.} (Kana)

"Yes, it was." Akagi agreed. "Walking around, exploring an unknown town, and seeing all the unique wares and shops is always a pleasure. Its honestly something I never thought I'd get to do again." The two were just about back at the Inn when they noticed Mizumi standing in front of the building, she seemed to be waiting for the two of them.

"I figured you'd be back around now." She walked over. Mizumi was still in her adult form from earlier, and Kana was still surprised at how much more mature she seemed. "I really am sorry about earlier."

"It's not a big deal." Akagi waived off the concern. "Just some idiots acting obnoxious. If I let every incident like that get under my skin, half the bars in the Empire would have been destroyed." She'd gotten into plenty of bar fights during FWO, and, by the end of it, they were something she'd come to enjoy.

"Yeah, it wasn't really anything that bad. Compared to nearly dying or getting kidnapped, that guy's stupidity wasn't anything special." Kana shrugged.

{I'd say it went well to be honest. Onee-chan didn't end up killing anyone, so that's a good day in my book. Not that such things should be normalized, but well... Here we are.} (Kana)

"Even still, the two of you are my guests. You might be the Demon Lord, but you were invited here by a high Spirit." Mizumi shook her head. "Being harassed in such a manner is not acceptable and its something that would have never happened in the past. As for that group, I've recommended they be punished, and I would like to make amends by treating the two of you to a nice dinner. A restaurant run by a friend of mine is close by. Would you care to join me? I think you'll enjoy her cooking." She asked with a smile.

"What do you think?" Akagi asked her sister.

"Why not? We get to check out more of this place, and I don't mind having dinner with her." Kana smiled.

"Lead the way." Akagi motioned for her to start walking, and Mizumi took them to a small restaurant named the Happy Snail. It was a quaint place, not much larger than an ordinary café. At this time of night, it wasn't very busy, and it seemed that only a few other people had come. The owner was a dryad named Enm, and apparently she'd known Mizumi for a long time, and had been cooking even longer. The three girls took their seats at a booth and ordered some interesting-sounding dishes. Kana ordered something the water Spirit described as a vegetable version of Karaage while Akagi ordered Curry and Mizumi ordered a snail themed pasta dish.

The three girls sat and chatted about their day within Omara, describing what they'd seen throughout their exploration. Mizumi was very happy to see they both enjoyed themselves, and when Kana mentioned the play tomorrow night, Mizumi went into a bit more detail about it and the story being shown. As per her description, it was a dramatized version of the Spirits' oral history of both their creation and their nation's founding. As she explained some of the basic elements, Kana began to get more and more interested since it seemed fascinating. While Akagi was much less interested since, as she put it, she'd seen this kind of story at least eleven times.

After a bit more discussion, the food arrived and it was far better than the dishes served at the Inn. Mizumi was glad to hear them compliment her friend's cooking, and everyone dug in.

"So, is the Council still giving you trouble?" Akagi asked. "Last I heard they wouldn't even accept me as being an actual Demon Lord."

{What an annoying bunch.} (Akagi)

"Y-yes." Mizumi nervously nodded. "I'm truly sorry about that. I've been trying to convince them, but now that peace has returned to us, they're back at their politicking. Right now, they care more about consolidating their own positions and power than doing the right thing."

"Council? I thought you were their leader?" Kana asked while taking a bite. "Aren't you like the last elder Spirit?"

Mizumi thought for a second before answering. "While I am quite old, I am not an elder per se. That title is only granted to spirits of considerable more power and prestige than I." She continued. "Spirits are generally classed into High, Mid, and Low tier spirits. As I've said, I am a High Spirit, and at present, I am the only Spirit of that tier. The rest were either killed or gave their lives for the ritual that created this new world. That I am still alive is more due to chance than anything else, as one of us was needed to finish the ritual and guide our people once we'd established a new home."

{Though I'm pretty sure I was chosen to survive because of my young age compared to the rest of the elders.} (Mizumi)

"Huh." Kana thought for a moment. "In stories, the High Spirits are always the leaders of their people, so I just figured you would be like the Spirit Queen or something."

{Pfff.} Akagi laughed internally at that notion.

"We do not have such a position." Mizumi chuckled. "The Council has governed our kind since our founding, and is a body appointed to govern. Our people tend not to like centralized power structures and a single leader is usually undesirable. However, unlike in your world with its elected legislatures or executives, we do not vote the Council members into power. Instead they designate a replacement or successor if one dies or retires." She continued. "High Spirits are treated with great reverence by most others, and my word generally has great weight among our people, but I command no official legal authority. Though recently, my advice has become much less influential than it was in the past." She gave a wry smile. "Nowadays, the Council's advisors, that is to say their factions, are the ones that have their ears."

"They see you as an obstacle." Akagi commented. "Since you're the last one, they want to use this opportunity to diminish whatever power you have so that the Council is the only power structure for the Spirits. They probably got sick of High Spirits acting on their own or challenging them."

{I can understand not wanting to deal with a parallel power structure, I'd move to crush it myself if the chance arose.} (Akagi)

"More or less." Mizumi nodded. "We've tried to stay out of politics, but that was easier said than done unfortunately. The factions that surround each Council member, and the upper class, have made things difficult at even the best times."

{Most of those idiots are enjoying the high life, blissfully unaware of the structural problems in Omara. Well some ARE aware and they are more than happy to use those problems to strengthen their position. At least some of the more economically minded ones are willing to work with Akagi, since they see the insane amount of money that can be made from trading with Earth.} (Mizumi)

"Politics is such a pain." Akagi sighed. "No matter where you go Human, Spirit or Demon it's always an ever present thing, huh?"

"Yes, even in our old world, it was the same. The Demon Kings would constantly bicker among themselves, causing them to fall to human armies." Mizumi laughed.

{And many human or elf leaders would fight amongst themselves as well. Truly a foolish thing, but it's simply the way things work.} (Mizumi)

"Demons?" Kana tilted her head. "You mean like Onee-chan?" She wanted to know what Mizumi meant by Demons since she'd been told the other world did have demonic creatures.

"No." Mizumi shook her head. "When I say Demon, I am referring to something like the player race from FWO. They are usually black/dark-skinned with horns and other features. You've met Avahn, right? Most members of the Demon race are similar to her in appearance, though they are not as battle hungry." She gave a wry smile. "As you can imagine they are not 'proper' Demons in the same vain as Akagi."

"Then why are they called that?" Kana asked.

"It's just the term used to describe them, and they've never taken any issue with it. As to where it came from? I think it originated from the mistaken idea that they were the offspring of true Demons." Mizumi shrugged.

{Even in the Demon's language, the word for their own kind can roughly be translated to Demon, so it's possible that some connection might exist, but I can't say for certain what that connection is or was.} (Mizumi)

"Now I wonder if they have their own so-called Demon Lord." Kana laughed. However, her laughter was quickly broken by the sound of a spoon snapping next to her.

"Oops... sorry." Akagi mended the spoon back together before she continued to eat.

"What was that about? You never mess up your strength like that." Kana hadn't seen her sister accidentally break things before.

"Yeah well, I would recommend not speaking about pretender Demon Lords near me." Akagi's eyes looked serious. "Just the thought of some mortal calling themselves Demon Lord makes me violently angry." The title of Demon Lord was very special and wasn't something mortals could give out or receive. "If any fool dares to claim that title for themselves, I'll quickly dispel their false notions of grandeur." Akagi smirked, her aura flaring up as she laughed quietly.

{Probably should tell Mika not to try that one joke she'd been thinking of. Lest she really does end up on some island in the Pacific.} (Kana)

"Noted." Kana sighed.

"Yes..." Mizumi tried to steer the topic away from that. "No one would call themselves such in our old world. The story of the Demon Lord was actually quite well known by both Humans and Spirits. Anyone who called themselves such would quickly find the entire world united against them, or ridiculed harshly." There were a few people who tried to call themselves the Demon Lord throughout history, but they were always swiftly and violently defeated. Even members of the Demon race would never approve of a leader calling themselves as such.

"On that topic of another Demon Lord. You guys defeated the last Demon Lord, right?" Kana asked. "How was that even possible? Onee-chan said they aren't meant to be beaten and I'd don't get how you beat something like her if even Hishya and the others can't scratch her." She recalled a comment by Mizumi about beating their Demon Lord because it was young, but not much else on the subject.

"Because they probably killed them when they were immature." Akagi said as she sipped her drink. "My kind might be insanely powerful, but as 'infants' were much easier to kill. Just like mortals, my kind do have growth cycles and something akin to maturity, kind of anyway. If I'd been released early, at say twelve, my power would have been far less than if I'd been released later. We do still grow and develop once released, but it takes time. If I'd been set on the world earlier than I was, it might have even been possible to kill me with enough of Earth's weapons, maybe." She figured it still would have been an uphill battle for humanity's military even if she was in a weakened state.

"Indeed." Mizumi nodded. "The Demon Lord we killed was named Vikes, and he was approximately eight years old when he first appeared. His power paled in comparison to yours. But even still, it took the combined forces of the entire continent and the gods to bring him down. Even still, the world was nearly destroyed by the end of it." She thought back to the historical notes she'd come across while researching Akagi.

"Unfortunately, while the Demon Lord's name retains its infamy. The fact that we slayed one of your kind in the past has given some the false sense that we can defeat you as well." Mizumi didn't want to tell her this, but figured it was better than letting the Council spring such a statement on her tomorrow.

{I'd always thought that Humans were the ones to forget historical lessons due to their short lifespans, but it seems that even our kind have the same flaw.} (Mizumi)

"Oh?" Akagi's eyes glinted for a moment. "Really?"

{What a stupid, yet hilarious, notion.} (Akagi)

"Please note that this is not the opinion of most Spirits, I know full well that fighting you as you are now isn't possible." Mizumi sighed. "The Council is their own problem, so I'd request you not assume they truly speak for the rest of Spirit society on this matter." She was trying to direct Akagi's anger at the four members of the council. Them dying was much better than the nearly 30,000 spirits in Omara.

{One good thing about Akagi, is that I know she's generally a rational person and wouldn't take out anger on people who don't truly deserve it.} (Mizumi)

"Man, if that's the case, tomorrow's going to be a fun meeting." Akagi gave a tired laugh. "Maybe I should show them just how wrong they are." Her voice distorted as she continued to laugh, which seemed to echo throughout the entire city.