Supreme Monarch

Two slender figures walked down the hallways of the north wing in the demon king's castle. They were both greeted by the maids dressed in short and stylish maids outfits. Their outfit was designed by the wife of the former ogre chief Cial Igna and a few others from the alike they settlement had gotten out of killer moths, creatures native to the Darknar Region.

The maids that had been trained by Albert were all demihumans, mostly ogress, and beastkins but they were very pretty although most of them did not possess any fighting prowess.

Liz and Erinn walked gracefully by the bowing maids as Liz slightly yawned. She was quite exhausted but looking at her from afar, one would find it hard-pressed to notice. Her skin was an uninterrupted stretch of silky smoothness and her beauty was not diminished in any way.

In contrast, Erin moved with little effort as she did not seem tired in any way.

They walked back down to the first floor and after exchanging greetings with the ones there, they went all the way to the seventh floor of the west wing where their personal chambers were located. The maids stationed here were few in numbers but it seemed most of them had some fighting strength.

Liz didn't think much about that though, as they arrive before her room and opened the door to enter. They had both been working hard on the oval room for days now without any results. It had been a lot easier for them to restore the defenses in the rest of the castle than it was with that room.

The magic runes engraved on the walls all over the castle were connected to a circuit that connected the entire castle. They had various effects including, regulating the internal temperature as well as soundproofing and reinforcement.

They also controlled the lights and other mechanics in the castle like the taps and baths. There were also several layers of anti-divination amongst the runes and various other effects they couldn't understand.

Liz could only read up to the first level of intermediate magic runes and even that was because she had been locked up for most of her life so studying was all she did. Others, even demon lords struggle to get to the intermediate level.

Erin could read all three levels but could not read advanced levels so it made it harder for them to complete their tasks as the entire castle had a few advanced magic runes in the midst.

Still, the only problem with the system was the inactive defense mechanism and thus they had been able to handle the rest of the castle until they got to the Passage of the Fallen. The stone golems in the shape of knights and the magic artifact Lilith, needed a lot of energy to run but they could still reactivate the magic traps.

With that done, Liz needed to rest but upon entering the room she found it empty and eerily silent.

"Rain!"

There was no response. Her friend who was supposed to be here preparing to leave the castle was not. Liz felt a headache brewing as Erin entered the room as well and noticed the current situation.

"You don't think she went back there do you?"

Liz sighed at Erin's question as she lazily walked back out and down the hall to the last room on this floor. Normally, if she came here she would have to place a knock on the door but right now, she noticed the doors that were supposed to be locked were currently slightly opened.

"Not again."

Erin trailed after her and seeing Liz enter the opened room, she hesitantly went in as well.

They looked around and did not see Rain anywhere. Liz sighed softly, then proceeded deeper within.

There was only a single bed within, and it seems the maids were taking good care of the room as the sheets had been changed again even though there was no one sleeping on them.

Well, actually, there was probably a good reason for that as the sheets might've really been dirtied. There was currently someone laying on the been seemingly sound asleep in her underwear as though they were in their own room.

Liz's brows twitched slightly and Erin sighed. Liz then walked up to the sleeping figure and pinched the tips of one of her long pointed ears. A soft moan left the figure's mouth before she suddenly shrieked.

"Aiek!! What are you doing that hurts."

"I should be asking you that. Why are you here again?"

The world-class dark-skinned beauty that had slept on the bed groggily sat up as she pouted her cheeks in protest. "I tried to call him but my spell can't reach so I came here so I'll feel connected to my love before we leave."

Liz was struck speechless. She could not find the words to say to the sudden love-struck friend of hers. It was hard enough to keep her in check when she was normal but now she found it harder to predict her moves.

"Aren't you taking it too far, Lord Ty might get angry if he finds you here. He's pretty scary when he's mad you know."

Rain stared at Erin's soft words in confusion as she tilted her head. "I don't know what you mean by too far. I think it's perfectly normal to sleep in your lover's bed when he's away.

'Since when did you two become lovers.'

Liz thought that but chose not to say it out loud as that might spiral into a whole nother conversation. They all still had a lot to do and wasting more time entertaining Rain would only hinder that.

Truth be told, she already knew Lord Ty's stance on this as she had managed to connect with him when he had sent Nadine back to give them new clothing. Having witnessed his fury first hand as well, she rather not anger him.

She had barely been able to stand in front of him when he had been made at that troll but her desire to save Rain at the time gave her the courage to stop him. That was also the reason why she actively tried not to get close to him. Being labeled the disgrace of the Alcar family, she had always been the target of others' anger even when she tried her best to do whatever they wanted.

So having someone not be angry at her was something she instinctively strives for, and after meeting the one person stronger than her that hadn't treated her like a disgrace, or an eyesore, she didn't want him to be angry at her for any reason. It was why she had informed him of Rain's antics after failing to stop her several times. However, all he did was ask:

'When you entered the room, did you notice anything strange?'

'Strange? No, everything seemed normal.'

'I see… Then it's fine, do as you please.'

His casual disregard for the issue had surprised her but she figured there was something hidden here and as long as Rain doesn't go snooping around, he wouldn't care about this.

♦️♦️♦️

"Hey, I read somewhere that human men usually get aroused when their lovers welcomed them back while wearing nothing but an apron. Do you think Lord Ty would like that?"

"Huh, where did you read that?" Liz was dragged out of her thoughts by Rain's strange and sudden question as she proceeded to ask her a question of her own.

"Oh, a certain behemoth always used to read the book whenever he would visit my brother back at home."

Liz frown upon hearing the word 'home' being associated with the prison she was locked up in all her life and noticing that, Rain who was wearing only her black laced underwear finally got off the bed and wrapped herself in the pure white sheets.

"Sorry, I guess I was still a little sleepy."

"It's fine."

"So what do we do now?"

"We can leave anytime but I'm still tired so I'll have to rest up a bit."

"And the castle?"

"Well, Albert is taking care of it so it'll be fine."

"Wouldn't it be better if Erin takes care of it instead?"

"Who me? No no no no, I couldn't."

"Of course you can. If you actually tried."

It was true that Erin excelled in management duties, and in that respect, she was far superior to Albert. However, she was not as talented in terms of defense and military administration, which was what Albert was best at, and her current personality prevented others from getting too close to her which was a minus when it came to management. That was also why Albert had been put in charge.

All would be well as long as there were no known enemies, like now.

"By the way, didn't you say you wanted to train with your new weapon so you get used to it? Are you done with that already?"

"Oh yeah, I was doing that wasn't I."

"…"

"Yeah, I was making progress when I heard the maids saying that lord Ty came back to drop off someone he captured for interrogation and got distracted but he was already gone before I could meet him."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I tried to contact him after that but couldn't so I got lonely and came here."

'Like you need an excuse.'

With that, Liz calmed down a little as her tiredness kicked in. They needed to leave the castle soon but she would not be of any use out there if she didn't get some rest. Erin was an immortal and thus her stamina was almost bottomless. Unless her life force was being drained from her, she could practically move without rest for all of eternity.

"You look exhausted. How hard was it to fix those runes."

"It was harder than we thought but for now we've done all we can."

"I see… Wanna lay down." Rain said that with a sly smile as she sat back on the bed tapping on the soft mattress for Liz to join her.

"No thanks, Even lord Ty doesn't get angry at that, I still think it's improper."

"It's fine, I'm sure he'll be even more upset if you're tired and didn't rest up just because you thought it was improper."

"I'm not sure that makes sense."

"Oh come on, it's just a bed. Don't be an Erin."

"Huh, wait when did my name become a verb."

Drawn in by Rain's smile, Liz didn't know when she had gotten into the bed as well. Erin sighed in resignation after being ignored, she went over and sat on the sofa before asking Rain a question.

"Hey hm… Why did Lord Ty ask you guys to leave the castle? I've been meaning to ask but.."

"You were too shy."

"Ur, no I was just."

"Hehe… I'm only messing with you relax. Lord Ty asked the Ogre chief and trolls to travel to the Darkin mountain range and locate a good and easy-to-defend spot where they would build a cabin to be used for our temporary base there. The journey there is very dangerous, that's why he sent both the evoked trolls as well.

"I see… But why do we need a cabin built there."

"Efficiency of course."

"Huh."

"While the trip to the mountain range is dangerous, the mountain range itself is worst. He wants us to go there and map out the place and locate all the resource mines in the area, and it would be both dangerous and inefficient to travel back and forth every day especially since he wants to establish a foothold there and I'm sure he doesn't like the fact that the Great Five have moved into his territory when he was away."

"I see."

"We are also supposed to recruit any freemen settlement we meet along the way to bolster our forces but lord Ty didn't want to allow just anyone into the castle so I heard the Kobolds were sent out to start the foundations of building a town on top of the former ruins of the Darknar city in the Grayad Field."

"Wow, I didn't know Lord Ty had thought so far ahead."

"Of course, everything is in order to regain his throne. He will soon be moving against the nobles so we have to be prepared."

Rain's eyes sparkled in the light as she said those words with a strange conviction while stroking the silky soft hair of the now sleeping Liz.