Chapter 8: Checkpoint!
"I believe that is all of it Milord." Levii carried a small bag over her shoulder, it was full of valuable heirlooms and other items pertaining to the Steppe Imps.
"With this, I can leave in-peace." She smiled a weak smile, but her eyes shone with conviction- I patted her shoulder.
"Are you sure you want to leave with me? I can't promise this'll be easy."
"Milord, with all due respect- are you even aware of where the Demon Kingdom could possibly be?" She cocked a brow at me.
"Ahhhhh.... Ehhhhhh.... No, no I do not." I slumped my shoulders defeatedly, even though I'm playing along being an amnesiac- it doesn't mean I actually know where the kingdom is in the first place.
She smiled a big smug smile as she pointed a thumb at her chest.
"Luckily for you Milord, I've visited the Kingdom myself once before- when I was a young child for the Royal Sabbath." She flared her nostrils haughtily, I guess she's trying to use whatever she's got to her advantage when it comes to tagging along with me.
"If you say so- saaay, do you REALLY not remember what just happened twenty minutes ago?" My eyes darted nervously at her and the mess that was made in the room.
"No Milord, I do not- not as though you would tell me what had occurred anyhow." She gave me an annoyed pout as she began walking out of the room, of which turned out to be the largest house of the village- the princess' abode.
What a nightmare, running away from her going primal on me twenty minutes ago. It was all due to the stupid (and VERY dangerous) skill that automatically activated when I tried cheering her up. [Moon God's Charisma], what a ridiculous thing- I need to figure out how to check out my own information to avoid this kind of mishap ever again.
At least she wasn't strong enough to leave me with claw marks, this body is seriously stupid tough. I'm many things, but I'm not such a bastard as to take advantage of a girl when they're not thinking straight.
Another perk of being a homunculus, I guess.
Levii popped her head out from the doorframe into the room.
"Milord, are you joining me anytime soon?" Impatience hung on her knit eyebrows.
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming."
...
We began walking out of the village proper soon after I had joined with her outside of the large clay building, but before we left, I made sure to go grab the things I had dropped during the big fight: my staff and book.
They were where I had left them, at the epicenter of the reflection- the sword was still lodged into the staff while the book itself was lightly buried under some of the grey sand from the disintegration. Now that I can do it, I grab the sword myself lodged into the staff and pull it off with ease- this body's strength is no joke. I saw that the paladin, the captain no less, not be able to pull out his sword from the cane- and I did just that with a quick flick of the wrist.
I have to be wary of this strength as probably lightly touching someone accidentally could kill them- I need to keep a healthy distance from Levii just in case (damn).
I picked up the book, or should I say grimoire? and tied it around my waist with a few leather straps that Levii had gave me. Now I can have one hand free.
With the cane-staff in hand, I joined Levii to pay respects to the village and it's recent dead.
"O' fathers of fathers, mothers of mothers, please rest with the great winds of the steppe." She begun a prayer, I didn't want to disrespect her, so I stayed silent as she chanted.
"Join Ahriman, follow the moonlight under the gentle grasses."
As she finished her prayer, she turned around and walked off- not giving the village a second look. I followed suit.
The village of the Steppe slowly disappeared from our line of sight, the small handful of stone-pile graves being the last things visible as we crossed further out into the horizon.
...
"Levii, I think I have to make up a name or something, because you can't just keep on calling me 'Milord'- it'll raise unnecessary questions once we get to the Kingdom."
Levii and I have been walking the Steppe for a while now, roughly what I could consider about three hours as the afternoon dips into a slight-orange hue.
"But, Milord- what would you call yourself?" She was eating a stick of what I'd presume to be jerky, it looked really dried up and tough. She saw me eye it and offered, but I waved her off- I doubt this body really 'needs' food with what I've confirmed so far with the last meal.
I thought to myself over what I should call myself. Do I go for the classic and just call myself what I really am called? Kai? I mean, it sounds normal enough- so it shouldn't be a problem right?
"Kai."
"Pffffft." Levii spat out her dried mystery jerky from her mouth, she was stifling a laugh.
"WHAT!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH KAI, HMMM?" I grabbed her by her wrist (gently, GENTLY) as she began to let out a full-blown laugh.
"HAHA! Ha! Milord, Milord- pffft, do you know what 'Kai' means?" Her lips squirmed as she tried her best to not continue laughing at my face, my face felt a little hot from what I'd guess would be embarrassment.
"'Kai' means 'delicate' in Old-Devil."
She wiped a tear of laughter from her eye, still smiling.
"I-If T-that what you want to call yourself, then *snicker* I will comply." She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Kai. Kai, Kai." She repeated it, every time a little more seriously.
"There, Milord- Kai." Her fit of laughter finally died down, she got used to my name now.
Haaaah, I'm having second thoughts.
"What spurred this choice of name Milord Kai?"
Ignoring her insistence of still using the title Milord for the moment, I answered her question.
"It just sounded nice I guess." Shrugging my shoulders to hide my otherwise hurt ego, she took it as a good enough answer.
"Then it shall be so, Milord Kai!" Her eyebrow twitched for a moment, but otherwise she's adapted to it quite quickly- I'm a little thankful.
"Say Levii, tell me little about the Demon Kingdom- is that really what it's called?"
"No, Milord." And back she goes again.
"The Demon Kingdom is called Modos. The Royal Family, the Goetia Bloodline, has been ruling there since the Great Liberation over Five Millennia Ago."
"But, no less than five years ago- a bloody insurrection occurred, a civil war between the then ruling King, Zepar Goetia, and his daughter and her supporters-"
"Flaur Goetia." She gave a sour little frown as she said that name, as if the name itself tasted bad.
"Zepar was usurped, and from then on there, Flaur has been ruling as Queen- how she has been ruling I do not know, as new information hardly ever travels through the Steppe."
"I see... do you know the reason why the civil war occurred?"
"Yes, as it was my late-father who participated as a supporter to Flaur's usurpation."
I felt guilty not knowing how heavy of a topic this could be, but I need to know more about this world I've been thrown into; forgive me Levii! You saint of a Demon! Wait... uhm, yeah, I'll stick with that.
Levii let out a heavy sigh as began her recounting.
"Flaur's usurpation happened due to the tyrannical rule of her father's. As how it was going, as Demons, especially those of the Goetia Bloodline, have long life-spans- the royal family's averaging out to at least a thousand years- rule of succession happens quite regularly during a Demon's lifetime."
"Yet, Zepar, had not abdicated his rule in over seven-hundred years."
"Zepar in his lifetime was a fair ruler, not weak nor too strong, a wise king who invested well into his people."
"Yet, strangely, instead of following the tradition of succession to his first-born child, during that child's coming of age, he did not abdicate rule."
"He continued to rule, and with this rule past that ignoring of tradition, he began to dramatically change."
"His years of ruling turned into tyranny; he began destroying Modos from the inside out."
"The dismantlement of nobles, the reduction of the army, vassal lords... were abandoned to fend for themselves."
"..."
"It's okay Levii, we can pick this up for a later time." I tried to stop this before she would dig up any more painful memories.
She shook her head as she rubbed her eyes.
"No... No, it's fine Milord, thank you for your kindness."
"But it's my duty as your sworn friend to tell you what I know." She gave me a weak smile.
"A large reason why the Steppe Imps' were and are what they are now is due to the abandonment from Zepar and Modos."
"As we are in the steppe, we cannot grow our own food- we rely heavily on trading."
"However, as the steppe is dangerous- both due to wild beasts and raiding humans, the importance of stationed kingdom guards is crucial at checkpoints set-up around the steppe's key tradepaths."
"Yet- whatever guards we did have out here in the steppe were either recalled or let-go by Zepar, we were left to fend for ourselves- and subsequently whatever trade routes we had crumbled away due to pressure from the Humans."
"If you look closely, we ourselves are walking on a long-overgrown trade route path ourselves."
I looked down at the otherwise normal looking grass, but with further inspection I could see a vague outline of a path continue down ahead of us.
"I would've never known until you had told me." I blurt out, Levii gave a small giggle in return.
"It is as you say, this path has now been largely reclaimed by the steppe. I know it by heart however, so we will be fine."
"To continue- my father, like many other vassal lords of other demon clans, were furious from Zepar's reckless abandon. Yet, as tradition is an iron-clad concept in Demon culture and society, we simply couldn't dispose of the King without proper claim." She raised three fingers.
"First, we needed a rightful heir." She tucked one finger down.
"Flaur was a suitable candidate, as she is the first-born."
"Second, we needed an event to challenge Zepar's power."
The second finger went down.
"The Tournament of Modos, an event that occurs every five hundred years in the kingdom. Strength is a crucial aspect to Demon-kind, as with strength comes security, and security prosperity. Vassal Lords would raise champions to compete for them in the Tournament, the prize for the winner being a wish from the ruler themself- the wish itself ranging from many things..."
"Abdication perchance?"
"Yes, that being a possible wish- the one that we had wished for."
One finger was left on Levii's finger, but her hand trembled a little.
"And the final necessity to usurp a king."
"A scapegoat."
Her final finger slowly tucked, her strong, yet otherwise delicate fist shook softly.
"My father volunteered to become the champion for Flaur's claim to power."
"He won the tournament and used the tournament's wish to ask Zepar to abdicate."
"But when Zepar refused, we used that as fair grounds to stage a coup- what ensued was the civil war between Zepar and Flaur; my father being the leader of it all."
"And when Zepar was finally defeated, and sentenced to be executed..."
"The blood price for the death of a Ruler was to be paid, as to not displease Ahriman's grace; my father volunteered to be that payment." Levii went dead quiet as she finished, distancing herself a little ahead of me. Her otherwise strong exterior looked far too fragile now, ready to break with even the lightest touch.
Scapegoat, a scapegoat.
I know that I'm not human anymore in this new body of mine, but I could feel anger- a deep anger.
My blood felt like it was boiling.
It's bullshit.
What a stupid tradition.
///
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone