19 Stealing First, Diplomacy Second

"I have told you so many times now, SHUT UP!" The greater imp yelled at his annoying subordinates.

A week ago the greater imp had been tasked with finding a relic that had appeared in a new world and given a crystal that had been painstakingly attuned to the weak mana fluctuation that the relic emitted.

Due to mana being weak the relic was classed as not being that strong so the task was given to him with five normal imps being placed under his command and after having to wait for a few days for his lord to attune a gate to the mana fluctuations, it was looking forward to sightseeing in this new world while it narrowed down the location of the relic.

However, luck was not on his side as normal imps generally aren't very smart to begin with but it was given some that seemed to be particularly stupid. No matter what it told them they kept announcing their plans to the world and incessantly annoying him in the process.

The greater imp knew that there wasn't anything with enough intelligence around to mess up his plans but it would rather them just be quiet so it could enjoy the new scenery.

"If you five don't close your mouths right this INSTANT, I will tear off your F*CKING horns, AND SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR THROATS!"

Having finally gotten sick of their bickering the greater imp resorted to a more primitive style of persuasion, threatening them, and this seemed to have finally gotten the message across as they finally stopped talking.

Finally being able to have a bit of quiet, it glanced down at the jewel and sent a pulse of mana into it which then responded by sending out a burst of mana in the direction of the relic before going silent and having to recharge.

Heading off once more the greater imp took the time to truly appreciate the scenery of the new world. Unlike his home world, this one had a distinct cycle where a great ball of fire would appear in the sky, lighting up the world before slowly disappearing again leaving the world in a comfortable darkness. It found this cycle confusing but interesting as it gave a unique feel to this particular world, not that he'd been to many worlds.

He had heard that the home of the noble demons such as the demon lords had a similar cycle but it was not permitted there as it was only a puny imp. Unless it evolved more and had the capabilities to evolve into an esteemed race then it would be doomed to just stay as a lower class demon his entire life.

However, completing this mission assigned to him by the great 'Lord of Greed' himself would allow him to take one step further towards his ambition, so it was determined not to mess this up.

Sending out another burst of mana from the crystal the greater imp was pleased to see that it was getting close to his target, after it acquired it all it would then have to do is make his way back to the gate and return to his master with the relic.

Heading into an open area it saw some strange brown objects that were rough and tall and covered with countless small green ovals at the top dotting around this area and after sending out another burst of mana it discovered that the relic was only a few feet away.

Arriving at the relic it looked down to see a sphere shaped object that looked like glass with a pulsing ball of energy in its centre and runes floating around the inside of it.

Grinning happily the greater imp held it at arm's length to look at all of it at once and then it turned to his companions when it suddenly heard a feminine voice behind him.

"Thank you for leading me here, now I think I'll be taking that."

Suddenly the ball was snatched from his hands and in a blind panic it spun around and swung his claws at whoever took his prize and it felt his claws hit flesh and draw blood.

But when it turned around to see who it was, all the blood drained from his face and it paled significantly at what it saw, a pure white demoness with bewitching beauty and a tail and black horns on her head.

However the reason it was about to die of fright was the small scratch it had inflicted on her arm, it was bleeding a pure black substance, demonic ichor, and the only demons that had demonic ichor running through their veins were the demon lords, demonic gods or The Devil, but The Devil hadn't been seen for over 500 years so that last option was highly unlikely, and since it didn't recognize her it figured that she was the child of one of the existing Lords. But that was no conciliation as it could be immediately killed, no questions asked, for hurting the family of one of the lords.

And as it was standing there in fright it felt her starting to circulate her mana as a pressure started to get exuded from her body.

"Y-y-your highness, this humble s-servant is t-terribly sorry for harming your p-pure flesh. I didn't r-realise that s-s-someone of your exalted status would also be a-after this simple relic. Are you perhaps acting on the r-request of his excellency the Lord of Greed as well?"

"..."

"Don't m-misunderstand me, I know my lowly s-self isn't deserving to even s-s-s-stand in your glorious presence, let alone request that you grace this servant with y-your blessed voice."

Getting more scared at the lack of a verbal response the imp started backing up slightly. Until it finally got a reply from the white demoness speaking in a cold voice.

"Do you truly think I have to answer to the likes of you? Be grateful I don't wipe your puny existence from this world. Now be gone from my sight."

Hearing this, the greater imp was even more fearful and quickly ran away, followed by the normal imps and as it was running it tripped on a root and dropped the crystal but didn't give it a second thought and ran all the way to the portal, before breaking down as it didn't know how it could possibly explain this terrible situation to the Lord of Greed. It was hopeful, however, that if it stated that a noble demon was also there, that it would be spared for failing this task.