In for a copper, in for a gold.

Pawn tiredly rubbed her temples as she addressed Ash and Snow.

The ring she had worn previously was now suspended from her neck via a brass chain.

"So, not only did you two do nothing to prevent me, a distraught drunk celestial, from giving up all my worldly possessions to become demonic nobility," she began, "you also killed the son of the only person capable of preventing my transformation into a demon, in an attempt to avenge the son's attempt on my life."

She then looked at the two demons in question.

"Does that about sum it up?" Inquired the celestial.

Their replies were immediate and without a single trace of remorse.

"Yep," ash declared casually.

"Yep!" Proudly declared Snow.

Pawn opened her mouth to say something, but then simply closed it again without making a sound.

What was the point?

"Ah... to hell with it..." she mumbled, "it's convenient in a way, having my options suddenly limited to such an extent."

Pawn took a moment to think before giving one of her two subordinates an order.

"Snow," she said, causing the demon in question to reflexively straighten her back, "bring me all the maps we have of the city, my territory in particular."

Snow did a salute and said 'yes, baroness!' With a big smile on her face, before then dashing out of the kitchen to do as she had been told.

The celestial visibly cringed at the title.

A few minutes later Snow returned.

Two giant maps now sat on the table between Ash and Pawn. One was of the city and the circular wall which surrounded it while the other was of Pawn's territory specifically.

Pawn first looked to the city map. It was labelled 'City of Muster.' It showed the layout of the city which was shaped like a giant five-pointed star, as well as the giant pool of lava which existed to the city's east.

The districts of the city were labelled as well. The northern point of the star was labelled 'Military district,' the eastern point was the 'Sea district,' the western point was the 'Crafting district,' the southwestern point was the 'Resource gathering district,' and finally, the southeastern point was the 'Leisure district.'

The very centre of the city was labelled 'Essential district.'

Each district seemingly shared control over two of the city's five gates with their two neighbouring districts.

Pawn traced her rout into the city with her index finger, through the gate which existed between the gathering and leisure district, and into the leisure district where she had originally rented her room from the nice pig demon.

From what she had seen at the time, the entire district was essentially a slum. It was also the only district that Pawn would not want to be the lord of, as not only would she have no idea how to manage it, she would simply find the entire idea of managing brothels and casinos 'creepy.'

Pawn looked over to the map of her district which Snow had brought, it was neatly labelled 'Leisure district.'

'As expected,' thought the baroness.

She merely let out a slightly exasperated chuckle before turning towards Ash.

"Since asking for info regarding the gate to Nexus would be super suspicious, and only the city lord knows about the gate... how does one usurp his position?" She inquired.

"I mean, then I could just order him to tell me, right?" Added the celestial.

Ash raised an eyebrow as she smiled mischievously.

"In for a copper, in for a gold, eh?" Mused the demon before continuing.

"Simple," she began, "this city has five lords, and each lord has a district. They are a council, of sorts. The council representative is the city lord, the only individual allowed to manage city-wide policies and the Essential district."

"To become the city lord you just need 3 out of 5 council votes during the election period," she explained.

Pawn thought a moment before asking a question.

"And when is this 'election period' you speak of?" She inquired further.

Ash shrugged.

"The title of city lord is passed from generation to generation," she commented, "so only when the city lord dies without having any heirs, or whenever the council votes to hold an election at one of their bi-monthly meetings."

Pawn mulled over that information.

"So my options are to kill him and his whole family like some kind of psycho, blackmail the info out of him, or slowly usurp him by stealing his allies, eh?" Muttered the celestial.

"Is he a bad person, at least, like his son was?" She asked towards Ash, "and how many more children does he have?"

Pawn hoped him to be a tyrant that the city would be glad to be rid of so that she could quickly kill him without regret.

She was not so lucky, however.

"He is a strong, kind and honourable man who devotes himself entirely to bettering the lives of his people, in battle he leads from the front, and in life he leads by example," said Ash while picking something from her teeth, "no idea how many kids he has, though."

Pawn cursed quietly under her breath.

"Oh, he's also a king-ranked demon, power-wise, if your interested," she added casually.

Pawn stared at the demon.

"A demon king," she parroted, "as in, the S-ranked threat level demon who could kill me in instant using only their eyelash?"

"That demon king!?" She screamed while slamming her hands down on the table.

Ash grinned and gave a thumbs-up, Pawn slumped back into her chair.

"Ugh..." she groaned, "that's such a misnomer, though."

"King-ranked people shouldn't be allowed to be lords," complained the celestial, "that's just confusing."

She grumbled to herself for a few moments more before ultimately declaring the 'kill the lord option' to be 'off the table,' strategy-wise as well as morally.

Suddenly, she felt something.

The celestial quickly kicked over the table to form a barrier and then pulled Ash and snow behind it.

The two demons, though confused, did not resist.

It was then that the wall of the room they were speaking in suddenly exploded into a hail of flaming shrapnel, impacting the table which shielded the three.

A single green-eyed demon then stepped through the room's new entrance, holding a sword in each hand. He was followed closely by two dozen more demons of every shape and size, all with green eyes.

"...well that was unexpected," muttered Pawn as she retrieved her shiny spear from her inventory.

The demon opened his mouth to speak... and then his head exploded as the spear passed through his forehead. Stunning the people behind him.

His body didn't fall, however, and was merely staggered, though its ownership had changed.

Ash's eyes glowed dark violet as she raised both her hands, positioned as if she were controlling a marionette.

Slowly she rotated her hand, and slowly the headless corpse turned to face its former allies.

She gave them a sadistic smile, and then lunged both hands forwards.

Her new puppet, carried by its strings, lunged forwards as well.