Chapter 7 (11): Meeting with the suitors

Chapter 7 (11): Meeting with the suitors

"So, the three of you all wish to marry my daughter... well, I have news for you. She's already engaged, to someone she fell in love with while she was on her journey of learning, so you may as well give up now" (Lars)

"An engagement to a mere peasant can't stand in the face of a request from one who will become a demon general, now can it?" (Asmodeus)

"Especially not a request from one who is a demon general" (Baal)

"I heard a rather credible rumor that she was in the human lands for most of the past few years... her fiance is probably a human, or some other filth from the human lands. That cannot be allowed to pass" (Third male)

I signaled Lars, and he removed the invisibility magic on me as I began to speak, wings and horns visible too.

"Well. And here I was, thinking that I had made it clear to everyone that that sort of thinking was to be changed, but, you evidently didn't take that to heart. And no, I am no peasant, nor am I from the human lands" (Ryuu)

"Who is this? A servant? Wait... you mean... She fell in love with a female, one who you made into a servant for the time being? Do you wish for your bloodline to die out? Cut off this marriage at once!" (Baal)

"Did you not hear my first sentence? I said that I had thought that I - I - had made it clear to everyone that humans are people too, and that everyone in the demon lands should think of and treat them as such. What female holds enough power to make that kind of a declaration, and if you can think of more than one, which of them has made such an order in a public setting?" (Ryuu)

"Shut up! Who the fuck do you th-" (Asmodeus)

I cut him off by holding both of my swords at his neck, as I smiled icily, just a few centimeters from his face.

"Where did those swords come from? I couldn't see her move... she's not an ordinary servant girl" (Baal)

"You do realize that you could be executed for speaking like this to me, correct? If I were my grandmother, your head would already be on the floor. Still..." (Ryuu)

I sheathed my swords after briefly pointing them towards Baal, and continued.

"You asked who I am, or who I think I am? Allow me to tell you my na... no, I'll tell you what name Tuare will have once she marries. Oh yes, she will change her name, despite her current name reflecting her being the heir to the first seat of the demon generals, one of the highest titles in the country. Her name will become Tuareninya Maou. Care to guess who I am?" (Ryuu)

"Wait... no... oh... no... Demon Lord Miryuu Maou? You're telling me... that I was asking for the Demon Lord's engagement to be cut off? I... Please forgive me..." (Baal)

"Well, I guess... for the next best political marriage for my house... there's that high elf princess... the one who was going to marry Astaroth's son before he died. Maybe she's out of mourning now?" (Asmodeus)

"Are you talking about Elise? She's in this mansion right now, actually. Shall I ask her to come here?" (Ryuu)

"Would you? You could send a servant, after all, but doing it yourself carries a bit more impact. I'd really appreciate it if you could" (Asmodeus)

"Why would I send a servant to ask one of my fiancees to come with me?" (Ryuu)

"I... I must have heard that wrong... Did you say... you have... two fiancees? Oh right, you did say that three of your lovers are half human, so I guess that does make sense... somewhat" (Baal)

"Not quite... I have six, the sixth being a recent addition. Tuare and Elise are the only ones who are from the demon lands, besides myself, but the others are here too" (Ryuu)

"Wait... do you mean to tell me that your entire party is your harem?" (Lars)

"Party? What?" (Third male)

"Yes, that is the case. Oh, right. To the three of you, you may not know this, but I'm an A rank adventurer by the name of Ryuu, and at the moment, my harem is the same as my party, everyone in it being B ranks, though many are actually stronger than their ranks might suggest, myself included, of course" (Ryuu)

"So... out of curiosity, what would you rate the average rank as, including yourself?" (Lars)

"Oh, probably... the upper edge of S, I think? Ver, Char, Mae and I are all SS at least, Ver and I are guaranteed to be SSS. Elise and Tuare are certainly S, if not SS, and Haru... A, maybe S" (Ryuu)

After I finished saying that, I noticed everyone near me had an expression showing some shade of disbelief or awe, and probably had since I said what Ver and I would be.

"You're putting yourself on par with some of the herpes of legend? And the same thing for Verene, who's the youngest of the group by far? You can't be... well, no, for her, it makes sense, and you are the Demon Lord, the most powerful one I know of in recorded history, so that also makes sense..." (Lard)

"Wait, if this... Verene... is the youngest by far, and some of the group is 15 or so... how young is Verene? Just how precocious is she, to be as strong as an SSS rank?" (Third male)

"Well... let's just say that she isn't of a race you'd think of when considering 'people' and so... she matured faster than what you'd think of as normal... much faster" (Ryuu)

"Should I tell them?" (Lars)

"I'll do it, don't worry... It'd come out in a few years or however long it is when we get married, I think" (Ryuu)

"What, is she six? Seven?" (Asmodeus)

"Actually, yes, she's somewhere in that range, but... not in years. Ver? I know you're listening, so come and show yourself, if you would ..." (Ryuu)

[Oh, fine... give me a moment] (Ver)

"Huh? What was that?" (Baal)

Instead of replying, Ver summoned herself into the room, her massive wyvern frame moving aside a few chairs and a table, and then shifted into her human form... thankfully, neither naked nor younger-looking than the rest of her party.

"Meet the Wyvern Lord Verene, eleventh divine beast, one of my fiancees, and the youngest in my party, at a little over six months old" (Ryuu)

[I'm also the one who was raised by Ryuu when she found me as I was hatching, and her mana was the cause of my evolution from a greater wyvern to a divine beast... I think?] (Ver)

"What next? Are you going to say that you've also ensnared a human princess? Or perhaps the daughter of a Duke from the human lands?" (Baal)

"Well... yes, in fact, both of those sarcastic comments reflect reality. The third princess, Haruveritat el Isala, and Charlotte, daughter of Duke Ascham, are members of my party-cum-harem, alongside Ver, Elise, Tuare, and one other girl from the human lands. Uh... oh, right, how could I forget... If the only reason you all are here is to ask for Tuare's hand in marriage, I think that you no longer have a reason to be here, correct? I'm not saying you need to leave, but I just wanted to remind people of that fact. The other thing to remind you all of is that I'd like it if everything said and seen here were to remain confidential, perhaps save for the fact that Tuare is already planning to marry the Demon Lord. Understood?" (Ryuu)

"Perfectly. Should I keep Elise's engagement to you a secret too, or not?" (Asmodeus)

"Eh, that can be said as well. For the rest of what was said, including the fact that I'm an adventurer, no" (Ryuu)

Soon after, the three of them left, and I still didn't know or care to know the name of the third one. After all, he did have an attitude that, in regards to humans, was... well, to put it nicely, suboptimal, to put it bluntly, shitty. If he continued to have that attitude, I'd deal with him, but I hoped he'd change it.