Chapter 28: A beautiful lie

Song recommendation Beautiful lie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwOya18u8_Q)

"Will you join us for breakfast?" Clover greeted the mistress of the pack.

She was a muscular woman with intense eyes and a wide smile. She was clad in armour with two swords jutting out at either hip. She charged bullishly right past Clover and went straight to the table. It shook as her hands slammed against it. She leaned across the table with excitement.

Bird's spoon slipped out of his hand as he stared up in surprise. The leader of the pack was staring directly in his face. His spoon hit the table with a clang. As Bird met eyes with their brilliant wide red eyes he swallowed uneasily.

"Look," the leader smiled. She thrust out her arm. Her ebony skin was marked with the same white ruins as Bird.

"It's the same," she exclaimed.

Her face was an inch from Birds. He was frozen solid. He blinked haplessly but couldn't say a word. The demon pulled back in disappointment.

"Why doesn't he speak?" she turned back to Clover, "Is there something wrong with him?"

"I think he's just shy," Clover answered with a barely contained laugh.

"Shy?" she repeated as if the word was foreign to her. She abruptly turned to the group who had followed her in, "Wait outside. You're scaring the humans!" she barked.

They reluctantly left the room. The door shut behind them and the leader took a seat across from Bird. Ace glanced to his side apprehensively inspecting the visitor. Even Michael looked taken aback. However, Clover simply returned to their seat and motioned with a smile.

"Help yourself,"

The leader began to hastily pile her plate with food. She turned to Clover with the same toothy smile.

"Where do you get such good food? I can only find crap in the south. Ogre and wild beast bones don't even have any meat. It's not even worth eating and I'm not even one of those high principled demons. You know, like the northerners who won't even drink water! I like food, you know, it's just like why eat shit if you don't have to ?" she released the words in an excited flurry.

"I'm glad that we have the same sensibilities about these things, Lord of the west," she went on, "Otherwise I don't think you and I could get along! I mean you have humans eating from your table. It's so funny! The northerners would have a heart attack on the spot. They're so boring and uptight. And the east...well they were a laugh when Lord Terre Sol was alive. That guy could eat! Now they're all serious like they're fucking special or something. I mean whatever," she took a bit into her food. "So do these humans have names or should I just call them human number one, human number two..." she paused at Kalandra.

The leader burst from her seat, "Holy crap! She's an elf! An elf," She took her seat again shaking her head, "Now, I've seen it all. The West is so fun!"

"Let me introduce you then," Clover grinned. They went around the room, "These are my friends Ace, Kalandra, Bird and ...Michael. All of you, this is an old friend of mine: Yashtara, the Lord of the South,"

"Pleased to meet you!" Yashtara giggled.

Michael's face dropped as he exchanged glanced with Bird. Clover continued to smile indifferently and Kalandra seemed more interested in her food. However, Ace shared Michael's sentiments. Beside him was another Demon Lord hungrily devouring three plates worth of food.

Yashtara was exactly how Ace imagined a Lord of the South to be. The members of the Place of Clubs were notoriously strong. Their brute strength was infamous and they were known to kill others just for fun. Their demon lords came from a family line but each would have to fight to their predecessor to gain the throne.

That would have been the case for Yashtara if Clover hadn't killed the previous Lord of the South. That meant Clover must have killed one of Yashtara's relatives. Yet here she was eating from Clover's table with a huge smile on her face.

Yashtara paused to take another pint-sized swig from her drink.

"So," she slammed the glass down carelessly, "We can talk now, yes?"

"By all means," Clover smiled placidly.

Yashtara surveyed the table for a moment, "You have your humans trained not to repeat these kinds of things?"

Michael's expression lit up in outrage at the mention of 'your human's, but even he knew better than to speak. He simply folded his arms in annoyance. Clover watched him with a grin:

"Yes, trained very well,"

"Impressive," Yashtara nodded in amazement, "The only ones we ever have in the south are so dull. All they did was cry and scream all the time. Well, you know the saying we have in the South. Keep crying and we'll give you something to cry about!" Yashtara let out a hearty laugh.

"It's a good saying," Kalandra enjoined.

"I know right?" Yashtara clasped her hands together. "So, Business. Business. As you know, we've all been hearing a lot about what's going on in the East. They're making a play on the Northern territory. The northerners have always been a bit feeble-minded, but now they have no lord, it's all gone to shit. No doubt the East will take them easily, but this we cannot allow. Now, lord of the west, I know you weren't fond of the other lords, but this is a problem that I can't solve on my own,"

"I wouldn't say I wasn't fond of them," Clover sniffed.

Yashtara let out a laugh, "Well I should say the Demon King wasn't too fond of them! She's the one that told you to kill them right? Don't worry, I don't hold any kind of grudge about that. My sister Garran was always too arrogant. I'm glad you killed her because it saved me some trouble,"

"So, what is it you want me to do?" Clover took another sip of their drink.

"I want you to join me. We need to get to the north first. If we take the north, we'll have a safeguard against anything the east is plotting," Yashtara enthused.

"What do I care if the East takes the North?" Clover dismissed.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart," Yashtara snorted, "What do you think the aim of the East is, huh? First, they go stealing some weapons from the human world, but they don't use them. Then they start attacking the Northern border. They are planning a war, stocking up weapons. The north is just the start. Their target is the whole demon world and beyond!"

"Let them try," Clover remarked, "Someone always does this every hundred years or so. In the end, the territory line is drawn up again and everyone goes back into their corner,"

"But this is different," Yashtara insisted, "They have a new leader no one's even heard of and fancy weapons from the human world. But most importantly, the Palace of Cups has no lord! It's been several years but no one's been able to take the seat since you killed Lord Ma'an! They're open to attack,"

"Well, I am sorry about that," Clover said dryly, "but no one seemed to care when they thought the demon king was going to destroy the human world. Then they were all just noble sacrifices. Until we lost. Suddenly, I had broken our laws and your people were coming to challenge me every other day,"

"The people didn't challenge you because you killed their lord. They challenged you because you made us lose the war," Vashtara's expression was serious for a moment but she quickly recovered.

"Why are we talking of the past anyway?" She leant back, "I'm here to talk of the future! Won't you at least consider it Lord Clover?"

"Of course I will," Clover smiled reticently.

"Good!" Yashtara declared. She finished the last of her drink, "Thanks for the meal,"

"You're welcome," Clover answered, "The servants will show you to your rooms. You must be tired from you're journey,"

"I'm rarely tired," Yashtara said proudly. She rose from the table. Upon opening the door, she was greeted by a rowdy influx of questions. The door slammed shut behind her, echoing through the quiet room. It was as though everyone at the table was too shocked to speak. Clover, on the other hand, continued to sip their drink leisurely.

Ace wondered what exactly was in that drink. For Clover to parade a Demon Lord in front of them, there was definitely something arrie.

"I liked her," Kalandra announced, "She's just like her sister though,"

"No," Clover answered, "I think she's a bit smarter,"

"That's saying something," Kalandra snickered.

"Clover," Ace asked, reluctant to hear the answer, "Are Yashtara and her men staying here?"

"Well she travelled all this way," Clover answered emphatically, "It would be rude to send her away with just breakfast. Besides if she left right away, none of you would have learnt a lesson,"

"What lesson would that be?" Michael exhaled.

"Firstly, this is what you get for interfering with my business. Kalandra told me what you've been up to. Suffice to say, I've been much too soft on all of you," Clover smiled disparagingly. "Luckily, the demon lord of the South doesn't suffer from the benevolence that I do. Yashtara plays rough. You might want to lock your door tonight,"

"You think we're afraid of that demon trash?" Michael snapped. "If this is the best you've got trying to scare us me to submission, you've lost your touch,"

"You know when people use the word 'firstly', it usually implies they have more to say," Clover mused. "Are you sure you don't want to cry uncle now? You know I have soft spot for you,"

"Fuck you!" Michael scoffed defiantly.

"Clover," Ace spoke up, "Michael isn't the problem here. You were the one who left us no choice. You may not see the way we do, but we couldn't just allow the human world to be destroyed,"

"'We', as in you humans," Clover gave a cold smile, "because I'm just a violent, thoughtless demon, right?

"That's not what I meant..."

"It's okay," Clover shrugged, "You want to paint me as the villain, go ahead. I can be an excellent villain, but I'm also a strong believer in credit where credit is due. Isn't that right, Michael? "

"I don't know what you're talking about," Michael's eyes twitched. There was something in his manner that made his words less convincing than usual.

"Michael?" Bird and Ace turned to him.

"Everything I told them was true," Michael answered mechanically. "Destroying the demon world will change the human world irreparably,"

"There's a difference between change and destruction though it isn't there," Kalandra smirked.

"What is she talking about?" Bird entreated.

Michael was quiet. His snakish eyes were locked with Clover's darkly.

Clover grinned. "I'm sure he made it seem like there was no other way. That you had to risk everything to get that necklace. He probably even convinced you it was your idea,"

Ace shook his head, "No, It...it was my idea. We had to because..."

Clover leaned in with a smile, "because? Because the world would be destroyed? What a noble cause! I'm sure that was a beautiful lie to believe. " they added cuttingly. "Or at the very least a convenient one,"

"Are you saying your spell doesn't destroy the human world?" Ace questioned.

"Do you want to tell them or shall I?" Clover provoked, "I'll take your silence as an invitation. Here's my guess. Early on, Michael realised what my spell did. He realised that such a spell requires a huge sacrifice. The device is able to channel massive amounts of magic. However, it would take all the magic of the human world to destroy the demon world.

A world without magic? Having spent a whole life learning magic, Michael thought to himself it would be awfully inconvenient to lose all he had worked towards. So first he goes to the Emperor with this story about destroying the human world. That doesn't work. You see the Emperor is desperate but he's no idiot. He tells Michael to get his shit together but instead, Michael decides to steal the device. After all, no device, no spell.

But once again, this doesn't work. So he thinks to himself, how can he get the necklace back? The sword saint may be soft-hearted but he's not going to hand the device back without a fight. That's a fight Michael can't win. Holy magic was never his forte. Ah, but he knows the sword saint has one weakness.

That would be you, Ace."

"You knew Albaric wouldn't be able to kill me," Ace said slowly, "So you used me to steal the necklace back?!" his voice rose uncontrollably.

Still, Michael didn't answer.

Clover laughed. "I'm sure you must have been working on another plan to have me send you back once you got the necklace from Ace? I bet you told him you would keep it real safe while this incident blew over. I dread to imagine what you were really going to do with that necklace,"

"It wasn't enough for you to stop the demon world from being destroyed? "Bird exclaimed. "You were planning something else?!"

"No, I wasn't," Michael answered in a subdued voice.

"You can only blame me for so long. The truth is, It's not nice being thrown away, is it?" Clover replied, "I'm sure the Empire deserved a little of your wrath, but what did these boys do?"

"You're wrong," Michael said through gritted teeth.

"If you say so," Clover said with a satisfied grin, "Feel free to tell me if I left anything out?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you," was Michael's answer.

"And what about us?!" Bird slammed a fist against the table in a rare show of anger. "Did you really do all this so you wouldn't lose your magic?"

Michael broke from Clover's gaze and glanced at Bird and Ace who were regarding him with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"A world without magic," Michael said stiffly, "isn't worth living in, Bird,"

Bird shook his head in disbelief. "We risked everything on your word. I can't believe I've wasted half my life defending you when you...you only care about yourself. How could you?"

"Quite easily I imagine," Clover sat back. "I'm almost proud of you. It's a shame you forgot one thing,"

"What would that be?" Michael replied in a low voice.

"This little act might work on these children," Clover stared down into their empty glass, "but it's a hundred years too earlier for you to deceive me. I suggest you make yourself comfortable because you're not going anywhere. Enjoy the demon world to its fullest. You've earned it,"

Michael stood up silently and stormed from the room.

"I think you should go after him," Clover said to Bird with a smile.

Bird's expression was still in a state of shock.

"I don't think so," Bird said quietly. "I'm just going back to my room."

"Yes," Clover answered, "Maybe you should. Oh and Bird?"

"Yes?" Bird looked back hesitantly.

"If Yashtara asks you if you're from the south, tell her you're not," Clover said flatly.

"But I am originally from the South," Bird hesitated." Of the human world, I mean,"

"Just trust me," Clover rejoined, "If you can I wouldn't answer any of her questions. I would hate for you to get punished instead of Michael,"

Bird's brow drew up in worry but he left the room hurriedly. Ace was staring down at his plate in dismay.

"What exactly did Kalandra tell you?" he asked in a low voice.

"Do you even need to ask?" Clover rose unceremoniously. "Once again, you've completely ignored everything told to you. Consider this your punishment too, Ace,"

"Friends don't punish friends," Ace answered categorically.

Clover pivoted on their heels and gave a theatrical wide armed shrug,

"Then maybe we're not friends?"