17: Reunion

Momoyo was lying on a bed in Milla's castle. She looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes were empty. It was like all life had left her body. She was nothing more than a ragdoll. She recalled the red haired girl that saved her from death. Momoyo didn't think such a little girl could be a Demon King. She took her in. Maids were appointed to look after her. Cleaning her body, feeding her and making sure she fully recovers. But at this point she wanted to die. She had no idea what the enemy could want with her.

At first she resisted, but in the end she resigned herself. She knew she was never going to see Shiori or any of her classmates again. She knew she was never going to see her home, her friends and her family again. She simply waited to die.

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I arrived back at my base. Since there was still one more preparation I had to make, I told Teri to play with Fenrir for a while. The wolf was on guard at first, but soon he went with the flow and started playing with Teri. Maybe this guy just gets along with children. Odin said he was ferocious, but maybe cause he's a pup too he seems more relaxed around kids. Moving on.

The moment I stepped inside, I saw Cleo groveling on the floor before me.

"Lady Milla, please forgive me! I am the one who gave the order to kill all the humans. I am the one that has now put you in this dilemma. If needed, I shall apologize with my life!"

Okay. What's with these guys? Are they trying to copy Grace? Their loyalty is too extreme. Why would I want to take their lives?

"Stand up, Cleo! I'm not blaming you. I was the one that left you in charge. And humans arriving right on our shore was something that I wasn't prepared for."

"But…"

"Enough. I said that I will forgive you, but I still intend to punish you. Tonight, come to my bedroom. I intend to play around with you, hehe!"

Cleo stood up at those words. Lamia scales were very sensitive. Outside of battles, having someone else touch them was really unpleasant. But of course, I planned to touch her in a different way.

"Understood, Your Highness. But, if I may ask, why did you spare that girl?"

"There are some humans I have plans for. That girl is one of them. I know demons hate humans, but there are some that I personally have to deal with. I will describe those few at a later time."

"Very well. Then I shall excuse myself for now."

After Cleo left I made my way to the first floor. One of the maids Cleo assigned to look after prez greeted me.

"Your Highness, are you here to check up on the human?"

"Umu! How is she doing?"

"Well, it's been 3 days since she was in our care. Although she gave us quite a hard time at first, eventually she stopped struggling. I was actually afraid we would have to force feed her, but she's really docile now. Excluding her lost limbs, she has physically recovered."

"I see. Thank you. I know it's unpleasant for demons to touch a human, but…"

"There is no need to apologize, Your Highness. You are the sole Demon King that ever treated our beastman race with kindness. You treat us the same way you treat any other Mazoku. I think I speak for all of us when I say this: no matter what order you will give us, we will gladly obey it!"

Such a good maid. And she's quite good looking too. Maybe I should make her join me and Cleo tonight.

"Would you like to see her?"

"Yup. But I want us to be alone."

"Understood!"

And thus I headed to the room where Momoyo was. She really looked like a broken toy.

"Hey, why the gloomy face?"

"..."

No reply.

"Hello? Anyone home in there?"

Again no reply. Great. She's useless to me like this. This isn't the reunion I imagined. How should I wake her from this state? Guess I have no choice.

"Momo-chan, it's no good if you keep sulking like that!"

I said those words with a cute voice. And as soon as I finished it was as if light returned to her eyes.

"I bet Shiori would be proud of my imitation."

She twitched again. As soon as I mentioned Shiori she forced herself to stand up.

"How… how do you know that name? And how did you know that line?"

Finally got her attention. The words I said were the ones Shiori would say to her when she would be overwhelmed with school activities.

"You really don't remember me? I'm hurt. Well I guess I can't blame you since I look different now."

"Who… who are you?"

"Let's see if this jogs your memory:

In life, you should really do what you want to do, not what someone else wants you to do? If you want to be the class president, go for it!"

"It… can't be… are you…"

When I was in my first year in high school and the election for class president came, Shiori grabbed me by the collar and told me to say some encouraging words to her. And those were the words I said.

"Ho… Homura-kun?"

I started clapping my hands.

"Bingo! Bingo! Bingo! And we have a winner! Yup, it's me. Ryusei Homura. It's been a while, prez!"

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For a few minutes we both stayed silent. Various scenarios were running in Momoyo's head right now. I wanted to let her speak first. Eventually she opened her mouth.

"How…?"

"Hmm? What's that supposed to mean?"

"How is this possible? How are you still alive?"

At first Momoyo still doubted me. But I described past situation from life back on Earth. In the end she acknowledged me.

"It's quite simple. After I died, I was reincarnated. Let me properly introduce myself. Rank 11, the Demon King of Insanity, Milla Walpurgis."

"But… you're a loli."

I puffed my cheeks like a child would.

"That's rather rude! I guess I'll give you a little taste, then!"

I wrapped my body with a magical aura. My crimson eyes started to glow. I released a bit of bloodlust and then, I let the magical pressure go wild.

Sweat started to cover Momoyo's body. Despair could be read on her face. The pressure was almost too much for her to handle.

Oops. Seems like she forgot to breathe. Maybe I overdid it. Better stop here for now.

"*Cough*... *gasp*"

"Do you believe me now?"

After she caught her breath she nodded.

"You really are who… you say."

After another pause, she continued.

"But wait! With this maybe we can stop the war. If you have such authority, talk to the other kings! Convince them to stop the invasion. Meet with the humans and make some form of piece treaty! Homura-kun, we can put an end to this and go home!"

Yare yare! There are so many things wrong with that statement. Sorry prez, but it's time for your wake up call.

"And why would I do any of that? Why would I want to negotiate with a bunch of murderers?"

"What do you mean?"

"The goblins weren't the ones that killed me. It was Ren. He stabbed me with his sword. And I don't recall the church ever telling us that they would send us home. Oh, and there is also the fact that the church is the one that started the war. You guys are the invaders. Do you really think I wanna talk with all those guys after all the shit they dragged me into?"

Momoyo fell silent. She analized Milla's sentence. She recalled the wound on Ryusei's chest. Even back then she felt it was strange since goblins didn't use blades. But she never imagined a fellow classmate would be able to do such a thing. She remembered the village she saw when she arrived to Xenovia. She remembered the peace. Could it really be so? Are the humans really the ones behind the war? Was everything a lie?

"I'll give you another piece of info. The church only sees us as pawns. And by the looks of it, they wanted to sacrifice you in this game. Why else would they send you with such a weak party? Honestly, if it was anyone else, I wouldn't be shocked, but you prez, should have seen the signs. Everyone was so caught up on playing hero that they blindly followed Ren and didn't bother to ask questions. I thought you at least would have a better judgement."

Momoyo trembled. Ryusei was right. She did have her doubts, but she ignored all the signs.

"Prez, they might regard you as a pawn, but in my eyes, you can be more. So I want to make you an offer."

Momoyo once again lifted her face and looked at the girl in front of her who was smiling innocently.

"I want you to serve under me! How about it?"