Summoned to a Shattered World

Birthright Chapter 5 - A Heartfelt Discourse

I took a deep breath and steeled myself. This was it, time for me to lay out my objections in an honest and forthright manner. "This is bullshit."

The Demon Lord crossed her arms and glared at me. "What is?"

"Everything. Being dragged into this world against my will, bound to serve someone who is, if you'll pardon my French, fucking evil. As a matter of fact, your whole world seems like bullshit." I gestured to the world around me. "You sacrificed a whole bunch of people just to kidnap some random idiot and force him to help you with this succession crap? Why would anyone want to live in a world like this?" Full of righteous anger, I felt surprisingly confident even in the face of the withering look the little demon was giving me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry that it's not convenient for you. Do you think I wanted to summon someone as useless as you? No, of course not. But now we're stuck with each other. So whatever stupid complaints you have, I suggest you learn to live with your new situation."

"I refuse."

"What? You can't refuse."

"I can so, and I am. These conditions are simply unacceptable. You may think I'm being unreasonable, but quite frankly this whole situation is unreasonable. From what you've said, what you're intending to do is extremely dangerous and I don't think there's even the slightest chance of success if we don't work together. So, unless you intend to control me every step of the way, we need to talk."

I expected her to yell at me. To control me or, attack me. Instead, with a heavy sigh, she sat down in the only available chair and stared at me appraisingly for a few moments before speaking. "Fine, let's talk. What is you want?"

"Is there any chance you could release me and send me back to my own world?"

"No. Even if I wanted to, I can't send you back or release you."

I'd expected as much, though it was hard to say if she was telling the truth. "Is there anyone that can?"

"Maybe, but no one I've ever heard of."

"Fine, then we'll forget about that for now." It had been a long shot anyway. "Why is this succession, or whatever, so important to you? Can't you just do something else with your life?"

"I will not forsake everything my father built. And no, there's not really anything else I could do. I doubt any of the other holds would take me in, and if we stay in my old domain, then my uncle will catch me sooner or later."

"Do we really have to move against him so soon? Can't you at least wait until there's an opportunity or you find more allies?" There had to be a better way of doing this.

"I wish I could, but the longer we wait the more entrenched his position becomes. This is probably the best opportunity we're going to get, before his control over the region solidifies."

This wasn't going well, but at least she was open to talking. That was probably the only promising thing about the situation right now. "Fine, if we're going to do this then I have a few conditions. First of all, no more of this mind control shit. You got that?"

She had the grace to look a little ashamed. "Fine. What else?"

"No more killing humans."

"What if they attack us?"

I pondered for a few moments, she probably wasn't going to accept if I pushed for too much. "Okay, you can kill them only if they attack you." That should rule out most civilians at least.

"Done."

"I also want to be consulted on decisions. I don't know much about this place, so I don't know how advice I'll be able to give but I'd at least like to have my opinion respected."