The Legend of the Flower Demon Lord

B3: Chapter5 - Where the Demon Lord/Princess Meets True Royalty

BOOK THREE

Chapter 5 – Where the Demon Lord/Princess Meets True Royalty

As the two continued their journey, they neared a large castle town. With the sun setting in the distance casting an orange glow over the sparkling white walls, the day neared its end and the need for rest arose.

"Shall we make an encampment here?"

"What do you mean, princess? There is a kingdom just ahead. Let us rest properly so that the journey ahead will be easier. Besides, how could I ask a princess to sleep in a tent?" The same easy smile as always adorned the hero's lips as he brushed the princess off with a chuckle. I'm the one who asked, though? Ellie could not help but think in exasperation that appeared as nothing more than deadpan and narrowed eyes on her beautiful features.

And so, against her will (Ellie really didn't like castle towns for some reason), they neared the gates on the gallant white horse that had turned black, and instead of showing some kind of identification, were breezily let through as the hero Tristan smiled with a "I'm the hero. Nice to meet you."

Just that?! You're really letting us in with that?! What kind of security does this kingdom have?! Ellie was momentarily shocked, but quickly decided it wasn't worth agonizing over, yawning as they headed deeper into the town. The hero behind her was happily humming as he held the reins. With a slightly annoyed glance back, she thought,Isn't he too close? Doesn't he think I'm a princess?

Then her eyes began to boredly take in their surroundings, looking for an inn. We should have gone in far enough to find a decent inn, right?

"Hey, isn't this far enough-"

"Nooope." His sing-song voice answered without even looking at her, staring ahead instead.

"..."

Whatever.

Yawning again, she decided not to care...she decided not to care, and yet?!

"Hey! Isn't this the castle gate?! What are we doing here?"

"All the kingdoms have told me that, as the hero, if I ever needed a place to rest, I just needed to stop by! And so here I aaaaam."

I looked back at him incredulously as we reached the inner castle gate, he smiled and said "I'm the hero. Nice to meet you" and we were, once again, breezily let through.

"The hero, huh? Welcome, welcome. Come right in." The guard had a very good-natured smile plastered across his face as indicated for us to pass through. ...Just what kind of power is this? Is it part of the system? It's weird, right? Right?? ...Well, it's not like we'll directly meet the royal family or anything. They'll probably just show us to some guest rooms...

Or so Ellie though, but... Why are we in the audience chambers?! With the king! ...Royalty knows each other, right? Ellie glanced at the elegantly smiling Tristan next to her, wondering if he would find out that she was, actually, not a princess at all, and whether she actually cared. And then...she started wondering if she should just grandly introduce herself as the Demon Lord once more and see his face fall in both shock and utter despair. What would be the best way to do so...? I'm sure the king would be shocked as well...Heh.

"Your smile is as bright as always, princess. So pretty." Flowers practically bloomed around the hero as he smiled with pure content, forgetting to even greet the king as we arrived before him.

Ellie decided to finally look around, judging the place with cold eyes. It's really inferior to my castle. In fact...I think this happened to be one of the ones I passed by, but decided was not good enough. Her eyes finally landed on the king, who quickly got up from his seat full of excitement.