Royal Life Of A Broken Demoness - Chapter 20

Wow, was this travel still not over?

Tap, tap, tap, the rhythm made me feel like dancing.

It felt like I’ve been traveling for my whole life, it had gotten really boring.

I’d already seen everything, and another event would seem repetitive. Now that so much stuff had already happened on my first trip, what was I supposed to do on the following ones?

However I admit, the idyllic scenery was very calming.

Tap, tap, tap, the sound kept resounding in my ear.

If riding a horse was already bad, then this situation right now was pratically unbearable. Not only was the person currently carrying me physically weak, he also had to take a break every twenty minutes or something. The position was really uncomfortable too.

Tap, tap, tap, god damn it, shut the hell up.

“Are we still not there yet?”

“No, you asked me this ten minutes ago, already.”

I pushed my lower lip forward in an effort to express my annoyance, and pulled his hair, “I don’t wanna go on anymore, why are you so slow.”

“Ah, I’m falling, I’m falling,” he exclaimed, while trying to keep his balance. Since I didn’t want to fall and die, I unwillingly let go, but he won’t get rid of my pouting face.

Again there was only silence between us. Not complete silence, though. The sound of his footsteps kept repeating itself, in an effort to drive me insane.

To survive this ordeal, I had to divert my attention, which is why I asked him to tell me something interesting.

“Sigh, even if you say so, I don’t know what to say,” he replied with no motivation, so I tightened my grip around his neck, “alright, alright, I’ll think of something, ah, stop doing that, we’ll both fall!”

My plea seemed to have gotten through to him.

“Is there anything in particular that you want to hear?”

Hmm, there was a lot, I don’t know where to begin.

“Why don’t you tell me something about the world,” I asked, but judging from his confused face, that question was to broad, “can you tell me something about the neighboring places then?”

“Sure, but I doubt, I’d know more about them than you.”

No, I’m pretty sure you do.

He continued, “hmm, since there isn’t anything substantial I could tell you, why don’t I tell you about the experiences I had while traveling, I have a story which you might find interesting,” not waiting for an answer, he chattered away, “but let me warn you, it’s spooky,” he shivered, and then stared at me, “well, I think you will handle it quite well,” he added after a short pause.

This rude person just thought I was spooky too.

“Anyways, have you ever travelled to the north?”

I shook my head, causing my still hair to float in the air and make a spiral.

“It’s really different there. Not only is it colder, but it feels eerier too. When the first snowflakes falls, indicating the beginning of winter, then soon every place turns crystalline white. The cities would be frozen in time, and look like a ghosttown. You’d hear nothing at all, no one walking, no one talking, no one stalking. Blasting winds and flaggellating snowstorms are the norm. The blanched skies would be indistinguishable from the bleached snow,” he recounted, not realizing that he was enarmored by his own story.

With a low voice, he began narrating, “it was a long time ago since I’ve been there. I’ve been to the far, far north. When I was there, the storm had already caught my group. Without any warning, it appeared snarling and chewing, swallowing us whole. It brought not only a cold from the depths of hell, but also a gentle coat, covering our vision. If not for the sound of crunched snow, and chattering teeth leading the way, I would have never made it out alive,” he took a deep breath.

“Like arrows made out of ice, the hailstorm kept barraging my stiff body. It did not take long, until I couldn’t feel my hands and feet anymore. The whole time, I blocked my face with my arms, in an effort to minimize the frigidness I felt, but it was no use. At most, we could only walk faster, in an effort to reach the exit a day sooner. Watching over us was only ghastly orb hanging in the sky, resembling a soul flickering in the afterlife.”

His vivid tale made me feel as if I myself was dropped into the razing tempest, and made me think the loose garments I was wearing were not enough, to battle this weather I was in.

“It’s hard to imagine, in this high summer we are in right now,” I told him.

“It really is. You should be happy to live in a place like this. Never again do I want to go there,” he walked with grim steps, “but that’s not really the point I was trying to make.”

A small rabbit had unknowingly passed by us and hid behind a tree.

“An hour passed, and we hadn’t found our way out. We kept on marching through the snow. Another hour passed, and the only thing we saw were a frozen lake and mountain chains encasing it. After another two hours passed, and seeing the hellfire had no intention of letting us go, I began to lose hope of ever seeing the sun again. Just as I had accepted my resting spot, a dim fire hidden behind endless shades of white creeped from the distance.”

Without realizing it, I too had been engrossed by his story and even the way he held me didn’t feel as uncomfortable anymore. The sun, shone it’s rays on us, while we kept a steady pace.

“Really, a fire? In that weather, are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Without a doubt. Because as we made our way towards us, the hazy fire grew bigger and more detailed. As we finally reached the destination, the sheer shock by what I was witnessing made me freeze on the spot. You would never believe how incredulous the scene before my eyes was.”

“Enough chitchatting, just get on with, what did you see,” I choked him again.

He gripped my arms in an effort to get rid of, but lost his footing, “a town, a town, we saw a town,” he screamed, “ah, please let go.”

Stunned by his declaration, I undid the pressure around his neck and leaned forward to stare at his face, “for real?”

“Yes, why would I lie? I was as astonished as you are. In the eye of the hurricane was actually a small town peacefully living it’s life. We stood there dazedly gazing at the surreal occurrence before us, only after some people passed us, did we realize the situation and began walking around. The town, well, it was just a normal town, it even had an inn and a plaza, if not for it being shrouded in a hailstorm, I would have never noticed anything different. In the end, we found a lodging and stayed at the place,” he paused and started contemplating, “you want to know what the store owner said when I asked him how they lived in the storm?”

“What did he say?”

“There is no storm.”

Oh, I felt a shiver run down my spine. Intrigued, I asked, “and the others? What did the other townsfolk say?”

“We didn’t talk to them. To be honest, they were very unwelcoming, acting like we weren’t even there.”

“Che, how boring.”

“But I haven’t even gotten to the best part, yet,” his eyes sparkled, “after a good rest, we set out again, braving through the storm and after many hardships, we finally arrived at our destination.”

“So, you left the town?”

“Yes, we did.”

“Then isn’t the story over?”

He smiled, “no, because after we have accomplished what we had to do, we went back, using the same route,” he began walking slower, “but no matter how we searched, the peaceful town was gone, nothing was left,” he laughed, “it disappeared just like that. The only thing there were ruins and broken foundations. Not a single life could be seen. Say, do you find it scary?”

“Rather than scary, I find it interesting.”

“Oh,” his face turned livid, “I should have known that this would be your reaction.”

Hey, what kind of image do I have in his mind.

I tried changing the topic, “I mean, the story did certainly pass some time, but my question was more about the neighboring countries.”

“Ah, why didn’t you say so from the beginning,” he called out, as if I had done him great injustice, “I do have something that could interest you though.”

“Is it another ghost story?”

“No it’s about something else. Have you ever heard of the Randes Empire?”

Hmmm, that name actually rings a bell. What was it.

Oh, I remember the citizens briefly mentioning it in the plaza I bought a potato from.

“Yes I have, but I don’t know much about it.”

“Got it. Well, the Randes Empire, how do I say it. It’s just a giant military base. The current ruler is a war monger. Not a lot of people know this, but I’ve seen the state it is in.”

“Now that really is something interesting.”

“It describes itself as a self-reliant autonomous country. That’s not really the case, though. The truth is that the famine which has hit many countries, was especially hard on them. Many have suffered due to the food shortage. There’s also the inequality between the aristocracy and the lower class. Honestly it’s a mess. Not even the church wants anything to do with them.”

“How do they survive then?”

“Military might and no outside intervention. The emperors words are absolute there. As long as the nobles and him have no plans on changing anything, there’s nothing really that can be done. It’s been like this since a long time already,” he gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes.

“So why are you telling me this?”

“That’s a good question, let’s take a break and I’ll show you,” he replied and happily put me down.

A he got me there.

He softly placed me on the ground, and I felt the warm earth soothing my wounds. The blue sky was reflected in my eyes, and in the periphery were some farmlands and a small forest.

I watched the boy rummaging through his small bag, in hopes of finding something. After a while, he shouted, “got it,” and took out some crumpled paper, “here it is,” he kept shouting.

“what’s that?”

He smiled, “those are pages from a book.”

“Is that what you wanted to show me? A book?”

“No, no, no. It’s not any book. It’s written by an author from the Randes Empire. Do you know how rare it is for them to publish anything at all? It’s an iron fortress when it comes to entertainment, and it’s a book no less. Too bad I only have a few pages left.”

Seeing his enthusiasm, I too, began to feel a little bit excited, “so, what’s it about?”

“take a look for yourself,” he told me, not knowing that I don’t can’t read. Oh, the shame.

“just tell me what it’s called and what it is about.”

“Okay then, the name is <god’s correction=””>, it’s a scientific book,” he told me with a smile. So it wasn’t fiction.</god’s>

“An evolutional perspective, it says how everything in the universe has definite laws and can be deduced with rationality. How god has not made a flawed creation governed by chaos, but that every detail has been planned. Only by using reason, can one determine what is true and what isn’t. It then goes on about the idea of gravity and the planetary motion,” he explained.

As if I was struck by a sudden bolt of lightning, my body jolted, “wait a minute, what did you say?” My hands began trembling and a smile wanted to form in my face, but I used all my strength to hold it back. To confirm my conjecture, I asked him, “when was the book written?”

Perplexed by my reaction, he answered “almost 6 years ago,” in a slow voice.

6 years, that time. It should be possible. Wow, I really felt like laughing. Haha, I did end up laughing, and what a joke it was.

Rationality and Reason. Also there’s the famine, and the distrust towards the monarchy. Such beautiful key words, for a beautiful era. It was like music to my ears.

Oh, I couldn’t hold the smile back. But don’t blame me, it’s just too funny.

I turned my head towards him, “you said the monarchy will hold onto it’s power for a long time, right?”

“Yes, I believe that’s the case.”

“I think that you are wrong,” I added a pause for dramatic effect, “I think that this will be their last regime.”

Stunned by my declaration, he didn’t know how to react and only blankly stared at me. Seeing that he wouldn’t budge, I told him the break was over and that we should start moving.

The smile wouldn’t leave my face. That there would be such a coincidence. I had to confirm it.

Now I really want to go to the Empire. Who knows, maybe he’ll bring me there.