The Demon King’s Hero Of Light - Volume 1 Chapter 166 166 A Glimmer In The Dark

“What happened?” asked the lion king in a low growl.

The other lions in the throne room had their eyes glued to him in absolute terror. None of them seemed to be able to move a muscle.

“I found them in one of the elven houses, chained in place where the elves were apparently experimenting and force breeding them,” explained Aella, with a grimace. She was glad the worse expected of her was fighting and killing.

“If any of these lions are brought out to my pride, I will kill them,” he growled, causing several to cower lower to the ground, despite the obvious pain it brought them.

“The cubs will be taken, and given to a proper mother, capable of caring for them, but if they exhibit any abnormal behavior, they will be killed as well.”

Aella raised an eyebrow as he sniffed in disdain, as if even the smell of them were distasteful to him. As far as she knew, it was.

“Very well, I didn’t want to make you angry if you found out they were killed without being informed the story behind them,” said Aella, moving towards the cubs as the disfigured mothers looked on in horror.

“Wash the cubs before you bring them, otherwise the new mothers won’t accept them. Take me back so I can make arrangements with the mother’s in milk.”

Aella nodded, returning to his side and teleporting him back before returning to the throne room.

“He seemed rather heartless,” said Seifer.

“What would you do with them?” asked Firion, moving towards the male lions with his dagger out. “They can’t move correctly, which means they can’t hunt for themselves. If they did somehow manage to find carrion to eat, then their lack of quick response would paint a target on their backs for every predator in the area. They aren’t good for anything here in the castle, except to eat up excessive amounts of our food, and their ill temper means they would most likely attack anyone who tried to befriend them.”

Aella nodded in agreement, moving towards another of the male lions, forming her own dagger. “It is showing them mercy to kill them. They can tell they aren’t worthy, even if they didn’t understand the lion king’s words. Look at them. Even if we were to take them and put them in a protected area, away from all dangers and with plenty of food, they would still die of depression. I certainly don’t have the time for them.”

“Then allow me to take them off your hands,” offered Seifer thoughtfully.

“I will not allow any more cruelty to them,” warned Aella with a frown.

“No, I was thinking about the nobles who don’t have much to do. If we allow them to ‘adopt’ lions to care for, that need specialty care, then we don’t have to worry about giving them the care they need, and some might survive and prosper, becoming the first of the bonded pairs in our kingdom. The other lions might look down on them, but it would give us a bargaining chip to gain respect from them in the future. After all, if we can pamper and take care of a useless lion, how much better could we do with a proper one?”

Aella thought about that. “Are the nobles getting into trouble with nothing to do? I thought that they would have their hands full since we just moved.”

“Actually, because we had homes built for everyone, and there’s plenty of things for everyone to do, there’s not really a lot of crime, or opportunities for the nobles to step in and ‘help’. So they’ve been getting a lot of gruff responses from the people whenever they try to get involved in anything,” explained Seifer. “I’ve had every house of the nobles requesting more guidance on what they should be doing since you’ve left.”

Looking down at the lion below her, she thought about just killing them and being done with them, but if they still had a chance, she would have to give it to them. She would want the same thing.

“Alright, but I want people watching them and making sure that they aren’t doing anything horrible. The first sign of cruelty and I want the maximum penalty laid on them as an example to keep the others in line. These are wild creatures that never experienced wild before. I want them to have a chance.”

“I figured you would have a soft spot for them,” sighed Firion, putting up his dagger and moving away from the lions.

“Why’s that?” asked Aella.

“Because you’re a wild animal too. It’s a beast thing,” he said, waving a hand as if she should understand.

“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed after a moment, nodding. “Keep the babies with the mother’s unless the mother seems not able to provide them with milk, then the baby is to be washed and delivered to the lions.”

“You mentioned that you would be back after you dealt with the people to the south of our last home. I thought you meant just the elves and dwarves, but you mentioned halflings and gnomes? How much longer do you think that will take?” asked Seifer with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Aella mused, peeking in her bag at the sleeping kitten. The magic of the bag seemed to already be working, as it looked much sleeker, with shiny fur and a full belly. She had hoped it would handle feeding the kitten and taking care of its bathroom duties, and it looked like it was.

“Will you at least be checking in with me more often? There’s been a few times I really needed you to answer some questions I had.”

“Oh? Like what?” she asked, looking up in curiosity.

“Nothing important any more, but if it happens again, I would appreciate you being around,” he said, almost sounding embarrassed that he couldn’t handle something.

“I’ll try, but when I’m trying to keep my abilities from them, it becomes very difficult.”

“Why try and keep them secret?” asked Firion. “You should flaunt them, so they don’t become suspicious of other abilities you might have.”

“Because as soon as they see I have unusual abilities, they immediately become suspicious of other abilities I might have,” responded Aella with a smile.

“It would think it would make them fear you, and thus easier to deal with,” said Firion with a shrug.

“They already fear me, because I’m a demon,” said Aella. “I fail to see what my abilities would add to that.”

“You would be surprised,” said Firion, leaving the throne room after touching his girlfriend’s shoulder in acknowledgement.

Seifer shook his head and said softly, “That guys deranged, and he still got a girl before me!”

“You didn’t get a girl during that first week after I left?” asked Aella in surprise.

“Uhh,” said Seifer, stepping back and averting his eyes. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Alright,” she said with a shrug, teleporting back to the elven lands.

The tree that used to belong to the elven noble was in the process of being cut down, and it looked like the entire city had turned out to watch. Elven workers were crawling all over it, with ropes to lower the branches as they were cut away. It didn’t even look like they had bothered to empty out any of the furniture.

“I heard there was a bas.e.m.e.nt in it,” whispered one of the onlookers in front of her to another elf.

“That’s horrible! Didn’t Lord Avalon know about the laws concerning those?” responded the elf without taking his eyes off the demolition.

“I heard there was an evil alter dedicated to another god down there, complete with blood splattered everywhere and the mutilated corpses of lions!” said the first elf, also not taking his eyes off the tree.

“That’s even worse that a bas.e.m.e.nt! His entire family and household will be put to death for that!” exclaimed the second elf.

“Did you guys hear about the lions?” asked another elf, stepping up beside them.

“Wheren’t they all taken by that demon king that the king was visiting? I hope he gets to the bottom of that! I don’t know how our kingdom is going to deal with losing them all!” said the first elf.

“I imagine the king is handling it as he should,” said the second.

“I heard the demon king is the one who found the alter in Lord Avalon’s estate, while Princess Daefina was searching his estate for captive lions,” said the third.

Aella studied the third elf before her, and decided he must have been one of the servants in the household, who must have escaped somehow, because no one should have known about that. Before she could reach out and grab him, her small kitten decided to make himself known, letting out a pitiful meow that drew that attention of all of the elves before her.

“I was wondering if any of you could show me to the royal palace?” she asked with a smile, patting her bag to calm the kitten. “I’m supposed to be meeting the princess.”