Running through an actual forest with Dyona in my arms wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be. Eena never seemed to struggle with carrying me, but Eena could also blast aside any obstacles before they became a problem. I was pretty strong, too, but not to the point of terraforming the land around me for an easier trip!

It was still a lot faster than letting Dyona walk, though. Or taking a horse, for that matter. The dense forest wasn’t really the best place for riding one in the dark even if I was using magic to light our way!

“I think they’re close!” I told Dyona as I ducked under yet another branch. “I smell burnt things!”

“It smells somewhat like my Lady Grell’s attempts at cooking,” Dyona replied. “We’re likely getting close. …Are you sure it was wise to leave the city? If the bird keeper was to send a letter during our absence…”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to go against ‘the Heroine,’” I replied. “At least he seemed pretty scared of me once he realized who I was… and between that and Grell being a duke’s daughter we should be able to keep him quiet for at least a little while.”

“We could have made that a guarantee if you’d left me behind to guard him,” Dyona pointed out.

“And leave you all worried about Grell? No way! It’s important to check on our loved ones!”

“That’s… I don’t… I mean…” Dyona trailed off, her cheeks a light red.

“Even if you don’t love her that way, you’re still travelling companions, aren’t you?” I pointed out. “You’ve been together so long it’s only natural to worry about each other, right? Which means we need to know they’re okay so we can do our best work on this end!”

“I… suppose I could concede that point…”

“Though if you do love her that way, I think you’d make a really cute couple!” I added, ducking under yet another branch. I’d honestly lost count of how many that was. It sort of made me envy Eena’s ability to just blast her way through everything… but that just meant I had to work harder to reach her and make sure she was ok!

Dyona didn’t reply right away. When she did speak it was so soft I almost missed it. “My Lady only cares for the strong. The weak have no place in her bed, let alone her heart.”

“There’s more than one kind of strength. I think the strength of your heart is actually the most important sort! I mean, anyone can get strong physically if they’re dedicated enough.”

“As much as I appreciate the concern, Heroine, I have no intention of fighting for my place by my Lady’s side. She’s already reliant upon me for her basic survival, after all. That’s more than enough for someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” I asked. I hadn’t thought Dyona would have self-confidence issues, but she was sounding an awful lot like Eena.

“A sadistic servant who wishes for nothing more than to watch her mistress writhe. Now if you don’t mind, I believe we’re drawing close to my Lady, and I would truly prefer that she not overhear this conversation.”

That… didn’t seem like a very healthy relationship dynamic to me! I didn’t say anything, though. Mostly because we broke into a clearing a moment later and had more pressing concerns to focus on. 

I guess clearing might not be the right word for it? I mean, it was an open space, for the most part, but only because a bunch of trees had been knocked over. Even those that were still upright were charred black, their foliage completely burnt away.

“Heroine?” Grell called from the center of the clearing. “And… Dyona? You’re… carrying… Dyona?”

The expression on Grell’s face looked pretty complicated for a moment, but then she gave us both a smile. “Ok then! Good to see you. Did you manage to stop any birds from being sent?”

“Any new ones, anyway!” I said. “They already sent out some requests for help with the dragon, though. I don’t think we’ll be able to hide what happened for long.” Not that anyone really seemed to know exactly what had happened. There were definitely rumors flying around about the dragon being knocked out of the sky by a winged figure, but a lot of people were saying that the Goddess must have sent an angel down to save them. At least one person must have spotted Eena, though - there’s no way they weren’t keeping an eye on the dragon as it came down, after all! That meant there was still a chance someone would connect my ‘traveling companion’ with the ‘winged figure’ that had fought the dragon.

There was something else bothering me for the moment, though… “Where’s Eena?”

“You mean the Demon Queen?” Grell asked pointedly. “She rode off on her pest dragon a while back.”

“Her… what dragon?” I asked.

“Do you mean pet?” Dyona asked at the same time.

I was pretty sure Eena didn’t have a dragon for a pet, though… and even if she did, she’d never call it down upon the city! I guess it never actually attacked anyone other than her, though, even if it did cause a panic…

“I know what I said,” Grell replied before I could think too deeply on the matter. “She said she was a pest. The dragon I wanted to punch… Give me back my dreams of valiant battle dammit! Ah, right… Jahara did promise I could arm wrestle her some day, so there’s that to look forward to I suppose.”

“Did she say where she was going?” I asked. “I thought the plan was for her to wait here for me?”

“She said something about having to go back to the tower.” Grell replied. “She said you should use the usual way to meet her there as soon as you could, saying you'd know what she meant. What did she mean, though?”

The teleportation circle! Maybe Eena had already teleported back? But… why had she gone back to the tower in the first place? Was she just moving the dragon away from the city? Was there some other meaning to it?

“Sorry, but I can’t tell you that! Did she say anything else?” 

“Not really,” Grell replied, shaking her head. “I mean, she arm wrestled me before leaving, which was cool and all - utterly destroyed me, by the way. Also the table. And the food. Totally worth it! Eena didn’t look very happy about it though. She looked pretty upset actually… Not sure why.”

“Upset?” Why would Eena be upset? What had happened during her fight with the dragon? She hadn’t gotten hurt, had she? Or maybe…?

No, focus! I wasn’t going to waste time worrying about potential problems when I could be working on definite solutions!

“I’m heading back to the city,” I declared. “Grell, can you carry Dyona this time? I’ll focus on clearing a path so that we can get back as quickly as possible!”

“Sure,” Grell agreed with a shrug. “Does this mean you knew Eena was the Demon Queen, though?”

“Eena’s the nicest, sweetest, most self-sacrificing person I know!” I replied, turning back to go the way we’d come. Thankfully I’d already made something of a path just getting here. “She’s really strong, too! But… she really hates herself more than anything… all of that’s way more important to me than her title!”

“But… Demon Queen?” Grell said, shooting Dyona a helpless glance. “Demon Queen equals bad, right?”

“I think the Heroine is claiming the situation to be a little more complicated than we thought,” Dyona replied.

“...Does that mean it’s okay for me to like her, too?”

Dyona nodded, which made me smile. I’d been ready to leap in for Eena’s defense, but it hadn’t been necessary.

“Come on!” I declared. “I want to see if Eena’s back yet!”

Eena was not back yet. Not even with how long it took Grell and I to run back to town. A lot of that was probably just her needing to travel to the tower, though - and I knew that! I knew it, but… I couldn’t help but worry.

“Maybe I should go check on her after all?” I asked myself, eyeing the teleportation circle. I wasn’t sure going to the tower unannounced was a good idea, even if Eena had asked for me to join her there. It seemed an especially bad idea since I wouldn’t be in a disguise… It wasn’t like I needed to even step off of the teleportation pad though, right? I could just take a quick peek into the room, apologize if I saw anything I shouldn’t, and come back again relieved that everything was ok! I mean, if nothing else, Abigail or Bailey would surely know what was going on, right?

With that in mind I took a deep breath, stepped up to the teleportation circle, and closed my eyes. That last part was sort of important, because I’d learned that seeing one scene suddenly transition to another could be pretty jarring.

“Lucy?!” a voice called out in surprise. “What are you doing back here?”

“Abigail?” I asked back, opening my eyes to see the succubus still in that same red dress I’d been admiring just an hour or so ago. “Do you know where Eena is?”

“Isn’t she with you?” Abigail asked, her brow furrowing as she frowned.

“She had to fight a dragon and something about that apparently led to her going back to the tower?”

“She fought a dragon?!” Abigail seemed upset for a moment before pressing her fingers against her forehead and letting out a deep sigh. “Of course she fought a dragon. This is Devilla we’re talking about. She doesn’t even know the meaning of staying out of trouble!”

“I think that’s a bit unfair… It’s not like Eena called the dragon to her, or anything! She was just fighting to protect the town!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Abigail muttered while waving me off. She let out another sigh. “I know, alright? It’s not like she goes looking for trouble or anything - she just cares. A little too much for her own good, sometimes…”

“Does that mean you haven’t seen her, though?” I asked. “Since you didn’t know she fought a dragon, and all.”

“I haven’t,” Abigail confirmed. “Haven’t heard any news either other than something about someone making a mess in the kitchen, but that doesn’t really sound like Devilla. Either she hasn’t made it back here, or she didn’t make much of a scene…”

“Queen back.” A new voice came from the opposite side of the room from me. Slowly a figure rose up, her dark black hair tumbling down over her shoulders as she moved, her red horn almost seeming to glisten in the light.

“Bailey?” I knew she could take a humanoid form, but for most of the time we’d been together she hadn’t been in it.

She nodded, thankfully. “Queen return little bit back. Came with red dragon woman. Queen sent Dragon to kitchen, then went somewhere else… not sure where. Was sleepy and Queen seemed too busy for play…”

“Did you have any idea where she might have gone?” I asked. Bailey shook her head, but Abigail frowned.

“I don’t know either,” she admitted, “but I know someone who might. Nobody keeps a better track of what’s going on in the castle than her…”

“Is it Chloe?” I guessed.

“Okay, nobody except maybe Chloe keeps better track. The person we’re going to see is a lot less pleasant to be around, but I don’t think we have much choice if we want to know what’s going on.”

“We could try asking Chloe?” I suggested. “I mean, the person you’re talking about doesn’t sound like someone we should be asking favors from.”

“I don’t know where Chloe is,” Abigail replied. “I do know where to find Sylvanna. That’s assuming she’ll even let us in without an appointment, though.”

“We could also just wait for Eena?” I pointed out. “Maybe she has everything under control?”

“Maybe,” Abigail admitted. “But do you really want to risk it? We both know Devilla isn’t the sort to volunteer information on her problems, even if she will give it up when asked. If she’s actually in trouble, she’s probably going to try and figure everything out for herself without even thinking about involving the people who care about her.”

“I guess that’s true,” I admitted, thinking back on my time with Eena. When it came to physical threats, I was sure she could handle just about everything! When it came to internal issues, though… It was less that she didn’t want to involve other people, and more like she didn’t seem to realize that her problems were truly ‘problems’ to begin with! Whatever she went through, she’d just say it was something she deserved.

“Look, you can go back and wait in the inn if you want to,” Abigail told me, “but I for one am going to go hunt Sylvanna down. Are you with me, or not?”

There was only one possible answer I could give! 

“Of course!”

Getting to see Sylvanna, thankfully, wasn’t much of a problem. Her assistant let us right in! She did give me an odd look even though I’d gone through the trouble of changing out of my armor, and back into my date outfit. I guess looking like a normal human really did stand out around here… The General didn’t look very happy to see us, either.

“Well, if it isn’t Devilla’s little girlfriend, pet, and… whoever the hell you are,” Sylvanna drawled, looking over each of us in turn. “Let me guess. You’re here to berate me over being mean to Devilla when she was down, or something?”

Bailey - currently in wolf form - growled at the slime woman, but Abigail held up a hand to stop her.

“We’re here to find out where she is now,” Abigail said through gritted teeth. “And it sounds a hell of a lot like you know where she would be.”

“No clue,” Sylvanna replied, shrugging her slimy shoulders. Normally I’d want to marvel at that since I’d never met anyone made of slime before, but at the moment I was a little too focused! “She asked me about Doll, I gave her some ragged old stuffed rabbit, and then she took off.”

“A rabbit?” Abigail asked.

“I think she told me about this!” I volunteered. “She said she had a stuffed rabbit when she was little! Her mom gave it to her.”

“Queen Grimmilla, huh?” Abigail asked. “I think I know where we need to go next… it’s also the one place maids aren’t allowed to go.”

“I’m sure Eena will make an exception!”

“Let’s hope she isn’t actually there and doesn’t actually need to,” Abigail replied, her tail slicing through the air. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

“Some thanks would be nice, you know!” Sylvanna called out after us. “I mean, I help and I help and this is the thanks I get?”

I pivoted as we left, making sure to give Sylvanna a great big wave. “Thanks!” 

I’m pretty sure Abigail was rolling her eyes as she looked at me. I knew why, too - Sylvanna was supposedly super mean to Eena, even if Eena herself would never put it that way. Still, that was that, and this was this! She’d given us a clue to help find her and showing appreciation for that was important! At the same time, now that I’d given thanks, I could put the slime girl out of my mind and focus entirely on finding Eena! 

“Don’t worry, Eena,” I whispered to myself. “We’ll find you soon!”

“Eena!” came a voice - Lucy’s voice. In my shock, however, I failed to fully register it. I was too focused on her outfit. The casual red top and short black skirt, shorter than anything I’d ever seen her in. The snow white sun hat that covered her head, large enough to potentially be covering a pair of animal ears if one did not know better. Her actual ears were hidden by her hair, meanwhile. Not that the disguise really did anything to hide her from me - it was just…

“You’re wearing casual clothes?”

“Uh-huh!” she declared, running through the door to scoop me up into a hug. For once outside of the bed I could actually feel the softness of her skin as she embraced me, the warmth of her touch and the heat of my own embarrassment as she spun me around while squeezing me tight. “It’s what I wore for my date with Abigail!”

“What are… what are you doing here?” I asked, confused. “You’re… I thought I told Grell you could wait for me rather than rushing over here?”

“I got worried, and she made it sound like you were really upset,” Lucy confessed, slowing her spin to a stop and allowing my feet to once more touch the ground before finally parting from me. “Maybe I shouldn’t have? I mean, it’s not like I don’t trust you or anything! It’s just… you’re the sort to try and face everything all on your own, even when there’s people who really want to help!”

“People like us,” Abigail remarked, walking in next. Bailey, who followed, nodded as well. 

“This is highly irregular,” Doll declared, frowning at my friends. My girlfriends… and Bailey. “Traditionally, only I and the current Demon Queen are allowed to enter this space.”

“Yes, well, traditionally Demon Queens have apparently been little more than puppets for our ancestor, have we not? Perhaps it’s time things started changing.”

“Wait,” Abigail said. “Wait wait wait… could you repeat that for me? Demon Queens are what traditionally?!”

“The were slaves,” Doll answered, her voice as cold and flat as always despite the dramatic nature of her words. “To put it in the simplest terms. They were bound by an ancient geas put in place by Luci, disguised as the Rite of Insight. Those who take it are forced to take their place in an ancient play, a comically cruel charade of blood and death in which the Demon Queen leads our forces to their slow but inevitable demise, with them blind to the truth of their situation.”

“Apparently my mother, and all those before her, were forced to fight and allow themselves to die at the hands of the Heroines.”

“Huh?” Lucy asked.

“It’s all a lie, Lucy,” I told her, my voice almost a whisper. “Heroines and Demon Queens? Humans versus Demons? It’s all some kind of deranged scheme… Something engineered by the supposedly ‘fallen angel’ we demons have always looked up to. The true leader of Heaven. Your namesake, Luci.”

“That’s…” Lucy frowned. “Okay, that sounds really bad! But I’m sure the Goddess-”

“The Goddess has been gone for over two thousand years,” Doll declared. “I was there when she left.”

My head snapped around towards Doll. “What…?”

“Where did you think I came from?” she asked, frowning at me. “I am an artificial servant, initially created by the Goddess to serve Luci, her head angel. Though I was far from sentient at the time, I was nevertheless alive the day the Goddess left the divine realms behind. Although I cannot say I personally witnessed the departure, I was present as Luci cried and cursed extensively about her leaving. I believe her destination was… some kind of coding bootcamp?”

“Coding…” I paled. “As in, for a video game?!”What did that mean? Was this, in truth, a video game? Was my entire life nothing more than digital data on someone’s computer?

Thankfully, Doll shook her head. “Divine Magic is often routed through something similar to the Earthen construct known as a computer. Rather than depending purely upon the imagination of the caster, it is more reliable to to program the exact results you wish to see from your spell ahead of time. Holy and unholy magic are the same, for the record - your spells are both preprogrammed features activated by a password system, just powered by different energy sources.”

“Unholy magic?” Abigail piped up. “Like… the stuff my ancestors used to wield?”

“Indeed,” Doll agreed, nodding. “Unholy magic, also known as negative-aligned holy energy, is utilized by the demons of Hell, likely to this day. We are, however, getting wildly off topic.”

 “Well, perhaps I’d rather be off topic than actually confront the things you’re saying,” I confessed with a frown. I had to stop myself from asking Lucy to hold me again. “Such as the fact that my Mother was forced to sacrifice herself to the Heroine by one I once revered…”

“Yeah, that’s… pretty hard to process,” Abigail admitted. “And I’m not even directly involved.”

Lucy… didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then… “Does that mean I… wasn’t picked by the Goddess?”

“You were likely chosen by Luci herself,” Doll informed us. “A girl who would not exist without Grimmilla’s intervention, chosen to kill Grimmilla’s daughter? The mixture of sadistic irony and cruel pettiness was likely irresistible to her. I would not be surprised if Grimmilla was even forced to watch it happen.”

“Wait,” I said. “You know who Lucy is?”

“Of course. Do you think that the tower would lack the ability to detect a Heroine entering? You are lucky I suppressed the alarm before it could activate this and all the other times you brought her here. Though as to why you, of all people, would bring a Heroine to your room I could not initially understand - it was only when I saw you two hugging and talking peacefully together that I finally allowed myself to believe you had truly escaped the geas.”

“Wait…” Lucy started speaking before pausing. She seemed shaken. “You’re saying… I was only chosen to be the Heroine… to hurt Eena’s mom by killing Eena?”

~~~

Author's Notes

So, I originally wanted to do a joke chapter 69 on April 1st – I mean, the timing was just too good to pass up – unfortunately, depression struck really bad over the last couple days and I wasn’t even able to muster up a token effort in the end… alas, it seems you’ll be spared my bad humor, and will instead have to settle for the real chapter 69 instead. Oh well!

In other news, I wanted to keep this chapter going a bit longer, but… well, I really needed to change PoV, and the easiest way to do that was to end the chapter and start a new one! I think you’ll all agree that the next bit needs to come through Lucy’s eyes, after all, or it just wouldn’t feel right.

For the eager, I have written up to chapter 73 on Patreon, already, meaning that you can see how all this ends, and I'm working on 74. It's all admittedly unedited, but I've also written up to chapter 20 of Naughty Magic, and chapter 16 of Hatching a Heroine, my singular SFW series.

Many thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for the editing! As well as the title suggestion. If you're ever curious about what sort of difference it makes, just read NM or HaH and see for yourself~! The former's been at least... partially posted on site. I need to put up more, actually...