A Talk With The King

Kies caught up with Ammine who seemed like she was in a bad mood. "You don't look well," Kies noted. Even though this was how she normally acted, Kies felt that Ammine was a bit more on edge today.

"None of your concern," Ammine said in an aloof voice.

Ammine really did sound more pissed off than usual. Kies didn't know what happened but he had the feeling that he probably shouldn't pry into it. Ammine led Kies back to the castle where he had met Tornon yesterday and told Kies to go in and then left in a hurry. It looked like she had something important to do.

The guards let Kies into the building and he walked down the halls by himself. Since Ammine wasn't here this time, he had more time to admire the decorations. Interestingly enough, Kies found that there was a new skull in the hallway. The skull had no dust and was a clean shade of white. The beast that it belonged to was likely just recently killed.

Kies reached the end of the hallway and knocked on the large door.

"Come in," came Tornon's voice from the other side. Kies opened the door and found the demon king sitting on the throne with his legs crossed and his head leaning against one of his arms. "What took you so long?" he asked. "Do Aeos sleep a lot or something?" Unlike yesterday, the tone in which Tornon talked to Kies sounded more towards the boring side than demanding.

"I got lost and I accidentally wandered upon a village and they thought I was a human," Kies explained.

Tornon laughed and told Kies, "They already knew that you weren't human. I had already informed them of you. They just wanted to test your power for themselves to see if you were worth it."

"What do you mean?" asked Kies. What did the Tornon mean by if he was worth it?

"Well, you see..." Tornon's voice suddenly turned cold. "We lost three of our demons trying to retrieve you. Many of us are not very happy about that."

Kies looked at Tornon with a confused expression. The only demon that he saw yesterday was Ammine. There were other demons there as well? "That look you're giving me, it seems like you didn't know," Tornon said. "Well, forget it. It's mainly my fault for sending such a small team. Anyway, how was it?"

"How was what?"

"The fight."

"Oh, uh, I-" Kies paused for a moment to think of how to respond. He had been overpowered by the demon and the most he was able to do to him was anger him by breaking his horn. "I lost?" He didn't know how else he would put it and so he chose the simplest answer.

Tornon tapped her finger against his head and said, "Well, that's to be expected. You fought with one of our strongest guys."

"Oh by the way," Kies remembered that after he had blown off the demon's horn, another demon had used some magic to reattach it. "What happened to your horn? Couldn't you reattach it?" He was curious as to why Tornon had a missing horn.

"Hm? Yes I can, but why are you-" Tornon stopped for a second before laughing. "You broke his horn!?" Tornon continued to laugh for some time before he calmed down. "Not bad, though I would say you need to watch your back from now on. We demons are very prideful when it comes to our horns."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. So about my question-"

"Ah yes, my horn was destroyed by a human. He sneaked up on me and used some sort of light magic. I wasn't able to avoid it completely and it disintegrated my horn. Of course, I ripped him to shreds right after."

"Oh sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's fine. It was a long time ago and I really don't care much about it anymore. It is mostly the younger demons that really care about their horns." Tornon said, interrupting Kies again.

"I see, and about Ammine..." Kies was curious as to why Ammine was moodier than usual today. Maybe Tornon knew something about it.

"What about her?"

"Um, she's different today."

"Hm, I don't know. Now that you mention it, I saw bags under her eyes and I think I also heard her say something about wanting to strangle owls. I mean is that even possible? I don't think owls have necks. Well, considering a demon's strength, maybe it is possible to strangle one..." Tornon continued to talk nonsense and Kies just stood there listening, unsure of what to do or say. He definitely hadn't expected the demon king to be so talkative. After a few minutes or so, he asked Kies, "So, what do you think?"

Kies responded with an exaggerated, "Uhhhh." Kies hadn't been paying attention to what Tornon had been saying and figured that they were still talking about Ammine. "I guess Ammine is just tired because she didn't get enough sleep?" he told him.

"No, we got that clear. What I mean is do you think it is possible to strangle an owl?"

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