Flamme herself hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. At the outset, she had simply intended to scout the enemy's situation for her juniors. She had emerged from the Demon King's Castle, yes — but that was long ago, and no one knew what changes the Far North might have undergone since then.
After a thorough reconnaissance, she came away with quite a haul. After all... it was the first time even she had ever seen demons building houses on their own initiative — and not just one or two, but whole settlements of them.
Shortly after pressing deeper into the Far North, she located a cluster of demon activity. She had no intention of engaging them — she simply committed the location to memory and moved on.
But just as she was preparing to scout elsewhere, she stumbled across someone radiating an unusually large pool of mana. She concealed herself again immediately.
The figure was unmistakably Aura.
Even now, Flamme found it strange.
She knew this demon, of course — she had seen her at Fíliya's side before. Flamme had no particular interest in the demon race, but she certainly remembered a face once she'd seen it.
So what was a Greater Demon like Aura doing out here alone?
And more puzzling still — she had planted herself in front of a crowd of low-ranking demons busily constructing buildings and was lecturing them with an air of supreme self-importance. What was the point of that?
If a Greater Demon wanted the lower ranks to fall in line, all she had to do was demonstrate her power. Why go through the very human-sounding ritual of delivering a speech?
It seems that while I wasn't watching, this child Fíliya has brought some rather curious changes to the demon race.
The hypothesis formed quickly in Flamme's mind.
Demons forming settlements and building their own homes. A Greater Demon showing up in person to lecture them. Both were strange beyond measure.
And so Flamme made up her mind: she would capture this Aura first and sort out the details later.
She had no desire to disturb the demon settlement — though even if she did, she wasn't afraid of what that would bring. What concerned her was something else entirely: if too many demons were alerted, would that information somehow reach Fíliya?
After all... given that Fíliya had managed to summon demons scattered across the entire continent to her cause, she almost certainly possessed some means of communicating with other demons regardless of distance.
That meant she had to move fast, precise, and decisive — subduing the Greater Demon before she had any chance to react.
Was that even possible?
Flamme had boundless confidence in her own abilities, but... neutralizing a Greater Demon before she could so much as flinch was still a considerable challenge.
Even so, she decided to act.
She moved — and then... caught Aura with almost embarrassing ease. So easily, in fact, that Flamme herself could scarcely believe it.
The woman was already in her grip, and still wore a look of blank bewilderment — only belatedly triggering Gold Transformation Magic to encase herself, as if that counted as refusing to cooperate.
With nothing else to be done, Flamme brought the self-gilded Aura back to the subjugation party as she was.
——
"Oh my, Aura really wasn't paying attention, was she. And just like that, she's been caught."
Fíliya spoke from her throne with an air of theatrical regret, shaking her head as though deeply moved by the tragedy of it all.
But Solitär, seated beside her, was looking at her with undisguised suspicion.
"Don't tell me this was deliberate again. You knew perfectly well that the human subjugation force was closing in on the Far North — and you still sent Aura out to 'inspect' things."
Could anything be more suspicious than that? This one had stopped bothering to even pretend. She could survey every demon's situation from her throne without moving a muscle — and yet she had gone out of her way to send Aura out to observe the construction work.
And Aura — absolute fool that she was — hadn't noticed a single thing was off. She'd gone along without a second thought. Probably the moment she imagined all those low-ranking demons fawning over her and calling her "Lady Aura," she was already humming to herself in delight.
The more Solitär thought about it, the angrier she got. She fixed Fíliya with a venomous glare, seething at how this insufferable woman had fed Aura to the enemy and was now sitting there as if nothing had happened at all.
"Hmm? Did I? All I said at the time was that someone needed to go and inspect the demons' construction progress. Aura volunteered herself — in fact, she practically fought you for the privilege."
A sly smile began to spread across Fíliya's face.
Solitär blinked, and then cast her mind back to what had actually happened.
She had sensed something was wrong the moment Fíliya announced the task — which was precisely why she had stepped forward first.
[I dare you to throw me away too.]
That was exactly the sort of half-defiant, half-petulant spirit Solitär had brought to the moment.
When Solitär stepped up, a flash of genuine awkwardness had crossed Fíliya's face.
And then Aura had bounded forward, already talking.
"No, no — Solitär, you can't go. If you leave, what are we supposed to eat?"
Just recalling Aura's idiotic face in that moment made Solitär want to look away. She shook her head.
To make it worse, Tot had stood up right alongside her with a look of utter seriousness, chiming in his agreement.
"Right — eat — yes — what would we eat."
Absolutely hopeless, all of them.
And so it was that under Aura's vigorous lobbying, Fíliya had ultimately handed the inspection duties over to her.
Before leaving, Aura had cheerfully clapped Solitär on the shoulder and told her to "have a nice meal ready for when I get back."
Replaying that absurd scene in her head, Solitär could only think one thing.
Are these really humans?
Oh — no. None of them were human. Right.
Anyway. The real question now was:
What was this one scheming?
Solitär finally collected herself, and turned her glare back on Fíliya.
"Fine... I just happened to realize that Aura's existence is something of a problem. If she's on my side, then the numerical advantage the humans are so proud of becomes meaningless. No matter how many soldiers they send, as long as Aura is there, she could wipe out every mid- and low-tier fighter in an instant. That's not a good situation."
"So — in order to let the subjugation army feel free to surround me using their numbers — I've very thoughtfully sent Aura away."
"As for Aura's safety, don't worry about it. The subjugation party won't hurt her — they'll want to extract information first."
Solitär stared hard into Fíliya's eyes for a long moment, then let out a long, heavy sigh — the sigh of someone who had given up entirely.
She truly had no idea what to do with this Demon King who was single-mindedly paving the road for humanity.
Slowly, she walked to Fíliya's side. Slowly, she settled herself onto Fíliya's lap. As their eyes met, she reached up and curled her fingers into the collar of that infuriating woman's clothes.
Fíliya's expression remained perfectly calm. She was dressed today in the outfit Solitär had sewn for her — made to Fíliya's own specifications, which had insisted it be "cool" and include a "one-shoulder cape."
"I don't care what game you're playing... Don't forget what you promised me."
Solitär said it coldly.
"Of course. That one thing — I will never forget. Not ever."
A faint, quiet smile rested on Fíliya's face.
At that, Solitär released her grip with a helpless exhale, turned her face away, and stewed in sullen silence.
As for their agreement — it was, at its heart, quite simple.
Solitär could accept anything. Even if Fíliya truly intended to destroy the world, she would gladly serve as her accomplice.
There was only one thing she could not accept.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima
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