Boku to Maoh: Blue Demon
by Syrenia
Chapter Eight - To Hatch A Plot
One week later, Navy had agreed to meet Stan on the bridge again, almost to it as he stood there, looking into the water.
Hearing her approach, he turned to her, the two silent awhile before either one said a word, Stan the first to break the silence.
"I didn't think you'd come," he admitted, surprised that she had.
She looked at him, kind of surprised to hear such a thing.
The woman questioned, "Why wouldn't I?"
He looked at her, her face honest, "I thought this sort of kinship I felt may have been my imagination."
"Funny," she said, Stan listening, "I felt the same thing."
He smiled, feeling so contented to be near a specific human for the first time. The feeling was somehow frightening, even to an Evil King.
In turn, she felt odd to be so at ease in the presence of an evil being, but she nevertheless felt fine.
She spoke, bringing up a topic, "So tell me... about what evil you've accomplished and the like."
"You really want to know?" he asked, somewhat surprised.
"Of course," she returned, confused as to why she wouldn't be curious about such a thing. "It's not as though I'm on the side of good, you know."
He smiled, genuinely, wondering idly if she was at all on the side of evil, though he didn't dare ask.
He didn't want this sort of friendship, though a rocky and strange one, to end so soon.
Keeping his curiosity to himself for now, he told her of what he'd done and the journey he'd taken with Ari and the rest, explaining how Ari had become his slave.
After telling her the tale of his adventure with Ari, and even a hero, Stan saw she wasn't bored, to his surprise.
"So I parted ways with my slave to make my name stand out and gain a reputation on my own," he explained to the woman. "It wasn't easy, but soon the world feared me, and it still does. Just not enough as of yet, though I'm getting there."
He refrained from speaking of that damned Black Cat woman, not wanting to ruin his good mood, a mood unusual for him.
"You really defeated them all and saved the world? Huh."
He felt foolish, an Evil King saving the world by fighting evil, but she continued thoughtfully, "That's amazing... Most evil I know would just destroy the world instead. But you saved it anyway, which is a refreshing twist."
Stan wondered what she meant, Navy going on before he could ask.
"You saved the world and now you're going to rule it," she said, then huffed a laugh. "I think the world should be yours anyway as you even bothered to save the worthless place, but those idiot humans wouldn't get that logic... Pathetic rats."
He smiled, "You seem to believe I'll rule."
"Hm? Why wouldn't you?"
She gave a puzzled look, the honesty in her expression met with a smile, Stan's ego inflated, but suppressed.
"I could fail," he said, looking down into the water.
For reasons he couldn't quite explain, he didn't mind showing a side of himself none had seen to her; it was a side that wasn't so sure of himself. Perhaps it was because she came from another world, or possibly that he felt such kinship to her. Regardless, he allowed doubt to show through to this human.
"Fail?" she echoed, surprised. "The humans are idiots. They're simply small steps to reaching your goal... It takes a while because of the damn press being so annoyingly stupid, but once word spreads, it's easier to commence total subjugation... If they already fear you before you strike, the fight is already half-way won."
He huffed a laugh, "By now I'd forgotten that was my strategy."
"Well, I'll be around to remind you when needed," she offered. "Doesn't seem like I'm going home any time soon. Heh."
Normally, he would have taken offense, but from her it seemed simply strategically beneficial.
"I have more problems than that," he confided.
"Such as?" she asked, Stan still looking into the water.
"I need to decide just what changes I'll enforce once I rule this world and how to secure my place as ruler, to name a few."
Nodding, Navy thought a moment, "Sounds like a bridge to cross when the time comes to me."
Silently, he agreed, both looking into the water...
Four weeks later, once again, the two were meeting, Stan waiting at the bridge for her to show.
'I wonder if she decided not come,' he thought, leaning against the railing with his hands in his pockets.
He huffed a laugh, thinking it likely she'd decided he was some kind of failure, considering he still talked to her while he could be out doing evil.
Just about to leave the spot, a familiar voice called out from not too far away, Stan looking up to see her wave.
"Hey!" Navy shouted, jogging up to him. "Sorry I'm late; you wouldn't believe how many stupid ghosts kept attacking me... Damn things are like weeds today."
Coming to a stop, she stood, dusting off her clothes, "I knew I should've brought my weapon..."
"You're running around unarmed?" Stan asked out of disbelief.
"Well," she said, trying to explain, "the thing was getting so old I had to get rid of it and I'm not exactly rich, you know."
"Well what do you intend to do?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"I've been finding money on monsters, so I assume I'll just keep fighting until I get enough sukels to afford something better than this stupid stick," she said, motioning towards it, holding it in her hand.
He huffed and shook his head a bit, Navy not noticing as she looked at the so-called weapon with a sigh.
She knew carrying around her cat claws wouldn't be a wise decision, thus refraining from it, but her spare weapon, a crappy old sword, was no longer fit for function. Having tossed it back in Madril, she went off to find another sword, but found none in her price range that weren't sorry excuses for steel.
She didn't want to waste her money on a weapon just as bad as her last, but she couldn't run around holding the Black Cat's weapons either, making her situation rather tight.
Looking at her stick, she smirked, "Fuck, I need some money..."
Stan laughed a bit, moving away from the bridge's railing with a firm push.
He spoke up in a proud tone, "Then let me demonstrate my powers to you."
She looked up, Stan walking past her, "Shall we?"
"Lead the way, O Evil One," she replied with a grin.
Following him until they ran into a large group of monsters, she wondered just how powerful he indeed was, shocked to see every monster incinerated by a simple gesture of his hand.
"Wow," she whispered, Stan grinning with his back still to her, though he slightly looked behind himself.
"Mere child's play," he assured the brunette.
Gathering the money left behind, she added it to her budget, "Uhm... Let's see here... One hundred thirty-eight sukels total."
"That's all?" he asked, once again somewhat surprised by this strange human.
"Yep," she said with a nod, looking kind of pitiful.
"Then let's continue," he said with grin. "I certainly enjoy a little destruction."
After a short while of even shorter battles, Stan had accumulated a total of three hundred fifty-six sukel, not including her original sum.
"Let's see... Three hundred fifty-six plus one hundred thirty-eight," she thought aloud, adding it all up.
"Four hundred ninety-four," Stan answered without a doubt in his voice.
She blinked with a grin, "Show off."
He chuckled, knowing that sum wasn't enough.
"Let's head towards Triste," he suggested, though it came at as more of a command as usual. "There are more sukel to be taken there than here."
She nodded, "It's a shame we couldn't just find some chump by himself and rip him off..."
Stan chuckled once again, "A good idea, though I doubt it's worth the trouble of dealing with those fools."
"True," she agreed, laughing lightly.
The two both preferred to deal only with monsters, avoiding the majority of humans like the plague.
"I heard Triste was opened to everyone after Classification was destroyed," Navy said, Stan nodding.
"Before, no one could go in unless they were one of the Ignored," he told her, wondering what she was thinking.
"I was just wondering," she said as she thought. "Why did they stay there when they could've banded together to change things?"
Stan shrugged, "Why do humans do anything they do? Stupidity, I'd assume."
She nodded, "Likely."
Still, she looked as though something were troubling her, so he hesitantly asked what was wrong, both beginning to walk to the Transverse Tunnel.
"Hm? ...Oh," she said, being brought out of her thoughts. "I was just thinking... If this place was just the playground for some bratty girl, and Classification was like the glue that held the game together, what would Classification be able to accomplish in the hands of one seeking to rule the world...?"
Stan turned around, Navy stopping in her tracks as he looked at her with a grin, "You think if I brought Classification back, the system could help me rule?"
"Well, I'm not sure," she replied. "It's possible that it can't be brought back, but if it could, given a few adjustments, it might be valuable to you in taking over."
He nodded, crossing his arms and holding his chin in thought.
"If you used Classification to make the heroes become new members of the Ignored, they might do as the other humans did when they were in the same predicament," the young woman went on to say. "But then, of course, a hero could come from elsewhere..."
She paused, thinking a moment, "Maybe... Ah. If you could use Classification to prompt some of the others into doing evil they could serve as an army of sorts."
"Yes," he muttered with a grin. "If I could bring back Classification I could surely make corrections to its inadequate structure and have it set the odds against the heroes."
Navy nodded, "If we could find more information about Classification itself and how it worked we could figure out whether or not it could be brought back and changed."
He sneered at the thought of using it to his advantage, "No one is more of a bookworm genius than Gutten Kisling, I'd venture, and duping him into helping us shouldn't be a problem."
"Gutten Kisling? That's the scholar you spoke of that joined your party on your travels, correct?"
Nodding in the affirmative, he walked forward a bit, "If this succeeds, I'll give you control of a town, under my jurisdiction, of course. Will that suffice as payment?"
"Payment?" she asked.
"It's the least the future ruler of the world, moi, can do to repay one loyal peasant," he said, turning and taking off in the direction of Triste.
Navy, however, stayed silent, wondering if she could really take him for his word; trusting an Evil King seemed foolish, even for a human, so she refrained from truly believing his gesture for now.
And why had she set this whole scheme in his mind?
Sure, she didn't care if he took over the world, but this could likely turn into quite the fiasco...
