Chapter 50 – Party Stance

"Hah!" Reina jumped to the side, slashing the charging beast. With its leg severed, it fell to the ground, allowing Reina to finish it off with a thrust of her sword.

She looked around at her party, checking their conditions. The monsters were cleared out. No one appeared injured, except Cassandra.

Cassandra was a little roughed up, but that was her own fault. She wasn't used to fighting in a group like this…and she charged the she saw these monsters, and they saw the party.

"Any reason we had this fight?" Reina asked now that they had a minute to rest.

"They would have attacked regardless." Vyrdrun said as he approached.

"Really?" Reina looked up at him. Well, the way they fought without much fear, she could see that.

Cassandra pulled her sword from one of the corpses. "They're evil creatures that lure people into forests with their songs before killing them."

"Are they mermaids?" Reina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, unicorns." Cassandra replied without a hint of sarcasm.

"Right…" Reina knew that. Her own mild sarcasm went over the knight's head. It shouldn't have been surprising, since mermaids were a bit more well-known in her world, so that description…it didn't matter. The joke didn't matter.

The village they stopped in about an hour ago was a marker for how far the party still needed to go, though good news for the capital. Violet rain hadn't come anywhere nearby.

The fact that they came across a pack…a pride? Whatever it's called, of unicorns, meant they still had a ways to go. As magical creatures, they were very susceptible to violet rain. If they were just casually standing in a forest, they likely hadn't fled from violet rain.

"Let me gather up the bodies and we'll be ready to go." Reina said. "Kuromo, don't eat too many of them."

"Hm?" He swiveled his head at Reina, a bloody unicorn hanging from his mouth. As a large dragon, he was able to really tear into the…herd? Even in his dragon form, it was too big for him to eat whole like that. Still…

"That's…cute?" Reina wondered if she was relapsing into insanity for thinking that. He did look a little cute with how his clothes transformed. They looked like a scarf around his neck. The bloody unicorn dangling from his mouth was less cute, but still sort of cute. Like a cat with a dead rat in its mouth.

It probably wasn't good to think like that, but whatever. Really, she just needed to focus her thoughts on anything except for the one thing that kept grabbing her attention.

"Oh my~." And there it was. "They really did a number on you~. Let Big Sis here make it all better~." Maria floated over to Cassandra.

"Oh! Thank you, Lady Maria." And the woman soaked up the attention.

Reina watched, saying nothing. "She's just trying to get a rise out of you, Reina. Just like earlier. Ignore it. Just. Like. Earlier." She knew Cassandra wasn't doing anything wrong. This was all Maria.

It started before they reached that village. A group of dolls that Reina hadn't seen before were nearby, so Reina wanted to get some to unlock a new weapon. It was a short fight, barely worth mentioning, but it did give Cassandra the opportunity to show off her skills against an opponent that wasn't Grim.

And then Maria swooped in. Complimenting the woman, hanging around her, flirting…

"Stop thinking about it!"

Reina knew why Maria was doing this. Well, sort of. She assumed it was just to make her jealous, but for what? So Reina would go back to Maria and treat her like she did before? No. Reina couldn't do that now.

"Dame Cassandra, help collect the bodies." Reina said.

"Yes, Lady Reina!" Cassandra quickly moved out, heading to the nearest dead unicorn. If nothing else, the woman was quick to please.

That was one thing Reina picked up on, at least when she wasn't distracted by Maria's attempts at infuriating her. Cassandra was…well, Reina didn't want to call her dumb, but that was the easiest explanation. That wasn't entirely correct, more like an idiot savant, but not a savant? Cassandra was a great fighter, focusing on the battle with those dolls—and here with the unicorns—with an almost zealous feel to her. Outside of combat and her duty, though, she didn't seem to have many thoughts. It reminded her of Meru.

"Am I just going to compare people to Derdir's children now? I did that with Cassandra earlier, too, and I compared Vyrdrun and Goalith a couple times. I think I did go crazy."

If so, she wasn't exactly sure when she went crazy.

Reina and Maria's eyes met. The woman in Reina's old armor smirked at her. Reina just turned away, starting on the other side of the clearing.

She absorbed one corpse, getting a notification. With a horn absorbed separately, she got another.

Unicorn Drum
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: spirit defense 3
Equip Effect: Aura of Attraction

Unicorn Horn Rod
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: advanced compounding recipes 1

"Oh! Those are pretty good." The drum's stats were okay, just like all the other drum forms she'd gotten. The only other one that came from a creature itself and not a component of them granted an aura ability, like this one.

And the rod! That gave her the next level of recipes for things she could auto-create with her weapon. Even though she figured out that making potions herself could make better potions, she never really put that into practice. Auto-crafting allowed Reina to do other things at the same time.

Yep. Collecting the bodies and looking through her status were more important than the look she was getting from Vyrdrun. He didn't have anything important to say. Nothing at all.

"Reina." His voice was firm.

"Yeah, I know." She let out, quickly moving away from him. He followed after her, which was easy due to him being almost twice as tall as her.

"Do you really need help taking these monsters into your weapon?" He asked. "Monsters that would be difficult to move, and ones you can easily absorb yourself—"

"I get it!" She hissed out quietly, instantly regretting it. "Sorry."

It turned out that knowing someone wasn't to blame on a logical level didn't have too much bearing on the emotional one. Yes, she was taking out her frustration with Maria out on Cassandra. No, it wasn't fair.

What could she do? Tell Maria to stop? Would she? Or, would Maria just play it off as nothing happening.

"Why did you have to be so young?" Reina lamented.

Really, Maria doing this just cemented her age. Reina didn't know what exactly Maria hoped to achieve acting out like this. Well, she did, but it didn't make much sense. A lot like how Reina was treating Cassandra, who did nothing to her personally, and only shot glares at Grim.

To be fair, she also gave Vyrdrun looks, and only referred to him as 'Gromnar', but Vyrdrun didn't seem to care. If he didn't, Reina would try not thinking about it much. It wasn't hard, considering what was on her mind.

~Forging Legends~

At last, the day was over. The party ate their meal around the fire, and then it was time to turn in for the night.

"Useful." Cassandra commented after Vyrdrun constructed his hut.

"You'll be sleeping out here tonight." Reina said.

"Out here, Lady Reina?" Cassandra gestured to the lightly wooded area they stopped in.

"No, in the hut. Maria has a spell to make a space for us."

"Understood."

The spell was cast. The party, minus Cassandra, filed inside. Before anything else, Reina told everyone to take a few minutes to unpack and unwind. God, did she need a minute by herself.

All day long, Maria just kept laying it on. Keeping close to Cassandra, complimenting her, outright flirting with her! It was unbearable.

"Relax, Mother." Kuromo said.

Reina jumped at his voice. "Why are you here!?" She let out, somewhat louder than she meant to. It was just the two of them in bedroom.

"To help you take off your armor." Kuromo replied. "And to help you relax."

"Having a young boy see me undress isn't—" Reina cut her retort short.

Unlike most of the times she was this stressed out, she wasn't able to keep it inside. Thankfully, Kuromo didn't look put off by it.

She took in a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. Thank you."

Honestly, someone who saw her as a mother wasn't going to look at her strangely. At least, she didn't think dragon children would view their parent as a potential…no, she wasn't going to entertain the thought. There was enough of that already. She did make a mental note to look into that worrying possibility at a much later date, when things with Maria calmed down a little.

One by one, the pieces of armor came off. With every piece, she felt like the weight of the day was also disappearing. At least, that's what she had to tell herself. Pretty soon, she'd have to face Maria again.

"Oh!" Once all of her armor was off, Kuromo started unbraiding her hair. "You don't need to do that."

"Please sit on the bed, Mother." Kuromo ignored her and made a request instead.

Seeing how they still had some time, Reina did just that. Kuromo sat behind her, continuing his work. Admittedly, this was relaxing.

Once the last of her long hair was free, Kuromo proceeded to run his clawed fingers down the back of her head through her hair. "Um…"

"I asked Father about this." Kuromo responded to her confusion. "He said some Gromnar children enjoy having their hair brushed. I do not have a brush, by my hands work well."

They did indeed. Unfortunately, they didn't fix the problem, which was twofold.

Reina was supposed to spend the day watching over Cassandra to see if she was trustworthy. That was difficult to do, however, with Maria practically hanging off the woman's arms. She couldn't focus on getting a feel for the knight.

"I bet Maria was trying to get a feel—" Reina banished the thought the moment it appeared. She knew that's not what Maria was doing. Knowing that didn't make her feel better. She honestly didn't know if Maria actually not liking her anymore would make her feel better.

The most that would do was remove the temptation of ignoring what was right and holding Maria close.

With Reina sufficiently unrelaxed, the pair left the room. The others were already there in similar states of armament. Well, sort of. Vyrdrun usually kept his armor on all the time, as he did now. Grim had his armor off, but was sharpening his cleaver. Maria, thankfully, was out of Reina's old armor and in a shirt and pants. The shirt was, of course, fairly open at the top, but Reina was still glad for the relative modesty.

"You ready?" Grim asked, looking up from his maintenance.

"Yeah." Reina took her seat at the table, joining them. Kuromo took the seat next to her. "So, what does everyone think?"

"I think you were more dismissive of Dame Cassandra than I was." Grim responded, continuing his work on his blade.

Reina sighed. The tone he used when saying her title said it all. "I meant, what do you all think about her?"

"I know." Grim didn't look up. When Reina didn't say anything back, he continued. "Then tell us, what do you think about her?"

Again, Reina didn't have anything to say. She did, but she knew it wasn't what he was asking. Try as she might, she wasn't able to focus too much on how Cassandra acted.

While not in combat, Maria was near her, trying to make Reina jealous. The compliments, the touching, it was just too distracting.

"She's…professional." Reina settled on that.

"Uh huh." Grim smirked. "Deriding me and disrespecting Vyrdrun is professional?"

And again, Reina didn't have a good retort. From what she did recall, Cassandra didn't seem that interested in forming bonds with the group, outside of Reina…and maybe Maria. Reina was more aware of the small spats between Cassandra and Grim, if only because they served to distract her from her other distraction. At least they didn't fight again. She'd say they didn't come close, except Cassandra nearly drew her blade at Grim.

Her interactions with Vyrdrun were…tame? She wasn't overtly hostile, but seemed to treat him with a cold indifference. In combat, they function well together, except…

"Gromnar, attack from the right!"

Not even using his name wasn't a good sign.

"Tell me more about Duke Balta." Reina switched topics. She knew she wasn't going to win any argument about Cassandra otherwise.

Grim continued to smirk. "What about him?"

"Tell me about how he wants the throne of Hascain for himself." It was something Cassandra said when Grim went out to forage during one of their breaks.

According to Cassandra, Duke Balta was one of three dukes who had a chance to take the throne when the princess was younger and the king and queen were dead. Yet, none of them did. Cassandra believed it was because whoever did would have to then fight against the other two, plus the dozens of barons under them. Not to mention, plenty of nobles loyal to the royal family would likely side against whoever tried taking the throne.

Politics seemed to be another thing Cassandra was good at, though she may have just been told this and was repeating it.

"Seems like you already have an idea." Grim set his cleaver down against the table. "Duke Balta wants the throne, but he doesn't want a civil war. There's a decent chance he would win, but then he'd have a war-torn country to rebuild, and have to worry about Keston coming in to claim what was left."

"Much easier to make the princess into a puppet." Reina gave Cassandra's theory on the topic.

Grim hummed in response. "That sounds like something he would do. I don't know what all his plans are. I'm much more of a warrior than a player in political games."

Reina wasn't a politician either, but that was along the lines of what she thought. It was similar to why Duke Balta sent Grim to her in the first place. Grim at least seemed earnest in wanting Reina there to help protect his country, if for no other reason than to make sure his wife remained safe from the Waves.

That also helped clarify why Cassandra didn't like Grim. It felt like there was also a personal component to it, but Reina wasn't going to pry.

"In any case," Grim went on, "she's a competent enough warrior. Get her another mana brand weapon and she should be strong enough to be in a hero's party."

That was another thing Reina asked Cassandra about. The knights of her order were picked by the princess herself. They were all trained to use mana brand weapons and armor, since none of them were mages. Meaning, all of them were commoners, hence Grim's mocking tone—not that he had much room to talk, seeing how he was born a commoner. They received training and augmentation to increase their MP, allowing them to use their equipment more efficiently and effectively. Not only that, but they were all women. That was in part, at least, due to the method of empowering them working much better on women than men.

In Reina's opinion, that knighthood order seemed like a really bad idea. Being all commoners, they would be looked down upon by the nobility of Hascain, who believed magic belonged only to them.

Second, a knighthood order of only women would look bad to Lespax, where women didn't generally hold positions of power. A knighthood order was exactly that. Being allies with one of the few strong countries that didn't fall to Keston would be good, but the princess didn't seem to consider that—or she did, but thought forming those knights was better.

Third, surrounding herself with loyal women followers might be seen as trying to emulate Reina—or, rather, previous Spirit Forgers. That's something the first empress of Keston did, and, well, Reina knew how Hascain viewed Keston. Not only might that make the nobles like her less, but it could be seen as a provocation to Keston. Sure, maybe Hascain would appreciate the perceived slight against Keston, but anyone not in favor of the princess could easily view it negatively.

Maybe Reina was better at politics than she thought…if only a little.

With Grim's approval, Reina turned to the next person…and quickly looked further to Vyrdrun. The smile on Maria's face told her she didn't want to hear whatever Maria had to say.

"Vyrdrun?" She asked.

"I agree with Grim. Cassandra is a capable warrior." He said.

Reina waited for him to continue. He didn't. "What about how she acts toward you? And Grim?" And Maria, but Reina left that out for a different reason.

"I leave her quarrel with Grim to him and you. As for her treatment of me, it is expected from humans." A small smile actually appeared on his face. "It is all of you who are the odd ones."

That wasn't entirely wrong. Lespax was warmer to Vyrdrun, and he hadn't been that far west before. Everyone else seemed to at least tolerate him, since he was a member of her party. 'Tolerate' was applied loosely, since he had to wear clothes similar to Gromnar slaves while in Keston to avoid more issues there.

And then, there was one person left. But Reina still wasn't ready.

"Kuromo?" She turned to her—at this point, admittedly—adoptive son.

"She is the weakest out of us all." He responded. That tracked with her expectations. "Since she is not attempting to seduce you, Mother, she is acceptable." That…also tracked with her expectations.

Now, she had no choice. Even not directly looking at her before, Reina could see the smile on Maria's face. It only intensified when Reina did look directly at her.

"…Maria?" The second she said her name, Reina knew she was going to regret it.

"Well!" Maria happily chirped. "Saving the best for last, Reina? I did get to know Dame Cassandra the best, after all."

Reina was all too aware of that.

"Her order is loyal to the princess for raising them up to nobility, even if most nobles don't like them. The head of the order is a bastard daughter of a minor baron, one of a few that could have potentially been seen as a noble." She paused to look at Grim, who shook his head. Hascain must really care about bloodlines.

"Well, that baron earned a bit of favor with the princess, at least." Maria continued. "Branded refers both to the weapons and armor they use, and the rune they have carved onto them. It helps regulate MP circulation at the cost of inhibiting spell use."

Reina remembered Cassandra mentioning something like that, but she hadn't paid much attention to it.

"She's also a heavy eater, so she'll fit right in!" Maria grinned. "Well, with me and Kuromo, anyway~."

Reina did remember that much more clearly. When they stopped for lunch, Cassandra's portion was as large as Maria's, with Kuromo's being only slightly larger. Maria had the spell contract, and Kuromo was a dragon. Reina had been using her Dream Eat recently to avoid the issue with the contract, but Maria should have included her…

Anyway, it must have been due to Cassandra's augmentation.

"Heh, women. Am I right, Vyrdrun?" Grim had commented at the time. He wasn't technically wrong, three out of four of the big eaters were women. Vyrdrun's confirmation that three of them were, in fact, women didn't help, but the almost monotone way he responded didn't hurt either.

Cassandra, being not so bright, nearly said something about Grim's wife again.

"You looking to die?" That was all it took from Grim to keep her quiet.

Honestly, it was surprising to see Grim accept her, if only just. It also made Reina wonder about Grim's wife again, even if she didn't ask. If she was a big eater, she could be a mage with a similar contract to Reina and Maria. The way Grim acted and how Cassandra referred to his wife before made Reina think otherwise.

Was she a Gromnar? The ones in Lespax ate a lot. Vyrdrun didn't, but that was because he was a shaman. Her being a Gromnar would explain why Cassandra didn't like her, and give another reason for Grim to know their language outside of doing trade. It wasn't like Reina confirmed it, but could Gromnar and humans have children together?

"Cassandra is also able to work past differences she has in a group." Maria added, breaking Reina from her own distracting thoughts.

It was pretty bad that, even now, Reina was having a hard time focusing. Maria throwing little barbs like this wasn't helping, and she wasn't one to talk either.

"Glad you're getting along so well with her." Reina couldn't help but add.

Maria smiled. "She's easy to get along with. I think she'd make a good friend."

That, at least, Reina doubted. One of the few interactions she remembered having with Cassandra revealed that the woman was at least somewhat put off by Maria's attention. Maybe Cassandra thought it was a good 'in' to the party before, but had since changed her mind. Good.

"Then we're all in agreement about temporarily adding her to the party?" Reina asked. The 'party' referring more to them as a group than how they could form a party for XP, which they already added Cassandra to.

A nod from Vyrdrun and Grim, and a shrug from Kuromo. It seemed like they agreed.

"Hmmm~." Maria leaned forward, propping her head up on her arm with that same smile. "I look forward to getting closer to her~."

Reina clenched her fists on the table. "Stop it."

Maria's eyes widened slightly, her smile only growing. "Stop what, Reina?"

"Stop all of that!" She yelled, unable to hold back anymore. "Stop…doing that!"

"Doing what~?" Maria hummed out.

Grim deftly stood from his seat and moved away, barely within Reina's notice as she continued. "Stop talking about Cassandra like that! Stop flirting with her! Stop all of it!"

Maria just smiled. "But I was just collecting information about our newest member."

"No, you weren't!" Reina retorted. So what if she learned a few things about Cassandra. "You were flirting with her!"

She laughed softly. "I don't know what business it is of yours, Reina."

"And stop calling me that!" Reina shouted.

Maria tilted her head to the side. "But that's your name, isn't it~?"

"That's not what you call me!"

Maria tapped her chin with her finger, as if she didn't know exactly what Reina was talking about.

"Ah! Father, wait—" Kuromo quickly spoke.

"Leave them be." Was all Vyrdrun said before he carried Kuromo off to the other side of the room. Reina's vision was too focused on Maria. She hadn't seen him get up.

"Aha!" Maria held up her finger. "I think I understand."

The coy smile on her face made Reina think otherwise.

"But, why would I call you that now?" Maria asked, fake confusion on her face. "We aren't together anymore, so it shouldn't matter."

"That doesn't…Grr!" Reina snarled, running her hands through her hair.

She didn't know what she wanted out of this. For Maria to only look at her? Why? It wasn't like Reina was going continue their relationship as it was. How could she? Maria was far too young.

However, it was for that same reason that she shouldn't be getting so close to Cassandra. Ignoring the obvious attempt at making Reina jealous, Maria was still much younger.

"Whatever." Reina turned her head to the side. "Stop flirting with her, and stop trying to make me jealous. It's not working."

"It seems like it is." Maria responded happily.

Reina gritted her teeth. "Of course it is." She whispered, fully acknowledging the lie she told. Her voice grew in volume again as she looked back at Maria. "Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be? You know what we did together!"

It was the biggest regret she had, possibly ever.

"You mean all those times we slept next to each other?" Maria just sat there, interlocking her fingers together as she grinned. "Or when we had sex?"

"Maria!" Reina jumped to her feet, knocking back her chair.

"What? We did." Maria shrugged. "Twice, actually, though the second time wasn't as—"

"Stop!" Reina shouted. "Stop talking about it! I don't want to remember that!"

"Oh?" The tone in Maria's voice shifted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means!" Reina fired back. "You're a kid! I shouldn't have done that. You should have told me you were that young before!"

"Why?" Maria placed her hands on the table as she glared up at Reina. "Why should I have? It doesn't matter."

"You can't honestly believe that." Reina said. "I probably shouldn't be doing something like that in the first place. But you're four years younger than me! You definitely shouldn't."

"You don't get to decide that." Maria gritted her teeth as she slowly stood. "That's not your choice to make!"

"Maria—"

"No!" Maria cut her off. "I've been in control of my life for years. Not my parents, not Master Iru, not you. Me! If I want to go fight monsters for money, I can. If I want to throw myself into learning and understanding magic better, I can join Keston's Wizard College or Hascain's Mage Academy. And if I want to spend the night with someone, I can find some cute girl or boy. A boy might even be better, if I wanted to get started on that."

The implication was clear to Reina. "You're a child! It's too soon for you to make plans for that. The fact that you don't get that shows how immature you are!"

Reina wasn't wrong. She knew it. Maria's argument just proved that.

"Why do you even care!?" Maria shouted.

"Because I love you, you idiot!" Reina shouted back.

Silence. The moment those words left her lips, silence seemed to suffocate the room. Reina didn't like that one bit, nor did she like admitting what she said.

"No, you don't." Maria mumbled and turned her head to the side.

Seeing no way out now, Reina wanted to alleviate part of the situation. "Why would you be trying so hard to make me jealous if you thought I didn't love you?"

Maria crossed her arms over her chest. "To make you realize what you're throwing away."

"I'm not throwing you away." Reina countered, glad that things seemed to be calming down at least a little bit, if in volume and not content. "I told you that before, didn't I?"

"Hmph!" Maria scoffed. "You said that right after you said you were throwing away what we had."

"That's not…" Reina ran her hand over her face. Why couldn't Maria understand? "You know why we can't be together like we were."

"No, I don't." Maria shot her a look. "Did you forget? My mother promised me to someone when I was 11. He was in his late 30s, at least."

Reina remembered that conversation. She also remembered Maria saying the man wasn't that much older than Maria. Either she was downplaying his age before, or she really didn't consider how large that gap was.

"I'm not that noble." Reina countered as calmly as she could. "I don't want to take advantage of someone much younger than me—"

"Four years!" Maria shouted. "That's all! This wasn't an issue when you thought I was older."

"Because 4 years is a bigger difference when you're 13!" Reina yelled. "Seriously, what's with everyone throwing children into these types of situations!?"

It wasn't just Maria that had to go through such huge things at a young age. Grim had said he began his training with the Cleaver Hero when he was 12, and that started with her punching him in the stomach so hard he spat up blood for days! Not to mention all of Derdir's children, who were all transformed as early as 10 years old!

"But it's my choice now!" Maria wouldn't back down. "Me! No one else! The only one here with a problem with this is you, Reina! Don't bring other people up in this."

"Why!?" Reina fired back. "Why are you so obsessed with this? What could you possibly see in me that makes you want to try so hard?"

What could it honestly be? The only thing that made Reina special here was the fact that she was a hero. That couldn't be it. Maria would get to visit whatever spirits she wanted without being in a relationship with her. What could Reina have possibly done to make Maria this attached?

Maria slammed her fists on the table. "Because you said you love me! You promised we'd stay together after you learned the truth!

Reina paused. Another sudden calmness filled the room.

She did say she loved Maria. She meant it. Even now, despite her real age coming to light, she couldn't stop those feelings. She could, however, hold herself back from acting on them. But the promise…

What was it Maria had said? That…Reina was stuck with her, or something? And that she couldn't be mad at Maria.

Reina wasn't mad…eventually. Not even at first. She had a lot of emotions going through her about it, and didn't even have a full night to process things before that man showed up to kill Lola. Plus, she learned more about Lola and Goalith that night. And after that, she didn't think about it too much. She already decided what to do, and it was the right choice. She had to keep telling herself that. It was the right choice, even if it didn't feel like it at times.

As for staying with Maria, she did go back on her promise. It was only natural to. Maybe if Reina was born 50 years ago, she wouldn't have thought that much of being with someone so young. But she wasn't, and she did. Even if this world had these things be more common, Reina didn't adapt. She didn't know if she could even if she wanted to, and she didn't know if she wanted to.

And now, here she stood, Maria on the other side of the table. The glare she was receiving from the girl was deserved. Reina was the outsider holding on to her own foreign norms. That much, at least, she was aware of.

"I'm…sorry." Reina began, trying to find the right words. "I'm sorry I broke my promise. I'm sorry I can't get past that. I want to."

"Yeah, right." Maria crossed her arms again, turning away.

"Maria." Reina said. "Look at me." Despite the scowl on her face, Maria did turn back. "Do you really think I don't want to? Do you think that night meant nothing to me? The other nights we slept together, holding you close? Our date in Keston? Do you really think that means nothing to me?"

Maria's face held the scowl for only a few seconds more before it began to soften. Her eyes turned down, even if her arms remained crossed. "But you still won't be with me. It's just words now."

"They aren't just words." Reina wanted to argue, but she couldn't. As far as Maria was concerned, they were just words. Unless she showed action, nothing would get across properly. And that…

Should she? Should she just throw out her morals and do what she wanted? Was refusing Maria really the best thing for her? If they were back in Japan, the answer was obvious. But here? Maybe not.

Could Reina live with herself if she did this? Was being with Maria like that the correct answer? Did the age she grew to matter more than her actual age, when both her mind grew along with her body—even if maturity didn't equally grow?

Would this even last?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, that last question was asked at least once to dissuade any action on Reina's part. Maria was young. In a few years, maybe she'd grow more and realize being with Reina wasn't right, that this was a crush and nothing more. Reina hated that thought, but it at least helped to keep her from acting.

But now? What did Reina want to do? What was the right choice? She didn't know, but she still had to choose.

"I…" Reina began.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Reina flinched at the noise. Slowly, she turned to face the grand door to the mansion's exit. That was odd; more odd than Maria seeming to change the design of the door almost every time they entered the mansion, usually between a single door and double doors. But that was less important than what drew her attention in the first place.

"How…" Reina looked back to Maria, only to find the woman equally confused. "Is that Cassandra?"

"That shouldn't be possible." Maria said. "Only the people I've designated can reach this place, and we're all here."

Reina looked over to the others. Grim looked her way, switching between Maria and Reina. Vyrdrun and Kuromo likewise shared glances with everyone. The silent question was apparent: who was knocking?

Maria walked around the table to the door. The most straightforward way to find out would be to open the door and see. Reina, likewise, stood a few paces back and to the side. She called up her flaming zombie spirit as well. Whatever was on the other side of the door, she would be ready to act if it was an enemy.

The others similarly got ready, with Grim holding his cleaver and Vyrdrun his mace. Kuromo was still in his kid form, but transforming didn't take long, and he took up less space this way.

Maria looked at Reina, and received a nod in return. Then, she pulled open the door.

Outside of the mansion were two things. First, the expected, according to Maria, was a black void. This place was like a pocket dimension. Since the door was always connected to the portal leading outside, they wouldn't see the abyss unless they broke through a wall. Even the occasional windows in the bedrooms that led 'outside' were more like paintings.

The second, and most pressing thing, was the person standing just on the other side of the door. His wings held just behind his back, claws with scales that went up his forearms, long black hair and piercing golden eyes, and a long, open jacket...

Before Maria stood Derdir, the Demon Lord.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, this one felt a little rushed. I just couldn't figure out how I wanted the interactions with Cassandra to go, and I didn't want to dwell too long on it (at least right here). Should I have? Probably. At least I had a decent reason for the skimming and recollections.

The fight didn't exactly end where I thought it would either, but I think this will work better.

Also, Demon Lord.