"Why did you join my household, Andromeda?"
Andromeda was staring at Floid with a shy smile when Floid suddenly asked this question. Andromeda blinked out of her thoughts and she finally saw Floid looking at her curiously. She blushed when she realized she had been staring.
Floid wanted to know exactly why she joined his household and she had no option but to tell him. Andromeda got up from his lap and sat in front of him so she could look at him.
"The former demon lord chose me because I was the last option out of all my people,"
Floid rose a brow in surprise once she said this. The last option? Does she mean that everyone else from her race is dead? Floid asked her this question and she shook her head. Not everyone was dead, but a lot of them were. The lamia in Rivalle was never a common race. The lamia race was made up of only females and there were no males in their race. They depended on other races to reproduce. But even though they were one of the smallest groups, they were all feared because of their eyes. Lamia's had impressive Mana reserves and all of them were born with the [Ragan] skill that Andromeda had. The skill was capable of trapping anyone in the Lamia's control and the person will never be able to break out of it unless their level was higher than the Lamia. If the person's level was lower than the Lamia, then they have no chance of breaking it. This skill was mainly used by Lamia to trap their mates before they have sex or to trap the food they want to catch.
"During the war with the devils, we were the first race to be targeted by the devils. They tried to make us betray the demon lord and join them like the undead, but when we refused them they started to hunt us. They ambushed us at our home. They targeted our eyes with arrows and gouged them out with knives so we couldn't use them against the devils. Without our eyes, the Lamia couldn't fight back. Almost all of us were killed and it was only because the former demon lord sent one of his household members that some of us survived. A member of the former demon lord's household came to our village and killed off the devils that were hunting us,"
Floid could sense the pain that Andromeda was feeling as she spoke about this. Since it happened seven hundred years ago, she was still a little child when all this happened. Was her mother killed by the devils?
Floid was curious about who came to save them. What were the former demon lord's household members like? Were they similar to my household?
Andromeda joined her hands together and furrowed her brows as she continued her narration.
"Before all this happened, the demon lord already gave us a chance to choose one lamia to join your household. There was meant to be a competition for the honor, but after the attack, there was no one else left to compete. Out of all of the Lamia alive, I was the eldest and even though I was only a child I was the one in charge of taking care of them. I... refused at first. I didn't want to join because if I left them I was afraid they wouldn't be able to take care of themselves. They would have died without someone to take care of them. But I knew that I had to come. My duty is to you and not to them. If I stay and took care of them, there would be no difference. I would just be waiting for another enemy to come and kill the rest of us as well,"
Floid listened silently throughout her speech. Andromeda told Floid that there was a small town close to Hampshire where all the remaining Lamia's lived. The former demon lord gave them the land to live in.
Once she finished her speech, Floid immediately knew what the problem was. He now knew why Andromeda was always so unsure of herself and shy around him. It was obvious from the way she spoke about the death of her people. Andromeda has survivor's guilt! Floid scoffed at the thought. So Andromeda feels like an imposter in my household because she didn't fight for this position? She only joined my household because everyone else died so she thinks she doesn't deserve it?
Floid expected something more interesting than this. There have been many humans on earth that suffered from survivor's guilt but Floid didn't think that a demon could also suffer from it. Doesn't Andromeda know that something like that has no place in the real world? There is no point in feeling guilty about living. The fact that everyone else died and you lived is not your fault. It is their fault for being too weak to survive.
Floid felt some annoyance rising inside him and it was directed at Andromeda. He hated that kind of weakness that Andromeda had. But there is no point in becoming annoyed at Andromeda since she doesn't even know she has survivor's guilt. Floid ran his hand through his hair in annoyance before he spoke.
"The reason why you joined my household doesn't matter, I suppose. But no matter how you came into my household, that gives you no right to dishonor me by acting like you do not want to be here,"
Andromeda was so stunned by Floid's statement that she recoiled backward! She would never dishonor this position! If choose she wants to be here!! Even if she didn't win it properly, she would still treat it in the best way!
Floid sensed her sincerity but he was feeling annoyed and he didn't want to talk anymore so he just waved Andromeda away. Andromeda bowed and slithered off the bed to collect her clothes. She was about to leave the room but Floid spoke to her one last time before she left.
"Make sure you don't disappoint me, Andromeda. I have high expectations from you in this mission. Do you understand?"
No matter how Andromeda joined his household, Floid knew that there has to be something special about her. Andromeda didn't have to fight or win the position in his household, but the former demon lord chose her by himself. That means there is something special about her.
Even if the former demon lord was not exactly the same as Floid, both of them had a similar mindset. They weren't controlled by their emotions like children! There is no way the former demon lord would have picked Andromeda because of something as stupid as pity! It made no sense to Floid and Floid knew it would be idiotic. Floid would wait and watch. In time, he will find what he is looking for.
...
At the harbor near the coast of Uta, five ships were coming in from the western part of Rivalle. Today was the day when the borders were supposed to be opened so that the kingdom could stock up on resources again. Priscilla knew that it would be difficult for her people to survive through the winter without having enough food and resources so she made a gamble. She decided to contact one of the merchants in Trad and she made him swear an oath of secrecy before telling him her proposal.
Priscilla proposed that the trader would use five ships to bring in enough food and resources for the kingdom in secret, and in exchange, she would pay an extra twenty percent on top of the regular fee that the trader was supposed to collect. This was a big deal for the trader! Every trader on Trad was supposed to report their trades to the king of Trad before carrying out any transaction and the fact that Priscilla wanted the trader to hide this transaction means that the trader would be committing a crime! But Priscilla made sure that the trader would agree to this and she promised him that she would tell the king to pardon him if he ever got in trouble. Priscilla couldn't risk anyone knowing that her borders would be open before that day since she didn't want to give the demon lord any chances.
The trader that Priscilla contacted was a little hesitant at first and Priscilla understood exactly why he was hesitant since it was a big deal, but after a while, he finally agreed to do this deal. Priscilla would pay him an extra twenty percent and he would bring three months' worth of resources to the kingdom.
This deal would have been perfect and Priscilla would have made a brilliant transaction with the trader, but there was one problem that Priscilla would never know.
The trader that she contacted was Keith, also known as Travy. The demon imp that was also a spy for the demon lord.
Travy was the best trader in Trad and Priscilla wanted the best trader in the business so that she would be sure of the transaction and that was why she contacted him. But she had no idea that Travy was a demon as well!
Travy was excited when Priscilla gave him the deal and he had to act hesitant at first so that she wouldn't be suspicious of him at all! Immediately after the call with Priscilla ended, the first person that Travy called was Alucard.
Alucard received Travy's call and he asked Travy what the issue was. Alucard listened silently as Travy explained exactly what Priscilla told him and Alucard instructed Travy to make his way to the demon lord's castle immediately. Travy swallowed nervously! He still remembers the last few times he met the demon lord and he was a little scared of Floid already. The story about what Floid did to the two thousand soldiers that came to his territory just made Floid scarier than before and Travy had no desire to meet the demon lord. Couldn't Alucard just give the demon lord the message for me!? I don't need to be there!
Travy wanted to tell Alucard to please talk to the demon lord himself, but Alucard cut off the phone before Travy could say a single word. Travy just sighed in resignation.
Alucard went to Floid and relayed the message Travy gave him back to Floid. Floid was in the middle of handling some work, but he immediately stopped working once he heard what Alucard said. This was a golden opportunity! Floid was already making plans of going to Trad in a few days and he forgot about Uta for the time being since he had other things to work on, but he didn't think that an opportunity like this would come so soon.
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