Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you doing?

I hereby proudly pronouce the start of the one chapter per day marathon.

If I do not post at least one chapter per day then that means something has gone wrong.

Why do this now, you might be asking, whats changed?

Well, while everyone else is finally going off on vacations, I've finally come off mine.

Which means that I have excess time. Most of it will be used for studying, but my plan is atleast three hours of study and one chapter a day.

Just an excercise of sorts, something I will force myself to follow in order to regain a certain sense of working.

Right now, I'm a tad bit too lazy. Or, perhaps lazy is bad way to say it, unmotivated is much better.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Sometime later... - The Throne Room - Alice's Point Of View...

"Right then, lets get this over with." The good mayor spoke with a sigh as the sat down on a nearby chair and pulled out several papers and waited for a servant to hand him a quill as he began doing mathematic calculations concerning our current plans.

A new voice echoed right afterwards from my right side as I took my seat upon the throne."Please, while you are indeed a High Lady now, do not hesitate to ask for advice from either mister Yvain or myself." Magistrate Bayley spoke with a rather courteous tone, yet I knew that he was groaning inside, thinking he would have to work a whole lot more now that his employer is a child.

I let out a massive sigh as two peasants were dragged in front of me, both of them in chains. That's right, its time to do my job as High Lady and be the judge, jury and executioner.

A guard whom I did not recognize walked forward and bowed before me."Milady, these two men were stopped in an attempt to kill one another in a tavern. The cause of their fight is unclear and neither wishes to speak of it, so the case had to be brought before you as is standard procedure."

"Not wish to talk about it?! Bullshit! I've already said several times that I attacked this idiot because he stole two of my piglets!" One of the peasants, lets just call him villager one from now, yelled out in rage.

The guard promptly slammed a fist into his stomach."You will speak when spoken to, understand?" The man spoke with spite towards the now fallen villager one.

I turned my head towards villager two, promptly ignoring the guard for the moment."And you? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"A've naught to say. Dis fool attacked me 'or no reason." Villager two had a bit of an ... village tongue, it seems. Come to think of it, the way the guard spoke was pretty forced.

Maybe they're from the same village and villager one is from another. Yet that still does not confirm anything at all. I sighed and closed my eyes in thought... I wonder if he stole the piglets for food?"Guard, take off his shirt." I say as I point at villager two.

A slow nod is my answer as the guard approached villager two and knelt beside him."Stay silent and don't do anything rash." He whispered into the other mans ear, just as stealthily as one would expect from a peasant.

I sighed and ignored it as I rose from my throne and walked over to the now shirtless man."Hmm.. muscled, some stretchmarks.. you didn't steal the pigs because you were hungry, apparently." I said as the duo stared at me in shock.

"Missus, ya got et wrong, I di-". I placed my hand onto his mouth to shut him up."I don't believe you."

"Heh heh..." Villager one chuckled and snorted at the dumbfounded duo.

Walking back around the man, I took a long look at his hands and found that the tips of his fingers were completely red, as if something was repedeatedly pressed into them."Yvain, come here."

"Right away, your highness?" He blinked as he walked over and knelt next to me as he tried to find what I was looking at. He saw the fingers of the villager and showed me his, confirming the fact that the man was counting coins."So you like counting coins, do you?"

Villager two and the guard exchanged a look and then the guard nodded."Yeah, my missus... I's not that good at calculus, so I hafta do et more than once... just to be sure."

A nod was his answer, his heartbeat was stable for the moment, which means he wasn't lying."Put his shirt back on."

A sigh of relief escaped the duo as I walked over to villager one."You aren't from the same village as them, yet you have to be close enough for him to steal the pigs which also means you two know each other from before. Has anything of note happened to your friend here lately?"

Villager one shook his head."I don't know, milady... apart from his son getting married, not-... You did not."

He turned around to face the man, who was currently looking away in shame. His previous nonchalancy fading away as I let out a massive sigh."So, this is what I believe happened."

"Number two here had to help his son pay the so called bride-price in order to ensure the marriage would actually happen. However, as he realized after several times of recounting his coin, he did not have enough money to buy new piglets, so he stole them instead. Number one actually saw this, yet did nothing about it as the two knew each other for a long time so he figured he would just ask him about it the next time they hit a tavern together. Nice plan, all in all, fairly just too. After all, maybe something terrible happened and the man needs the pigs to feed his family." I said in one breath as I walked in front of the three people who were staring at me with wide eyes.

The mayor and the magistrate weren't much better off."However, number two refused to admit his wrongdoings, eventually resulting in the fight. The guard who brought you two here is most likely either a friend of number two or the man who will be paid the bridal price.. maybe both."

The guard swallowed down hard and nodded."Both, milady. I am ... please forgive me."

A nod."Now, the reason why he stole the piglets instead of giving some cows for the bride-price is?"

Villager one nodded towards me as he answered in two's stead."Aye, to give a cow as payment for the bride is.. tis the same as saying that the bride is a bimbo. Its an insult to the family from which the bride comes from and to the son as it means he is marrying a woman his own father believes to be a whore."

A deep breath is what I let out before closing my eyes in thought once more."Two, you used a word like calculus before, which means that despite you having to count several times before being sure of something, you can do basic mathematics since you were most likely tutored by someone, yes?"

Another nod."Tis as you say, milady." He seems to have dropped the peasant talk too. I quirked an eyebrow at the man before continuing."You are a farmer, no? What do you produce the most?"

"That'd be corn, milady... I also have some apple trees, but they don't give enough to be worth mentioning." He replied as I returned to my throne."Very well, I am ready to give my verdict."

Sitting back onto it, I spoke with my right hand raised high into the air, the national symbol of judges."Number two, you will give twenty percent of your next harvest to number one. Should you fail to comply, number one may report your wrongdoing once more and then you shall lose one of your limbs."

A breath."You, guardsman... you wished to abuse your granted office, yet you failed miserably. You shall henceforth be fired from your post for the moment. You may continue working as a guardsman, yet you shant be paid for your work for the next two months."

A grim nod from the guard and a bow."As for number two's punishment, ten lashes to the hands. Number one shall receive five lashes to the back, for resorting to physical force and endangering those around him, regardless of the fight having a just cause."

I leaned back into my throne."This is my final verdict. Take them away."

"That was rather splendid, your highness." Yvain said with a whistle as the magistrate nodded, pleasantly surprised."Indeed. I had expected this to take far longer than neccessary and that you would rely on us more, yet all you did was ask the mayor to come see the peasants hands. You have done very well, milady."

"Not to mention how you were... surprisingly just with the punishments, there." Yvain added to the compliments as I quirked an eyebrow at the two."Are you two related somehow?"

They both coughed uncomfortably as the magistrate replied."We are cousins, milady. Our grandmothers were sisters." A nod from me."I see."

Then I turned around back towards the door and yelled."Next!"

A man along with five female slaves of varying races were pushed inside, all of them bound in chains. The only reason why I knew the human man himself was not a slave was because of his rich, very merchant-like clothing."This man had tried to gain these slaves for his own personal pleasure, yet did not wish to pay for them. So he killed the slavemaster and stole the slaves..." One of my retainers spoke with a disgusted snort.

I knew for sure that there was more to this story, yet the fulfilment of my own desires required several slaves... and five was a nice number. I walked over to the slaves and inspected them.

All female, three of them beastkin, one halfbreed beastkin and an elf. All were around the ages of sixteen, pretty much at the top of their worth as slaves. It was highly unlikely that a chance like this would present itself again."Milady?" The magistrate questioned me for my silence.

I sighed."Hang the man, send the slaves to my prison and feed them. I'll deal with them later."

"B-but w-w-wait, I-I-I can p-p-pay you, your h-h-highness! You can e-e-even keep the g-g-girls!" The man screamed out in horror as I quirked an eyebrow and sent a cheery laugh towards him."Alright, let it be known that I am not unreasonable. How much?"

"T-t-t-twenty gold coin? Would that be enough?" He threw a glance towards the mayor and the magistrate, both of which let out a massive sigh."Trying to tell the duo to keep their mouths shut so you can pay the real bribe money to them later?

"UGH!" He was sweating now as I let out a massive laugh, much to the dismay of my retainers."Little fool, I know that these slaves are each worth at least fifty gold each! Considering that you were even in the market for their like... you should really try to beef up that bribe if you want to keep your life."

He took one look at me and despaired, taking out a pouch full of gold from a hidden pocket under his coat.."Eighty Clausian gold coins... and the slaves... for my life."

"Good boy. Take them away." I took the pouch and promptly threw it into the hands of the mayor, who barely managed to catch them without spilling the gold onto the floor."Next!"

A male beastkin was dragged inside, his body covered in chains and his eyes covered in a blindfold. His entire self was drenched in thick, crimson blood and mattered fur.

Someone's been busy. A look towards my retainers caused one of them to raise a paper and begin reading."This beastkin filth had attacked, killed and devoured a group of human men after failing to control his animal self."

"Hruff." The beastkin scoffed as I walked towards him, his nose sniffing heavily as I walked into his presence."You don't smell very nice either."

He merely scoffed in response, saying nothing. I began my inspection.

Several empty weapon scabbards could clearly be seen on the man, alongside a great many patchwork pockets for throwing knives and other surprise weaponry.

Someone was getting ready to die."Are you a soldier?"

The beastkin shook his head in negative."I see."

Then that means he was preparing himself for one final fight. This was no random moment of carnage. The men he saw and killed had awoken the beast inside of him."Did he harm anyone other than the group of men?"

"No. In fact, he seemed to ignore anyone else. Even the guards who came to attempt to stop him." My retainer replied, still with a tone full of disgust.

So this was a case of revenge.

A look upwards allowed me to notice that the man had a pendant of Vytar, of the shunned beast goddes. My, goddess.

While I bought mine out of pure zealotry, beaskin men usually give such pendants to their loved ones upon marriage. This man had a wife, most likely a family too."The men he killed, anything special about them?"

"They were scum. Mere armed peasans, mercenaries at best and highwaymen at worst." Was my reply as the story clicked in my mind.

I let out another massive sigh."This man had a wife once. A wife who had been raped and killed alongside his children while he was away."

The beastkins jaw fell to the floor."W-wh.. h-how?"

I continued the story."Once he witnessed the scene and gained enough information about his family's killers, he spent every coin he had to prepare himself in order to have his revenge. The men were animals and so he became an animal in order to return the favor."

I returned to my throne."I will now give my verdict." I sat down, ignoring the mass of dumbfounded onlookers as I rose my hand sky high once more."Throw him into the oubliette for now, but keep him alive only on plant gruel... use weeds. Should he survive for five months, he will be a free man."

Tears flowed down the beastkins covered eyes."W-why.. just kill me, please..."

"Regardless of your actions having a just cause, you still took the lives of others, not to mention devouring people. You are no better than the men you killed. They also probably had families of their own. How do you think their families feel now that they have to bury the half-eaten remains of their loved ones? If this were a beastkin nation, you would be flayed alive and then burned at the stake as mages enhance your ability to feel pain. This verdict... my verdict, will torture you just as much. You will be bound in chains, unable to move as my servants ensure that you survive. Your guilt will devour you, body and mind so that once you are finally out of that cage, you will be nothing more than a walking husk. You are a monster, just the same as the men you killed and ate." My verdict, my words send shivers down the spines of all those present, including the beastkin.

In truth... He will not live at all. He will serve as yet another test subject for my pleasure. I will slowly drain him of life while ensuring he survives for as long as possible. I want to see if there are any side effects to having your life stolen repedeatly for a long period of time."Take him away. May mother Vytar have mercy on you, monster. For you can be sure that I will not."

His widening eyes were clearly visible even beneath the blindfold, his shock and horror took away any form of sound as he was dragged away on heavy, heaving chains as hot tears flowed down his cheeks."M-milady.. that was.." Yvain began.

"Amazing... yet horrifying nonetheless." His cousin finished as I ignored them both and leaned into my throne."Next."

"This will be the final case for today, your highness." One of my retainers spoke with a still, terrified tone as the guards brought in ... an old orc. He seemed to be wearing a sash over his eyes..

Or a sash where his eyes were supposed to be, anyways. An old, gray haired orc that seemed to exhude a very familiar aura."A-a-a-aaah... THERE SHE IS! SHE WHO WILL BRING RUIN UPON US ALL!"

He screeched out loud as he rose his chained hands and pointed at me, causing me to blink."Ahem, this ... madman, has been screaming obscenities directed towards you for the entirety of today morning. He seemingly appeared out of nowhere and started preaching... impossiblities."

They said as the old orc shook in terror, his legs shaking as something yellow flowed down his legs."NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU IGNORANT FOOLS! SHE CARRIES THE BLOOD OF THE EATER OF WORLDSSSSS!"

I blinked at the orc in amusement and nodded before bursting out in laughter."Bathe him, feed him and clothe him. After that, bring him to my chambers, my court could use a good jester. And the best jesters are always the crazy ones."

"Are you sure thats a good idea, milady?" Yvain asked as I answered him with a glare."R-right... then that will be all for now."

"SHE WILL OPEN THE GATE FOR HIM! THE MAD ELVEN EMPRESS WILL AWAKEN, ONLY TO COME FOR HER AND DOOM US ALL!" The old orc screamed out yet again, this time saying something which caught my attention.

The mad empress will awaken and come for me?

That sounds... familiar.

Around that same time... - A Certain Temple - Nobody's Point Of View...

A great many elves rushed around their golden temple grounds. This temple, although used as a place of worship, was actually a giant mausoleum carrying within it their ancient regent.

"SHE WAKES! SHE WAKES!" One of the priests exclaimed in both horror and joy.

The grand imagery around him twisting and turning as reality broke and reforged itself with the waking of his empress. Her twisted magics tearing the very fabric of creation asunder as life returned to her.

To her skinless, exposed self. Crimson energies thundered wildly, flashing and slashing at everything around them, killing servants and lords alike without hesitation as their bodies were consumed.

Becoming fuel to feed her grotesque awakening.

One eye opened as the golden stone coffin exploded, its upper piece which weighed tons after tons, being sent flying across the temple with the speed of a bullet, as if thrown by a dragon.

"Her majesty, Empress Ash'ilithine has awakened!" He exclaimed again, just in time for a piece of the coffin to slam into his mortal body and splatter the floor with crimson, elven blood.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Oooh, things are beginning to heat up!

Yes, this story will be going a bit more quickly than Euphoria plotwise.

Hopefully this will keep people interested.

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!