My mouth fell open, was what they were saying true? A look at Sarinknell’s drawn face confirmed it. She was a fake. It made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Serving a Demon Lord was bad enough, being bound to a fake one was just absurd.

“You’re right.” Sarinknell’s voice was calm, determined. “Currently, I have no claim under law, my father’s title officially passed to my uncle.”

Miusin smiled. “And yet you call yourself a Demon Lord? Doesn’t that strike you as a little ridiculous?”

I agreed wholeheartedly, but not Sarinknell. “I don’t technically own the title, but that will all change soon.”

The other girl scoffed, showing off her pointed teeth. “And how’s that? You said yourself that you don’t have any claim.”

Sarinknell shrugged. “For now. If my uncle were to die, then his title will pass to the member of his household with the highest rank. And if his successor died as well and so on…” The fake Demon Lord’s finger traced the lip of her goblet. “Eventually you might just end up with a Demon Lord of the first circle after all.”

Miusin’s lips came together in a hard line and she turned her attention to her food.

Biustarn, on the other hand, looked delighted. “What a wonderful little notion. And how do you plan for this incredible turn of fortune to come about?”

“It’s simple.” Sarinknell tapped her finger against the table. “I just have to kill off everyone in my father’s household that holds a higher rank than me. Fortunately, my uncle is the only such member.”

“I’d hoped you might say that. Though I applaud your ambition, I can’t say I fancy your chances. Unless you’ve got an army hidden somewhere.”

“No, no army. I have a few allies, but I could always do with another.”

Biustarn raised an eyebrow. “Are you offering me an alliance?”

“I am.”

“Your proposal is certainly… intriguing. But I’m afraid I’ll need more time to think it over, would you be willing to travel with us for a short while? You’d have a perfect chance to watch the battle.”

Sarinknell bit her lip, deliberating. “Very well, we’ll accompany you. I’ll give you a day to think it over, that’s the longest I can delay my plans.”

They spent the rest of the meal discussing things of lesser importance, such as the upcoming attack on the human city and eating their raw meat. Meanwhile I sat there wondering what the hell was going on.

Not only was Sarinknell an imposter, but now we might be entering into an alliance with this other Demon Lord? It made my head spin. Once lunch was over, the servants started packing up and getting ready to go. “Are we seriously going to ally with this guy?”

“If we can. You said yourself that we need additional help, this is a perfect opportunity to acquire some.”

“Yeah, but, can you trust him? You’ve never met him before in your life, right?” I couldn’t imagine Demon Lords were particularly trustworthy.

“No, never. And as a matter of fact, I don’t trust him at all. I don’t know where you got that idea from.”

“Don’t you have to trust your allies?”

Sarinknell shook her head. “I see you know very little of politics. Allies are just someone who you try to use to your advantage, while they do the same to you.”

There was something terribly warped about the way she saw the world, but she was right; I don’t know anything about politics. Biustarn seemed dangerous, but she hardly needed me to tell her that. That was probably the very reason why she thought he might be a valuable ally.

I retrieved my sword from the ditch, and we fell into line behind Biustarn’s servants. I’d have much preferred to ride in the carriage but I doubted there’d be much room left for us. My battered feet would just have to hold out a little longer.

The servants kept a careful eye on us while we were travelling, but none of them made any effort to speak with us. Left to our own devices, I struck up a conversation with Sarinknell again. “If Biustarn does agree to help us, what do you think that will do for our chances of success?”

“It depends on what assistance he’s willing to provide, but it ought to make a great deal of difference. We’re very lucky to have run into him, he’s practically the perfect candidate.”

“How do you mean?”

“He’s a lord of the third circle, so not too low that he won’t be able to do much but not too high that he wouldn’t be interested in what I could offer him. Not only that, he’s also not from around these parts. Which means he likely doesn’t have any stake in the conflict with my uncle.”

I whistled, she’d thought this out a lot more than I’d thought. Her offer had been so sudden, I assumed she was just being reckless. “You really do know about this stuff.”

She snorted. “Of course, who do you think you’re talking to?” Despite her words, she did look a little pleased.

I grinned. “A wannabe Demon Lord?” It didn’t hurt to take her down a peg, she had deceived me.

“Shut up.”

We travelled toward the city, the very place we’d only narrowly escaped the day before. It felt a little silly, but it wasn’t like we were planning on entering the place. I wasn’t too keen on watching a battle, not that anyone cared about my opinion on the subject and it was probably best not to appear squeamish in front of a potential ally.

Great clouds of smoke obscured much of the city’s walls. It was making me a little nervous. “Err, we’re definitely not going to be any danger, right?”

Sarinknell shrugged. “It’s hard to say for sure, but we should be safe. Have you ever seen a battle before?”

“Not in real life, no. What about you?”

“My father brought me to watch a few minor skirmishes, nothing on this scale.”

The idea of a father taking his young daughter to see people kill each other seemed insane. Was this the difference in values between humans and demons? Or was this just one of the ways our worlds differed?

I couldn’t imagine someone doing something like that on earth. Then again, it’s not like I knew anything about people in similar positions to Sarinknell. Maybe this is how some nobles treated the children they were raising as heirs.

Though I assume that back on earth they’d been all male. At least this world seemed to have more gender equality when it came to the rulers of their feudal system? Yay?

We reached a small hill where we had a clear view of the city and stopped. After the servants set it up, Biustarn beckoned for us to join him at his table once more. Hundreds of demons of all shapes and sizes, wearing a variety of armour, were assembled some distance from the city’s walls.

They were split into groups of varying sizes, each headed by a demon in markedly more ornate armour. Those must be the officers, or something close to that. I was surprised to see that there wasn’t any siege equipment present. No rams, ladders, catapults or trebuchets. I was hardly an expert in siege warfare, but I was under the impression those things were important. “How are they supposed to get inside the city?”

Biustarn sipped his drink. “I see you’re not versed in siege tactics.” Well duh. Was that something people were supposed to know? I suppose they might teach it to the nobility. Surely he didn’t think I was a noble. “The troops are there to protect the siege mages, those are the ones who’ll be responsible for breaching the walls. If they can get that close.”

Mages? I looked out across the army again, but I didn’t see anyone wearing robes or carrying a staff. “What do these mages look like?”

“Like the other soldiers around them. They’re the prime targets for the defenders, so having them stand out from the others is rather foolish. Though I’ll wager that most of the mages are in the inner parts of the troop formations.”

A howl split the air and the demon army marched toward the walls. The start of the battle was dull enough, just a lot of marching until they were in range of the defenders. Each small group of soldiers moved in tight formation, with their shields raised.

Arrows flew from slits within the wall as well as the ramparts on top. They rained down the rest of the way, injuring or killing a few of the demons, but the majority seemed unharmed. Despite that, several groups faltered, stopping in place or trying to turn around. I could see their officers shouting and gesturing until their troops got back to marching.

It was looking like they’d reach the walls without much of a fight. I turned to Biustarn, the de facto military expert of our little group. “Do you think they’ll make it inside?”

“No. I don’t believe their soldiers have the numbers or the quality to make it that far.”

“Why not? Are there really so many human soldiers?”

“You’ll see.”

The demons got within a stone’s throw of the walls, and I was starting to doubt Biustarn when the defenders came forth to meet them. An enormous flash of light, rising almost as high as the walls themselves, appeared. It was painful to look at even at this distance, it must be blinding for the demons who were only a few paces away.

As the light faded, dozens of Paladins, each one shrouded in in yellow light, surged forth from gates at the base of the wall. But that was it. I knew Paladins were powerful, but it seemed like they would surely be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers.

Instead the demon host jets of searing light cut through their ranks, followed by being cut down in a more literal sense by the Paladin’s blades. They tore through the demons, routing them in a matter of minutes.

Most of the army survived, but they were clearly in no shape to fight. Their confusion was palpable, even to me, as they ran over each other in their hurry to get away.

“If they obviously didn’t have a chance, why did they even attack? Did they not realise that?” I couldn’t understand it. Nor why none of the demons with me seemed to care about their fellows being slaughtered.

Biustarn stood up and stretched “To put it simply, it’s a matter of politics. The Demon Lords these soldiers belong to had to show their superiors they were at least making an effort. Hence this mess.”

They’d died for such a pointless reason? I wasn’t sure if I should really feel bad about demons dying, but it was a terrible waste of lives either way.

“These Demon Lords, the ones in charge. Are they insane? Why would they want to waste their troops?”

Biustarn laughed. “That’s a harder question to answer. I’m not sure I fully understand the reasons myself. But some things can’t be defined by mere numbers. For example, pride.”

Pride, huh? The Demon Lords I’d met so far certainly seemed to have no shortage of it.

“Actually,” Sarinknell said, “I think there’s another, more pragmatic reason.”

Biustarn looked over at her. “Oh? And what would that be?”

“I can think of two actually. The first and most likely is that this was just a way to test the human’s defences. As far as I’m aware, no one has led a serious assault on Votaro in decades, if they really want to destroy it they’ll have to gather information first. The other reason I can think of is to lull the humans into a false sense of security.”

Biustarn smiled. “A reasonable assumption. I see you’ve been paying attention.” I got the impression that he wasn’t all surprised by what Sarinknell had suggested. If anything, it seemed like he was just testing her. “I believe I have reasonable idea of your character now. Enough for me to decide regarding aiding you in your little grab for power, at any rate. And I accept.”

Sarinknell bowed her head. “Thank you.”

“Don’t be so quick to thank me. I can only offer you limited aid. You see, I’m still far from convinced your attempt will succeed. If I were to assist you directly I could easily make myself a new enemy without gaining anything in the process. That is a risk I am not willing to take. However, I can offer you this.” He pulled a ring from his pocket, a simple band of polished crystal, and handed it to Sarinknell. “If you succeed, then I’d be happy to discuss the potential of a true alliance. Even if you do seize power, I’m sure you’ll be needing all the friends you can get.”

“I’m still grateful for your support, even if you can’t lend me any of your soldiers. You won’t regret this, I swear.”

“See that you do.”

The demons said their farewells and we went back the way we’d come, our group back to two.