Some days after, the adepts were presented to the queen, and the pompous Wizard Guild even wished to show a public display of their skills with a tournament. It was flashy, but it was meant to be like that. The public’s opinion of them was somewhat restored as the stories of the demon invasion was spreading through Reuland and having the country uneasy.

I informed Queen Ayana of my decision and she was ecstatic. “Demarcus, Kaelyn, I leave Reuland to you. Kaelyn, you are in charge of the country’s affairs in my absence.”

Both their faces were warped beyond recognition at the queen’s sudden decision. Even I found it strange, but I didn’t question it in front of the others. We went to her room, and her entire appearance changed. Her hair went from long and blonde to short and black, her ridiculous boobs lessened in size, those sexy child-bearing hips were taken down a few notches, and her tiny waist became a normal waist. Even her face looked a bit different.

Well, that’s fuckin’ scary! “W-why?”

“Why?” She smirked while casually changing her clothes in front of me. “Do you know your way through Nemus?”

Nemus. That’s the name of the demon country if I recall. “N-no. Thanks for coming with then. But I don’t plan for this journey to take forever. We’ll use my horse to get there, so only pack what you need.”

She hurried along and completed certain tasks before we left, and so did I. The Wizard and Knight Guilds of Ivora got their students back, so all I needed to do was meet up with the party and tell them my plans. Well, that’s what I wanted to do, but in truth, I feared that involving them in things this dangerous was dumb, so I decided not to.

Around noon, Ayana and I stepped into a portal to go to the border, then mounted Dreadhoof and rode through Karthaaz. The country was untouched, and it was business as usual for them. No burned villages, kidnapped people, or any signs of demons. Many of the towns were well fortified, especially as Karthaaz was the closest human country to Nemus, the land of the demons.

Thanks to a mostly straight line of travel in the air, we got through the majority of the country by nightfall and I set up camp. I could travel all through the night, but Ayana still needed sleep. She went to bed, but wasn’t sleeping at all. P-please stop staring at me like that. I can feel the lust… Eventually, I raised my head up from my grimoire. “Can I help you, Queen Ayana?”

She moaned faintly. “Do you like butt stuff?”

The question was a total surprise attack. “Uh, next question?”

“You can do me if you like. Succubi are really fun. We can be anything or anyone you want.” She giggled. “I can even, fill you in ways you never knew. Whatever your dirtiest desires are, whatever you wish to try, I can fulfill it all.”

“Yeah?” I grew tired. “And what’s the catch?”

“For you, sweetie, there is no catch. The honor of being devoured by one such as the Lich God is a reward that I don’t even deserve. But I would love to have that honor anyway.”

I closed the grimoire and sighed. “You know I can’t.”

“And why’s that?” She stood up and walked over to my bed. “You wish to stay faithful to a human? You aren’t human, and sexual faith is a human trait.” She leaned against the bedhead. “Tina Morgauss isn’t with you becau—”

“Watch your mouth, Ayana.” I reopened my grimoire again. “Instead of childish badmouthing, tell me something useful. The Darkviper clan has tattoos of green fangs on their bodies, right?”

She appeared sheepish, and was certainly treading lightly. “Yes.”

“Then what clan does a demon with a fiery skull tattoo belong to?”

“The Hellfire clan.” She put her head down in shame and returned to her bed. “They’re the largest and most powerful clan in Nemus. Magic is their specialty.”

“Any others I should know about?” I asked.

Indeed, there were two other clans, and if I were to venture into Nemus, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to know about them. The Doomhorn clan was the second largest, and specialized in close-combat. According to her description of their bloodthirst and violence, they fit the prejudice I had of demons when they were nothing but legends in my previous world.

The other clan I didn’t know about was the Bloodmoon, a small clan of highly skilled and powerful wizards selected from the Hellfire clan. They were particularly trained to destroy and kill as fast as possible and to execute guerilla warfare.

The way she spoke about demons and humans led me to believe humanity had no chance of survival if demons really chose a full-scale invasion. So, there must be merit to keeping humans alive for them.

I sighed, closed the grimoire, and decided to get some sleep after activating Mana Shield and using Camouflage and Conceal on some undead knights I summoned.

At dawn, we continued our journey to the demon lands. The end of Karthaaz was almost as fortified as their biggest cities. Thick walls, endless guard stations, and mountains of rather scary individuals lined the walls, and then the ocean started.

Nemus was visible from the end of Karthaaz; if you tried hard enough, you’d be able to swim over. Same story here, huh? I found it really strange. Karthaaz was the first point of contact for demons, yet not even the edge of Karthaaz, which was closest to Nemus, was damaged in any way. There wasn’t a single sign of a fight.

I teleported down there, on the walls with dozens of soldiers. A death list monster suddenly appearing in the midst of them was jarring, I’m sure.