The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 286: Crosswinds - Part 1

Chapter 286: Crosswinds - Part 1

The gusting snow was blinding as the three women set out from the grey walls of Isegart.

"Any bits of advice?" Brigit asked, her tone only slightly hostile toward Halie.

"Don’t kill the joermagr. The population in the lake gets pretty low during long winters; especially winters of the Eye," was all Halie said before opening a portal to the frozen lakeside dock.

As soon as they were through, it was Amarena’s turn. She shared only a nod with her teacher before following the mages, a pair of shortswords strapped to her waist.

"So. Since we’re working together, how about you tell us about yourself?" Brigit wasted no time asking as they trudged through the knee-high snow toward the lake. Well, the two wives trudged. Amarena was tall enough to stalk through the snow with large steps.

"I’m a demon. That’s all you care about, right?" Rena grunted as she caught her shin on a hidden post.

"Don’t talk to my wife that way," Darlae warned.

"Or what?"

"Girls!" Brigit brought her hands together loudly for a single clap. "I understand being a demon amongst the myriad can be a bit... straining. My hope is that we can at least be polite to each other until we go our separate ways." She let out a small sigh. "You do not have to answer the question if it makes you uncomfortable, Amarena. But I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to ask any questions you have of us."

Amarena grunted an acknowledgment but then stubbed a toe claw on another post. She was swearing vociferously at the snow when a warm gust of wind suddenly cleared away the worst of the patches.

"It might be a bit tiring to keep this up, but if we’re walking along the lake it might help quite a bit," Brigit said. Darlae was already at her side shaking the lingering snow from her boots.

This time, Amarena grunted out "Thanks" before continuing to walk. Looking over the lake, there were no signs at all of the battle she’d fought with the joermagr, except perhaps the notion of a divot in the place where the lizard had broken through... But she couldn’t even tell if she was looking at the right place. All she vaguely knew was that she was heading southwest.

"We should set up camp on the south shore. The warmest part of the lake will be where the joermagr builds their nests," Brigit said after a couple of minutes of silent walking.

"Why?" Amarena asked.

"Well, joermagr need to come up in order to breathe, and the north shore will have the heaviest ice."

It made sense, so Amarena shrugged affirmatively and kept trudging.

"Talkative one," Darlae muttered to her wife.

"She reminds me of you at the Academy a little," Brigit elbowed the elf in the abs while Rena bristled at the notion. "Remember when you dyed your hair black?"

"That was almost two centuries ago, can we leave it in the past?"

"And you had bangs..."

"Ugh... Worst mistake ever."

They continued like this for long enough that Rena quickly reached the end of her patience. "Do you two always natter on like this?!"

"We’re just trying to make the best of this situation. There’s no reason to be unpleasant, especially since it’s us doing you this favor," Brigit replied.

"Favor?! I could get my sword back on my own if only Halie-" Rena cut herself off. It would reflect poorly on her to speak ill of her teacher.

"Ah..." Brigit said.

"What?"

"We’ve already figured out you’re a maven. Darlae told me all about how difficult it was to keep up with you."

"I didn’t say it was difficult!" Darlae protested, "I said her speed caught me by surprise!"

"For you, that’s practically the same thing," Brigit poked her wife in the ribs. "But back to our demon friend, I’m guessing your mavenry comes with a price."

After gaping for a moment, Rena asked, "How could you guess that from so little?"

"It’s not uncommon amongst mavens to have quirks when it comes to using their power. I once knew a girl who could manipulate her own bones. Make claws or shovels or whatever tools she needed, but she could only do without difficulty if she consumed great quantities of milk."

"Did she ever master her gift?" Rena asked, her attention now thoroughly held.

"In a way. She started to keep extra bone throughout her body. She was even able to form armor with it after a few years."

"My mavenry gives me increased speed. Speed of body. Speed of recovery... But it consumes my time."

"Consumes... time?" Darlae asked.

"That’s the best way I have to put it. My mavenry ages me," Rena huffed. "So really I’m younger than I look."

"How young?" Brigit asked.

"Twenty or so years. Twenty-three, I think." Seasons varied little on Hell, and years mattered little compared to capability and power - though generally a demon that lived for a long time often did so by having both, if not access to both. Mana being a measure of power, there was little enough on Hell that the primary reason any demon would die was to empower another demon, since death had a way of releasing more mana than a body seemed to have.

Darlae grimaced, and Rena felt a mote of satisfaction at guessing the woman had just realized she’d been fought to a draw by a woman one-tenth her age... Though neither of them had the chance to fight without restriction.

Maybe she would accept a duel out here...

"Did Halie give you any advice about your powers?" Brigit continued, holding her chin in a pensive manner.

"She’s given me nonsense. I was told to stop resisting it, but whenever I’ve gotten close to trying it, all I can see is everything going slowly, even myself. When I control it, I’m able to get a reasonable balance between moving fast and things seeming slow, but that’s also when my body gets older - especially if I’m wounded. I thought if I could just... evolve again, I’d be able to get past that."

"That actually... sounds familiar..." Brigit’s brow furrowed deeper. "Not the evolving part, Heaven knows what what our son will get up to when he’s ready for that, but the part about everything moving slowly. That’s actually an effect of moving fast... but it means time should be moving slower for you as well..."

"What do you mean?" Their son had to worry about evolving... Wait...