The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 295: A Few Questions

Chapter 295: A Few Questions

Despite the narrow margin of time and threats to her personal well-being, the wives Gale were able to return with Amarena relatively quickly and painlessly once they got moving.

A part of her felt guilty about revealing as much as she knew about Kir’s relationships, and she begged silent forgiveness from her distant lover... friend? She hadn’t felt all that sure for a while and talking with his moms had made her feel even less so.

She certainly didn’t care about their disapproval or not. Not one bit... But they didn’t seem to disapprove of her, even though Brigit started calling her an "Angry Pepper" and Darlae started telling stories about other fighters who’d used twin swords, after Amarena confessed her preferred fighting style...

In other words, they seemed supportive of her... but then again Amarena hadn’t exactly been sparing with her opinions of the she-fox and strangeling succubus, though she did respect the dead.

The biggest delay on their return trip was Amarena’s insistence that she walk into the city, victorious. Some of her deeper cuts reopened, but she managed to make it through the gate without support, thanks mostly to reinforcing her body with magic. The first healer’s house they encountered on the main road was unwilling to take her, but at the second she insisted that the two of them go to meet Halie and receive their reward.

She was surprised when, upon waking, the first thing she saw Brigit and Darlae chatting in chairs across from her bed.

"Did you get your answers?" Amarena grunted as she sat up.

"She pulled the rug out of us before we even got to ask," Darlae grunted.

"I don’t know what that means," Amarena confessed.

"It’s something Kir used to say," Brigit explained. "In this case it means Halie screwed us."

"Ah. I know what that means," Amarena said. "How?"

"It hasn’t been three days."

Amarena blinked thrice. "What?"

"This far north, the sun only sets once a day. So... yeah. It’ll be a bit over two years before she is legally obligated to answer us."

"Also means we could have taken our sweet ass time getting your sword back," Darlae grunted, crossing her arms.

"That’s..." Amarena felt mad on their behalf. It was so underhanded for Halie to cheat them this way... "Surely the Order Justiciam wouldn’t stand for this."

Brigit continued, "They tend to side with the Warmancers. But we do have one avenue of challenge, and that’s a duel."

Amarena knew what they spoke of. In the Order Justiciam, the verdict of an adjudicator - in this case, Halie - could be overturned by directly challenging them or their representative in battle. It was a harsh but fair rule, in Amarena’s opinion, that a judge should be strong enough to defend their verdicts with their lives... But in all that Amarena had forced herself to study since coming to Isegart, the higher one got in the Order, the deadlier the outcomes of the battle had to be to overturn verdicts. A dueling defense of lesser-valued verdicts could be passed to lower members of the Order, and even Valrian Knights of other orders, but not once had Amarena seen Halie go back on her word or her judgements.

Her teacher was at the top of her rank without taking over the Order Justiciam entirely, so the question was to what degree she considered the value of the knowledge she was withholding from the Gale wives...

"We challenged her, and she agreed..." Brigit paused as if wondering if she should continue. "...on a duel to the death."

"WHAT!?"

Rena’s disbelieving shriek wound up summoning the healer, who chastised Brigit and Darlae before checking Amarena’s wounds and pronouncing her healed enough to leave.

Her tone clearly encouraged all three of them to go, as did her stating that they were disturbing their other patients.

"Let’s take a walk," Brigit proposed. "We’ll get you breakfast."

"Fine. But I get to pick the place."

About a half hour later, the three of them arrived at Amarena’s preferred eating spot. It was a dank alleyway, except for the bubble of heat that surrounded the food cart which had grown into a stall hugging the western wall.

Here, the stone houses were crowded together, tiny things. Meant more for workers who only wanted a space to sleep than a proper home.

"A Taste of Hell?" Darlae quirked an eyebrow at the name of the location while Amarena sat at one of the tall stools.

"The Demoness returns at last!" the black-skinned half-elf-half-giant chuckled to himself as he stirred a savory-smelling pot. "How was your quest?"

"It was fine, Wilde. I assume Hailey told you?"

Wilde chuckled, "She came by. Alone. As usual, she said nothing, but she did order double her usual portion." The man turned, revealing a face covered in scars, and one milk-white, unseeing eye next to his remaining pink-irised orb. His head was crowned with short, white hair and the scars ran all the way along from his chin past his hairline. He regarded Brigit and Darlae with a smile. "I think she was worried about you. New friends?"

"More acquaintances," Brigit said. As she spoke Wilde lifted several strainers and deposited their noodles into bowls. He quickly served them all drinking bowls of water with sprigs of lemon balm.

"I traveled with their son for a while. We fucked," Amarena shrugged as Darlae spat the water she’d just started to sip. Rena didn’t see the point of tiptoeing around the truth with people she actually liked.

"Ah, so they are your lover’s parents," the cook continued to chuckle. "You want me to spice them up? Show them a taste of your home?"

Rena snorted. Noodles weren’t a thing on Hell that she’d ever encountered, but the flavors here at least reminded her of home. "I’ll have the charred boar bowl. Just give them what they ask for. "

"Always a win with potential in-laws," the cook teased, causing Amarena to roll her eyes.

"You have stilslicer meat?" Brigit asked. "I’ll have it with zingi root and two kzketch." The way she handled the demonic words managed to impress Rena... as well as asking for zingi root, which even Amarena couldn’t stand.

"No, but I can spice chicken so you won’t know the difference," Wilde’s smile broadened as soon as Brigit nodded he turned to Darlae.

"She’s not engaged... To our son... She’s not."

"I was only teasing, young elf."

"Young? I fought in the last Heavenswar," Darlae protested.

"Which front?"

"Amrita, then Stygia and Dis."

"Ah. I have been to Dis. 8th Battalion, 1st Mavens."

"13th Battalion, 4th Mages... And the 2nd Mages after the reorganization."

"That was a rough billet. Word is Hell is too hot to attack now, yet somehow we are winning... May I have your order?"

"We fought through. I’ll have what she’s having." Darlae gestured at her wife.

The cook raised an eyebrow at Darlae. "Are you sure?"

Darlae didn’t back down, and in short order the cook pulled up a ladle and spooned broth into each bowl with precise pours. The accompaniments came next, thinly sliced shreds of tubers and roots, a few local succulents from the lake, fried bits of crunchy, spiced dough. The zingi root resembled ginger, but with sulferous, yellow bulbs that opened and fanned out into the broth as they were submerged, releasing little black pods the size of sand grains.

Kzketch was added just before the meats, little black cakes perfectly charred so that once one crunched through the surface, they would burst with absorbed broth - assuming one ate them fast enough to keep them from sinking.

The three women tucked into their meals, which was traditionally eaten with a pair of sticks, at least according to Wilde. Amarena had never eaten in any part of hell that had noodles, much less enough wood to waste it by eating with it. Warriors in the lands of Wrath ate by holding the bones of their prey... ideally. In reality, Amarena remembered feeling lucky to eat at all most days before she was accepted as Leviathan’s daughter.

After a few moments of chewing and a few strangled coughs from Darlae - "What is this? Pure Brimstone?" - the time came to continue their conversation.

"So... Halie cheated you," Rena suppressed the urge to sigh.

"In the spirit of what we thought, yes." Brigit sighed, her lips a bit extra red thanks to the spice. "But by the letter of our agreement... as long as she stays in Isegart, she can delay."

"Two fucking years," Darlae coughed roughly, and Wilde placed a glass of milk in front of her, which she immediately drank.

"Two years, four months, from what we worked out with the Justiciams... give or take a few days. Just to ask a few questions," Brigit continued.

"But you’re dueling her. Why the concern?"

"Because we’re not sure if we’ll win." Darlae coughed once and continued, "And if we do, and she dies, we’ve agreed to assist your training until you become a fully vested knight." The tone in her voice suggested some degree of discomfort if not disapproval.

Amarena let her eating sticks drop into her bowl. Without Halie, she doubted anyone would give her a chance to become a Knight...

"It was the only way she’d accept a duel in the first place. Everything she demanded has served to delay us. Or obligate us. And the worst part is we can’t tell what sort of game she’s playing," Brigit explained.

"I can’t... say anything about that," Amarena said.

"We know. And we don’t want to compromise your position, Rena, which is why we want to give you this." Reaching into her satchel, Brigit pulled out a scroll. "These are the questions we have decided on. If we... lose... then whenever Brigit answers these questions, we want you to make sure they get to Kir."

"This is... you want me to be..."

"Our proxy, in the event of death. If you’ll accept."

"I... accept. When is the duel?"

Darlae finished her meal with a triumphant gasp. "Gods that’s hot..." She accepted another glass of milk. "The day after tomorrow, since she’s suddenly busy with every adjudication from here to whatever’s left of Nyandor. Which I guess means one year from now," she sniffed heavily.

"A year and five months," Brigit clarified, "was the soonest we could schedule."

"What will you do until then?" Rena asked.

"Seeing as we have no choice but to play by the rules... We’re staying here. So expect to see a lot more of us."

A clink sounded on the table as Darlae set down the two largest shards of Amarena’s blade. "Thank you for letting us borrow your sword."

Rena touched the soul stone shard that hung below her shirt by a thin chord.

A new question rose in Rena’s mind.

Father... Mother... what should I do with these?