CHAPTER 51: CHARIOT ACCIDENT

I thought carefully about my conversation with the maid, she is not wrong, I should make the most of every happy moment I have.

As I ponder this, I enjoy the scenery, the kingdom is actually quite beautiful, the streets are lively and cheerful, while the commoners go about their normal lives, I see guards patrolling as everyone makes way for my carriage.

I see them murmuring and whispering in admiration, after all, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess are very influential, I doubt there are many who don’t know of their fame in the kingdom.

There are children pointing fingers, people stopping to look, guards waving in reverence to us.

And it’s a bit annoying, it takes too long to go this way, I think I’ve gotten too used to the comforts of teleportation.

"Mother?" Shogo speaks to me, calling my attention. I just hope she doesn’t talk that way when we’re at the academy.

"Yes, what is it, Shogo?" I ask, looking at her, seeing her drooling as she points to a stall we’ll be passing in a few seconds.

"Do you want some?"

’Can she eat that?’ I have no idea, but I’ll let her eat it, what harm could it do? I won’t have classes today anyway, so even if I’m late, it’s no problem.

"Maid, could you buy that for Shogo?" The maid nods and goes to get it, I always call the maids "maid" because even though I can memorize all their names, I don’t see the need for it, there are many, and I usually don’t see most of them more than 1 to 3 times in a very long time.

The maid soon returns with some of the items from the stall. They are some kind of sweet.

"What are these made of?" I ask, seeing the soft sweet in Shogo’s hand, and it’s strange, I feel like I know what this is.

"They are tentacles, they are first killed, fried in oil, then dipped in melted sugar with honey and other spices, after that they are cooled with magic, and then cooked in water at a temperature of 60 to 90 degrees for 3 minutes to acquire the soft consistency."

"..." I’d rather not know.

"Shogo...isn’t this cannibalism?" Shogo doesn’t seem to mind that "this" was once a being of the same species as her, and eats it enthusiastically.

"Is it normal for humans to eat...this?" I didn’t know humans ate monsters of this type, it’s not even an animal or a plant.

"They don’t know these are tentacles, that vendor was a disguised demon, many demons are too weak to live in the territory, so they either get a job with a noble demon or flee to more peaceful nations."

"A demon? That guy?" He didn’t look like it.

"If he’s discovered, he’ll be killed, usually demons who follow this life cut off their demonic parts and use magic and artifacts to hide themselves, as long as they don’t encounter someone extremely powerful, they won’t be discovered."

"Of course, they still need money, so they work in different ways, whether it’s an honest job or not, in this case, that vendor is in an honest job...but if they discover he’s a demon or find out what this sweet really is, they’ll kill him."

"I see...it seems complicated for the weak to live in our kingdom..."

"And it’s true, the demonic realm is not a very friendly environment, but there’s not much to be done about it, of course this situation changes if there’s a demon king, in that case, these weaker demons will go to the city the demon king builds."

"Mother!" Shogo calls me and extends her hand to offer me one of her "sweets". The smell is good and I’m not the type to refuse food.

I bite the sweet, it’s a bit rubbery but not in a bad way, it’s kind of funny to chew on, the taste is also delicious.

Although nothing special, but for something you can find on the street and pay cheap for, it’s great, this shows how the kingdom is considerably rich, since a "commoner" can obtain sugar.

Probably the modern sugar refining techniques have been delivered to this world, or perhaps it can simply be done with magic, which I think is the most likely, after all, you can make minerals with magic, so why wouldn’t you be able to make sugar?

"What’s this for, Shogo?" Shogo transforms a bit of her hair into tentacles and comes close to me, I notice how she hides the tentacles from the window so that those outside don’t see, showing that she knows she shouldn’t show that she’s not human.

"?" I don’t understand, soon she cuts the tentacles with her hand. The tentacle falls on my lap, writhing, at least it’s not sticky.

She takes the tentacle and offers it to me.

"And for me to eat?" She nods affirmatively, she seems to think I liked the tentacle sweet very much and, since the sweet is gone, she decided to offer me a raw tentacle.

"...Haaa" I sigh, she doesn’t seem to have felt any pain from this, she seems to like to please me, so I won’t refuse.

"It’s still moving..." It’s twisting all over. I hold it while it struggles. I bring it to my mouth and put it inside.

When I’m about to bite, the damn thing twists and slides down my throat.

"...!!!" I feel this thing twisting in my esophagus, it doesn’t hurt and doesn’t hurt, but it’s strange, soon it reaches my stomach and twists there, making me feel strange.

"Grand Duchess, are you alright?" The maid asks with slight concern.

"...Yes, I think so, it will be digested anyway, so I just have to wait... it’s just...strange" My belly moves as it twists more, but I ignore it and look at Shogo, she seems shocked and has tears threatening to fall.

"You don’t need to cry, Shogo, it’s just... inconvenient, but soon, soon it will die." Shogo nods quickly as she wipes away the tears.

I turn my attention back to the landscape, after a while it’s just monotonous, although this thing is still twisting inside my stomach, it leaves a great future reminder, don’t eat things that are still moving.

Of course, I doubt I’ll pay attention to this reminder, given that I like to eat something alive that tries to escape or fight.

Soon we arrive at an intersection, when suddenly.

Crash!

The carriage shakes with an impact, the carriage’s magic was active and nothing happened inside here.

"Great...tsk" I was already bored with the boring trip, now some idiot comes to bother.

I open the window to listen to what’s going on outside, I see the coachman come to the window, the coachman is a common human hired for this trip, so he is extremely nervous and scared, probably fearing that I will blame him.

"G-Grand Duchess a-are you alright..." He speaks nervously, I interrupt him with a hand.

"Tell me the damage to the carriage." This carriage is a standard model for nobles that has been customized and personalized, but still maintaining a standard, so it’s more for ostentation, so it’s sure to be broken.

"Y-Yes G-Grand Duchess t-the damage w-was partial destruction of the front and side, complete loss of one wheel, another wheel came loose and the horses fled."

Another old-fashioned thing is horses, they can make the carriage move automatically or even replicate modern cars, but for a matter of tradition and etiquette they kept these damn horse-drawn carriages.

"I see...will it take long to fix?" I don’t want to wait.

"T-This will..." Soon an arrogant voice interrupts the coachman.

"Hey, you filthy commoner." The coachman looks at who is speaking.

’Great, a spoiled noble, he probably hasn’t even seen whose carriage he’s pulling a fight with.’

"Look what you’ve done to my carriage, how will a filthy commoner like you pay for this, HUH?" I take a brief look, I see a teenager around 18 years old with brown hair and green eyes.

"S-Sorry sir, b-but it was your lordship who sped up the carriage..."

"SHUT UP HOW DARE A COMMONER LIKE YOU QUESTION WHAT I SAID."

’Aff’

"Hey, maid, aren’t you going to get involved in this?" I ask her.

"No, usually this type of accident is resolved by the coachman himself, if the coachman is hired then the responsibility for these accidents is the coachman’s and they must bear the consequences."

"Now, if the coachman is from the noble’s family, having an official employment contract, the noble in question should resolve it...but this coachman is hired for this trip, so he must resolve it on his own."

"Okay..." A very unfair system indeed, the coachman clearly wasn’t at fault, but he’ll have to bear the consequences.

They’ll keep talking while the maid said that, the way it’s going, our coachman is going to take the blame, I honestly don’t care, but there’s something that bothers me about this.

’THEY’RE TAKING TOO LONG’ I feel like getting out of here and killing this brat, doesn’t he realize I have more important things to do? Does he think he’s the center of the world and can delay others like this?

"So, commoner, you must pay for the damage to my carriage, and I also want monetary compensation and an apology from the noble in the carriage."

"...Wait, what did he say?" I murmur.

"He wants me to...MOTHERFUCKER." My desire to kill him only grows, apologize? I am the Demon King, I would never apologize to an insignificant being like this wretched human, the only ones I would apologize to in this life are my mother and those I love.

"Maid, go solve this now before I paint this street with the guts of this worm." The maid quickly goes out.

I can already imagine the scene, the street would be beautifully painted red with the floor and walls while his innards decorate the stalls.

"...Shogo? Where’s Shogo?" I soon notice that Shogo went with the maid, I didn’t specify, so Shogo thought she had to go along.

I pay attention to the conversation.

"Well, well, finally someone decided to come out, I bet the failure noble in this carriage was afraid to come out and sent some maids."

"Goddess, I pray to you to give me patience in this difficult moment, remove this hatred from me so that I don’t evaporate this neighborhood from the map." I pray to my mother, the Goddess of the Abyss, because every second this brat sinks deeper into a hole.

I just didn’t kill him to avoid problems, but it’s difficult, very difficult to restrain myself. Soon I remember Calypso’s advice, if you’re going to kill, hide the body.

"Oh, goddess, is this your enlightenment for me? Should I hide this brat’s corpse...wait, I need to have more self-control..." I breathe in and out, I can’t follow this advice, what kind of king would I be if I let my anger dominate me.

I didn’t even pay attention to what they were saying, I return my attention.

"HA, do you think I care, you fucking whore." The noble insults my maid.

"I am Duke Lionel D’Auberon, no matter what fifth-rate noble is in that carriage, I’ll tell my father to destroy the noble family in that carriage if they don’t get out."

It seems the maid didn’t say who I am, after all, we were trying to be discreet, I can only say that this boy is blind, there’s a coat of arms on the side of the carriage, although it’s not huge and enough for anyone who pays close attention to recognize.

I also recognize this name from my studies, and he’s just a spoiled brat who lives off his father’s authority.

’The coat of arms must have been damaged...’ This is the only reason that explains why this brat doesn’t realize the shit he’s saying, order his father to destroy my family? There’s no noble in this kingdom who can defeat the Grand Duke.

"Well, maybe I can forgive you for your insolence...after all, I’m very benevolent with commoners like you, but in return...I want that pink-haired girl for myself."

When he says that, my rage explodes, I kick the door, making it fly several blocks forward, destroying the roofs in front.

’THIS BASTARD JUST ASKED FOR SHOGO?’ He crossed all the lines, he wants to steal something of mine? I’ll make this worm suffer, death is too merciful for him, I’ll make him go through hell and beg to die for trying to steal from me.

I calmly get out of the carriage, a calm that belies the dark storm in my heart and mind that is already thinking of how to make him go through hell.

"Hello, Duke Lionel D’Auberon, nice to meet you, I’m Pandora Aegis Oblivion, daughter of Grand Duke Veritus von Lügenberg and also the fifth-rate noble who owns this carriage," I say calmly with a smile.