Livia’s origin

“Many years ago, before any of you were born, possibly even before your queen was born, I lived in a province named Inferno. This province is ruled over by Duke Lucius, also known as ‘The Morning Star’. When I came of age, I first worked some jobs here and there, but eventually I decided to join Infernus Noctis. That is the name of that province’s legion. Due to me being a B rank, I was able to join a contubernium that was assigned to a Tribune.” Livia explains.

Zhoron interrupts Livia’s story and asks, “What is a contubernium.”

“A contubernium is similar to what you humans think of as a party.” Livia says. “The typical contubernium is made up of 9 D rank legionnaires and a C rank as party leader, which we call the Decanus or the party leader. When 10 contubernia come together, they form a century. The 10 Decani then come together and choose the strongest of them as their Centurion. When 6 of these centuries gather is what we call a cohort. It are these cohorts that are led by a Tribune. Each legion possesses 10 cohorts, where 9 of them are led by a B rank Tribune. The only exception is the 1st cohort, where all legionnaires are one rank higher. I was assigned to the contubernium of the 9th cohort.”

“Interesting. Your legions seem quite large and organized.” Zhoron says. “How many of them are there?”

Livia frowns at Zhoron and asks, “Why do you want to know? Are you planning to invade? To take your previous Zrephia back?”

This is the moment my opinion of Livia changes completely. She has been away from her people for longer than Lilith has been alive. She wouldn’t know about her people trying to invade us and is worried about us trying to invade them.

“Quite the opposite, Lady Livia.” Harold says. “We are getting reports that your people are preparing to invade us.”

“That’s a lie.” Livia immediately answers. “The demon King believes in absolute isolationism. They are not only against any form if invasion of your country, but also against trade. Even when we desperately need it.”

“Why would you need to trade with us?” I ask, feeling unusually interested in hearing more about politics.

Livia turns to look at me and, having an actual demon look me straight into my eyes, causes a shiver to run down my spine.

“My homeland is not very rich in fertile soil.” She says. “There are some provinces that serve as breadbaskets for the entire nation, but the majority of our provinces need to import more food than it can produce. So, imagine what happens when we have a year with a bad harvest.”

I would imagine starvation across the kingdom. But I dare not say it out loud.

“The demon lands are very rich in minerals, though.” Livia continues. “The thing is iron or copper are not exactly things you can eat. That is why many of us want to trade with other nations.”

Livia then turns her face to Zhoron and Harold and says, “We sell precious minerals to you, and you sell food to us. Simply that would solve so many problems. And who knows, maybe my people might support you visiting your ancient city, even though it is still in ruins.”

“I’m afraid it is not as simple as you think it is, Lady Livia.” Harold takes the word. “You see, while you were here, there was an uprising in your homeland. A civil war even. From what we can tell, the demon King you know of is no more and another has crowned himself.”

Livia seems perplexed at this news. “That’s not possible. The demon King is the strongest demon on this world. On top of which, they are also protected by 10 or more S-ranks. Tou won’t fool me with your lies.”

“Regardless, our spies have informed us that for the last 15 or 20 years, the demon legions have been fighting each other.” Harold continues. “The last couple of months, it seems that one of the two sides has taken the victory and some of the legions have already gathered at the border. Someone is preparing the demon horde for an invasion, and I don’t think it is at the behest of the old demon King.”

Livia lowers her gaze and pauses for a moment. With a sigh she admits, “There are 9 legions. One for each province. Each legion is at the command of either one of our 8 Dukes, or the demon King. Each of them serves as the Legatus, the general of the legion. If for any reasons the Duke cannot lead his own legion, because of old age or illness, they appoint a trusted individual, either an A-rank or an S-rank as Legatus of the legion in their place.”

After having received an answer to his question, Zhoron has another ready for her. “How many S-ranks are there?”

“If what you say about the civil war is true,” Livia tells Zhoron. “Then it is quite possible several of the S-ranks have died. So, even if I tell you truthfully, the answer will be wrong.”

Zhoron nods, then refrains his question. “How many were there when you left?”

“There were twenty.” Livia answers coldly.

“Twenty?!” Amelia blurts out in surprise.

I can understand her shock. Among the humans, there are only 3, and we have the most of them. There are 2 among the dwarves, the elves and beast-kind each have 2 as well, and 2 among the dark-elves. That’s 11 total, but only when our nation are unified. Meanwhile the demons, by themselves, have almost double.

“You still haven’t told us why you left, Miss Livia.” Harold speaks up. “Could you shed more light on that?”

“Right, well, as I said, I was a legionnaire in a Tribune’s contubernium.” Livia continues her personal story. “But I didn’t want to stay there. I wanted to get higher up. One way of doing so is by challenging a Tribune to a duel. The person who is the strongest will win and has the right to lead. Another way is to wait for your Tribune to die or retire, then duel among the other B-ranks in your contubernium and figure out who the strongest is. The Tribune I was serving under was young and had skills that mine could not overcome, so I was not advancing over there any time soon. There was however an S-rank who had an opening in her party. Normally, S-ranks only take on A-ranks, but there are exceptions. I was hoping that if I could prove myself, I would be accepted. She challenged me to go into the human kingdom, find a valuable artifact, and bring it back.”

“She wanted you to steal from us.” Zhoron quickly accused.

“It’s more complicated.” Livia explains. “Simply crossing the border is already quite a challenge. Like I said, the old demon King has a strict isolationist policy. We have soldiers preventing us from crossing the border. Some smugglers try digging tunnels, but even those are often discovered. And if they are not, they tend to fall under the control of criminal cartels. In my case, I crossed the mountains north of your Oidao province.”

“That is indeed a challenge.” Harold interjects. “The winds there are too powerful to fly over safely and while the snowy passages may appear sturdy, they could break away at any moment.”

“Then I also had to find an artifact that would be considered worthy. Which is not as easy as you might think.” Livia continues. “My quest eventually led me to some guy named Enzo. And well, you already know what happened from there.”

Well, that is quite a story. Not quite what I expected. Then again, I am not sure what I was expecting.

“And what about now?” Harold asks. “What do you plan on doing now that you are awake again?”

“First, get my strength up.” Livia says without hesitating. “After that? Well … I suppose the position in the S-rank’s party will have already been filled year ago. So, that is out of the question. I also don’t really have any family left, except maybe some very distant relatives who should assume me dead by now.” Livia turns to look at Lilith and says, “They only thing of value I have left is my little girl, and she seems happy here. Perhaps I should just stay.”

Harold and Zhoron start whispering to each other, possibly discussing Livia’s stay. Now that’s a crazy thought. A literal demon living amongst us, and doing so with peaceful intentions. It feels like the exact opposite of what I have read in the book about ‘The princess of calamity’.

After a few minutes, Harold and Zhoron seem to have come to a conclusion. Harold stands up and says, “Arrangements will be made for you to live in our kingdom, but there will be some conditions, as you can expect.”

“I understand.” Livia replies. “It would create quite the stir if I were to walk the streets in public, or even simply fly across them. You are going to have to hide me. But rather then someplace underground, might I request somewhere above ground? Some place where I can stretch my wings and enjoy some sunlight.”

“Naturally, we are nothing like Enzo.” Harold assures her. “Though there is one other thing I would like for you to consider.” He then pulls out a piece of paper. “Lady Livia Tyrfing, I have noticed that you have a skill called [Mind Meld]. Could you perchance describe me how capable you are this this particular skill?”

Wait. Harold is not going to suggest what I think he is going to. Is he?

“As long as someone is asleep, I can send my consciousness into theirs.” Livia explains. “I can then alter their dreams any ways I wish. I can change my shape, change my voice, I can change how they see themselves. I can even flip between memories and read their minds this way.”

“So, it is similar to the magic of a dream mage?” Harold asks.

“More powerful.” Livia smiles proudly. “A dream mage needs to spend mana, I don’t. I therefore have no limit as to how long I can peer into someone’s mind. A dream mage typically also merely adjusts a person’s dreams, looks at the dream or alters it. My skill goes deeper. It is a direct connection from my mind to another’s mind. The only drawback is that I can only use it on someone who is asleep.”

“Very interesting.” Harold muses. Then he turns to me and asks, “Want to give it one more try?”

Before I can even think about it, Amelia grabs my arm and says, “Don’t.”

I turn to look at her and ask, “Why not?”

“She’s a demon.” Amelia answers. “You don’t know what she could do in your mind. What if she corrupts you?”

“I possess a sensory skill which allows me to detect such things, Amelia.” Harold tells her. “The second Livia tries to corrupt Darx, I will inform Zhoron and she will be stopped.”

I look over at Livia and ponder whether I should go for it. It could be that this is going to yet again be another failure. Could it really be worth it?