BATTLE OR ALIVE
Chapter 33: The Demonoid

Right now, in the office, Jell was sitting in a serious position. With both of his hands tilting his head, he was currently entering super serious mode.

Mai is also in the room, for Emma she is going out and Rin she is having important business.

The atmosphere in the room was very quiet, both of them did not open their respective voices. Only Mai who looked puzzled by her did not understand the reason Jell had called her here.

“So, what did you call me?”

Jell just kept quiet with a blank look. She thought of something very important and she wanted Mai to listen.

“Emma..”

“Emma? She why, did something happen?”

Mai when Jell mentioned Emma's name, Mai immediately stood up from the chair and worriedly asked about Emma's matter.

She won't let Emma be alone anymore, I'll always be by her side, those words are always attached to Mai whenever she thinks Emma is in danger. And now so too.

“Emma... Last night he came to my room.”

“What's up, what happened to him?”

“Ahh. Something really bad is happening.”

Jell was now getting more serious as she raised her face and looked at Mai sharply.

“Emma, overnight can't sleep!”

“What!!”

Mai's eyes trembled when she heard that shocking fact, she couldn't believe what she heard. It's something that wouldn't have happened if Emma was in trouble, it's a problem she never expected.

Jell stood up and continued the story of last night. Mai also stood up and listened carefully.

The aura in the room was extremely pressing at this moment, even if a human entered the room, it was already confirmed that he would not return home safely.

“He told me, he can't sleep. And I asked her the reason, But, she didn't say it.”

“No way, is there something wrong with his room?”

“Nothing. I've checked it at every corner and inch, but there's no problem in his room.”

“How about his friend, is this because of his friends?”

“No. I've checked the information of everyone who came into contact with Emma, and nothing looks suspicious.”

“Then what!”

For the first time in this world, the two experienced despair. No glimmer of hope can save them, they have failed to protect Emma.

“Two of you, what are you doing?”

Not knowing where and since when, Rin was suddenly in the office room.

Actually Rin had just come in to talk to Jell about something, but when she entered she felt a strange aura from within, so she decided to go in and check.

Rin had no idea what the two were talking about, but what he could see were both very serious.

“So, actually what is.”

“Emma..”

“Hm, Emma? She why.”

“Night, he came to my room. Ghuk–”

“What are you doing you pedophile! Bawdy, depraved, asshole. You could have done that to Emma.”

Without listening to the truth, Rin with his full strength immediately hit Jell to collapse. She reacts to herself at once, but the truth that Jell was last night with Emma clearly makes her angry.

“Rin, listen to the reason first. You're overreacting.”

The dangerous gaze emitted by Mai, Rin who was talking directly turned her face.

“You're really rude, yeah. You wouldn't have a partner if you did, loh.”

“I have the right to choose my partner, you want me to beat again?”

While fixing his broken nose, Jell sat back down and explained everything to Rin.

And as expected, Rin felt the two were indeed fools. They gave off an aura that could have killed someone, just because of Emma's sleeplessness.

But Jell continued the story, that Emma had been like this for 1 week. And Jell also explained that she had seen Emma delirious in fear during sleep.

Rin certainly while listening to it chose silence and was a little guilty of hitting Jell. Mai doesn't know what to do to help her, she thinks that this may be due to Emma's growing up, but nevertheless she is worried.

But it looks like the way out has been found from the beginning. Jell says that in every time Emma was frightened in her dreams she always said,

“Papa, mom.”

As Jell said that, the atmosphere inside the room felt very quiet. They thought that it could be just things they could sort out, but this was different.

Her longing for both her parents left Jell and Mai unable to do anything, and the other thing they were thinking about right now was whether her parents were still alive or not.

Given that Emma is a former slave, it can be concluded that the relationship between Emma and her parents is definitely severed.

They don't know anything about Emma's life.

Emma never talked about how she could become a slave, nor did Jell intend to open the scar.

But when she finds out how much Emma misses her parents, Jell can't choose what to do.

“Then, what if we ask, Lhava?”

Rin proposes a solution, that the only one who can answer Jell and Mai's current question is her, Emma's former master, Lhava.

Jell also thinks the same as him, but different from Mai who rejected him.

Mai does not hate the man, but she hates what they treat Emma so much.

But to find the quickest answer to this problem only Lhava was able to answer, Jell vehemently rejected Mai's refusal and decided to go to see Lhava.

***

From what Rin said, Lhava's house is in district D. The district is known as a dumpster in the kingdom of Athera.

Jell never went there and that's why Rin was the one who would accompany her.

They arrived at the entrance gate of district D, from the design of the gate it was clear how poorly maintained this place was.

The gate was dirty, and no one intended to clean it.

At the gate there is a guard post, can be seen there are four guards who are guarding there.

They saw Jell instantly gathering and marching. Jell saluted their welcome, but there was something else bothering him, the faces of these people looked pale.

Their eyes were limp and their faces looked pale, their lips also looked black.

Jell explained his arrival here and ordered them to let them in.

Entering District D, it is very clear that the settlement here is very shabby. Lots of rubbish and smelled bad in every alley.

“Rin, people earlier.”

“Ah, they seem to be users of dangerous drugs. Though I know that the settlement here is very bad, but still this makes me surprised.”

No need to take a long time, Jell and Rin have now arrived at a pretty big house.

The house has 3 levels, and looks very large when compared with the houses around it.

“So, this is his home?”

“True.”

When he saw this house Jell somehow immediately thought of one thing in the past. That is, one of the Lhava women being treated.

Jell thought what kind of treatment he was doing for the woman was from here or somewhere else.

Jell could not see the percentage that the level of health here was in good condition, it was very different from district B which clearly had a level of cleanliness and quality that was very much noticed.

Entering the courtyard of the house and knocking on the door of Lhava's house, the answer was given long enough and someone came to open the door, it was one of the Lhava women.

“Ya, there need ap–”

Not finishing her question, the woman realized that Jell who was at the door made her speechless.

“Ah, sorry to interrupt. I came to talk to Lhava about something, is he home?”

“B-good..”.

It wasn't until five minutes as he left the door, Lhava came.

Lhava looked a bit difficult to look Jell in the eye, he looked very difficult and just spoke while taking his eyes off.

“So, there need what ka-, Your Majesty came here?”

“What's with your attitude, don't have to behave formally in front of me.”

“A-ah, I understand.”

Whether he is very persistent or something else makes him unable to speak like he used to, but what is clear is that Lhava has a very different nature now.

Jell explained about the intent of his arrival, Lhava also seemed to be listening carefully.

Jell tells about Emma's condition that every night often has nightmares about her past.

“So, he's back to how he used to be, yes.”

Lhava, when he finished listening to Jell, immediately said something that seemed familiar to him. Jell was certainly aware of that and she asked him what he meant.

“Did Emma not say anything about her past to you?”

“No, she never said anything.”

(We know he's from the Northern Empire.)

Lhava begins to explain about Emma's past,

Eliana Emma is the son of a small village on the border between two nagaras, the kingdom of Athera and the Northern Empire.

The village Emma lived in was not bound by any government, but there was news that the village finally signed a treaty by joining the Northern Empire, more or less, it happened eight months ago.

But this is not about the location and problems of the village, but what is the village of Emma's birth.

It was said by Lhava that the village was neither a human village nor a majority race, but it was a high-level race whose existence was extremely difficult to find, they were a Demonoid race.

Jell upon hearing his words was immediately stunned by that fact, she knew that Emma was not from the human race, but who would have thought that she was a demon race.

Continue his words,

The Demonoid is a race made up of a combination of two races, the Human and the Devil.

It can happen if between the two different races have a child, then the child will have two blood flowing in his body, namely human blood and demon blood, this condition is called “Demonoid”.

And there is a strong reason that makes Emma often scream and call her parents, it is because Emma is a slave who was bought by Lhava.

Lhava said that she first met Emma while she was completing a mission in the Northern empire six months ago.

He saw a nobleman torturing his slaves in the hot sun.

Emma's condition at that time looked very thin and if only she was just an ordinary human then it was already beyond words, she would have long since died.

And during his meeting with Emma, he said that he was no ordinary man to Lhava.

And in order not to cause greater trouble for having enslaved the demon race, Lhava had to be rude to him.

It was because there was a story that said, there was a noble who tortured the demon race in public, and soon the nobleman was found dead with the condition of his body was not formed again.

***

Jell is currently in his office, he is sitting with his legs raised on his desk and he tells everyone not to come to his office just yet.

(Seeing from the number and status of them as a strong race, it was confirmed that the village had indeed been sought by the empire.)

Jell tried to think about all the possibilities of Emma's hometown case, she thought about all the things, starting from what made Emma me a slave, to why he kept this a secret from himself and Mai.

Unable to get a proper answer Jell ruffled her hair and tried to calm herself down first before thinking, she could not find any answer at all to this matter.

(Ahh, can I really do this? I am a failed brother.)

Standing up and deciding to go out to get some fresh air, suddenly the door opened and a 13-year-old girl entered.

With a few snacks in his hand, he struggled to open the door that was located right in his head, which made some of the snacks fall.

“Emma, what are you doing here?”

“Kakak~”

With a beautiful voice he shouted while calling his beloved sister.

He approached in a hurry to put his snack on and he jumped in Jell's arms.

Jell was very happy when she visited, but she told everyone not to let anyone into her office.

“So, here I bring my own snacks.”

“Create yourself? Really.”

“Not completely anyway, Brother Mai also helped me.”

Jokingly the laughter of the two showed how unfortunately they were with each other. In Jell's deepest heart she felt angry towards him who wanted Emma to always be by his side.

But now that Emma was not the weak figure she used to be, she was now an already much stronger figure.

In her heart she made up her mind, that this was the best for Emma.

“Finally you're done alone?”

Rin had suddenly come and stood at the door, he was carrying some paper that did not seem to be ordinary paper, it was gold paper.

“Rin, the?”

“Hah! What is “Itu” is the result of the rules that you two made. Look, there are a number of nobles who protest against the rule.”

Jell stood up and went to the table, looking at what was written on the papers, and as Rin said, this is a letter to withdraw the decision from the regulations that Jell and Mai made a few days ago.

***

Jell's office a few days ago, though,

“OK. Given that our government has changed 180 degrees, so we will make rules that they will abide by.”

Mai with a punching table she shouted out loudly.

Rin was a little surprised by her attitude today, Mai who usually just likes to play around and sleep now wants to discuss a rule.

With a rotten face she looked at Mai in disbelief.

“What the fuck is your face, it hurts so much.”

“Finally, a Mai who just likes to skip out suddenly wants to work. Isn't that weird?”

Mai received a direct attack, she was unable to avoid it.

But he won't just stand idly by Rin, and he gives a much stronger counterattack.

“Well how else no, because I'm a Queen.”

With a very very irritating style, Mai showed off her position while holding her chest.

Two devastating attacks on Rin without giving him a chance to dodge, completely damaging him.

“What suddenly want to make a rule?”

A person who should be the enforcer of the two seemed not to care much about these two women who were fighting.

He casually asked something like he did not realize Rin was in pain.

“That's loh. We have remade the government of this country, so I intend to make regulations that can minimize the occurrence of the same case in the future.”

“And what is it.”

“Contains government cash.”

Hearing that, Rin whose consciousness disappeared, suddenly immediately responded to Mai's words earlier.

“What did you say?” Rin is hysterical

“Oh, it looks like it can be tried.” Jell in a relaxed tone

Jell casually agreed, Rin could not believe what the two were thinking but this was completely out of her mind.

Whether the two wanted to provoke the anger of the nobles or had other goals, obviously they really wanted to change all with their own thought patterns.

Rin resists firmly while scolding Jell because she readily agrees to the crazy thing Mai said.

But Jell certainly won't listen to Rin, she stands up and goes out with Mai to publicize this new rule to the rest of the kingdom.

“Actually, what do those two people think.”

Rin was silent to see them go into a door.

***

“Oh, so they decided not to shut up, yes.”

Jell who saw the report, just responded casually like this was not a big deal for him to work on.

But considering that he is a King then this is his responsibility.

“What is your answer. You should be more serious about responding to this.

This is a serious problem, if only there were no nobles, then taking care of this country would be very difficult.”

Rin is tired of seeing the reaction that Jell shows, he does not want this incident to be a fire for a coup against the royal family.

And most of all he feared that a traitor would come after the King.

Rin thought about all that, of course, not for herself, but she worried about Jell. But Jell didn't realize it.

During his time as King's secretary, he had already received more than a few rejections for Jell's position as King.

But he can't do anything seeing that Jell became King by official lines.

And he has also heard some bird news saying that there are some nobles who have made contact with other countries, which aims to bring down the government.

Of course Rin would not stay silent, he ordered Marina to make sure of that.

Marina has the post of second secretary, and of course Rin's position is higher than her current self.

Jell who saw Rin who was lacking in spirit, decided to stand in front of him. Rin who was sitting on the floor and Jell squatting while looking into his eyes directly.

“Take it easy, there's nothing to worry about. This is all according to what I and Mai Planned.”

With that said Jell came out of the office and called Marina.

He told her to call all the nobles for a meeting later tonight.

Hearing his King's orders, Marina left without asking why.

...

Nights, evening,

Currently in the place they had used for the meeting before, right now everyone who was there were more than hundreds of people.

Given that their job was the spouses of the nobles, so Jell also called them to the meeting.

In addition to the nobles, Jell, Mai, Rin, and Marina also attended the meeting.

Jell began the meeting with thanks for those who had come to meet this time.

In this meeting, which will be in the language of only one thing, namely the regulation of negating government cash.

Although this is still a greeting and tells a topic that must be discussed, but one of the nobles has shouted.

“I have dedicated myself for decades to this country, and so have my ancestors who have served this country.

But this time I completely disagree on this, I reject the rule of negating this government cash!”

Jell understood their feelings and their reactions to the new rules, and that was the meeting.

The meeting was held for more than two hours, and the result of the decision was that, the rules for the abolition of the government treasury, were agreed.

Being in the royal hallway, Jell was walking to go towards somewhere. And behind those dark pillars, appeared a black figure that was standing behind one of the pillars.

Jell realized it, but she decided to ignore it and decided to leave from there.

“This is very interesting.”

Hearing that word, Jell's footsteps immediately stopped.

“Do you enjoy life in this world. Beautiful world with many races and ker–”

“I don't know what you're up to, but someday I'll kill you, that's for sure.”

Without even listening to the mysterious person's entire words, Jell immediately slammed into him with extremely harsh words.

But the mysterious person also had no intention of continuing his words.

“Everything is connected. Tell me, what happened six months ago.”

Asking about what happened six months ago, Jell turned to the black figure with a sinister look.

But the black figure did not answer Jell at all.

Exasperatedly, Jell immediately destroyed the pillar with his feet for a short time.

And at that speed too the figure shattered along with the pillar, but as he had expected it was only a shadow.

Disappearing in the darkness the mysterious figure's voice still said one more thing.

“I hope big to you, “No.1” .”

Jell immediately squeaked and left the place.

Arriving at his room, Jell decided to go straight to sleep to relax his body.

But that hope was a little betrayed, it was because Mai was already in her bed with the state of only wearing underwear.

Not responding to her, Jell still tried to sleep even though Mai was clearly teasing her.

Jell was hugged from behind with the sensation of Mai's chest can be felt clearly, if only someone else was in his current condition surely he would not think anymore and immediately eat it.

“Tadi, what are you talking about with him?”

“What, it turns out you saw it.”

Mai approaches Jell again, this time Jell's body is stretched out and Mai climbs her body from above. And put his head on Jell's chest.

“Of course, there's nothing you can hide from me.”

Jell when she last spoke to the mysterious figure earlier, her face did not change at all, she had an annoyed face.

The night passed slowly to wait for the morning to come.

“Hey, what are you biting!”

“Ehehe.”

***