Aqua Regalia [Monster Progression LitRPG]

They were walking and talking again, and Cas was feeling less shy about grilling the demon, searching for any loopholes in the metaphorical fine print of their contract.

To it's credit, the contract was iron-tight, considering it took fifteen minutes before Cas managed to wring a concession from the demoness.

"Ok, fine," Boore-Saa admitted. "Technically, I could betray you."

"Technically?" Cas guessed suspiciously. "Has it ever happened before?"

Boore-Saa shrugged and looked aside. "The third council of Tamikafru. They were betrayed by their demon attendant."

"How?" Cas asked.

"She gave away their defensive plans to one of the queen's spies. Ended up destroying their city."

"Ah, ha!" Cas cheered at the admission, briefly triumphant before Boore-Saa interrupted.

"But that's a rarity!" the demoness rebuked enthusiastically. "She-La's contract was strangely constructed. It bound her to a council of people rather than a single individual, not to mention she had a history of being an antisocial and unethical person. Frankly, It's no surprise that someone of her sort would stoop to Oath-Breaking. She was the devil's work right from birth."

Cas tried not to show her surprise Boore-Saa's moralistic rebuke. In Cas's eyes, it was very much a 'murderer-calling-the-kettle-black' sort of situation.

"I… don't think that matters as much as you think, first of all, and secondly, how can you expect us to trust you when you admit that you could betray us at any moment."

Boore-Saa huffed, "And humans sometimes kill their own children. That doesn't mean every child should run away from home. Frankly, Cas, I'm starting to get offended."

Cas felt her eye twitch. She had to remind herself to treat the demoness's feelings gently as she asked: "That… is a big ask from someone who's tried to kill me."

"Are you still on about that? I already apologized. That, even though I didn't have to!"

Cas turned a blank canvas of an expression onto the demoness, feeling herself grow indignant. "You… don't think I deserve an apology?" She tried very hard to keep her tone patient, though that task became monumentally harder with Boore-Saa's answer of:

"Obviously! That murder attempt happened before my contract. I was still working for the Queen back then! Apologizing to you for that would be like… you apologizing to me for not helping me move creches back during my competency exams!"

"Why would I ever help you move!?"

"Exactly!" Boore-Saa agreed. "You wouldn't help me because we weren't friends yet back then, just like I tried to kill you in the camp because we weren't friends at that moment. That's the whole point! You can't just expect someone not to murder you just because: 'we might become friends at some point in the future!'" Boore-Saa quoted the ridiculous argument like it was parody of human stupidity.

Cas, stuttering from equal parts anger and incredulity, retorted: "Wh... what do you mean 'because we weren't friends back then!" We're not friends now!"

At this, Boore-Saa's eyebrows turned down into a sad puppy of an expression. "But… but, I formed a contract with you…" looking like an abandoned child at a back road. "Sara?" she turned to look at their walking partner for support through this difficult time.

Sara was enamored by the pattern square in her hand, paying it more attention than where her footsteps were landing. "Don't worry Boore-Saa," Sara waved a gentle hand without looking. "I'm sure Cas will come around. You just need to give her time."

Cas did not come around. "Sara! Why are you encouraging this?"

"You are the one who contracted with her, Cas. And we certainly can't let her run free, now. Take responsibility for your actions and make friends with her!"

Cas sent another horrified look at Sara. She'd been doing that a lot, lately. "I only signed because you made it seem like it was ok!"

"It is ok," Sara consoled. "And now we get to experience the fruits of our actions, which – as you can see," she gestured at Boore-Saa, "are also merely ok."

Boore-Saa beamed like it was the greatest compliment she'd ever received.

"But.. but," Cas ground her teeth. "I'm supposed to make friends with her? She's a murderer, one whose loyalties are questionable at best, and that's according to her!"

"Not true," Boore-Saa interrupted casually. "While I can betray you, I am still loyal. In fact, speaking rationally, I'm less likely to betray you than Sara is."

The demon pointed at Sara who – still engrossed by her pattern square – didn't even bother to deny the claim.

Cas sighed.

Seeing no way out, she gave up fighting for the moment.

Stolen story; please report.

Eventually, the silence grew oppressive, and Cas decided to try her best approximation of a casual conversation. "So… what's it like back home?" she asked, looking up at the demoness.

Boore-Saa shook her head. "I can't answer that.."

"Why not?"

"No human has ever managed to enter into the demon heartland. Giving away secrets about our homeland would be a betrayal to our cause."

"I thought you were supposed to be loyal to me, now?" Cas asked, working hard to ignore the intensely close distance the demoness kept beside her, almost brushing elbows.

"I am! But, I can't cause harm to my previous loyalties! That's the only reason I can contract with you in the first place."

"Right, right,," Cas waved away. "Your previous contract made you work for the demon queen, right?"

"It didn't make me," Boore-Saa explained. "I was happy to work with all my friends."

"Right, and what sort of work did your previous contract involve?"

"I had an obligation to the demon queen, my parents, and my clan: to serve them until death and to never act against them. Thanks to you, I did die, so the former half of that obligation is now over."

The answer was vague enough to lack critical information, but Cas didn't press. "And, because you died, you can now contract with me?"

"Because it wouldn't make a difference to my previous contract holder if I died or recontracted. . I still can't betray them, but I no longer have to actively work for them, which frees me up to travel with you!" Boore-Saa floated up into the air on invisible winds, reclining back as if in a lounge chair. "I've always wanted to vacation somewhere interesting."

"So what?" Cas questioned, "This gets you off your job?"

"Don't put it like that," Boore-Saa said, half offended. "I'm not happy to have died, but," she shrugged, "what the point in regretting what you can't control? It's not like I could've kept doing my job if I was killed, so I contracted with you instead. Although, I will admit, I was told that working with humans was pleasant…" she looked over at Cas with something of a disappointed posture, "at least… most humans," she corrected.

Ignoring the slight, Cas continued: "If that's the case, why doesn't every demon just lose a fight and get an early retirement?"

"Because intentionally losing would be a betrayal of our contracts?" Boore-Saa answered obviously. "Also, the Demon Queen is a personal friend of mine. I couldn't stand disappointing her like that. Besides, few humans are irresponsible enough to just let a demon hang around, haha" Boore-Saa laughed. "I mean, Sara here tried to kill me the moment I offered."

Cas scowled over at Sara. "I thought you said contracts were safe!"

"They are," Sara shrugged. "It doesn't mean these sorts of arrangements are legal."

"This is illegal!?" Cas screamed, whipping around to face Sara.

"You couldn't have guessed?" The demon pronounced mirthfully, floating down from her invisible lounge to start walking again, apparently attempting to ground Cas by the gesture.

She was only half successful, for the whole 'I'm in criminal possession of a demoness' issue still hung in the air.

"What about all those kings you were telling me about?" Cas asked, begging for some legal resolution to this. "They had contracts!"

"They had special permission," Sara answered. "Even then, no noble has contracted a demon for – " Sara looked up, counting invisible centuries " – three hundred years… well, no, actually, there was Princess Matilda. But they ended up executing her when she was found out."

Cas wheezed like she'd just sprinted a mile. "They… they what?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, though." Sara said. "I mean, Princess Matilda is… was quite a public figure. I doubt they would have bothered investigating in the first place if she hadn't hosted that smuggling operation."

"Sara!" Cas stopped in her tracks, throwing her hands out. "What the fuck!"

Sara twinged her brows. "Cas, please use appropriate language!"

"That language is appropriate for the situation, Sara! I don't want to die! You couldn't have told me this was illegal back at the camp!? I wouldn't have done it if I had known!"

"Wooow, Cas" Boore-Saa shook her head with disappointment, "you wouldn't break the law to save my life? Some friend you turned out to be."

Cas whipped a finger up at the demon's face. "Girl! We didn't even have a contract back then!"

Boore Saa clappied a tiny celebration. "See? Now you're getting it."

"Ugh!"

"Look, Cas," Boore-Saa tried to console, "The Ember kingdom has more things to worry about than one little contracted demoness, even one who happens to be incredibly smart and beautiful. No kingdom is going to send investigators out to a border province just to investigate demon contracts. So long we keep it secret-"

"Well, actually," Sara interrupted, "I'm afraid it's already a bit too late for that."

Cas groaned, looking at the sky with closed eyes. "What now?"

"Well," Sara let out a patient note. "Thanks to Cas's actions earlier this morning, Kesel saw everything. I doubt the boy is dumb enough to believe we were keeping a demon in my tent for no reason so…."

"Oh…" Boore-Saa lost her cheery disposition. "And… this Kestel. I take it you mean the fortieth banner? Prince Haowi's brother?"

"The same," Sara nodded.

Boore-Saa's expression turned down a despairing alley. "Oh no…"

For once, Cas found herself in a position to give an optimistic advice, quite a feat considering her fraying emotions. "Ok, calm down," she placated. "We'll be fine as long as we explain ourselves. I've actually spoken to the boy, before, and he seems like a shy, reasonable young man who'll understand everything so long as we-"

"I'm going to turn you in," were the boy's first words as they entered camp.

He stood before them with a stiff back and an even stiffer expression, arms crossed in an uncompromising posture.

This failure of diplomacy was surprising, considering none of them had even managed to get a word out, yet. Hell, they'd just barely crossed the tree-line and he'd already revealed his plans!

The child had a grown up expression on his face, which belied any hopes that he would change his made up mind, and Cas was left wracking her brains for any way out of this situation

Cas's brain was more analytical than social, however, and so Cas's body ran on autopilot, making convincing gestures as her lips formed the only words of argument she could think to provide:

"Hey, kid" Cas said, smiling sweetly and taking a casual posture in the vein of an amature child psychologist/drug dealer. "Have you ever considered the possibility that we become friends in the future?"