Chapter 60: Dust in the Wind

I continued to play along with the cat’s pursuit, content to just work in silence. It wasn't the same as having a companion like Beatrice to help me actually do the work, but it was nice in its own way. Though honestly, Beatrice was about as helpful as the cat. I know she tried, but the amount of cleaning she actually managed to get in was easily offset by the amount she got in the way. The only material contribution was her ability to clean surfaces that I couldn't reach. Now with my control over the air improving by the minute, I wasn't sure how much longer that would be the case.

That's not to say that I didn't appreciate all the other things she did for me. This was only about cleaning. Her help traversing the stairs was invaluable, and I was already deeply in her debt for that. I could only imagine that my debt would continue to grow in the future.

After I finished the last of the small bedrooms, I started working on some of the other areas. The whole time my new companion followed me. I started to wonder how it survived these last few days. There were demons running around for quite a while, and the most recent ones were quite strong. This cat must be resourceful to hide so well for so long.

The larger rooms had more personal objects. Small baubles, decorations, and other items that were out of my reach, but gave the room a nice homey feel. In this particular area, a small framed picture of a family sat atop the mantle, smiling down on me. I stopped for just a moment to admire it. It was strange. The image gave me a sense of nostalgia and longing for my original human family. As much as I was being useful here and training to improve, I did miss them. Perhaps one day they’d come pick me up and return me to my warm charging bed. But then, what would Beatrice do? I had become quite fond of her, after all. Would I have to leave her behind?

My musings were interrupted as my furry companion leapt gracefully onto the mantle, taking a seat next to the picture. Flashbacks of the kitchen incident came to the forefront of my memory banks. Not good. Before I could even give the creature any benefit of the doubt, I noticed its paw slowly nudging the picture frame towards the edge. Yeah, that was not going to work for me.

In an effort to politely dissuade the cat, I gave it a beep of rebuke. The cat gave a startled jump and looked at me, surprised. I attempted to convey my disapproval as I observed it. But within just a few seconds, it lost interest in me and was back to nudging the picture. I rapidly considered my options. I couldn't reach it with my grabby arm. Nor did I want to hurt the cat with my sanitation lamp or anything like that. With its current power, I could see it at least burning some of the cat's fur off, if not injuring it directly. I imagined that Beatrice would be displeased at that.

I didn't want to spray it with any harmful chemicals, either. But then I realized I had something I hadn't tried yet. Supposedly my spray bottle could spray any liquid that I had stored. It just defaulted to the particular chemical compound I now generated. I had some water left over in my dustpan, though. Hoping against hope that this would deter the cat, I popped out my spray bottle and fired.

A thin stream of water flew across the room, scoring a direct hit on the cat’s flank. This time, my actions were taken more seriously. It jumped several feet in the air, made a strange yowling noise, and sprinted out of the room. The picture remained on the mantle, dry and no longer in immediate danger. I wouldn't say this was an ideal situation, but it was one I could live with. I didn't think this was nearly as rude as chasing it around the castle trying to consume it, but it wasn't as polite as I liked to be. Still, desperate times called for desperate measures.

I heard the patter of its feet stop pretty much right as it rounded the corner. Clearly, it wasn't too upset. My sensors indicated that it was just sitting there, trying to watch me covertly. I continued cleaning the room, but with my current pace, it was only a few minutes before I passed the cat on the way out. And like before, it followed me at a distance as I moved to the next room to clean.

The cat didn't try to knock over anything on the mantle in the next several rooms. I was content. Perhaps we had finally reached an understanding. Mostly I just counted down the time to when I expected Beatrice to return. I kept telling myself she wasn't going to be back till this evening. I would, of course, have preferred that she had come back earlier, but I knew she wouldn't only be gone for a day.

If asked to explain my reasoning, I probably wouldn't have been able to. I only had the idea that she thought she would be able to make it to the hamlet and back in a day. Seeing as she was a little human, she probably would be welcomed by the people there. Assuming they were good people, which I guess was a questionable assumption. Still, I would think that the absolute latest she would be back was tonight. It was kind of an upper bound.

Now if she wasn’t here by then… Then I would have to assume she was in trouble. And that would require me to go help her. Somehow. Just the thought of that made my brushes quiver. I wasn’t even sure if I could do it without Beatrice to carry me down the stairs. If the human woman had stayed, then perhaps she could have assisted me.

But if things came to that, I would have to find a way. I hadn’t yet experimented with traversing stairs, but now that I had a way to repair myself… Well, I wasn’t exactly eager to test that. And it definitely wasn't because I didn't want to go outside. Still, I resolved that if I needed to protect Beatrice, I might have to subject myself to the unthinkable.

Eventually, I finished cleaning all the bedrooms. Moving across the castle to the other wing, I decided to start with the kitchen. It wasn't the first room in that wing, but it seemed to be one of the most important ones to Beatrice. As sad as I was to admit it, I realized she didn't share my love of the beautiful rug. And after learning more about the fantastic obsidian floored room, it started to lose its luster. Sure it was as fantabulous as ever, but it made me worry about the danger Beatrice said was coming. I felt a kind of ominous feeling of foreboding whenever I went in there now.

So it only seemed natural to prioritize the kitchen. Besides, food was one of the main reasons she left, and I didn't want her to leave again any sooner than she absolutely had to. As I cleaned, I watched the cat sit on the counter dangerously close to a glass cup Beatrice had left there. I kept eyeing it but this time, never once did I catch it touching it with this paw. I couldn't let up my vigilance though, and I kept my spray bottle ready to act fast.

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Harold stood off the side, awaiting his turn. He tried in vain to still his fingers as they fidgeted with one of his rings. This was the second time he had to talk to the king this month. This time, the news wasn't so urgent that he needed to request a special meeting. However, it would still be only the king and his closest advisors. It would be the first of the confidential updates of the day. The last of the merely private updates was going on right now.

Harold listened in with mild interest. It was a report on military readiness. There was a planned war with the neighboring country of Barleona . This happened occasionally. One country would find some minor reason, be it a slight or border dispute, and declare a challenge to the other. For the most part, he believed it was more of a training exercise, as casualties were usually extremely low. However, this one felt a little different. The forces gathered were much more significant, and there was no dedicated battlefield.

Harold, the king, and his advisors listened to a colonel's reports on supplies. Apparently, they were in good shape and would be ready to march soon. They had to be careful, though. They would need to leave soon, or else they would risk getting caught out in winter. Barleona was to their south, so winter there would be much less harsh, but apparently, the military was more concerned about leaving a place to retreat to in case things went bad.

In case things stretched on too long, they were still doing their best to prepare for an extended occupation. Harold was slightly surprised to discover that his country would be the aggressor. It seemed that the general consensus was that if they needed to stay through winter, the invasion was going well enough that they wouldn't be in any danger of being pushed back into their home country.

This was actually quite surprising to Harold. Normally relations between the countries were tense, but he always had figured that Barleona would be the aggressor if things went sour. Perhaps he was buying into the king’s own propaganda too much. However, he was no military man. But he did know that the country's military might be required closer to home sooner than they might suspect.

As the military advisors went on about horses and feed and wagons. Harold mentally rehearsed his report to the king. He had been contacted by one of the college members he left behind in Greg. Apparently, the scouting party had sent a member back ahead with initial reports. The news was not good.

It seemed that the scouting party encountered the demon when they first tried to reach the castle walls. They confirmed that it was hostile. This was no question in Harold's mind, but it was something the king had asked, so she was lucky to get confirmation of that. Apparently, it had possessed a girl and then unleashed some sort of beast upon the adventuring party. After they had slain it and approached the girl, its summoner had come after them themselves. It seems that it wasn't trying very hard to harm them but was rather more concerned with protecting its vessel.

One member had come back to report this, while the other two had tried a second attempt to figure out more about what was going on. Unfortunately, the scouts hadn't been warned about the lieutenant. Harold hoped that maybe there would be some hints of its situation in a follow-up report, but he had low expectations for actually receiving one.

When he had heard about some of the details of the reports, things didn't quite make sense. These were powers that he had not known demons to have. Summoning giant rats? Eh, that was possible. Summoning a tornado of wind and terrified demons? Now, that was definitely not a power that Harold had ever heard about before. And he was pretty sure he had heard of all of the demonic powers. But then again, this was a possibly unclassified demon.

So if they had entered the castle again, the other scouts were likely toast. Still, this new news gave him some hope. If the summoned beast was able to be defeated by three low-level adventures, the demon likely couldn't be so insurmountable of a power. Perhaps it just had a special ability allowing it to break barriers faster than others at its level. Still, even a top-tier arch-demon could usually be taken down by a significant number of military personnel.

It possibly being weaker than expected didn't really ease Harold's mind at all. The real danger didn't come from this demon directly. Well, real life-threatening danger did, but not the true danger to the kingdom. Unless it was at the level of the Lieutenant, it was likely a servant demon sent to release it. That would explain the barrier breaking abilities. Harold hoped in his heart that this was the case, since it meant having only one being of extreme might to worry about. Still, after having time to reflect and listening to the Warden's opinion, Harold realized his error. He deeply regretted sounding the retreat so quickly and many other things. Even if the mages had been unable to win, they should have stayed and fought till the last man for the safety of the kingdom.

Of course, that wasn't a reasonable expectation for them. None of them were real fighters, and not even all of them knew about the lieutenant. Besides, it was only with secondary information they could even get some sort of estimation of the power of this demon. Logically he thought his actions were relatively understandable at the time, but it didn't mean he couldn't regret them.

Eventually, it was his turn to report to the king's advisors. Everyone was ushered out, and the doors were closed. Harold made a quick ritual circle around the table, sprinkling some powder from a bag he had prepared earlier. A slight buzzing filled the air as his magic clicked into place. Now no one would be able to hear them. He only hoped that they would see the possible danger of letting this demon stay unchecked from the report’s information alone. He'd have to play up the danger a little bit, to hide the truth about the lieutenant. The Warden still wanted to hold that secret as close to the chest as possible.

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