Chapter 3: Chapter Two: Demonic Forest

Aria watched as the parade of demonfolk crossed through a bubble-like sphere. One by one they disappeared from her gaze, leaving the Far Shore for another dimension. 

The floating head, which had yet to cross over, looked at Aria, who was staying still. “You sure you won’t reconsider.” 

Aria continued to stare at the boundary. “I would just get in the way of your fun.”

With sour looks, Katan and Raitan flapped their wings and landed on Aria’s shoulders. 

Katan spoke first. “Boss, you don’t really believe that do you?”

“You know how to have fun.” Raitan added, with a slight blush to his blue face.

The floating head nodded. “We would be very happy for the Princess to join us.”

Aria shook her head. She could see the raccoon dogs and the fox from before. They hesitated at the edge of the bubble. She merely waved and watched them disappear. 

“I was taught to look after my subordinates.” Her voice was steady.

They seemed to be about to refute Aria, but she raised her hand and yawned before continuing, “Our demon blood makes us want to run wild. We are creatures desiring freedom without bounds. I simply don’t think it is in our kind to truly let loose while being watched.”

Aria said this all with a smile, so the three didn’t have it in them to say anymore. “Katan and Raitan.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Yes…”

“I want you to join them.”

“But boss, you just said…”

“Hmph. Don’t put yourselves in the same category as me.” Aria’s eyes narrowed, “Plus, I sense something familiar about the one that rules that dimension. It’s something powerful.”

“Alright boss. We will look after them.” Katan gave her a thumbs up with his chubby webbed hands. 

Raitan, who was less easy to please, shifted and just nodded his head. “Okay…”

Aria then turned to the floating head that was still there. "Your name.” 

“Hikaru.” The floating head scrunched his face. It reminded Aria of a drunk, lecherous old man. It made her want to pull on his wispy beard. 

“Your head is shiny.” Aria nodded as she spoke. It felt like she had just said something enlightening. But she couldn’t help but have to hold back a scoff. The floating head got all emotional and looked like it was about to cry. So she nodded again, and then left without saying anything else. 

Why was an old man getting all embarrassed? 

Aria continued to shake her head as she sat down in her lawn chair atop her fancy looking carriage. Unknown to the three, she had a wide smile on her face.

She activated her magic and sped off into the distance without looking back. She planned to return and investigate the dimension later, but for now she had to find something to quell her demon’s blood. 

***

 World of Acedia

Traveler, Welcome to the World of Acedia!

Acedia is a fantasy world full of magic, monsters, and adventurers! There are multiple gods…

Aria swiped the notification away. It wasn’t really necessary because all the information she needed flowed directly into her mind. She had randomly stumbled upon this dimension while wandering aimlessly. 

She didn’t know if the world would satisfy her, but for the moment, she enjoyed the cool breeze. The cold air felt slightly ticklish on her face. She lifted her nose up and gave a long sniff. It was different from what she was used to. 

‘This tingling sensation. Magic?’ Aria tilted her head and sniffed the air again. She felt like she was about to sneeze but wasn’t able to. 

‘Should I do some tests?’ She cracked and rotated her body like she was about to hand out a beating. Because of the high magic concentration in this world, these light movements caused power to radiate out of her body. 

A smug-like grin appeared on her face as she imagined various, mostly violent, scenes. She could really let loose here if she wanted. Flexing her fingers, energy danced between her hands.

‘I am a scholar after all.’ She was already in a good mood imagining beating stuff up, but this thought practically made her giddy. She was proud of being a scholar. Of course, no other person would honestly view Aria as a person of the scholarly field. 

A strong gust appeared and blew through her white-blond hair. It was indeed ticklish. It was time to move. ‘Research’ was calling her name.  

Aria’s body seemed to disappear only to reappear at the edge of a nearby cliff. She appeared to be in the middle of a large forest. 

She tilted her head down. It was more of the same. Massive trees stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction, so she focused her gaze slightly. The energy caused her eyes to glow. Because she tapped into the raw mana of the world without filtering it, the glow in her eyes wasn’t just one color but a rainbow that continued to change.

Each color hinted at the different properties the raw mana contained, but Aria didn’t even focus on this spectacle. The chaotic energies were tame under her control. 

Aria was too busy looking down the cliff. She whistled. The shortest path out was to go west about 800 kilometers. 

Aria became curious if the gods of this world intentionally placed her away from civilization. The thought made her heart rate increase. She could almost feel the blood in her veins moving faster.

‘First it was my skin, then my nose and hair, and now my muscles. What an itchy place?!’

Aria rushed forward and jumped several meters forwards. Her body began to plummet rapidly as she raced down the cliff. Her black robes billowed about as she descended. 

Yet, despite all the drama and the fact she fell hundreds of meters, she landed softly. Not even a speck of dirt or dust flew into the air from the impact. It wasn’t a magic spell or some kind of martial technique. It was closer to manipulating the natural laws that governed the world. 

In a sense Aria had severed the causality between the action she had taken and the result that should have followed. Such things were as simple as breathing for her. 

At first Aria ran through the trees, but realizing her natural vision was impeded quite a bit, she made her way to the top of the canopy. Most trees around her were around 100 meters tall. However, she simply bounced up the trunks of the trees and then continued to bounce along the branches.

She went from tree to tree, staying above the tree line so she could get a better view of her surroundings. If there was anything fun, she didn’t want to miss it. 

But there were truly no marks of civilization. Elves, dryads, nymphs, and the like were also without traces. This was a place where demonic and magical beasts were kings.

It reminded Aria of her mother’s world, Kingdom of Ave—one of the four worlds belonging to the unified dimension known as the Four Twins. 

Her mother’s world had majestic cities with populations that soared into the hundreds of millions, but the territory outside the confines of the urban centers were filled with massive monsters and beasts. Such creatures prowled, hunted, and laid claim to the unpopulated wildernesses of the world. 

The collective term used by the residents was Unclaimed Territory. It meant that the land had no owner and thus was not bound by a larger will. Such land was fickle. One day the land would appear as a snowy tundra and the next it would be a sandy desert. Usually such phenomena would be dependent on which monster or beast happened to be the dominant power at the time. 

If a creature of ice and a being of fire both shared a region then the ensuing terrain would be even more chaotic as if the land itself was at war.  

Acedia seemed similar to the Kingdom of Ave in this regard. The forest that Aria was navigating through was the domain of dozens of creatures, yet none lay claim to the entirety of the space. 

Aria sensed them as she passed. Most of them immediately and instinctually hid. She clicked her tongue at their cowardice. 

Yet, one didn’t. Aria stopped moving and stood perched on a branch. A large scaly brute sneered at her from the foliage. Because the trees were so tall, there was a lot of space around their trunks. Normal beasts would have no problem moving about. 

However, the monster approaching Aria was utterly massive. As such, it was easy to see how the trees would impede its movements. But that didn’t happen. 

The trees either moved out of the way or disappeared altogether in a mirage-like manner. The creature was apparently exerting its authority over the space, forcing changes to manifest. 

“Who dares—”

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“Quiet it, lizard breath,” Aria gave the thing a middle finger. “Before I beat the absolute living shit out of you.” Her lips were curled upwards and she was already cracking her body. 

It came into view. It took on the image of a green dragon. Such a figure was coughing and at a loss for words. 

“I am one of the guardians—”

“You're a big fat lizard is what you are. Last warning before I come down there.” She would not hesitate to pounce the thing if it said even one more word. 

The thing stared up at Aria but couldn’t keep eye contact. This beast was no dragon. It was a fake. 

Aria knew that the concept of dragons had become diluted. It was just how things went; words and concepts changed with time and continued usage. With the iconic popularity that came with the word dragon, Aria felt that any lizard and their mother could take on the title of dragon these days.

Was a dragon supposed to be a benevolent guardian of nature and an embodiment of magic? Or was a dragon evil and an incarnation of greed? 

Was it supposed to have wings? Breath fire? Possess whiskers? Be a master of magic? Possess a dragon hoard? Four or six limbs?

To Aria it was all pointless dribble. She was insanely strong and she had also witnessed the true thing, the original and direct bloodline. 

Her views on the matter were permanently skewed. The image of the primordial being was seared into her memory. It was a thing that existed since the times of Chaos and was at a level of existence that actually forced Aria to be serious. She would only consider such things as ‘dragons.’

That said, in the current situation, none of this applied. It wasn’t even a dragon. It was a fake amongst fakes. 

“Please continue on your way, miss.” It bowed its head. “S-sorry to bother you.” 

Aria jumped down from the tree and landed on its head. “Nope. You're my bitch now.” She pointed to the west. “Well, get to it motherfucker.”

She kicked back and sprawled out on its neck. It shuddered but complied and took off into the sky. 

Aria debated writing notes about various findings she had discovered while on Acedia like how it was similar to Ave or about the impacts of magic density. However, the moment she tried to do so, she started snoring and dozed off. 

The forest passed below them and the lizard continued on. It was only given a direction and it feared if it stopped punishment awaited it, and for the most part it was the correct choice. Entities like Aria could feel changes around them even in the deepest of slumbers.

If it steered off course, it could expect to face some form of irrepressible violence in the form of a small girl waving her fists. Fists that would really hurt.  

Aria could even feel the creature's nerves. It felt terrified as they exited its domain. This feeling grew further as it approached a human fort. 

The fort was positioned as if to guard against the encroaching forest. Its small walls were dwarfed by the massive trees, but a variety of strong presences could be felt from inside.

This was most likely a spot that marked the boundary between the human domain and the Unclaimed Territories. A frontier often needed strong people to maintain authority over the domain; otherwise, land might be lost. The edges of the human domain could literally wither away.  

Bells began to ring out from below. A cranking sound could be heard as large contraptions were turned towards the sky. By this point the fort came alive as men took their posts and commanders shouted orders

“Ugh, young miss.” The lizard finally gave the nerve to speak.

“Keep flying.”

“But—”

“Bitch, you will stop when I tell you to stop.” Aria stood up on the creature’s neck. She peered down. The people below felt like ants but there were hundreds of them running about.

Large magic circles were beginning to form while things like ballistae were loaded with enchanted bolts. The first volley was already let loose. 

‘I guess dragons in this world are not well received… or is it because we were seen leaving the forest?’ Aria came up with some half-assed conjectures. 

Without thinking too hard though, Aria cracked her neck and stepped off the lizard. She began falling into what to her was basically a light show. Dozens of magic circles of a variety of colors hummed. Their runic letters and formulas inscribed on their surfaces glowed. When they fired, they lit up with those same colors.

Red fireballs, blue lightning, magic missiles, and more were sent hurtling her way and Aria just punched the air. A metal bolt enchanted with swiftness and elemental properties disintegrated from the force of her punch. The sound was deafening and echoed out. Dozens of explosions filled the sky. 

Ultimately, Aria landed unimpeded in the middle of the human fort. She looked to the sky and saw the lizard was flying off. She scratched the back of her neck, realizing she never did tell it to stop. 

‘Surely it won’t just keep flying.’ Aria felt slightly guilty. ‘It will stop after a couple hours, right?’

Aria shook her head. She had placed a talisman on its back previously. If she remembered she would check in on it later. 

Dozens of knights surrounded Aria. They were adorned in full plate armor, each made of exquisite materials and meticulously enchanted. They might be good products that would sell for a lot even in the Four Twins, but they were still mass produced goods so she wasn’t interested.

There weren’t just knights though. Archers and mages lined the castle walls. Weapons from all sides and angles were directed at her.

Aria cracked her body. “Well, aren’t these kids cool?” As veteran knights, most of them were undoubtedly older than Aria. 

“Emissary of the Demon King, for what purpose do you trespass?” A voice boomed out. 

Aria peered up at the voice that came from the wall directly in front of her. It came from a man in a set of shiny gold armor. It was made-to-order and not like the cheap mass produced goods of the other knights. He was also the strongest presence in the fort.

“Are you talking to me?” Aria blushed slightly. 

A man in robes began whispering to the man that just spoke. “Are you not an emissary of the Demon King?” 

“Nope.” Aria was all smiles. She was related to the demonfolk which was a separate entity from the term demon. It was similar to how there were multiple ‘dragons.’ Nonetheless, if Aria were to explain that to these humans they probably wouldn’t understand. The demonfolk were a foreign concept to this world.

“Then who are you?” The man’s voice didn’t shake. 

Aria found it commendable, but she wasn’t sure how to respond. She was called all sorts of titles: abomination, monster, a calamity, the incarnation of a storm, despair in a pretty face. The list went on and on.

Because Aria was basically royalty, some adjectives attached to the term princess were the most common. However, Aria’s recent favorite was “That Bitch from Night Parade.”

She didn’t particularly like being called a bitch, but it made her feel kick ass when it was a title meant to scorn her. It felt like she had done a good job fucking people over. 

“Well?” Because Aria was not responding the man urged her to speak. Aria had decided.

“I’m a scholar from another world…” At the word another world there was a commotion building in the crowd. It was like multiple ripples had formed in a pond. 

“Did you say that you came from another world?”

“Yes… in that other world they referred to me as The Tyrant Scholar.” 

This wasn’t one of Aria’s ‘popular’ titles, but she vividly remembered the day she told her father she wanted to become a scholar. It was a simple thing. It took her only one sentence to convey what she wanted. Yet, it would actually be an understatement, to say it shook the entirety of the four worlds of the Four Twins. 

Aria would have been oblivious about such things if Shiki didn’t tease her about it. Apparently rivers of tears were shed in the fields of academia. Shiki described a bunch of other dramatic details, but Aria honestly didn’t care. 

Nonetheless, her other titles didn’t just magically disappear, but when they referred to her using her occupational title, scholar, they only really used the word tyrant to describe it. 

Sure some random people might have called her a lousy scholar, a disgrace to scholars, and the like, but those were more common insults than actual names. 

While Aria was thinking about nonsensical things, the entourage of military personnel all fell to their knees.

“We pay our respects to the hero.” The line repeated over and over. 

‘What the fuck is going on now?’ Aria thought to herself. ‘Should I have referred to myself as a bitch after all?”

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