Death's Door

Now that the Knight of Light left, he felt ma.s.sive relief, almost as if great weight was dropped off his shoulders.

Knight of Light was certainly someone who put a lot of strain on Runfar"s mind.

"WELCOME BACK MASTER RUNFAR!!!" the combined voices of the Sevilles Mansion"s staff greeting him was almost enough to knock Runfar off his feet.

"We are glad you came back safe, Master Runfar" Elian, whose dress was obviously a little torn up, bowed her head. Her warm red hair, unlike Arin"s blood crimson hair, was in slight disarray.

It seems like she and Camilla managed to come back to the mansion right before Runfar, with Arin on his back.

Those two were still breathing rather heavily; it was obvious that Camilla did not use his Teleportation Ring, in order to not expose himself in front of Elian.

Which was why both of them ran at their top speed to the mansion, making it seem that they were there all along, but Runfar was aware of their little deceit.

"Right, you two even followed me to the festival, so you should know that well enough…"

But Runfar resisted the urge to blurt it out, and instead smiled and said.

"It is good to be back"

The entrance was lined up with practically every member of the staff.

As far as his left eye could see, he could see many familiar faces.

The faces of Landon, Mordon, the two original butlers of the mansion, wearing their rather stylish uniforms, were clear to see.

Uncle and nephew butler combo was truly breathtaking to behold.

Of course, among the maids, he could clearly recognize Mirabelle, Elian, Leirin, Meriam, Song, Miya, Wylin, Leanor, Ryam, and Vinia.

They were the original 10 maids of the mansion.

He was rather surprised that Mirabelle came out to greet him, she usually only arrives to make his meals in the kitchen and only shows herself when Runfar requested her to do so.

Mirabelle"s eyes were, as always, covered by a blindfold, concealing her empty eye-sockets, courtesy of the previous Master of the Sevilles Mansion.

But now, among their ranks was Alua, an elven maid who wore a hat to conceal her ears, and Lais Lairen, or now known as Lis, the former Holy Maiden of Water with no memory of being such a position.

Runfar also saw some of the Shadow Lords disguised as mansion staff, namely Camilla, Lake, Meros, and Morphus.

The others must be either somewhere else inside the mansion or away from his territory, at this point Runfar did not really care, he just wanted to sleep.

He would contact the others tomorrow.

As half undead, he did not have any true need for sleep, but today"s events put his mind at so much mental stress that he felt that maybe just this once, he needs to get a good night of sleep.

Though, Runfar was sure that even if he did fall asleep, the Knight of Light was going to haunt his dreams, but after today, he really did not give a d.a.m.n.

But as he focused his vision, he saw an unfamiliar person, wearing a maid uniform.

No, she looked familiar for some reason…

Runfar focused his single crimson eye.

Silver white hair, purple right eye while the left eye is concealed under the bangs, she was wearing a standard maid uniform of Sevilles mansion.

She was around fourteen to fifteen years of age, at least as far as Runfar could tell. Very thin body, she looked almost fragile.

Runfar guessed that she was the new maid who Mirabelle hired to help her around the kitchen.

Runfar couldn"t help but feel as though he had met this girl before.

"Are you….?"

Before Runfar could address the new maid, he was interrupted by four Demon Lords.

"My King! Please open your eyes!" Rahat cried out in panic

"What have you done to her?!" Rahis"s accusing gaze was directed towards Runfar.

"We will protect you, my lady! Please be alright, please be alright…" Temur tried to wake up Arin to no avail.

"Is everything going to be ok?" Unlike the other Demon Lords who were panicking, Kazan was calm and composed as he addressed Runfar. It was almost as if he trusted Runfar"s judgment on this matter.

"No worries, she is just asleep. But I guess it would be a little discourteous of me to send you out like this, so why don"t all of you stay the night? There are many spare rooms in the mansion, so you guys are welcome to rest in them. I should probably put her to bed in one of the rooms; she had a rather long day."

Arin had yet to wake up after Knight of Light approached too close for her comfort.

Who knew she feared him so much that she would pa.s.s out the minute he came too close to her.

"We appreciate your generosity, Master Sevilles" Temur Tang bowed her head in respect.

"Think nothing of it"

At the very least, they did not end up addressing him as Dark Lord, which would have compromised his cover as a kind-hearted n.o.bleman.

* * *

After laying Arin to sleep, the Demon Lords stayed in the same room as her, to make sure she was safe and sound.

Apparently their leader coming back unconscious scared them out of their wits, and after an encounter with Knight of Light, they felt that they needed to guard their king, lest another danger comes their way.

Personally, Runfar couldn"t care less; he only knew that a soft bed awaited him in his chambers.

As he was heading to his room, he heard a voice.

"We need to talk, Master"

It was none other than Lukalis, wearing a maid uniform.

With her hair down and ears concealed, Runfar almost did not recognize her.

After going towards the yard, she proceeded to cast a spell.

With a snap of her fingers, a sound barrier was created.

Now their words were for their ears only, with no chance of being overheard.

"Now it is safe for us to talk"

"Ok, so what do you want to ask about?"

"Well, for starters…WHY THE h.e.l.l ARE THERE FIVE DEMON LORD LEVEL DEMONS INSIDE THE MANSION?!!"

"Technically only four Demon Lords and one Demon King, but who is counting?"

"What?!"

"If you were wondering, yes, I know them, and no, I did not invite them."

"Demon Lords should not be a problem to take care of, but the Demon King will be a rather tough opponent in my current condition…"

"We are not going to fight them, not unless they show hostility."

"But that is stupid! From the way you look at them, I can tell, they are not your allies, so why keep them alive?"

"Because I would much rather have them live and be a pain on Holy Order"s necks, rather than us having to shoulder the burden of receiving Holy Order"s full and undivided attention."

"What makes you think everything will go as you have planned?"

"Because I will MAKE IT so that it goes exactly as planned"

"I still think you are crazy. But I will not question your orders, even if I do question your judgment."

"Well, thank you for that, at least."

"I trust you know what you are doing, Master, at least I hope you do"

"You and me both"

"By the way, that girl, Alua, she seems to want to kill herself, as a fellow elf; I feel the need to help her, though I wonder if you had anything against it?"

"I don"t mind, do as you wish"

"So I shall"

Lukalis then proceeded to disable the sound barrier and went inside the mansion, leaving Runfar alone in the yard, gazing at the stars.

"You servants seem to be very loyal to you, brother"

"Oh, it"s you…"

Runfar did not even bother to turn around; he knew exactly who it was.

"But still disguising yourself as one of them…that is d.a.m.n impressive"

"A single necessity among many others"

"To be completely honest, we were all scared out of our wits when our king ended up so close to Knight of Light. Rahat and Rahis almost ended up in pursuing you, until I ended up convincing them that you had everything under control."

"I did not believe it completely myself, but I convinced myself that if anyone can bring our king back safe, it would be you, brother. Words cannot express how grateful I am."

"Why the h.e.l.l do you keep referring to me as your brother?"

"Because you are my brother, though you may not remember me, it was so long ago, after all."

Kazan smiled.

"Do you know how long I have waited to find another of my kind? Before my king informed me of the truth, I thought I was the only crow demon left alive. Just knowing there is another one, still living and breathing was earth-shattering news to me."

"Finally, I was not alone. That is why, even if you deny it, I will still call you my brother."

"Do as you wish, that is not my concern"

Runfar proceeded to head towards the mansion, he will take care of the Demon Lords in the morning, right now sleep was the only thing he desired.

"Brother"

"What?"

"I am glad you are still alive."

With a sigh, Dark Lord replied.

"Tell the other Demon Lords not to cause ruckus and go to sleep, good night."

"Good night to you as well, brother"

Former enemies now were on somewhat peaceful terms.

It was odd, but as it seems like the enemy of yesterday was an ally of today.

But in Dark Lord"s case, he simply was glad this day was over with.

"If I fall asleep and don"t wake up on tomorrow"s day, then I will consider myself doubly unlucky"

Technically, there was a possibility of being killed in his sleep, thus sending him back in time once again.

But Runfar felt that he would rather not live through this day ever again.