A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

ded up missing each and every one. In my defence, I’ve still got a full year before Lyuu and I are officially hitched, and Nell was staying over as a guest, so I didn’t want to just spring it on her like that.

While I certainly found it to be a good excuse, their status as my fiancees was not the reason I hadn’t put rings on them just yet.
Rather, it stemmed more so from my indecisiveness.
I couldn’t decide whether to make their rings or buy them, and regardless of which of the two options I picked, I would first need to examine the market and see what rings made by other people tended to look like.

“Oh yeah… You do make all sorts of weird things all the time,” said my brunette companion.
“W-weird!? What do you mean, weird!? None of the stuff I make is weird at all! Besides, don’t you know that most era-defining inventions have come out of what most considered worthless piles of junk!? Do you know what that means!? It means that every little thing I make has the potential to be revolutionary enough to make a fortune!”
“Okay, Yuki, whatever you say,” giggled Nell.
“Everything you make is amazing, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
I’m sure you’ve invented plenty of revolutionary items already.”
“Uh… yeah… that.”

The way she placated me as one would an excited child caused me to immediately lose all my momentum.
I felt too embarrassed to keep talking.
I just couldn’t, not after that.

“Okay, let’s go.
There’s a flea market not too far from here.
I’m sure it’ll have plenty of people selling their handicrafts.”

“Alrighty then, lead the way,” my confidence began to fade as I spoke.
“And uhm… here.”

I slowly, awkwardly extended a hand in her direction.
A faint blush crept onto her face, one that surely matched my own, as she realized my intentions and hesitantly accepted the invitation.

Now hand in hand, we navigated through the densely packed crowd.

But I paid it little mind.

I was more focused on the warmth I felt conveyed to me through my hand and the occasional touch of her shoulder brushing against my own.

We were just holding hands.

And yet, I somehow found myself feeling incredibly soothed, comforted, filled with a warmth I continued to bask in until I was pulled back to reality by a giggle, one that had come from the girl by my side.

“What?” I asked.
“I just started thinking about the last time we walked around a city together,” she said.
“You and Lefi were incredibly hard to keep up with.
The two of you did whatever you wanted with no concern for how much trouble you were causing me.”

Her words seemed accusational, but the tone she spoke in was more indicative of nostalgia than anger.

“Oh, you mean when we were checking out Alfyro? Oh man, yeah, that was fun.
Especially with how much you were panicking.”
“Oh, is that right?” She flashed me an unhappy glare.
“You were having fun because I was panicking?”
“Yeah, Iunno, having you around tends to bring out the sadist in me.
I just can’t help but want to tease you,” I said.
“But if anything, that’s a good thing.
It means you’re fun to have around.”

“I know you’re expecting me to be happy to hear that, but I’m not,” she smiled awkwardly before continuing, “That was the first time anyone’s treated me like that since I became the hero.
You basically dragged me around.” She smiled wistfully.
“And then there was the attack.
But even then, the two of you basically acted like it was nothing special, and resolved it in a heartbeat.
The whole sequence of events was so ridiculous it had me completely blown away.”
“You’re making it sound like we’re weird, but honestly, from a normal person’s perspective, you’re not much different,” I said with a shrug.
“I-I am? I always thought I was pretty normal…”
“Do you really think a normal hero would marry a demon lord?”
“Good point.
I guess I might be a bit of a weirdo after all,” she giggled and gave my hand a bit of a squeeze.
Her eyes were directed at her feet in order to make it slightly more difficult to see the extent to which her face was flushed.
“Oh, it looks like we’re almost there.” When she finally raised her eyes, she realized that we’d reached a set of crossroads.
“We just have to make a right here, and then walk a little bit further.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.”

I allowed her to take the lead, trailing behind just far enough for our hands to remain slackened.
But as we turned, I stopped and caused our link to suddenly go taut.

“Is something wrong?”
“Nah, sorry, don’t mind me,” I said.
“I was just wondering what the flea market was going to look like.
Is it just set up with a bunch of different booths or something?”
“Mhm! People claim spots by setting up carpets.
Many of the merchants set up on top of them and lay out all their wares for the passersby to see.
You’ll also see a whole bunch of different stalls,” she said.
“The market is packed with an incredibly wide variety of items.
Many of them are unusual, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anything even remotely similar elsewhere.”
“That sounds pretty neat.”
“It really is.
There’s a mix of good and bad, and you get extremes on both ends,” she elaborated.
“But I don’t think that’ll be a problem.
Not for you, at least.”
“Heh, I see.
I get it now.” I grinned, fiercely, and began to cackle.
“So you have brought me here to showcase the extent of a Demon Lord’s power! Very well, I will use the full extent of my power over the art of appraisal to seek out diamonds in the rough, treasures in the dust, and bring them to light!”
“Mhm! I’m counting on you.”

After taking a good long look at the bright smile on her face, and returning it, I raised my head and looked away from the adorable hero’s expression to glance in the direction of the man observing us.
It seemed he had yet to take action, so I turned my gaze back to the wonderful woman by my side and continued to follow her lead.

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