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

Lyuu’s Relatives — Part 1

The morning started just like any other, but halfway through breakfast, I started to realize that something was off.

“Hey Lefi, can y’pass me the soy sauce?”

“I shall.”

The bottle soon made its way across the table, travelling from one of my wives to another.

“I fail to understand…” Lefi muttered, as she took a bite out of a slice of pizza bread. “It is but a piece of bread lightly dressed with other ingredients. I see no reason for it to be so scrumptious.”

“It’s a simple dish. I’m sure you could make it just as well,” said Leila, with a giggle. “I could teach you, if you’d like.”

Is it just me, or are they being even more friendly than usual? Something about the mood seems a bit… different. I bet it was because they had another one of those goddamn conferences last night.

“What is it, Yuki?” Lefi called out to me after noticing my curious expression.

“It’s just that you girls seem to be getting along better than usual.”

s

“It ain’t nothin’ but natural, Master! We’re family.”

“Mhm. Leila’s already finished making the transition, but Lyuu’s still being a little awkward about it,” said Nell, with a bit of a teasing smile.

“I ain’t gonna stay like this for long, and I ain’t the only one that’s gone ‘n started fussin’ about bein’ too embarrassed either!” shouted the warwolf. “It’s like how you’ve been tryin’a call Master ‘Hubby,’ all this time, but you ain’t ever said it for real since you’ve been gettin’ too shy!”

“L-Lyuu! That was supposed to be a secret!” squealed the human, as she shot to her feet.

“You are being ill-mannered, Nell. You would do best to calm yourself and remain seated,” scolded Lefi.

“Yeah, standing up at the dinner table is really rude!” said Illuna.

“That’s right!” said Shii.

“Ughhh… fine. But I’m not letting you off the hook for this, Lyuu! I’m getting you back later!”

“I ain’t got a clue what you’re talkin’ ’bout, Nell. I’m innocent.”

The beastkin casually averted her eyeswhile the hero cast her a reproachful gaze. It was quite the entertaining reaction that got me quite the number of laughs. Oh yeah, that reminds me…

“How long are you staying this time, Nell?”

The brunette scrounged up what dignity she had remaining and cleared her throat before speaking a reply.

“I’m going to stay until all of Lyuu’s ceremonies are over and done with, but I won’t be back for a while after that. I’ve actually got a lot on my plate right now.”

“Aww… Nell… thanks,” said Lyuu. “I’m real sorry ’bout before, so how about we go ‘n pretend it ain’t happened?”

“It happened.”

“Gosh darn it.”

With another hearty chuckle, I choked down the rest of my breakfast and got on with my morning.

***

A fairly sizable group showed up about two days after that particular breakfast. I figured it was the Gyrolls, even without checking, but I went ahead and quickly scanned them via my map, nonetheless. Surely enough, the group of so-called intruders were made up entirely of warwolves. I shouted to tell everyone that they were here and quickly left the house so I could go pick them up.

“It’d probably be best for me to grab them sooner than later.”

They were near Alfyro, the one human city I always visited. If memory served correct, it wasn’t exactly the most inclusive city, and many of its people harboured at least some degree of bitterness towards those of other races due a number of longstanding conflicts. They didn’t seem to be in combat, based on the map, nor were they surrounded or anything even remotely like that, but I still felt as if it was best for me to get a move on either way.

I telepathically told my pets to gather near the boundary between the city and the forest while jumping through a door and porting my own way over. I didn’t use my wings because they didn’t seem to be in trouble just yet, and because I didn’t exactly want to spook the humans, but I did at least run at top speed.

“Shi—wait, what?”

I nearly panicked for a moment when I saw the warwolves speaking to the guards next to the city’s main gate, but I soon realised that my expectations were far off. They weren’t wearing hoods or otherwise doing much of anything to hide their identities. Their ears and tails were both fully exposed, drawing curious stares from nearly all the humans that came and went.

Wait, is it just me, or are they talking to that one governor guy?

“Yuki!”

Raylow raised his voice to grab my attention as I drew closer. He and the warwolves had already both noticed me.

“Hey, old governor dude. Long time no see,” I said. “And hi to you too, Lyuu’s dad. You’re looking full of energy. Glad to see you had a good year.”

“Sorry, Demon Lord. I should have visited sooner, but I was delayed,” he said, while greeting me with a nod.

“I should be apologizing too,” I said. “I didn’t realize you guys were taking part in the war too. I probably should’ve dropped by and said hi or something.”

“It would have been nice, but I was told that you were rather… busy,” he said. “So let’s just sweep it under the rug.”

“Works for me, yeah.”

Is it just me, or is he acting more formal and stuff compared to last time? Like, dude just sounds like it’s forced and kinda more distant than before. I kinda doubt it’s because he’s nervous, so what gives?

“He’s trying to thank you, but his pride is getting in the way,” The woman beside him began to speak right as I began contemplating the cause of his behaviour. “He’s been pushed up the ranks, thanks to you, and we’re all very grateful.”

“I-I am grateful, but that isn’t why I’m acting like this,” he stuttered in an almost pathetic sort of way. “I-I was just trying to… make sure that we would get along, now that he’s going to become my son in law.”

Wow, he doesn’t hold a candle to her. Which probably means…

“Are you Lyuu’s mom?”

“Yes I am, sweetie. Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter,” she said. “Oh, and my name is Roselia, Roseilia Gyroll.”

The resemblance was definitely there. Like every other warwolf, she looked incredibly young. I almost couldn’t believe she was someone who had a kid, let alone one in her late teens.

“I’m Yuki,” I said, with a bow. “And if anything, your daughter’s been the one taking care of me. She’s always the one brightening up all her days with all her energy.”

“How polite,” she said with a smile. “And I’m very glad to hear that. It sounds like she’s been quite happy.”

“…Demon Lord.”

“Yeah?”

“Why is there such a discrepancy between how you’re treating my wife and I?”

“No idea what you’re talking about dude. Sounds like you’re just imagining it to me,” I said, as I averted my gaze.

I mean like… come on, man. That’s just how it is. The mom always gets all the respect while the dad’s stuck getting his ass whipped.

“Right, so where were we?” I faked a cough and quickly shifted gears. “Oh right, what’s this about being promoted? I don’t actually remember doing anything…”

“Didn’t you speak to his majesty, the Beast King on my behalf? I believe that was why it all began…”

“He won’t understand you if you don’t make yourself clear, dear,” said Lyuu’s mom.

“…And because of that, he’s now given us a key role to play. Thank you.”

“Ohhh… right. Well uh, I’m glad it worked out I guess.”

I smiled wryly at the warwolf, who still seemed to be struggling a bit with speaking up. Now that I think about it, the lion king guy did say something about putting the Gyrolls to work, didn’t he?

With our greetings out of the way, I turned towards the governor, who was watching us with a bit of an entertained smile.

“So why were you guys together anyway?” I said, as I looked between the human and the beastkin. “And are you guys sure it’s fine for them to show that they’re beastkin and stuff? I don’t remember this town being all that friendly to the other races…”

“Embarrassing as it is to admit, it’s true,” he said with a sigh. “But we’re looking to change, for the future. Especially with your involvement in the war.”

He began speaking at length and explained that the warwolves had been sent to Alfyro for the purposes of a cultural exchange.

Allysia was apparently planning on openly accommodating the other races going forward, and the city that Governor Raylow was in charge of had been selected as one of the locations where integration would begin. And that too was apparently in part a result of my influence. My use of Alfyro as a point of liaison was why the king had selected it. Apparently even Phynar had given the idea the thumbs up. Honestly, works for me since it means I’ll pretty much be able to walk around in broad daylight like it’s nobody’s business. At the same time, it’s also kinda awkward ’cause of how obvious it is that they’re pulling stops for me, but uhhh oh well. Thanks guys.

The warwolves had been chosen as the beastkin representative because of their relationship to me as well. And since they had work to do, they seemed to figure that they might as well speak to the governor before they headed into the forest, since they were going to have to end up doing it either way. So they’re late ’cause of all the work stuff, basically? Man, it’s almost kinda hard to believe that things are already starting to change ’cause of how the war turned out.

“It’s always one crazy event after another, with you,” said the governor. “Do you have any idea how perplexed the people were when they heard that a demon lord was one of the war’s most distinguished soldiers? I’ve all manner of individuals coming to my manor for advice, thanks to the confusion that ensued.”

Huh… I swear the war’s only been over for like a week. That stuff’s already getting out?

“Ah, right…” Lyuu’s dad frowned awkwardly. “I know you came all this way just to pick us up, but the truth is we were planning to discuss work for a little bit longer…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just pop back in later,” I said.

I guess they’re probably hanging around outside the city because they literally just got here.

“How’s two days sound?”

“That works for us. Let’s meet here again, around the same time, in two days.”

“Alright.”

s

Waving them goodbye, I set off for the dungeon.

Here’s to hoping Lyuu’s dad manages to get back to normal by the time he’s done with work. ‘Cause that was hella fucking awkward.

Him being that awkward kinda makes me feel awkward too. I’d much rather he go back to being blunt as usual, but it’s not like I don’t understand. He’s probably trying to figure out how he’s supposed to feel, since he’s got both the dad and chief thing going for him. Seems pretty damn complicated.

“Because he’s a dad, huh…?”

Muttering to myself, I headed into the forest and through the gate.