ALTGS 20

In reality, Celestria had never really foreseen the day she would be forced to receive a demon as a guest.

It was one of those things that nobody really expected. And who could blame her?

In the sky blue sitting room specially used to welcome guests into the Voltaine family’s manor, she sat with her back straight and legs neatly folded. Opposite her sat the demon in question. He was well-versed in human pleasantries, and was politely sipping tea from an excellently decorated tea cup. He had claws on those long, willowy fingers of his. How was he able to so delicately hold the thin handle of the cup? Wouldn’t it be considerably difficult, what with how small the vessel was? Celestria found her mind wandering as she stared at her unexpected guest blankly.

“So then, Celestria. How have you been faring?”


The sudden question served as an efficient rope to drag her mind back from the questions she had began to formulate about the ease or lack thereof of holding a minuscule teacup with inch-long claws.

“I am well, Nedrie. You?”

Nedrie gave a strange half-smile as he sighed, putting the teacup back on the low table before him.

“Well enough. I’ll admit, this past week has been a bit hectic, seeing as I really didn’t expect to so suddenly get a job in this kingdom. To think that Lord allowed a favor from you...”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Celestria picked up her own teacup. “It wasn’t too hard to pull off. Besides, sooner or later, he would have probably asked you to stay anyway.”

Nedrie’s thin brow rose inquisitively. “Oh? And why do you say that?”


“There is always a need for public health officials. Before you and your lot came upon Fortane, I had thought to... nudge important opinions in the direction of setting up buildings with doctors for the general public to receive treatment for their ailments. Humans are fragile, and he would have seen the need eventually.”

There was an unexpected silence that followed Celestria’s explanation, and this perplexed her. She had expected an understanding nod, or further questions in regards to her plan, but Nedrie simply stared at her thoughtfully. Like as if he were weighing her words.

“Celestria. You seem to perceive a lot of empathy and care from Lord.”

That caught her off-guard. Celestria could only blink foolishly. What did he mean by that?

“Even if every single human were to drop dead, Lord would not do anything to stop it.”

A breath caught in her throat. “What? No...”

“Lord is not like you or I. He does not empathize or benefit from human beings remaining alive. He does not care for this kingdom, I’m sure you know. He cannot gain anything from this kingdom prospering. He doesn’t understand what it means for a human to fall sick. He doesn’t understand how too many sick humans can impact the economy. How it can impact the amount of food produced. Or the amount of goods exported. Well, it’s less a matter of him understanding and more a matter of him caring. Or not caring.

Indeed, YOU may see the need to keep the general population healthy and improve their quality of life, but that is because you yourself are human and you possess empathy, as well as a benefit from your fellow human being’s health. But he possesses neither of these things. If he were to walk streets littered with the bodies of his very subjects, he would feel no need to take action. He simply does not care for Fortane, Celestria.”

In her chest, there was a peculiar feeling. Like the painful tightening of her heart. It was not polite for a lady to have her mouth hanging open, so Celestria gnashed her teeth together in an effort to avoid that.

The king she had put on the throne of her country did not care.

Of course... of course he didn’t. She had been foolish in assuming that the same things that worried her would ever worry him as well. To him, the death of a human must be about as significant as the death of an ant. Even if he had decided to become their king.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Celestria began to work on calming herself down. “I see. It was my error in assuming that he would feel that way. I will correct the way I perceive Lord’s reasoning henceforth.” In an effort to not show her hurt, she had stripped her voice of all emotion. She sounded so bland. So dead.

Nedrie sat back, fingers knit as he crossed one leg over the other. He observed her for a moment, his thoughts unreadable. “I’m glad I could point this out to you at a time of peace. Such a realization at a time of chaos would have been catastrophic.”

”Indeed it would.”

“I’m sure you don’t like it, however.”

“Don’t like what?”

“Our Lord’s lack of empathy for the human condition.”

Celestria did not respond. Of course she did not like it. She hated it. How was she to convince a demon to keep her and her family and her kingdom alive if he couldn’t even be arsed about them and their needs?

“Well, I’ll tell you this. He may not empathize with human beings right now, but I cannot say that he would not do whatever he can to keep someone he values happy.”

Her brow furrowed as she heard this. What did he mean by that?

Nedrie gave a smile. His smiles were wholly unnatural. They were far too long, stretching to almost his ears. Very slowly, he unfolded his legs and hands, then leaned in just a bit closer.

“What I’m trying to say, Celestria, is that you must get our King to care for the Kingdom of Fortane because YOU care about it. Become someone he can value, and in turn give your fellow countrymen value to him.”