"Nyaaaa... I feel weak."

"That's the point. Since you don't seem to be able to control your own strength, I thought that a curse could do it for you."

"But I don't like being weak..."

"Don't worry, if you need to use your strength, all you have to do is say the word 'cat' and the curse will stop making you weaker. Then, when you no longer need it, say 'nap' to activate the curse again. This way you won't need to worry about breaking any more doors."

If Karin's problem is that she's too strong, using a curse to limit her strength is the most obvious solution. And with her being able to activate or deactivate it at will, the negative aspects of being cursed are gone.

I bet that anyone watching earlier would have been thinking 'Oh, Luna is being naive again, thinking that Karin won't cause any trouble, she never thinks these things through. Well, look at that, I did have a plan to keep her under control.

"It's nyot my fault that all those doors are so delicate!"

Karin shakes her fists wildly as she says that, and accidentally hits the wall behind her.

*Crash*

She made a huge hole... Wait, wasn't she supposed to be weakened right now? Her muscles are very well defined, I can tell that my curse is not doing anything to them just by looking... Wait, is it because she said 'deliCATe'?

"Maybe we should make the keyword a bit longer."

Actually, now that I think about it, she should not have been able to make a hole this big even if she has her full power. These walls are made of the same type of stone found deep into the infernal caverns. No, now that I'm taking a closer look, this wall seems different from the others, is it a fake wall? It seems like someone was hiding some stuff.

"There's a lot of weird things in here." Karin walks in without any hesitation and grabs a strange-looking dagger. Wait, that's not a dagger, that's a- "NYA!!!"

'Shadow lance'

So Kalroth had more than one of those void demon things... This one wasn't able to pierce Karin's skin, but that was still scary.

"Are you alright?"

"Hey! There's monya in here!"

If she doesn't even care then she must be fine. There really is some money and other valuable objects in this room, but the thing that I'm the most interested in is a small crystal that feels strangely familiar.

This is a contract crystal, isn't it... It has to be the other half of the contract between Kalroth and Nera's mother. So it was hidden in here, that explains why we weren't able to find it sooner.

"Karin, can you go tell Arana about this place? I need to bring this to Nera."

"Who are Arana and Nera?"

"Ah, Arana is that girl with the white hat that was with me earlier, I don't think you have met Nera yet... Anyway, you just need to find Arana."

"Sure! I knyow where her room is."

I guess I can rely on her for some things.

I decide to go see if I can find Nera in her room. But before I get there I see Nera's maid, Mari, who's walking around with a troubled expression on her face. When she sees me, she comes running towards me.

"Oh, it's terrible! Princess Nera has been kidnapped!"

"It wasn't me!"

Mari stares at me and blinks a few times.

"I didn't say that it was you."

"Oh, of course. Because me kidnapping Nera would just be ridiculous, hehe."

"They left a note. They want you to go to a room on the other side of the castle."

They want me? I wonder what this is about.

---

 

Two gray demons, a man and a woman, were waiting in the room that was mentioned in the note when I arrived. They each are wearing a cloth around their heads, but I can still clearly see their faces... However, they don't look like anyone I've met before.

"..."

"..."

We have been staring awkwardly at each other for a minute now. They seem to be a bit nervous, their bodies are trembling and they keep gazing in all directions. But they are supposed to be the kidnappers, now? Shouldn't the victim be the nervous one?

"So, why did you call me here for?"

"Eek!"

The woman lets out a high-pitch scream and crouches behind the man.

"I told you that this was a bad idea!"

"P-please calm down Lexa, it's too late to back down now!"

"Don't say my name, you idiot!"

"Even if he doesn't say your name, I can still see your face."

"S-stop acting tough! We have your girlfriend, so you better do as we say!"

"My girlfriend? Nera is not my girlfriend."

"Don't try to play dumb!"

Mmm, that's weird. I wonder what could have given them that idea.

"So, what are your demands?"

"Our demands?"

"You kidnapped my friend and told me to come here. That means that you have some demands for me, no?"

After a brief pause, the two gray demons look at each other as if they just realized something.

"Oh... That's funny... We got so excited after having found the weakness of the queen of darkness that we never stopped to think what we wanted to get out of it."

"I see... You should probably just give up before you embarrass yourselves even more."

"Hey! Don't forget that we still have your girlfriend. If we don't tell you where she is you'll never see her again!"

"Isn't she in the room next to this one?"

Hearing me say that, the woman starts to panic.

"It's all over! She is too smart for us!"

"That can't be. How did you know? Do you have some spell to keep track of her?"

"No, I can see her through that crack in the wall." Nera is also looking at me through the crack, but since she's tied and gagged she cannot say anything. She's struggling against her bindings, I think that she wants me to release her. "Please wait a moment, I'll help you as soon as I'm done dealing with these two."

"W-what are you going to do with us?"

In the end, they didn't hurt Nera so I'm not too angry. But I'm supposed to be their queen now, if I let my subjects go free after committing a crime it would set a bad precedent.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to punish you."

"PLEASE DON't KI-!!!"

"You are going to have to pay a fine for this."

"A... a fine?"

"You want us to pay a fine for kidnapping your girlfriend?"

I can tell by their shocked expressions that they were not expecting this. Did I go too far? No, if I don't do this nobody will take me seriously as a queen. Also, if I don't punish people for kidnapping Nera it would encourage people to do it even more, the poor girl is going to end up spending more time kidnapped than free.

"And... How much do we need to pay?"

Oh, actually I have no idea, how much should a fine for kidnapping be? I don't even know how much money the inhabitants of the demon wasteland have, there does not seem to be much of an economy around here.

"You'll have to decide that yourselves."

"What? Ourselves?"

"This fine is your opportunity to show me that you're sorry for what you did. Just choose the amount that you believe will show how sorry you are."

I smile at them to show that I trust in them making the right decision, they respond by flinching a little and nodding their heads repeatedly.

Neither of them moves a muscle as I leave the room, they must be in shock after receiving such a severe punishment... No, I cannot go back now.

I enter the other room to release Nera, a quick check confirms that she's not injured.

"Ugh... Why does this keep happening to me?"

"Is it normal for you to get kidnapped so often?"

I get that she's a princess, but still...

"I wonder if this is a punishment for taking part in those fake kidnappings..."

"Fake kidnappings?"

"Ah, well, I guess I don't mind telling you, but it's a bit complicated."

"Don't just leave me hanging after saying something like that."

"How do I explain this..." Nera looks up while scratching her cheek, seemingly deep in thought. "Do you know how a lot of stories revolve around a hero that has to save a princess?"

"Yeah, that does happen a lot."

"There's a reason for that. You see, the truth is that being saved by heroes is actually the job of a princess."

"Eh... I'm sorry, I don't think I follow."

"The main purpose of a royal family is not really to govern a country, we have various ministers for that. Our main purpose is to provide stability to our country, keeping some strict rules of succession to make sure that there are no fights over who gets to be the ruler like what happens here in the demon wasteland. But when any random citizen can potentially reach a high level and become a force of their own, the most reliable way to maintain peace is to make sure that those 'heroes' will feel an obligation to protect the royal family, or more specifically, the princess. That's why so many stories are written to further that narrative."

"A narrative? That's not a very romanticized way of wording it."

"Most of my training as a princess was to learn how to act like someone who should be protected by a hero. And to help sell the idea that I need protection, I took part in a few fake kidnappings."

So the whole 'kidnapped princess' thing is really just a ploy to keep strong people loyal... All of this sounds like some dark secret that she should not tell anyone, I guess she must consider me a close friend to be so open about it.

"Well, I'm not really a hero, but I'm pretty strong. I'll do my best to protect you."

I bring my face closer to Nera's and stare into her eyes to show my sincerity. And then her face gets all red for some reason.

*Gasp*

Who gasped just now? Oh, Nera's maid is looking at us from the hallway.

"Mari?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb you."

"No, wait! It's not what it looks like!"

Before Nera can say anything else, Mari has already left.

"Luna... If you do things like that, then it's no wonder that people will misunderstand..."

"Misunderstand what?"

"Nevermind."

Nera lets out a sigh, did I do something wrong?

"Still, does it not bother you to have to deceive people like that?"

"I don't like it, but if it's to maintain peace in the Agua kingdom, then I'll do what I must."

She really loves her kingdom, and yet she was forced to leave... Oh, but now that I found Kalroth's contract crystal she'll be able to prove her mother's crimes and clear her name!

"Nera."

After I give this to her she'll finally be able to go back home.

"What is it?"

She'll go back... Unlike me, who will have to stay here...

"Uh, where did you get that book you're holding?"

It's not that I don't want to give her the crystal, obviously. It's just that... This doesn't feel like the right time to do it. Yeah, that's it, I'll definitely give it to her later.

"Oh, this? I found it in the castle's library."

"There's a library in this castle?"

Now that I look closely, that book seems very old, and it doesn't look like any book I know about.

"Yeah, it's full of old books like this one. Most of them are about subjects I don't know about."

A library... It's been such a long time since I last went to a library. And you're telling me that there's one in this castle that's full of old and rare books?!

"L-Luna, why are you making that face? You're scaring me."