"Bravery is not the absence of fear, it's being able to triumph over it... If that's true, then I am one of the biggest cowards around. Defeating a powerful monster is not a problem for me, because I have no reason to fear them, but anything that actually scares me turns me into a useless load."

"If that's how you really feel, why don't you walk with your own legs?!"

"So... Heavy..."

Since I couldn't bring myself to walk there, Nera and Xania picked me up and are carrying me. But Nera seems to be having trouble with my weight... I don't think I'm that fat...

"Alright, let me go, I'll walk... Where are we going anyway?"

"To the throne room, you will give our visitors an audience there."

"We have a throne room?"

"Yes, Luna, and you have a throne. Maybe you should consider sitting on it from time to time."

Mmm, I don't know what someone like me is supposed to do on a throne. Usually, thrones are for important people like kings or... oh.

Turns out that the throne room is on the top floor of the castle, I've only come to this area a couple of times. The room itself is quite large and has an ominous feeling to it. Most of it is very poorly lit, only the central area is illuminated by the light coming from the four windows near the ceiling. And the emptiness of the room also adds to the sinister feeling, there are no decorations, and the only piece of furniture is a single black stone chair atop a set of stairs.

"That cannot be the throne, right?"

"Well, this place used to belong to the demon king, after all, it is a little bit old."

Irvan is sitting right behind the chair, but there doesn't seem to be enough room for him there.

"Why are you in your dragon form?"

He's usually in his human form when indoors, after all, even if his body can fit, he would need to transform to go in and out of the door.

"I thought that it would add to the feeling of intimidation of the throne room."

"I don't think that we need to add more to the intimidation of this place..."

"Ah! True! With our mistress here, anything the rest of us do would be a mere drop on the ocean."

So, when it comes to intimidation, a dragon is a drop and I'm the ocean...

Karin is also here, and she's also looking quite intense. She's standing with her back against the wall, her arms crossed and her head looking down, she has a serious expression with her eyes closed... Oh, wait, I think that she's sleeping.

Zerana is also here, but she has been tied and gagged. "Mmmmm, Mghfp mmh." But Arana and Ranna are nowhere to be seen, it's weird for Arana to miss something like this.

I guess I'll go sit on the throne... Uh? This chair is way too short for me, I usually need chairs that are taller than usual but this throne is really close to the ground. Was the demon king a short guy? I wonder if he did the things he did because he had a complex about that.

"Luna." Nera nudges my arm a little and I see the prince and his guards standing in the middle of the room. "Now that he's introduced himself, you are supposed to do the same."

Eh? When did he introduce himself? Did I space out that much?

"Uh... Hello... I am Luna, I recently became the queen of the demon wasteland... we still need to think of a new name for the country." They are giving me some weird looks, Nera taught me the way I should talk in this kind of formal meeting, but I'm too nervous to remember anything... I bet I look like an idiot right now. "So... are you enjoying your visit to our castle?"

"Yes, the rooms you gave us seem good enough." One of the prince's guards says.

Alright, now I should give them a welcoming smile.

"Good, I hope that you are not thinking about leaving soon."

All the guards suddenly become tense and some of them draw their weapons, did I do something wrong?

"The queen is trying to say that she hopes that you found your rooms comfortable!" Says Nera in a panic. I don't know why she felt the need to clarify something so obvious.

Now prince Sette is stepping forward. Mmm, he doesn't seem to have any confetti in his hand, I guess it should be fine...

"Y-your attempts to intimidate me are not going to work!"

"I was not trying to intimidate you."

"I'll get straight to the point, if you want our kingdom's permission to create your country, you need to give us proof that you will not invade us."

"I don't think I need your permission for that, but how am I supposed to prove that I will not invade?"

"First of all, you will reveal to us your full status and the status of any of those savages you have as your underlings that are above level 200."

Oh no, he wants to know if we have any skills that can be used in a circus, does he plan to turn us into clowns as well?

"Second, any businesses that you establish will be managed by our kingdom, so that invading us will result in your economic ruin. Not that you would be able to manage an economy anyway."

Oh, no. He wants to force us to get into the business of making accessories for clowns!

"That's enough! Nobody would accept any of those terms! The fact that you would even think of making those demands proves that you don't consider this to be a real country!" Nera seems agitated, I'm glad that she finally agrees with me about the dangers of clowns.

"Yes, I promise that I have no intention of starting a war, but those terms are unacceptable."

I lean forward to hide my fear, and the prince takes a step back.

"D-don't think that I will be intimidated by those giant balloons of yours!"

G-giant balloons?! It can't be... He must have attached them to me when I dropped my guard earlier. Oh no, I was doomed from the start!

"S-stop staring at me like that or I will teach you a lesson!"

Is he going to pop the balloons?! Nonono! I need to do something! I have to attack first!

"I came here ready to die! Do your worst!!!"

*Paff*

At that moment, the throne room falls into a tense silence.

Everyone, both the prince's entourage and my followers, are staring at the result of my attack in complete shock, none of them can believe that I would do something like that.

But I had no choice, it was him or me, I needed to take drastic measures.

Prince Sette touches his face and then breaks the silence.

"D-did the queen of darkness just throw a cream pie at my face?"

"..."

"Luna..."

"H-he told me to do my worst!"

The prince begins to look around for something to wipe his face with, he ends up picking up a towel that was inside a bag next to Zerana.

"What kind of insult was that?"

"Mmmm! MMMM!!!"

Zerana begins to panic when the prince picks up the towel, but the ropes and the gag on her mouth prevent her from talking.

"What's wrong with you? What are you trying to say?"

Sette removes the gag from her mouth.

"My poisoned needles are inside that towel, you just stabbed one on your arm."

"Eh?! Poison?!"

"Yes, and now you are going to die because a certain GENIOUS decided to leave my bag in the open and gagged me so that I could not warn you." Zerana glares at Xania, who hides behind the throne.

"W-what?! I fell into a trap! Someone do something!"

His guards look like they don't know what to do. Uh... This is serious, I need to do something!

I get up from the throne and make my way to the prince, his arm is starting to become purple, the color of poison.

"I need to remove the poison, can you give me your arm one moment?"

"Eh? Y-yes."

Let's see, the poison didn't have time to spread much, it will only take a few seconds to remove it.

"Eh? M-my arm! MY ARM!!! AAAAAAH!!!"

Why is he screaming like that? I made sure to remove the sense of pain before taking his arm, so it shouldn't hurt at all. And I even asked for permission...

"MY ARM!!! GIVE IT BACK!!!"

"I'll give it back when I'm done with the poison, I'm not going to keep it."

And now his guards are drawing their weapons again. Do they think that I'm going to steal his arm? What would I even want it for?

"There, I put your arm back in place, good as new."

He's breathing heavily for some reason, why is he making such a big deal out of a simple poison extraction?

"You fiend... It's this... supposed to be... some kind of torture?"

"No, of course not."

"Why are you wasting time humiliating me like that?! If you want to kill me, just do it already!"

"I don't want to kill you."

"Why?! Don't you hate me enough yet?! You ogre woman!"

"I know that I'm tall, but I'm not an ogre, I'm an elf."

"You are nothing more than an unrefined plebian playing at being a queen!"

"Well, I admit that I'm not very good at it, but I'm trying... a little."

"Your subordinates are a bunch of violent idiots that leave poison needles laying around!"

"Yeah, that one is kinda true..."

"And you! You... Smell bad!"

"..."

I don't know what to say, it's like he's insulting me for the sake of insulting me. These insults feel so forced and empty that I cannot even get angry.

"Uh... If you think that I might kill you, isn't it a bad idea to insult me like that?"

"You... Do you think that I don't know what you think of me? What everyone thinks of me? You all think that I'm nothing more than a clown!"

"Well, that's true..."

"I'm nothing more than the useless spoiled prince with no talents. Anywhere I go, anything I do, the only point of my existence is to make people hate me and then be humiliated... That's why people call me the clown prince behind my back!"

Uh... He's starting to cry.

"No, I didn't mean it like that..."

"That's why my guards didn't do anything to save me, and why my father sent me here. He wants to get rid of his useless son! He sent me here to die! So why don't you stop wasting time and do it already?!"

"I already said that I don't want to kill you. Not even if you are a clown."

"Why not? I'm fated to be nothing more than a clown! Would I not be better off dead?!"

What nonsense is this idiot saying now?

"It doesn't matter what you are fated to be, if you don't want to be the clown, you don't have to be. But if you die, you will never be able to change your fate."

"What are you talking about, I cannot change anything. So I... I WANT TO DIE!!!"

*Paff*

At that moment, the throne room falls into a tense silence.

This time it was not a pie, but a strong slap that I sent at his face.

forli

I wanted to write a character that seems to be nothing more than the typical one-dimensional punching bag asshole but actually has more going on, but this was... hard.

And all the time I kept remembering that I was going to upload this to a website where the most popular novels are about all humans being one-dimensional punching bag assholes so that the reader can self-insert as the superior races that keep stomping them and treating them like insects.