The Human and Fairy Kingdoms had recently signed a peace treaty, as the two kingdoms engaged in mutual relationships. The most notable being the removed restrictions in trade policy, as well as the Adventurer’s Pact.

Adventurer’s Pact allowed high-ranked adventurers to receive support from the fairies, as one fairy would be assigned to team up with each adventurer.  

 

That included Ceselea, the Fairy Princess of the Kingdom. The blonde fairy was paired with a talented adventurer with high potential who climbed the High Rank at the age of 20. Caesarea had lots of magic power as well, so they would complement each other pretty well. Good cooperation between two young talents would be beneficial to the two Kingdoms in the long run, after all.

 

The pair were indeed strong together, yet their personality was very different. Ceselea, even when she was a Fairy Princess, was humble and mindful; whereas the human was arrogant. He even got complacent because of their combined power, as he kept taking difficult quests beyond his rank without any other adventurers. 

“Why should I share my reward with anyone weaker than me?” he proclaimed haughtily. Even when they were at the edge of danger every quest… 

“Someday you will be the death of me…” Ceselea grumbled, which the adventurer just laughed the protest off. “As long as you keep supporting me with your fairy magic, everything will be fine!”

 

The Princess’ support magic, on top of the human’s attacking capability truly provided the strongest defence and offence. The confidence was not baseless after all as one boss after another were cleared by the duo. Just when there were no new high-level quests, the adventurer took the most difficult quest: Infiltrate the Demon Lord’s Castle.

The Demons were the arch enemy of the Human Kingdom. There were various lords scattered around the world, each with their own castle. The nearest Castle was just a forest away from the adventurer guild, but…

The Demon Lord across the nation was known to be the worst and strongest Demon Lord in existence. It was the most difficult quest available in forever as no adventurer had ever cleared it.  Even a party full of top adventurers were sent back home in a matter of days, and they considered themselves lucky that they were still alive.

Yet, the overconfident adventurer took it without hesitation; the victory against the other monsters certainly made him full of himself. Ceselea, seeing that, could just sigh gently. She had no choice in the matter as she would just try her best…

 

The pair infiltrated the Demon Lord’s castle at high noon, the time when most of the demons were asleep. The entrance was guarded by an army of undead that could not be defeated with normal attacks. However, with Ceselea’s holy magic, the palace guards were easily defeated by the adventurer. 

 

The first floor was pretty quiet once they entered the castle; it seemed that the Demon Lord had faith in the undead guards. Ceselea sighed in relief as they managed to avoid combat, yet remained vigilant if the floor boss would ambush them. The adventurer was looking for the entrance to the next floor as the two of them were separated from each other.

Shadow Bind.

 

The sound of spellcasting came from the deepest room. To their misfortune, one of the Demon Generals was patrolling the entrance since the floor boss was asleep. It caught the party off guard as moments after, Ceselea was surrounded by a dark cage. When the adventurer came to the rescue, the shadow loomed between them as the demon revealed herself: A pink-haired, red-eyed demoness who was taller than the adventurer. The dark aura around her was even stronger than the mid-boss who had stopped most if not all, attempts.
The spell which she cast was a high-level one, to add, as she managed to hide the casting attempt during the chaos with the palace guard. The demoness apparently had targeted the fairy from the start; her holy magic seemed to be quite troublesome for the demons after all.

None of the magic could travel out of the cage, as Ceselea could not escape nor buff the adventurer. The magic sword spell’s effectiveness had worn off as none of his slashes could harm the Demoness. 

Immolation!

He even used his own spell to add a fire element to his sword, yet the flame did not burn her a bit. It was countered by the flame of darkness that surrounded her body.

 

To his surprise, the Demoness approached him and held the sword in her palms. 

“You can’t defeat me. Just give up, already.” She said with her cold tone as she crushed the sword. The action itself was enough to demoralise the adventurer as he turned back and ran away immediately, leaving Ceselea in the shadow cage.

 

“G-get back! Don’t leave me behind, you idiot!” The smaller girl’s words were not muffled by the cage, as pretty sure the adventurer heard her plea for help.

 

The pink-haired girl then stared at the blonde-haired princess intensely, cementing the proof that she was into her from the beginning. Ceselea’s worst nightmare seemed to be coming true as her mind knew what was going to happen:

The demon race consumed a living being’s soul and turned them into an undead. They could even control the body like a puppet, along with its capabilities so if she turned Ceselea into an undead it would be a fine addition to the Demon’s army against the human and her fellow fairies. 

 

And that intense stare…. Pretty sure she’s scanning my magic potential before she consumes me! 

 

The Demoness picked up the cage and brought it to her room. Ceselea was shaking in fear and desperation as she could feel her going up four steps: the pink-haired demon was stronger than the mid-boss. Throughout the small trip, the blonde muttered about her misfortune of being paired with such an adventurer…

 

The Demoness opened the cage inside her chamber and placed Ceselea on top of her table.
This is … the dining table! Is she going to consume even my body!?

“Don’t eat me! I don’t taste good!” The princess cried in desperation as the demoness stared at her in confusion.
“Who said that I am going to eat you? I am on a diet.” The pink-haired girl said casually.

“...Eh?” This time, Ceselea was the confused one. After moments of awkward silence, the Demoness replied,

“I am on a diet, as I said. Those souls have lots of calories, you know.” From her tone, it sounded like she was serious about it. 

Am I spared because the Demoness is on a diet? 

Ceselea was still blinking in disbelief.

“Then, why was I caged?” She was even brought to the demoness’ room. Was it one of the demon’s trickery?

 

“I am hiding you from the rest of the demons. Can’t have them eat you when I bring you back here.” The demoness sounded sincere, as Ceselea actually calmed down for a bit after having her heart thumping all this time…

 

“You’re left behind by that human, right? You can wait here for a while until things had calmed down. Thanks to the earlier ambush, the palace is on high alert.”

The demons must have been gathering on the first floor, probably remaking the undead army. Perhaps even strengthening the palace guard…

 

“My room is a safe place for you to hide. The only one that can come here is just me and the Demon Lord himself after all.” As expected from a high-ranked general. Pretty sure no human or fairy had visited the floor alive… 

 

“For now, you can rest here while I calm the situation down.” The demoness let out a soft smile as she stared at Ceselea. “The name’s Serashael, but you can call me Sera.”

 

The princess’ eyes beamed at the pink-haired girl’s kindness, although she still could not process what was happening. 

“Ceselea… That’s my name” the blonde said with a soft blush.

“A cute name.”  Sera smiled as she let the fairy roam free inside the room while the demoness went out for crisis control.

 

“Her courtesy is appreciated but I really need to go back as soon as possible. My parents must have been looking for me…” Ceselea tried to turn the handle of the door and turns out it was not locked. Sneaking out of the room, she roamed in the hallway of the fourth floor.  Perhaps what Sera said was right, everyone was gathered at  the entrance because, on her way out, the blonde girl did not see any single soul.. Or undead.

Eventually, she found two warp doors leading to different floors.

The Fifth floor… is certainly to the Demon Lord’s chamber. Best to avoid it. The princess thought to herself as she went downstairs.

 

As she entered the third floor via its exit, the large room seemed to be empty as well. “The mid-boss seemed to be out as well. I can do it!” Ceselea said those words to motivate herself until…

 

Suddenly, she heard a loud thump above her. Little did she know that the door to the fourth floor was located beneath the mid-boss’ throne. The adventurers said that the mid-boss was a ‘high orc’, but this was close to a Giant! Perhaps he levelled up and evolved from the failed attempts of the human. Not to mention, her over-excitement seemed to wake him up from slumber as he started to rub his eyes…

 

Before the orc noticed her, Ceselea immediately returned back to the warp door towards the fourth floor. Just in time before the orc checked on the source of the noise. He eventually let it be as it must have been his imagination…

 

The princess rushed as fast as she could as she entered Serashael room once more… The girl tried to calm her breath, drinking the water prepared by Sera on top of the dining table. She was so close to getting found out after all, and her life might not be spared if it happened. 

 

This is indeed the safest place… The blonde fairy climbed on top of the soft, comfortable bed after such a long day, she immediately fell asleep. 

 

When Serashael returned to her room, she found Ceselea resting on top of her bed. She must have been tired.

Sera chuckled as she tugged the blanket to cover the fairy's body before laying beside her as the two girls spent their night together.