The Birth of the New World

Lain

It’s been a couple of months since the Goblin War has ended, and the base, the island really, is a hive of activity as people continue to work on rebuilding their lives. Thankfully, with an excess of wood due to how fast trees grow nowadays, and plenty of food, the people managed to make it through the winter, even with many of them being without proper homes.

But, with my holding back the cold winter winds and snow, and people at least having access to tents and emergency shelters, we are managing to get by for the most part. Overcrowding is most definitely an issue right now, even moving into the spring, but we are managing.

Somehow, we avoided having any major riots breaking out. Personally, I feel like most people at the time just didn’t see any reason to do so. What would be the point except to relieve some anger and frustration? Everyone who is living here has already, literally, lived through the end of the world. This just ended up being one more shitty month to add to the list…

Any riots that did break out, being mostly just people getting into fist fights rather than looting and vandalism, got quickly quelled by the military and my Demons. It didn’t help with making people any happier, but it's hard to keep acting out when you have an eight-foot-tall, horned Demon in full riot gear picking you up and man handling you like you’re a misbehaving child.

For most people, they just want to focus on rebuilding. And that is what we are doing. Lots and lots of building.

All around me, simple houses, made mostly from wood, are slowly springing up as people hammer nails and cut planks to shape. My Fiends, they can be seen carrying entire pallets of supplies and lumber on their shoulders as they move about and help people.

Without a lot of our heavy equipment, like trucks and excavators, having been destroyed, most of the work is having to be done by hand. All because my dumbass went and destroyed anything that wasn’t stored away inside of a building with a damn black hole… I can’t really use the excuse of not being in control of myself, but I know that I did it because I was trying to help make this place safe. And well, heavy equipment and vehicles attract monsters… I’m kicking myself for it now, because without heavy equipment to do the work, my Demons are now the heavy equipment.

Past me was a freaking idiot…

Still, regardless, we are very good at what we do.

Just from here, I can see as Frank is slamming posts into the ground with one hand, quickly getting a site ready for laying down another foundation.

As for myself, I have found a new hobby in construction work. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but having now worked on building the frames for a couple of houses now, I have to say that I am rather enjoying it. Getting to build something, piece by piece, and seeing it take shape, rather than destroying stuff. It’s nice…

Hammering another nail into the roof, I take a deep breath and enjoy the fresh spring air, listening to the sounds of construction work and watching as people hustle about.

Down below, I can see as people give my Demons and I warry looks and plenty of space, but I don’t let it bother me too much. It will take time for normal people to get used to us, especially after what I did.

Looking at my watch, I take note of the time and holster my hammer, a pang in my heart as I remember the loss of the sledgehammer that Sky had gifted me. It, along with the knife dad gave me, didn’t survive the fight.

“Well, time to pack up and head home for the day. Almost diner time…”

Hopping off the roof, I head home and wave at people I know as I leave. Walking down one of the main streets leading towards home, I grimace as I catch sight of one of the posters taped to a wall.

Part of my punishment for destroying so much stuff…

Since I can’t really be physically punished or forced to do anything truly harmful, and my Sin of Greed means that taking away my stuff as punishment is a big no go, the council had to find other ways to go about it.

The poster is one of several, and is of me and Sky, posing for the camera in dresses, a strained smile on my face. There is a bunch of different posters, all with different captions, mostly being obvious propaganda, but they have my and Sky’s face smacked all over it. In some, we are wearing dresses, looking all dolled up and pretty. In others, military uniform, swimsuits, and Sky’s personal favorite, the two of us dressed up in chicken costumes, advertising one of the still standing restaurants.

They actually do have some pretty good fried chicken though. Chickens that I had to go out and catch from the wild as another part of my punishments. It took a solid week of moving at top speed just to find and catch a few of them… But we’re raising chickens now, so I’m not about to start complaining.

Naturally, Sky was having a blast the entire time that we were getting our pictures taken together, eating up all the attention and complements the entire time. I hated it. I never liked getting my picture taken in the first place, and now, having them up everywhere for people to see… Especially the ones of me in a swim suite. It’s just embarrassing…

I try to ignore the posters and move on, fighting down the urge to tear them all down. At least Sky is looking really good in them, not that I want strangers to be ogling my fiancée though… So many conflicting feelings…

Deciding to focus on happier things, I look down at the ring on my finger and smile.

We’re getting married~

The thought of finally tying the knot and making everything official fills my stomach with happy butterflies. The thought of seeing Sky wearing a dress as we exchange vows. The kiss to seal our union. My family being there to watch and celebrate with us. I just can’t wait for the big day to come.

Regretfully, what with all the work going on to focus on rebuilding, we have decided to push the wedding back until Summer, potentially Fall depending on how things go, but are dead set on seeing it happen this year. Still, that just gives us more time to plan and prepare for the event, which my mom and sister have dived into with a scary amount of excitement and dedication.

…

Humming happily as I walk along, thinking of the future with cherry blossoms and lilies blooming in my head, I almost don’t notice as someone steps out in front of me and makes a declaration.

“Demon Queen, I challenge you to a duel! Your reign of evil ends today!”

I blink and look up from my ring, finding a boy, probably ten or eleven years old, blocking my way as he stands, poised and ready for a fight, a wood cutters axe held at the ready.

I blink at the sight of him, stunned to find him wearing a cape, a torn window curtain from the look of it, and a baseball helmet on his head for protection.

His legs are shaking like he is about to piss himself, and my first instinct is to just wave him off and tell him to go home, but I can see the look in his eyes. It’s the look of a Hero, ready to throw their life away in the pursuit of justice.

“Oh? You dare to challenge me?” I ask him teasingly, raising my chin so as to look down at him. With a push of power, I materialize shadowy robes around myself, hiding my work clothes that I am wearing and don’t mind getting some paint on.

“Yes!” He declares with all the might of an angry squirrel.

With a swish of my cloak and a smile, I take on a pose and point to the kid.

“Tell me little Hero. Who might you be to stand before me and block my path, to declare ME, evil?”

“I'm Le-… I’m nobody. I don’t have a family, but somebody has to stop you! I will stop you!”

My smile just grows as I look at the orphan boy, my soul practically singing with glee at the sight of the little Hero, being so brave as to stand before me when he can hardly even carry an axe.

“You have spunk little Hero; I will give you that!” I declare for anyone listening to hear, entirely unable to stop myself from playing along. “But I am afraid that you a hundred, no, a thousand years too late to stop me! But you are welcome to try~ Come, little Hero! Strike me if you can!”

With arms outstretched and black robes billowing about my body as if flowing in the wind – It's not, I’m making it do that for show – I beacon the boy to come and attack me. He lets loose a war cry, his shaking legs pumping as he forces himself to charge forward despite his fear, despite the insurmountable mountain that he now faces!

I stand and wait for him to draw close, watching with a smile as the little Hero hefts the weighty axe above his head and runs forward. I don’t even move to dodge as he swings it down with all the power his little body has.

Instead, moving faster than he can see, I catch the blade of the axe between two fingers and hold the weapon, stopping it dead mid swing. The boy grunts as his momentum suddenly grinds to zero, opening his eyes that were sealed shut as he swung to look and see if he hit me. He goes wide eyed and scared at the sight of me holding the blade delicately between my fingers.

Desperately, he tries to pull the mighty weapon away from me, but it doesn’t budge even an inch in my grip.

I throw my head back and laugh as he desperately tries to kick me. “MuhahahahahahaHA! Such a weak Hero. Not even stronger than two of my fingers. Tell me little orphaned Hero, how do you possibly hope to defeat me now? You should give up!”

“Ahhhhhhh!” He screams as he keeps kicking me in the shin, probably hurting himself in the process. “I won’t. I’ll fight until you kill me. At least then I can be with my family again!”

His words snap me out of my Demon Queen play for a moment, but I quickly get back into it and adjust.

Wrenching the axe away from him, I grab him by the shirt and lift him in the air until he is at eye level.

Smiling smugly, I say, “Sorry kid, but I don’t kill weaklings. Little Hero, if you want me to fight you seriously, to the death, then you must become stronger! How can I possibly enjoy a fight with such a weak opponent?”

The boy looks like he is on the verge of tears, but he forces them down because that wouldn’t be very manly of him. I respect that.

“I’ll get stronger.” He says through clenched teeth and a face full of fear.

My smile just grows wider until I am showing off a mouth full of canines to the boy, as if I am hungry for a proper fight and looking at a tasty little snack. This just makes him more scared, which this weird part of me is just eating up and enjoying.

“Good~” I say as evilly as I can, like I’m some kind of villain. Only, I immediately drop the act after that and put on a much more happy-go-lucky smile for the boy, confusing the living hell out of him.

“In that case, we need to make you stronger. When was the last time you had a good meal? You’re so little, practically not a muscle on your body.”

“Wha-what? Uhm, I had some bread and toma-” He tries answering on reflex, his mind probably asking why the hell I would care.

Interrupting him I say, “Well that’s not good enough. A boy needs meat to grow big and strong. Come on, you're having dinner at my place tonight. We're having ribs, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes today. A good ol' American dinner, I hope you’re hungry!”

“Wh-wha, Wait! Ahhhhhhh!”

Surprised and dumbfounded, I hoist the screaming kid onto my shoulder and resume walking home. Around the street, people watch as I effectively kidnap the kid and carry him away with an axe in my hand. But no one tries to stop me…

Nothing weird to see here, just a Devil taking away an orphan for dinner…

With a big smile on my face, a speak loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Come on kid, let’s put some muscles on your bones. The people can’t be having their Hero being weak!”

End of Book IV