Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Rosa couldn't believe what was happening. Four demon guards laid on the floor unconscious. After hearing Azrael's suggestion to take the girls on a 'field trip', both sets of guards had objected and insisted they remain in the castle. The white-haired demon had responded with a wave of his hand after which, the four men slumped to the floor.

"Did you kill them?" Deziara shrieked.

"Of course not. I just put them to sleep. Tomorrow morning, they'll wake well-rested and completely unaware of our plans," Azrael snickered, then ushered Rosa and Deziara forward. "But let's hurry, before Asdeus decides to come check."

That was a good enough reason for Rosa to grab Deziara by her hand, and drag the older girl along.

"You want to go, Morri?" she asked somewhat nervously.

"Yes!"

I've wanted to see the world outside the castle walls since the first day. I will not let this chance slip by.

"Well… I guess if you want to."

"What? Are you scared?" Azrael teased as he led them through the corridors. He appeared to be taking them towards the servant part of the castle. The maids stared at Azrael with surprise which grew into full shock once they noticed the two princesses with him. They quickly scattered out of his way, not daring to object despite the clear want to do so.

He really isn't liked very much, is he?

Finally, he led them into a room which appeared to be a storage room of some sort. He snapped his fingers, and three dark, shabby looking cloaks floated towards them. 

"Put these on," he commanded, throwing the largest cloak around his shoulders.

"What? This dirty thing? No way," Deziara poked the floating cloak, and stuck out her tongue in disgust. 

It's not that bad. A little worn, but some of my clothes in the human world still saw use after ten years. Despite the odd stains. 

Rosa took the small cloak and put it on. It was a bit large for her, but at least it hid her fancy gothic dress underneath.

"Well, if you'd rather go and learn…" 

"No!" Deziara snatched the cloak, and begrudgingly put it on, wincing all the while.

"Good. Now then, Princess, your red hair stands out a bit too much. You have to change to a different color now," Azrael noted, and Rosa nodded. She closed her eyes and imagined her hair changing to a different color – something dark and inconspicuous. 

She imagined how it felt to dye her hair, how the color seeped into the hair, changing it all the way to its roots. Once she opened her eyes and checked, she saw that it was the same black color as Deziara's.

"Wow! You actually did it, Morri. That's amazing. Now we match," Deziara cheered. 

"Great choice. Now nobody would ever dare to conclude that you're anything but sisters."

"We ARE sisters," the older girl protested.

"And now you LOOK like sisters. Come! We can't dally for long," Azrael pushed one of the shelves aside, revealing a dark passage behind it.

"A secret tunnel! I knew that there had to be one in the castle," Deziara's eyes sparkled.

"One? Sure, let's say there's one," he chuckled.

So there's definitely more. It would be useful to find more of them. This one is so far from Alphegor's room that it wouldn't be very convenient to use.

They stepped inside the tunnel, and Azrael pulled a lever on the side of the wall. The shelf then slowly moved back to its original position. The inside of it was pitch black and a smell of musty dampness came from it. Even with Rosa's superior night vision, she had trouble seeing where she should step next.

"I can't see anything!" Deziara complained.

"Wait a bit," Azrael said, then a small flame appeared in his palm. Although it was no larger than a candle flame, it was more than enough for Rosa to see everything around her. Not like there was much to see – just dark, dingy walls and never ending darkness ahead. "This might take a while, so be patient. I don't want to hear any 'are-we-there-yets'."

"You didn't say we'd have to walk," Deziara grumbled.

"You can still go back to the lessons."

Deziara muttered something under her breath and began walking. Rosa followed behind her, but then Azrael bent down and picked her up with his free hand.

"Since you're still small, you get a free ride," Azrael grinned.

"Hey! Why can't you carry me too?" Deziara protested.

"Because you're too big. Now less grumbling and more walking."

***

After approximately half an hour of walking and listening to Deziara's constant complaints about her hurting feet, they finally reached the exit. Azrael pulled the lever and the entrance wall moved to the side, revealing a small room filled with brooms, buckets and other cleaning supplies.

"Where are we?" Deziara covered her nose with the corner of her cloak, and tried to sidestep the giant cobweb in one of the corners.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Azrael grinned and maneuvered around the many buckets, opening the door which led out into a dark corridor. However, it was nothing like the castle hallways. The walls were made out of completely different material, something resembling plaster, albeit more gritty and dark brown in color.

There were no fancy chandeliers with the little lava bulbs, instead dim lanterns lined the walls. The floors had an occasional hole in them, and overall the place did not give a sense of comfort.

"Where have you taken us? Do you intend to sell us as slaves?" Deziara muttered, but still latched onto Azrael's leg, looking nervously from side to side.

"No, this is just a passage we need to get through. Did you really think that we would exit in a place where everything would be as pristine as within the castle?" Azrael smirked as he led both girls into what appeared to be a medieval pub of some sorts. Except that it was completely empty. Nobody was even watching over the space. 

"Where is everyone?" Rosa asked, and Azrael just shrugged.

"The owner is probably sleeping in the back, drunk," he said, and left the dingy place behind, coming out into a dark side alley.

"Is this the city?" Deziara asked, and it looked like this was the last place where she wanted to be.

"It's part of the city, but not our main destination. I bet you two would love to see the market," Azrael smiled, and Rosa felt a bit of excitement rise in her chest. She had always loved going to the market in the human world. You never knew what you'd find there, and quite often the vendors were willing to give a discount to good customers.

"Is it that place where everybody gathers to buy cheap things? I don't want to go there," Deziara objected, stomping her foot down on the ground.

No, don't do this to me. Let's just go to the market before Azrael brings us to a brothel or casino or some other weird place.

"I suppose you could just wait for us in the pub," the demon replied.

"You'd leave a princess inside that horrid place? What if someone kidnaps me?"

"Nobody would care about some random kid in a pub. If she wouldn't go yapping around that she's a princess," Azrael glared, and Deziara covered her mouth.

"I'll come along," she conceded, and Azrael began walking through the narrow street. It was dirty and completely devoid of any life. 

As Azrael kept walking forward, the street grew wider and Rosa saw some small demons huddling against the walls. They wore tattered and dirty rags, their hands, or perhaps, it was better to call them limbs, were long and thin like spider's legs while their skin looked a sickly shade of purple. Their faces also weren't completely humanoid, instead being more elongated with long sharp noses.

Seeing them, Deziara clutched onto Azrael's leg so tightly that he could barely move forward.

"Don't worry, they're just imps. They can't do anything to you," he explained, and ushered the demon girl to move forward.

So these are lesser demons? I've heard of them before, but never expected that they'd look so different.

Rosa observed one of them, but they appeared completely disinterested in them, instead chewing on what appeared to be some old, hard piece of bread. 

I expected them to be scarier than this. But they just look pitiful.

As they kept walking, some chatter became audible from the street ahead, and Rosa could see many demons walking past the little side alley. As they finally reached the main street, Rosa's breath hitched in her throat. Before her stood the scene of an underground city.

Gothic style houses made from dark stone stood tightly next to each other with bright lights coming from their windows. They were separated from the streets by sharp, metallic fences while neat lanterns illuminated the cobblestone streets.

Looking further ahead Rosa saw how the street was never perfectly straight, but rather going up and down like on a rollercoaster ride. The most impressive thing without a doubt was the Demon Castle that stretched high up into the darkness, acting almost like a lighthouse in the eternal black of the underground. 

Demons of every size, age and shape imaginable were walking through the street, and talking in the meanwhile thus creating a cacophony of loud chattering. There were those that looked more human like the demons in the castle, and there were also those who resembled the sidealley imps, except more lively. Some had leathery wings attached to their backs, while some had two sets of limbs or animal-like features.

"Wow!" Deziara's gaze darted from one demon to the next, unable to settle on one particular person.

"They're so… different," Rosa noted, trying to note as many features as she could. But no matter how much she looked, she just kept seeing new things – animal tails of every size, varying skin colors, even scales. Cat eyes, fin ears, bug wings. The variety was dizzying.

"Oh, yeah, you two haven't really seen lesser demons much," Azrael noted with a smirk, and swiftly inserted himself and both girls into the stream of people. He held Deziara's hand now, keeping her close and out of the way of burlier demons.

"What makes them lesser?" Rosa asked, still scanning the crowd.

"Lesser demons have ancestry that isn't fully demonic. The more their blood is mixed with other blood, the more different they look. That is doubly so if they have a monster ancestor."

"Monster ancestor? How is that possible? Is their mom a monster or something?" Deziara laughed as if the idea itself was ludicrous. Rosa, on the other hand, paled from the horrible image that formed in her mind.

No, don't think about that! That is something I need to think about.

Rosa shook her head, and pointed towards a larger open space that she saw forming further ahead, "Is that the market?"

"Yes, the Grand Linberor Market, the largest market in the whole Demon Kingdom," Azrael announced and both girl's peered forward trying to see past the growing crowd of demons. After a while, they finally reached a huge square lined with various stalls. The people went this way and that, trying not to bump into each other as they sought out various stalls.

The feeling was very similar to the market in the capital. Vendors were shouting at the customers, who were going from stall to stall, trying to find better deals. Aside from the people themselves and the darkness of the underground, it was basically the same thing.

"So what would you like to look at? Pretty clothes? Jewelry? Food?" Azrael asked, looking over the stalls, before picking a concrete direction where to go.

"I doubt there's anything good here anyway," Deziara grumbled, peering from behind Azrael.

"Sweets?" Rosa suggested. She hadn't had those nice chocolate treats Alphegor always got her in a while. Apparently, maids didn't know where the King got them from as the Castle kitchen didn't even have chocolate. A horrible mistake in Rosa's mind.

"You do seem to have a bit of a sweet tooth," Azrael smirked, then turned towards the far side of the market where a smell of sweet pastries and bread wafted through the air. Rosa inhaled the air and hummed. It smelled absolutely delightful even if most smells were unfamiliar to her.

Azrael walked past most stalls, not sparing them a second glance despite the intricate delicacies displayed. Rosa stared at them longingly, wondering if she'll have to force the demon to stop. But he finally stopped in front of a simple looking stall. 

The vendor minding it didn't shout for attention like others, and the displayed treats looked simple when compared to its neighbors. What did make it stand out was the crowd gathered in front – it was far larger than anywhere else.

Azrael coughed, and the demons in the line who were bickering as to who was there first, looked at him in annoyance. But as soon as they took in his appearance, the lesser demons parted, letting him straight to the front of the line.

"Hello!" He greeted the vendor with a smile.

"Back for some more already?" the vendor, a round woman with horns smaller than even Rosa's and cat-like eyes and ears, greeted him with a smile. "Oh, I didn't know you had children already at your tender age."

"They're my sisters," Azrael replied without missing a beat, and Rosa nodded, playing along with his lie. Deziara scrunched up her nose, and looked at Azrael as if he were insane.

"What a pair of cuties," the woman chuckled. "What would you like to have, dearies?"

"What is that?" Rosa asked, and pointed towards the array of differently colored rolls. She had no idea what to call them as they didn't look like anything she'd seen on Earth. Their colors varied from white all the way to black with every other color in between. If they weren't in the food section of the market, she'd be convinced they were paints of some sort. 

"This is magic delight," the woman replied, and Rosa cocked her head in confusion.

That explains nothing.

"Oh, I've heard of these! They're supposed to taste like magic," Deziara perked up and excitedly began looking over the treats.

Magic has… flavor?

Rosa looked at the rather dull-looking treats, trying to discern what each could taste like, but she knew too little about magic to make any guesses.

"Would you like to taste some samples first?" the woman asked and both girls nodded in response. She pulled out a little tray that had little cubes of various colors set out on it and offered it to them.

Rosa picked out a translucent orange cube and popped it in her mouth, while Deziara picked a dark purple one. The flavor that exploded onto her tongue was like nothing she had experienced before. It was like a hot flame had erupted in her mouth, but not in the sense that it burned. It tingled her tongue and swirled around, warming her whole body. It was sweet, yet spicy while the texture was chewy like a jelly.

"Wow! Mine tastes like shadow magic. It's sweet, yet a little bit bitter. And I'm pretty sure I can see a little bit better now," Deziara looked high up into the never ending darkness above, as if trying to find something within it.

"Oh, yes, my treat will give your body a little temporary boost. Want to try some more?" The vendor generously handed the plate of samples to Deziara. "Take your time to taste them and then come back to buy the one you liked the most."

"You heard her, squirts. Enjoy!" Azrael smirked and lowered Rosa next to Deziara who was already enjoying her next sample. Both girls continued munching on the odd treats while Azrael returned his attention to the vendor, picking out some for himself.

Rosa couldn't stop eating one magic cube after another. It was almost like an addicting gacha game – she never knew what she would get next. But whenever a new flavor exploded in her mouth, she felt the very essence of magic hit her tongue.

As she was about to grab her fifth sample, a strong pair of arms grabbed her from behind, instantly muffling her voice and pulling her away from her unsuspecting sister and distracted guardian.