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A large arena similar to a coliseum appeared before my eyes. It was nowhere near the size of Odin’s arena. But judging by how it’s decorated it looks really like a mix between an arena and a circus stage. A podium was placed in the center of the arena. And on that podium there was a man that wore a bright purple tuxedo and a purple hat. He had white gloves in both of his hands. His hair was black and short.

And his face. It was covered by a mask. It looked like a theater mask. One of those old drama masks that had a smiling crescent moon for it’s mouth and similar shapes for the eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome! I’m so glad that you could make it. Today I prepared quite a treat for you. And it seems she came.”

He was pointing at me. Two human thugs were escorting me and kept pushing me near the stage.

Applause

What’s up with this crowd? Can’t they see I am a hostage here?

“Now, like always, even if one of the contenders is a little girl we made sure to put a restraining collar on her. This way she can’t use any magic at all and will be as harmless as she looks.”

“Hey mister. What’s going on here? Who are you? I wanna go home!”

“Ah, how rude of me. I am the master of this place. My name is… a… secret! But you can call me Ringmaster. And you are?”

“My name is Milla and I wanna go home!”

“Go home? I can’t let you do that. Not yet at least. What kind of host would I be if I were to just let you walk away without entertaining you? How about we play a little game? If you win, you’re free to go.”

“A game? What kind of game?”

“A death game!”

You’re probably wondering at this point what’s going on. Well, for that we have to rewind a bit. It happened roughly a week ago. I received a letter from humanity’s Empress, Éclair Olympia. I usually go and come as I please from her room but this is actually the first time she requested my presence. I was rather curious so through the teleport crystal device I made, I headed over to her chambers.

“So, what’s up, Claire? It’s rare of you to request me.”

“Would you stop calling me by that nickname? I’m a proud ruler!”

“You’re also my woman so I get to call you how I like.”

She let out a long sigh before composing herself.

“There is something I would like to ask of you, but first, I must attend to a trial. You’re a bit early.”

“Why don’t I come with you then? I’ve never seen a royal trial before.”

“I can’t let a Demon King be seen with me!”

Not a problem. I spun around and using my doppelganger ability I transformed into a human girl. The same shy little girl whose image I used the first time I came her to conquer Claire.

“Ugh… fine. Do as you please.”

I always do, fufu!

After a while we went to the throne room. Claire told everyone that I was the daughter of a close friend of hers and wanted me to witness this. Normally doubts and questions would be raised, but ever since I got rid of the church, the Empress’s power was absolute. She ruled with an iron fist and nobody dared to go against her.

The trial was nothing special. Apparently the son of a noble got in a fight with someone and ended up killing that someone. Every witness pointed out that it was the nobles’ son fault. The verdict should be pretty obvious, however…

“What do you mean he’s in a coma? How did he fell into one?”

The one yelling was captain Armlock. Head of Claire’s knights.

“The traumatizing events that happened have pressured his brain and because of that he fell into a coma.”

This guy was supposed to be a so called doctor. But his diagnosis is… not logic at all.

“Traumatizing? He’s the assaulter. How can you call that traumatizing?”

The guys’ father then stepped forward. He had a nasty grin on his face.

“Captain, it is out of sheer respect for Her Majesty that I even brought my son on a stretcher her. But how do you expect him to take part in the trial in this state. I propose to postpone it.”

Hearing all this I leaned towards Éclair and whispered with her.

“Hey, if it’s obvious this guy did it, why not pass judgement on him?”

“It’s because of the law. You can not pass a verdict on a trial if the person in question can’t attend it.”

So this guy is just playing the system then. What a douchebag. They might be able to fool everyone here, but not me. My demon eyes don’t lie. Honestly, it was better for you if you would just admit your crime. Cause what happens next… is much worse. I’m taking over.

I took a few steps and headed for the doctor first.

“Hey, are you sure your diagnosis is correct?”

“What do you mean little girl? Of course I’m sure.”

“Well… I just happen to be a doctor as well. So why not let me have a look at him too?”

“Eh!? This isn’t the time for games.”

The guards and the people were all confused, but one strong glare from Claire was enough to shut them up. She let me go own. I take a long look at this guy who was lying on a stretcher.

“Yup! He’s in a coma alright.”

His father let out another grin as if he just won the lottery. But I’m not done yet. From behind my back I pull out a small bottle.

“Hmm!? What’s that?”

“It’s medicine! Sick people need to be given medicine after all.”

“But it smells kind of funny.”

“Well, of course. All medicine smells funny. When was the last time you took an ointment that smelled like roses?”

Not wanting to drag this one any further I spilled the liquid all across his body.

“Your Majesty, please, I am tired of this joke. It’s clear that she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

“Calm down mister. This was just the first step. Now it’s time for the second phase for it to work!”

“And… what is this second phase?”

I took out a match and light it.

“The second phase is: setting the medicine on fire!”

I threw the match on his body. And he was instantly covered in flames. The thing I called medicine… it was just oil.

“Gyaaargh!”

The guy woke up instantly and jumped around like a monkey.

“Son!”

“Ouch… ooh… Put it out! Put it out!”

He stopped, dropped, rolled and eventually the guards brought some water to extinguish the flames.

“Why you little…!! How dare you?”

“What? I didn’t do anything wrong. Your son was in a coma so I helped him snap out of it. My medicine worked. My fee is 1 million gold coins now!”

“You… you…!”

“Enough!”

Claire once again stepped in. Seeing now that the boy was conscious, regardless of my method, the trial was carried out and he was sentenced to 10 years of prison. The noble tried objecting, but the guards restrained him. He would end up being punished too for trying to cheat the law. And so, the trial pretty much ended and I was back with Claire in her room.

“Milla… today has proven my theory. I need your help.”

She told me about an issue. There was a serious case going on that the military couldn’t solve. In a certain place of the Empire people have started to disappear. And their bodies are found in various places. Sometimes so badly mutilated that you can’t identify it. Something wrong was going in her Empire. Something dark.

“Your unorthodox methods… your twisted way of thinking may be exactly what I need to solve this problem.”

This is interesting. To be honest, lately I’ve been flexing my physical muscles, so it might be fun to try and flex my brain once in a while. And it’s not like I got something else to do so… why not?

“Okay Claire. I’ll help. But you know I have price. After I solve this situation, your plump a̲s̲s̲ is mine.”

She audibly gulped and her face went red, but ended up agreeing with me.

And that’s how I got myself in this situation. I heard a rumor about some kidnapping, so I let myself get taken on purpose.

“Now then, little Milla, let us begin the game. The game that will decide if you live or die!”

Applause

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