A Succubus sat on a throne in a large, bright audience hall. The Succubus, currently using its shapeshifting powers to take the place of the late King Koinkar, had been cut off in the middle of an argument with some idiotic Human named Asmo by a call from its superior. At first, it had assumed the call would be a short one with some basic commands, and then it could get back to putting Asmo in her place.
And then, its superior said, “We need to talk. Xhag is dead.”
The Succubus blinked. “W…what? He is? So does that mean…”
“Yes. Arlan Nota will likely make it into the Barinruth Empire. We do not have more Demons to expend trying to reach him.”
The Succubus sat for a moment, shell-shocked by the revelation. Arlan Nota had…survived? How did a puny Human like that beat a Devil?!
“So we will move to long-term plans, then?” Asmo spoke calmly in its stead, and it barely noticed.
“Ah, Asmo, you are here?” The superior said. “Good. We can get this meeting done all at once. To answer your question, yes, we will be moving to the previously-made long-term plans. That means no more selling crops, disregarding citizen happiness, or over-drafting the populace. For now, you will have at your disposal the Infernals and Hellions that are still alive in the Overworld. No reinforcements will be available for some time. As such, Humans will be your main soldiers. Keep them alive and well, otherwise you will have no army to wage a war with.”
The Succubus was still reeling at the news that Arlan Nota had somehow survived. What was that Human doing to be able to beat Demons in a fair fight? He must have been using some sort of trick or cheat, even more than the Humans already seemed to love cheating. Maybe—
“Succubus. I am speaking to you. Acknowledge.”
“Y-yes,” the Succubus said. “Expression of apolo—formal, formal expression of apology, superior. I understand. But, er, we may be too low on resources to effectively wage a war, currently.”“What? Why?”
“Well, food stores are currently extremely low. That is, er, we have none. I made the decision to sell the food and draft the farmers, as I believed the war would only last a couple more days. So—”
“Who told you to do that?”
“Well, er…” the Succubus had technically done that of its own volition, since its previous superior, Xhag’duulinithar’obaba’iidook, had effectively given it free reign, for the most part. So, if one looked at it in a certain way, wasn’t it technically that Devil’s fault? Yes, yes, clearly the Devil was incompetent if he allowed himself to be killed by some Human. So it wasn’t the Succubus’s fault. “It was the fault of Xhag’duulinithar’obaba’iidook, superior. He told me to do it.”
“Ugh. Even after dying, that cretin still seems to make problems.”
The Succubus’s eyes widened. “He is dead, then? I thought he was Projected into the Overworld like normal.”
“Oh, well yes, he’s technically not dead yet, but you know how getting killed as a Projection goes. He’s currently unconscious, and we’ve decided not to make any efforts to revive him. So he’ll either die unconscious without the medical attention, or he’ll wake up in an Underworld month or two, and then we’ll just throw him somewhere to keep him occupied.”
“Ah,” the Succubus nodded. “Well, I will do my best to rectify his mistakes, as he clearly made quite a few while in power. He was tyrannical, forcing me to do all kinds of things against my better judgment.”
“If I recall correctly,” Asmo began, “he only spoke to you once or twice in the time—”
“Well, you clearly didn’t hear all of the calls!” the Succubus interrupted. “Stupid Human. Go clean something somewhere, or whatever. We more intelligent beings are having a discussion.”
“No,” the superior said. “Stay here, Asmo. This conversation involves you. And Succubus, do keep in mind that Asmo is currently your equal. Do not speak to your coworkers that way. Sowing dissent in our ranks only harms our cause. Do not allow your own personal interests to harm our organization as a whole.”
The Succubus’s face whitened involuntarily, making its facade of King Koinkar look quite inhuman for a moment. “Y-yes, superior.”
“Anyway, I was calling to inform the two of you of your newly-divided responsibilities. How many of the ‘VIP’ strategists that Xhag had appointed survived the Dragon attack?”
“Oh, a few. I believe most of them ended up living, but there were some injuries. Do you want me to kill them off? Hiring them was another of Xhag’duulinithar’obaba’iidook’s idiotic plans. Relying on Humans to make decisions…no wonder that wall fell.”
“No. In fact, I believe it was one of his better ideas. Division of labor is important, and offloading as much work as possible from Demon hands onto the Humans was quite skillful, on his part. I intend to promote them to higher positions, directly under you two. That way, you can worry about high-level decisions while they carry out the smaller things. You said a few survived? Which ones?”
The Succubus blinked. “Uh, er, yes, of course. I was simply…making a joke. A-Asmo was the one who thought the idea was stupid. I was mocking her, you see.”
“Noted. Answer my question.”
“R-right. The ones who survived were, um…uh… ugh, Human names are impossible to remember. I’ll go find them. Give me a minute.”
“No need,” Asmo interjected. “I spoke to them recently. The names of the ones who survived were Winic Vigandoth, Carison Aakbi, Keiki Umesai, and Jon Mourn. They were the mage, merchant, warrior, and healer, respectively. Though Jon is upset about the failure. I can speak to him and try to calm him down, if needed.”
“It would be great if you could speak to Jon Mourn, actually, Asmo, since you will be in charge of their squad from now on. They will answer directly to you. I believe your being a Human should allow rapport to be built more quickly and efficiently, and you should be able to anticipate the Human-specific problems they may face more quickly than the Succubus.”
“I, I,” the Succubus spluttered. “I could anticipate Human problems just fine! Give me some time, and I could become more familiar with them than they are themselves!”
“Negative. Succubus, you will continue in your duties as they are now. Manage the kingdom, and keep everyone happy. You will take a short break from waging active war in order to rebuild and consolidate your power. Focus on research of new warfare technologies and strategies. Doing so will most likely require high morale among the populace, as well as a growing population with abundant resources. So try to end whatever famine is going on.”
The Succubus furrowed its brows. Rebuild? That was effectively impossible. Trying to make all of these Humans happy and comfortable? Pointless. And how could it even do so in a reasonable time? There was no way it could solve this food shortage. “Would it…be possible for the Underworld to lend more manpower? Perhaps if we used Infernals—or, or perhaps Nefariors—as manual laborers, we could—”
“Negative. As I said before, no reinforcements are available to be sent to the Overworld. The Fourth Circle is making moves—we believe they’ve joined in with the alliance group run by the Second, which is of course a problem. As such, most armies require as many soldiers as they can get. We do not have the soldiers to waste playing around in the Overworld. So make due with what you have. If you need advice in running a Human kingdom, feel free to ask Asmo, or perhaps one of the advisors. Asmo, you said Carison Aakbi is a merchant? So he should be more than able to—”
“I will handle it,” the Succubus interjected. “Please, there is no need to get hasty replacing my duties. Give me…a month. No, half! Half of a month, and this entire famine shall be no more. The kingdom will prosper infinitely!”
“...Sure. Do that. But there is no need to operate on such a tight schedule. We are moving to long-term plans, remember. From what I’m aware of the Overworld, solving a famine in such a short period will most likely be impossible. Take your time, and avoid being rash with your actions, as that will only lead to further mistakes.”
“Of course,” the Succubus rushed to answer. No way it would let itself get replaced. What did its superior even want with these Humans, anyway?! If it lost its job, and to a Human, no less… “There will be no mistakes on my part.”
“Noted. Get that solved, and then move to research. Asmo, you and the Human subordinates that have been appointed to you will be tasked with managing intelligence on Arlan Nota and his location. For now, do not attempt to attack the Barinruth Empire, but rather gather information on things like their military power, local geography, possible points of assault, and any weaknesses you may be able to identify. Also, feel free to assist our acting king in repairing damage done to the kingdom. However, keep the facade going that Koinkar is leading alone, and nothing has changed in the way leadership is managed.”
“Acknowledged,” Asmo responded. “I am aware that a criminal underbelly has been growing in influence in the kingdom. Perhaps I may be able to use a subordinate to infiltrate their ranks and control them from the inside. From there, we could carry out internal assassinations on dissidents and stimulate the economy via the black market.”
“Perfect, that’s a great idea.”
“And I will manage this criminal underside once you have infiltrated it!” The Succubus said. No way it could allow Asmo to freely manage things like that. She could not be allowed to have that kind of power.
“With all due respect, my coworker,” Asmo sneered, “I believe you would best befit continuing in your current duties, instead of adding on more responsibilities to your already-cluttered job. I know how hard it is for you to even do as much as you are currently tasked with.”
The Succubus looked over with a stare worth a thousand suns, certain Asmo would shrink back immediately. The bitch couldn’t talk to it like that! But she just looked back with a faux-professional gaze.
Their superior responded, “Yes, it would most likely be best for Asmo to manage any criminal organizations she is able to infiltrate. Again, operations of subtlety would most likely fit a Human, rather than a Demon, as Humans will be better at naturally blending in. Acting as Koinkar seems to only have worked as well as it has so far because Koinkar already had a reputation for being somewhat strange, so inconsistencies in behavior have gone unnoticed. Rather, mostly unnoticed, as can be evidenced by Asmo here instantly seeing through your identity. I do hope you learned from that mistake of yours.”
“I will regret it every day of my life,” the Succubus said through clenched teeth, glaring at Asmo.
Asmo wasn’t looking, though, as she spoke to their superior through the Crystal. “Also, superior, would it be at all possible for us to send out a rescue team for one other VIP? She is currently missing in action after a fight with the fugitive. However, I do suspect she is still alive. She may hold valuable information after interacting with him.”
“Hm. Seems like it could be useful. But your coworker here is the one who handles things like troop assignments. Speak to it about that.”
“Yes,” the Succubus smiled a poisoned grin. “We have already spoken about it, and I said I would get to it as soon as possible. It should not be an issue.”
“Great,” the superior said. “If that is all, I will leave you be. From here on out, you will each need to give daily reports to me so as to ensure everything is going smoothly. Call me when you have those ready. Do well, subordinates.”
“Yes, superior,” the two said in unison. With a chime, the Communication Crystal’s light faded, and the room went silent.
“Damn this shit!” The Succubus spiked the crystal into the marble floor and it bounced up with a high-pitched clang. It stood from its seat. “What is she thinking?”
“Something wrong?” Asmo asked, still calmly standing by the throne.
“Oh, of course the idiot Human can’t figure out what the issue is,” the Succubus rolled its eyes. “Get out of my sight.”
“Certainly,” Asmo said, a grin threatening to spread onto her face. “Before I leave, though, I do have a request of you.”
“What? I’m not sending out some squad to save that Human. She failed, she should die.”
“I’d like to be given some Message Papers,” Asmo said. “I will need to speak with my new subordinates often, and some Enchanted papers will do just fine in that endeavor. That way, we can write back and forth without needing to worry about long distances.”
“Message Papers? Aren’t those just like, worse, slower versions of Communication Crystals?”
“Yes, it is true that they take longer to send messages the further apart one is from another person, but that shouldn’t pose any issues. Besides, since Communication Crystals can only be made by Demons, I felt that the Message Papers should be easier to acquire.”
“Fine,” the Succubus rolled its eyes. “You have four new subordinates, right? I’ll just give you one for each.
“Hm. Well, yes, but it would do best to have some redundancy. Perhaps give me ten or fifteen, instead?”
“Yes, whatever. I’ll grab an Enchanter or something to make some. Just get out.”
Asmo smiled and turned to leave. “Great. Get them to me as soon as possible, please. Wouldn’t want word of your incompetence to spread to our superior.”
“You don’t even know her name, Human scum!” the Succubus screamed back as Asmo. But she was already walking away.
**********
As Asmo marched through the hallway leading out of the audience chamber, her face fought between a frown and a grin. That amateur Demon wanted to fight over power with her? So be it. But that thing had no idea how much of a world of hurt it was in for. After all, it’d already signed its own death warrant.
Fifteen Message Papers? Who would believe she’d need to use that many to talk with a few people? But the extra was exactly enough for what she was actually planning. And with the ability to work with some others in the criminal side of the kingdom, out of the knowledge of that Demon, it wouldn’t take long before she was done.
This whole kingdom would be hers, whether “Koinkar” willingly gave it up or not.