The Demon King's Hero Of Light 20 Chapter 20 Treasure

"I want rooms prepared for my guards, and we shall start sparring in the morning, before breakfast, at dawn. After breakfast, I want a full report from each of you. There should be such things as what you focus on, the current status of that in the kingdom, and any problems you are having with it. You can decide which order you arrive in. I expect that to last until lunch time. After lunch I will meet with the Tutors for a couple of hours and then more sparring."

The Advisors all nodded and filed out of the throne room. Aella was itching to start exploring the castle in order to find the hidden treasury, but the matter with the Tutors needed to be addressed first. They consisted of three demons, all of which looked like they would have been better in a costume contest, rather than as teachers. The one demoness was light blue in color, one of the demons was an older green demon, and the last was another pink demon. She was really starting to hate the color pink.

The demoness taught court protocol, the green demon taught diplomacy and history, and the pink demon taught dancing and etiquette.

"What in the h.e.l.l do I need to know dancing for?" she cried, horrified at the smile that played on his lips.

"There will be b.a.l.l.s as demons wish to court you, a.s.suming you survive the Heroes. You will need to know how to dance."

"Like h.e.l.l! I'm not interested in dancing or b.a.l.l.s. Go find yourself another demoness to dance with. I will learn etiquette from you only as long as I can stand you. Better keep yourself under control or I'll fetch Firion on you," she threatened, glaring at him, as Firion stroked the handle of his sword.

The pink demon swallowed as fear played over his face. "Of course, Your Majesty."

"Which of you will teach me strategy? I will need some of that I think," she asked, looking at the three of them.

"You would be better taught that by one of the Advisors," said the demoness.

"Fine, I shall see the three of you after lunch. Figure out which of you will begin first. I want all of you to be there during all of the lessons, until I am done with you, to make sure I am not wasting time waiting on you to arrive."

She glared at each of them, wondering if they were worth her time at all, until they all bowed and left.

"May I show you to your rooms?" asked Tezra, hesitantly.

Everyone had eaten and drunk until they were about to pa.s.s out, so Aella nodded. Her rooms weren't that far from the throne room, and she watched as each of her guards got their own room, from those available that were normally where her servants would be. As she inspected her own rooms, Tezra waited by the door.

"Tezra, why are you still here? You've completed your duties, surely you can go home now to your family," said Aella as she poked the bed suspiciously. It was so soft, that she was afraid she would suffocate if she tried to sleep on it.

"I want to make sure you are comfortable and don't need anything. You don't technically have a servant until the morning," she said, uncomfortably.

"You are fine. If anyone comes after you, I will send Firion after them. Go home. That's an order."

She nodded and slipped out of the door, but paused before shutting it. "King Aella, there's one more thing…"

Aella turned as Tezra entered the room and shut the door again. "I hope you really do manage to end the war. There's a prophecy that talks about you, I think, but I'm not sure…"

"What are you talking about? What's a prophecy?"

"Oh, well, um… a prophecy is a prediction of something that will happen in the future."

"And there was one of those about me?"

"I think so. Every since you started giving people t.i.tles, and it worked, I've been thinking so."

"What does it say about me?" asked Aella impatiently.

"Oh! Well, it said:

'When the winds show their true power, a great leader shall usher in a time of advancement, prosperity and two enemies shall come together to strengthen bonds.'"

Aella knew that being the Hero of Air, meant she would end the war, according to the prophecy, but she wasn't sure how it came to be. Thinking about it for a moment she decided it could apply to a lot of different things, if someone tried. Shaking her head, she smiled at Tezra.

"Thank you for telling me. I hope the hard times we have coming won't cause you too much trouble."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Tezra bowed again, and left.

As soon as the door shut, Aella sighed in relief and began taking off the blasted outfit she was wearing. It was rubbing in places that should never be rubbed outside of s.e.x, and taking them off brought immediate relief. Walking across the cool room naked, she threw open the closet door and started looking through the outfits stored there.

Someone had gone to great length to try and put clothes that would fit her and were in her preferred style in the closet. Finding a comfortable pair of pants with a matching s.h.i.+rt, she donned them quickly and headed for the door. Peeking out into the hall, silence and dust was all she found.

This area was pretty far away from the main area of the castle, so she doubted it was the original throne room, which meant the treasury probably wasn't around here. Thinking about it, as she left her room and began wandering around, a treasury would be somewhere easily protected and hard to access, to cut down on thieves. She wondered, as she found a set of stairs and began to descend them, if the castle had a dungeon. Was that where they had taken Paeral?

Hearing someone walking ahead of her, she paused and looked around. She was in a thin corridor, going down a flight of stairs. There was no where to go, except back up the stairs, but she knew there wasn't anywhere up there to hide, either.

A few moments later, a servant pa.s.sed by, unaware of the figure clinging to the stones near the ceiling above his head. As soon as he was gone, Aella dropped to the stairs below her. She couldn't complain about the spiderwebs near the ceilings, without giving away that she had been close enough to see them.

At the bottom of the stairs, she noticed a corridor, heavy with dust, off to her right. There weren't even any lanterns down that way. Taking one off the wall, she decided it was an excellent time to explore areas that weren't normally traveled. The corridor twisted and turned, as if the original builders hadn't intended for this to be an actual pa.s.sage. When it finally ended, she found herself standing before a large chiseled face, that took up the entire wall.

She would have turned and left immediately had she not recognized the face. It was the face of the first king, and he was watching her.

"I thought you said I wouldn't meet you again," she said, putting her hand on her hip.

"This isn't technically me," the wall responded with a smirk. "Still have the key?"

Since she couldn't respond out loud, she lifted her s.h.i.+rt to show him, rather than just nod.

"That was mean," he pouted, before opening his mouth wide to reveal a door.

"I guess you get to eat me after all," she sang, opening the door and stepping through. There may have been a m.u.f.fled reply, but it was quickly gone as she shut the door behind her.

Holding the lantern up high, she saw row after row of treasure chests before her. They were all lined up, facing her.

"I guess a bunch of chests is better then just leaving it piled on the floor," she said to herself, looking for a hook to hang the lantern.

"Oh, it is," came a reply, prompting her to glance up quickly.
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There was no one else in the room.

"Who's there?" she asked, wondering if it was another voice like the one that spoke to her before, when she was crowned king.

"I am the guardian of the Royal Treasury. If anyone manages to get past the locked door, they would have to deal with me. It's been a very long time since anyone came in here. Are you the new king?"

Aella looked around carefully, until she realized the treasure chest in front of her was what was talking.

"Are you a treasure chest?" she asked, wondering if it was magic that allowed it to speak.

"No, I am a mimic. I mimic things around me, to lure unwary prey to eat. But you don't have to worry about that. I ate a magical ring when I was younger, and it took away my appet.i.te."

Licking her lips, Aella held the lantern up a little higher, finally making out the difference in the mimic and the other chests.

"There's a hook behind you, to hang that lantern, but it would just be easier to say the magic word."

"What's the magic word?" she asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I don't know it."

"Then how do you know there is a magic word?" she asked, wondering if the mimic had started to go crazy, after being locked up for so long.

"Because the last time a king came in here, he would say it, to turn on the lights."

"Then, what did he say?"

"Illuminate," said the mimic, and suddenly the entire room was brightly lit, as if it were outside on a sunny day. "Oh, you must have known the magic word all along! You're a smart king!"

Shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt, Aella set the lantern down on the ground and turned back to the mimic.

"What sorts of treasure will I find in each of these chests?" she asked, not wanting to set off any traps that might be here.

"Oh, each chest has its own type of treasure. I organized them all. Like, the one against the wall to my right has magic rings. The next one has magical armor, and so on. If you open them up, you will see."

"How will I know what magic each item has?"

"You're wearing the crown, so you should be able to tell as soon as you touch them."

"Thank you. I think you have been more helpful to me today than anyone else, other than the first king."

"Thank you. It's been a very long time since anyone has complimented me."

Holding back a chuckle, so she didn't insult the creature, Aella moved over to the first chest. She couldn't wait to see what she would find.