“And,” Hujur cleared his throat, “Did you walk together from the gardens in that state…?”

“Yes,” Jurao frowned, confused by the question.

Gnori pounded a fist on the table, “I get it! It’s because it was snowing in the Bewitching Garden and humans are weak to cold!”

“Yes, exactly,” the Demon King agreed.

“The problem,” Festi sighed, “Is that not everyone knows it was… snowing?” they held out a hand, “What does that even mean?”

“I asked the Howling Shrubs to make snow to keep an ice statue cold while I worked on it,” Braelin explained.

“We were late because we were making a snow person,” Jurao added.

“A… snow person…?” Festi’s expression fell.

“You,” Minaz asked, “Were making a snow person?”

“Braelin was showing Lordis Gaele, and I thought it looked like fun,” the Demon King shrugged, “You should go see it after the meal if you’re curious.”

“I’m not-” Festi started, then paused, tilting their head as they considered, “Actually, yeah, I am curious. I probably will go see it.”

“Snow people,” Jouvi considered, “Humans are weird.”

“I think it helps that our environment isn’t actively trying to kill us most of the time,” Braelin replied, seeming disappointed that he was being served human food again.

It made the Demon King smile in amusement and look to Kloy, “How long will Braelin need to be restricted to solely human food.”

“At least one to two years,” the physician replied, “And even after that, only occasional demon food will be acceptable.”

Braelin sighed but didn’t protest.

“How long will the snow be around?” Gavven asked, grinning, “I might like to try making a snow person myself!”

The gardener shrugged, “Until I find a replacement for the ice statue.”

Hujur closed his eyes for ten seconds, then took a deep breath before asking, “Do you mean to say there will be snow in one of the gardens indefinitely?”

Braelin nodded.

“What was the name of the elven deity?” Hujur asked in a strained voice.

“Wylylendra,” the human replied.

The steward nodded, taking out his notebook to write something down.

“Why couldn’t you just make another wooden one?” Minaz asked, “Or ask Nevve for a metal one?”

“Elven frost deities should only be depicted in ice or glass,” Braelin replied, “Or so Eweylona always said. Since the shrine is meant as a sign of respect, ignoring that seems… wrong.”

“Well,” Minaz sighed, “I can’t argue with that logic…”

“I don’t think it will be much of an issue,” Jurao said, “After all, if some of you think the prospect is amusing, I’m sure many nobles will as well.”

“True,” Kloy said, then smiled, “I’ve never gotten a chance to see snow myself, so I am also curious. I heard its… soft frozen water?”

“Frozen water that’s soft…?” Jouvi frowned.

“That is technically accurate,” Minaz nodded, “Though it’s hard to reconcile if you’ve never experienced it.”

“Oh,” Braelin paused, then said, “Shaved ice would be good…”

“Shaved ice…?” Festi frowned in disbelief.

Jurao was also unfamiliar with the concept and looked to his gardener for an explanation.

“You use a knife to shave off portions of a larger block of ice,” Braelin said, “Which gives it a consistency similar to snow. Then you can add things for flavoring like honey or fruit juice.”

“Interesting,” the Demon King said, trying to imagine it.

“I stand by what I said,” Jouvi shrugged, “Humans are weird.”

Braelin shrugged, seemingly unconcerned by the comment.

The rest of the meal passed without much incident, and it wasn’t until that evening in his receiving room that Jurao heard more about the cloak.

“You know, I thought I was going to be complaining about the disaster of a staff meeting this morning,” Feyl sighed, “Though at least my foresight in asking Nevve to go paid off…”

“Ah, I see,” Jurao said, “In hindsight, I suppose it wasn’t a meeting she needed to attend.”

“But!” Feyl’s smile was very strained as he aggressively made a move, “You had to follow it up by walking through the castle with Brealin! Wearing! Your! Cloak!”

“There was-” Jurao started.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you have a very reasonable explanation,” Feyl waved him off, “The problem is that your cloak is gold.”

“Yes,” the Demon King frowned.

“You know - the color only the King is permitted to wear?” his valet replied, smile straining again, “So that it could only be your cloak Braelin was wearing? As though you were staking a claim on him by having him wear that color?”

Jurao hummed, “Is that what it seemed like to others.”

“It is,” Feyl sighed dramatically, “Honestly, I knew the staff meeting was a mistake, but Alae hates you anyway, so…”

“No he doesn’t,” Jurao said, making his own move.

“We’ve been over this so many times, but,” his valet held out a hand, “Yes, he does.”

“I just don’t think you understand him,” the Demon King replied.

“One of us certainly doesn’t…” Feyl huffed.

“Your secretary?” Braelin asked. The human was working away with his notes and books again, declining to join their game.

“Oh, you’ve met, have you?” Feyl drawled, “He seems quite nice, yes?”

“I don’t know,” Braelin replied, “It was just an introduction.”

“I can’t fault that,” Feyl sighed again, “Well, be wary of him - he’s not as soft and kind as he pretends to be.”

“I agree he’s shrewd,” Jurao said, “He just doesn’t hate me.”

“Seriously, why do you insist on…” his valet paused, then asked, “Braelin, when exactly did you meet Alae?”

“Just before we went to the evening meal,” Braelin replied.

“He came to find me because we were late,” the Demon King said.

Feyl made a noise of disgust as his upper two hands grabbed the hair at either side of his head, “Ugh! That ass - Jurao, can you not see how he set you up?”

“No,” Jurao replied.

“He definitely knew how everyone would see Braelin wearing your cloak!” Feyl said, pointing at the Demon King with a third hand, “And didn’t! Stop! You!”

Jurao hummed, considering this, then shrugged, “I’ll ask him about it.”

“No! He knows you do that, so he comes up with excuses you’ll believe!” Feyl shouted.

“But,” Braelin frowned, “If he hates… ah…”

“You can use my name in private. I don’t mind,” Jurao said to the questioning look.

“At least you do tell everyone that…” Feyl muttered.

The human nodded, “If Alae hates Jurao, why be his secretary?”

“To sabotage him from a close position, obviously!” Feyl declared.

“So he’s… bad at his job?” Braelin frowned.

“What?” No, he’s annoyingly perfect at his job,” Feyl replied, then held up a finger, “But that’s his genius, you see? If he were a bad secretary, he would get fired and everyone would know how much he hates Jurao! Instead, he’s a flawless secretary who only uses moments like this to make Jurao look bad!”

“... maybe you just don’t like Alae,” the human shrugged.

Feyl made a choked noise, “I am not!” he paused, then leaned back, “Well, no, I am that petty - but I swear he does hate Jurao; his attempts just fail because Jurao’s never been embarrassed a day in his life and most his attempts rely on that.”

Jurao chuckled, “I think Braelin may have a point.”

“Whatever, it’s not like he tries anything overt enough to matter,” his valet sighed, “Just don’t go blithely lending others your cloak again, will you?”

“I suppose I can do that,” Jurao replied.

“I have been wondering,” Braelin said, “Why are there so many different kinds of demons?”

“You mean variants?” Feyl asked, arching his right brow, “Like how Jurao has those tree trunk upper arms and club tail?”

The human nodded.

“I’m a trollish demon,” Jurao replied, “That means that somewhere in the past, my ancestors included trolls who had children with demons and integrated back into full demon society, so their demonic heritage outweighs their trollish one.”

“Ah,” Braelin nodded.

“I am a traditional demon,” Feyl said, putting a hand to his chest with a smile, “Or rather, the baseline the other variants came from.”

The human nodded again.

“Since we’re all in the Strength Triad, we have a good deal of trade and interaction with the Beastkin and Troll Realms, so the two most common variants are trollish demons like Jurao and beastly demons - like Gaele and Hujur.”

“Oh, so that’s why they have animal characteristics,” Braelin said.

“Exactly,” Feyl said, “Alae is an inspired demon - his ancestors include humans. Festi is an arcane demon - their ancestors include elves. Inspired demons are uncommon, but arcane demons are rare since the boundaries between the Demon and Elven Realms don’t intersect.”

“I see,” Braelin said, “Like gnomes, brownies, imps, and magus.”

“Exactly,” Feyl agreed.

“How so,” Jurao asked.

“Gnomes are the descendants of humans and dwarves, while brownies are the descendants of humans and kinfolk,” Braelin replied, then continued, “Imps are the descendants of humans and demons, and magus are the descendants of humans and elves.”

“I see,” the Demon King nodded, not having considered it before - though he supposed it made sense, as beastkin and trolls also had variants like they did.

“Due to the history of antagonism between the Human Realm and Demon Realm,” Feyl said, “As well as the view most demons have of humans being weak, inspired demons are not held in high regard.”

“It’s the same for imps in the Human Realm,” Braelin nodded, “I wonder why we have separate names, though…”

“It’s probably due to the Human Realm being composed of disparate nations,” Feyl shrugged, “The beastkin and trolls also use different names for their variants instead of modifiers, and they’re in a similar situation.”

“Aren’t most realms broken up into different nations?” Braelin asked.

“They are,” Jurao nodded, “If it weren’t for the position of Demon King, we would likely still be separated ourselves. But Ascending gives one ten times the power they had before, plus Dominion.”

“Dominion?” Braelin asked.

“It’s a special skill that gives me control of the world within a certain radius of myself - about one kilometer,” the Demon King replied, “It’s why the gardens can’t defy me - even if they wanted to.”

“Ah,” the human nodded, “I had wondered about that…”

“Jurao was already a moving stone statue, but he’s basically indestructible now,” Feyl sighed, “Which makes throwing things at him far less fun.”

“You didn’t hit me before I Ascended,” Jurao frowned.

“Yes, but if I had it would have had an impact,” his valet said, waving a hand in a vague circle, “Now even if I did land a hit, you’d probably just break whatever I threw at you.”

“That’s true,” the Demon King conceded easily.

“What was it like?” Braelin asked, “Ascending. It seems very important.”

Jurao nodded, “In essence, it’s a Blessing earned through harsh physical and mental trials. When I reached the end of the Thousand Caves of Torment, there was-”

“Jurao,” Feyl held up a hand, “Isn’t this supposed to be a secret?”

“I don’t remember it being a secret,” the Demon King replied, “Knowing what occurs at the end would hardly help anyone make it to that point.”

His valet considered, then shrugged, “Fair point. Proceed.”

Jurao nodded, “At the end of the caves, there was an armory - and inside was our deity of kings and conquest, Maenscul. They told me to pick any one weapon I desired, and it would shape my Ascension - the trial was over, so there was no wrong choice.”

“Shape your Ascension?” Feyl asked.

The Demon King nodded again, “It’s difficult to explain - Maenscul implied that it would both shape the sensation of Ascension as well as the way Dominion manifested - King Ergirri before me chose a throwing ax, which was why he could split the earth within his Dominion. He said his Ascension felt like being carved by axes as well.”

“Oh, I see,” his valet nodded.

“So, what did you choose?” Braelin asked.

“Maenscul,” Jurao shrugged, “They were obviously the most deadly weapon in the armory, after all.”

“And… how did they react to that…?” Feyl asked.

“They laughed and said no one had picked them since Lavven,” Jurao said, counting the events on his fingers so he wouldn’t forget anything, “And then accepted. They said my Dominion would be determined by how I ruled, rather than shaping the way I did so. I don’t remember there being a particular sensation, though.”

“In a room full of weapons, asked to choose one weapon,” his valet slumped back in his seat, “You chose the Deity of Kings themself. That’s… very you.”

“I wasn’t the first,” Jurao pointed out.

“No, just the first since Demon King Lavven, the very first Ascended Demon King in existence,” Feyl said, “And we don’t even know what his Dominion could do…”

“But mine probably wouldn’t do what his did anyway,” Jurao pointed out.

“Wait,” Braelin seemed to be considering something, “Is that what caused the First Great Invasion? Demons that didn’t want to be ruled by Lavven traveling to the Human Realm?”

“It’s true that many lordi left the Demon Realm at that time,” Feyl mused, “And previously leaving the Demon Realm meant sacrificing one’s position - but if they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop Lavven, another realm probably was the most appealing option.”

“First?” Jurao asked.

Braelin nodded, “The First Great Invasion included seven ‘demon kings’ invading the Human Realm to establish kingdoms - there were two more, but the second only had three ‘demon kings’ and the third and last had only one.”

Jurao stood, going to his bookshelf and pulling out one of the older records covering that time period. He returned to the table and flipped through until he found the part he was looking for, “Yes - while many lordi left to escape Lavven’s Unification of the Realm, there were seven that had previously been considered kings that led the others. Lavven retrieved three of them, whose descendants later left while the new Demon King was still Ascending. As for the last one…”

“I don’t think Braelin was looking for a solid confirmation,” Feyl chuckled.

“I wasn’t, but it is interesting,” Braelin replied, “We were always taught the demons invaded because you’re greedy, bloodthirsty monsters - but it makes more sense if they just didn’t want to lose power.”

“How flattering,” Feyl chuckled with a grin, “And what do you think of us, living here?”

“I mean, you’re stronger than humans, but you’re really not that different from us altogether,” the human shrugged, “That’s why I said it made more sense that they just wanted to keep their power.”

“Ah,” Jurao said, finding the later passage, “The last one was the twin of the favored princelin for next Demon King, and left after several close assassination attempts. That was the King before Ergirri, so relatively recent.”

“So the Human Realm has mostly seen our losers and cowards,” Feyl snorted, “No wonder you have such a negative opinion of us.”

“What about the Demon Realm?” Braelin asked, “Is it just that we’re smaller and weaker?”

“Well, there’s that,” Feyl said, “And those… Champions? That barge over here every hundred years or so?”

“Oh, I forgot about them,” Braelin said, “Since that’s mostly the Holy Divine Sacred Empire of Angelic Purification.”