ALTGS 24

Demons didn’t need sleep nearly as much as humans did, but just this once, Nedrie would have appreciated a few hours of it.

It had been more than a month since his appointment as Fortane’s Minister of Health, but you wouldn’t think so. He had already set about organizing teams and gathering information pertaining to the health of the general population. Working with other demons to familiarize himself with the culture and politics of Fortane, then properly situating the Office of Healthcare within the palace so that anyone who had inquiries or work for him could easily find him. Soon, he would open recruitment centers. Apothecaries and herbalists who had experience with human ailments to help in his studies would be needed. After all, there weren’t many Serpentiae that would do what he does with his venom.

Sitting in the warmth of his new office, he signed off on a new batch of documents. “Take these to be reviewed by Lady Voltaine before we add it to tomorrow’s meeting agenda.” He instructed a lithe, dark-haired demon as he handed a handful of papers to them.

“Yes, Nunsyat.” The demon said in a gravelly voice, and swiftly moved to complete the task.

Immediately after his door closed, Nedrie sighed.

He had been working non-stop for days now. Thankfully, because of how quick demons were, and how little time for rest they needed, he had been able to get a lot of things done. But his endurance was wilting now. He gave a tired snicker. He had always been physically weaker than other species of demons.

He would turn in for today. He only needed around six hours of rest, and then he’d worke thoroughly for yet another month. In that small timeframe, he would have everything ready. Buildings to monitor and care for patients, tests to conduct, the adequate numbers he needed to make everything work seamlessly. Even though he was tired, he felt fulfilled at his progress.

Walking down the hall, he had to admit that he was shocked at how well Metaghrindar and Lord had adapted to human life. The haughty, hard-headed demons below his rank that he was familiar with were all excellently disciplined in their roles as servants and maids. The demons designated as guards stood alert and menacing. The demons assigned as servants were effortless and elegant in their services. The palace ran seamlessly, as it should be.

It was a little funny in all honesty.

He had been to many palaces ran by humans. And it was always messy. So so messy. The maids and servants were divided, some supporting the king while others had other affiliations. Spies, errors, sloppiness, intrigue, assassinations. To a degree, he hated it. He hated the way palaces actually were compared to how they should have been.

But everything was working out well here. For the first time in a long time, he felt excited for what the future was offering. How many years had he spent wandering around, offering help to humans who were beyond desperate for a solution to their ailments? At first, he had been an assassin, and he had been a good one. But that was so boring. Killing a human was easy. But fixing one?

Well, it was one of the hardest things he had ever had the pleasure of doing.

“Oh. Isn’t that Nedrie?” He heard.

And to a degree, his mood dampened just a tad bit.

It was a reflex, the way Nedrie’s smile got spectacularly wide. At the mention of his name, he turned to his right, coming to face the tall, imposing demon that had called after him.

“Oh, Metaghrindar. I hadn’t seen you there.” That was a genuine statement, but he knew it how it would sound . Sure enough, he saw just a bit of a frown come to Metaghrindar’s sleek, arrow-like face.

It was really very strange, how Nedrie and Metaghrindar didn’t get along. The tall, horned demon had dull grey skin but vivid golden eyes, his hair falling long and dark down to his knees. He was very solid in the human clothes he had on, but he still looked very awkward in them. In contrast, Nedrie was elegant and thin, and picked his style of clothing perfectly to match with himself. Even though he was not physically human, he looked perfectly normal in their clothing.

This quality of his had always seemed to rub Metaghrindar the wrong way. Demons should not be comfortable in embracing the culture of humans. They are lesser. They are weak. They are infinitely smart, but infinitely stupid all at the same time. That was what the noble demon that undoubtedly stood beside Lord believed.

So it was only to Nedrie’s greatest pleasure that he got to see Metaghrindar eat those haughty words of his. Their ideals and methods of reasoning was so vastly different. Naturally, there would be tension between them. Especially because Nedrie not only accepted human culture, but also enjoyed human company more than his fellow demons.

Well, that happened sometimes. Nothing really stellar about it.

“How is work coming along?” Nedrie asked, deciding not to poke fun at his colleague.

“Good enough. Your reports—“

“Submitted for review to Lady Voltaine.”

“And your investigations into the human population’s disease—“

“Finished and signed.”
”Budgets—“
”Drafted and probably sitting on the King’s desk for approval right now.”

“Dahkh, Nedrie. How can you have finished all these things in such a short amount of time? Did you not start working a month ago?” Meta cursed, seemingly bothered by this news. Why would he be bothered? Nedrie’s head tilted lightly as his mind began to slowly think. Now that he thought about it, didn’t Metaghrindar seem unusually tense? He was always the proud, undeterred demon everyone looked up to. And yet... at this moment, he seemed stressed and stretched unimaginably thin. To the point where his nerves were frayed and raw. Now that he thought about it, in the past month or so of working in the Palace, dealing with Metaghrindar’s office had been the most troublesome. They were slow, a bit clumsy and had little errors here and there in the documents they sent back to him. Oh...

Very suddenly, Nedrie’s face was one of shock as he stared at his colleague. The demon was having trouble adjusting to Palace lifestyle. Earlier, he had praised Meta’s and Lord’s ability to adapt to this new environment, but he has spoken to soon, it seemed. How interesting, Nedrie found himself thinking in amusement. This was the downfall of looking down on humans. Now that he had to do things in a human manner, Meta was having an incredibly difficult time understanding what was going on.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Meta. Ive had many years of practice. You...”

“Are completely tired of these stupid human “procedures”. Always draft, then discuss, then change, then discuss, then change then discuss. Can they not do these things on their own?” It was rare to see frustration on this proud demon’s face, but here he was, hunched over a handful of documents as he attempted to pick apart what he needed to do.

Nedrie simply shrugged. “They could, but you know that more likely than not, humans have their own self-interest at heart more than anything else. We discuss policies and ideas to make sure they aren’t too skewed to that self-interest. Plus discussions with others gives you perspective. It’s important especially when you’re running a kingdom.” Although he had tried very hard to keep himself in check, a little bit of amusement slipped into his voice.

Meta grumbled in return.

Nedrie observed him for a moment, then decided to speak carefully. “Why don’t you seek help from Lady Voltaine?”

The hallway immediately became chilly, a peculiar shadow falling over everything. Ah... Nedrie sighed inwardly.

“Why should I enlist the help of a human?” The scorn that dripped of Meta’s voice was honestly shocking.

“Why shouldn’t you enlist the help of a human who understands her system much better than you? Surely you understand how that’s—“

“I do not need the help of a weak, pitiful human who can barely even tolerate the presence of our Lord.”

“But in not doing so, you are hampering our Lord’s progress to greatness.”

A sudden silence. Meta’s eyes had gone wide just then. The last thing he would ever want was to get in Lord’s way. He would never want to be a hindrance to the single being he respected.

“Look. Celestria is a good teacher and an excellent woman to have meaningful conversation with. Even though she’s busy, she will make time to help you understand how this all works. Well, as long as you put away that contempt you have for human beings for half an hour every day.”

Nedrie sighed, then gave a wide-mouthed yawn. He turned away from Meta, heading down the hallway to his rooms. There was no obligation to help this stubborn stag. He was not that charitable. But he stopped walking for just a moment. Without turning round to look At Metaghrindar, Nedrie spoke one last time.

“Oh, and she’s gotten much better at it. Tolerating the Primordial Fear we all have. You should have noticed that much by now at least, Meta.”