We left the battlefield and travelled towards Ashmedai's home. His seat of power was a town, built with grey stone. There was no wall, or any sort of defence. We did not see any movement at all as we approached.

We were on foot but Kira scouted from the air. She returned from her brief flight and landed next to us.

"I can't see anyone, it is deserted. Towards the centre the buildings become a lot nicer. Ashmedai's palace is built from obsidian, it seems. We can reach it by following the main road." Kira reported.

"Some demons might hide inside the buildings." Lily said.

"Shall I do a search and slaughter?" Shani asked.

I shook my head. "No. We are not here to kill any more demons. We are going to search his place for anything useful. I have a large magical storage so just tell me if you need something looted."

"You do not intend to claim his territory?" Kira asked.

"I have no need for it. If Meluza or Lilith want it, that is up to them." I replied.

As we got closer to the palace I studied the building. It had a lot of tall spires and looked a bit like an evil version of a disney castle. The gate was open and no guards were in sight.

I stared at the empty courtyard. "I would have expected some demons looting the place."

"Whoever was left behind likely felt Ashmedai's defeat. Most demons would have fled, fearing annihilation by the victor. They might seek refuge in the wilds, or another lord's territory." Lily said.

"Why not swear allegiance to the new ruler?" Kira wondered.

"Oh, that can happen. It really depends on the reputation of the victor. I assume Amaya is quite feared by Ashmedai's people. And remember that some might be still around, but in hiding." Lily explained.

I wondered if they saw me turn their former lord into a snack. A part of his army escaped, they certainly saw something. Did they know what the ritual would have done?

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Oh, maybe some bad ones are still here, requiring slaughter! Someone who helped with the ritual!" Shani sounded excited.

"If someone like that is still here we want to question them." I caution her.

"They don't need all of their blood to talk…" Shani mumbled.

Kira turned back to her humanoid form to enter the building and we began our search. Since we did not expect any danger it was ok to split up to cover more ground.

I walked through hallways and peered into rooms. Ashmedai had a few pictures of himself defeating various foes. I had no interest in those but I found some beautiful paintings of different landscapes. One was depicting snow covered mountains next to a lake. It did not look like hell, maybe he had acquired it from the mortal realm. Anyway, it was now mine.

I also took a few sculptures and one very comfy couch. Aside from loot I was looking for information though. Eventually I found a library. It was not large, by demon lord standards. But it did contain a few hundred books. I simply took all the shelves and would look through them back at home, with some help from my staff.

While I was looting the library Lucy walked into the room. In her hand was something that looked like an oversized turkey leg. I saw bits of crispy skin still on it. Lucy was chewing the meat, which looked really juicy.

"I found the kitchen!" She announced, after swallowing.

"Why is there freshly cooked meat?" I wondered. "Did you take it from a demon?"

"Um, no. Lily cooked it for me after I found their supplies…" Lucy admitted.

"How? A leg of that size needs more time than we had! We haven't been here that long." I pointed out.

"Demon lord Lily is amazing!" Lucy replied. "The new fire-lightning magic she has can cook super fast! She did need a few tries but her powers are awesome. Don't worry, I encouraged her to cook something for herself too. Evolving makes you hungry, you know."

I looked at the leg. "Looting makes you hungry too…"

Lucy walked closer. "Want a bite?"

"Yes!" I replied and helped myself to a big bite. The juicy meat had a curry flavour and I felt a slight tingling on my tongue.

"That is great. Do we know what we are eating? Did you find more?" I asked.

Lucy shrugged. "No clue. Probably some big bird. Part of the flavours comes from Lily's cooking method. I tried the raw bird too."

"You weren't even a fox! Don't eat raw meat in your humanoid form!" I chastised her.

"Really? Haven't you eaten like raw fish?" She asked.

"Well… only really fresh ones and only very specific fish…" I defended myself.

"It's not like we have to worry about getting sick, or getting poisoned. Being a kitsune really has its perks. Some fancy places even let their meat rot, or so I have heard." Lucy replied.

"Are you talking about dry aging? I think that is a very controlled process that… " Actually, I knew little about the process. Fancy food like that had been outside of my price range. And I think you had to trim the outer parts. Also, the meat was certainly cooked afterwards. Of course, some other products, like certain cheeses, used mold. But again, only a very specific kind. Eating the wrong mold was dangerous.

Not that any of those rules applied to an archfey. In the end I just shrugged. "You do you, I prefer my meat cooked, usually. Do you think Lily can teach that method to others?"

"I think she would try if you asked but let's be honest, she wants to cook for us herself. She might be disappointed if you try to have someone else do it." Lucy replied.

Maybe Lucy had a point. Lily seemed even more devoted with her new powers. And it was even fitting, in a way, I gave her a snack and she made us snacks in return. The great circle of snacks.

I snickered at the thought.

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