Chapter 53: I’m Supposed to Be A Queen, Not an Assistant — and Where Is Zorathys?
Chapter 53: I’m Supposed to Be A Queen, Not an Assistant — and Where Is Zorathys?
Elyn’s POV
I waited patiently for Morthen to complete his words even though I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to like what he would tell me.
But I was a patient person, so I waited for him patiently to complete his words, but he didn’t. He just turned to Rin, who conveniently turned into a raven and decided that the scene outside the window was better than whatever Morthen wanted her to talk about.
"Morthen?" I called out.
"Right. Um, yes," he said, adjusting his glasses.
I frowned at him like he had suddenly grown three heads.
"Yes what? I just asked you where Zorathys was," I told him.
"Um, the thing is..." he began, then swallowed. "...um, you see..."
"Morthen, if you don’t want to have any other issues that a spectacle wouldn’t be able to resolve, then you better tell me where Zorathys is and stop stalling," I said harshly.
Morthen nodded. "Right, yes ma." He said, "The demon king... hishighnesshardlyevercomestotheofficetodowork."
He rushed it out, but I could make out what he said. Zorathys hardly ever came to the office to do work.
My senses were tingling. This couldn’t be what I suspected it was, right? This couldn’t be the same thing that happened with Karen, right?
I shook my head. How was that possible? It just couldn’t be. Karen wasn’t Zorathys. Or rather, Zorathys wasn’t Karen. I was just suffering from the trauma Karen had enacted on me.
"Well... if Zorathys is hardly ever here, does that mean the work isn’t hard?" I asked Morthen.
He beamed. "Yes... I mean no. No, it’s not hard, my lady. It’s mainly complaints and settling arguments between people."
"Oh!" I said.
If that was all I had to do, then it wouldn’t be an issue. That was simple enough. It was even more simple than the tasks Karen had given me in my past life.
"And besides, I’ll help you through it all," Morthen told me.
I nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, let’s do it."
Morthen swallowed nervously but nodded too.
I picked up the first paper and—um... what in Aelthryn was I reading? Oh wait, I shouldn’t say what in Aelthryn.
"What in the demon king’s name am I reading?!" I asked Morthen, who adjusted his glasses calmly.
"Petition scrolls," he said calmly.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course I know it’s petition scrolls. I’m asking why it’s written this way," I told him.
"What do you mean?" Morthen asked me, genuinely confused.
I held the paper I was currently reading up in my hand and showed it to him.
"Petition scrolls are not written this way," I told him firmly. "Normally, they start with a greeting, right? Since we are in the demon realm, I’m thinking a greeting for the king himself, then whoever is sending the petition identifies him or herself shortly after that, right? Like... with respect to His Majesty, the demon king, I, Morthen Vale... you know, something like that."
Morthen nodded and adjusted his glasses.
"Then after that, they write their purpose, the reason they are sending the petition. Then followed by an explanation of why they are sending it, right? Then the requested action they wish to take or if they want the king to take charge, then an appropriate closing followed by a signature and stamp," I told him.
Morthen nodded at me. "That’s the normal way," he told me.
"If that’s the normal way, then why is it different here? And you can’t tell me that it’s just how you guys do things here, because I know that isn’t the case. Why is there no greeting at all? Just the request itself, then the name of the petitioner, followed by a stamp and signature?" I asked him.
I picked the next petition scroll and then turned to Morthen. "This one doesn’t even have a stamp and signature. Just a one-word request that even feels like it’s more of a demand than a request."
The petitions were written in just one way. Take for example the one I was holding right now:
’More people at the mines.’
That was it. There was no greeting. No explanation as to why they needed more people at the mines and how many they would possibly need, nothing at all.
It was more like whoever wrote this was commanding Zorathys. There was no name either, so how exactly was I supposed to know the mine he was talking about?
I dropped the paper and took the snack box that still felt suspiciously light. I had an inkling that Rin was the cause, but I’d deal with that later.
I took about three pieces and then focused on Morthen.
"How many mines are in the demon realm?" I asked him.
"A lot," Morthen told me immediately.
"I need a specific number," I told him.
"About twenty or so?" He tilted his head.
"Thirty," Rin corrected.
She had changed back to her human form.
My eyes bulged in shock.
"Thirty mines?" I asked them in shock.
"Yes, but it could also be more," Morthen told me.
"And what exactly do you guys mine in them? You are exaggerating, I’m sure. You guys can’t have thirty mines here. It’s just not possible," Vaelory said.
And for once, I was with Vaelory. There was no way they could have thirty mines.
"I’m not lying," Rin told her. "Last time we counted, there were about thirty mines. Each with different materials."
"We export them to different realms because sometimes it’s just too much," Morthen told me.
"And these mines," I said to them, "when last did you guys do a consensus?"
"That was about six hundred years ago," Morthen said to me.
Okay. Hold up—if they had last counted six hundred years ago, didn’t that mean there were more mines now?
And wait a minute. My senses were tingling right now, and my hairs were alert. I looked back at the petition in front of me, searching for a date, but there was nothing.
I turned to Morthen. "When did these petitions come in? How many years ago were these petitions?" I asked him.
Morthen cleared his throat. "My lady..."
"Answer the question," I growled out.
"About five hundred years ago."
That was the last straw.
"I’m going to kill Zorathys."