Chapter 40: The Scammer in the Walls
Chapter 40: The Scammer in the Walls
"What are you doing?" I asked Vaelory, because at this point I wasn’t sure if my eyes were malfunctioning or if reality had simply given up on itself.
"Your Highness, I’m trying to protect the both of us from these demons. They are vicious and you can never trust them," she declared, bravely brandishing the stick she held—toward Rin.
Yes. Rin.
She brandished a stick at Rin like Rin was an oversized mosquito instead of... well, Rin.
"And you think a stick is going to help protect us from demons?" I asked, because nothing she said made even the slightest bit of sense.
"Your Highness, I tell you—this," she gestured dramatically at her ridiculous metal-covered outfit, "is of the highest quality. It works too. I haven’t seen any other demon since this morning, especially the spider one. At least, apart from this one." She pointed at Rin again, waving the stick like she was conducting an orchestra of nonsense.
"I command you, begone! Leave Her Highness alone! Begone from this spot!" she declared, swinging the stick. Rin just stared at her—smiling. A calm, mildly annoyed, very Rin kind of smile.
Honestly, I felt the same mixture of irritation and disbelief. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t managed to sleep properly, but I was absolutely not in the mood for whatever show Vaelory was performing today.
"Vaelory, can you just put that down?" I said. "No one here is going to hurt you."
Naturally, that was the exact moment Rin’s internal ’say something unhelpful’ switch flipped on.
"To be honest, if I wanted to hurt you, that weapon you have wouldn’t stop me."
I shot Rin a glare sharp enough to slice stone. She did not care.
Vaelory gasped and rushed toward me, apparently remembering she was supposed to be protecting me—as if I was the one being threatened, and not her. Honestly, she should have been shielding herself, not me.
"Your Highness," she said heroically—except her trembling voice ruined every ounce of bravery she was trying to muster, "stay behind me. These demons eat humans, and I hear they enjoy human blood. Just because their castle is beautiful doesn’t mean they stop being demons. All demons are the same. But don’t worry, Your Highness. I know what I’m doing. I’ll protect you."
Her legs shook. Her hands shook. Even her breathing shook.
I was being protected by a leaf in the wind.
Rin tilted her head. "For someone who claims to be protecting the queen, you are doing an awful job. You’re shaking tremendously, and the stick you’re holding is just a nuisance."
"Nuisance or not, I’ll make sure you don’t get your way," Vaelory insisted.
"Funny thing is," Rin said, cheerful as ever, "if I wanted to eat a human, it wouldn’t be you. You’re not shiny enough, and I doubt you’d taste good since you’re already shaking like this. But I’d love to see you die though. I’m sure it would be a funny sight—"
"Rin," I cut in sharply.
"Yes, my lady?"
"Perhaps you’d like us to go back to the king and finish what we started yesterday. But this time, I won’t protect you. I’ll leave you with him."
Rin hiccuped. Her eyes dropped instantly.
"If you keep threatening Vaelory, I will make sure it happens."
"I’m sorry, my lady..." she murmured.
I turned back to Vaelory.
"And you—take this atrocity off your body. It hurts my eyes. And honestly? It hurts my ears too, from all the clanking."
"Your highness—"
"Where did you even get this from? You say you’re afraid of demons, but it seems you’re already making friends. Is that it?"
"I wouldn’t really call him a friend," she said, pointing the stick halfheartedly at Rin again, "but he approached me, and he looked less scary than this one. And the other two I met yesterday."
She had met more demons?
This from the woman who fainted multiple times yesterday?
What was happening?
Rin suddenly spoke.
"What exactly does this demon look like?"
Vaelory nodded quickly. "Well... I wouldn’t really call him a demon. He told me he’s referred to as a spirit. He’s small, about this tall," she held her hand to her waist, "with greyish skin. His eyes were really big—too big—and round like marbles. And his teeth..." She shuddered. "Sharp. Tiny but sharp, like needles. He wore tattered clothes—looked like old burlap stitched together with... I don’t know, maybe spider silk? And he had long fingers. Very long. They clicked when he tapped them. He also had pointed ears that twitched whenever I moved. Honestly, I thought he looked more like a...lost little creature."
"A lost little creature?" I echoed.
How does a demon look like a lost little creature and from what she just described he didn’t even sound cute.
"You met him?" Rin asked her in disbelief.
"Yes." Vaelory told her. "Do you have any issue with that?"
"Did you pay him?" Rin asked her.
My senses tingled immediately. That line of questioning...there was something wrong here.
Vaelory stiffened, then nodded. "Yes. I used all the money I brought from Aelthryn. I didn’t have much, but he said the weapon was worth every coin. And I thought—"
Rin outright laughed then.
I had never seen her look so amused.
"Oh, this is so funny. You did t even bother to reach out to any other person and just decided to believe him." she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Let me tell you dear terrified human who always faints, you fell for what we call elaborate trickery or in simpler terms, a scam."
I suspected.
"I did not fall for any trickery." Vaelory tried to argue.
"But you did. The first scam you fell for was him telling you he’s not a demon. That thing is an imp. A wall-imp. They live in the castle walls."
Vaelory blinked at her. "A... an imp?"
"Yes," Rin nodded, delighted. "They always know exactly who to meet. They can smell desperation and fear through stone. It’s in their bones. If someone is gullible and panicking, they know instantly. And they always—always—have something to sell."
Vaelory looked down at her stick, horrified.
"And that ’weapon’ you bought?" Rin snickered, leaning closer. "It’s fake. All of it is fake. It wouldn’t protect you from even the lowest-tier demon, let alone anything real."
Vaelory slowly looked at me with wide, wounded eyes.
"You mean... I bought something fake?"
"Yes," Rin said cheerfully. "Everything his kind sells is fake. The product is fake. The promises are fake. We even refer to him as fake."