Walking through the tower was an entirely new experience for me. Normally I would simply fly, utilizing the large windows that dotted the tower. In an emergency I could even use a teleportation circle to go directly to any one of my generals. Utilizing either method would make it impossible for me to pretend I was just an ordinary demon, though. The teleportation circles were only for high ranking officials, and no one in the tower would fail to recognize my void-like wings. So we walked.

Walking, as it turned out, was quite fascinating. There were many sights I had never seen when flitting about the tower by wing. For example, I had never realized just how big the tower was. The ceiling on the hundredth floor went maybe twenty feet above my head, but the ceiling of the lower floors stretched far further than that. It stretched so far above that, if not for the lack of stars, one could be mistaken for thinking they were looking up at the night sky.

It was also incredibly dark in the tower. Away from the windows, there was only the occasional lantern or conjured light to brighten the various shops, houses, and apartment buildings. Despite that, I could still see. Small details, vibrant colors - I could see it all so clearly that you’d think I was standing beneath the midday sun. Looking at the demons around me, I could tell that they were the same way. I imagined that it might be different in pure darkness, just judging by the small amount of light provided, but I honestly thought there was a good chance that even then I’d be able to see.

We had to travel through six floors to reach Abigail’s home. Other than my own floor, and that of General Sylvanna right below it, each floor we went through seemed to contain the equivalent of a large town, or perhaps even a small city. It made sense, really. The entirety of demonkind had been forced to live in this tower, after all. It was just that there were a lot more of them than I’d thought. More than there had been in the game, for sure.

“It would seem that I have a larger force at my disposal than I thought,” I muttered to myself. I still thought that the best route forward for my people was to join forces with the heroine and make peace with humans. No matter how many of us there were, there were undoubtedly a hundred times more of them. Still, seeing such a large fighting force gave me hope that the demons would be able to hold their own at the peace talks, without capitulating to demands from fear.

Abigail quickly shot that hope down, however. 

“I hope you aren’t expecting anyone here to fight,” she said, glaring at me. “Most of these women have never even held a pitchfork, yet alone a sword.”

Indeed, while I saw many women were sharp teeth and claws, none of them seemed like hardened warriors to me. They were shopkeepers, business women. The most any of them would be able to tell you about a weapon was how to price it. It seemed that I did not have much of an army here, after all. Just ninety or so towns full of women who needed my help.

Sobered considerably by that thought, I took another look at the townsfolk around me. They came in all shapes and sizes. I saw a lady who looked to be part frog, for example, talking to a woman who looked mostly human except for some spikes. I saw another woman with wolf ears and a tail, kissing a girl covered in wool. There was even a bee girl, running a flowerstand. She seemed to be trying to sell roses to a lady who looked to be part goat.

It’s seriously all women, though… Not that I was surprised by that, per se. I knew full well that demons, or monster girls as they could properly be called, were all women. In fact, as Devilla, I had never once seen a man in my life. It wasn’t as if I had some longing to see one, either. It was only that I had been a man in my last life, and it was a little odd having that gender simply removed from the equation. 

“Oof!” A loud noise, and a light impact, broke through my reverie. There was, for some reason, a redheaded woman, with long rabbit ears, sprawled out on the floor, laying on her back.

“...I apologize,” I murmured, realizing I must have bumped into her, in my distraction.

“Not your fault,” she laughed, to my surprise. “I’m the one who bumped into you, lass, not the other way around. Guess I was in too much of a rush.” 

“Really?” I asked, looking to Abigail for confirmation. She gave a small, reluctant nod. She looked quite concerned. Did she think I would get mad, or some such? I had more compassion for mistakes than that… These days. “It’s fine,” I told the bunny girl. “I’m sure I’m as much at fault as you are, for not paying attention.”

“Well, that’s mighty kind of you to say!” The rabbit girl hopped back onto her feet with a single smooth motion, dusting herself off and smiling brightly at me. “Well. Hate to bump and run, but it’s almost time for work! I’ll be seeing you around, maybe.”

“Of course,” I said, smiling faintly back. “May the Fallen One’s grace be upon you.” My memories as Devilla told me that was a perfectly normal farewell. Perhaps it was only common among the upper ranks, though, because the woman opened her mouth in surprise, before letting out another laugh.

“Feeling pretty formal,  there, ain’tcha?” she asked me, giving me a thump on the back. It didn’t seem to have much force behind it, but the intention was obvious enough so I gave a smile in return. 

“Guess we can use whatever blessings we can manage around here, though, the way things are going under Queen Devilla’s rule,” the rabbit girl added. “Bet ol’ Luci would be twisted up something fierce inside to know she ended up with a descendent like that.”

“Th-That’s enough!” Abigail protested. She was still holding my hand tightly in hers. So tightly in fact that her knuckles were turning white; it was almost starting to hurt. “You should know better than to speak bad about our queen.”

“Or what?” the rabbit girl demanded, rolling her eyes. “She’ll throw me in the dungeon for a few days? How’s she gonna even find out? If everything everyone said was reported to that woman, the whole damn population would be in the dungeon, Probably forever!”

“Th-That’s not true,” Abigail insisted. Her eyes flicked to me, then back to the rabbit. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice was firm, and her words were sweet to hear. It would have been nice to think she meant them, but it was fairly obvious she was simply frightened of how I’d respond.

“It’s fine, Abigail,” I declared. “The woman is simply speaking the truth. The queen has been less than ideal, so far as rulers go.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice as I spoke. I worried the rabbit girl would notice, but she was too busy glaring at Abigail. “Did you not have to go to work?”

“What?” The rabbit girl looked at me, at last. “Right - sorry about that. Got so distracted by your idiot sycophant of a friend there, that I-”

The rabbit cut off her speech, mid sentence. That was no surprise to me, considering I was lifting her by the collar. My dominant hand was still occupied by Abigail’s grip, and I could not cast any spells while maintaining my illusion, so neither a slap nor a splash of water had been feasible. Instead, I had simply grabbed her with my left hand and dragged her toward me. Since I was slightly taller than the rabbit girl, we’d ended up with me lifting her in the process, something I hadn’t intended to do. It was possible that I was quite a bit stronger than I’d thought I was.

Not that I cared at that moment. The bitch had just spoken ill of the closest thing I had to a friend.

“You may speak ill of me all you wish,” I told her, my voice soft as a whisper but hard as steel. “The queen, the country, even Luci herself - all these are fair game before my eyes. But if you dare to speak another ill word about my companion you will find yourself wishing for the safety of the dungeons. And I don’t just mean in my presence - if I so much as hear a whisper of a redheaded rabbit girl talking ill of a succubus, I will personally hunt you down. Understood?” 

The rabbit girl nodded, fearfully. I let her go. 

“Good. Now go.” 

She scurried away without even looking back at me, leaving me with a sense of deep self-satisfaction. That only lasted a moment, though; then I saw the shock on Abigail’s face, and a rush of embarrassment consumed me as I realized just what I had done.

“I… Perhaps I went a touch far,” I muttered, not able to meet her eyes. Truthfully, I hadn’t known I had that in me. While I had always had a temper, as Devilla, I had always been a calm and well tempered individual as Jacob. Since my memories of being Jacob had tempered my personality so considerably, I had assumed that my fits of anger were all but gone. Apparently all that had shifted was the trigger.

“W-We should get going,” Abigail told me. She was smiling, but it was obviously strained. “People are staring.”

“...So they are.” Indeed, several sets of eyes had locked on me during that little show and the area around me had grown quite quiet. The moment I noticed the staring crowd, however, everyone scattered and noise returned to our part of the ninety fifth floor.

“Come on,” Abigail said, tugging lightly at my hand. “We’re almost there.”