The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 509: Decision Points

"Thank you for your presence once more, Owyn. I hope you forgive that this next round of questions might be more personal than the last. We would like to know more about you as an individual, since it’s been a long time since an outsider has come to our city."

"Not much to say about me, really," Owyn shrugged.

"We’ll be the judge of that," a female voice said, her voice smoky and serious. Owyn looked her way to find a shadow that had a strange glint to some protrusion... like a horn of pure amethyst.

Then the questions began. How did he feel about the outside world? What was life like in the Titan Hunters? Did he have a spouse? What sort of education did he receive? On and on, until the nature of the questions grew far more esoteric.

"What is your understanding of magic?" the male voice from the horned figure asked.

Owyn thought for a long moment before answering, "Magic is... Well, there’s internal magic to empower yourself, and external magic to affect things in the world. Other than that, uh... I don’t know what to say. Magic is magic."

He wound up staring into the shadow, and when the figure leaned forward, Owyn saw that he had glowing eyes, his irises a perpetually changing rainbow. The man’s gaze sent a shiver down Owyn’s spine, one that told him even Aban wouldn’t be able to match him for sheer power.

"I think we’ve already established by now that his education is sorely lacking," the voice of the leader, as Owyn assumed from the fact she asked the most questions, said. "I propose we correct that in an environment where he can be supervised."

"Tutoring?" someone asked.

"The Academy," the woman clarified. "It would be prudent to give him the opportunity to socialize with others in his age group."

Owyn realized they were about to decide on his fate, having clearly gleaned all they thought they would after hours and hours. "Hold on now!" he interrupted. "Don’t I get a say in what happens to me?"

The woman raised her hand for silence as the rest of the shadows continued to talk. When she had it, she said, "We will not force your decision, but the Academy seems the best place to place you, if you wish to remain in the city."

"And if I don’t want to stay here?" Owyn asked. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted, but he had... What did he have on the outside that could compare to this place? They were offering him some sort of education, which was downright rare in the colonies, to say nothing of his clan. Maybe even a chance to become smarter than Aban, who always said ’Knowledge is power.’

"If you don’t wish to stay here, we can make an expedition for you to the top of the dungeon. Once, there was a gate up there that permitted entry, but we have yet to discover a time when people were allowed to leave..." She paused. "The journey there is a dangerous one, consistent with your understanding of the dungeons outside. Otherwise, we can provide you with lodging and work, and a monitor to help you acclimate for a time."

Allowed to leave? Owyn thought. The woman clearly knew more than she was letting on, but as with the Chief and Aban, he doubted he was important enough to be informed of something even remotely secret.

Owyn found himself descending into silent thought as the conversations between shadows picked up again. After about a couple of minutes of discussion and arguing, the woman called for silence once more.

"It’s clear you need some time to consider. Please allow the knights to escort you to your room while we deliberate. Your things will be waiting for you in the waiting room."

As soon as Owyn was back in the waiting room, he found a tray waiting on the desk with his things. The only things that survived his impromptu trip into a titan were his leather belt, one of the knives he’d used to stab into the titan’s lower throat as he tried to stay out of its stomach, and his satchel containing a few good throwing stones, a few steel marks, and some rope.

Everything was badly corroded, though it looked like some effort had gone into cleaning them. The steel marks were missing, leaving him broke, and the rope and knife were practically useless. But amidst the rocks he found the glint of gold. The communication stone Aban had given him... and used to direct him into the path of the godsdamned titan!

In a surge of anger, Owyn threw the rock against the floor, where it bounced but remained completely unharmed. The single noise didn’t attract the attention of his guards, so he picked it up and was about to hurl it at the wall when he felt the emotion drain out of him. Getting angry wasn’t going to help him. Like it or not, he was stuck, but for once in his life, he had several options placed before him.

I’d be a fool not to consider what I’m going to do from now on...

And so, sitting in the chair, he held the communication stone between his fingers, rubbing his thumb along the smooth side as he sat back and thought.

*

In the Council chamber, Kir listened as everyone decided on what the people needed to know. The shadowing device was lifted to allow them to see each others faces, and Kir smiled lightly across the gap to Malzkael, Amarena, and Kordia.

"It’s clear the Demon Lord’s empire still exists. What on Ayther could let any place last that long?"

"He didn’t know about Heavenswars or the purgatories. I think that means it’s safe to say those no longer occur."

"What did he mean about never seeing angels before? Does that mean they’re extinct?"

"He said they only live in Imperial cities."

On and on, questions and concerns. Imogen felt the populace needed to know everything except that the Demon Lord still reigned. Many of the Council believed they should slowly publish a heavily censored version of Owyn’s testimony. In the end, deciding between the two came down to a vote of the thirteen Council members.

"All in favor of releasing the information, raise your voice," Imogen intoned.

"The Knights vote in favor," Amarena said without hesitation.

"The Delvers vote in favor."

"Ministry of Health votes in favor," Malzkael said.

"The Society abstains," came the vote from the Free Society.

"Ministry of Production abstains."

"The Arts Collective votes in favor," Kordia said.

"The Ministry of Religion votes against," the first voice of dissent came from the Archangel Jeviel. Kir despised him, and over the last twenty years, the angel had wormed his way back into some degree of power despite the resistance of the people towards angels attempting anything such. That resistance had waned on behalf of Malzkael and, technically, Kir, but it was suspected Jeviel had played dirty in getting rid of his competition.

Along with his vote went the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Banking, and the Constructionists.

By the time the vote reached Kir, it was three abstentions, four in favor, and five against. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"How does the House of Stars vote?" Chancellor Imogen asked when Kir didn’t raise his voice immediately.

"He’ll abstain like he always does," Jeviel interjected, receiving a single knock of Imogen’s gavel as a warning. The smugness in his voice was hard to miss.

Kir knew a vote in favor would only produce a tie, in which case Imogen would have to add her vote. There was nothing functionally wrong with either decision to him, since eventually the whole truth would come out, but by attending this meeting of the Council, he’d wound up forced into a decision that would tip the House of Stars away from the careful neutrality he’d built up... no matter what he did.

Accelerating his thoughts bought him a lot of time to think.

Abstaining would be the least damaging option... He’d abstained on the majority of votes he’d attended for the last ten years, especially after the incident with Atikka, when he was at risk of being removed from the Council entirely.

He thought about Owyn. The information would affect him no matter what the young giant decided. He was tempted to make his vote contingent on what the lad decided, but that wasn’t how Council votes worked, and pushing for such a contingency would damage his relationship with all of the factions and Ministries.

Coming out of his acceleration, he spoke. "The House of Stars votes in favor."

There was a minor uproar from Jeviel’s side of the room, but two smacks of the gavel silenced them.

"The vote is tied. Do any abstentions wish to change their vote?" None spoke up, and so Imogen decided. "Very well. The Chancellor votes in favor of a full release of information, with restricted access to the state of the Demon Lord and her Empire."

She adjourned the vote and called for the Knights to escort Owyn into the room before activating the shadowing device. Kir found the use a bit melodramatic, but it was standard procedure when it came to outsiders... not that those had been used in a long time. He could still perfectly recall the starving group of survivors that came into Norneau last. How the world had seemed nigh uninhabitable from what they said.

His attention returned to the center of the room when Owyn stepped up and Imogen asked, "Have you made a decision?"

"Yes," Owyn replied. "I’d like to give this Academy of yours a try."