For a moment all I see and know is black. I don’t question the darkness; I’ve never known anything else. That moment seems to end all too soon, as lethargy takes its place making the time I spent without feeling seem more and more like a dream. I feel as though I am falling for a moment, before I hit the ground with a slam.

“Welcome Maou-sama, would you like some tea to help you wake?” I hear in front of me

Why not offer me help? Why not ask if I am okay? Somehow even though I didn’t have emotions moments ago, I already understand fully that this guy annoys me. I open my eyes intending to glare at him, but surprise showed on my face instead. He… didn’t look human… or demon… it’s hard to say in fact what he did look like. He was taller than the average man, and he wore a butler’s outfit. He… didn’t have a face though, his skin looked kind of metallic, and he had a gem in the center of where a face would usually be. The gem rested on a porcelain looking flat mask-like thing that replaced a face

“Maou-sama?” He said cocking his head and extending his hand

I’ll be honest, he freaks me out. He called me Maou is that my name?

“You! Who are you?” I say with a sense of authority, don’t know why it somehow feels natural.

“I am Gero, I was constructed by Maou-sama” he responds taking the hand he had extended and placing it on his chest to bow.

I created him? I made someone who freaks me out as much as he does? ...I don’t buy it.

“…And I am Maou-sama correct?”

gero gero “Correct” When he answers I can hear a small creak in his head

This is getting us nowhere, if he thinks I built him that makes him my servant at the moment like it or not.

“You! Explain why I am here, as well as where “here” is” I demand as I get up.

gero “Gladly, Maou-sama. You are “Maou” meaning you exist when a “Yuusha” has been summoned. The humans of this world believe that every hundred years Maou-sama will return in an attempt to destroy the humans, therefore they summon a Yuusha into the world a year before a century has passed since the last Maou was defeated”

… So Maou isn’t my name… it’s my title.

“You are in a country known as Teslagr, it has prominent trade for metals and Bel fruit. The city states that exist within this country number at 5 starting with…”

“I get it!”

I get the feeling whatever I am doing I don’t have the time to have a history lesson on this country. I am the supposed destroyer of the human race? Why in the world would I have any intention to do that?

“So if the people are sending in the big guns cause they think I am going to destroy them, then all I have to do is tell them I have no intention to, correct?”

I mean, if I don't plan to destroy them everybody should be happy right?

gero gero “two Maou have tried this in the past, both were defeated by Yuusha. The first came out right at the beginning of his reign, and was killed by a village assisted by the Yuusha. The second learned of the first’s experience and decided to gain loyal human followers who would vouch for him. In both scenarios the humans believed the Maou was attempting or succeeded in tricking humans into believing he was not evil to kill them all without resistance."

… Great the humans are annoying as well. I would probably find this a bit harder to cope with… but I have nothing to put it into reference. I know that it all seems weird somehow, but I have no memories of anything up to the point where I woke up on this floor

“Hmm I wonder what I should do then” I say as I fall back onto a chair that was located nearby.

This entire room seems to resemble a dining hall… it's big too.

“Most Maou take advantage of the unique ability they hold over the Yuusha” Gero says.

I shoot into attention “I have a unique ability?” I say half excitedly.

Fighting seems like my only real option I guess, I mean if this “Yuusha” guy finds me he will most likely kill me. If I am going to have to fight anyways I might as well use whatever I can get my hands on.

Am I a bit too excited about this? Meh, whatever.

gero “Maou-sama holds the ability to summon minions in exchange for an amount of own strength. By partitioning off power, Maou-sama can gain loyal allies equal in strength and intelligence to the amount of power partitioned. You may do so by holding your right index finger on your left palm and imagining how much of yourself to give to the new minion.”

As Gero is saying the instructions I am trying them. The moment I place my finger on my palm and focus the entire world flies away and I am left in a dark space void of anything. I freak out for a moment but soon calm as I remember the ritual. He said to imagine how much of me to give to them… I don’t really like the idea thinking of a literal part of me to give them. It seems like it will be easier to imagine if I think of the percentage of myself to give… It might be a bit risky to use high numbers before I know more about what could happen. For now I should make enough for a party… lets go with two at 5 percent each. Ya, 10 percent sounds like a good number. As soon as I decide the number and the percentage, the world floods back in around me and I am hit with another sense of lethargy. In front of me now are four things, Gero and 3 Imp-like… things.

“What are those?”

I ask in a in a confused and somewhat sarcastic tone.

gero “That species is what is known commonly as a half imp, they are intelligent enough to understand language and powerful enough to fight a normal bandit in groups. They will learn magic after becoming more powerful, and have the ability to be summoned at will by their contractor.”

Why are there three? Before I have a chance to ask what a contractor is one of them speaks up

“Preeeeetty lady”

“Ya, ya, master sooo pretty!” another says wrapping his arm around the first ones neck.

It hadn’t even occurred to me yet that I never questioned what gender I was or what I looked like yet.

“Bring me a mirror” I demand at Gero, but surprisingly it’s the imps that follow the order instead.

They return with a hand mirror surrounded in a gold casing… I can probably sell this. I look into the mirror to find that I am a Japanese-looking female; I have long black hair with two small horns hardly poking out of the sides. I don't know if I would call myself particularly attractive, but I'm not ugly either. My eyes are a rather unnatural color of red, I would go as far as to call them crimson. I'm dressed in clothing that I am not familiar with, a black dress with white frills on the cuffs and bottom. I dont know if I like frilly dresses yet... but I certainly don't mind what I have on

“What’s up with the horns?” I ask aloud to see who answers.

It seems like the imps tried but none of them understood the question.

“The horns are a symbol of the power you have at the moment, they are to help you understand how much power you have to partition for minions. They are quite small right now because you used a fairly large amount of power to create those demons. Might I advise against that in the future?” Gero responds after noticing that the imps don’t know.

A LOT?! 10% was a lot?! Man I am glad I didn’t do something stupid like trying out a big number. Wait how weak am I that these three are a lot of my power? I suppose I should be glad that doing this has made these horns smaller… I can’t really cope with the idea of large horns protruding from my head. I decide to ask something that has started to bug me

“Gero, why do you wait for the imps to finish before answering?”

gero “The previous Maou decided that the chain of command would go as thus: The newest creatures retain the lowest rank, but members of the same rank would refer to the latest created demon as an officer as the latest created demons tend to be more powerful and more intelligent. The imps where created at the same time so all three hold a higher authority than me.”

Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to, huh? I can kind of see where the last Maou was coming from, but there are so many holes in that system

“Ya, ya. We big dogs!” one says as he climbs Gero and stands on his shoulder

“We do what we want” one of the other two says as he kicks Gero’s foot.

All the while Gero is still standing upright and ignoring them

“I don’t have time for this… Gero is now the second highest authority second only to me! Imps retain the lowest authority of peon!” I demand, as I do Gero kicks the one who was kicking him with the side of his foot as if shooing him away, and flicks the one on his shoulder off.

Was that revenge? I can’t really blame him I would have done worse had they been doing that to me. He stays in his usual upright stance after he finishes shooing off the imps. I notice the last imp who has remained quiet has a smirk on his face.

“You! Why haven’t you said anything yet?” I ask as I point to the final imp.

He looks back at me and says “because I’ve yet to have anything I really wanted to say”

He doesn’t say it in a disrespectful way, but at the same time he doesn’t snap to attention to answer.

“You seem more intelligent than the other two. Why?”

He looks back at me and shrugs.

“I can sense that you gave him twice as much power as the other two” Gero responds.

Double? Is it because I thought about the total amount I was spending in the end? Man that ritual is finicky, I should figure out how much I am going to spend before I use it from now on. Wait, that means I used 20 percent on these imp things! These things are a fifth of my power?! How weak am I?!

“You, intelligent imp, what's your name?” I say pointing again at the third imp

“I don’t have a name I was just born” he says in response.

I am getting impatient.

“Name yourself” I say with my lack of patience obviously showing in my tone.

His eyes seem to snap once he notices this and he starts thinking quickly.

“Um… well…" he says before pausing again.

You can really see that he is agonizing over this… I can understand the difficulty in the request though, I was born moments ago as well and I can’t think of a name for myself either. Wait, was I just born or was I summoned? I remember Japan and a fair few other things I don’t think exist in this world… but I have no memories about whom or what I even was.

“How about Bik?” the imp asked bringing my attention back to the conversation.

“If you are satisfied with it, then Bik it is. From now on Bik, you are the leader of the imps." As I say the words Bik’s face seems to flush with happiness.

I’ll be honest I think some of this is a bit cool, but at the same time I don’t have the kind of wanderlust or sadistic nature these imps seems to show. How are their personalities determined if they aren’t just part of me? Man, I am getting a bit sick of all the things I don’t understand in this world.