《Floozy Devil》


 (1) I can explain!

    His feet echoed as he ran as fast as he could, which was actually pretty fast considering how many times he¡¯d been forced into this situation. He couldn¡¯t help but think that being able to run away with proficiency wasn¡¯t something you¡¯d look for in a person. A good one at least. ¡°Why can¡¯t I fucking keep my mouth shut!?¡± He shouted. to no one in particular.


    The cry reverberated across the empty halls, not a single person amongst them. The building had been abandoned years ago, his own special little spot to hide in, or to bring his close friends or the girl he liked.


    Well, the girls he liked.


    Also, he was lying about there being no people. ¡°This¡¯ll be easier if you just stop, Elliot! Maybe we won¡¯t even kill you!¡± He focused on the different sounds. Seven people, split up into three different groups, the one behind him being the largest. Three men and four women¡­ All in all, not that bad a situation. ¡°Fuck off! All of you!¡± he shouted. Just before he hit the end of the hall he ducked, dodging the blow of the bat that had come out of seemingly nowhere. His balance was off so he rolled, catching himself on the fall before jumping up and continuing the race.


    This was getting ridiculous. ¡°A fucking bat!? You fucking¡­ that could have killed me!¡± Damn, he needed to stop talking, it was making him tired. He was so out of breath he almost missed the biggest human being on planet earth hiding behind a wall. ¡°That¡¯s the point, dumbass.¡± He stopped just before the meaty cinderblocks the guy called fists caved through his skull, passing under their armpit while the big guy tried to right himself.


    Ok, so, eight people. Three guys, four girls, one fucking troll. This might be bad. He took a step back from him, too shocked to even consider running.  ¡°No fucking way in hell you¡¯re my age. What are you, like forty? Did I get your daughter or something?¡± Grinning, the big man stood straight and cracked his knuckles, towering over him by a good foot. ¡°I¡¯m 17, my sister.¡± Ah. He didn¡¯t even bother to reply, turning back around and bolting in the opposite direction. He swore he heard the words ¡°get him¡± but he was too dumbfounded on how genes could be so favorable to someone to make them goddamn superman at his age.


    Or maybe the big guy was lying, yeah, that had to be it. As he tackled open a flimsy wooden door that had been decaying for decades now, he came to a stop. Damn, he''d forgotten what floor he¡¯d been on. In front of him was what seemed to be an office building with the windows completely shattered. Broken glass was all over the floor, and by the looks of it, he was way too far up to consider jumping. He entered the room, desperately looking for a place to hide.


    What was with this unintuitive piece of shit building? Making it so he didn¡¯t have any other methods of escape besides the stairs that had been blocked. What if there had been a fire? He''d have burned here! Eventually, he gave up, deciding he¡¯d take his chances dodging everyone he¡¯d met on the way again rather than free-falling down the building. At least, that had been the plan. The two idiots blocking the door made it very hard to put it into action. ¡°No way out, loser.¡± The guy with the bat said, a cruel smile on his face. Elliot grinned, a bad habit that only came about when he was about to piss himself in fear.


    It always just got him into more trouble. ¡°Guys, guys¡­ I¡¯m sure we can talk this out. Tomorrow. At like¡­ noon, over a coke? I¡¯ll pay if that¡¯s what you want- whoa!¡± He moved his head to the right, stepping away from the big man¡¯s right hook. He didn¡¯t seem to be a fighter despite the muscle, especially considering the way he took so long to pick himself up after a hit. He had to watch out if he didn¡¯t want to be grabbed, though. The one with the bat was a lot harder to handle, in comparison.


    If there was one thing his dad had taught him, it had been to run when the other person had a weapon. Even if he was armed himself. He had taken that to heart. ¡°Stop. fucking. Moving!¡± He took a tentative step back every time they swung, making sure to circle the room so he never had a chance of being cornered. It wasn¡¯t long before the two idiots ended up on the other side of the room, allowing him free entrance to the outsi-


    ¡°Where the hell do you think you¡¯re going?¡± He didn¡¯t even see the one behind him as a heavy boot was placed on his back, kicking him forward. ¡°Gah!¡± Luckily he reacted correctly, rolling to the ground and using the shirt on his back instead of his hands to roll back up, avoiding slicing them up. He ruined his second favorite shirt, though. ¡°...Like a fucking cat, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, bastard just doesn¡¯t go down.¡± The idiots sneered at him, seeming so fucking proud for going four on one against him That didn¡¯t change the fact that the rest had caught up to them. Fuck, fuck fuck fuckity fuck.


    The door was blocked by the two remaining guys and¡­ the four girls. The broken window was starting to look pretty tantalizing right about now. He got in a low stance, tucking in his shirt so they wouldn¡¯t have too good a hold on him if they grabbed him. ¡°Uh, hey Leyla. How¡¯s the wife? Wait¡­¡± The girl smirked at his half-baked attempt to make conversation. ¡°Elliot.¡± He froze at the mention of his name, knowing she was probably the one who decided his fate.


    ¡°You know, we could have just had a talk over coffee or something. You guys didn''t have to bring your boyfriends to keep watch¡­ or your dad.¡± He said, pointing to the fucking peak muscle of a human being. One of the girls, Natalie, frowned. ¡°They¡¯re our brothers, asshole. I told him what you did.¡± the other two girls, Holly and Aubrey, nodded. What? They did that? "Wait, so¡­ none of them are your boyfriends? Then... why the hell....¡± He swiveled his head to the two behind him and the two in front, absolutely dumbfounded.


    ¡°You guys would do this over some simple fucking breakups? You almost bashed my brains in because I stopped talking to them?¡± The room became silent. The girls had all looked at him with pure anger, while some of the guys raised an eyebrow. The one with the bat snarled, pointing the bat at him. ¡°You cheated on my sister, Holly, with four other girls. Don¡¯t think you can get away with that.¡± Elliot almost fell over at the claim. The slander, The libel!


    ¡­one of those was right.


    He pointed at the lying devil woman, ¡°Cheated!? She broke up with me after like, six months! I didn¡¯t even look at another girl while I was dating her! What the hell have you guys been telling them!?¡± The entire room became silent again as the deranged dude with the bat looked at his sister with questioning eyes. She just looked at the ground, guilt obvious on her face. This time the big guy decided to speak. ¡°The others¡­ my sister. You still took advantage of her.¡± The big guy pointed at his sister, Leyla, and Elliot almost barked out a laugh.


    ¡°Leyla? Leyla!? Leyla¡­¡± He looked at her with the most disappointed eyes a man could. He was still technically dating her for god¡¯s sake. She just turned away, no longer looking at him. He sighed, rubbing his temples as he tried to explain. ¡°Ok, so look¡­ Leyla, I think, was friends with Holly, or Aubrey, I don''t really remember.¡± ¡°-It was both. We were all friends.¡± Aubrey explained from the back. She seemed to be the least angry. It made sense, honestly. He had dated her for only a week before they split up.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ wait, seriously?¡± The four nodded, looking at him with spite as if him not knowing only made it worse. In a way it did, he supposed. ¡°Uh, yeah. Leyla got mad at Holly when she found out and hadn¡¯t been told or something, and the whole group went on the fritz for a while, I guess. And I guess they made up or fucking something because here we are.¡± He looked at the four guys and sighed in relief as their faces turned from one of anger to one of just pure disbelief. He¡¯d live past tonight, hopefully.


    ¡°And¡­ you didn¡¯t know they were friends?¡± The one who so rudely booted him in the back asked. He seemed way less scary when he had a dumbstruck look on his face rather than a fucking serial killer smile. He tried to help prop Elliot up, but the hand was slapped away, hard. ¡°Uh, of course not. Fuck¡­ Dad didn¡¯t raise me to be a psychopath, haha... Half of them broke up with me, too. I¡¯m the victim here.¡± He rubbed his sore back, now that adrenaline wasn¡¯t pumping through his system he had started hurting all over.


    At least he wasn¡¯t about to get his legs broken or something messed up like that. He didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d be able to run away quite as fast ever again. The big guy turned to him with a look of disappointment and guilt in his eyes, placing a hand on Elliot¡¯s shoulder. He¡¯d have tried to slap that one away too if he wasn¡¯t so fucking scared of the dude¡¯s size. ¡°Look, man. They told us you had cheated on them. We didn¡¯t know that-¡±  ¡°I didn¡¯t?¡± He interrupted. He put a hand up, glad he didn¡¯t have to go on his tiptoes to reach the giant¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Look, I¡¯m just glad none of you actually broke anything¡­ well, anything that mattered. ¡­God, I need a nap.¡±


    Tired, he turned to the girls with a sense of defeat. He knew this could happen again if he didn¡¯t clear things up. ¡°At least you all didn¡¯t lie. If even one of you told them I was lying they¡¯d have taken my ass and hung it on the wall.¡± He smiled as Aubrey let out a chuckle, only to immediately cover her mouth as the others turned to look at her. ¡°Thanks, Aub. Kinda needed that.¡± He limped over to the desk and sat down on the flimsy office chair in front of him, groaning in relief as he finally got off his damn feet.


    These shoes were not built for running.


    For some reason, the girls took that moment as a reason to walk near him. He rolled back a bit, still wary of the group. Even if the guy¡¯s no longer had fight in them, four girls could still do plenty of damage to him if they wanted to. Especially Leyla, that girl was a fucking tiger. It was Holly who went up to him first, surprisingly. ¡°...Sorry, Elliot. We only wanted to scare you, but then our brothers stopped listening to us when we told them that¡­ that¡­ We let things get too out of hand.¡± He looked at the poor guys who had been roped into this whole mess, all standing near a wall trying to make themselves unseen.


    Elliot smiled. He expected to be the one apologizing for some reason. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ ok. No one got hurt, right? At least there¡¯s a silver lining, you know?¡± He chuckled, looking up and realizing the girl had tears in her eyes. Shit. ¡°No¡­ it''s not fine. He had a bat, Elliot. He tried¡­ he tried hitting you. I¡­ ugh¡­¡± She started crying, messily. Before he had a chance to jump out the window she fell forward into his chest and he instinctively held her. Consolingly.


    Goddammit, ¡°Hey, hey¡­ he wasn¡¯t swinging at me, you know. Do you really think I could dodge all those? He was just trying to scare me, right, uh¡­ Hey, what''s your name?¡± The deranged maniac guy with the bat looked at him confusedly, before understanding the situation. ¡°Uh, Tyler. Yeah. I was just, uh¡­ scaring¡­ him? Like... hitting around him, i guess?¡± Elliot almost facepalmed, for a psychopath who swung a bat without remorse, he sure didn¡¯t know how to fucking lie. The girl only sobbed louder into his second favorite shirt, which was only becoming more and more ruined by the second.


    No, this was fine. He was expecting to come out of this way worse off. Like¡­ way worse off. This was a best-case scenario, right? ¡°I¡­ I never should have broken up with you, Elliot.¡± His heart froze, his head froze, his very fucking soul froze. Him and his stupid fucking jinxing thoughts. His hands shook as he slowly removed them from her, his damn heart beating out of his chest. ¡°Huh? Uh, wha- hubba¡­ Hello?¡±


    Smooth.


    She kept going. Dear God, she kept going. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ I didn¡¯t know you didn¡¯t know Natalie wasn¡¯t my friend. I thought you were using me to get to her.¡± The other three came closer, and he almost decided throwing Himself and Holly out the window would be the new best-case scenario. Instead, like a goddamn baboon, he held her closer to him, away from the girls¡¯ evil claws. Damnit, why did his heart have to latch on to every little thing so fast? The girl had even broken his heart! To pieces!


    He still put an arm out, defensively. ¡°Uh, can we talk about this? I know a good place by our school, it¡¯s a bit hidden so we can have the whole place to oursel¨C¡± ¡°Sushi shop, you¡¯ve taken me there before, Elliot.¡± Aubrey interrupted. He looked at her with all the fear in the world, and she gave him a cute, if a bit menacing, smile. Well, maybe a bit more menacing than cute. ¡°Wait, why are you angry? I thought we were cool?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything, getting closer. So did the rest. ¡°...Holly, run.¡± He whispered, and she understood. He let go and pushed her to the right, and she took her sweet time to halfheartedly walk away. The girls didn¡¯t care, and for a second he wished some of them had chased her. But they didn''t, and soon enough all that was left was him and these three. Great. Leyla walked up to him, her eyes more hurt than angry. That was unfair. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me they broke up with you. You¡¯re still caught up with them, aren¡¯t you?¡± He opened his mouth to lie, but the words just couldn¡¯t escape him.


    Weird, he was quite good at lying. ¡°¡­ I¡¯ve gotten over Natalie, if that helps.¡± She slammed the desk in front of him and he jumped in his seat, not hearing the chair groan and snap in a weird place. ¡°That was three years ago!¡± He moved his chair back a bit, only for her to take another step closer. He could feel her breath on his face. She was mad¡­ He pushed down the weird feeling of arousal he held in his stomach and tried speaking. ¡°I¡­¡± He was interrupted. ¡°And Aubrey!? You only dated her for a month! Are you still¡­ ¡± She didn¡¯t seem able to finish. ¡°...A week.¡± He said, tentatively. Leyla looked at him, incredulously, as Aubrey burst into laughter in the background.


    ¡°What did¡­ what did you say?¡± Ooh, that was no longer sexy. Her eyes took on something he¡¯d only ever seen in his dad when they sparred. Even Aubrey in the back quieted down, knowing Leyla wouldn¡¯t be holding back anymore


    ¡°...I only dated her for a week! But, she was really funny so she kinda left a lasting impression. Not that you didn''t leave an impression, you did I just¡­ oh, my god. Why am I still talking¡­ hahaha¡­ ha¡­ You just bought that dress, right? I remember we talked about getting it a few days ago. You should have asked. I would have bought it for y- Whoa!¡± He almost didn¡¯t see her swinging at him, lunging back at just the right moment to dodge the-


    The chair snapped under him.


    It was as if everything had been set up perfectly. The position of the chair, the broken glass. The wide-open window behind him. The last thing he could see as he fell was Leyla¡¯s eyes. Even with everything going in slow motion, he could see the incredibly quick shift in emotion. From anger, to fear, to determination. He wondered why her eyes were like that until he saw her running at him. She was stopped from her heroic suicide just in time by the bat-wielding idiot psychopathic glue-sniffing maniac, and just before they left his field of view he saw her elbow him in the chin.


    Hah, serves the bastard right.


    He didn¡¯t even get a chance at an honorable death. His mind went blank as the air turned his body around, whipping his head off one of the offhand structures connected to the building. He didn¡¯t even get to witness his death as he fell, falling disoriented a good 30 feet before he hit the ground head first. His last, half-formed thought was that he kinda wished he¡¯d gotten back together with the Holly girl. After he¡¯d broken up with that psycho who had pushed him off a building, of course.

 (2) Where the hell am I?

    ¡°...NO WAIT AA-aah?¡± Elliot woke up, fearing for his life as he was still in the air. It soon faded when he realized he wasn¡¯t falling. Instead, his feet were off the ground, but he wasn¡¯t going anywhere. He was just¡­ floating. In the middle of the cold dark emptiness of hell. Hell, huh¡­


    ¡°What did I even do?!¡± He shouted, flailing midair. He only stopped when he realized he was actually spinning, making him sick. After a bit of dry heaving, he finally pulled himself together. This didn¡¯t make sense! He was nice to people, he walked his dog. He even donated his spare change to charity sometimes! ¡­sometimes. ¡­well. ¡±Fine! I knew they were all friends! I just thought they¡¯d have the same sense of humor since they knew each other. I didn''t want to start anything! How was I supposed to know they would get mad!?¡± He kept flailing until his brain started failing him, eventually having him hang loosely mid-air.


    He wanted to cry. ¡°Man¡­ Come on, god. We all know this kinda thing happens! Do I really deserve this!?¡± He didn¡¯t. He swore he didn¡¯t! So why was he even here? A voice responded to his thoughts, though it didn¡¯t give him an answer. ¡°Da hoc corpus¡­¡± It was ethereal, otherworldly¡­ and completely terrifying. The voice faded for a second before returning, clearer this time. ¡°...animaeque licentiam sancimus.¡± The voices repeated the words until they became deafening.


    Even when he tried to cover his ears, nothing happened. Silence never came, replaced with the drawn-out chanting that never ended. It wasn¡¯t long before Elliot himself started shouting, desperately trying to drown out the cursed voice with his own. He couldn¡¯t take it¡­ No matter how damning Hell was, it couldn¡¯t be this bad, right!? What could he do to stop it? He¡¯d do anything!


    ¡°Please! Stop it! Goddammit¡­¡± The droning chanting didn¡¯t stop, even when he begged¡­ Eventually, an hour passed, and Elliot was left a broken mess in the air. His head was pounding, and he couldn¡¯t even see his own body, his senses drowned out by the chanting. It wasn¡¯t until that point that the voice hitched, leaving a brief moment of clarity in the cursed darkness. The world stopped filling with darkness, and in front of him, he could see an old man clad in a dark cloak, grabbing his own throat as he looked at him with fear and pain.


    With resolve, they took their hands off their throats and pointed them at Elliot. In a daze, Elliot wondered what they were doing until he heard it. He heard it from their mouth. ¡°Da¡­ hoc corpus¡­¡± Their voice hitched just before his vision went dark again, coughing blood as they hacked in pain. This bastard¡­ They had done this to him. Something inside him snapped when he realized that. He was so focused that he didn¡¯t even notice his own pale white skin, or the fact that he was completely in the nude.


    He didn¡¯t notice the clawed fingers that had appeared on his hands, even when he used them to slash through the man¡¯s eyes, leaving him just as blind as they had left him¡­ as they had left him. He grinned, looking at the old bastard on the floor as thy tried crawling away. He kept going. It wasn''t long before they were dead, but that didn¡¯t excuse the torture they had brought upon him. Humans were quite fond of their reputation, to have their bodies mutilated even after death would surely bring them great suffering. Even when they were out of his reach¡­


    He reached for the man¡¯s throat.


    Then he was brought back to his senses. He pulled back, mortified. It had been a slow realization that he¡¯d done such a terrible thing. The body below him was his fault. Shakily, he tried standing, only to fall backward. His legs might as well have been made of wet noodles. God¡­ the smell. His head was full of blood and juices, he vaguely remembered getting covered in intestinal juices when he¡¯d disemboweled the man¡­ The only thing keeping him from throwing up was the fact that he¡¯d actually been conscious through the whole ordeal.


    He''d had those thoughts.


    His stomach lurched, and he finally found the strength to fumble away from the man¡¯s corpse. He kept dry heaving onto the ground until he realized his stomach had nothing to give. He was empty, he was hungry. He looked around, looking for anything to eat. Only then did he finally see where he was. It looked like the middle of goddamn nowhere. All he could see were trees, not even a single bird in sight.


    The area around him looked just recently cleared out, as well. The old man had just barely come here, just to do this. He looked down at his hands, realizing the sharp, dark claws that had seemed to cover his hands like armor had disappeared. All he had left was a pair of delicate, pale, nimble hands¡­Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Did he just dream those up? He looked back at the old man, seeing the wounds on their body that looked a bit too much like stab wounds. He wasn¡¯t going crazy, was he? Was he really just going insane and killing a man after they¡¯d tried to help him!? He picked himself up, checking and rechecking his body. No, it was just too different. He was a foot taller than before, and his body no longer had the muscle he¡¯d spent so long training.


    The more he inspected the body, his face, the more he realized¡­ He looked like a goddamned spoiled prince. The only thing that made him sure he wasn¡¯t a girl was what he saw when he looked down¡­ Only then, did he suddenly realize he was naked, which probably meant a lot about his mental state at the moment. ¡°Fuck¡­ where do I do now? ¡­What?¡± He grabbed his throat, realizing this had been the first time he¡¯d spoken. His voice was different¡­ it felt more pronounced in his throat, and a lot smoother. It had a pleasant tint that he couldn¡¯t explain, either.


    ¡°Hello? Testing, testing¡­ One, two¡­ Fuck.¡± Even when he tried to make his voice shift jarringly, it seemed to control itself perfectly, as if he wasn¡¯t the one talking at all. It kept a constant, cold tone about it, completely unlike his own. It was a bit awkward, speaking like this. Especially considering he usually used his words badly enough already¡­ Goddamit, this was just too strange. ¡°What do I even do now?¡± He¡¯d killed the only guy there who had any answers, and even now his brain was still trying to comprehend what the hell was happening, so his thoughts were stunted.


    It was a shitty situation, through and through. His mood lightened a bit when he looked past the old man¡¯s corpse and saw a primitive-looking traveling bag. There had to be an extra pair of clothes in there, right? He gently stepped over the old man¡¯s body, groaning when he realize the grass underneath him had slowly been filling with blood, dirtying his admittedly already bloodied feet. It was still gross to feel the warm squelch of the thick blood, though.


    His stomach grumbled for some reason as he thought that. Gross. He made his way to the travel-sized bag quicker, not sure if his insanity would soon make him a cannibal. The bag had¡­ almost everything he needed. The first thing he saw were two jugs full of water, and he immediately used one to wash the blood off his chest and feet, using a quarter of the other to wash his face before immediately drinking it all.


    God, that was fucking quenching. He went back to searching the bag and found¡­ clothes. It was just a pair of loose shorts, as well as a¡­ a cape. That was it. He had a mental battle, considering using the cape and the shorts together before agreeing that that would make him look a completely fucking insane flasher. He¡¯d rather just live with the fact that he was in shorts.


    Even for his new, flimsy-looking body, the shorts seemed to tighten around him. Why the old bastard had such a pair of clothing, he wouldn¡¯t ask. At least it was thick enough to hide his¡­ naughty parts, made out of some kind of dark leather that looked like it belonged on a wallet. Needless to say, it was uncomfortable as hell, though very easy to move in. Besides, he¡¯d rather have it be uncomfortable than be sent to jail for¡­ He looked back at the corpse of the old man he¡¯d desecrated.


    A bit too late for that, huh?


    Despite how serious the situation was, he grinned at his own joke. While going through the final bits of the bag, he finally found a box that contained some goddamned food. It was only dried meat but the smell had his stomach reeling with hunger. He tore through it like butter, only noticing after the first few chunks of meat that his teeth felt different. He touched one of them to realize they had become sharp all, of them. He almost panicked until he felt a weird, tingling feeling in his mouth. He checked again and they were gone, replaced with normal teeth.


    That settled it. He was actually going insane. He chuckled, the overexertion in on his mind causing him to find all this funny. What the hell had happened after he¡¯d fallen down from that building? Was that even a real memory to begin with? Tears fell down his face as he continued stuffing his mouth full of jerky, his teeth once again becoming sharp again. He didn¡¯t mind it this time, though. It was all just in his head, right?


    Dammit. He just realized what must have happened. The bastards must have not wanted to get caught when he¡¯d ¡°died¡± so they dragged him off into the forest to hide the body. The old man must have been some weird fucking foreigner who¡¯d been trying to help him, and he¡¯d gone completely psycho on the poor guy. And his new body¡­ he hit his hard pretty hard, so he could have just been seeing things.


    ¡­If he found Leyla again he was going to tell her off so fucking hard. He shoved the last remaining bits of food down his gullet, feeling dissatisfied with the whole situation. How was he going to explain this to the cops? ¡®Oh, sorry mister officer, I fell down a building and was dragged into the forest but the moment I woke up I straight up killed a man. Oh, why don¡¯t I have any scars on my body? well¡­¡¯ ¡­wait a second. He checked his neck and the back of his head, even reinspecting the body he¡¯d so carefully checked before.


    Nothing hurt. His body was completely fine. No, that could have just been his mind playing tricks on him. Only one way to really make sure. Tentatively, he took a step forward, hanging on one leg for a while before leaping into the air to check his balance. Bad idea. ¡°Wha!?¡± His sense of balance kicked in, and he readjusted himself so he¡¯d hit the branches feet first. He grabbed onto a branch with his hands and feet just before he started falling again, hanging onto the tree like a sloth.


    ¡­eleven feet in the air.


    That¡­ that was not normal.

 (3) Wait, this is mine!

    He struggled to keep himself upright as he sped through the forest, his body feeling light as a feather. He was never this fast before. It was almost inhumane speeds as he went through the trees. He had decided to use the cape, but not the way it was supposed to. He had ripped a hole through the sides and center, making a makeshift, extremely loose shirt. It was better than just a pair of skintight shorts. At least.


    And it didn¡¯t look half-bad for something he¡¯d made with his sharp teeth and claws. His head started hurting as he remembered what had happened back there. ¡­He¡¯d come to terms that what was happening to him was real, and not some deranged delusion. Either that or this was just an extremely realistic dream. He doubted it. The things happening had just felt too real for it to be otherwise. Dream or not, he had to find his way towards some food.


    He skidded to a halt as he finally came across what he was looking for. His stomach gurgled in pain as he saw the deer gently taking from the green meadow. God, fucking, dammit he was hungry. For some reason, the meat he¡¯d eaten a while ago had done next to nothing to his stomach. That had been an hour ago, and now he was almost as hungry as before. He crouched low to the ground, dark liquid appearing over his hands and solidifying to look like sharp, jagged claws.


    That had been his blood, he had soon realized. He learned about it a while ago when he bit his lip, and instead of a coppery taste, there had been something a lot sweeter. Almost sickeningly so. When he had to spit it out he had seen it. The black blood mixed with his own spit. It had been the moment he realized he was in deep shit. The pain had felt real, and so did the taste. Way too much to actually believe this was anything other than reality.


    That didn¡¯t matter right now, though. Right this moment all he could think about was how sweet that deer would taste in his stomach. He crouched low, making his way over to it as stealthily as he could. It was strange, he was noticing things he¡¯d never seen before. The way the deer¡¯s chest rose up and down. The way its legs seemed relaxed, meaning it hadn¡¯t seen him yet. The way its chest seemed to rise up and down evenly, indicating it was healthy, fresh.


    He frowned, not liking the thoughts in his head. He was squeamish around blood, even preferring his steaks medium-well. Why was he having thoughts about biting into the poor creature¡¯s neck, then? His stomach had the weirdest mixture of hunger and revulsion before he suppressed them both. Right now he had to focus. He got as near as he could, taking steps into the open at some point. It wasn¡¯t until it saw him that he struck.


    It tried bolting in the opposite direction, but he¡¯d been just a second faster. He jumped on top of it, ignoring the damage that would be done to his body. It wasn¡¯t until he was actually on the beast that he realized its size. This deer was large. He thought it would have fallen thanks to his tackle, but the damn deer was way stronger than it looked, escaping with him on top. ¡°Dammit.¡± He got to work, raking his claws across its legs and back, trying to gouge the creature in a way that would bring it down without ruining the meat. The bastard was resilient, however, and only sped up, taking sharp turns trying to throw him off.


    It wasn¡¯t until he moved his claws around its throat that he actually had any success. He could feel its pulse as the blood gushed out of its throat, running down his hands. It slowed before tripping on an even piece of terrain, turning over and hitting the ground hard. Unfortunately, Elliot had taken most of the brunt of that fall. He groaned, shoving off the giant creature as it seized on the floor. Seriously, couldn¡¯t just one thing go right for him today?


    He sat there, looking with mild disgust as the poor creature slowly had the life drain from its eyes. Poor, beautiful thing¡­


    His stomach groaned again, ruining the moment.


    Sighing, he grabbed the deer by the leg and brought it to the side of a tree, hanging it over two low branches so the blood would leak out. It was the best he could do at the moment without some rope. Damn¡­ He looked down at himself, realizing he got way more blood on him than he realized. Jesus¡­ He almost cleaned it off his fingers with his tongue, didn¡¯t he? He wiped it off on his makeshift shirt, until he decided to remove the whole thing altogether, too soaked in to provide any meaningful way to provide warmth.


    Deciding to get started with the fire, he went to one of the tree branches and grabbed hold. He tore off a pretty big one with plenty of strength to spare, which he couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit proud of. The thing was about the same thickness as his wrist¡­ which wasn¡¯t too thick now but it was still pretty impressive- The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Thunk!


    ¡°Ga-AAH!?¡± He crumpled backward, forcing the tiny spear lodged into his thigh deeper inside. He turned to the side, grabbing the spear near the tip and snapping it with a crunch. He¡¯d been told to keep the thing lodged until he could get it healed, so he kept the tip in, no matter how much he disliked the idea. He looked everywhere, but he couldn¡¯t see who had done that. What bastard would even do that!? Did they see him kill the old man? Shit¡­ He¡¯d been trained in self-defense, but not against a goddamn spear-throwing maniac.


    Thwip.


    He swung to the right as his new ears picked up the sound of air splitting, catching the flying, crude spear in his hands. Not taking a moment to stare in awe at what he¡¯d done, he turned the spear right around and threw it back at the bushes it came from. He heard a satisfying scream, and he almost went in to see if they were alright before the scream was replaced with multiple angry war shouts. What happened next would stay with him for the rest of his days. Out of nowhere, more than a dozen armored midgets painted in green with the ugliest faces he¡¯d ever seen burst out of everywhere.


    Everywhere


    One of them jumped out of the very tree he¡¯d been trying to get firewood from, trying to jam a spear inside him. Elliot managed to turn the spear aside and jam his knuckle into his throat, grabbing their arm and smashing them into the ground. That didn¡¯t stop the others from charging at him, though. Another jumped out from out of nowhere, trying to jam the spear into his non-wounded leg before Elliot stomped down on the spear and shoved the spear he¡¯d taken from the previous one into their stomach, twisting and pulling it out through their side.


    He had wanted to keep them alive, not being one to kill and all, but this was no time to play the hero. He counted the rest, around 13 left. None were trying to lunge at him anymore, finally aware of what he¡¯d done to their comrades. Elliot took a stance, cursing as the spear¡¯s short length made it hard to use it properly. The thing was horribly balanced as well, barely any heavier than a random branch and just as evenly weighted.


    It was better than nothing, though. Deciding to bring the fight to them, he lunged forward, ignoring the pain in his thigh as he shoved the spear into their chest. Luckily, the others seemed to back off in fear rather than retaliate. It was simple enough to dodge one or two spears, but any more and he¡¯d be skewered to death. One tried attacking him, giving him the perfect chance to get another spear, using the pointy tip to slash through their neck. He jammed the spear into the ground, using the other to throw as hard as he could into the head of another shorty.


    It whistled through the air, going straight through one of their heads and smacking sideways into another, who seemed absolutely horrified.


    ¡­This was actually going way better than he expected. He chuckled, looking at the rest of the green bastards who were trying to kill him. They were cowering at this point, focusing a bit too much at the spear in his hand. ¡°Come on, you fucking shorties.¡± He muttered, ripping the spear out of the ground and taking a stance. This new body was great, his breath was still even. And even though he could feel the exhaustion, it was nowhere near what he¡¯d seen before.


    He could ¡®see¡¯ everything around him, even when he wasn¡¯t looking. It was a bit taxing on his mind, though. He moved to attack another until he realized that the spear tip in his leg fell off. He panicked for a moment before he noticed the wound was much less gruesome than he had first seen it. At first, he thought his movement had pulled out the spear, but he knew now just what had happened. His leg had pushed the spear out as it healed, leaving barely more than an inch deep hole.


    The shorties noticed it too, apparently, and even though they outnumbered him ten to one, they all ran. He really couldn¡¯t blame them. Even he was wondering what the hell kind of body he had going on. He chucked one last spear at them, grabbing one of them through the side of their stomach. It wasn¡¯t enough to drop them, though, and a few others propped him up to help him run. He laughed, before catching himself. Maybe he shouldn¡¯t be having fun goring someone else¡­ Even if they had tried to attack him.


    He turned to the mess around him, and then at the deer he¡¯d spent so much effort on. His mind told him he was too grossed out to eat, but his stomach¡­ He sighed, deciding to spend a bit of time looking around to see if these guys had anything good on them. They probably didn¡¯t have any types of phones. Their clothes looked medieval, thick, sturdy cloth with bits of iron armor on them. None of them were too protected though¡­ it made sense, considering they were dead on the floor. Well¡­


    All except one, actually. The one that had jumped him when he was getting wood. He saw it limp on the floor, its clothes nice and nonbloody.


    Clothes.


    He grinned, walking over to the poor thing. They¡¯d tried taking his life, so it was fine for him to take their clothes, right?

 (4) I come in peace

    He gasped out another breath as he bit down on the leg. The meat tasted bland and tough but really fucking good. His stomach burned as it tried to keep down the food, yet he never felt full. It was as if the damn thing was digesting the food faster than he could eat it. A couple of minutes later he threw the bone aside, as clean as he could make it. He tore another piece off the deer, another one of its hind legs. After a bit of time haphazardly skinning it he placed it over the flames, his hand covered in the black blood to stop the heat from touching him. He¡¯d have used his new fancy gauntlet but he didn¡¯t want it to get dirty.


    He was lucky that one of the goblins had some cotton and a knife on their person. All he had to do was slice against a rock until it made a flame. That took him a good, excruciating hour to do. He thought back to all the times his dad had told him how he should learn how to properly make a fire, and that only knowing the how-to by word would just get him killed. It had been such a dumb, niche thing that he¡¯d never actually cared, though.


    He always carried a lighter either way, so why did it even matter? He sighed, taking a bite out of the now well-done leg. His teeth were sharp enough to make mincemeat out of it either way. Dammit, how the hell was he supposed to know people could be sent off to some weird fucking world where little green men existed!?


    Yeah, he had figured it out by now. He¡¯d be fucking stupid not to after noticing the strange skeletal structure of the thing he¡¯d unclothed. The thing had three giant fingers on its hands and toes. It did not take a scientist to figure out that something was wrong with that. Honestly, he was completely stupid for not noticing the moment his hands started turning into claws on command in the first place. He buried his head in his hands, ignoring the fact that it was getting the grease of the deer leg into his hair. Before this, he still had hope that he could just make it back to his house. He wanted to fall dead asleep in the entranceway only to wake up and go to the shower, never to come out.


    But he¡¯d be in this forest, probably forever. If the tribe of those green alien things was living anywhere near here then there damn sure as hell wouldn¡¯t be any sign of human life¡­ Maybe that had been the reason the old man had summoned him, out of loneliness. Hah. He still didn¡¯t regret what he did. He remembered the dark world he¡¯d seen after he died, the complete loneliness of the dark.


    All the bastard had to do was ask him nicely, if he wanted out of that world. There was no way something malicious was going on. If there wasn¡¯t there¡¯d be no need to torture him until he had turned into a broken mess, in the middle of smack dab nowhere filled with green tribal midget aliens that were probably out to eat him.


    ¡­At least he had clothes now. Despite their small size, their clothes seemed to come from actual normal-sized humans, especially the black, thick coat and white shirt on the green thing¡¯s upper body. The pants had some of the bottom cut off, though, only able to reach his ankles. And the underwear¡­ he¡¯d stick to his black shorts for that. There was no way he was touching some grody aliens undergarments. He¡¯d gotten used to the tight feel of the shorts, too, as if they were slowly getting used to his body. No shoes, unfortunately.


    but he managed to get some pretty sweet armor from them as well.


    If only he knew how to fasten it onto himself. He had gotten too excited ripping off the armor that he hadn¡¯t thought to check how they were fastened, or even if they could only be put on by one person. Every time he tried putting on part of a chest piece or something for the shoulder he¡¯d always ended up making it too loose to properly keep it on right. It didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t going to use it, though.


    He had placed the pieces haphazardly on himself, more for the fashion than any actual protection. Especially since they seemed to actually hinder his movements. He¡¯d just take them off when an actual battle happened. The best he found was actually a gauntlet for his left hand. He found two, actually¡­ too bad they were both left.


    He¡¯d just taken the better-looking one and tossed the other. He chuckled, tearing off the final leg of the giant deer and preparing it, roasting it again over the flame. His hunger finally disappeared, and with it gone something else had replaced it. A certain confidence. He felt less scared, less insecure about the situation around him¡­ It was nice. He honestly didn¡¯t know if it was this weird supernatural body that did that or just the fact that he felt less anxious without the constant gnawing hunger in his gut.


    It was good for him either way. He got up, yawning. Night had set a while ago, leaving the area around him dark. The only thing keeping him alight was the flame, so he was happy about that. Though, he did wonder if that only made him more of a target, though. It didn¡¯t matter. He looked down at the leg that had had a spear go almost all the way through it.


    Barely a scar.


    Despite how uncanny the feeling of his legs felt when it had been regenerating, as if something slimy and warm was digging into his flesh, the fact that it had done so so quickly had made him so excited he had almost wanted to chase the green bastards down. It wasn¡¯t until he realized that meant he was thinking of hunting and killing humans that he stopped himself. well¡­ things that looked like humans, at least.


    Soon, he was done with the last legs, throwing the bone aside and lying back with satisfaction. He was sure he¡¯d eaten almost fifty pounds of meat, but his stomach hadn¡¯t felt uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, it felt as if he¡¯d finally barely managed to fill it. Now that he was no longer hungry he decided to sleep. He poured dirt over the flames until it died, making sure not to leave a single ember unextinguished.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    After that, he climbed a tree, properly far away from the stench of blood and battle. He made sure the trees were sturdy enough to hold him. It didn¡¯t matter either way, since his new body seemed to be able to take a good thrashing. Even if he fell it probably wouldn¡¯t hurt him, and if it did he could just heal it. He finally found a good and sturdy set of branches that seemed to intertwine with each other almost like a hammock. He tested it a bit by jumping on it and it didn¡¯t budge. Perfect. He laid down, looking up at the stars with a satisfied expression.


    Honestly, It felt good lying here, without any worries.


    Sure, he had to wonder what he¡¯d do tomorrow, especially since his life was on the line¡­


    But those were all physical worries, thighs he¡¯d be able to get done just by doing it.


    There were quite a lot of things in his old life that required more than a bit of muscle to get done. This was a different world, though, so he no longer needed to worry about them. He chuckled, looking at the stars above. No Ursa major, no north star. Nothing he could use as a way to keep himself from going in circles. He wasn¡¯t in a state to be relaxing, yet here he was, his eyes slowly getting droopier as he settled into the leaves.


    He closed his eyes, the heavy feeling of sleep taking over as his head lulled back. As he drifted away he couldn¡¯t help but think that this might have been the most comfortable sleep he would have had in a while¡­


    Nowhere near the most comfortable awakening, though.


    ¡°Help! Please! Somebody!¡±


    He jolted awake at the noise, almost turning right out of his makeshift bed. He looked around him before wondering if it was all in his head. Maybe it would have just been better to go to sleep, right?


    ¡°Aaaah!¡±


    Damn, there it was again. Some girl was screaming for help. Accepting what he had to do, he jumped off the tree, using his claws to grab the bark and slow his fall. When he landed, he closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds of the forest around him. Surprisingly, the whole forest seemed to open up to him, as if he could hear everything. The shouting and sounds of gasping breaths came from his right. He grinned as he also heard the sounds of angry war cries, all sounding mixed and garbled. Non-human.


    Probably Green nonhumans.


    He bent his legs, feeling the intense power behind them. He tensed up a bit before releasing, exploding forward into the trees. Someone needed help probably, just because it happened to coincide with his feelings of revenge meant nothing. He kept focusing in on the sound, realizing that the sounds of the green monsters and the girl¡¯s gasping had separated. She must have been successfully escaping the bastards.


    He had to step in before she lost them completely if he wanted a reason to take them out. He got closer to the ground, seeing one of the green bastards lagging behind. They didn¡¯t even get a chance to turn back as he raked one of his claws through its neck. He didn¡¯t even turn to look at the now tumbling creature, bolting forward to take care of the rest. He could only hear three more, and they sounded like they were only a good 20 feet away.


    His leg ached with pain despite it being fully healed, remembering how these bastards had skewered him just a while ago. He was gonna have a bit of fun, at least. The trees were a good place to hide, so he made his way up them, jumping onto lower branches and steadily making his way up. It was hard to do, and he had slipped a couple times until he started to get the hang of it. The process had slowed him down a bit, too.


    Though that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t been catching up.


    With as graceful a jump he could manage off a flimsy branch he landed on top of one of the grubby bastards. He no longer used his claws, wanting to keep their clothes non-bloody. He¡¯d come back to those later. He slammed his foot down onto their back, hearing their gurgling cry before their chin hit the ground. Their necks were actually pretty small and stringy, so all he needed to do was wrap his hands around them and just¡­ squeeze.


    It wasn¡¯t until he felt the snap in their neck that he felt satisfied. Well, as satisfied as doing such a disgusting action could make him. The other two had stopped chasing the girl, looking back at him with terror in their eyes. They remembered him.


    He grinned, charging at one before they got their wooden spear up. He managed to stomp down on the shaft of it before he could manage anything, and in a flash, he reached for their throat. He pulled the green thing closer and smashed his fist into their face, knocking them out. A few more punches just out of spite, and he¡¯d finished up with the thing. He turned to the next only to find it already gone. Those things could disappear at a moment¡¯s notice, huh?


    Well, it didn¡¯t matter. He had to find the girl that was running now. Tell her that everything would be fine.


    He focused on the world around him, listening in on the forest. He¡­ didn¡¯t hear anything. Weird. The girl must have been hiding or something, trying to keep the noise down. It wasn¡¯t until he used his nose that he had some luck, smelling the blood escaping her. It was different from the scent of the green aliens, less coppery and more¡­ sweet? Uh¡­


    The poor girl must have been hurt.


    He gingerly ran forward until he found the spot the trail led to, a large bush that seemed to have been disturbed and stopped. He sniffed the air and he was sure it was where she was hiding. The air was almost intoxicating him with the smell, making him feel just a tad bit funny.


    Jesus.


    He slapped himself in the face, mentally pulling himself together. ¡°...Hey? I took care of those things for you. I¡¯m not sure if you need help or not but I really could use some directions to¡­ Hello?¡± He pulled the bushes away, trying to see if his nose had been lying to him. It wasn¡¯t until he looked inside that a spear had pierced through, almost gnashing him in the stomach.


    ¡°Recede a me, creatura mala!¡± The girl shouted, looking at him with malice in her large, green eyes. Her hair was covered and twigs in leaves, yet it made her look more like a fairy than a disheveled, lost person. Then he realized he didn¡¯t understand her. He laughed as realization dawned on him, remembering how the old man had used the same, weird language.


    A language he couldn¡¯t speak.

 (5) Calm down!

    Dammit, just his goddamn luck to have not a single person in this place speak English. The poor lady looked weak, she didn¡¯t even get up off the ground as she pointed the spear at his throat. She must have gotten the weapon from one of the little green bastards because the thing looked ready to snap apart, already covered in blood. He took a step forward and she flinched, grabbing the side of her thigh. She must have really hurt her leg since even through her gown he could see the blood running down her leg¡­


    That was a lot of blood.


    ¡°Jesus, are you ok?¡± He bent down, ignoring the spear and getting down on one knee to check the wound. ¡°Recedite, monstrum!¡± She jabbed the weapon forward and he dodged it, grabbing it by the side and pulling it out of her hand. She yelped in pain, which made him flinch. ¡°Sorry! Wait, don¡¯t move or you¡¯ll get hurt¡­¡± The lady had tried getting farther into the bush but met a quick end when she realized it was hard to move through actual, solid branches.


    ¡°Monstrum! Monstrum!¡± ¡­That sounded a bit too much like ¡®monster¡¯ for his liking. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ that, whatever ¡®that¡¯ is. Look, I just want to help¡­¡± Dammit. His voice wasn¡¯t coming out as pathetic as he wanted it to. It sounded way too cold in this new voice of his. ¡­He had to think of something, though. Sighing in self-pity, he realized what he had to do.


    ¡°Look, spear. You want this back, right? Spear?¡± He shook the weapon in front of her, and for a moment she became confused. Gently, he handed it back to her, and in her shock, she didn¡¯t even pull back when he grabbed her hands and wrapped them around it. ¡°Spear¡­ You have the spear back, yeah? Is everything alrigh-¡± She didn¡¯t even give him time to finish his sentence before attacking him with the spear.


    Unfortunately, that had been his plan. He braced as the spear tore through him. ¡°Gah¡­ fuck. Goddamnit¡­¡± Luckily, she hadn¡¯t hit anything too bad, just gouging through his arm. It felt terrible, sure, but he remembered how fast he¡¯d healed something much worse. He¡¯d play it up for the girl, though. ¡°Ah¡­ no¡­ please¡­¡± The words came out cold, but he made sure his expression was as distraught as possible. The lady seemed mortified at what she¡¯d done, letting go of the spear with terror in her eyes. Perfect.


    He fell forward, cursing silently when the shift in weight caused the spear to move inside him. The girl caught him instinctively, he knew damn well just how stupid someone could be when someone else was hurting in front of them. ¡°Help¡­ ayuda me¡­ Merci?¡± The girl looked at him with terror, before opening her mouth. ¡°Adiuva me? Vos postulo auxilium?¡± Uh. Shit. One of those actually got to her, huh?


    Well, at least she wasn¡¯t scared anymore. He picked himself up, making a show to look hurt as he slowly tried pulling the spear out. He didn¡¯t need to act much, actually. Pulling a spear out slowly was a hundred times worse than pulling it out in one go. He feigned not being able to do it, looking at the girl with pleading eyes. ¡°A¡­ Adiuve me?¡± He hoped those were the right words. Luckily enough, she nodded reaching forward with trembling hands as she grabbed onto the shaft, pulling it as much as her weak arms could.


    He helped, inching his fingers closer to the wound so he could pinch the spear and pull it out. He hissed as it finally ripped out, the whole process way more complicated than it needed to be. But at least he earned the girl¡¯s¡­ she was pointing the damn spear at him again. ¡°Faciam... iterum faciam. sic discedite!¡± This stupid¡­ He inched slowly closer, ignoring her war shout as she inched the spear closer to him. She had done it once, so the next time she¡¯d be less hesitant.


    He pointed at the wound on her leg, pointing back at the one she¡¯d left in his arm. ¡°Adiuve me? Adiuva¡­ you?¡± He waited patiently as the lady¡¯s eyes widened in realization, before quickly getting tears in her eyes. That¡­ was a good sign, probably? ¡°Habui homines ad adiuvandum me... Abierunt nunc.¡± Yeah, he had no idea what she just said, but considering the waterworks, she must have gone through a lot.


    He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to gently pul her out of the bushes as he subtly tried taking away the spear. She didn¡¯t bother resisting, fortunately for him. ¡°Amici mei¡­ Frater meus...¡± Yeah, still nothing. He put her arm around his shoulder, helping her by supporting the weight on her bad foot. He took her to a nearby tree and set her down, getting to work on her leg. He didn¡¯t have much in the way of bandages, so he tore the cloak he¡¯d stolen from one of the green things.


    He almost decided to fix his own wound first before the lady¡¯s, but then he remembered how quickly he healed¡­ the girl took priority. The wound felt different though¡­ warmer. It felt almost pleasurable, weirdly enough, as if something was numbing the pain as much as the wound had been giving it. He didn¡¯t really notice anything until the girl started talking again, though. ¡°separati sumus. Scio adhuc ibi esse¡­ I need to find them.¡±


    He swiveled his head back towards her, catching her by surprise. She raised her spear, which he really had to take from her at some point. ¡°Evil damnation, I knew I couldn¡¯t trust you.¡± It was nice to hear her actually say something he could understand¡­ even if the words were absolutely terrible. ¡°Who in the hell uses damnation. And you could have told me if you knew english¡­ Wait a second.¡± At first, he¡¯d thought he¡¯d been speaking English, but his tongue felt weird as he spoke¡­ as if the words weren¡¯t coming correctly out of his mouth.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    What the hell was happening? The lady seemed just about as shocked as he was. ¡°You speak laeten?¡± He raised an eyebrow, wondering how he should answer. Eventually, he settled on just telling the truth. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t. I was just helping you when all of a sudden your words started making sense¡­¡± It was soon after the wound in his arm had started feeling warm. It was great to finally be able to talk to someone, though. He bent down and pulled up her gown, revealing the calf. There was a hole through the middle.


    ¡°Your leg. How did it get hurt?¡± He looked up at her with worry, unsure if she could make it with such a terrible injury. She didn¡¯t look too worried about it, though. It seemed she was more scared of him than the injury, in fact. ¡°No¡­ demons can¡¯t speak Laeten. Not unless they¡­ Get away from me! She slammed her foot into his face, knocking him back a bit. ¡°Ow¡­ what the hell was that for? You need to stay still so I can-¡± ¡°Back away! Man-eating beast.¡± She kicked him again, and for a moment he almost wished she¡¯d just use the spear again.


    This was getting shameful. He grabbed the foot before it touched him again, placing it back on the ground. Where they belonged. ¡°I¡¯m not a man-eater¡­ What makes you think that?¡± Damn it, he wished his voice had just a bit more emotion in it. The way he said it made him sound like a goddamn serial killer. She seemed even more scared now because of it. ¡°You¡­ Demons can only speak the languages of those they¡¯ve eaten! My mother told me about it! Now, stay back!¡±


    She tried to kick him again, only to realize he¡¯d kept a firm hand on her feet. She tried to get away but he was too strong, eventually turning to threats with the spear again. He was too deep in thought to care at the moment, though. ¡­Demons who ate others learned their language, huh¡­ What if it didn¡¯t happen to need the whole human? ¡°...Your leg. How did you say it got hurt again?¡± She looked at him weirdly, cursing him out and trying to escape for a few more minutes before sighing in defeat. ¡­That was his thing.


    ¡°¡­The goblins. They threw one at me. They usually aren¡¯t that smart. They¡­ they used some kind of strategy to split us apart.¡± He nodded, trying his best to look understanding. Goblins¡­ Like the ones in dragon quest? God, they looked absolutely rancid in real life, though. She had given him more questions to ask, but for now, she had answered the one he¡¯d needed. ¡°This spear¡­ right? This was the one they threw at you?¡± She nodded, and for the first time in a while, things were starting to fall into place.


    ¡°I guess I really can learn by eating human¡­ That¡¯s a bit unnerving.¡± She raised the spear in fear, taking the response as a threat, it was getting a bit tiring. ¡°Look, I think I may have gotten some of your blood inside me when you stabbed me with the spear. ¡­I think I learned your language because of that. Crazy, right?¡± He smiled, feeling a bit better now that he got to speak to someone not trying to torture or kill him.


    Even if the person he was talking to had a look of disgust on her face. ¡°Foul¡­ Absolutely foul. You demonic beings are bred to do such foul things¡­¡± He laughed, running a hand through his hair. What kind of crazy lady would say that to something that was supposed to eat humans. ¡°I can understand you, you know. And I saved your life.¡± She looked away from him, her spiteful eyes reminding him of the million times in his life he¡¯d been in the same situation.


    She felt guilty. ¡°...the wound on your arm. I apologize. You may be a demon, but you saved my life¡­ It would be a shame to my family name if I were not to express how grateful I am¡­¡± She bowed, her eyes straining as her bad leg shifted. ¡°Thank you for saving me¡­ I owe you my life.¡± He looked at her with wide, surprised eyes. So there were some good people out there in the world after all!


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome? I¡­ ah¡­ I¡¯m glad to have found someone as well¡­ Wait, you were talking about being split up? Your friends, are they safe!?¡± Damnit! Here he was acting all flustered when other people could be getting killed! ¡°Where do you think they went!?¡± Dammit, if things went wrong then he¡¯d have to live with that on his hands¡­ why was she laughing? She was covering her mouth, trying to stop herself from laughing. He couldn¡¯t understand what was so funny.


    ¡°Pfft, I¡¯ve never heard of a demon who cared for human life¡­ I¡¯ve only ever heard tales filled with horrors.¡± He grimaced. The whole situation must have finally caused her to crack. ¡°Your¡­ Your friends. I¡¯ll go find them. You stay here and rest¡­¡± She gave another sweet laugh, immediately turning into a glare when he reached to grab her shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t need help. At least¡­ not anymore. Neither do they. I was the only one led away from the group, the others could more than handle such petty goblins¡­ I was their healer.¡±


    A medic? What good did that do her if she couldn¡¯t even care for her own leg? It made more sense how easily she could play off the wound, though. ¡°So your leg isn¡¯t in any danger? Is that why you-¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s in danger! If I don¡¯t use healing magic it could become too late to heal.¡± They both became silent for a moment, and despite his best judgment, Elliot spoke his mind. ¡°...So, why don¡¯t you do it, then?¡±


    She turned to him with dumbfounded eyes, before sighing in disappointment as she rubbed the temples on her head. Again, that was his thing.


    ¡°You really have never met a human, huh? How can such a powerful demon be this naive?¡±


    He opened his mouth to reject that, but then he realized humans on this earth may have actually been drastically different from his. ¡°...I¡¯m willing to learn? Oh! And¡­¡± He can¡¯t believe it had taken him this long to ask. ¡°What¡¯s your name, by the way? Mine is Elliot.¡±

 (6) ...Youre alright, right?

    So¡­ He¡¯d learned a lot of things while being with Lidia. One thing he learned was that the girl really didn¡¯t have any sense of self-preservation. ¡°Frederick! Jack! ¡­Sadie!?¡± The lady had a set of lungs on her, unaware of the world around him as she called out for her friends. Maybe it was just his new ears, but she had been so loud that it was killing him. He turned his ears away from her as he carried her bridal style.


    It had been the only way she¡¯d have been able to move without making the wound on her leg worse. At first, she had tried walking on it, even after she had so clearly told him just how serious the wound was. It took another ten minutes, and then the fact that they were taking too long, for her to finally consider him carrying her. He¡¯d never had trouble trying to help someone before. Usually, he¡¯d had a way bigger problem ignoring this kind of thing.


    But he managed to convince her, especially after he reminded her that she couldn¡¯t use her magic.


    She had lost something called a ¡°catalyst¡± which was apparently extremely important. Something about how outer magicians needed them to create their spells. Or something. He¡¯d been dumbfounded at the idea that you¡¯d basically be useless without one, but then she told him there were mages out there who focused on training their inner magic. He¡¯d laughed, unsure why someone would want to use magic with a catalyst if they could just train on their insides.


    He hadn¡¯t expected her to turn red at that, though. He still remembered her outburst. ¡°We ARE ESSENTIAL! Outer magic can devastate cities! Level kingdoms! With the proper training and catalyst, we could become properly unstoppable!¡± She had become completely disheveled after her tantrum, leaving him a bit more cautious around her. Destroying kingdoms. Yeah¡­ that definitely didn¡¯t sound crazy¡­ Well, about an hour had gone past since he¡¯d found her, and now they were here, with her shouting after her friends.


    He wasn¡¯t just walking in circles, though. His nose caught the scent of blood dropped by Lidia, and he¡¯d been following it back to where she¡¯d last been running. If they retraced her steps then they¡¯d probably be able to find them, right? He¡¯d have told her¡­ but telling someone you could smell them was a sure-fire way to make enemies. He would know. He¡¯d been going dry for a couple of seconds, though.


    He¡¯d almost asked her if this had been the place she¡¯d been hit, but fortunately, she had beat him to it. ¡°Wait¡­ I know this place. It''s just off the path to Heartlake¡­ Take a right! We can make it to the road!¡± He nodded, suddenly excited over the new turn of events. ¡°Ah, wait!¡± He took a step forward before being stopped. Lidia suddenly pushed on his chest with worry. ¡°You can¡¯t be seen! If they found out I was cohorting with a demon then¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a demon.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ you keep saying that.¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    And he was sticking with that.


    ¡°Well, either way, they¡¯ll see you and panic. Your eyes and face are much too¡­ demonic to get you inside safely.¡±


    What? He touched his face, checking the contours n his skin. ¡°Do I have markings or something on my face? How can they tell?¡± She smirked, shaking her head bemusedly. ¡°No marks, you just give off the impression of a demon, is all. Your pale skin and sharp eyes¡­ also, you look¡­ very decent.¡± He blinked. Did she just call him handsome? ¡°So, demons are just pale white people who are good-looking? ¡­I can see that.¡± He had cursed the beauty others had in his past life as well.


    She had focused on the wrong part, though. ¡°I did not call you handsome! You just look decent by most people¡¯s standards, demon! You were carved to tempt people so they could fall into your evil clutches! You quite literally evolved to best eat humans, that just happened to have made you¡­ decent looking.¡± He grinned, this had been the second most he¡¯d been complimented and insulted in a row.


    ¡°But I¡¯m¡­ decent looking, yeah?¡± She didn¡¯t have her spear at the moment, so he could afford to tease her a bit. ¡°That means the big bad demon gets to eat, yeah?¡± She punched him away just as his grin hinted at something more malicious. Even he hadn¡¯t noticed until she had done so. ¡°Uh, sorry. I was just making some fun while in the forest.¡± She didn¡¯t look up, but he noticed her ears were red. Jesus, he must have really scared her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ let¡¯s get to your friends, ok?¡± She looked up, a frustrated look in her eye. ¡°I¡­ I said before. You can¡¯t! We need to cover your face, at least.¡± Cover? This money maker? Dammit, what was the point of a handsome face if he could never show it? ¡­Maybe he¡¯d find a nice demon lady, get settled¡­ have a bunch of horrific little demon babies.


    Nah.


    He sighed, setting Lidia down. ¡°What are¡­ oh.¡° Tearing one of the new shirts he¡¯d just recently taken from the goblins into one, giant strip, he wrapped it around his face. He looked at her, showing off his handiwork. ¡°So, do you think this is fine?¡± She nodded, ¡°yes, but¡­ look, come closer.¡± He did so, bending down when she reached for his new accessory. ¡°It¡¯s a bit loose around here¡­ and you need to cover the ears, they¡¯re a bit too¡­ evil. ¡­We could use a bit more to hide your jaw¡­ your eyes¡­ uh.¡±


    It took her a couple of moments to realize she¡¯d stopped wrapping his face completely and was just inspecting his face. ¡°Ah! This is fine, now! Yes¡­ you¡¯re fine.¡± Even he was a bit skeeved out by the situation. What was there to see in a face almost completely covered in wrappings? ¡°If¡­ If anyone asks, tell them your wounds were cursed. That way they don¡¯t ask to why you don¡¯t heal yourself.¡± She turned away from him, tying the last bit of the cloth with such skill and precision that you¡¯d think she¡¯d have done this all her life. Wait, she was a healer, so she probably had¡­Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s good enough for now. We¡­ can get going now.¡± He nodded, reaching under her to pick her up. She flinched, and for a second a pang of guilt went through his heart. He¡¯d so painstakingly gathered her trust, just to ruin it with a simple joke. They made it onto the path after a couple of awkward minutes that had felt excruciatingly long. The silence between the two was so much worse considering she was literally only a few inches away from him at all times.


    ¡°...So, where are we heading?¡± He asked. The path wasn¡¯t forked, but he had gone in from the side. One headed towards Heartlake. The other¡­ didn¡¯t, most likely. While he was considering how ridiculous a road that did nothing but go out and back to an area with no other destination would be he didn¡¯t catch the conflicted words of Lidia. ¡°Did we¡­ Had I run to the left or right? I think I definitely had gone to the right¡­ so does that mean we head left? ¡­no.¡±


    She finally made up her mind by the time Elliot¡¯s head was filled with nothing but the amusing thought of a bunch of cars honking at the traffic in front of them, not knowing they were on a giant, circular road that headed nowhere. ¡°We head over¡­ hello? Elliot?¡± The sound of his name brought him back from that weird daydream. ¡°Huh? What? Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± He turned to walk before Lidia pulled his ear. ¡°I said, the other direction, Elliot.¡± He grinned, happy to see she was back to normal.


    Even if her ¡®normal¡¯ was a bit violent. ¡°Watch the wrappings, if you move them too much they¡¯ll fall off.¡± She scoffed, as if he said something ridiculous. ¡°Do you know how long I¡¯ve been a healer? I¡¯ve wrapped bandages for years before I started using magic.¡± She pulled on the cloth, yanking his head forward roughly along. ¡°These things aren¡¯t going anywhere.¡± He sighed as Lidia gave a proud smile. She could have been a bit gentler in her explanation¡­


    At least her friends would have to deal with her soon, take her off his hands. ¡°...speaking of which, how old are you, Elliot?¡± His head snapped to her at the sudden question. That was¡­ complicated. How old were demons usually? How old was this body? Maybe he could just say his age prior to being summoned? ¡°How old do you think I am?¡± It was a bit slimy having to use such roundabout words¡­ but he¡¯d done worse.


    She narrowed her eyes, first he thought it was with suspicion, but her eyes widened with a smile. ¡°Maybe¡­ a month! You haven¡¯t seen a human yet, even though you live so close to settlements. You don¡¯t even use magic yet, you must have just appeared not too long ago¡­ Though¡­ whoever must have summoned you must have been pretty strong¡­ to not have survived the process¡­.¡± She kept speaking until she realized the brutality of her words.


    Even Elliot was surprised, not at what she said, but at how accurate she had been. ¡°Yeah¡­ he was¡­ he was. Can demons only be summoned? I thought they could, uh¡­ be born normally.¡± She seemed to be feeling awkward, but fortunately, she still answered his question. ¡°Yes¡­ they can. But they¡¯re usually quite hard to find in an area like this without the help of a dark summoner¡­ they¡¯ve become quite a problem around here. It was why I was scared of you at first. You seem to be much more intelligent than the normal demon, though. Much less violent, too.¡±


    Yeah¡­ well, it was because he wasn¡¯t a demon. At least, not before this whole mess. ¡°So¡­ was I right? How old are you?¡± She seemed a bit apprehensive to ask, but it was good she was comfortable enough with him too. Didn¡¯t mean he¡¯d answer, though. ¡°It''s rude to ask a demon their age. Like asking a girl about their weight.¡±


    She frowned, hitting him on his shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t weigh that much! And I never heard anything about demons and their age other than they¡¯re immature and petty when they¡¯re young.¡± He put on a mockingly proud face.¡±It''s a good thing I¡¯m not a demon, then.¡± She pouted hitting a few more times before deciding to stop. ¡°...you know it''s not nice to be hitting people, right? Especially someone with a wound on their arm.¡±


    That seemed to really get her. She looked at the place she had stabbed him, which had been wrapped just as tightly as her leg. ¡°How is¡­ are you ok, carrying me like this? I can walk if you want¡­¡± Oh goddammit, he made her all worried again. how was he so bad at talking to people? ¡°No, It''s ok! Your leg is too hurt to walk. Besides, I¡¯m a demon so I can take it¡­¡± His wound was completely healed by now, but he wouldn¡¯t tell her that. Her sudden laughter caught his attention, ¡°So, you admit you¡¯re a demon?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°But you just-¡±


    ¡°Agh, my arm¡­ it hurts so bad. I¡¯m dying.¡±


    ¡°...fine.¡±


    She finally relented, settling closer to him so he didn¡¯t have to spend so much energy carrying her. It wasn¡¯t until another ten minutes before Lidia spoke up again. ¡°...You must know a few things before we meet my brother and the group. They can be a bit¡­ overprotective of me.¡± ¡­What the hell did that mean.


    ¡°What the hell does that mean?¡±


    ¡°...Just that. So please don¡¯t tell them about what happened. They might blame themselves if they find out I was split apart...¡± He nodded, remembering just how terrifying brothers could be when their sisters became involved¡­ Jesus, would he be able to take a punch from the big one even in this demon form? ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry. The moment you meet your friends I¡¯ll be on the other side of town.¡± He smiled, thinking about how nice the reunion would be like. He was so caught up in the thought he almost didn¡¯t notice the confusion on her face.


    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re leaving?¡± Ah, shit. ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t want to be burned on a stake or anything. I¡¯m buying a map and some tools and then I¡¯m going¡­ why?¡± No, why the hell did he ask why!? ¡°I was¡­ hoping to celebrate with the group. I wanted you to be there. But.. your right¡­ I almost forgot that they would not see you in the best light¡­ but if we-¡±


    ¡°LIDIA!¡± From the side of the forest, two trees split apart as a massive blade ran through them. wooden splinters came at them, and Elliot turned just in time to protect Lidia. He looked back to shout ¡®what the hell!?¡¯ before the biggest man he¡¯d ever seen climbed through the wreckage. If the brother he¡¯d met in his last life was superhuman, then this one was just unnatural. ¡°Lidia! Your¡­ Your alive! ¡­Praise be to god!¡± He ran forward, the ground thumping underneath him as he lumbered forward.


    Elliot almost jumped to the side in fear.


    Lidia seemed just as surprised as the giant human. ¡°Frederick! Why are you still out here!? Where are the others!?¡±


    It took a moment, but as Elliot looked at the giant man¡¯s tattered armor and torn clothes¡­ plus the disheveled hair. ¡°...Lidia. How long have you guys been separated?¡± She looked at him confusedly. ¡°A couple of days, why?¡± He laughed, suddenly a lot more relieved he had managed to stop the brothers in his last life. These people were insane when it came to family.


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t think he ever stopped looking.¡±

 (7) Dont look at me like that...

    Elliot couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit awkward, walking alongside an absolute unit of a human being. The man named Frederick wasn¡¯t carrying his sister, she was sitting on his shoulder. His shoulder. Elliot shuddered. This new body of his was a little less than a foot taller than his old one, making him probably around six foot 9¡­ This man towered over him by another good foot, and was wider than him by almost twice the amount.


    He had his sister¡¯s green eyes and youngish face, though, so he wasn¡¯t too scary. Especially when Lidia was right next to him. The way she swung her legs whimsically, fully healed. She had taken from Frederick a staff that was almost as tall as her, with a giant green crystal orb on the top. It had been a bit unnerving seeing her utter under her breath, only for the wound to close up like plaster¡­ but he wasn¡¯t one to say anything, with his completely abnormal healing ability.


    The big man didn¡¯t seem too bothered with the situation, though. ¡°Tell me everything, Lidia! After the smoke, we completely lost sight of you! All that was left was your staff, so everyone was worried! I almost had to fight the others to be the one to look after you!¡± He roared with laughter, grinning from ear to ear, and despite Lidia¡¯s best efforts to hide it, she seemed to be happy as well.


    ¡°Goblins. Fully armored and four times smarter than normal¡­ So about twice as smart as yourself, Frederick.¡± The big guy scoffed, turning to Elliot. ¡°Is what she saying true, little hero? Fully armored goblins? You must have had quite the battle to protect my little sister, huh?¡± His voice was sarcastic but full of jovialness, seemingly expecting Elliot to call out his lying sister. Unfortunately, Lidia looked at him with sneaky eyes, nodding at him to follow along. ¡°...Yes. They were quite the smart monsters. Almost human with their intelligence.¡±


    Frederick smirked, ¡°Does that mean my intelligence is merely half a normal human¡¯s? Quite a thing to say, little hero.¡± Shit. ¡°Ah, no¡­ ¡± Goddamnit, he¡¯d fallen right into that one, huh? A massive hand went to hit his back, and he¡¯d almost dodged it until he saw the jovial look on the giant¡¯s face. ¡°Gahaha! I was only joking, hero! Lidia, We¡¯ll give this Elliot fellow a proper welcoming! I¡¯ll even sell my armor if I have to! We¡¯re celebrating either way!¡± She smiled, hitting her brother on his head which he barely even noticed. ¡­So that¡¯s where that bad habit came from. ¡°That armor isn¡¯t yours to sell, idiot. Dad would be furious.¡±


    ¡°He would understand! I¡¯m sure he¡¯d even pay for the party had he known what had happened¡­ Speaking of which¡­ let¡¯s keep this a secret, okay?¡± She laughed and nodded, and The two kept talking about what they¡¯d gone through. Elliot took a good few steps back from the two, checking his bandages to see if they were still wrapped on correctly. The big guy hadn¡¯t asked what was under them yet, which he was thankful for, but he hadn¡¯t thought the brother she had mentioned could split trees apart. He couldn¡¯t be blamed for being a bit nervous about his identity being covered, then.


    It was a bit nice, though, to see the familial bond between two people. It almost made him wish his dad had been a little kinder and a little less of a war maniac. Almost. He shuddered at the thought of his dad trying to come up to him for a hug, pushing away the unneeded image from his mind. He needed to talk to them about something. ¡°About the celebration¡­ I might not be able to attend¡­¡± Frederick turned to him and surprise, and a look of sadness washed over Lidia¡¯s expression.


    She probably didn¡¯t realize how guilty that made him feel, but it didn¡¯t make him any less sure that she was doing it on purpose.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Little hero? I thought you said you were lost? Why not join us in the city, then we¡¯ll surely have a great time!¡± Lidia nodded along even though she was fully aware of his situation. He cursed her. Silently, of course. ¡°Elliott! We can take a single day to celebrate, no? Will you refuse my¡­ my brother¡¯s invitation?¡± She turned to her brother with a grin, and surprisingly, the smile went away from the big guy¡¯s face.


    ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ He saved you, Lidia. If he doesn¡¯t want to come then I will not force his hand.¡± Lidia pouted at the words, turning away from her brother despite quite literally being on his shoulder. The big guy was more hurt by this than Elliot hoped. ¡°He must have his reasons¡­ Do you not, little hero?¡± He asked, suddenly saddened.


    Elliot fought the nervous grin appearing on his face. Oh, he really had a reason, just not one he could explain at the moment. Or ever. It was a good thing the bandages were covering his mouth, or else he¡¯d look real suspicious about then. His heart was squeezed at the kind gesture the big man had done, though. To go against his sister''s wishes, for a complete stranger¡­ it took a big heart to do that.


    He felt warm inside. That is, before then realizing what Lidia had tried to do. Who the hell tries strong-arming their savior? ¡°Your sister¡­ is quite the little demon, isn¡¯t she?¡± He said, not realizing it had come out of his mouth. Frederick didn¡¯t seem to mind, fortunately, though Lidia certainly looked like she had. ¡°HAHAHA! You are quite bold, little hero! But I agree! She can be quite a¡­ A handful, uh.¡± He saw her giving poor Frederick the nastiest stare, on the level of when she had first seen Elliot for the first time.


    It¡­ wasn¡¯t pretty. ¡°But¡­ She is quite well-meaning! She¡¯s smart as well, little hero¡­ I don¡¯t think the team could function properly without her! She cares for one much more than she lets on, too. When Sarah, our vanguard, had split up with her lover she had spent days in the poor girl¡¯s house, worried sick about her- erk.¡± Ooh, that looked like it hurt. ¡°Quite a big mouth on you¡­ brother. Please refrain from telling him about Sadie.¡± She had jammed the staff into Frederick¡¯s neck, holding it there as the poor man kept walking.


    They opened their mouth to speak, but when Lidia¡¯s eyes filled with venom, Frederick closed it again, merely nodding. If that wasn¡¯t a red flag, Elliot didn¡¯t know what was. ¡°Good. So, are you coming with us, Elliot? We¡¯d really appreciate it if you did¡­ I¡¯d be pretty sad if you didn¡¯t.¡± She had said that last part with a tilt, making it sound a bit more as if he¡¯d be the sad one if he didn¡¯t accept. ¡­The girl really changed personalities when she wasn¡¯t in danger, huh?


    ¡°...Yes, I think I could take some time to join¡­ for a bit.¡± She smiled, and strangely, Elliot smiled back. ¡°Haha¡­ maybe it would be bad to go without saying goodbye, huh? I¡¯d be sad as well, at least, not meeting your friends.¡± He said those words with a strange, warm tilt. The voice that had usually been so cold suddenly changed fr just a moment, catching both him and Lidia off guard completely. The poor girl had seemed most affected, though. ¡°Ah, yes¡­ that would be bad¡­ If you didn¡¯t¡­ meet, um.¡±


    She turned away from him, and despite everything, Elliot couldn¡¯t help but let out a laugh. Even he was a bit embarrassed, saying such a thing with such warmth. He felt the giant, warm hand of the giant named Frederick on his shoulder, and he turned up to look. The face was full of something that¡¯d leave a mark on him for the rest of the day. Not spite, not anger, not even disappointment. All he saw in those eyes were pity.

 (8) Its all a misunderstanding!

    Elliot was sick of walking. He wasn¡¯t tired physically, this weird new body of his made it so he was always full of energy, but his head hurt like hell. It was stuffy under this make-shift mask, as well. Fortunately, it only took a couple of minutes before Lidia¡¯s big brother finally shouted while out on top of a hill. ¡°Heartlake City! I never tire of seeing it. So, little hero, you can tell me now. Have you ever seen anything this beautiful?¡± Elliot gave him a wry smile, standing next to the knight so he could get a look. And he did.


    Wow. Frederick and Lidia had been boasting about the city the entire time they¡¯d come here, going so far as to call it one of the great 18 wonders in the world, which probably weren''t so wondrous if there were so many of them¡­ Now that he¡¯d seen it, though¡­ He had no choice but to admit the big man was underselling it a bit. It wasn¡¯t the biggest or the most impressive he¡¯d ever seen¡­ but man did the city look beautiful.


    The buildings were a And looking at its center he realized where it got its name. In the center of the giant city was a beautiful, vibrant lake in the shape of a heart. He wanted to go see it, but for now, he¡¯d have to deal with the smug look on Frederick¡¯s and Lidia¡¯s faces. He realized he¡¯d been staring for a good minute now and cursed. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ pretty nice.¡± He said, with the same cold tone he¡¯d always had. The two groaned at his lack of reaction, and he did his best to hide the grin on his face. Thank god for the bandages.


    ¡°Bah, he¡¯ll definitely see what we¡¯re talking about when we head to the adventurer¡¯s guild, brother.¡± Frederick nodded, the smile returning back to his face. It didn¡¯t take much to make the guy happy, huh. Wait, adventurer¡¯s guild? ¡°Lidia¡­ That really isn¡¯t the best place for me to be, you know that.¡± He knew what that meant, a group of people who were all just as afraid of demons as Lidia had been, only more equipped to wipe him off the face. Why the hell would she put him in a place full of people who would probably turn him into some stupid potion?


    He tried throwing a glare at her, but Lidia turned away, apparently not having it. ¡­This was probably going to end up being very bad. He sighed, bringing his head down in defeat. Lidia must have seen this as a victory because she already had started making plans. ¡°Where do you think we can find Sadie and Natasha? I know Gerald always hangs around the bar but those two¡­ You never know with those two.¡± He tuned them out, thinking about what to do in this situation.


    She technically had some blackmail on him. So, he really would not feel comfortable staying too long around these people. Honestly, he was pretty sure he could outrun her big brother. The man didn¡¯t seem too nimble at all. He wanted to grab a few pieces of equipment, though¡­ Traveling with nothing but the clothes on his back was just asking for trouble. Speaking of which¡­ ¡°Hey, Frederick¡­¡± The big guy turned to him mid-conversation, ignoring his sister.


    ¡°Yeah, Little hero?¡± Elliot silently wished he¡¯d stopped adding the little to address him. He was tall! Just¡­ not that level of tall. And nowhere near as big. Man¡­ ¡°Do you know where I can find a mask in town? I¡¯ve been meaning to look for one. My face¡­ the bandages are starting to stick to the wounds¡­¡± He fought to keep a poker face as the big guy¡¯s eyes became full of pity and worry. Lying was bad, but you couldn¡¯t deny how nice it felt getting one over someone.


    Lidia stared at him unimpressed, but he didn¡¯t need to convince her. Frederick put a hand behind his head, giving a pitying smile. ¡°Ah¡­ Apologies. You should try the tailor. That woman is always trying to make us buy the most eccentric things¡­ I¡¯m sure she could find one to fit your¡­ needs.¡± The poor guy seemed to have trouble finding the right words, and he almost felt guilty forcing him to stumble around like that. It was pretty fun to watch, though.


    ¡°Thank you¡­ I hadn¡¯t had much time to fix myself these days. I truly hope I can find some way to cure this damn curse¡­¡± Again with the pitying glare. It seemed the big guy had already suspected that to be the case. He didn¡¯t say anything else, leaving the conversation off in an awkward pause. Haha. He gave Lidia a look, and she gave him what he could only describe as ¡°spiteful disappointment.¡±


    While the knight had his back turned, Elliot moved the bandages wrapped around his throat to show his grin, and the girl had turned red in the ears. Haha, he didn¡¯t expect someone to get so angry at a simple smile. He definitely didn¡¯t expect her to jump off Frederick¡¯s shoulder, though. ¡°Idiot, what are you¡­ urk¡­¡± She almost tumbled over when she hit the ground, the combination of sitting for too long combined with Frederick¡¯s impressive walking speed all mixed together to ruin her landing.


    The only thing that had kept her up was Elliot, and in no way through his own action. He had sorta wished that she hit the ground, anything other than this. The dumb girl had decided the best option was to grab not at his clothes, but at the bandages wrapped around his face. Luckily, he grabbed her moments before she succeeded in pulling the whole damn thing off. He managed to save it just to the point where he looked like a bad mummy costume.


    Still, plenty for the knight to see.


    ¡°Lidia!? What have I said about jumping off¡­ Lidia!?¡± He seemed to be completely shocked at what he was seeing, but fortunately, it wasn¡¯t his face he was seeing. In a glorious attempt to save him, Lidia had locked Elliot into a headlock. There was no need for her to put so much strength on his neck while she tied him back up, but luckily his demon body had been able to¡­ to take¡­The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Gah!¡± She gave one last tug on the bandages before letting him go, allowing him the air he had so desperately needed to breathe. He buckled to the ground, cursing every damn thing in existence as he brought in as much air as he could into his lungs. She seemed to be breathing just as hard, for some reason. A hand reached in to grab his shoulder and he instinctively slapped it away, forgetting the situation he was in at the moment.


    He put his hands to his face, checking to see if the bandages were covering him correctly. He¡¯d been so focused on it that he hadn¡¯t even seen the devastated look on the big brother¡¯s face. ¡°Elliot¡­ I apologize for what¡­ no. I shouldn¡¯t be the one apologizing¡­¡± Elliot planted his feet on the ground, ready to fight when he heard the violent tone in the brother¡¯s voice. He didn¡¯t realize the tone wasn¡¯t directed at him until he¡¯d grabbed the waist of Lidia with one, massive hand, bringing her up in the air.


    ¡°What!? Hey! Frederick, what are you- OW! FREDERICK!!¡± Whoah, that wasn¡¯t good. Frederick had this weird, solemn look on his face as he grabbed his sister, who was slamming her staff into his head with all her might. ¡°Apologize, sister. You¡¯ve shamed my family far enough.¡± She gave her brother an angry look, before flinching in pain as his hand seemingly became tighter around her waist.


    Despite everything, Elliot just couldn¡¯t stand and watch. He approached, warily. ¡°Your hurting your sister. Is this something a brother should do?¡± Damnit, he wanted to grovel, to at least act pathetic. This damn demonic voice of his just didn¡¯t allow that, though.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been attacked by someone in our household. We hold you with good regards, Elliot Dresmr.¡± The words coming from him seemed to radiate with an otherworldly tone, and despite their kindness towards him, they held a- Wait, what the fuck. ¡°How do you know my last name!?¡± He hadn¡¯t even told Lidia that! Oh, shit. Something was happening, and he wasn¡¯t just going to let it.


    ¡°Apologize, sister, before have to resort to¡­ urk.¡± Elliot jumped into the air with as much force as he could, kneeing the big man in the chin. The force felt like he¡¯d tried bashing through a brick wall with his knee, but it had managed to make him fall back enough to drop Lidia. He caught her before she slammed into the ground, her ribs and stomach probably bruised from the experience. She couldn¡¯t even seem to speak correctly. ¡°Brother¡¯s¡­ a demon¡­ his body.¡±


    Yeah, he was pretty scared of her brother as well, she didn¡¯t have to warn him of that. He felt a brick drop in his stomach, and moments before a giant slab of steel split him in half he jumped into the air, Lidia holding on for dear life. The horrible sound of gravel tearing and earth cracking apart didn¡¯t even end before he hit the ground again a few feet away. Both his and Lidia¡¯s breath hitched when they saw just what had happened. The psycho brother had pulled out his goddamn dragon slayer of a sword.


    ¡®Well regards¡¯ my goodman ass. ¡°What¡­ You almost killed me, you bastard!¡± He caught Lidia giving him a deadpan look through the pain, but he chose to ignore it. ¡°Calm down! We can make this work- whoah!¡± He ducked, the tippy top of his hair brushing against the giant sword as it flew right past him, releasing itself into the trees. That had almost made him ¡®release¡¯ himself right in his own pants. This was way too much. ¡±Uh¡­ think of your sister?¡±


    A thick, black smoke escaped the knight¡¯s mouth, his eyes shaken and unsteady. Frederick turned to him, his voice deep and garbled, yet filled with a new, malicious clarity. ¡°Elliot Dresmr. We hold you in well regard¡­ hand over the girl.¡± Oh, Jesus. That had been english, hadn¡¯t it? He didn¡¯t even get a chance to pee himself, as the giant warrior suddenly burst into an attack. They sent a punch at him, and he just managed to push the fist aside enough to let it graze past him¡­


    The force of the air rushing past him made him immediately regret trying to protect Lidia. He was almost kicked in the stomach when he had that moment of hesitation, but thanks to his new body he managed to barely dodge it. ¡°Stop moving, Dresmr. We just want the girl.¡± Even in the middle of almost being turned into paste, Elliot scoffed. ¡°Then get the hell away from me first!?¡± He jammed his fist into Frederick¡¯s throat, making sure to only put enough force to not kill a normal human being.


    Big mistake.


    Their adam¡¯s apple felt like a goddamn boulder on his knuckles, and took the punch about as well, too. ¡°Weak. You cannot be a noble knight without proper- guh¡­¡± Elliot¡¯s second punch had a bit more oomph to it, as in, he¡¯d put all the demonic strength he had into it to land a punch right between the knight''s ribcage and stomach. It irked him that his killing blow had done nothing but make the knight groan a bit, but he didn¡¯t let that bother him.


    At least, not until the psych grabbed his arm. The grin on Frederick¡¯s face at the moment was very unbefitting for a knight. Elliot clenched his teeth. ¡°Our turn.¡± The punch might as well have turned him into a delicious, demonic slurry, splashing all over the trees and hopefully some on Lidia as well, just out of spite. It stopped a moment before hitting his face, luckily. The force of the fist stopping in the air was enough to make his hair fly back with a terrifying force.


    Lidia had come in to save him in the nick of time. ¡°Move no more, foul beast. Release your reign on this man¡¯s life. We have no qualms here¡­ Exorcism!¡± The wind around her moved dramatically, and her hair had been picked up with it, giving her a wild, dangerous look.


    Elliot had almost turned into a slurry before being saved by this look, though, so all he saw was the greatest, most beautiful angel in his life.


    The big knight fell back with a screech, not a shout but a goddamn, otherwordly screech. ¡°Fool! She means the end for us both!¡± Whatever was inside Frederick¡¯s body screamed. He turned to Lidia, his eyes a bit worried. Lidia¡¯s eyes narrowed, giving him a disappointed glare before looking at her brother with all the anger in the world. ¡°Only one demon here has hurt me, foul creature. Therefore, I only require your death.¡± The air around her picked up, and suddenly she was in the goddamn air. Seeing that, Elliot couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief. No way in heaven or hell could he be able to go up against that.

 (9) Dont get too close!

    He tackled the brother to the side, only managing to bring them to their knees even though Elliot had run at him with the same speed of a goddamn professional sprinter. He barely had enough time to recover from his own tackle to dodge the possessed knight before they tried putting a fist-sized hole in his chest. He tumbled from the fall, the exhaustion of having to deal with someone four times as heavy as him finally getting to him.


    He groaned, annoyed at the constant chanting behind him. ¡°You know, for the show you just put on you really aren¡¯t helping much!¡± He shouted, briefly turning to Lidia before charging back at the knight. She had really only done a bit more than give her brother a headache, which unfortunately for Elliot it meant the guy who could kill him with one punch was really, really angry. ¡°Bring us forward to salvation, for we have no other way to go than the just path¡­ I¡¯m exorcizing him, you idiot! Now keep him off me before I send you back to the void as well!¡±


    Ah, that made a bit more sense. He jumped over the knight¡¯s kick to his stomach, spinning the air to bring his foot down on their head. It barely fazed the possessed knight. ¡°Do you see now, child of demons? She sees you as nothing more than a tool for her own use¡­ Once you are through with me she will come after- Gah!¡± Elliot didn¡¯t bother listening, knowing damn well that demons were even worse manipulators than even him.


    He had jammed a fist directly into the knight¡¯s neck, this time with his full demonic strength. ¡°Shut up and get out of him already, man. I¡¯m¡­ not feeling good beating on an innocent person.¡± The demon grinned, the malicious expression looking quite terrifying when it towered over him. ¡°Then stop fighting, child of demons. Elliot Dresmr¡­¡± That deserved another good kick in the throat.


    He dodged to the right and went behind him, jumping onto his back and locking his legs around their head. ¡°I¡¯m. Not. A. Demon! Die!¡±He shouted in between punches. He tried giving one last good punch but his legs were grabbed, and he was thrown at Lidia. Just before he hit her, he released the blood in his body out like a hook, spearing it to the ground and stopping him moments before he hit her. Unfortunately, that meant he slammed face-first into the dirt.


    He spat out the grass in his mouth. ¡°Release your reign on this man¡¯s life¡­ How graceful, Elliot.¡± He groaned, picking himself up and taking a boxing stance. ¡°Just¡­ hurry the hell up, ok?¡± She nodded, ¡°The spell is almost complete. The demon is near leaving the body. Just a few more moments before we¡­ Watch out!¡± He turned in time to see a dagger the size and thickness of the end of a pickaxe tearing through the air at them. It had gone so fast that he barely had time to push Lidia out of the way. Time slowed down, the world almost stopped before him.


    It still didn¡¯t mean he could stop the dagger from piercing him. He was thrown alongside it, the thing piercing into the side of a tree and stabbing him in there with it. ¡°GAA-aah?¡±He screamed in pain before he realized the pain really wasn¡¯t as horrific as he¡¯d imagined it. It was still on the level of a constant, numb burn¡­ But nowhere near the pain, he thought a four-inch hole in his chest should be.


    ¡°Child of demons¡­ you have met your end¡­ We will experience life anew¡­ living in¡­¡± The voice faded in and out as Elliot¡¯s vision wavered. Was he dying or something? The whole scene was a bit too surreal for him not to think that. He saw the possessed knight reach for Lidia, the girl trying her best to finish the ritual. How strange, he thought. Despite everything, he¡¯d never felt calmer in his life. In the blurry vision, as if he was watching a screen of someone else¡¯s perspective, he saw himself pull the dagger out with little effort.


    The thing, that weapon covered in his black blood, connected with his arm, making some sort of spear. Then everything went too fast for him to see clearly. He had lunged at the possessed knight, jamming his hand into their chest. Their armor screeched, and the dagger just managed to make a scratch on it before bouncing off. It was still enough to send the man flying, though. ¡°Ellio¡­ Don¡¯t atta¡­¡± The voice was soft and fading, the vision becoming redder with time.


    He got the message, though. Just before the dagger landed in the possessed knight¡¯s neck, he willed it away, instead grabbing it and slamming the knight into the ground. ¡°Demon, accept death. Come to me.¡± He instinctually uttered the words¡­ He may not have known how to deal with demons, but his body sure did. The throat burned hot for a moment before the demon poured out of Frederick¡¯s mouth.


    It was weak thanks to the exorcism, the demon a pale grey wisp instead of the black, mocking cloud it was supposed to be. Barely a shell of its former self. He brought it to his mouth, shoving the struggling demon in and gnashing it in between his teeth. The taste was bitter and sickening, but the power surging inside him was so much he almost wished he¡¯d had more to bite into. Well, he did, but he was sure Lidia would be mad if he started sinking his teeth into her brother.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    His vision became clearer as the power surged through him, and for a moment he was brought back to his senses. The pain in his body was clear, significant, but in no ways unmanageable. Was this how all demons were? He checked the scar on his chest, looking down to see how bad-


    There was a hole in his chest.


    The wound was bigger than the dagger that had caused it, the throw goring through him and leaving a mangled tear in his body. A tear he could see through. He could see the bone and flesh inside through the black blood pouring out, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. ¡­That wasn¡¯t good. He looked over to Frederick and sighed in relief when he found the man passed out, happy to have no need to explain something like this.


    ¡°Dear gods, Elliot! Are you okay!?¡± Lidia crashed into him, checking the opened wound on his back. The same wound that went through his front. ¡°I can¡­ dear gods¡­ I can see through you! Quick, let me cast a healing spell on¡­¡± They looked at each other for a moment, Elliot¡¯s wraps were completely removed at this point, torn off in the heat of battle.


    Her breath hitched, and for a moment she¡¯d forgotten the demon in front of her. She¡¯d forgotten the beautifully wicked face in front of her. She reached out to touch the face of the man who had come to save her. From someone as strong as her brother-


    Elliot backed off, a worried look on his face. ¡°W-wait! Isn¡¯t healing magic harmful to demons!? I think I remember hearing about that. The magic is holy, right?¡± She looked at him in astonishment, her hand closing slowly into a tight, balled-up fist. ¡°Yes¡­ Healing magic is known to cause sickness in demonic beings¡­¡± Elliot grinned, knowing he was right. ¡°Then¡­ Maybe don¡¯t get too close with that magic staff of yours- Hey, wait! What are you doing!?¡±


    Lidia had raised her staff, the air around her rising again. ¡°Oh, dear god. Lead this lamb to salvation, so that he may eat once more. Let this man experience-¡± He didn¡¯t bother listening, turning to run in the opposite direction. He was sure she was just joking but when his life was on the line he couldn¡¯t help but not find it humorous. He made it down the road just before the girl had finished, the spell still blasting him in the chest, causing him to hit the ground in a tumble. She¡­ Hadn¡¯t been joking?


    ________________________________________________________


    ¡°Blaurgh¡­ Guh¡­ Please¡­ I just want to die¡­¡± He spewed his guts all over the floor, his back being consolingly rubbed by Lidia as if she¡¯d done this a million times. ¡°There, there¡­ The sickness will pass eventually. You¡¯ll feel much better afterward, the hole has already closed up.¡± She was right. The hole in his chest had magically reconnected once again, leaving nothing but the terrible sinking feeling in his stomach that he¡¯d done something wrong, inhumane.


    He hurled again. ¡°Why¡­ Oh, god¡­ How the hell¡­ did you even¡­ even know that this would happen!?¡± She looked to her side, a look on her face that indicated she didn¡¯t want to say. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a tactic. For capturing demonic beings. Once you have them near death, you heal them with all your mana, leaving them at their strongest and yet at their most vulnerable. They become easy to capture and tame, then.¡±


    He looked at her like she¡¯d told him she was about to skin him. ¡°You¡­ goddamnit¡­ When the hell did you have time to capture demons!? I thought¡­ urgh¡­ I thought you said demons didn¡¯t hang around here¡­¡± She scoffed. ¡°Pure demons like you, sure. Demonic beings, however, are everywhere. We met about a dozen of them, remember? The goblins?The shade? Oh, there there¡­ it¡¯s ok¡­¡± Midway through her conversation, he¡¯d started releasing the contents in his stomach again, and she rubbed his back consolingly¡­ Her hands were warm on his back, making him feel more comfortable than he cared to say.


    So he didn¡¯t.¡°...What are we going to do about your brother? He doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯ll wake up any time soon. And can you explain to me just what the hell happened for him to turn like that?¡± He wiped the bile from his face, his stomach finally settling down. He was glad he wasn¡¯t heaving every couple of seconds now. Lidia gave him a wry smile, looking over to the area where her brother had thrown the sword.


    ¡°My brother¡­ he must have been¡­ lonely, when looking for me. The demon fed on his feelings when he was isolated, and used the burst of emotions when he finally met me to¡­ to take over.¡± Elliot stood, wiping his hands on his shirt. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. Wouldn¡¯t the demon have gotten weaker when Frederick reunited with you?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It only worsened it, I¡¯m afraid. Some demons feed on all strong emotions. Most just tend to come from negativity. There are some that only feed on happy emotions, like Fairies and Pixies¡­ but mostly they feed on simple, strong emotion to grow more powerful.¡±


    She paused, before looking up with a red face. ¡°Ah! But that is only certain demons! This shadowling was one of them. Most just consume food and drink to get by¡­ uh¡­ This wasn¡¯t your fault, Elliot.¡± His eyes widened. How had she noticed? He was a demon, and all of a sudden a demon had attacked her brother, so of course, he¡¯d have thought it was his fault. He was good at hiding that type of guilt, though¡­ so how the hell did she?


    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry if you didn¡¯t think that. You just seemed a bit sad, was all¡­¡± She grabbed him by the hand, giving him a warm and patient smile. ¡°You¡¯ve done nothing but help me¡­ Thank you, Elliot.¡± Her grip tightened around his hand, and for a moment the sickness had all but faded. His stomach felt warm, his heart felt warm. He just felt warm in general. ¡°Uh¡­ thanks, Lidia. I couldn¡¯t have done it without your¡­ your¡­ urgh.¡±


    The moment had passed, and Elliot threw himself to the side to avoid spewing all over Lidia¡¯s face. He didn¡¯t notice the look on her face, gratitude mixed with an ungodly amount of frustration. He had no time to care even if he had, though, since Elliot had felt sicker than ever before.

 (10) I should keep my mouth shut...

    The power he¡¯d gained from the demon swirled inside him¡­ it wasn¡¯t strength, exactly. Instead, it was as if some options had been opened up for him. His body felt freer than ever, less so in how he moved and more in¡­ what he could do. But what exactly was that¡­ His concentration was broken as the giant knight on top of him groaned and moved his body, their massive arm coming down to slap him in the face.


    God, this was just horrible. ¡°Lidia¡­ Help¡­¡± The girl walking behind him saw the scene and laughed, gently moving the giant arm aside and allowing Elliot to see again. ¡°... He¡¯s your brother, you know? That usually means you have to carry the body.¡± Another laugh, filling the air with a sweetness he had started to grow to grow uncomfortable without. ¡°The dashing prince who slew the demon knight and save the princess¡­ Only fair for you to continue the act, no?¡±


    He scowled. ¡°I¡¯m a demon, you know. Usually, they¡¯re just a tad more selfish than that. You¡¯re lucky he¡¯s so heavy, or I¡¯d have already tossed him onto you.¡± She stuck her tongue out at him, running ahead as if to get out of brother tossing range. He wanted to stick his own tongue ut at her but the bandages were back, tighter than ever. He groaned, shifting Frederick¡¯s weight on top of him so he could have an easier time walking.


    It only caused the arm to fall back down on his face.


    ¡°...Lidia¡­¡±


    ______________________________________________________________


    The trek to the city had been quite an effort to make. Even with his demon strength, he¡¯d found himself with his arms shaking by the time he¡¯d made it to the gates. Carrying what was probably 500 pounds of steel armor and muscle would do that to a person¡­ As well as the giant thick slab of metal called a sword that had weighed about a good 200 pounds on its own. The city¡¯s entrance was beautiful, with a giant river standing in between the gate and himself.


    The bridge between was nothing short of immaculate, either. Giant pillars of green stood at the sides, made of a crystal that looked way too much like an emerald. The bridge was nowhere near empty, though. Apparently, their presence was good enough to cause a major commotion. ¡°Lidia! Oh, gods, Lidia!!!¡± Lidia beside him was suddenly tackled out of nowhere by what seemed to look like a child, it wasn¡¯t until he turned around that he realized that it was, in fact, just a short girl.


    Quite a muscled up one, too, despite looking as if she barely scraped past five foot. Despite being about two heads shorter than him, the girl had a body on her like a pro wrestler. Unfortunately, that body was being used to snap Lidia¡¯s spine. ¡°Please¡­ let go¡­ Can¡¯t breathe¡­ Sadie.¡± Lidia moaned. The girl who he now knew was Sadie gasped in surprise, jumping back and knocking into him. The density of her was enough to have him thrown forward, and he¡¯d almost dropped the giant knight on top of him because of it.


    Jesus, this girl was solid.


    ¡°Ah, sorry about that! Natasha and Gerald have already called for a medic¡­ I take it it was from exhaustion, right?¡± The short girl said. Slapping the knight¡¯s leg as if he were a prized hunk f meat. Lidia nodded solemnly, looking at her brother with worry. ¡°A shadeling¡­ Frederick must have been devastated at my loss¡­ It is thanks to this man that I was able to get away at all, though¡­ Sadie¡­ this is Elliot.¡±


    He gave his best smile as he reached his hand out, before remembering his face was covered in bandages. ¡°Hello, My name is Elliot Dresmr. You must be sadie, right? I¡¯ve heard quite a bit- ¡­ow.¡± Lidia stepped on his foot and give him a venomous glare, to which he waved her off. ¡°...about you. Ow.¡± He moved away from her, using the confused Sadie as a makeshift shield between them. Then, as if a lightbulb flashed in her head, Sadie realized.


    ¡°Lidia! You told him about Erik!?¡± Lidia stepped back, her hands raised defensively. ¡°It wasn¡¯t me! That idiot Frederick opened his stupid mouth!¡± Sadie turned to look at Frederick, and by proxy him, with spite. He gave a big smile. ¡°When they talked about you I hadn¡¯t expected someone so strong¡­ You must have quite a big heart, yes?¡± He grinned as the girl turned red. Quite a way to break the mood, no?


    ¡°You¡­ You keep your nose out of places where it doesn¡¯t belong, you hear me?¡± He saw her clench her fist, the muscles in her arms flexing and shifting like a machine. Ooh, maybe he¡¯d accidentally made an enemy right about then. That wouldn¡¯t do. He gently laid the big knight aside, turning to the girl with his head lowered. He kneeled when he realized he had still been towering over her. ¡°I apologize. It wasn¡¯t my intention to ridicule you¡­ From what I heard you seemed like such a great person, so I couldn¡¯t help but openly admire your strength.¡±


    Lidia had most likely caught onto his bullshit. They had barely even mentioned her at all, let alone said anything actually positive. Everything he was saying now was just to sweeten her up. He looked up, happy to see the girl confused and embarrassed. Most people with too much strength never really took the time to speak with their words. It caused them to stutter and fail at times like these, where tact was more useful than fists.


    She obviously thought this was too much, but couldn¡¯t find a way to tell him. This was when he set out the bait. ¡°I think we started off on the wrong foot¡­ Do you think we can talk this out again over a meal?¡± She looked at him weirdly before speaking. ¡°Uh¡­ yes. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t think that¡­ that uh¡­¡± Hah, she was trying to apologize for something she didn¡¯t do. ¡°How about this. I¡¯ll forget everything they told me, and in exchange-¡± He went a bit closer, into her personal space. ¡°-You can tell me yourself exactly what you want me to know. ¡±


    He grinned, the teeth in his mouth turning dangerously sharp. ¡°How about it?¡± The poor girl nodded, looking as if she¡¯d seen a wolf. She was red in the ears, which just went to show how confused she was about the situation. It was a pretty neat way to make others not hate you, he had found out. It even worked on guys sometimes, if he was a bit more careful about it- ¡°Gah¡­¡± Something hard smacked him on the head, and he turned to find Lidia staring at him with a deadpan expression. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    He smiled, shifting close enough to her that she could hear him whisper. He didn¡¯t see her flinch, though. ¡°I really thought I had screwed it up with your friend there. Good thing she¡¯s willing to give me a second chance, yeah?¡± Her face didn¡¯t change, and he felt fear in his heart. He sort of understood how Lidia felt about him, and he also understood that she was deranged and a bit of a controlling person. He had tried passing what had just happened off as a small, flirty conversation but it seemed she wasn¡¯t buying it.


    ¡°Uhuh¡­ Let¡¯s get going.¡± The voice was almost as cold as his own demon voice, making him shudder. This girl had his life in her hands, and he had to make sure she wouldn¡¯t spill it. He went to get after her but she was already with Sadie, looking back at him with the same cold look. ¡°Please get Frederick, Elliot. We can¡¯t have him passed out in the middle of the bridge.¡± He¡­ Couldn¡¯t refute that. Sighing, he lugged the massive man onto his back before following along with the two girls. He felt way too much like a pack mule at the moment.


    It wasn¡¯t long before they had met up with the other two Lidia had mentioned, as well as a couple of men who took Frederick off his hands. Jack and Natasha, if he remembered their names correctly. She was tackled again by the new girl, amusingly enough. She was as tall as him and almost as lanky. Her skin was olive and her eyes were green, but the most striking feature about her was her ears. They were pointy and long, which made him think of an elf. ¡°Lidia! Dear gods, you¡¯re alive!¡± She shouted. The force in her tackle was nowhere near the amount of the short, muscular one, but it still held just the same amount of fervent worry and relief.


    She had to bend over to hug Lidia, which was actually sort of endearing. Jack was different. He was just as tall as Lidia, which was around 5¡¯8. With dark hair and a pair of sharp, dark brown eyes, and a sharp jawline, he was also pretty dashing. He expected Jack to also move in but the man kept his distance, his arms crossed. He could still see the relief in his eyes, though, and he knew he was an okay guy.


    He¡¯d keep his distance from the two either way, though. The ¡®elf¡¯ was at his eye level, the only one of them to be that way. She was the one most likely to notice his¡­ ailment. The reason he didn¡¯t want to be around Jack. The way he acted, the way he dressed, the way he looked at him with narrowed eyes, sizing him up even when they were having a big reunion¡­ that guy was the one most likely to figure out his secret.


    He also seemed the most likely to kill him for it.


    The pleasantries had finally finished at some point, and this time he hadn¡¯t been introduced by Lidia. Sadie had to take up the mantle for this one. ¡°This is Elliot. He saved Lidia when she was in trouble¡­ He also protected her when Frederick had been possessed.¡± She said, her eyes looking back and forth between them as if she was being a mediator. By the way the two acted, he realized it was necessary. The elf had a strained look on her face as she saw him, or more specifically, his bandages.


    ¡°Did¡­ you get those while fighting for Lidia?¡± Sadie gasped, turning to him quickly. Even Lidia flinched when she heard that, which he found amusing. ¡°Forgive her, Elliot. Most elves are immune to curses so-¡± She was interrupted before she could finish. ¡°Where did you say you found this guy? He just so happened to be hiding in the woods when he found you?¡± Jack said, looking suspiciously at him. Damn, he hoped he was wrong about the guy.


    ¡°Lidia? Where did you find him again?¡± Lidia looked shocked, and for a moment he had expected her to spill the secret.¡±Um¡­ I was running away from a group of goblins¡­ Then he jumped from the sky and took care of them for me.¡± Oh, godammit. The man turned to him with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Out of the sky? How do you figure he found you? People don¡¯t hide in the woods unless they¡¯re on the run or a bandit. What¡¯s under the bandages, Elliot?¡±


    Oh, god-fucking-damnit. He turned to Lidia in a ¡°Now what the hell am I gonna do!?¡± way, only to realize she was doing the same thing. ¡°Nothing to say, Elliot? You wouldn¡¯t mind if I just peeked a-¡± Just as the bastard reached for the bandages on his face, a hand grabbed his arm, hard. He turned to Lidia in surprise, only to find it hadn¡¯t actually been her, but Sadie, of all people. Her face was furious, looking at her friend as if he was lower than dirt.


    ¡°Jack¡­ You don¡¯t just make someone remove something they don¡¯t want to. It''s not your face, is it?.¡± Jack looked at her with a frown, trying to pull back to absolutely no avail. That was a bit scary, Elliot couldn¡¯t lie. ¡°Understand?¡± She asked, once again. Her tone was calm but forceful, anger no longer showing on her face. He almost expected her to start speaking demon and start attacking them, like with what happened with Frederick. ¡°Yes¡­¡± The two of them said, Elliot speaking up purely by accident.


    They all looked at Elliot confusedly, and he laughed. ¡°Sorry, force of habit¡­¡± With his mind not panicking anymore, he was finally able to think of a proper way to douse their suspicion. He turned to Jack, who was looking at him with a mixture of guilt and spite. Trying to act as sympathetic as he could with his uncaring tone of voice, he reached a hand out to the man. ¡°Sorry about¡­ acting so suspicious, if it makes you feel any better, Lidia has helped me unwrap the bandages before. She could tell you what I look like, if you wish. She was unfortunate enough to see the cruelty on my face.¡±


    Jack turned to Lidia in surprise, before she got the hint and quickly nodded. The man¡¯s angry face buckled completely, the realization that he¡¯d almost done something terrible dawning on him. God, that felt sweet. His face immediately turned guilty and angry, more at his own self rather than at Elliot. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. Forgive me for acting so suspicious. You can understand where I came from¡­ right?¡± Jack turned to Lidia, looking for any form of acceptance, ¡°...right?¡±


    He turned to her, happy at the suppressed look of horror on her face as he shoved all the responsibility onto her. ¡°I must thank you again, Lidia¡­ For helping me with such an endeavor. It must have been quite a difficult experience for you. Oh, and¡­¡± He forgot to thank the most important one. The one who saved his life just then. He bent his back forward a bit, looking the short, muscular girl in the eyes. ¡°Thank you, Sadie¡­ I¡¯m not quite comfortable showing my face to people I haven¡¯t gotten to know yet¡­ It means a lot that a stranger like you cares so much for my privacy.¡±


    She blushed, opening her mouth to speak before closing it and turning away. Eventually, she managed to eke out a response. ¡°N-no problem¡­ I understand you have secrets you¡¯d rather not tell. I hope¡­ We¡­ can eventually earn your trust as well as¡­.¡± She turned to Lidia with a flash of emotion in her eye. ¡°As well as Lidia, one day.¡± He laughed, remembering how ¡°accepting¡± the girl had been with him in the beginning. ¡°It was more forced upon me when I went to save her¡­ And she had quite the startled look on her face when she¡¯d first seen me. You¡¯d swear she¡¯d seen a demon.¡± She gave him a glaring look, those eyes looking as if they could kill. ¡°...though I can¡¯t say we haven¡¯t grown closer because of it¡­ haha.¡±


    The look pacified a bit, but her underlying anger was still there, leaving a lasting sense of danger with him. It only got worse as Sadie continued the conversation, the girl funnier and more charming than he was willing to admit. He got the same, weird feeling from her whenever he talked about Lidia, though¡­ and it was a tad bit more terrifying, considering the girl could probably crush him like a grape.


    There was no winning, all because he¡¯d tried having fun on the bridge¡­ There was no way out as long as Lidia knew his secret, and he wasn¡¯t about to kill a person for such a thing¡­ He sighed, promising himself that the moment he was alone and with enough money he¡¯d buy a map and leave this city, and all the crazy people living inside it.

 (11) Finally, some peace...

    He raised the half-full mug to the sky, the raucous noise around the adventurer¡¯s guild making him feel livelier than ever before. ¡°...And that was when the wind picked up around her! She looked like she controlled the sky! For a moment I thought I was screwed, thinking some kind of wind god had taken over her body! Imagine it! A god in the back and a demon in the front! I was sure I¡¯d be a stain on the floor.¡± The group laughed while Lidia remained silent next to him, her ears red as he described the story.


    He¡¯d decided to let her take most of the credit, so he had asked her what usually happened when an exorcism was completed. Luckily, it had been the same thing he¡¯d had done, so there wasn¡¯t really much truth to bend. Not that much of it was a lie to begin with. ¡°The way she rose up in the air¡­ The way her hair floated in the sky¡­ It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I really am thankful for the experience.¡± The group went silent, looking at him and briefly at Lidia, who at that point couldn¡¯t even look at him.


    He laughed, nervously. Might have gone too far with the praise¡­


    It was Jack, fortunately, who brought the life back to the conversation. ¡°Bah! If you think that girl is impressive then you should see me in a fight! People say they can¡¯t even find where I am before ten arrows get knocked into them!¡± Sadie gave him a deadpan look. ¡°If he can¡¯t see you, then it wouldn¡¯t be that impressive, right?¡± Jack opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came. Elliot wouldn¡¯t let the man just crash and burn like that, however.


    He bent forward, his eyes, the only thing they could see, alight with curiosity. ¡°Really? I¡¯ve heard of those who move silently, but never one who could remain unseen mid-fight. How do you do it?¡± Jack, who went for the lifeline, had the biggest grin on his face. He reached over to grab Elliot by the neck in a brotherly way. ¡°Why would I tell you when I can show you? Let¡¯s head to the sparring hall as soon as we finish our drinks.¡±


    Elliot laughed, rubbing the guy in the ribs. ¡°Are you sure you can still go after everything you¡¯ve had to drink? I won¡¯t take it easy, you know?¡± When they had come here, the poor guy had done nothing but stay silent and drink as they recalled what had happened, eventually, after a couple of mugs of alcohol, he had slowly opened up to him.


    If slowly meant they¡¯d become best friends immediately.


    What was to hate? Jack was funny, knew how to take a jab, was nice to look at. The whole package!


    ` ...maybe he¡¯d had a bit too much to drink as well.


    ¡°You both might have had too much to drink, friends¡­ we might have to limit your intake at this point¡­¡± Frederick said, anxiously. The knight had woken up soon after, and had headed back to the adventurer¡¯s hall to look for them and vehemently apologize to both Lidia and him. Unfortunately, he¡¯d caught them at the very moment he had started talking about the ¡°Giant, demonic knight that had almost torn him in two.¡± So he had been quiet for most of the time.


    Elliot had felt a bit awkward at first continuing the story, but a mug of whatever that warm, creamy alcohol was had given him his tongue back. It may have been a bit much, though. ¡°Ah, let the boy¡¯s drink, Freddy¡­ It¡¯s quite fun to see two who had started on quite bad terms act so endearing to each other.¡± Natasha said. Her eyes zeroed in on him, running a hand through her hair. ¡°Especially when it had happened almost immediately.¡±


    His eyes narrowed ever so slightly at her words. The others had told him elves were unusually brash when it came to speaking their minds, but that hadn¡¯t meant he had to like it.


    He¡¯d spent way too much time concealing his words for the two of them to ever get along.


    Still, she wasn¡¯t out to get him, he was sure she¡¯d tell him in her oh so angelic tone of hers, so he really didn¡¯t see anything wrong with befriending her.


    At least, not until she opened her mouth again. ¡°So, Elliot. Your features, could it be your part elf? Or perhaps part of a demonic race? I¡¯ve been curious about it since you first spoke.¡± Lidia flinched, but Elliot kept his cool despite feeling like the world was ending. ¡°Elves. Though, despite that, it was only due to being raised by them. I¡¯m human, for the most part. Though, I wouldn¡¯t know, per say, since i was abandoned.¡±


    He had been considering the backstory for a while now. The elf had the same tone of voice as his, and considering what the others said it was a common thing among them. The abandonment part of the story was mainly so they wouldn¡¯t ask any more questions he couldn¡¯t answer. Even the elf seemed to quiet down when she heard that. Sadie, bless her soul, didn¡¯t. ¡°Ah! That explains your¡­ rudeness in the bridge earlier. I know from experience just how hard it is to break cultural norms around others¡­¡±


    He fought the rising excitement in his stomach. He hadn¡¯t even thought of that. ¡°No, it''s still my fault. Be it raised by elves or not I am still a man. I shouldn¡¯t try to anger others.¡± He turned towards the man still strangling him by the neck as they tried to drink another mug without spilling it on themselves. ¡°Though, sometimes I don¡¯t know exactly what i¡¯ve done wrong.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jack grinned, spilling some of the mug on his clothes.They were ruined goblin clothes but he still found himself looking at the stain with sadness. ¡°Speaking of which, Lidia! You¡¯ve seen the man¡¯s face, right? Tell us what¡¯s up with him.¡± Elliot saw Sadie turn to chastise him but Elliot put a hand out. He looked at Lidia, who was sweating. He definitely wanted to see this¡­ ¡°No, it¡¯s okay¡­ Might as well do it this way rather than have another moment like before.¡±


    If it hadn¡¯t been for the cold tone in his voice that would have come out as malicious as he could manage it. It came out sincere sounding, though, so the muscular girl sat down with a worried look. Satisfied, he turned to Lidia, making sure she¡¯d notice he amusement in his eyes, ¡°go on.¡± He could feel her stepping on his feet, which hurt more than he thought since she had been wearing shoes while he just had cloth wrapped around his feet.


    He kept his poker face the whole time, though. ¡°...so, uh¡­ Lidia?¡± Sadie said, inquisitively. The others went silent too, looking at the poor girl who was going to reveal everything. It was hilarious. ¡°He¡­ has a scar above his right eye and on his¡­ cheeks. And his face is¡­ a bit handsome, I guess. And he had these bright green eyes that turned a golden yellow in the sunshine¡­ uh¡­You guys can see that already.¡±


    The girl had looked down the entire time, clasping her hands together under the table. She was really bad at lying, but this came off as if she was unsure of what to say, so it didn¡¯t seem too suspicious. He let her slowly fall into a deeper nervous wreck. In the meanwhile, he touched his face. So, his eyes were green, huh? They had been hazel in his past life. The others noticed him, Sadie and weirdly enough Jack looking as if they¡¯d heard too much.


    ¡°If this is too much for us to hear we can stop, Elliot¡­¡± Jack said. He put a hand on his his shoulder consolingly, which confused Elliot. He nodded and gently put the hand back on the table, no need to have this man strangle him again. ¡°It''s quite alright. Enough about me, though. Let¡¯s speak about you four, if you guys don¡¯t mind. I¡¯m interested in your stories.¡± The group became lively again, each turnin to each other and trying to figure out which story to tell.


    Meanwhile, he moved closer to Lidia¡¯s ear.


    ¡°What the hell did you tell them? They looked like you told them I had no face.¡± She crossed her arms defensively, turning away. ¡°How was I supposed to know what to say!? You put me on the spot!¡± No¡­ no way. His jaw dropped, ¡°You¡­ didn¡¯t actually tell them i had no face, right?¡± She gave him an angry look. ¡°No! Weren¡¯t you listening!? I told them¡­that your mouth was¡­ cut.¡± He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Cut, how?¡±


    Goddammit. She didn¡¯t¡­ ¡°I told them¡­ you didn¡¯t have the right side of your cheek. That it looked torn off.¡± Ah¡­ He had expected worse. That was honestly a good enough disfigurement to keep his face wrapped up without making him look like a complete monster. ¡°Oh, that was actually pretty smart of you. Good job. I thought you made me have lesions or something, something just straight up gross.¡±


    She looked at him weirdly, before sighing in relief. ¡°Good. For a minute I thought I¡¯d gone too far. So why did you touch your face? You made me look like I said too much.¡± He shrugged, looking at the people in front of him slowly becoming more angry as they tried to settle on a story to tell. It was lighthearted fun, but seeing these people who could probably all destroy him in an actual one-on-one combat in the same place calling each other insults¡­


    It was a bit scary. ¡°...What about I choose what to talk about? Like¡­ I want to know how Sadie and Frederick became so strong.¡± If he could get muscle like that on this wiry body¡­ Frederick opened his mouth with a grin, looking ready to boast until Jack cut in. ¡°Aye, Frederick was always that size, but spells from his fancy family allow him to cultivate strength inside him. It makes him want to eat like crazy, though. Bastard could eat a horse in a day and ask for seconds if you let him¡­¡± The poor knight looked like he wanted to refute what was said, but couldn¡¯t.


    Sadie looked at jack with a bit of hesitance. ¡°Um, Jack¡­ Maybe don¡¯t-¡± Jack soon pointed to Sadie. ¡±And Sadie? She¡¯s a dwarf so it come with the property. Though she¡¯s a bit taller than the normal dwarf runts. I tell her it¡¯s cause she¡¯s half human but that¡¯s not how it works, apparently.¡± The girl looked down, and for a moment everyone was silent until Jack gasped, his eyes suddenly opening wide. ¡°Ah, i was probably not s¡¯posed t¡¯say that¡­ You¡¯re fine with dwarves, right Elliot?¡±


    Dwarves? Why wouldn¡¯t he? Weren''t they just short people? ¡°I¡­ Don¡¯t see why I wouldn¡¯t be. Sadie¡¯s been nothing but kind to me, even when I was rude. Do¡­ people see dwarves in a certain way?¡± The group went silent, before Sadie chuckled. ¡°Of course people do¡­ Dwarves and humans aren¡¯t exactly in the best conditions at the moment. Do you really not know why?¡±


    Elliot laughed nervously, once again aware of how little he knew about the world. He had to be vague. ¡°Ah, I lived quite a¡­ sheltered life before I left my family. For the past few months I¡¯ve done nothing but travel.¡± That was good enough, right? Natasha came in from nowhere, saving his hide. ¡°Ah, yes. You lived with elves before, did you not? It makes sense that you hadn¡¯t heard about the human¡¯s betrayal. Elves tend to not bother with other races'' affairs.¡±


    The table went silent at that. Even Lidia looked like she¡¯d rather be elsewhere. The human betrayal¡­ What could that have meant? Dammit¡­ he wanted to know. He really, really wanted to know. ¡±...How about another story, Frederick? I know someone as big as yourself could take a dragon if he wanted to.¡± The knight flinched, before a grin appeared on his face. ¡°No dragon, but I have fought a drake once.¡± The whole team groaned.


    ¡°You¡¯ve told that story a million times, Frederick¡­¡± Lidia moaned. The proud knight puffed out his chest, ¡°Never to the little hero, though. Sit back, Elliot. I¡¯ll tell you about when I alone took on a scaled beast twice my size.¡± Sadie gasped, sarcastically. ¡°Twice your size? How can anything get any bigger than you?¡± The knight ignored her snippet and continued. Elliot watched on as the big man told his tale. He wasn¡¯t listening, but the way the knight moved made it seem like quite a grand battle.


    The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, each member bragging about something they¡¯d taken on on their own. He had just stayed silent, better not to make the whole atmosphere awkward again¡­ He¡¯d definitely try to find out what the ¡°Human betrayal¡± was, or meant¡­ Right after the night was over, though, and Jack finished his story of fighting a group of ogres.

 (12) I dont want to be alone.

    God, everything was woozy. How was he supposed to walk like this? Thank god for the girl beside him. ¡°What the hell made you drink that much!?¡± Lidia asked, struggling to keep his stock frame up as he leaned against her. She smelled nice, like earth and roses. ¡°...You shoulds stopped muh¡­ Iwasn¡¯... I didn¡¯ try drinkn¡¯ a¡®fore this¡­¡± It was true. He was a good boy in his past life, so he hardly tried drinking, unless he¡¯d gotten one over on his dad and they celebrated.


    He leaned over a bit too much when he spoke, almost tripping before Lidia caught him ¡°I thought demons were a bit more tolerant! You were drinking like a madman! You¡¯re telling me this was the first time you¡­ oh, yeah.¡± He grinned. She remembered he was a demon, didn¡¯t she? ¡°Dun worry, it''s hard tuh get my head around, too¡­¡± She rolled her eyes. She was carrying him somewhere. Where, he wasn¡¯t sure, but he wasn¡¯t going to complain to the girl who had literally saved his life just a moment ago.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Leyla¡­ Thank yuh for stopping me back there¡­ Back there¡­ I wasn¡¯ thinkn¡¯ back there¡­¡± The girl sighed, giving him a tired smile. She¡¯d been through a lot, and he couldn¡¯t help but think he was only adding to her problems. ¡°You really almost messed everything up, too. Maybe you should stop drinking in general. You can¡¯t afford to act like that again.¡± He nodded along to her words, guilt plaguing his heart.


    When he was at the adventurers guild, earlier, he had drunk so much that he had lost all common sense. He still remembered it, and if his demon face could, he¡¯d have gone red with embarrassment. He¡¯d gotten way too drunk, and in the middle of singing with Jack, he¡¯d accidentally tried ripping off the bandages. It was way too hot and stuffy in them, which to his drunken, delirious mind meant nothing else than to take them off.


    Lidia had literally tackled him when he¡¯d done that. The group had gone crazy at that, booing the girl for stopping his attempt at removing the bandages. ¡­They were all pretty drunk, now that he thought back on it. He swore he¡¯d seen Lidia drink her fair share, though. Id that was the case, why did she look so sober, then?


    His thought process was interrupted when Lidia pushed him through a random door, putting him on a seat while she went up to a girl on the counter. He looked around, the place actually seemed sorta comfy. It was a large, wooden building that was pretty wide, a giant, spiraling staircase leading up to a second floor that looked down on where he sat. There weren¡¯t quite as many people as in the adventuring guild, and everyone was quiet, just enjoying the sweet, calming atmosphere. It was¡­ a bit sobering, actually. He still felt like he¡¯d fall over any second, but he was just sober enough to recall his past actions¡­ and feel terrible over them.


    He looked over to Lidia, who was still over on the counter. She was smiling, chatting it up with the girl on the counter while he sat there, alone. It occurred to him that there really wasn¡¯t anyone in this city he knew. Everyone was¡­ a stranger to him. Worse, most of them were only keeping him alive because he was a stranger to them. If they saw his real face¡­ they¡¯d stab him, with a spear¡­ Like Lidia had done when she¡¯d first seen him.


    She¡¯d only trusted him on a fluke. He¡¯d only learned her language on a fluke. Their entire relationship was built completely on a fluke¡­ How the hell was he supposed to feel about that? Eventually, she went back to him, her smile going back to the disappointed expression as she looked at his sorry ass. A far cry from the kind smile she had with the girl on the counter.


    He couldn¡¯t blame her.


    She went to his side and put one of his arms over her, picking him up. ¡°Come on, Elliot. I got you a room for a couple of nights. Sorry, but we¡¯ll need to get you up the stairs, first¡­ Elliot?¡± He had his head hung low, unable to look the girl in the eyes. He had manipulated her. Used her moment of weakness to get into her mind, make her think he was a good person. ¡°Nothing, Leyla¡­ Leh¡¯s go.¡± She helped prop him up, but hit him in the side. ¡°You¡¯ve called me that twice, now. My name is Lidia, not Leyla, idiot.¡±


    He gave her a confused look. When had he started calling her by that psycho¡¯s name? If it wasn¡¯t for his terrible Ex-girlfriend he¡¯d still be in his old world, getting by on half a granola bar while he tried his best to mooch off his friends. Jesus¡­ how were his friends handling his death.. His dad¡­If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Eh, the man was probably over it by now.


    ¡°Sorry, Lidia¡­ My tongue is a bit slow right now..¡± Another lie. He didn¡¯t know why he¡¯d seen his ex in her but he knew it wasn¡¯t just a slip of the tongue. He was scared of being alone, so much to the point he desperately wanted Lidia by his side. Needed her by his side.


    ¡°Slowly, now. If you fall I''m letting go of you.¡± She said, her soft voice mixed with a bit of snark, feeling nice in his ears. It always started out like this. He¡¯d feel lonely, and he¡¯d latch onto those he thought would get rid of that loneliness. He snuck his hand off her shoulders and to her waist, holding onto her a bit tighter. He hoped she hadn¡¯t noticed this small, insignificant show of affection. Judging by the red tint on her face, she had.


    It would have been easy. Maybe not today, but it¡¯d be easy to make her obsessed with him, if only for a month, a week¡­ Hell, even a day would be enough for him. She¡¯d be everything to him, and he¡¯d be everything to her, to the point where neither would feel complete without the other when they inevitably split apart. Despite the twisted reasoning behind his emotions, though, he still felt like this girl would make him happy¡­


    She had stopped in the middle of the stairs, looking him in the eyes with a sparkle he¡¯d seen so many times before. He pulled her closer, her eyes reflecting his own as he tried not to rush it. Her eyes had become droopy, showing just how little her brain was actually working in the situation. A look he himself has had with every girl he¡¯d been with. She was happy, she was scared, she was barely thinking¡­


    If he did this, if he reached in and pulled down the bandages¡­ if he kissed her.


    Everything would be fine, just for a moment.


    But he wouldn¡¯t this time. This was a new world. A world where he couldn¡¯t afford to lose the few connections he still had. He¡¯d be a new person, someone who wouldn¡¯t decide if people were either nothing but entertainment or his entire world on the drop of a dime.


    He feigned slipping on the stairs, letting go of the girl¡¯s waist before falling back. It sucked that they had to have that lovely moment when they were two-thirds the way up the stairs... In the fall he caught her flustered face turning to one of fear, and then of disappointment as she watched him tumble down the stairs. His eyes had started to work really well at noticing these types of things, he realized.


    Was it a demon thing, being able to see the small changes in emotion on someone¡¯s face? He¡¯d had such trouble with that before he¡¯d been brought into this magical world. He wished he¡¯d been as blind as before. Now that he could see what his actions could do, he had to actually think about how the other person felt. Their pain, their anger¡­ their guilt. The entire time he¡¯d been thinking, his head and body were smashing into every damn step along the way. Eventually, he hit the ground, his body unhurt physically.


    It was still painful enough to sober him up a bit more, though. Eventually, the two had gotten up the stairs. He¡¯d played up the drunk act, making sure to be just on the level where if she tried anything it¡¯d be taking advantage of him. He could see the frustration in her eyes, the way she looked at his hands when he reached for the handles near the stairs. The way her breath hitched every time he made a passing glance at her, expecting it to reignite the moment they had just before.


    She wanted him to do something, anything, but he wasn¡¯t about to ruin the only friendship he had in this city. Eventually, they made it to where he was supposed to sleep. ¡°Here. Sleep.¡± Lidia curtly said. She must have been angry, and it made sense. He¡¯d been acting like a complete tool to her despite her help. It was a nice room, and for a moment he¡¯d considered just how much she¡¯d spent on it.


    A small part of him also saw the size of the bed and wondered why it seemed like it was made for two, before he squashed the thought under his foot. He walked in, only realizing until he was inside that he¡¯d pulled her along with him. He smiled as he pulled himself away from her and flopped onto the bed. He turned to look at her as he undid the bandages on his face. ¡°...Thank you, Lidia. Before I met you, I really thought I''d be alone forever. With nothing but goblins to keep me company.¡±


    He finally unraveled the tight cloth around his face, releasing his pale face and fine, sharp teeth. It was good to feel the air again. ¡°Who¡¯d have known I¡¯d have met you?¡± He saw the way her face became a mixture of hopeful and anxious emotions. He knew that feeling all too well. It was quite endearing how the girl still hadn¡¯t given up, despite his drunkenness. Wasn¡¯t being drunk a turn-off? All of a sudden all his weariness finally caught up to him. The nice, drunken feeling in his body as well as the soft pillows only speeded up the process. ¡°...Goodnight.¡±


    He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, ignoring the spiteful glare of the girl in front of him. She was all he had for now, and he was too scared to see that go away.

 (13) That wasnt me...

    Ugh¡­ where the hell was he? Elliot opened his eyes, the pain of them opening making him groan in pain. His head hurt. Bad. What the hell happened yesterday for him to become like this¡­ oh. The thoughts came back as he looked at his hands. He had removed the wrappings on his head and right-hand last night, as well as his only good piece of armor. The gauntlet. For a moment he had forgotten who he was, or what had happened in the short while he¡¯d been here.


    It was ridiculous to think that he¡¯d forgotten all this insanity.


    He chuckled, picking himself up from the bed. At least, he tried. He just cried out harder in pain as the blood rushed back into his head. Dammit. This was why drinking was only a thing for celebrations. He¡¯d always been a bit out of control when he¡­. Drank. It wasn¡¯t until then that he noticed Lidia, sleeping away on the small recliner at the side of the room. She had taken his bedsheets, he realized, and had used them on herself while he slept.


    He couldn¡¯t help but find that a bit rude, despite the fact that she had paid for the room¡­ and his food¡­ and probably for everything he¡¯d drank last night¡­ Man, he was really going to have to work his ass off to pay her back, huh? What even counted as currency in this world? He¡¯d seen them use coins and a couple of metal cards, but he hadn¡¯t paid attention to what it was called or what they meant.


    He sort of guessed the metal cards cost more? They were bigger than the coins, so it made sense. Well, not like anything made sense in this new world. His head suddenly burned again, and he had to take a moment for it to calm down. ¡­Wasn¡¯t his demon regeneration doing anything!? If he could take a hit through the chest like nothing then why was some goddamn alcohol finally taking him out?


    He looked at the counter and found a pitcher of water with a cup next to it. Lidia must have taken it from downstairs for him. Even if it wasn¡¯t for him, it definitely was now. He took the giant pitcher and brought it to his mouth, ignoring the tiny cup. The water poured down his throat, his dry mouth soaking it up like a sponge. He could feel the water freezing his burning mind, the feeling so nice he almost didn¡¯t realize he needed to breathe air.


    He had to pull the pitcher away with both hands, getting some water on his shirt. ¡°Gah! Haha¡­ Hah¡­¡± Something was happening. His stomach felt like it was on fire, but weirdly enough not in a painful way. After a few moments, it went away, as well as the piercing headache¡­ Thank god. He ran a hand through his hair, enjoying the moment to its fullest. There was just something so pleasing about the aftermath of a painful experience.


    He was so in the moment that he hadn¡¯t even noticed Lidia¡¯s awakening, or the look of disgust on her face. ¡°Dear gods¡­ are all demons such savages?¡± He turned to her, grinning. ¡°Only when they¡¯re hungover. How the hell are you holding up so well?¡± She shrugged, snuggling into the bedsheets to get more comfortable. ¡°Purification spell. Before you ask, it could kill you outright if I tried it on you, so don¡¯t ask.¡±


    He laughed nervously. She really could just end him at a moment¡¯s notice, huh? ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I sorted that out myself¡­ Speaking of purification¡­ Your spells, are they like, from a god, or something?¡± She looked at him weirdly before shaking her head. ¡°Gods only provide blessings or curses. They cannot give you power. I trained for years before I learned how to manifest holy power. Even a demon could learn, though their temperaments make it hard to do so¡­ My back feels stiff. Curse this hard chair¡­¡±


    She once again shimmied in the chair, before eventually sighing in defeat and getting up. He smiled guiltily. ¡°You¡­ can sleep on the bed, you know? I didn¡¯t really think you would have stayed with me. I thought you were going to just abandon me here, to be honest.¡± She gave him a look as if he was dumb. ¡°You idiot. Who was going to wrap you back up if I left?¡± Ah¡­ she was right. He didn¡¯t know how to thank her. ¡°You did all this for me¡­ I¡¯ll pay you back one day. I promise.¡±


    It was something he promised himself already, but he wanted to say it to her just to really solidify it. She looked at him haughtily, before yawning, putting her arms over her head to stretch. ¡°I guess that means you aren¡¯t leaving any time soon?¡± He nodded, taking the sheets from the chair and reordering the bed. ¡°Yeah. I kinda like it here, and I need a bit of time before I get what I need to travel. I¡¯m thinking of getting a mask, Frederick told me of a tailor-¡±


    He was pulled back around in the middle of making the bed, seeing Lidia¡¯s pissed-off face. ¡°You know, Elliot. If we properly explain to them that you aren¡¯t a bad person I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll come around. You don¡¯t need to run away if you think that¡¯s your only option.¡± He took a step back, raising his arms in defense. What¡¯s gotten into her? ¡°W-what? You know just how well that worked. I had to let you stab me before you let your guard down, and even then it took you hours before you actually trusted me.¡±


    She scowled. Stepping closer to him. ¡°That was before. You were untrustworthy. Now you have me by your side. If they won¡¯t see reason then I¡¯ll at least stop them from attacking you.¡± Jesus, this girl was persistent. ¡°L-let me at least gather what I need to leave. That way i can quickly escape if your friends suddenly decide to burn me- Whoah!¡± She shoved him back onto the bed, her eyes angry.


    What was happening!? ¡°My friends aren¡¯t as shallow as me, Elliot¡­ Sadie, she knows how it feels to be hated for nothing. And Jack used to be part of something¡­ bad before joining us. Frederick¡­ He wouldn¡¯t hurt you after what you did to save him. If the others attacked you then he¡¯d stand in their way. It¡¯s in his code.¡± Oh, what the hell. Was she feeling guilty about lying to her friends? Now, of all times?


    ¡°We can talk this out, Lidia. We¡­ just can¡¯t make any rash decisions right now. It could cost me my life, you know? Remember what almost happened yesterday?¡± Her eyes softened at the words, he didn¡¯t even need to point out a specific moment. Plenty of times they¡¯d been suspicious of him or had tried to uncover his face. It reminded her just how serious the situation could turn if done wrongly.


    ¡°But¡­¡± She looked like she still wanted to argue, but nothing came out. Both of them knew he was right. The situation was just too dangerous at the moment. He put a hand on her shoulder, consolingly. ¡°Hey, maybe after I get to know them a little better I¡¯ll tell them what I am. They¡¯re already warming up to me a bit, especially that Jack guy. He¡¯s actually pretty fun.¡± Despite her obvious worry over the problem, she scoffed.


    ¡°Jack is only like that when you get him drunk. You¡¯re going to get shot with an arrow if you treat him like that again sober.¡± He waved her away. ¡°Nah. We¡¯re best friends now. I¡¯m asking him if he wants to go to the tailor with me. I need someone who knows their way around and he looks like he has good fashion taste. ¡­what the hell?¡± As he spoke, something in his body felt different. It had happened out of nowhere, but the feeling was similar to when he had first swallowed that demon spirit before. Only¡­


    It felt as if something finally settled inside him.


    Instinctually, he let the blood in his hands take over, the black claws just as sharp and jagged as before. Not any different, unfortunately. He turned to Lidia, who didn¡¯t even flinch, surprisingly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She asked him as he inspected his body. ¡°Something¡­ I think I finally digested that demon from before. I think I feel a bit more¡­ powerful.¡± He looked up to see her face scrunched up in disgust. ¡°...Gross. I forgot you did that.¡±


    He nodded, finding it a bit gross himself. ¡°You didn¡¯t need to say that, but yeah¡­ Can I¡­ try something on you? I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll-¡± ¡°No.¡± She crossed her arms, looking at him as if he¡¯d gone nuts. ¡°You¡¯re crazy if you think I¡¯ll let you use some demonic magic on me.¡± He sighed, defeated. ¡°Yeah, it was silly of me to ask. You¡¯ve done enough to help me for a lifetime, already¡­ Thank you again, by the way.¡±


    She smirked, puffing out her chest smugly. ¡°And don¡¯t you forget it! This room was a good 8 silver pieces! That¡¯s almost a whole C-rank quest, you know?¡± Despite the complaining, the smile on her face seemed to show just how proud she was in herself. He smiled, realizing just how good of a situation he was in. If he hadn¡¯t saved this girl then he¡¯d have almost definitely been found out or killed. He¡¯d have been just another demon to hunt.


    He managed to find the perfect person in the woods to help him with that. Desperate, weak, and most of all, kind. There were always those people in the world who felt good going out of their way to help others, especially when the other has helped them in any way. People that were easy to take advantage of. Not saying he would do that¡­ just that the option was there. He certainly wouldn¡¯t decline anything given to him, though.


    ¡°Ah, wait¡­ You were talking about C-rank jobs, right? What are those? Can I make any money off them? Do you know anyone who¡¯s hiring?¡± If he was able to make money quickly then he¡¯d certainly take the time to do them. She shook her head. ¡°Quests, not jobs. They¡¯re more like contracts than any actual steady money, but people do them because they pay well. People call adventurers lazy because, but considering the danger, it really is a proper cost. A C-rank usually gives a silver card, or 20 silver.¡±


    He nodded along, trying to understand what any of it meant. ¡°¡­So, 20 silver¡­ is that a lot?¡± She looked at him weirdly, before sighing in defeat. ¡°Gods¡­ You¡¯re like a newborn. 6 silver pieces can get you a month¡¯s lodging in this room. 20 silver pieces guarantee a good couple of months of easy living, so it¡¯s not like they¡¯re underselling you. Oh, and by the way¡­¡± She reached into her robes and pulled out a chain with a small, octagonal piece of green metal engraved with a C on it. ¡°I¡¯m a C-rank, and so is the rest of the group.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    She stopped, looking as if she remembered something. ¡°Well, Frederick is a B-rank, but only in name alone. He¡¯s only ever completed one B-rank quest on his own¡­ I¡¯m sure you know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Elliot nodded. She was talking about last night when the knight had talked about defeating a drake on his own. Even through the big man¡¯s boasting, he could tell luck played an incredibly large role in defeating it. ¡°¡­bastard took home a gold card for that quest. It¡¯s how he was able to afford that stupid sword of his. It wasn¡¯t nearly enough, though, so he had to ask me for some of my savings¡­ I swear.¡±


    He watched as she continued complaining about her brother. It must have been nice, having someone like that to take care of and have take care of you. Family really was something strong enough to hold some people together. Her brother cared for her too, obviously. He wouldn¡¯t have been possessed by a demon otherwise¡­ Speaking of which. ¡°Hey, Lidia. Can you wrap the bandages on me? I¡¯m thinking of heading somewhere. Is there a place I can look up on information?¡±


    She looked at him inquisitively, before going up to him and beginning the almost surgical application on the bandages. She was way too experienced with this type of thing for it to be normal. ¡°Try the library. It¡¯s just down the road, with a sign that had the initials A.L on it.¡± Wow, that was easier than he expected. This place seemed quite old-fashioned, so he had expected to have to buy the information. Well, maybe he¡¯d still have to.


    ¡°Do they have any books on demons? Like, what they¡¯re capable of and their weaknesses?¡± She nodded nonchalantly as if that kind of information being public was the most normal thing in the world. ¡°I thought they¡¯d be a bit harder to get¡­¡± She just waved it off. ¡°Of course not, the library is guild funded to prevent idiot adventurers from killing themselves in a quest. It doesn¡¯t really stop idiots, though, since they can barely read¡­ It¡¯s a vicious cycle.¡±


    He laughed at what seemed to be a joke, but when she turned to him seriously, he stopped. Right, people probably couldn¡¯t read in this world, huh? Even in a luxurious place such as this¡­ How insane. ¡°You might have some trouble looking for pure demons, like yourself, not because they¡¯re but I¡¯m pretty sure you can find a book or two.¡± She told him as she finished wrapping him up. He stood, making sure his clothes didn¡¯t reveal his skin anywhere.


    He was okay, probably.


    ¡°I¡¯m heading out. The more I learn about myself the more I can¡­ I don¡¯t actually know. Guess that¡¯s another reason to go.¡± He ignored the way she rolled her eyes at his stupid comment, and went to the door, before turning back again. ¡°Ah, teach me how to use bandages later. I don¡¯t want to bother you all the time with this stuff.¡± She gave him a dismissive nod and jumped onto the bed he just made. She must have been tired, sleeping without a bed¡­


    She could have at least told him she¡¯d do that before he made the bed, though. With that, he went out the door, looking at the inn one last time before leaving. It looked quite expensive. If it took only six silver to stay in a place like this for a month¡­ then he¡¯d really had it out for him if he wanted to repay what he owed. ¡­How much was a gold card, anyways? He was told one was given when you did a B-rank quest¡­ but he wasn¡¯t told just how much more it was than silver.


    ¡­He didn¡¯t even have a single silver to his name, though, so thinking that far ahead wouldn¡¯t do much for him. Eventually, he made it through the streets to the library. He had expected a small, bookshop-like building¡­. The place was almost as massive as the guildhall next to it. As he entered, he understood why a lot of adventurers hadn¡¯t bothered going to this place¡­ Even if they could read, having to traverse the massive shelves that lined the inside of the building was enough to almost have him turn and run.


    Almost.


    Luckily, he saw someone with a stack of books, carefully lining them up on the shelves. She was quite short, with thick-framed glasses that drooped down on her nose. She had a thick, blue dress that made her seem fancy. As she lined the books her brow furrowed anxiously and her gaze turned downward, making him wonder what had caused her to-


    Ah, he¡¯d been caught staring. A man wrapped in bandages staring at a girl in a completely empty room¡­


    He had to quickly turn the situation. He slouched, looking around with a fake, anxious appearance. ¡°Sorry, It¡¯s my first time being in such an¡­ oppressing room. I guess I was just relieved to find someone to help me.¡± He lowered his head and scratched the back of his head to look more like a fool. People who preferred to be alone tended to accept others when they fit a certain profile in their minds.


    Especially when that profile meant they were dumber than them. He pointed at the books, ¡°I just learned that this place existed, haha¡­ And I heard I could learn some secret way to defeat demons here.¡±


    The girl¡¯s eyes narrowed, before she turned away with a sigh. Good, she was no longer anxious, just annoyed by his presence. Quite depressing that such a thing meant an improvement. ¡°The books are meant to give you proper preparation against demons. They will not give you a way to defeat them easily, but they will prevent your untimely death.¡± Her eyes were round and sad when she said that, and he couldn¡¯t help but think many other adventurers have heard those same lines.


    That was a bit depressing¡­ ¡°Haha, either way¡­ I was hoping to get a book on demons of¡­ pureblood, I think they were called?¡± She turned to him in shock, her big eyes somehow getting even bigger. She was the one that stepped up to him this time. ¡°Pure demons!? You¡¯re asking for death if you try to meet one of those! They can take out a group of D-rank like they¡¯re nothing, you know? What even is your rank!?¡±


    Jeez. Was D-rank really that weak? ¡°Uh, I haven¡¯t joined yet, so¡­ D-rank, I guess?¡± She looked as if the world was ending before her very eyes. ¡°...D¡­D-rank is the third-lowest in the guild. There are F-rank and E-rank before you can even dream of becoming a D-rank¡­¡± He took a step back from the now trembling girl. How the hell did he always manage to anger anyone he met!? ¡°Pure demons don¡¯t attack, they kill¡­ They¡¯ll do more than scratch up your face!¡± ¡°Th-then all the reason I should read up on demonic creatures, yeah?¡±


    He flashed a toothy grin, before remembering he was under the bandages. This kind of thing wouldn¡¯t work without the emotions on his face¡­ dammit, it was time to ditch the act.


    He decided to just give up the whole fool act for now. It wasn¡¯t working, so he¡¯d try something else. His posture shifted, making himself tower above the girl who was almost eye-level with him before. As they met eyes, she faltered at his intense gaze, looking to the floor despite her earlier statements. ¡°Look, do you see these bandages?¡± He asked. He waited for the girl to answer, who took a moment to realize just how badly the situation turned.


    ¡°Yes¡­¡± He tugged on one of the bandages, worming a finger through it. ¡°What do you think caused this scar? What do you think ruined my face? Does this look like a simple scratch,  to you?¡± He made his black blood worm out of his face, forming it to look like a horrible, misshapen piece of flesh on his cheek. He made sure to show it to the girl, not completely, but enough to let her mind wander with ideas.


    The girl had acted scared before he¡¯d acted like a buffoon. It meant she was weak, and scared of situations she couldn¡¯t control. The same reason she holed herself up in this tiny library. He¡¯d scare her, make her feel as if she had no control.


    And then he¡¯d simply give it back.


    His eyes softened, turning into that of a man in shambles. He fell back, pulling the bandages back into place. He tripped a bit going back to act defenseless, even considering tumbling back and falling on his ass before considering it overkill. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I truly didn¡¯t mean to show you something so terrible. Truth be told¡­ I know I can¡¯t defeat such a terrible creature-¡± hah ¡°-but I still want to at least know if there¡¯s a cure for my¡­ disease. I know these bandages are quite hard to look at¡­ Though it¡¯s better than seeing a few scratches, right?¡± He barely stopped himself from grinning as her eyes became soft again, guilt plain in her eyes as he repeated what she had said to him.


    Make him the victim. Make her the villain. Make them want to be the hero.


    ¡°I¡­ I apologize for making fun of your face. I truly didn¡¯t think that such a¡­ rare case would waltz into this library. ¡­You¡¯re quite brave to act so aloof of such a condition before I¡­¡± She turned away. His heart pulsed with energy. Exactly, my outburst was your fault. You turned me into this. Now help me or suffer the guilt you¡­


    ¡­you


    Oh, what the hell was he doing!?


    Something in his stomach settled, and all of a sudden he was back in the library, his tongue no longer as honeyed as before. He looked down at the girl he¡¯d basically manipulated into feeling sorry for him in horror. This wasn¡¯t him. He wouldn¡¯t¡­ well, yeah, he¡¯d lie sometimes but he¡¯d never done¡­ that! He turned away, unable to look at her. She must have taken that as a reason to act, because she suddenly pulled out a notebook. He watched her silently as she scribbled on one of the pages, slowly and methodically writing down words.


    When she finished, she ripped the page out. ¡°...these are the places you¡¯ll find books relating to pure demons. If¡­ If you need help with anything please don¡¯t hesitate to ask me.¡± He reached out for the page with a trembling hand, pinching it with two fingers to stay away from her as much as possible. If he could he¡¯d just have run out of the library already.


    His demeanor might have hurt the girl¡¯s feelings, though. ¡°And¡­ I understand if you¡¯d rather not speak to me, after¡­ after what I said.¡± Fuck. She really thought she was the bad guy, huh? He¡¯d have to man it out and clear this up. He bent down to meet her eyes, making them seem as foolhardy as possible. ¡°As if I¡¯d pass up the help of someone who knows their place around here. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d still help me even after I acted like such a fool¡­Thank you.¡±


    Her eyes widened at his once again sudden shift in mood. Shit, he had to be more subtle. ¡°I¡­ I really hope we can get along miss¡­despite what I¡¯ve done.¡± He was the one at fault here, and he¡¯d make sure she¡¯d know it. He tried not to think about how much more effective the previous plan had been all the meanwhile. ¡°I¡­ Thank you for forgiving me. I truly don¡¯t hold any ill will against you, as well.¡± He also tried not to think about how weird the way she talked was.


    He smiled, though it was a bit strained. It was a good thing she couldn¡¯t see it. He wished she¡¯d blame him more for what had just happened, but he couldn''t deny this was best-case scenario. ¡°Thank you, miss. Would you mind telling me your name? I think I¡¯ll be forced to come here quite a bit, might as well get acquainted with the people here, yes?¡± Dammit, now he was starting to talk like her, it was infectious.


    She didn¡¯t seem to notice, or if she did she certainly hadn¡¯t minded. With a gentle smile on her face, she looked at him with relief. ¡°Madeline. My name is Madeline.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but worry for the girl, who was so easily swayed. ¡°My name is Elliot. Elliot Dresmr.¡±

 (14) Please stay away... and thank you.

    Possession, blood augmentation, super strength¡­  He sighed, looking at the same text he¡¯d seen in the last couple of books. None of the things he saw as he flipped through the book had anything to do with what was happening to him at the moment. This had happened more than once already. Before he had tried to do the same with Lidia. He had tried to¡­ make her attached to him in a way that would have only meant a bad end. He had managed to pull himself out of it enough to fall asleep, fortunately.


    Everything was back to normal in the morning. That was what he had thought. Assuming it had just been the alcohol making him like that last night, he had thought nothing else of it, but today the erratic behavior had come back again in full swing. He had hoped he¡¯d find it in the ¡®possession¡¯ categories, that the demon he had consumed was still in him and he just needed to puke it out or something¡­ There was no such luck.


    He had learned about why he¡¯d so readily eaten the demon back then, though. It had been in a certain book called, Demonic Hierarchies. The book talked about a place in this world called the empty lands. A place where mana was at its densest, and therefore allowed for the creation of extremely strong demonic creatures. Because of it, the only half-sentient race that could exist there were purebred demons.


    These demons started off strong but only became stronger as they consumed more and more demons. The details about just how much stronger they became for demons were unclear, but it did go on about the powers they¡¯ve witnessed in them. They were able to shapeshift, and magically control others'' emotions and actions, some were even able to fly when they became strong enough, able to turn their blood into light but strong wings on their backs.


    He was barely able to coat his fingers.


    He skimmed through a few more books before eventually shoving them away from him, sighing in defeat. In hindsight, it was a bit silly to think these books would have anything that pertained to the demon¡¯s perspective. Almost none of them had talked about a demon¡¯s lifestyle except for Demonic Hierarchies, which had been mostly about how violent demons tended to be on their own kind. How they obtained this information was beyond him, but it helped him better understand who he was. Or at least, what people would think if they saw his real face.


    Truly, this body belonged to a monster.


    One of the things that had shocked him the most was that while demons prioritized sentient races, they never gained power from fighting or eating them, this only came from eating other demons and demonic creatures. There was no reason for them to hunt down human beings or other intelligent creatures, especially after the first human they killed, allowing them the ability to speak the language. But they did so anyway, for sport or pleasure the book didn¡¯t say. It was disturbing, seeing a creature besides humans who killed other humans for fun.


    Though, he could say the same for human beings.


    He shook his head free from those thoughts, and stood from the table, picking up the pile of books he had taken from the shelves. Ever since he came to this world his memory had become somewhat better, at least, good enough to find the places he had found the books and placed them back. It had taken a bit of time, but anything was better than having to talk to that girl Madeline again.


    Of course, she just had to walk near him at that moment. She looked just about as surprised as he was, at least, which did make him feel a bit better. "Oh, did you find anything?" The book fell out of his hand when he heard her voice, shocked at her appearance. He went to catch it before it hit the ground not realizing the girl had done the same. ¡°Gah!¡± he fell back, grabbing his nose. Luckily the girl was short enough that he didn¡¯t headbutt her, but he had smashed his nose in the back of her head in the process.


    She still seemed a bit hurt, though, holding the top of her head. ¡°God¡­ damn it all.¡± He groaned. His nose would heal at some point, and since he controlled the blood before it came and ruined the bandages there really wasn¡¯t any reason to be worried about himself. Instead, he focused on the girl. ¡°Hey, are you ok? Sorry about that, I¡¯m a bit jumpy.¡± He reached down and grabbed the book, placing it back as the girl looked up at him.


    ¡°N-no¡­I mean, yes but I¡¯m more worried about you¡­ you hit your nose really hard. ¡­really hard.¡± He grinned, feeling the pain in his nose already turn numb as the nose slowly settled back in place. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ve got a weirdly resilient body. Oh, and I found out a lot about what happened to me, so thank you for showing me these books.¡± He turned to her and smiled, even though he knew she couldn¡¯t see it. There just weren¡¯t many times he was genuinely thankful. ¡°For you to help someone like me, and to go so far as to warn a stranger about the dangers of demon hunting¡­ You must be a kind person.¡±


    That, or she¡¯s seen people die too many times for her to keep her distance. Her eyes became distant, but the smile on her face told him he hadn¡¯t messed up too bad. At least she didn¡¯t despise him enough to anger from a compliment. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure I deserve that praise. I did that more for myself than any other actual reason.¡± Hah, excusing kindness for selfishness. How could he not understand that? That was basically what he had been doing his whole life.


    Even after his mother died and he¡¯d been forced to grow up with his father, it had been a hard habit to drop. ¡°We all do things because we want to, right? To want to help others still means you help others. Is a demon not evil because he merely wants to eat humans?¡± Haha. A demon talking about demons. Considering what he read, it wasn¡¯t too far off from how demons actually acted. She found it funny as well, which certainly didn¡¯t set off any red flags in his mind.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°You actually read them. I thought you¡¯d just skim through them. I¡¯m glad someone actually found the books as interesting as I do.¡± Ah, so she was a book nerd. Honestly,  he¡¯d really only read one or two of the books she had given him. The only reason he had read even that much was because the Demon Hierarchies book was the only one that had anything different from the others. It was interesting, too, written as if the person had a strange fascination with demons. Fascination or not, however, they had still filled the book with constant words of spite for the monsters.


    ¡°...I know that demons are associated with evil magics but with proper control, they have been known to be useful and even quite docile when domesticated. Really, if it wasn¡¯t for those evil bastards using demons like fodder they wouldn¡¯t have such a bad reputation in this town.¡± ¡­Huh? Oh, she had been talking while he was reminiscing. Wait a goddam second, what did she say? ¡°D-domesticated demon? As in¡­ the human-looking ones?¡±


    She nodded, ¡°If you manage t get the resources to do so, then I don¡¯t see why not. Though, it¡¯d be much easier to domesticate those with lower intelligence. I¡¯d say goblins would make the easiest source to train since they¡¯re just smart enough to understand human thought while having the proper body for menial labor. There has already been plenty of success with them.¡±


    ¡­Those didn¡¯t count as human-looking? And Menial labor!? Why¡¯d she have to use that term!? Holy hell, that sounded way too much like slavery. Her face seemed way too normal as well, looking to the side with a nervous smile that made this seem more like passionate small talk than any actual inhumane act. He made a mental note to keep her on the list of people he would never tell his secret to. ¡°That sounds¡­ Nice? It would certainly help me if I could get my hand on one of those purebloods.¡±


    While he only said that to keep her from thinking he was put off by the conversation, it did make him wonder if just grabbing one of those bastards and yelling at them until they answered his question would work. He looked at the girl in curiosity,  only to find her with a mortified face. ¡°Ah¡­ I-I forgot about¡­ You wouldn¡¯t like seeing demons walking around alongside humans after what they did to you. I apologize for being so insensitive.¡±


    The hell was she talking abou-  Ah¡­ ¡°Ah, No! Of course I wouldn¡¯t mind this type of conversation. I find demons quite fascinating, actually. Not many days go by when I meet someone so informed about these things.¡± He pointed at the non-existent scars on his face, hidden under the black bandages. ¡°Anything you know can get me just a bit closer to fixing me up, you know?¡± She looked at him surprised, before she looked away, her eyes glistening.


    ¡°Thank you for telling me that. I don¡¯t usually meet many adventurers who ask for my assistance¡­ what are you doing?¡± Oh, so she hadn¡¯t just started crying. He already had his back turned to her, feet set in a way that looked as if he were about to bolt in the opposite direction. Which was absurd, of course, he¡¯d never do that. He stumbled back into a normal standing posture with the grace of a newborn penguin. ¡°...nothing.¡±


    She giggled, finding his non-joke funny for some reason. ¡°Please come talk to me when you need any help. I¡­ Wouldn¡¯t mind the distraction in this lonely library.¡± Her eyes dilated. She was nervous when she said that, probably because it had sounded suggestive escaping her voice. She looked away, conscious of his eyes. The fact that he hadn¡¯t said anything was making her nervous. She was lonely, not having many people to talk to in this lonely library.


    She was alone, yet expressive enough to want his attention. It¡¯d be so easy to-


    The burning pit in his stomach settled again, and he hunched forward with a sudden, painful feeling in the back of his head. ¡°Guh¡­¡± The nervous gaze in her eyes suddenly turned to one of worry, looking over him as if it had been her fault. She grabbed his shoulder and arm, only to hesitantly pull away for a moment before firmly grabbing with confidence. With a bit too much force. She was nervous, and feeling guilty about using this moment for skinship. Another detriment to how lonely she was, how much she thought herself unique and flawed. His brain burned even more as that thought came to his head. ¡°Are you ok!? What happened?¡±


    Her voice came to him in waves, each word mixed with multiple emotions that were too complex and weird for him to understand completely He could understand them, though¡­ and that was insane. Was this the power he had gotten from the demon? If that was true, then how could he stop it-


    The moment he said that, the feeling in his stomach went away. He was no longer feeling the pounding headache, and the girl¡¯s emotions no longer meant anything to him. Well, all except for the obvious ones. She looked worried. Very.


    He raised himself from the hunched-over position, gently unraveling his arm from the girl, who seemed more scared about the situation than he was, apparently. He had to think up an excuse, fast. ¡°...would you believe that I just had a brief headache just now?¡± Her eyes became round before a hint of anger showed up in them. Replace fear with anger, since that emotion was easier to contro-


    He forced himself to stay still as the splitting headache came back, and he forced the power to settle down again. For something meant to give him an edge it sure was stupidly painful and useless.


    How the hell would this kind of power even be useful to demons?


    ¡°...You obviously look like you need help. Please¡­ I can refer you to a proper healer if you want. She only comes here around once a month but she regularly does work in the guild. She might actually help with your problem.¡± Elliot, in his vulnerable and weak state, had forgotten that his face wasn¡¯t actually scarred to kingdom come and became hopeful. ¡°Really? What¡¯s her name then?¡±


    Madeline smiled, in that proud way that meant she was happy about having such connections. ¡°Her name is Lidia, she¡¯s a C-rank healer with quite the reputation.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡­


    God damn it.

 (15) Dont look behind you

    People were staring at him now that he was alone. He kept his head low, knowing that they were just curious about the idiot who had been loud as hell last night dancing with C-ranks. From what he heard, C-ranks were actually pretty high up in the chain of command. Madeline had been pretty adamant about her connections with Lidia, saying that just knowing a C-rank would get you a bit of wiggle room in the guild.


    It made sense, considering the strength he¡¯d seen from her. She had been able to heal a fist-sized hole in his chest, able to fly in the air, and even able to fight demons¡­ And if Frederick was considered weak for a B-rank, to the point of being a fake, then Elliot wanted to cry. Even with only fists, when he had fought the possessed knight it had been like hitting his fists against a massive chunk of iron. He still remembered just how blows to the neck and stomach, blows that could maim or kill a man, were so easily brushed off.


    When he¡¯d been almost hit by that man¡¯s fist¡­ his life had flashed before his eyes. And that had been when he¡¯d fought him weaponless! He mentally thanked Lidia again as he made it to the front of the guild. A small lady with an unimpressed look sat behind a counter, staring him down. She was a bit unnerving, as if she had way more experience in her life than her looks let on.


    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m here to¡­ apply for a job?¡±


    The lady raised an eyebrow, before rolling her eyes. ¡°Do you have a guild¡¯s card for this city? You can¡¯t use one from another city unless you have direct proof or someone with authority to vouch for you.¡± ¡­Dammit, he should have asked about how he should have done this. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s not what I meant. I hear you can join the guild under certain requirements. What¡­ might those be?¡±


    Her face didn¡¯t change, but he could just feel the inadequacy in his every word. Surprisingly, her face went from deadpan to a patient smile. ¡°...Would you like to join under the ranking system or would you first like to have your skills tested as a means to evaluate your capabilities?¡± Capabilities? So his combat ability could be first taken into account? That seemed¡­ a bit sketchy. He wouldn¡¯t have to fight, would he?


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± He asked, rightfully worried. The lady¡¯s smile twitched, and for a moment he felt something ominous behind him. He turned around in fear, only to find no one there. He looked up at the ceiling and then all around him, before turning back to her with a confused expression. His nerves must have been getting to him. He must have been quite the bother, because the smile on the lady¡¯s face was faltering.


    ¡°We¡­ set up a few tests for you to take. Would you like to take them?¡± He sighed, the ominous feeling returning to him, only less pronounced this time. Someone was looking at him, and they meant business. Was it part of the test to be watched like this, or had they caught on to what he was? Either way, this was way too suspicious to do anything. ¡°...no thanks. That means I start as an F-rank, right?¡± Whoever had been staring at him must have liked that, because the ominous feeling suddenly disappeared.


    At least that meant it wasn¡¯t suspicion.


    Along with the ominous feeling, the girl¡¯s smile had also disappeared. ¡°If you¡¯d rather go by rankings then you¡¯ll start off as an F-rank and climb the ranks as you complete more. Up until C-rank, you need to complete five quests above your rank to ascend the ranks. You only need one quest to ascend ranks after C-rank.¡± He nodded along, trying his best to remember the information. ¡°Can you take more than one quest at a time?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Up to three. You have to warn us ahead of time if you plan to do multiple quests above your rank, however. You can find them on the board to our right, hand over the requests you wish to fulfill and that is all. Oh, and please do be mindful of this rule¡­ Do not attempt to complete quests you cannot complete with the help of others. Rankings are not a means to show off, they are a proper way to gauge your strength. If we find you fraudulently finishing quests we will ban you from the guild.¡±


    He understood, it would be pretty scummy to have others work for him. She pulled out a couple of sheets of paper, handing them to him. ¡°Now, please fill out¡±


    He wondered who''d do that for a second before remembering the type of people out there. People willing to do terrible things to look good¡­ the hypocrisy was not lost on him. He took the papers from her hands and went to one of the empty tables to sit down. Today the guild was a bit quieter, which was bad for him. It made it easier to overhear the people around him.


    "He was with the B-rank, right? What do you think happened to his face?"


    "Probably cursed. Though I don''t think it was anything powerful. See those papers? He''s an F-rank."


    "F-rank? Then what the hell was he doing with the B-rank?"


    Goddammit, he expected this but he had thought it''d take at least a couple of days before he had to worry about getting attention. For a moment he wished he didn''t have his super hearing, the whole guild was talking about the idiot who partied with a bunch of C-ranks and a B-rank. He decided to fixate himself on the pieces of paper in front of him. It had asked for basic things like his name, weight, and height, but after it became a bit weird.


    It had asked for his type of magic use, and he slightly remembered Lidia talking about inner and outer magic. Was one more well-received than the other? What was his magic even considered? He realized it didn''t matter, he''d use his body in a fight either way, and he certainly didn''t use a catalyst, so so he was an inner magic user in a normal human''s eyes. The rest of the questions were simpler, the colors of his eyes and hair and other small tidbits like that.


    Eventually, he finished and returned it to the girl, who read the pages and looked at him up and down. "Green eyes, huh?" He smiled nervously "I''ve been told they look gold under a certain light, should I include that?" She squinted, tilting her head slightly to look at him better before finally going back to normal. "You''ve got quite the pretty eyes, boy." She said, looking at the paperwork as if what she said was the most normal thing in the world.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Boy!? He was at the very least only a couple of years younger than her! "A-aren''t we the same age?¡± he asked, warily. Was she a higher rank than him? Was that why she was acting as if he was just a kid to her? She chuckled. "Unless you''re lying on your paper, you still need a good couple of decades before you catch up to me." He almost scoffed, before remembering what kind of messed up world he had been sent to, where men tear apart massive trees like they''re made of paper.


    "Anyways, everything is settled, then. Please make your way to the board if you want to take a quest." He wanted to ask something but the lady immediately stood and went to do something else. He watched on defeatedly, before turning around and deciding it was for the best. He''d spent so much time with people who seemed so kind that he forgot what most people were like. This was a good wake-up call.


    He walked over to the massive board with pages haphazardly nailed onto it. Despite the papers being the size of a normal piece of paper, over a hundred were plastered all around the wall, some even being overshadowed by the others and being lost on the board. It was a bit overwhelming, but he couldn''t deny the exciting feeling he got when he looked at it. This was money just waiting to be made.


    He noticed each of them had a giant, red letter on them. A good chunk was F-rank to D-rank, while only a few, neater-looking pages were C-rank and above. While the other quests were cluttered and messy looking The C-rank and above we''re neatly paced out and clear to read. Curious, he looked over to an A-rank quest, only to reel back. "Wipe out the black scourge in the fallen ruins."


    The black scourge!? What the hell was that? He decided not to think about it and returned to the highest-ranking quests he could get at the moment. E-ranks. He knew this body of his was at the very least D-rank since he''d been able to go toe-to-toe with Frederick before. He looked at one of the pages with a D-rank category and¡­ goddamit.


    ¡°Find my lost cat.¡±


    He ripped the paper off the wall and looked at the reward. 2 silver pieces. If he did a few more then he¡¯d be set to pay back Lidia for the room. He looked at the rest of the papers and sighed when he realized they were all menial labor. He looked at the F-rank quests and realized those were even more useless. ¡°Please come to my house and help me clean and keep me company. ¡± A silver piece¡­ Help!? Was the person going to help him!? Then what was the point of hiring him!?


    He sighed, taking two more E-rank quests that had the same line of work. One for a lost dog and another for help with something called a ¡°bugbeast.¡± He went to the counter and checked them out, and she told him where he could find them. With that, he left the guild to work. He¡¯d promise himself he¡¯d get Lidia her money, so he would.


    _______________________________________________________


    The air around him was rich with the scent of sweat and earth, but amongst it, he could smell it. A sour musk mixed with wet, smelly water. You think it¡¯d mask the signature scent of the bug, but in reality, it only made it stronger which was fortunate for him. ¡°D-do you think we¡¯ll find him soon, sir?¡± He looked down at the young kid in front of him. He wasn¡¯t older than 12 years old, yet he was insistent on hanging along with him.


    One thing he learned about this city was that people were¡­ strangely receptive to him. Much more so than the average person. When he¡¯d hunted for the wolf-dog and the abominable cat, the families he¡¯d met had always been a bit off-put by his appearance, and yet they invited him in to talk for no other reason than ¡°it was polite.¡± He was thankful for the information they provided, and it wasn¡¯t like he didn¡¯t enjoy his time talking to new people¡­ but the mere fact they¡¯d let a stranger who hid his face into their homes¡­


    Was there no crime in this place or something?


    The last house he¡¯d been to had even allowed their child to tag along as if that wasn¡¯t weighing him down or anything. They had even offered an extra silver piece, which he couldn¡¯t just leave behind¡­ So now the little runt was tagging along. The scent in the air shifted, becoming stronger and more pronounced. The bugbeast must have tried drying itself off here. It was close. He turned to the kid and put a hand on their shoulder, forcing them to stop. ¡°Ok, kid. He¡¯s close. You¡¯re sure it isn¡¯t gonna try to kill me?¡± If he had to wrestle an animal his size into submission or get his throat slit by some claws again he was going to lose it.


    The boy nodded. ¡°It''s my pet. Pets don¡¯t hurt people!¡±


    ¡°...Tell that to the cat I just caught.¡±


    He told the kid to stay put and went through the city corners, smelling the air until he came across a thing he could really, truly, only call a bugbeast. It looked like a giant pill bug, crawling over an apple and munching on it with it¡¯s terrifying jaws. He froze, looking at the thing with all the malice in the world. He wanted to smash it under his foot. He couldn¡¯t, though. The thing was a whopping 3 silver, more than he¡¯d get doing any other quest.


    It also seemed to be the easiest. The ¡°dog¡± from before had tried using him as a¡­ plushie. Considering how massive it was, he was afraid of what might have happened if he hadn¡¯t had his demonic strength¡­ The cat would have straight up killed him had it not been for his regeneration, though. They must have failed to mention the thing was half-demon or something because its claws sunk directly through his neck.


    He almost caused quite a messy scene in the middle of the street, but he¡¯d managed to control his blood just in time. The couple actually seemed surprised when he¡¯d come back with it in his arms. They decided that moment to tell him the cat was a ¡°bit jumpy¡± When the cat gingerly jumped from his arms and strutted inside the home, he decided not to mention what had happened.


    Compared to that¡­ this thing couldn¡¯t have been that bad, right? He picked it up by its sides, groaning in despair as its many legs squirmed underneath it. He just had to remember about the silver¡­ do it for the silver. With a deep breath, he ran back to the kid. The little bastard had run off for some reason and gotten lost but he¡¯d been able to track him by his scent. He caught him in the middle of the streets with a worried look in his eyes.


    His worry was quickly replaced with excitement as he saw Elliot again, though. ¡°Pugby!¡± He shouted, running up to him and taking the bugbeast off his hands. In absolute horror he saw the kid hug it, the legs skittering around their body with a disgusting clicking sound. He wanted to faint. ¡°Thank you for getting him for me! Can we go home now!¡± He had wanted to chastise the kid for not listening to him and running off but seeing the horrible display of affection between boy and bug had made him lose all motivation. He just wanted to go to bed. ¡°...sure. Lead the way.¡±

 (16) Im in over my head...

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that in these six hours you managed to find¡­ 3 lost animals?¡± The girl in front of the counter looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She was obviously suspicious, and honestly, who wouldn¡¯t be. He was pretty sure there weren¡¯t many people with a nose like his. ¡°The dog was the size of a house, and I¡¯m pretty sure the cat was trying to hunt me and not the other way around, haha¡­¡± Her look only grew more suspicious. ¡°...and the bug?¡± He flinched from the memory, shivers running down his spine.


    He still didn¡¯t know how the boy just¡­ let it touch him like that. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t want to think about the beastbug right now.¡± He was lucky to have had his nose for this quest, but it certainly hadn¡¯t helped with his disgust towards animals. She grinned, which was quite surprising coming from the grumpy, somehow old as hell, lady. Now that he knew her real age it only made it more pronounced how young she looked. At first, he had marked her in her early twenties, but to think she had been ¡°decades¡± older than him, as she said.


    That put her in her forties, at least.


    Something about that made him notice her more, she was a tanner skin color, with hazel, round eyes that took up a whole chunk of her face, making her look younger. She had a bit of chub on her cheeks, which really contrasted with the insincere look in her eye. Most of all, she was cute, and he hated that he was only starting to notice it when her age was at least twice his. This was going to be a losing battle, no matter which path he took.


    It only came to him now that he¡¯d been staring, the lady never once changing her expression. Well, almost nothing. He noticed the small smirk on her face, barely noticeable, but also expressed in her eyes, genuine. She knew.


    Fuck.


    He opened his mouth to speak but found it rather dry. ¡°Uh, your name. I never¡­ caught it?¡± Thank god for this demonic, mundane tone in his voice, he¡¯d have been a stuttering mess otherwise. For a moment he even considered using that new power of his, just to see what was going on in that girl¡¯s head. But it would be rude to do that, he supposed. Not to mention how spectacularly using it had worked on the last girl, even if it was completely by accident.


    It would definitely have its uses, though. A really good example would be her noticing the nametag on her shirt. It wasn¡¯t until she motioned to it that he noticed something more than her doe eyes, narrowed to the point where ¡°Read the nametag. My name¡¯s Jenny, and unless you have any more business with me I suggest you leave.¡± Her tone was full of mirth as she placed the coins in his hands, a reward for the quests he¡¯d done. Reward¡­ Ah. Aaha¡­


    Fuck.


    He nodded and turned around, making his way to the quest board. Girls liked hardworking men, right? Maybe taking a few more quests would get her to notice him¡­ ¡°What were you thinking about?¡± He turned around in shock, the sudden voice surprising him. He turned around, having to look down to see the person. Oh, it was¡­ that girl. The muscly friend of Ley¡­ Lidia. ¡°Uh, just completing a quest. I mean, going for another quest. You know, quests.¡±


    She giggled, turning to the board with a smile. ¡°I can help out with quests, you know. Which ones do you need?¡± Shit. Her name. What was her name. ¡°I-I really don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary, I don¡¯t think you need too many people to complete an E-rank quest. Besides, I only need two more before I rank up¡­ what?¡± She had her mouth open, looking at him as if he¡¯d grown an extra foot. ¡°Ranking up¡­ You¡¯re an F-rank right now?¡±


    He nodded, wishing the emotion reading skill would activate on the fly instead of giving him control. The trigger was always harder to pull when it was in your hands. Though, the trigger was starting to look a lot nicer the more this girl smiled at him. ¡°If I¡­ If we help you along with the quests you¡¯ll make it to C-rank in no time, you know?¡± He took a step back, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately.


    She took a step forward, they seemed to like doing that a lot, lately.


    ¡°The nice lady at the counter told me we shouldn¡¯t be doing that, you know? We could¡­ just hang out later.¡± The girl scoffed, ¡°Her? She says that to everyone. As long as this isn¡¯t a paid thing or anything it¡¯s fine in her eyes. Besides, I¡¯ve heard from Lidia just how well you took on Frederick. That at least makes you a C-rank in power, right?¡± He turned to the lady at the counter, who wasn¡¯t even looking at him. Damnit, that somehow hurt even more.


    Sasha¡­ Sarah¡­ Maddie? Sadie! ¡°Look, Sadie¡­ I appreciate it, really I do, but¡­¡± He had to do it, he had to pull the trigger. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to get on people¡¯s bad sides. I¡¯m already at a disadvantage with¡­ the way I look. I¡¯m sure it wouldn¡¯t help if people saw me riding on your back, yeah?¡± His face, usually cold and emotionless, suddenly flowed with a mix of emotions.


    Too bad she couldn¡¯t see a damn piece of it.


    But his voice was enough to send the message.


    He was scared and insecure about how others would see him. That¡¯s what he¡¯d make her think. Mix truth with the lies, that way one can play it off more naturally. It was easier to remember that way, too. Though, it wasn¡¯t too far off from the truth. He certainly was terrified of how people would react if they saw what was underneath the bandages.


    No one would react well to a demon.


    Change the subject, make sure she doesn¡¯t get a word in. Make her seem in control as if she¡¯s changing the subject herself. He pulled one of the C-rank quests from the board, making sure the giant C was on full display. She took the bait. ¡°Ah! You still can¡¯t take those. It¡¯s against the rules to pull down quests unless you mean to take them. Look, give it here.¡± He passed the paper to her, not even looking at the details.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She¡¯d provide those for him. ¡°Sorry, I had no idea. What¡¯s it about, anyway?¡± She opened her mouth to speak and he nodded along, barely listening to the words. The information wasn¡¯t important, something about a group of harpies. What he really had to focus on were the facial cues. He just had to let her go on about her adventures with her friends. The content, the meat, didn¡¯t matter. All he had to do was look for the cues in her face, in her eyes. A look for approval, a look of bitterness, a look of distraught.


    The less he talked, the better. The girl seemed more receptive to those who listen, the fact that she was friends with Lidia made that apparent. He waited until she almost tired of the conversation, before pulling out two E-rank quests he¡¯d looked at from the quest board. One was with help on a bridge for 3 silver, while the other was to help as a bodyguard for a merchant. The pay was at the least 3 silver for the latter, which meant there was a chance for more.


    ¡°It''s been nice talking, Sadie. Let¡¯s hang out again when I¡¯m C-rank, ok?¡± The girl was a bit startled but happy to have talked. Good, she hadn¡¯t held a grudge.


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask Lidia to see if we can get the group together for a quest, ok?¡±


    ¡°I promise I¡¯ll wear a fancier mask for the occasion¡­¡± He said, whimsically before departing to the counter. Jenny was filling out some paperwork, her arms almost mechanical in the way she worked. She was experienced. He placed the papers down on the counter, and for a moment he saw a look of amusement in Jenny¡¯s eyes. ¡°Bodyguard? Quite a big step from catching bugs, right?¡±


    He shrugged, trying his best to look nonchalant. ¡°I¡¯m stronger than I look.¡± She didn¡¯t scoff at that, for once, which made him feel pretty good for some reason. Damn, he really set the bar low¡­ ¡°I can see that. Just try not to overdo it. We can¡¯t let someone act so reckless on their first day¡­¡±


    He grinned, the smile looking sadistic on his face had the bandages been removed. She cared.


    Goddamit.


    He forced the smile down with his hands, turning off the demonic power that let him see others¡¯ intentions. When it settled down he could feel his brain ache as if it had just had a workout. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Mind telling me where I can find these places?¡± She smiled, more of a smirk than anything else but nice all the same, as she pulled open a drawer from the bottom, pulling out a map of the city.


    She reached her hand out to give it to him, and he almost grabbed it before she pulled away. ¡° 1 silver. These maps are expensive.¡± He looked at her in shock, before realizing she was looking at him with some small expectation.


    Ah, goddamnit. How was that fair?


    _______________________________________________________


    He watched on as his arm was taken by a short, pudgy man with a thick mustache, a chill running up his spine as they felt around. Being manhandled by someone in the dead of night really wasn¡¯t his idea of a good time. ¡°...You look a bit stringy, boy. And the mask on your face¡­ Don¡¯t tell me you came here just to make a quick buck. Can you even fight?¡± The man reached for his shoulders and then his face, only for the hand to stop in place. Elliot¡¯s grip was gentle but unshakeable, even when the man tried pulling away.


    ¡°Please, not the mask.¡± He¡¯d just gotten it, a hood that barely covered his shoulders and reached up to cover his body and face. It had cost him a whopping five silver along with the pants,  sleeved shirt and gloves. It had been the only outfit that provided a full coverage of his body, however, so he couldn¡¯t just turn it down. It was way easier to breathe in, as well, which when he first put it on he had wanted to cry. He was thankful that he now looked less like a serial killer, edging more to a regular killer vibe. Pretty sure it was the only reason he hadn¡¯t been immediately sent away by the picky merchant.


    Every small bit counts.


    He let the man ¡®test his strength¡¯ a bit more before letting go of his arm. Surprisingly, the man didn¡¯t seem to be angry. ¡°Gods, inner magic? That¡¯s¡­ Why would you take this quest!?¡± Despite the worry in the words, the grin creeping up on the man¡¯s face seemed to say they were quite happy with the outcome. There was something wrong with the way the man was sweating, but he decided it was for the best that he didn¡¯t use his emotion reading ability on them. Ignorance was bliss, after all.


    ¡°...I needed the money. I won¡¯t ask for more, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re scared of.¡± The man shook his head, running towards his cart and pulling out a small bag. ¡°T-that¡¯s not it! I¡¯ll gladly  pay for your help! Five silver, enough for a proper D-rank quest, you know?¡± What!? He was tossed the bag, to which Elliot caught it with a hand. He opened it to find 5 silver pieces. With this, he wouldn¡¯t even have to worry about the money he¡¯d used.


    Of course, there was probably a catch. ¡°...what do you need me to do?¡± His voice was cold, colder than normal. This man might not have done anything t him yet, but strangers weren¡¯t to be trusted, especially in this place. He¡¯d make sure this kind city wouldn¡¯t make him soft, he had to have a healthy paranoia if he wanted to do anything right. The pudgy man noticed his wariness, surprisingly. Merchants, they were a bit too good at noticing these things.


    ¡°Now, now¡­ I¡¯m sure we started off on the wrong foot. My name is Gerald, Gerald Underwing.¡± He grabbed his hand to shake it, a wide smile on their face. This time Elliot didn¡¯t try to overpower him, no sense to antagonize your employer. ¡°I had tried placing a D-rank quest, but the pay had been a bit much for me¡­ so I decided all I needed was the guild¡¯s name to protect me. To think that an adventurer such as yourself would choose to come now¡­¡±


    ¡­This had bad luck written all over it. The small detail that this had to be done by night also helped with the ominous feeling in his stomach. He couldn¡¯t deny that this seemed sketchy, but it honestly didn¡¯t seem bad enough to warrant any worry. Sure, he was probably being ripped off but¡­ Meh, he¡¯d had worse happen to him. He also wasn¡¯t sure he could back out of the quest without good reason. ¡°What do you need me to do?¡±


    The merchant only laughed, going to the handcart and grabbing onto the handles. ¡°Just follow me, sir. We can make it to the next city over and come back by the day after tomorrow.¡± Elliot nodded, walking towards the cart to-


    ¡°What?¡±


    What!?


    ¡°...What, good sir? We¡¯ll be there and back to Heartlake before the next day¡¯s over.¡±


    The two looked at each other for a second, before Elliot¡¯s head immediately tried its best to try to come up with excuses to weasel out of the situation. Eventually, his good side won over, and with a sigh of defeat, he accepted the fact that he¡¯d have to leave the city sooner than he thought. Funny how things work like that. ¡°...I work for you, Mr. Underwing. I¡¯ll push the cart, so please don¡¯t worry. You may sit on the cart if you¡¯d like.¡± It was the only way he could think of to gloss over his outburst.


    The out-of-shape man seemed quite receptive to it.

 (17) Certain lives have less importance, right?

    Two hours had passed, and it wasn¡¯t until now that Elliot truly understood the power in his body. The cart behind him groaned as he slowly made his way on the road, onto a different city around 13 hours away. The only other sound other than the rustling leaves of the forest, and the loud, annoying snores of the merchant behind him. He¡¯d been at this for a while, and still his body felt light, ready for more.


    He almost forgot about it, since he¡¯d tried his best to not stand out in the city. This body was abnormal, and in a lot of ways that was good for him. He had a limit, however, and there was no training he could do to become stronger. Slowly, he understood why demons killed each other. If there was no other way to grow, then of course demons would choose the path of carnage. Humans were the same, and most humans knew that¡­


    ¡­Maybe thinking about the humans as ¡®humans¡¯ was a bad sign. He was still human, he knew that¡­


    He knew that.


    Though, that may not have been as prestigious a title as he wanted.


    An arrow zipped right past him, aimed for the fat belly of the merchant on top of his products. He only just managed to swipe it away with his claws before it hit them, the arrow clattering into the carriage next to the snoring merchant. Shit. Four people jumped from the trees. One of them was carrying a sleek, black bow, while the others carried a spear, a sword, and a mace. The one carrying a spear that looked as if it had seen better days sneered when he saw him. ¡°Ooh. Merchant has a demonic slave with him. Must be quite the loot for that, ain¡¯t it Thomas?¡±


    Thomas, who seemed to be the only one among them carrying an actual proper sword and armor, put a finger to his mouth. He motioned to the archer, ¡°Shut up. We can¡¯t wake up the owner. Slaves can¡¯t use their magic without it. See how he¡¯s not moving? He was probably just protecting his owner. Stupid fucking demons can barely breathe right if you don¡¯t order them to.¡±


    They knew.


    They knew.


    Elliot¡¯s hands were gripped so tight around the handle of the cart that indents were made into the wood. As if on instinct, every part of his senses went haywire. It was over, wasn¡¯t it? No. These were looters. No one would miss them. He¡¯d make the world a better place by removing them. This wasn¡¯t selfish, this was a righteous act. They had tried to kill his employer, his employer had paid him justly to protect them. He had to do this before they were woken up.


    He had to kill them.


    The blood on his hands turned from claws into two sharp hooks, hidden in the palms of his hands. He made them recede into his wrist so as to not look suspicious, waiting until one of them came close enough. It was the unnamed one with the mace that walked forward. ¡°Boss, you really think this thing won¡¯t attack?¡± six feet, four feet, three feet.


    The man was stopped by Thomas, whose eyes were narrowed.He must have been suspicious. He was called the boss, and intelligent as well. Higher priority, possibly. ¡°I never fucking said that. James, shoot the bastard, see if it only protects the merch-¡± Elliot had lunged forward, sinking his claw deep into the man¡¯s mouth. The strength must have been too much for them, because the hand caved into the skull and through the back, leaving his arm deep through the man¡¯s face, who hung off him. These weren¡¯t high-ranking warriors. That was good for him.


    They were experienced, though.


    Already an arrow had been sunk into his chest, causing him to lose focus for a second. It allowed the one with the mace to rear back and make an attempt to bludgeon his skull in. An attempt. He picked up his leg and rammed it down on the man¡¯s knee, hearing a sickening crack and pop. It was dark, but his eyes could still clearly see the man¡¯s leg crumple underneath them. They dropped the mace in their agony, and he took that moment to press his hand into their chest, pushing them to the ground.


    Something pierced him in the stomach as he did so, though. He turned around, seeing the frightened but determined face of the spear wielder. ¡°Get¡­ get the hell away from him you-¡± He didn¡¯t get to finish, as Elliot pressed his flat palm into the mace-users chest. The body seemed to almost crumple like aluminum, with almost the same sound. It didn¡¯t pierce the chest, exactly, but through the remaining skin and fragmented bones, he could feel the heart and he squeezed.


    He grinded it between his fingers.


    The spear-wielder tried removing the spear from his stomach as another couple of arrows entered Elliot, one in his shoulder and the other an inch from his eye. He didn¡¯t allow it, clenching the muscles in his stomach with all his strength. They looked afraid, angry. ¡°Please¡­ We weren¡¯t going to do anything. We weren¡¯t going to-¡± Without a moment of hesitance Elliot plunged the spear deeper into him pulling the spear wielder close to the arrow wound on his forehead.


    If he remembered correctly, demons had horns, right?This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    A crude spike of blood erupted from his head, piercing through the man¡¯s left eye and successfully killing him. He grabbed their neck and pulled, breaking away his new horn from the man¡¯s skull. All that was left was the archer. He turned to the annoyance that had been pelting him with arrows, only to find them bolting down the road, in the opposite direction. An annoyance to the end.


    It didn¡¯t take much to catch them. They had no inner strength.


    He had them by the neck, the archer desperately trying to claw at the hand as Elliot slowly dragged him back to the cart. An archer in one hand, a bow in the other. While there was probably something amusing about that thought, his heart was just beating too hard to care. Slowly, the adrenaline was wearing off and the part inside him that had made it so easy to kill was fading. Every second that passed made it harder to end the man¡¯s life.


    He knew he should snap the archer¡¯s neck now, they had tried killing him, he had tried to kill the merchant. This had not been a fair fight, however. His heart sank in disgust as he realized that. He should have apprehended them, he could have easily done that. He just did this to hide his identity. He had to commit, but could he kill this man after clearly knowing he was doing it out of selfishness?


    The cart in the distance gave him the answer. ¡°Gaah! Aaugh! Gods! Please, Gods! Help me!¡± The merchant was climbing on top of his wrapped products, trying to get as far away from the horrible carnage in front of him. Immediately, Elliot squeezed his hand around the archer¡¯s neck. He closed his eyes into a grimace as his hand felt the separation of the bones inside the flesh, the sick sound of bones snapping apart. He dropped the corpse immediately, wiping his gloves on his hands despite no blood getting on him.


    Ah, scratch that. His clothes were covered in blood. Especially his¡­ arms.


    He looked at his body, ripping out the arrows and patching up the small holes in his clothes with his own blood, hardening it to look like a smooth, dark surface. He checked his mask and was surprised to find no giant hole on the surface, just the part where the arrow had pierced him. He doubled and triple-checked, making sure not a single inch of his skin was missing before he decided to meet up with the merchant. He¡¯d have to get his clothes tailored soon, but for now, he¡¯d have to make due with his blood as the patchwork.


    He ran to the carriage, making sure to put as much speed as he could into his step. The poor merchant had paid him to protect him, only to wake up to dead bodies all around him, and his bodyguard missing. He had finally gone within a couple of yards before the merchant noticed him in the dark. The response was¡­ expected. ¡°Gah! Who are you!? Stay away!¡± The man was traumatized, and being unable to see Elliot correctly in the dark must have frightened him..


    ¡°It''s me, your bodyguard.¡± This seemed to calm the merchant, but only to the point where he was no longer shouting at his god for help. ¡°Ah¡­ Ah, gods¡­ They¡­ What happened¡­¡± He still seemed plenty terrified, his arms shaking as he kept trying to back up into the cart. While you were asleep they had tried to¡­ ambush us. I made sure they wouldn¡¯t get to you.¡± The merchant, shaken, looked down at the bodies, only for Elliot to appear in front, blocking his view. ¡°Gah! P-please¡­¡± The merchant jumped back, losing his balance and almost falling before Elliot grabbed his shirt.


    Elliot frowned. He was worried about the man¡¯s mental health. At this point, Elliot might not even get paid. ¡°...Please try not to look at the bodies. You¡¯ve been through enough this night. Let me dispose of them and we¡¯ll be on our way, yes?¡± He pulled the man back on the carriage and set him down gently, smoothing over the wrinkles he¡¯d created on their vest. ¡°Besides, as a merchant¡­ you might just experience things like this more than once. Is this your first time seeing such a thing?¡±


    They kept their head down, doing nothing but tremble for a few seconds before shaking their head no. ¡°I¡­ Once before, I¡¯ve been attacked.¡± Elliot raised an eyebrow. ¡°Really? How¡­ unfortunate. You may tell me the story later, if you wish. Now, please turn away.¡± The merchant complied, not saying a word as he shakily turned away from the pile of corpses Elliot had been blocking him from. He smiled, happy the man was at least being compliant.


    The bodies were all dragged into the sides of the woods. He took the armor from the leader and the weapons of the group, dropping them into the carriage without even a whimper from the merchant. It seemed they¡¯d finally begun to process what was happening. At the very least, his eyes were no longer looking at anything, instead staring at the road in front of him with his hands tightly clasped. It wasn¡¯t until he finally looted the archer and came back with their equipment did the merchant finally say anything.


    ¡°I¡­ I saw what you did to that man. His head.¡± Elliot turned to him, setting down the archer¡¯s equipment just a tad quieter onto the carriage than the rest. ¡°That man¡­ Did he deserve that death? Did¡­ Did any of these men?¡± Elliot stayed quiet for a moment, before finally speaking. ¡°No¡­ They tried to kill you. They had shot an arrow at you that I had barely managed to catch. Despite that, I could have subdued them without killing them.¡±


    He didn¡¯t want to say the truth, but he needed to get it off his chest, even if he hadn¡¯t said the whole truth. ¡°I¡­ Apologize for going too far with them. The first man was by accident, but the others were purely killed through my actions.¡± A full thirty seconds passed before the merchant let out a quiet, shaky breath, forcefully pulling his clasped hands apart. He reached down, and when he went back up Elliot saw the arrow in his hand, the one Elliot had caught before.


    ¡°...Thank you, son. I would not have survived this without your help. If¡­ Gods, If there had been any other man to have chosen this work, or if no one had come with me to the next city over¡­ I¡¯d have been the one lying next to the road.¡± Elliot didn¡¯t say a word. Enough was said already. The old man turned to him, his eyes hiding a bit of fear but mostly they were filled with an intense gratitude. Was it deserved? He had saved the man as an afterthought, but he had still saved them. ¡°I truly don¡¯t know how to thank you. You¡¯ve done something amazing, today.¡±


    Elliot just went back to the front of the cart, grabbing the handles and pushing. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Despite what he¡¯d done, the man was grateful. What he¡¯d done had been justified by someone other than him. The cart started moving, a bit of a slower start thanks to the new luggage inside. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a bubbling disgust inside him as he was praised. What the hell had his life become? ¡°I¡¯m just doing my job, sir.¡±