Something small was touching my face and buzzing around.

I opened my eyes. I hadn’t realized I had passed out.

Skip was fussing over me. Mab stood before me with her arms crossed. Sonet was still on my right, sitting with her face buried on her knees.

There were more human-like fairies, standing at the edges of the clearing and watching us with curiosity. They all looked like fashion models.

Poor Sonet, saved from whatever the Grand Vizir had in store for her, only to end up starving and hopeless. Maybe I should’ve left her back there?

「Mab: She didn’t go through the Attunement?」

Mab captured my attention and raised her eyebrows slightly. I was still laying on the grass, as I was too sick to move. Too tired. Even opening my mouth was pain. So I kept it shut.

The Attunement? What did that mean?

「Mab: Not important right now. You seem to be in quite the predicament…」

She pointed out with a hint of sarcasm. At any other time I would have appreciated a fellow sarcasm practitioner.

「Mab: Let’s say I could save your life, Human. What would I gain by doing so?」

At that Skip flew around Mab, latching on her arms, avoiding her attempts to shoo him away. Until she lost her patience.

「Mab: Enough!」

All of a sudden Skip was enveloped inside a mana shield and Mab turned her attention back to me.

Skip was a bro, he had tried.

Mab sighed.

「Mab: I suppose you did help one of the small folks return to the flock, but this situation will require a much bigger favor to be solved. This calls for a bargain.」

I groaned. Can we hurry, before this thing takes over me? I thought, thinking about the Demon Lord’s Mantle. Mab smiled.

「Mab: For saving that pixie I sall heal you, but for removing that Mantle from your spirit I will require a favor of my own…」

I will not do anything that will bring hurt to the ones I care about. I solemnly thought.

「Mab: Oh, nothing like that… I want you to wake the First Spirit.」

I stared at her, mind blank. She returned the stare.

You want me to wake the Sleeping God? I remembered clearly what I had read on the topic. AnAn, The one no one had succeeded in communicating with since time immemorial.

「Mab: Yes.」

How am I supposed to do so? How does one even wakes a sleeping god literally named “Sleeping God”? If he’s called Sleeping God, maybe sleeping is his main feature, no? This makes no sense. No it even makes even less sense to ask such a task from a random hum-

「Mab: This is my condition. Take it or leave it.」

She said dead serious. I felt the full weight of her stare.

Is this something I can actually achieve? I asked at last. What if I can’t?

She smiled knowingly. Damn, I hate when people smile knowingly about things I don’t know about.

「Mab: Then you will keep trying until the day you die.」

I felt a wave of spiritual pain. The curse was acting up again.

「Mab: I suggest you decide quickly.」

I didn’t really have a choice, did I? Fine, I’ll do my best to awaken the Sleeping God.

Mab clapped her hands, pleased.

「Mab: Very good! Ah, it’s quite fortunate you have brought that demon girl with you.」

She exclaimed, glancing at Sonet with a smile on her lips. Sonet was less excited. She looked terrified.

What are you going to do to her?! I was against child abuse.

「Mab: Nothing of the like. She will receive the Mantle in your stead.」

That did nothing to assuage my concerns. The Mantle was dangerous.

「Mab: Not for a Demon. And she’s not Attuned. The Mantle won’t be able to control her, if she chooses so.」

Was that bad? It didn’t sound bad.

If she was the Demon Lord, none of them would be able to harm her, at least directly. I still didn’t know what this Attunement was, but it seemed I had done the right thing when I stopped the Vizier.

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She was better off among her people, hopefully she would prevent more Attunements.

Noticing we were looking at her, Sonet glanced at me and Mab questioningly.

I couldn’t bring her with me. My fellow mentally-challenged humans had already jumped to conclusions and tried to kill me just because I had a little defenseless demon girl with me.

「Mab: Oh no, there’s a different reason for that. See for yourself.」

She conjured something that looked like a mirror, and showed my own face to me.

My eyes had a dark sclera. My pupils were yellow. Like a demon’s. Or a fairy, apparently, now that I looked Mab up close.

I felt my nailed leg going numb.

Mab! Fix me now!

Mab gave me another smile and knelt beside me.

「Mab: First, show me in your mind how this came to be. I have to know.」

She asked putting her left palm over my forehead.

My complaining thoughts were shoved aside as she penetrated my spirit. A gentle touch, but firm. A motherly touch.

She swiftly guided my mind over the events between my imprisonment and improvised escape. I did not resist.

「Mab: Just one last question, but perhaps the most important… What is it that you truly desire?」

Are you Lucifer or something?!

My mind was forcefully guided to think about what I truly desired.

A real family.

True friends.

The love I had been denied.

But none of that was what I truly desired.

Magic.

It had always been Magic. The one thing that I would stop at nothing to regain, if I ever lost it. The one thing I had ever longed for, so desperately trying to fill its empty place with pale imitations.

Nothing could compare to the real thing.

『Mab: …』

I felt Mab’s presence inscrutably observing my thoughts.

『Mab: Sleep now.』

My consciousness faded into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

----------------------------------------

「Mab: Wake up.」

My eyes shot open.

I felt refreshed. Nothing hurt. Fever gone. Mind clear.

「Mab: Yes. It’s done. Your spirit is practically newborn, it will recover without damage.」

Maybe responded even before I finished forming the thought.

I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding, then I sat upright. Mab was sitting between me and Sonet, she was just lifting her hand from the little demon girl. We had both been lain over clean fabric.

「Allen: Is she-」

「Mab: She’s fine. The Mantle has been passed over. Can you stand?」

I stood up without issue. I noticed I had been dried up. Many eyes were watching us, which made me a bit uncomfortable. Mab was a good two heads taller than me.

「Allen: What now?」

「Mab: Now you will be under my protection until negotiations end.」

My face betrayed surprise.

「Allen: Did they send someone already?」

Mab smiled, and pointed a finger toward the unconscious Sonet.

「Mab: We have the Demon people representative right here. I expect no trouble striking a favorable bargain.」

I felt a little bad pushing this ordeal on Sonet, but I hoped she being the new Demon Lord would protect her and not corrupt her mind.

「Mab: Follow me. And take the noisy pixie.」

The magic field disappeared and Skip landed atop my head, burrowing on my hair. He was very excited.

The Fae Queen walked toward the center of the clearing, and waved her hands forward.

A portal opened. But not the sort of portal I knew. The goosebumps on my skin reminded me of the recent white explosion thing. That spell had been both very powerful and very dangerous.

「Mab: Interesting observation.」

She muttered, with a hint of amusement. The portal formed. Completely black, like a black hole. No light was getting through. It looked very unnatural.

「Mab: Come.」

「Allen: What about the girl?」

「Mab: Where we are going Demons can’t follow.」

She said, walking toward the black portal. Two fairies I hadn’t seen creeping behind us, pushed me onward. Completely unnecessary. I didn’t want to be here once Feras found out what I had done. I cast one last glance at the little demon girl, who had done her best to drag me onward, and walked through the black portal without hesitation.

It felt like listening to a cat scratching a blackboard.

On the other side I shivered and opened my eyes.

Now this was a proper nature-themed fantasy city. The sunlight coming from overhead had some kind of ethereal property. Massive trees were shaped as houses, or had many small holes from which glowing little spirits danced across. Flowers and stuff were arranged artistically.

Finally someone was taking the nature-themed fantasy aesthetic properly. I nodded internally. I felt at ease. Mab, still walking, shot me a glance with a raised eyebrow. Perhaps surprised I was walking into their maw without even a pause.

The disappointing Elven city, whose name I had already forgotten, should’ve taken notes from here.

「Mab: Hmm, the small folk liked that place. We should ask for reparations.」

Mab said cheerily.

The trees and shrubbery opened up to a lake with a tree castle in the middle. As Mab got closer to the river, stones surfaced pushed upward by roots.

「Skip: Skip!」

The small pixie chirped from atop my head, projecting feelings of daring and adventure. Good to have you back, little buddy.

Once inside the tree castle, Mab had me stashed safely in a guest room. I had so many questions.

「Mab: Your question will have to wait. Clean yourself up in the meanwhile.」

And she left. No doubt there would be an intense bargaining session. The two Elven guys who had pushed me onward shot me a look of disdain and closed the door. I guess they were my bodyguards for the time being.

「Skip: Skip.」

「Allen: Indeed. But you should expand your vocabulary.」

There was a bed, a bunch of dark gray clothes arrayed there for me, everything needed to get clean, a desk and a mirror.

I went for the mirror and took a better look at my face. MY eyes were still black and yellow. Fuck. I hoped it wasn’t permanent.

Permanent damage is the worst. I had been so good at keeping my body whole and unscarred, it was a shame to start now.

Skip, reading my mind due to still being there stuck in my hair, sent some thoughts about me looking like a fairy.

I guess that played a role in the little pixie trusting me. Maybe even Sonet.

The next big thought was my brain wondering what were the political relations between Demons and Fae. Surely Mab wouldn’t sell me out, would she?

No, she had asked to wake the Sleeping God. Certainly she could see how it would be a problem getting to the task if I’m turned into a puppet by Feras.

Even if Sonet—now the new Demon Lord—could potentially be on my side, who knows what the Mantle will do to her, or if she’d get pressured by Feras to do his bidding?

I shooed Skip away from my head, cleaned myself and donned up the gray clothes. They fit perfectly.

Skip giggled as I cut myself several times while trimming my stubble. I shot him an angry scowl.

After coming in this world, I had learned to leave the beard trimming to professionals, as I clearly was not gifted for doing it with sharp blades.

Maybe I should invent a magical beard trimmer, so I can be autonomous. Or maybe there was a way to use magic fields for it…

I sat down on the bed.

Oh right… I had to check my magic rings. They were still on my hands. One had been scrubbed, but I was interested in the other. I tried booting up the 【All-ring】 and… nothing.

Shit. The Vizier had meddled with my enchantments. My spirit was still hurting from the ordeal, so I took my time and slowly examined the ring, trying to ignore the bored pixie buzzing around the room like an energetic toddler with wings.

The damage looked minimal. I just hoped the demon didn’t mess with the disk section damaging the data.

All I needed was just some proxy ma-

I froze.

Proxy magic… why can’t I remember proxy magic?!

The knowledge was simply gone.

Just gone.