Grisella Pip. She was a witch who lived inside the forest.

The two walked through thick underbrush. Slung over his shoulder was the unconscious body of a giant Troll. Saliva dripped down from its slacked jaw and created a long trail that chased after his every footstep.

Ellis stared at the back of her head. More specifically, he stared at her witch hat. It was black with dark brown stitching around its edges. The tip of the hat was slightly crooked.

“…”

The self-proclaimed witch walked ahead of him. A distance of ten feet separated the two. Every time he tried to get closer, Grisella would immediately walk faster. She made it a point to keep the distance at ten feet. Ellis could do nothing in the face of her obstinance.

“Kyu!” Ena cried out from beside his feet. Wight, Plush, and the rest of the gang followed close by. Ellis slightly looked over. He wasn’t sure, but the little fox was probably trying to cheer him up.

Ellis let out a bitter smile. It had been so long since he last interacted with a woman (at least, a human one). He honestly could not tell whether his interpersonal skills had degraded in the six years he spent on this world or if he was just this bad from the very beginning.

In either case, this silence is way too uncomfortable. He silently sighed to himself.

“So, why were you n-naked?” Grisella suddenly asked him.

“That’s…”

Oh yeah, Ellis was finally wearing clothes. Grisella had given him a cloak. It wasn’t much, and the howling winds of the forest still brought goosebumps to his skin, but at the very least, his body was covered.

In addition, for some reason, Grisella was also wearing a cloak. It draped over her shoulders and reached down all the way to her ankles. It basically covered her entire body. She had pulled both cloaks out of something that resembled a storage bag. It was similar to the thing that Ena had, except hers was in the shape of a brown satchel.

From what he could surmise, storage bags did not seem all that rare. As expected of a high fantasy world.

No, more importantly… why did she take out a cloak? He stared at the back of her figure with perplexed eyes. I’m thankful that she gave me a cloak, but why did she give one to herself? Was she cold? Or maybe…

Ellis’s expression suddenly paled. Don’t tell me… she… she noticed my gaze!?

He immediately felt a bit guilty. Grisella was a beautiful woman and he was a man deprived of human contact. I should have expected this. No one likes to get ogled, especially not by a stranger.

Even when he tried to resist, his body simply did not listen. It couldn’t be helped. It really couldn’t be helped, but… damn his wandering eyes!

Ellis lost himself in his own thoughts. A long silence ensued.

“…”

“….”

A few minutes passed. Grisella slightly turned her head back. She immediately noticed his absentminded expression. From the looks of it, he had no intention of answering her question.

What kind of person just zones out like that mid conversation? He’s either really slow in the head or he’s purposely ignoring my question. Her brow slightly twitched. A spike of irritation threatened to burst from her chest. After a moment’s pause, she let out a forceful cough.

He looked up. The self-proclaimed witch glared at him with rather passionate eyes. Ellis awkwardly laughed as he recalled her question.

Albeit belated, he finally answered, “Well, I don’t own any clothes so it sort of just ended up like this.”

“Right…”

I know that you idiot! I’m asking why! Grisella yelled in her heart. Regardless of her inner feelings, on the outside, she remained silent. Part of it was due to her bubbling irritation, but an even larger part was due to the fear that she felt.

Right now, the grey-haired homunculus carried an unconscious Grandelier Troll over his shoulder. From the looks of it, the weight did not seem to bother him at all. This she found greatly disturbing. A fully grown male Grandelier Troll weighed over 32 tons! He was acting as if he was carrying a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. No, not even that. Rather than potatoes, it was more like a feather-stuffed pillow!

Just from that alone, she knew that this anomalous homunculus possessed incredible strength.

Even before that, Grisella was already cautious.

Ellis somehow found a way to knock the thing out. A Grandelier Troll was not something that anybody can subdue with just pure strength alone. Their regeneration proved too great for that. What she did not expect was for someone to find a method to completely drain the Troll of all of its vitality. She almost did not believe it.

The grey-haired young man somehow managed to deoxygenate all the cells within its body. The end result was a state of complete exhaustion. Even with its fast regeneration, it would take a while for the Troll to recover, much less regain consciousness.

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It was a valuable reference for the future, but more importantly… this homunculus was incredibly scary!

“…”

“…”

Ellis continued walking. He aimlessly watched the back of her head, completely unaware of all the thoughts running through the girl’s mind. He recalled back to the brief introduction that she had given him.

Straight from the horse’s mouth herself, Grisella was a witch who regularly hunted Trolls. Her hunts were not out of sport or leisure, but rather, she did so in order to harvest ingredients. Apparently, she needed Troll blood for her potions. Ellis did not know if that was true or not, but it did sound like a very ‘witch’ thing to do.

The Troll that he drowned was originally her prey. It escaped and ran to the river, where it accidentally met with his group. Ellis did not want to be a ‘kill-stealer’ so he offered the Troll to her.

It was a small gesture on his part, but to Grisella, he might as well have just ripped her head clean off. At the very least, the death would have been instant.

Back when this homunculus first gave her the ‘gift’, she was overcome with the sudden urge to cry. Being surrounded by so many irregulars already made her feel jittery. The one thing she wanted was to find a way to escape this dangerous situation. Unfortunately, that ‘gift’ was like a chain that kept her from escaping.

Declining the gift was not an option. After all, his face had been so eager. The look in his eyes showed a certain desire. Grisella did not know whether he wanted to eat her or ‘eat’ her.

In the end, she begrudgingly accepted the gift. Then, came her next dilemma. She wanted to run away, but she knew she couldn’t do that. If she left without a word, then the homunculus and his pack of irregulars might take offense to her actions. The last thing she needed was to be on the receiving end of their anger.

Left with no other choice, she invited Ellis and his group to her home. It was a move done on the spur of the moment. Self-preservation. Also, a generally stupid thing to do.

In the first place, who invites a ticking time bomb into their house! She seriously regretted her actions. Still, at the time, Grisella really had no other alternatives. Proper etiquette dictated that she return his gesture of ‘kindness’ with one of her own. Anything less, and she might just die.

In retrospect, she was probably overthinking this whole situation. A part of her realized that, but then again, it was better to err on the side of caution than to risk the possibility of death.

But looking at him now, he doesn’t seem all that dangerous. Once again, she slightly turned her head and peered at the grey-haired young man behind her.

Ellis had a dull expression on his face. His slightly clouded eyes stared blankly into space. He was lost in his own thoughts. For a moment, it was hard to believe that someone with that sort of face could be so dangerous.

Where did he come from? Why is he with a group of irregulars? Most importantly, why is a homunculus so strong and so… intelligent?

Hidden beneath all of her fear was a single spark of curiosity.

Homunculi normally did not even possess the strength to truss up a chicken. What’s more, they were all dumb as bricks too. Most of their kind lived as convenient slave labor. Although they were weak, they were obedient and possessed enough brain power to follow simple commands.

In essence, homunculi were the ideal slaves.

So, what made him so different?

Grisella was curious. After a long bought of hesitation, she mustered up all of her courage and asked him.

In response, Ellis answered, “I’m actually the son of the Demon King.”

“Pfft—” She almost laughed out loud. He was joking, right? The son of the Demon King… the last person who had the courage to take up such a name lived over ten thousand years ago. Why would his son show up now, after all these years? What’s more, as a homunculus?

It was unbelievable. Even more unbelievable than Ellis’s own unbelievable existence.

What Grisella did not know was the ‘Demon King’ that he mentioned wasn’t some guy from 100,000 years ago. In fact, he was referring to the Original Demon King, the menace of Lull that once terrorized the entire world nearly one million years ago.

If she knew exactly what he was thinking, then her disbelief would not have just ended with a simple chuckle.

For his part, Ellis simply shrugged his shoulders. Since she did not believe him, Ellis decided to just not say anything.

Still, Grisella’s curiosity did not end there.

Whether it was Ellis’s identity or the group around him, her head was filled with all sorts of questions. One thing stuck to her mind though. It gnawed and gnawed on the back of her brain, refusing to let go.

Why the hell was he naked?

Ellis was clothed now (thankfully), but the scene from before kept flashing through her head. No matter what she tried to do, it would not go away.

Even if you are a homunculus, you should still have some common decency. Don’t go walking around naked!

In the first place, most homunculi did not have genitalia.

Unless specifically designed for that purpose, homunculi were usually featureless. This had something to do with the fact that a homunculus’s body was only capable of housing a soul vestige.

So, then… why? Why did this one come fully equipped!? She did not understand this situation at all.

No, considering its size… isn’t this guy a comfort doll? Male comfort dolls were rare, but it wasn’t unheard of.

As various images flashed through her mind like a vibrant kaleidoscope, the witch’s cheeks gradually reddened.

The flap of her hat drooped down and covered the upper half of her face. Still, it wasn’t enough to hide her embarrassment. The red flush crept down all the way to her neck. Even her shoulders were turning red, not that anyone could see.

Ellis scratched his head. He had been staring at Grisella for a while now. For some reason, the self-proclaimed witch suddenly started fidgeting. A part of him wanted to ask her what was wrong, but his instincts told him not to. If he really walked over there right now…

A chill ran down his spine.

Instead, he decided to speak. Recalling back to their extremely brief conversation, he felt like he still needed to justify himself, even if it may be a completely meaningless gesture.

“I’ve been like this (no clothes) for over six years now. I truthfully didn’t know how to fix my problem, so I was in quite a bind. When you came along, you really helped me out there. So, thank you.” He blurted out, seemingly unprompted.

He’s been like this for a year… like this… like… he’s been a comfort doll for so long? What did he mean by problem? How did I fix his problem? Don’t tell me… he got fired because he couldn’t get it up?

Again, weird thoughts flashed through her mind.

She meekly nodded her head.

For his part, Ellis breathed out a sigh of relief. With this, she shouldn’t misunderstand, right?

On the other hand, the cogs in her head furiously turned.

A comfort doll… a comfort doll that can’t get it up… is he a defective product? Is that why he’s in this forest? Was he abandoned? No, that shouldn’t be the case… but…

Grisella furrowed her brow as she continued to silently brood. A little bit of caution, a little bit of flattery, and a little bit of embarrassment, all sorts of emotions swirled around in her heart.

Unbeknownst of each other’s thoughts, the group continued deeper into the endless forest.