So instead of dealing with just a simple beast, they were actually dealing with a demonic beast? Never once had the teen ever heard about a demon turning something else demonic along with it. Was this why they were so feared as a species? He’d always heard about their fearsome strength or resilience, but they also had a trick like this hidden up their sleeves as well? Would anything that Noth did even work on such a freaky thing? It was rare for a wish of his not to work, sure, but the teen knew next to nothing about how demonic and holy forces interacted. After all, didn’t both forces come directly from the God-dess itself? And weren’t the demons known to be exceptionally hard to kill? He was just too lacking in knowledge to be sure of anything he wanted to do, and he’d only get one shot at a surprise attack before the demonic beast chose Noth as his target instead.
“How do I defeat it?”
Serris seemed confused by the question, as if it was a silly thing to ask.
<...Make a wish?>
The way his angel was looking at him as if he was being absurd flustered him slightly, and it was also rubbing the teen the wrong way that she was still looking so calm, despite the dire situation. But then again, when had she ever looked concerned as Noth was placed in a deadly situation? Perhaps it was just because she trusted in him. Or maybe it was because she’d promised to never let any harm befall him? He really should just be trusting in the power of the angel who’d already proved herself to be quite almighty instead of wavering like this.
A startling cry pierced through the air, along with piercing through Noth’s thoughts.
It seemed the demonic familiar wasn’t alone, to be expected.
No, it was only too obvious that someone had to be nearby to control the beast.
A demonic familiar, after all, surely belonged to a demon.
The demon looked rather human, if not for how lanky and stretched out looking it was. Its skin was an almost blue hue, like a person deprived of oxygen. Two small horns jutted out of its forehead with a slight curl. Its clothes somehow seemed to be made of black scales, looking as if they'd been grown by the demon naturally. A small thin tail could be seen slipping through the air like a snake behind it. And being dragged behind it were the woman and child who’d been left behind in the broken house, desperately squirming and screaming. Even as it was slowly and casually strolling through the street with its victims, the demon’s deep black eyes seemed absolutely locked onto Noth. As it grew closer, the teen could make out a confused and yet pleased look on its face. Its lips parted, and it seemed to be murmuring words to itself as it grew closer and closer to Noth.
It took all of Noth’s power not to just stand there like a deer in the headlights and let this new scary opponent just walk up to him. He shook away the spell he’d been under at last, his hand now slightly bleeding from how deeply he’d pressed his nails into them. This was no time to be awed, intrigued, or scared by the very thing that was now ravaging the town he was to protect; Three of his subjects were already in grave danger!
Noth’s panicking mind spit out the first thing he could think of.
“Serris, get rid of them!”
Power flooded the teen’s voice. His eyes began to glow their rusty orange, and his angel’s own eyes seemed to glow to match. Noth hadn’t been looking at the angel behind him, and so he’d missed the displeased look she’d been giving the demon before he gave his command. Her eyes narrowed upon her target, and she did exactly what she’d been waiting to do. Suddenly the angel’s hands raised to the sky.
Serris’s hands began to glow.
The sky immediately darkened and swirled.
A flash of light filled the area as two holy beams descended from the heavens.
Noth had to cover his eyes against the intense yellows and whites that were filling his view, and he could feel an odd sensation like some of the light was absorbing in through his skin. When it seemed that the lights were finally diminishing, he hastily scanned the scene in front of him. All he could see were the shivering forms of the stunned mother and child; Not even a speck remained of the demon. Noth breathed a sigh of relief that the two had made it out unscathed; He’d feared that they’d been in just as much danger from his overhasty angel than they’d been from the demon. The teen couldn’t help but shoot his angel an incredulous look at her chosen method of flashy annihilation, but she didn’t look even a single bit perturbed by it. If anything Serris looked quite satisfied with herself, now that the demon and its pet were gone.
Oh well, at least the crisis was averted.
Now it was time to act like a Count and check on his subjects.
The mother and child could barely reply with how bewildered they were, but at the very least they were able to get up and follow Noth over to the building the father had been hiding in. There was a good bit of rubble to climb over to reach the thoroughly hidden man, but they were all relieved when he was still able to reply to their calls. Thankfully they found him still in one piece, although he was covered in bruises and scrapes. It was plain to see that he’d somehow twisted his ankle during his escape. Noth of course offered to ‘fix him’, since he felt guilty for not moving to rescue the man from the beast sooner than he had. It was no surprise that his odd phrasing had scared the family, however, and so they all vehemently refused. He’d saved the people’s lives, the teen was well aware, but somehow the state they were being left in was completely rubbing Noth the wrong way, and so he instead offered to fix their home. He was planning to go around the town and fix all of the homes eventually, so why not start with theirs? The family looked confused by this new proposition, but they’d already snubbed their lord’s kind offer once, so they weren’t quite able to say no to him a second time.
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It took a good bit of doing trying to convince the family to spill out everything they disliked about their current house. It seemed these were a modest people, people who were used to living in the squalor and dilapidation that they currently found themselves in. It was obvious that the broken wall could use some fixing, but past that they didn’t really seem to know that it was possible to make a better house. From their words it would appear that they hadn’t even once thought they’d like a single room bigger, or possibly cut differently. If anything, it was a perfectly standard house to them, and it would have been greedy to have asked for anything greater.
But such a thing would never have sat well with Noth.
The strange small hovels everyone was living in would have to go.
And yet… even if he knew they’d been made by the demons, did that mean he had to completely erase the odd designs and decals built into the walls that the townsfolk had grown used to?
“...Would you like your new home to still keep the same… culture about it?”
Noth’s question was only met with confused looks. Perhaps he’d worded it wrong. He pointed at the strange symbols that adorned the building all the way around the walls. Interestingly enough, the townsfolk had never even really given much thought to the symbols that decorated their homes. It seems they’d just thought that every house in the world was covered in those, standard issue. In fact, they were a bit uneasy with the thought of a house not having the symbols, as if it were somehow a structural piece and the whole thing would just collapse without them.
After making up his mind and telling the family to remove anything they didn’t want losing from the house, Noth was ready. He closed his eyes and called to mind the image of the cute little storybook cottages he’d read about so often, imagining a two story one with a cozy interior. It took a bit of doing to figure out where to place the symbols on the image, but he eventually decided upon running a fist-sized string of them a little under the roof, on the walls of the house. Keeping his picture in mind he quietly made his wish, and when his eyes opened again he could see that the cottage he’d wanted had come into being.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel a little embarrassed by the awed look the family was giving him.
The teen quickly ushered them all inside to escape their gaze.
The inside of the cottage was absolutely charming. Luckily for Noth, his wish had even produced chairs, tables, counters, rugs, beds… Everything that could have completed the picture of a perfect little cozy home had been reproduced here. As the family made noises of awe and swept their hands and gazes over Noth’s handiwork, the teen felt a deep sense of fulfilment. Yes, wasn’t he such a good lord? He’d fed his starving people, and these ones at the very least seemed to be happy with the new home he’d thought up for them. He was making a difference and improving the lives of others. Wasn’t this exactly what he’d pictured when he’d been told he’d be given a territory?
A fire was lit inside of Noth’s chest.
He’d gained a new goal.
By the end of the month, he was going to see every one of his people overjoyed by their new homes.
~~~
Learning from his first try at getting the people to tell him what they want, Noth thoroughly prepared before attempting the process again. That night he got Elillith and the children together to help look through the stacks of books in the mansion’s impressive library and find all the pictures of houses that they could. He even asked them to draw up any pictures they could remember of the various houses they’d ever seen, regardless of how poorly the pictures might turn out. Noth had been a little concerned with how sad and perhaps upset the children had all seemed when he’d first called upon them, but he was happy to notice that their spirits quickly lifted while they all scrambled to complete the mission he’d given them. They all laughed and giggled, and even Elillith seemed to be getting into it a bit.
As they all did their best and had fun together, Noth could suddenly hear the angel that had been clinging onto him as he worked make a small growling sound. Somehow through their connection his head knew exactly where to turn to see the object of her displeasure. For just a moment, Noth’s eyes had perceived the silhouette of someone peeping in at them through the crack of the door. When the peeper saw that Noth had noticed them, they immediately fled, but it was already too late.
The teen turned his head away and looked towards the floor. In the smallest voice he muttered out a wish.
“I wish I knew who that person was.”
His angel replied with an unimpressed snort.
When Noth quirked his eyebrow and shot Serris an impatient look, she rolled her eyes and finally gave him the answer that he wanted.
“What? The head maid? But she always seemed like she had such good manners…”
Noth couldn’t help the confusion that painted his face. Throughout his whole stay here the head maid had seemed nothing if not completely respectful and proper towards him. Why would such a dignified older woman feel the need to snoop on her lord’s private time with his family.
Another sigh from his angel made Noth suddenly look up, and his vision was filled with the face of Elillith, his one and only friend, across the table from him. The stoic and cool woman had the most pained look on her face that he’d ever seen her wear. Noth didn’t believe for a second that even were she to lose an arm would Elillith be able to show such a face. A deep concern washed over the teen.
“...Elillith? Is everything alright?”
The woman’s pumpkin coloured eyes seemed to waver at his question, but after a few moments of struggling her face seemed to school itself back into the impassive look it typically had, and her gaze quickly turned away from him.
“...Yes, m’lord.”