“Then how do you propose we ‘figure out’ what kind of demon he is?” The grand elder touched the main point of the conversation.
“The only way is to confront him.” Elder Agnes said and then looked at elder Sonor, “And not physically! We can’t let him feel threatened. Of course, we have to bear in mind there is a possibility he knows of our plan. But that is only a problem if he really is the Primeval demon. If he is just a demon lord or a regular demon – no matter what tricks he plays, he can not escape his fate. On the other hand – I don’t think we should worry about him knowing already.”
“Why is that?” The grand elder was leaning on the table, both hands on his forehead, “Oh, I see!” he answered his own question, “You mean the if he knows it, it’s too late anyway! Hahaha! Only an old fox like you could think this way. But in this case I must agree. Anyway. What are your suggestions?”
Elder Agnes smiled along with grand elder’s laugh, “It is simple and difficult at the same time. Let’s interview him for the next month. We should do it casually with just few of us present. Since I have spent more time with him than any of us while reading during the last few months, I suggest I will try to continue to connect and build some kind of grandmother-grandchild relationship. Other than that the grand elder should be present as well as elder Silvio.”
“All of that sounds nice, but how will you figure out if he is the Primeval demon?” Elder Ernest was confused.
“Elder Silvio?” Elder Agnes elbowed the old man sitting next to her.
“Khm,” Elder Silvio coughed, “There are some things regular demons and demon lords are not capable of. Also, I have studied all the ancient scrolls we have in the sect as well as the ones in Sand and Lori kingdom’s libraries. From the bits and pieces of information that is there describing the deeper levels of hell, I think I will be able to judge who our guest really is. Also, if he is Lord Baal, there might be some manifestations of demonic power that we would see during the upcoming months.”
“All right, lets do that.” The grand elder nodded, “For the next thirty days, apart from sleeping, the three of us will spend time in this room with the little demon. I have done my replenishment already, so I should be fine for next seventy to eighty days.”
“I have a question.” Elder Jan said, then took a longer pause to look at the grand elder, and then at the others, “What will we do if he really is the Primeval demon Baal?”
“We will cross that bridge when we get there. You just have to understand that there lies an incredible opportunity. For the next month that demon in child’s body possesses no threat to us anyway. We have something else to talk about, right elder Dinnar?” Grand elder turned grave serious.
“I … I don’t know how that could happen. I drew the runes personally with the mixture that was personally prepared by elder Jan … I don’t…” Elder Dinnar was stuttering while trying to defend himself. It was not that he was afraid of the grand elder or others, he knew very well they would believe him. He just could not figure out how the sabotage was possible.
“Calm down!” The grand elder barked at him, “Of course, we know someone else had their hand in this. Elder Sonor is the most qualified to do the investigation, don’t worry about that. What I want to hear from you is what happened during the ritual?”
“As you all know, the runes not only carry out the function of being catalyst and medium, but also are the set of coordinates. We managed to find the correct coordinates of hell thanks to the studies of our predecessors, elder Silvio, as well as trial and error. After we summoned multiple lesser demons we finally pinpointed few possible locations of the demon lords.” Elder Dinnar was stuttering and sweating, but still continued. He was one of the greatest rune masters and formation masters in the world and, despite this being a setback, it was possible he had discovered something amazing, “But then, when someone re-drew swastika runes, it altered the Qi flow. And it seems we stumbled on coordinates of a deeper level of Hell, if not the deepest. What I don’t understand is – how we were able to summon such a strong soul.”
“I think I know answer to that.” The grand elder said and leaned back in his chair, “The demon was weakened. There should have been some sort of special circumstances and coincidences why our formation could pull and guide his soul here, and according to what demon said – the soul is incomplete as well.”
“I don’t like such coincidences!” Elder Sonor slapped his palm on table, “I say we take our chances and just kill him, and give his body to elder Agnes to play with.”
“No!” The grand elder interrupted him, “You don’t understand the mind of a researcher. You are an incredible sword Qi master, but you just don’t understand what amazing opportunity we have here. The data we will collect and the experience we will gather will be immense help for the future generations of the Holy Order. That is, of course, in case if we fail. If we succeed – we will rule the world already during this generation!” In the end the grand elder was panting, his eyes lit with the fire of fanaticism.
Silence enveloped the library. After few minutes the grand elder calmed down a bit, “Let’s proceed like this: I, elders Agnes and Silvio will do the thirty day research on the live demon, whether it is the Primeval demon or just a demon lord. Elder Jan, you’ll follow the original plan we had. The child still needs the strengthening baths as well as the appropriate food. Just in case keep the dosages the same as if the birth was after nine moths of pregnancy, except for the food, of course. We can do some alterations later if needed. Elder Dinnar, I don’t know how you should go about it, but we need to think of a seal in case we have the real Baal on our hands. I trust your expertise so do your best. Elder Sonor, the investigation is on you. You have full authority to do anything you deem necessary, including any, I repeat – ANY – kind of interrogations. If there is the slightest resistance from the deputy elders, you can skin and then kill one or two just for public deterrence. Don’t forget to inform me on your progress.”
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Nick was oblivious to all of it. The next morning he opened his little eyes and saw two blurred silhouettes at his bed.
‘Oh no, don’t tell me the humanoids in this world are different. I hope they don’t have tentacles on their faces and don’t stick their junks together to communicate like in ‘Avatar’. Hmm, that shouldn’t be the case. They seem to communicate orally just fine. I really hope they don’t have green or blue skin though.’
While he was thinking, he tried to blink and focus his vision. Nick knew the newborns can’t clearly see for few weeks after the birth. He hoped his case could be different because of the prolonged pregnancy and the strengthening with this worlds magic power – the Qi.
The two silhouettes seemed to have noticed him waking up and one quickly disappeared.
‘He probably went to call one of the old freaks. Did they put that seal on me?’ Nick tried to observe his consciousness, but was not really certain how that would work, ‘Hopefully not. I guess the Baal thing worked. I should continue to be the big bad demon just to be safe. Wait! I am not safe! Where is the ‘Mumbler’? If he gets his shift to guard me I am screwed! I have to think of something fast!’
The grand elder and elder Agnes approached the bed with wide, unnatural smiles. While the old woman managed to more or less look like a regular grandmother, the grand elder’s skeleton-like appearance was anything but friendly.
They saw the ‘little’ newborn who’s size was of a two year old toddler. He looked at them dark blue eyes, blinked few times. Then pointed his little finger at the guarding apprentice and said, “Go away!”
It sounded a bit funny, but still manage to shock both elders. Since this was their research project, the grand elder tried to be really nice, “Lord Baal, these are our elite apprentices, they are here to guard you.”
“No! Go away! Only … women … allowed.” It was still hard for Nick to talk, but he was not as tired as after saying the few words yesterday.
“You mean you want only females to guard you?” The grand elder probed.
“Yes! ... guaad and seeeve.”
‘Damn that ‘r’! When I will be able to pronounce it?’ Nick inwardly cursed.
“Oh, Lord Ball, do you want your servants and guards to be female?” The grand elder looked at elder Agnes with a weird look on his face, ‘What kind of perverted demon is this? He did not even ask for food, but already wants a female.’
Elder Agnes was also surprised, “But we don’t really have many beauties or virgins here for you to choose from. Our apprentices are selected based on their skill, not their looks.”
“Any. Female. Fine.” Nick’s mind was not to be changed so easily.
‘No way, you old freaks! Get me some girls to protect me from the ‘Mumbler’ first, then we can talk!’
The grand elder gave a hand sign for the guards to change and then turned back to Nick, “Lord Baal, are you hungry?”
“Yes. Need. Food. A. Lot.” From his internship in children hospital, Nick remembered how newborns were eating often over ten times a day. His appetite was huge and he was determined to fully exploit that.
‘You old freaks killed off my second mother and I will pay back fully. Now feed me so I can get strong faster!’
Of course, the elders came prepared. Elder Agnes sat down on the bed and picked Nick up. He comfortably lied in her arms and expectantly looked at the blurry flask she was holding in her hand.
‘Interesting, do they have special baby bottles? The old hag won’t breastfeed me, right?’ Nick thought and elder Agnes brought the flask to his little moth. Then slowly started to feed him a thick dark-brown liquid drop by drop.
Nick greedily swallowed and, because he was really hungry, he did not even notice that this was not milk. Suddenly he felt his belly starting to heat up. Small droplets of sweat started to form on his forehead.
“Feel. Hot.” He burped out some of the mixture and complained.
Elder Agnes repositioned him to free her right hand and put it on his belly. Thin white mist formed around her palm and entered his abdomen.
“Don’t worry. This is special mixture elder Jan developed. It has all the necessary nutrients in addition to a rank three flame lizard’s blood essence. We have to build up your fire resistance so that your fiery demonic soul does not reject this little body. I and the other elders who will feed you in the beginning, we will help you to digest it by circulating our Qi in your body.” Elder Agnes smiled. She really tried to play a kind grandmother.
‘Qi – shmiii! Why don’t you give me some milk? Where will I get all the calcium and vitamins the growing body needs? You guys just want to torture me again!’ Nick did not have any good impression of these people.
But the mixture was not that bad, in fact it was really tasty. It had a fresh fruity sweet taste like mango with a tad of spiciness. But still, Nick was confident that even in this world mammals should have milk.
He raised his little hand to push away the flask, swallowed the leftovers in his mouth and said, “Human. Body. Need. Milk.”
The grand elder smiled, “Lord Baal, you are quite knowledgeable. We are obviously aware of that. This mixture that elder Jan prepared is based on 90% milk. As you could guess, it is also in our interest to make you strong. We won’t harm your growth.”
‘Ye, right.’ Nick grumbled to himself, ‘I clearly remember the inquisition you psychos put me through.’
“We have made a special dietary plan for you, Lord Baal.” The grand elder continued, “While the amount of food you consume will increase, we will increase the proportion of medicinal supplements as well to hasten your development. As elder Agnes said, we have to increase your fire resistance, and we have to do that within the first month. After that we will have one month to increase your cold resistance. It’s crucial to do it this early, because our research shows that older babies don’t produce any particular elemental resistances, in fact, any kind of resistances can be achieved only within the first six months. And, Lord Baal, you were in the womb four months longer that a baby should, so we think there are only two out of the six months left – we don’t want to take any risks.” The grand Elder sounded guilty or sad. May be it was because he was not certain or he was afraid they won’t make it on time.
But Nick was delighted! ‘Great! They will torture me four months less than anticipated. This food makes me really hot and burns a little, but the Qi thing they do alleviates the pain.’