Was this his niece? I hadn't received specific instructions about letting her in or not, only a warning not to harm her. I debated with myself about the right course of action, but ultimately, I figured that talking to her might help me better understand my current situation. So, I unfurled my wings and gracefully flew down the spiral staircase, stopping in front of the main door with a flap of my wings. I really enjoy flying; I should do it more often!

The door had a simple manual mechanism for opening and a latching mechanism. I removed the latch and opened the door to be met with a startled cry.

The blonde girl jumped back, nearly stumbling on the stairs at the sight of me. To avoid further frightening her, I remained still and offered a friendly greeting.

"Hi," I said, meeting her amber eyes and waving my hand while quickly identifying her: mage level 23, specializing in fire magic.

She seemed ready to turn and flee, but curiosity got the better of her.

"Uhm, hello?" she stammered before asking, "Who are you?”

“I am Lores!” – I answered, clarifying everything with a word.

She blinked and then smiled.

"Are you the new housekeeper? Why are you covered in blood, Lores?" she inquired, catching me off guard with her question.

I didn't respond to her first question immediately, instead addressing the second. "Ummm, it's my blood," I replied. "It was a consequence of something I didn't do when I should have or something like that. I'm not sure how to explain it." Her eyes widened.

"Did my uncle do that to you?" Her indignant tone surprised me once again. I hadn't expected her to be concerned for me. Besides, her uncle didn't seem powerful enough to harm me even a little bit.

"No," I answered without going into further detail. "I assume you're the wizard's niece?"

"Indeed. Didn't my uncle mention me to you?"

"Oh, yes. Just before he left, he made sure to tell me not to kill you."

She snorted, showing no real fear of me. "How reassuring! May I come in?"

"Of course," I nodded, making way for her to enter.

What followed was a surprisingly ordinary experience. Alina, the mage, turned out to be a kind-hearted person. She was human, albeit a bit smaller in stature, just like the wizard. As I had more time to observe her, I didn't notice any other significant differences from other humans.

She was gracious enough to explain how the bathroom worked. It was quite straightforward once you grasped it, with runes clearly indicating the different functions.

Their language had a rather unique alphabet that included various syllables alongside letters, such as 'ci' and 'chi', 'gi' and 'ghi', among other combinations of consonants. Consequently, their alphabet consisted of sixty-four of these "letters." However, once you understood the system, it became easy to read their text. The complexity arose from certain words not being pronounced exactly as they were written, likely due to language evolution.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I absorbed all of this as Alina assisted me in translating the instructional note provided by the wizard and kindly answered any additional questions I had. It seemed she was pleased with my eagerness to learn and even gave me some paper where I could make my notes.

She even pitched in to help me organize the books after I promised to return the favor by assisting with the cooking. Her culinary skills seemed quite basic, to the extent that my own cooking abilities, based on what Cala knew, left her astounded. She even went as far as asking if I was some kind of culinary demon.

I merely rolled my eyes, thinking she was exaggerating. My cooking talents weren't that exceptional.

With her assistance, I managed to complete the library clean-up and reorganization late in the evening. Afterward, we had some time to chat. She was contemplating whether to stay the night since it was getting quite late. She explained that the roads were not very safe at night.

As I delved further into discussing the potential threats and local wildlife surrounding the tower, she posed a question that caught me off guard. She inquired about the type of demon I might be. My immediate reaction was a scowl, and I quickly protested, vehemently insisting that I wasn't a demon. To this, she burst into laughter, quizzically asking, "Then why are you here?"

Her question left me momentarily speechless. It was not the horns that she pointed at but at me being there. Why was I there? What kind of fucking error brought me there?

Eventually, she decided to stay and spend the night in the tower, and since I had no instructions to drive her away, I suggested helping her prepare a room for the night. We made our way one level down to inspect the available rooms.

During a brief moment when I was alone, I seized the opportunity to cast an identification spell on myself. Trying to identify my hands, legs, or abdomen yielded no results, but when I attempted the spell in front of a mirror in the main area, things took a rather puzzling turn.

I knew that using mirrors for identification could result in inaccuracies, but the information I received from the spell sent chills down my spine in multiple ways: "demon, black magic, level 13, (??????? ??????)."

I remained frozen, staring at my own reflection in the mirror for what felt like an eternity, attempting to digest the startling revelation.

"Admiring your reflection in the mirror, are you? Self-love? Narcissism? So, that's the type of demon you are!?" a male voice came from the stairs behind me.

I snorted and turned around to find the old wizard standing there.

He had returned early and was delighted to find his cherished library clean and well-organized. While he chatted with his niece, who had emerged from the bathroom, I took the opportunity to identify him.

"Arcane mage, level ??"

I couldn't dwell on that as he inquired, "Well, little demon, I'm pleased with the work you've done. You haven't asked for any reward, so I'm willing to offer you a little gift. Tell me, what would you like as payment? Silver? A minor spell scroll, perhaps? I may be able to fulfill your request unless you're too greedy. I have some scrolls over there you can choose from."

I seized the opportunity and replied, "If you happen to have any books on transformation, that would greatly interest me!"

He chuckled heartily. "So, the demon desires to be a changeling, eh? Haven't settled on your specialty, have you? Those tomes are worth much more than the cleaning you've done. I could offer you an arcane copy of such a book, but what would you do with it, being an illiterate demon?"

The niece attempted to advocate for me. "Uncle, you're aware that arcane copies fade after a few days. The book will vanish before she can read it!"

He shrugged. "That's my best offer."

I nodded. "I'll accept it."

Once he handed me the book, he declared, "With this, I consider our contract concluded. Do you agree, demon?"

I nodded, and the strange light show that I had lived through when I was summoned repeated itself. The next moment, I found myself blinking hard, trying to see something, finding myself in the midst of a dark forest, hopefully back to where I had been summoned from.