Elliot was sick of walking. He wasn’t tired physically, this weird new body of his made it so he was always full of energy, but his head hurt like hell. It was stuffy under this make-shift mask, as well. Fortunately, it only took a couple of minutes before Lidia’s big brother finally shouted while out on top of a hill. “Heartlake City! I never tire of seeing it. So, little hero, you can tell me now. Have you ever seen anything this beautiful?” Elliot gave him a wry smile, standing next to the knight so he could get a look. And he did.

Wow. Frederick and Lidia had been boasting about the city the entire time they’d come here, going so far as to call it one of the great 18 wonders in the world, which probably weren't so wondrous if there were so many of them… Now that he’d seen it, though… He had no choice but to admit the big man was underselling it a bit. It wasn’t the biggest or the most impressive he’d ever seen… but man did the city look beautiful.

The buildings were a And looking at its center he realized where it got its name. In the center of the giant city was a beautiful, vibrant lake in the shape of a heart. He wanted to go see it, but for now, he’d have to deal with the smug look on Frederick’s and Lidia’s faces. He realized he’d been staring for a good minute now and cursed. “It’s… pretty nice.” He said, with the same cold tone he’d always had. The two groaned at his lack of reaction, and he did his best to hide the grin on his face. Thank god for the bandages.

“Bah, he’ll definitely see what we’re talking about when we head to the adventurer’s guild, brother.” Frederick nodded, the smile returning back to his face. It didn’t take much to make the guy happy, huh. Wait, adventurer’s guild? “Lidia… That really isn’t the best place for me to be, you know that.” He knew what that meant, a group of people who were all just as afraid of demons as Lidia had been, only more equipped to wipe him off the face. Why the hell would she put him in a place full of people who would probably turn him into some stupid potion?

He tried throwing a glare at her, but Lidia turned away, apparently not having it. …This was probably going to end up being very bad. He sighed, bringing his head down in defeat. Lidia must have seen this as a victory because she already had started making plans. “Where do you think we can find Sadie and Natasha? I know Gerald always hangs around the bar but those two… You never know with those two.” He tuned them out, thinking about what to do in this situation.

She technically had some blackmail on him. So, he really would not feel comfortable staying too long around these people. Honestly, he was pretty sure he could outrun her big brother. The man didn’t seem too nimble at all. He wanted to grab a few pieces of equipment, though… Traveling with nothing but the clothes on his back was just asking for trouble. Speaking of which… “Hey, Frederick…” The big guy turned to him mid-conversation, ignoring his sister.

“Yeah, Little hero?” Elliot silently wished he’d stopped adding the little to address him. He was tall! Just… not that level of tall. And nowhere near as big. Man… “Do you know where I can find a mask in town? I’ve been meaning to look for one. My face… the bandages are starting to stick to the wounds…” He fought to keep a poker face as the big guy’s eyes became full of pity and worry. Lying was bad, but you couldn’t deny how nice it felt getting one over someone.

Lidia stared at him unimpressed, but he didn’t need to convince her. Frederick put a hand behind his head, giving a pitying smile. “Ah… Apologies. You should try the tailor. That woman is always trying to make us buy the most eccentric things… I’m sure she could find one to fit your… needs.” The poor guy seemed to have trouble finding the right words, and he almost felt guilty forcing him to stumble around like that. It was pretty fun to watch, though.

“Thank you… I hadn’t had much time to fix myself these days. I truly hope I can find some way to cure this damn curse…” Again with the pitying glare. It seemed the big guy had already suspected that to be the case. He didn’t say anything else, leaving the conversation off in an awkward pause. Haha. He gave Lidia a look, and she gave him what he could only describe as “spiteful disappointment.”

While the knight had his back turned, Elliot moved the bandages wrapped around his throat to show his grin, and the girl had turned red in the ears. Haha, he didn’t expect someone to get so angry at a simple smile. He definitely didn’t expect her to jump off Frederick’s shoulder, though. “Idiot, what are you… urk…” She almost tumbled over when she hit the ground, the combination of sitting for too long combined with Frederick’s impressive walking speed all mixed together to ruin her landing.

The only thing that had kept her up was Elliot, and in no way through his own action. He had sorta wished that she hit the ground, anything other than this. The dumb girl had decided the best option was to grab not at his clothes, but at the bandages wrapped around his face. Luckily, he grabbed her moments before she succeeded in pulling the whole damn thing off. He managed to save it just to the point where he looked like a bad mummy costume.

Still, plenty for the knight to see.

“Lidia!? What have I said about jumping off… Lidia!?” He seemed to be completely shocked at what he was seeing, but fortunately, it wasn’t his face he was seeing. In a glorious attempt to save him, Lidia had locked Elliot into a headlock. There was no need for her to put so much strength on his neck while she tied him back up, but luckily his demon body had been able to… to take…

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Gah!” She gave one last tug on the bandages before letting him go, allowing him the air he had so desperately needed to breathe. He buckled to the ground, cursing every damn thing in existence as he brought in as much air as he could into his lungs. She seemed to be breathing just as hard, for some reason. A hand reached in to grab his shoulder and he instinctively slapped it away, forgetting the situation he was in at the moment.

He put his hands to his face, checking to see if the bandages were covering him correctly. He’d been so focused on it that he hadn’t even seen the devastated look on the big brother’s face. “Elliot… I apologize for what… no. I shouldn’t be the one apologizing…” Elliot planted his feet on the ground, ready to fight when he heard the violent tone in the brother’s voice. He didn’t realize the tone wasn’t directed at him until he’d grabbed the waist of Lidia with one, massive hand, bringing her up in the air.

“What!? Hey! Frederick, what are you- OW! FREDERICK!!” Whoah, that wasn’t good. Frederick had this weird, solemn look on his face as he grabbed his sister, who was slamming her staff into his head with all her might. “Apologize, sister. You’ve shamed my family far enough.” She gave her brother an angry look, before flinching in pain as his hand seemingly became tighter around her waist.

Despite everything, Elliot just couldn’t stand and watch. He approached, warily. “Your hurting your sister. Is this something a brother should do?” Damnit, he wanted to grovel, to at least act pathetic. This damn demonic voice of his just didn’t allow that, though.

“You’ve been attacked by someone in our household. We hold you with good regards, Elliot Dresmr.” The words coming from him seemed to radiate with an otherworldly tone, and despite their kindness towards him, they held a- Wait, what the fuck. “How do you know my last name!?” He hadn’t even told Lidia that! Oh, shit. Something was happening, and he wasn’t just going to let it.

“Apologize, sister, before have to resort to… urk.” Elliot jumped into the air with as much force as he could, kneeing the big man in the chin. The force felt like he’d tried bashing through a brick wall with his knee, but it had managed to make him fall back enough to drop Lidia. He caught her before she slammed into the ground, her ribs and stomach probably bruised from the experience. She couldn’t even seem to speak correctly. “Brother’s… a demon… his body.”

Yeah, he was pretty scared of her brother as well, she didn’t have to warn him of that. He felt a brick drop in his stomach, and moments before a giant slab of steel split him in half he jumped into the air, Lidia holding on for dear life. The horrible sound of gravel tearing and earth cracking apart didn’t even end before he hit the ground again a few feet away. Both his and Lidia’s breath hitched when they saw just what had happened. The psycho brother had pulled out his goddamn dragon slayer of a sword.

‘Well regards’ my goodman ass. “What… You almost killed me, you bastard!” He caught Lidia giving him a deadpan look through the pain, but he chose to ignore it. “Calm down! We can make this work- whoah!” He ducked, the tippy top of his hair brushing against the giant sword as it flew right past him, releasing itself into the trees. That had almost made him ‘release’ himself right in his own pants. This was way too much. ”Uh… think of your sister?”

A thick, black smoke escaped the knight’s mouth, his eyes shaken and unsteady. Frederick turned to him, his voice deep and garbled, yet filled with a new, malicious clarity. “Elliot Dresmr. We hold you in well regard… hand over the girl.” Oh, Jesus. That had been english, hadn’t it? He didn’t even get a chance to pee himself, as the giant warrior suddenly burst into an attack. They sent a punch at him, and he just managed to push the fist aside enough to let it graze past him…

The force of the air rushing past him made him immediately regret trying to protect Lidia. He was almost kicked in the stomach when he had that moment of hesitation, but thanks to his new body he managed to barely dodge it. “Stop moving, Dresmr. We just want the girl.” Even in the middle of almost being turned into paste, Elliot scoffed. “Then get the hell away from me first!?” He jammed his fist into Frederick’s throat, making sure to only put enough force to not kill a normal human being.

Big mistake.

Their adam’s apple felt like a goddamn boulder on his knuckles, and took the punch about as well, too. “Weak. You cannot be a noble knight without proper- guh…” Elliot’s second punch had a bit more oomph to it, as in, he’d put all the demonic strength he had into it to land a punch right between the knight's ribcage and stomach. It irked him that his killing blow had done nothing but make the knight groan a bit, but he didn’t let that bother him.

At least, not until the psych grabbed his arm. The grin on Frederick’s face at the moment was very unbefitting for a knight. Elliot clenched his teeth. “Our turn.” The punch might as well have turned him into a delicious, demonic slurry, splashing all over the trees and hopefully some on Lidia as well, just out of spite. It stopped a moment before hitting his face, luckily. The force of the fist stopping in the air was enough to make his hair fly back with a terrifying force.

Lidia had come in to save him in the nick of time. “Move no more, foul beast. Release your reign on this man’s life. We have no qualms here… Exorcism!” The wind around her moved dramatically, and her hair had been picked up with it, giving her a wild, dangerous look.

Elliot had almost turned into a slurry before being saved by this look, though, so all he saw was the greatest, most beautiful angel in his life.

The big knight fell back with a screech, not a shout but a goddamn, otherwordly screech. “Fool! She means the end for us both!” Whatever was inside Frederick’s body screamed. He turned to Lidia, his eyes a bit worried. Lidia’s eyes narrowed, giving him a disappointed glare before looking at her brother with all the anger in the world. “Only one demon here has hurt me, foul creature. Therefore, I only require your death.” The air around her picked up, and suddenly she was in the goddamn air. Seeing that, Elliot couldn’t help but sigh in relief. No way in heaven or hell could he be able to go up against that.