“Where are they?”

A fully-armored man in a suit pointed toward a small patch of grass, more specifically to the 5-year-old children playing in the grass.

*Haaa*

That boy is very strange. He sits still and watches, while his sister can’t keep still. I’ve never seen a child with such unusual behavior.

I continued to watch the children, the mistress would be angry if I left them. She would prefer to be by their side but the master was invited to a dance, he could not leave without her.

Even so, babysitting is not my job.

The girl…her name was Leigh. She was crawling and running all around her brother, maybe trying to get him to play with her, but he brother doesn’t seem to want to budge. I heard from their mother that he was rather… unemotional. As in, he doesn’t display his emotions, but what I’m seeing is something different.

Instead of playing with his sister, he would rather look at the forest. It seems he’s rather curious. He seems much older for his age. I should watch him closely, he seems like he would make a worthy disciple.

The guards around them are very paranoid. Their eyes constantly shifting, looking all over the place, watching for something. I had heard that an event had happened a few years ago. I didn’t believe someone could actually break into lord Xapos’s mansion, but the way the guards were acting, I started to lose my doubts, especially since they have been paranoid for so long.

I kept watching the curious children. The little girl was doing whatever she wanted but the boy was looking straight at me.

The look in his eyes was unsettling…

I think I need a break. Watching them for too long has made me insane. I was just unsettled by such a small child.

“I’m going to retire for a moment, if there are any problems, please report to me.”

“Yes Madam!”

I walk away from the clearing and back to the mansion, I’ve been in here many times now, but this is my first time coming to babysit.

I walked through the front doors. Big, large and everything Xapos wants to his legacy to show. To show that they have power.

*Hehe*

I chuckle a bit. That’s just like him.

I enter further in and take another good look at his mansion.

A grand entrance. Two large staircases on either side that lead to the upper floor and a door dir3ectly across from me in the center that leads to the main floor. 4 guards station on either side of me and two by the top of the staircase.

I swear, the amount of money they spend on their guards is insane.

“Maid, make me a hasty. I need some energy.”

“As you wish.”

The young maid went through the main door and farther inside the house. I watched her leave and returned outside.

“WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?!”

The first thing I hear when I come back outside, is the last thing I would have wanted to hear.

I rush towards the clearing, finding the guards scattered around the area, frantically searching for what I assume to be the children.

Seriously though, how can 5 guards lose five-year-old children?

*UrAaGh*

I heard a disgusting sound from farther in the forest. My eyes grew wide. There should be no monsters anywhere near the mansion, let alone right beside it.

I rush towards the screeching, getting more and more worried that I couldn’t hear the children’s voices.

It got louder and louder as I followed it into a cave, some of the guards already there, the rest following me.

We charged into the cave, looking for the children, only to find them right beside one of the most disgusting creatures I’ve ever seen.

An insect-like creature with 2 pairs of wings on its back. Random spikes around its body and a long tail that ended with a scorpion’s barb. Bu the most unsettling feature of all, was the skull-like face with disgustingly green glowing eyes. There was no doubt about it. This was a bone devil, but not just any. One that was summoned by a green-eyed demon.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

We waited at the cave entrance. If we attacked, the bone devil may kill the children. At least, I waited. The guards around me charged at the creature, no hesitation in their eyes.

“What are you doing!?” I yelled at them but they didn’t stop, their swords and shields pointed at the demon.

It stared at the boy before burrowing into the solid rock and digging away.

The guards then quickly secured the children and ran back to the estate.

I stood there in awe. How could they have made such a risky move? They could have endangered the children.

But the look in their eyes said otherwise.

I walked beside the guards holding the children. It must have been such a traumatic experience for them…

The little girl was still smiling, and the boy still had that indifferent face.

I asked the closest guard.

“How many times has this happened?”

He shook his head.

“A few times now. The same demon keeps coming back, trying to attack the children but it values its own life more than its task. We’ve noticed the green-eyes too. We think it’s a shapeshifting green-eyed demon that’s trying to kidnap the children to be leverage against lord Xapos. We can’t let word get out that a green-eyed demon has made an appearance, at least the king has told us not to. So for now, we are keeping it quiet, until we can capture or kill that blasted demon.”

“Thank you, you’ve answered all my questions.”

I shook my head. A demon has been terrorizing my good friends? Assuming the first incident was the demon, that means he has been around here for almost 3 years!

My eyes grew narrow.

“I’m going back to that cave, I want to investigate some more.”

“But Ma’am… its not safe. That thing has the strength of a 5th level beast or higher. All of us together couldn’t defeat it, we only lost more men in the process… That’s also if you find it. We’ve looked everywhere, we even tried to follow it in its tunnels!”

“It’s fine. My job requires me to fight worse.”

I turned around and headed straight for the cave. A shapeshifting demon type with such a powerful transformation trying to attack the Xapos’s family? Have they begun to move again? The green-eyed demons?

----

Hmm. So, Aunty Mypha is going to try and kill the demon, is she? I know she’s strong, but I’m pretty sure she’s not that strong… I mean, not even dad could kill that demon and Mypha duels with him all the time. I compared their strengths and weaknesses. Aunty may beat dad most of the time but that’s just how her style is.

She goes for quick, fast strikes which matches her rapier whereas dad uses a broadsword, his attacks a long and heavy, leaving him in the open.

So, against a target with literal bone for skin, I don’t think Aunty can win, unless she has some hidden strengths I don’t know about.

I look over at Leigh. She’s already gotten used to the thing. God damn Leigh. Your only 5 years old! Every time I think about that thing it gives me shivers. Its like it was designed to be scary and the way it stares at me every time its about to leave…

I don’t want to think about it. It’s going to hurt my brain. I should just head back to the mansion so I can get back to the library. Without my electron games, life can get pretty boring if your stuck in a single patch of grass and a gigantic house.

I run past all the guards, heading straight for the house. The demon’s timing couldn’t have come at a better time. See, the only reason I was out there was because Leigh forced me too and all the guards agree with her and say that I should spend more time outside.

I just can’t! Physical activity is tiring and my body was clearly never made for it. Hell, my face doesn’t even make emotions even if I try really hard. Do you know how weird it is to not make emotions? I mean, no one can ever understand what you’re saying properly, no one can understand if your mad, and I don’t even fully understand this stupid language yet. English was so much more simple.

Sigh. I’m ranting inside my own head again.

I ran far past the guards and my sister and I’m nearing the stairs. I look up and see the imposing height of the building. It really is to dad’s designs. Big. He likes everything big.

I rush through the main door, running past maids and more guards.

The amount of times I’ve seen the guards without their helmets is dwarfed by the amount of time I’ve seen them fight that creepy demon and that demon doesn’t attack very often.

I stare at the décor used to make the halls not as obnoxious to walk through. Portraits of random relatives and ancestors, flower pots and lamps, all perfectly separated and cleaned.

Another thing dad likes. A pristine home, which isn’t a bad trait to have, instead it would be a great trait… if it applied to all rooms of the house.

I open the doors to the library and I’m hit with an immediate waft of dust which makes me sneeze.

All rooms of the house…

The library was small, not one of those giant ones that you see on your T.V. It’s big yes, but not as big as I would want it to be, nor as clean.

When I first came in, there was so much dust that it poured out of the room and onto the carpet outside. It was almost impossible to breathe and to makes things worse, all the books had been thrown across the floor in piles.

It took me an entire year before I could get this place in some amount accessibility. Now I can walk around without falling over a random book and sneezing myself to death from the resulting dust that would be kicked up.

I read each book for a brief moment before dusting it off and putting it into the shelf I wanted it to be in. There were a few shelves, but I mostly organized them into facts, stories and history. I’ve been reading a lot of facts and history lately, I want to be as in touch with the world as I can be. It’s amazing how this world developed and how magic interacted with that as well. I’m missing a few volumes because this place was obviously not kept in order but I was around 2000 years ago. I only need the next 20 to finish it.

I walked over to the facts section. I frequented this part of the library the most often. I usually read books on plant life and herbology. When magic is introduced into a world, the plant-life becomes sporadic and even animate compared to the plant-life in our world. The most we have is a Venus fly trap that closes and opens its mouth.

Over here, they have plants that look like snakes that strangle fish to consume them. The best part is, that they actually swim through rivers! It’s amazing!

I returned to the book I was reading previously. “A gardener’s guide to various plants and risks.”

“Sir, Madam Mypha wishes to see you…”

A butler walked into the room, my butler, Sherbert. Funny name, right?

“Tell her that I’m feeling ill and I wish to not move. At all.”

He bowed his head and walked off, a look of absolute disgust on his face. I know he doesn’t like me. Either because I put him through menial torture or the fact that I never show emotions. It’s like working for someone who doesn’t show thanks. I can understand if that’s the problem.

But the look on his face this time… it was different.

Oh well. Back to my book!

Chapter 3 - End