-Month 1, Day 27-

(Cynwrig) "You seriously don't even want to have some lynx on a stick? It's some of the best food."

(Saria) "I told you, I want to eat tropicots or something that's just as delicious!"

(Cynwrig) "But this is as delicious. To begin with I don't get why you like those sweet water balloons..."

She just shook her head in refusal. He didn't understand what was up with her. Demons lived off of purely mea, blood and water, only resorting to fruit and vegetables if they are really desperate to get some food in their mouth. He could only explain that this weirdo had to be infected by some sort of sickness that made her appetite completely unreadable. He spent so many years in school studying monster behavior and here this kid challenged everything he knew about demons.

They were currently in one of the two enormous bazaars of Elisande. This one was located slightly on the south-east side of the city, with the other being on the western side near the middle district. Saria was crying and hitting him because he caused all of her food in her backpack to become uneatable during his attempt to bring out the shadow beast, so to calm her down he told her he would buy her something else to eat. But she was picky as all hell. Only talking about her tropicots like it was some sort of addiction. But those things were really expensive since very few people in the kingdom of Mondrassia even had them as crops. Tropicots need way too much water and sunshine to properly mature, and a lot of care.

(Cynwrig) "Ugh, fine, will you shut up if we go to a fruit stall that sells them?"

(Saria) "You need to buy me more than eight, thats how many you killed."

(Cynwrig) "Killed?"

(Saria) "You killed my food."

With a droopy face he told her to follow and he tried to look for a fruit stall that sold those fruits then. Walking around in public with people buzzing about in droves made him a bit nervous since he was essentially dragging an illegal asset around in a hive's nest. She didn't really mind being around people, but luckily nobody was curious enough to really look underneath the massive cape she was wearing over her. She had clothing that entirely covered her hands and everything to conceal her skin color, so in order to spot that she wasn't a regular human, you would need to get down into her eye level and stare directly at her. Luckily, she was short, so only kids would really be able to tell.

After looking through multiple stalls, he finally did find someone who sells them. He got her ten pieces of fruit which satisfied her. But by god, were they expensive. 4 clergs for one tropicot. He haggled them down to 35 clergs for ten, but these things really were extremely luxurious food. She was a walking money-eater if all she ever ate was that. You could survive an entire day for 5 clergs, including bedding in an inn and food and water. So to eat what was essentially seven days of all-inclusive lodging in the matter of a one day was just excessive, even in an overly lavish lifestyle.

Well at least she shut up. They spent way too much time finding food that even he got a bit hungry and ordered something from one of the food stalls. Some good lynx on a stick, one of his favorite snacks. Finally they were headed to the Association embassy near the middle district.

(Saria) "Hey, that Arthur guy, did you know him well?"

(Cynwrig) "Why do you care about that?"

(Saria) "You were touching each other and stuff."

(Cynwrig) "T- Touching?"

(Saria) "Yeah, when you hugged."

He just looked at her with a blank face.

(Cynwrig) "Never say that again."

(Saria) "Hugging? Does that word actually scare you?"

(Cynwrig) "No, just forget it. But yes, we've been friends for a long time since we went to the same freedom academy. He was an associate member like me a long time ago until he got a son."

(Saria) "Like Myles?"

(Cynwrig) "Yes, like the son your babysitters have."

She bit into her fourth tropicot while mumbling to herself about "so many humans have babies" or something. After traversing through the streets for some time they reached the embassy. It was located right at the entrance to the middle district where most nobles lived, making it look like a gateway between nobles and normal people. Cynwrig hoped executive Blackhill was in office right now. He was given the task to bring the demon kid in the Lycai forest to him for whatever reason. And since Blackhill was in Elisande for some business right now, he wanted to meet her.

The doors were open to the embassy as always. Elisande rarely had bad weather except during the winter, so getting a fresh breeze in was nice compared to some other remote embassies in cities on the edges of the kingdom. He had hung out in this embassy a lot in the recent few weeks to spend some time working here and there while in standby. He showed Saria inside into the main hall of the building.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Naturally, she couldn't help but stare at many of the paintings that hung all around the main hall. This place had a lot of memorials and depictions of exemplary or memorable associates who have long since passed away. A lot of great people who deserved a spot would be commemorated within the Association, and each city with an embassy had memorials for the heroes of the city. Because there are a lot of unique people, many of them looked completely geared up in equally unique ways.

It took a while until a receptionist finally came back from the office behind the desk. It looked rather quiet today as usual, Saria and Cynwrig were the only ones in the main hall and Cynwrig just let the demon spend her energy looking at all the art.

(Lisa) "Ooh, Cynwrig, you're back!"

(Cynwrig) "Hey."

Because he had spent a lot of time in the embassy doing busy work to not bore himself to death, he had become well acquainted with the staff here. Lisa Mona was the woman he had spent the most time talking to, and she was seemingly on shift today.

(Lisa) "So, did your demon capture go well, Cynwrig?"

(Cynwrig) "It did, even if the plan diverged a bit."

(Lisa) "Oh, that so, huh?"

She looked around while putting down some folders she was carrying.

(Lisa) "What about the two newbies from Proudthrone?"

(Cynwrig) "That's where the plan diverged a bit. They are helping out on the orchard I talked about."

(Lisa) "The orchard? Heh, did they realize that associate work was too challenging for them after all?"

She giggled at her own joke while sorting what she had in her hands.

(Cynwrig) "Nah, I told them to stay. It's a long story. Is Blackhill in office right now?"

(Lisa) "Oh. Sorry, but he isn't going to be here for the rest of the day. Do you have the demon secured somewhere?"

When she asked him that, Cynwrig just pointed towards the stranger in the cape admiring the exhibition in the main hall. She was placing her index fingers against the opposing thumbs for some reason while looking at a painting. It took a while, but when Lisa realized her pupils suddenly expanded like crazy.

(Lisa) "Tha- That's the demon?!"

Cynwrig nodded.

(Lisa) "Are you crazy, Cynwrig? You were supposed to wait for the contract permit before bringing her here! You know that taking a monster into a city without a permit is extremely illegal!".

(Cynwrig) "I got a temporary one, don't worry. Hey, Piggy! Come over here!"

Saria stopped what she was doing. Being called that again stung her as she slowly but furiously looked at Cynwrig while walking towards him.

(Saria) "What?"

(Cynwrig) "I'm dropping you off here."

(Saria & Lisa) "You're what?!"

The girls spoke in unison as if they had no idea what he was planning.

(Cynwrig) "I was supposed to bring her to Blackhill, right?"

(Lisa) "You can't just drop off a contracted demon in the embassy!"

(Cynwrig) "Oh, she's not contracted."

(Lisa) "She's not what?!"

(Cynwrig) "Don't worry, she acts like any normal human girl."

(Saria) "That's not a nice thing to say!"

(Lisa) "Did you at least bring chains for her then?"

Lisa spoke about essentially imprisoning the demon right next to her in broad daylight with arcanite chains. If this was any normal demon it would have burned her the moment it heard her say that. Instead, Saria just shook her head while looking at him. He could only facepalm at how stupid of a comment that was. Besides, he already knew that conflict would arise if she was put in chains or locked away. Blackhill clearly wanted her cooperation for something, so Cynwrig would likely be admonished if he knew it was possible to keep good relations.

(Cynwrig) "Urgh... You want me to keep her for longer?"

(Lisa) "Sir Blackhill is going to be back in office in two days, so figure something out until then! Surely a guild hero is capable of that."

(Cynwrig) "I just really do not want to look after her."

(Lisa) "But you think I do? I'm not taking care of a demon in the embassy. For god's sake Cynwrig, you should know that!"

(Cynwrig) "...Fine. So he's back in office in two days?"

She nodded. He looked down at Saria who had no idea what was going on, and just slowly facepalmed himself at the prospect of needing to watch over this kid for at least two days. He promised Arthur that she wouldn't cause a scene, so he was now employed as a babysitter. Just great.

(Cynwrig) "Alright, I'll be back tomorrow at some point with a written report. Blackhill better be in office when I drop her off."

(Lisa) "I'll make sure to let him know you're coming."

(Cynwrig) "Good, we'll take our leave then. Take care."

She smiled at him and waved as Cynwrig and Saria left the embassy. He thought about what his next move should be when he went out of the embassy doors, and reckoned that he might as well just have her walking openly in the street under his wing. If they were going to be sleeping in an inn, word would spread about her either way. So not being secretive about it was a good preventative method of bad rumors spreading.

(Cynwrig) "Alright, you can take off the cloak now. We'll be staying in Elisande for another two days."

(Saria) "We will? Wasn't I supposed to meet someone?"

(Cynwrig) "You'll meet him in two days, that's why we are stuck here."

(Saria) "Hmm... Okay."

Luckily he wasn't stuck with someone who refused to listen to his orders. In fact, she seemed ridiculously obedient for a monster. If they were going to be stuck here, he might as well bring him to the Little Lamb, an inn he frequented when he was in Elisande and the place he slept at for the last month or so. It wasn't far away from the Association embassy and he knew the people there well by now. Actually, come to think of it, he started knowing a lot of people in Elisande now.

While going towards the Little Lamb, people saw Saria for the first time in the city. Most know of Cynwrig, the guild hero of Caelum, and should have assumed that she was under his control. But obviously some people passing by still got freaked out regardless when they see a monster walking on the open street. At least nobody bothered confronting him about it. It helped that the inner circle road of the city that goes around the middle district was less trafficked than the ones they were on previously.

He kind of did expect her to have some sort of reaction towards the many humans who looked at her like some sort of attraction though. She just did not care about children pointing at her and parents suddenly changing direction to get their kids away from her.

(Cynwrig) "It doesn't bother you that everyone is avoiding and pointing at you?"

(Saria) "Hm?"

(Cynwrig) "Or are you just not noticing it?"

(Saria) "Why should I care about that?"

(Cynwrig) "Ohh? So you're quite thick-skinned?"

(Saria) "It's not like I care about every insect looking at me, sheesh. Do you?"

(Cynwrig) "Ah, so that's what it is."

He almost forgot this was a prideful demon he was talking to. He really should have expected that answer.