“Weeeeeeeeeeee!” Aria threw her hands in the air and cheered as Damien sped across the landscape.

In contrast, Lena cried out for the half-naked man to slow down. “Wait, Damien, this is too fast—”

He carried both girls in his arms as he ran between trees and leapt across mountains to get to Verne as quickly as possible. He thought he would have been able to travel at full speed, considering that both Aria and Lena were quite strong. However, surprisingly, the Leviathan didn’t like this.

“Why?” Damien asked as he glanced curiously at Lena, still running as fast as he could.

“Because it’s dangerous!” Lena protested. “What if Aria gets hurt?”

“Aria is enjoying it,” Damien said as he nodded at the little demon girl. “Right, Aria?”

“Yes! This is fun! Go faster, papa!” Aria exclaimed excitedly.

Lena pursed her lips. Damien just raised a brow.

“Besides, can’t you fly almost as fast as this? I don’t see why you’re so worried.”

“I can,” Lena sighed, “but I’m not used to traveling at this speed in this form.”

She looked down at herself— at her human body— and she shook her head. Damien could tell that she was uncomfortable with being such a small size. However, to venture to Verne together, she needed to wear this disguise.

Even Aria, who looked vaguely human in shape, was going to wear a hood and mask to cover her identity. Because as far as Damien was aware, there were only really humans in Extim, so for a little demon girl to be running around would be quite out of place.

And why were they all going to Verne?

Well, besides the fact that Aria had been making Damien regale stories about the human cities he’d been to over the past week— which made her really want to visit them— he also needed to check up on a few things in Verne in regards to traveling to Medul.

And after what happened with the Inquisitors, he didn’t intend to leave Aria and Lena alone for long any longer. After all, anything could happen over the span of a few days. So he was going to bring them with him wherever he went, from now on.

I do wonder how everyone is doing… he wondered to himself as he passed by a familiar road.

At the very least, he hoped Elana had recovered by now. She was currently the only person he knew who was capable of helping him get to Medul, but the last time he saw her, she was in a terrible state.

However, he had left her with Archmage Fornus. And the archmage had been convinced that Elana would survive with the right treatment. So Damien had to remain optimistic.

Otherwise, he probably would have to wait for the next group of Inquisitors to show up— if they did even show up— to interrogate them on how they got to Extim in the first place.

That was his only regret that came from the battle with the Inquisitors last week. He believed he should have spared at least one of them to learn more about traversing the multiverse of Lautum.

Well, regardless, I’ll either have good news waiting for me when I get to Archmage Fornus’s tower, or I just have to be patient… Damien thought to himself, spotting a familiar city in the distance.

Slowly, he drew to a halt as Aria jeered, wanting him to continue speeding ahead. He set down both the little demon girl and the Leviathan-turned-human and nodded to himself.

For now, I’ll do what I can…

***

And what Damien could do right now was go shopping.

He sat outside of a store, waiting as Lena and Aria shopped inside and picked out some clothes. Sure, they did have some outfits provided by Damien. But their current clothes didn’t fit at all, so Lena was adamant that they needed to do some shopping first and foremost.

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“Aria needs some cute clothes too,” Lena had said as she wagged a finger at Damien. “Just because she has a disguise, doesn’t mean she cannot look cute too!”

But seeing how much time Lena was spending trying on clothes for herself, Damien was more than certain Lena had been using Aria as an excuse to go shopping for herself. Not that Damien minded it at all. It was a short detour that was only going to last an hour or two at most.

Besides, he would have considered it a bit of an annoying problem if he had been getting swarmed by crowds of people for being the savior of the city or whatever. Fortunately, he had previously bought a mask to cover his identity for this very reason. So although he got a few weird looks, nobody approached him.

Eventually, Lena and Aria emerged from the shop with a bag full of brand new clothes.

Unfortunately, Aria was still wearing a baggy hood covering her face, so Damien couldn’t see her new clothes. However, it was evidently clear with the way she shifted uncomfortably that she wasn’t too fond of whatever she had gotten. Meanwhile, in sharp contrast, Lena was beaming from ear to ear as she wore a sundress and a straw hat.

“Enjoyed your shopping?” Damien asked with a cocked brow.

Lena immediately cleared her throat and straightened. “It was less of an enjoyable activity and more of a necessity.”

“Sure it was.” Damien rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s get going.”

He gestured for Lena and Aria to follow. But Lena raised a hand and called out to him.

“Wait,” she said as she ruffled through her bag.

Damien tilted his head back at the Leviathan. “Hm?”

And Lena produced a shirt for him. “Here you go.”

“What’s this?” Damien blinked as he stared at the piece of clothing.

“It’s a shirt. For you to cover your… you know.” Lena gestured at Damien’s half-naked body.

He frowned for a moment, and Aria looked up with round eyes. Lena gave him a smile, before he crossed his arms.

“No thanks,” Damien said flatly.

“What? Why not?” Lena asked in confusion.

Damien drew back with a scoff. “I dislike shirts. They always get in the way.”

“But I already paid for it!” Lena protested.

“Don’t you mean I paid for it?” Damien winked back at her. Internally, he added, Or Hilda paid for it with the money she gave me.

Lena hesitated, and Damien waved a hand dismissively.

“Maybe in the future, if I need it, I’ll wear it if the need arises. For now, I’m perfectly content with looking like this.”

“Papa looks very cool no matter how he dresses,” Aria said with a nod from the side.

“Exactly,” Damien agreed with her.

Lena sighed. “I’m not even human, and I know you should at least have some decorum and dress well…”

She muttered under her breath and trailed after Damien and Aria as they made their way down the streets of Verne. It was crowded as per usual. So much so that Aria was starting to look uncomfortable.

A street seller waved at Aria, holding out a doll. “Hey, girlie, anything catch your eye—”

And in response, Aria hissed, “Reeee!”

The street seller recoiled as Aria snarled at him. “What the—”

Damien picked up the little demon girl and bowed his head apologetically. “Sorry about that, but we’re not interested.”

The street seller blinked a few times, then he watched as Damien scurried off with Aria in tow. Lena followed after them a moment later as she shook her head.

Damien went down a side alley as Lena called out after him.

“Hey, where are we going?” she asked as she ran up to his side.

Meanwhile, Aria blinked and glanced around, still in Damien’s arms.

“I’m bringing her away from large crowds,” Damien said simply. “I don’t want to get us into trouble, you know?”

Lena tapped a finger on her chin. “Oh, that makes sense.”

Unfortunately, Damien’s plan backfired as he heard a voice shout in terror, coming from a nearby side street. He slowed down as he narrowed his eyes.

“Help! Help! Someone save me!”

“What’s going on?” he asked with a frown as he looked down the side street.

It sounded like it would be a hassle to involve himself in— he wanted to just walk away and pretend he didn’t hear anything. Especially since he wanted to check up on Elana at Archmage Fornus’ tower already. However, before he could make a decision, a voice piped up.

“We should check it out!” Aria said as she pulled on Damien’s arm. “I want to see what’s going on!”

Damien pursed his lips. He really didn’t want to get involved. But—

“Perhaps it could be something important,” Lena piped up from the side with a nod. “Someone may be in danger and could lose their life.”

“Aren’t you a pacifist?” Damien asked with a raised brow. “Also, responsible for a lot of human deaths in the past?”

The Leviathan-turned-human snorted in response, “I already told you, it was all an accident. Besides, I like to do what’s right.”

“Since when did you become a hero?”

Damien glanced between Aria then Lena, then he heard a bloodcurdling scream echo down the alleyway. He wasn’t sure if he could even live with himself if he ignored what was going on now at this point.

So he sighed to himself, “Alright, I guess we’ll check it out.”

With that, the three of them moved down the side alley, heading to the source of the commotion in the distance.