"Are you mad?"
"No, for the umpteenth time, no."
"But you give off an angry vibe."
Currently, it is the next day after I had been locked into the room, Naomi had returned after I was asleep and when I woke up, her entire aura was different from usual.
Or I could say, her aura turned back to the one she had four years ago.
In the past, she was like a kid who erected barriers against the world, as if she had a grudge against everyone, but in reality, it was probably anger directed to herself, but what was she angry about?
Now, she was again angry at herself.
...did I do something wrong? Was it the little demon ghost?
"...are you...seeing red?"
"...?"
"Geddit? Seeing red?" I looked at her ruby eyes, with anticipation.
Heh.
"..."
"..."
"...Im sorry."
Pressing her palm onto my face, she pushed me away, pulling the gap between our faces wider as she spoke, "Go wash up, we have class today."
...class? Class???
What's that?
Can it be eaten?
"Its Human 101."
Oooooo.
I forgot to mention this, but the word humans here are horrifying to little demon children, used as nightmare fuel to scare kids into being good.
...whats this feeling of.....irony?
...anyways, when I was younger and couldn't sleep, Naomi told me a story about humans! There's, a group of humans, who by choice, eat purely vegetables! No meat at all! And if they bite you....you'll never be able to eat meat again!
For meat loving demons and beasts, this.....is completely terrifying!
Regardless, human information is withheld from the public, despite that this kingdom was not very far away from human territory.
However, at the age of 12, one could consensually learn about them in academies if they were interested and those planning on travelling near the human-demon borders were recommended to do so.
"Are you planning on going near human borders?" I looked up at Naomi, who was buttoning her clothes.
"Ideally, no." she snorted, "Who'd want to go near that filthy place?" as she spoke, she turned over and dragged me off of the bed.
Afterwards, we went and ate before going to class, and just like always, Nathan and brother was already eating and had taken food for us.
Sitting down, it was a big chested demon lady who taught us this time.
...why is every female adult demon I see, big chested?
Is this......a demon's perk?
...no.
Because, undoubtedly the one next to me, has little to nothing for a chest.
Heh.
Currently, we were in an almost empty classroom with barely any students, next to me were brother, Naomi and Nathan, and behind me, was a teenager radiating sunshine.
"Are you tired?" Luton asked from behind with a smile.
I'm begging you, go away, the stares are killing me. It's not my imagination, brother and the twins are undoubtedly staring at me.
Everyone else was awkwardly silent as well.
This painful atmosphere....
I seriously want to run away.
"Class is starting." I replied with seriousness.
But thankfully, that prince isn't here.
What was his name again? Et....eaten?
Shaking my head to clear away the headache creeping on me, I glanced at the big chested Teacher's face.
Definitely her face! Okay!?
"Settle down," she looked lazily at the small amount of students without much surprise, "This is an one lesson class, meaning that there are no retakes and no continuation, so listen well." turning to the book in her hands, she spoke, "Humans have bodies incapable of containing mana, therefore their source of power, comes from their Gods."
Looking up, she continued, "At the age of five, their children, little screaming vermin who have little to nothing for their intelligence, is sent to their churches to go through a ceremony to become followers of a God."
...how rude!
"Children chosen by the God of Harvest come to have strong bodies and usually become great farmers, to feed more of their worthless kind."
"Followers of the God of Fertility are the worst, they have an intense ability of impregnation and breed like rats, their bodies have intense stamina and can easily breed out dozens of vermin, as if the normal humans weren't good enough breeders." she snorted, "The royalty of the nearest kingdom are Fertility disciples, the current king, Kevin, that bastard, I'm sure you've heard of him in your bedtime stories, he has plenty of children."
...does this teacher have a grudge?
"Followers of the God of Knowledge devised weaponry for them to come against demons, mainly, they use these weird things called guns, to compensate for the lack of magic. Guns are very powerful weapons, it's quite thankful that they have limited reasources, causing the more powerful models to be restricted, but they also have other strange weapons to solve that problem."
"Humans..."
After that, was two hours of grumbling, insults and information.
...I'm never going to class, again.
N E V E R.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
After the class was over, it was already late noon, just the right time to eat lunch~
Food~
"Nicolai, let's go eat together." Luton said with a smile behind me, radiating a refreshing aura, as if he was at a beach sipping a cold drink.
Infected by his aura, I nodded and grabbed his arm instinctively, like how I was used to doing back at the orphanage.
"...Where are you going?" A dark voice came from behind.
Turning my head slowly, I met with the cold smile of the queen.
"...lunch...?"
"Without me?"
"Yes...?" now that I think of it, every meal I had, other than the times at the orphanage, I had with Naomi.
"So, you've now chosen that fellow who've you spent a week with, over your precious owner, who has picked up your shit?" she walked closer and spoke softly.
...!?
UWAAAAAAA.
IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AN ACCIDENT!
ILL HAVE YOU KNOW, ITS ALL BECAUSE THEY HAVE SUCH A BIG HOUSE, OKAY!? I DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO RUN TO THE TOLIET IN MY DOGGY FORM WITH SUCH SHORT LIMBS!
PLUS, YOU DIDNT HAVE TO DO IT!? NO ONE ASKED YOU TO!
In an instant, I flushed completely red.
"All those times, you've forgotten them all?"
"I, I also had times with Luton! Um, he fed me! We slept together as well! Al-also! My first time of removing organs, I spent it with him!"
"...Slept together?"
"AS IN SLEEPING! WE SLEPT ON THE BED!" I shouted before giving up and running away.
...I never want to live again.
Without thinking, I accidentally ran all the way to the garden, I could tell that they were chasing me, but slowily.
Noticing the beautiful flowers and fruit bearing trees, I couldn't help but stop here.
Ah, it feels nice.
Sniffing the fragrance of nature in the air, I sat down rubbing my face with my small hands.
Running so much, it was tiring.
Looking down at my fingers, thinking of nothing in particular, I suddenly heard footsteps next to me.
Looking up, I was completely shadowed by a tall figure.
Two years older than the twins, he was fourteen, and huge.
"Eaten."
"...Its Ethan." he said with a smile like usual, unperturbed.
This handsome bastard was a complete pervert, a fact I came to know during the twin's birthday the year after the kidnapping incident.
"...It seems that I have to go now." I hurriedly stood up, but even before I could take a step, the grass beneath my feet shot up and tied my feet to the ground.
!?
What's this?
"What did you do?" I looked up at Eaten.
"I'm hurt, " he grabbed his heart dramatically, "To not even know my attribute."
Instantly, my mind made a connection.
What's this cheat like attribute? How cool!
Grinning at me, the grass grabbing my foot released and limply fell to the ground, "Where's the troublesome twins? I heard you attacked them yesterday, what happened? "
"Hmm?" attacked them?
"There was a huge commotion," He pushed his long hair back as he spoke, "What happened, anyway?"
"I didn't...attack them?" I tilted my head.
Was it, that little demon ghost?
Turning around, I looked at James, who was still floating above me, to see him staring at me.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
But before he could even open his mouth, Naomi's voice appeared behind me, "Ethan?"
"Naomi?" I looked at her.
Did I really attack the queen? Oh no, should I run? Will she kill me? Hii—
As I was panicking, Naomi already walked over and grabbed my shoulder, "Let's go eat, you shouldn't miss your meals."
...shes not going to kill me?
Turning to glare at Eaten one last time, she pulled me away.
Silently making our way to the canteen with an extremely uncomfortable atmosphere, I could only look at the back of the queen.
Nathan and brother weren't talking either.
Unable to control myself, I asked, "...Eaten said something about me...attacking you?"
"Don't worry about it." Her voice was rather, stiff, "Don't do anything about it."
...how could I just...not do anything?
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not weak enough for you to injure me."
...tch.
Fine! I won't worry about you anymore!
Hmph!
Looking away, I looked at the buildings as we walked.
"Do you know, where she is?" I asked James quietly.
"I don't." He shrugged, "To think I was fooled by her as well. " he rubbed his thumb and index finger together, "Are all spirits vengeful?"
"...Are you?"
"No, I don't think so, unlike her, I haven't gone mad." he looked uncomfortable.
"Maybe," suddenly, my hand was grabbed.
"Who are you talking to?" Nathan asked from behind me.
"A...friend?"
"A spirit?"
"...Yes."
Hearing my reply, he frowned and looked around, despite obviously being unable to see James, "Who are you?" He shouted.
Obviously, James couldn't reply him.
Looking back at me, Nathan spoke, "Don't talk with them. "
"But,"
"No buts." Naomi spoke, "Don't you dare."
"The situation with the little demon ghost, who is she?" Not knowing what to say, I changed the subject.
"Why does that concern you?"
"Because..." I didn't know how to reply.
After a moment, Naomi sighed, "All you have to do, is if you see her again, lend her your body."
"What?" didn't they just say to stay away from spirits?
"She's the only exception, I need to talk to her." She replied with furrowed brows, "Please. "
...was she asking me a favour?
Oho.
"I'll consider if you bow-" before I could finish my sentence, her gaze made me stop.
"...alright. "
...I lost. But even so, her gaze, full of emotions I couldn't describe made me want to help her.
Turning away from her gaze, I whispered to James one last time, "Help me find her."
"Okay." He replied before disappearing.
...what was this mess? I rubbed my neck and sighed in my heart.
After that, life became as peaceful as it could be, I continued to eat and sleep my life away, rarely attending classes.
Until, the little demon ghost appeared before me again at the end of the year.
Like I promised, I had her meet with Naomi, and everything became blank like the last time, but this time I woke up at the yearly festival that happened at the end of the year.
In my hands, was a half eaten meat stick, and Nathan was looking at me with a small smile.
"...Is it, over?"
"Yes." He rubbed my head, "I'm sorry. "
"For what?"
"For overlapping you, I'll look at you properly from today onwards."
...What was he talking about?
Suddenly, the back of my head was hit.
"Didn't you always want to come out to town?" Naomi's voice appeared from behind me, "Let's enjoy it."
Undoubtedly, something happened today, but looking at Naomi, I could tell that the negative feelings she had was lessened, maybe someday, she'll tell me who that girl was.
But even if she doesn't, I'm sure our lives would become better, because the stone in her heart, in Nathan's heart, had been put down, finally.
Or so I thought, until the Fire Nation attacked.
...Until the humans attacked.*