A tall, handsome, black-haired adventurer walked into a bar. All the girls were ecstatic to see the guy come in. All the guys were jealous of his popularity and style, with a few who probably liked him too. The bartender swooned as she handed him a large mug. While it looked like beer it was actually apple juice. The guy always made it clear that he wasn't into drinking so he was offered juice instead. The bartender thought that it was cute of him. Some of the lounging adventurers figured he wanted to stay alert in case he got ambushed. The truth is that it's hard to make good decisions when drunk, and a drunk shapeshifter is more likely to reveal himself than a normal one.
And did I mention he was a shapeshifter? Well, now you know.
Under his Diamond alias, Daemonuim sat down to think for a bit. He had been adventuring for less than a week now but has now risen to quite great fame in this small town. It probably has something to do with how he has completed so many difficult quests in these few days. For that Daemonium would have to thank Sanguisa. She had incredibly high Speed and Strength stats that helped him on each occasion. He was also somewhat lucky that all the monster killing requests were in dense forests or caves where she could roam freely due to a lack of sunlight and people. Daemonium was a bit concerned that he used her abilities too much but she said she was okay as long as she got headpats, snuggles, and cuddles for whatever reason.
Daemonium then started to wonder when he should be getting back. He was the king of the shadow people after all, and a country without a king is prime to be in danger. His country could be in mortal danger right now.
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"The king is gone!" A random imp shouted on the streets of Reshihamnew City. "THE KING IS GONE!"
Newspapers were thrown around with the king's absence as the cover topic. Newtmen ran into the streets and danced. Golems sang and rejoiced. Fiends celebrated this day. The day became a national holiday and the people of that country lived happily ever after.
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Daemonium was concerned he may have to go back soon. That being said, how would he explain to the people of Hawksworth Town his reason to leave? He had quite a lot of fans, so he imagined it being quite a sad experience. But he couldn't just leave his country in shambles. So despite how upsetting it may be, he had to go as soon.
"Umm, excuse me, mister Diamond."
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Daemonium decided to worry about it later and focused on the person who addressed him. She appeared to be around 4 years old, which was strange since children weren't allowed in this bar. She had short blond hair, bright green eyes, and a light purple witch hat on her head. She wore a matching purple robe with a few gold ornaments on it and held a wooden staff with a red crystal at the tip that was almost as tall as her.
"Well then young miss," Daemonium said as he got back into his Diamond persona. "What do you need?"
"You realize I'm actually 18 years old right?"
Well, that explained why she was allowed here.
"Yeah sure, now what do you need?"
"You're a rude one. I just wanted to tell you that you were challenged to a duel by that blonde dude over there." She pointed to a guy sitting at one of the tables with spiky blonde hair, a dark skin tone, and quite rusty and damaged armor.
"Can I decline," Diamond replied. "I don't want to fight someone too cowardly to declare the challenge himself." He lied as naturally as he breathed. He actually just didn't want his secret revealed.
"I see," the girl replied, being gullible enough to not realize the lie in front of her. "In that case, there is one more thing I would like to ask you."
"Alright, go ahead."
"I have been admiring you for some time, and I just think that you are the coolest person I've met."
Daemonium mentally groaned. It was another fangirl.
Daemonium really hated people like this. They seemed to only exist to admire him and everything he has done, yet had never even seen him do anything. How did he know? It was because he never did anything at all!
"I like your black hair and dazzling features."
Daemonium was quite upset that all he had to do to obtain fame was to make up some lies and have Sanguisa kill some monsters for him.
"Your red skin is the most attractive thing I've seen."
It completely removed the value in anything that these people said to him, and frankly wasn't so desirable.
"Your eyes seem to sparkle whenever I look at them."
Frankly, he wished that he could just be a normal adventurer.
"I also think you are really impressive, blending into society like that."
Maybe all he needed was to experience something normal for a change.
"So Daemonium, would you please allow me to join your party?"
"Huh?" Daemonium wasn't paying attention to the speech. "Um sure?"
"Yay!" She jumped up in glee. "Let's go on a quest to celebrate my inclusion then! Come on!"
The young girl excitedly jumped down from her seat and ran out of the bar section to get to the guild area. Meanwhile, Daemonium stared at the event quite dumbfounded. Most fans were happy just to see him, so this was surprisingly the only one who had asked to join him. But that was a big problem because having someone else quest with him would just reveal his secret and possibly get him killed.
Now that he thought about it though it wasn't as big of a problem as he thought. Just bring back her body after she 'accidentally' died in the forest and everything would be okay.