Freedom's daughter

Whip!

Whip! Whip!

Neverland's castle is considered one of the most beautiful places ever built by humankind. But even it has its dark secrets.

Knock...

"Yes? You may come in."

Once the door opens, the outside light reveals what's inside that basement, a show that could rival all horror stories.

The servant who opened the door, knowing what's inside, doesn't dare to peek in.

"Queen Victoria, Your Majesty... She is demanding to speak with you."

"...Tell her I have nothing to say!"

Whip! Whip!

The servant hasn't yet adapted to hearing the sound of a whip colliding with human flesh, despite hearing it often; it still gives him goosebumps.

"My Queen... If I may suggest—"

"Don't you see I'm busy?! I said I don't want to talk with a stupid divinity who can't do anything but boss around!"

Whip! Whip!

"Tell Tiamat that if she really wants to talk with me, to come here and do it, until she does so, I have nothing to say!"

"Understood, if you would excuse me then..."

The door closes, and the basement returns to its original color.

"It's all your fault..."

Whip!

"How could you let them escape?"

"I-i.... I just—"

Whip!

"No excuses..."

Victoria then took the prisoner's chin, lifting it and twisting her head to make their eyes meet.

"I'll give you another chance. I asked all the exorcists scattered all across the kingdom to come here... Once they arrive and you fail again... You wouldn't dare to disappoint your beloved God, would you?"

"I wouldn't..." Sob...

"Good..."

She releases her chin and...

Whip!

"Aaaa!"

-

Lyet and I decided to travel to a nearby kingdom, Reciga, but it will take us days.

For now, the plan is to move from village to village just to spend the nights. 

With the coins I won, we managed to buy a small carriage, yet big enough for two people.

We've currently traveled for half a day, she is reading a book about magic while I'm driving.

"Lyet, let's take a break, ok? There's an elves' village close by."

"As you want."

Then I deviate from the main path and lead into a forest.

As I progress through it, I notice a wide variety of animals and plants. It's beautiful, in my world, a place like this would never be able to exist; maybe in a protected area at most. The deeper I dive into the forest, the bigger the trees are. I think most of them exceed a hundred meters.

After a while, when I reach the place of the village, I find myself confused because I'm not seeing any. I try to check the map again, but, as if to read my mind, Lyet points upwards.

"There. Elves prefer to build their houses on platforms on the trees."

"Well, that explains why they are so deep into the forest."

I jump down from the carriage and offer Lyet my hand to help her do the same.

...

"-----!"

Oh, right, of course they have their own language!

It was an elf who spoke, from the height of their houses.

"Hi, we were just passing by. My name is Histrio, and she is... Tely."

Maybe he knows the human language.

"Ok, come up then."

And then he throws down a ladder.

Once up he asks us to follow him until we arrive at a house bigger than the others. The interior resembles a library; it's full of books everywhere, and everything is made of wood, of course.

In front of us, there's a desk with an old elf behind it. The two elves exchange a few words, and then, the one who brought us here leaves.

"My name is Balus. How may I help you?"

"I'm Histrio, and she is Tely. We were passing by and hoped we could stay here for the night."

"Unfortunately, we don't have inns here. We elves are not used to people visiting and we don't believe in the usage of coins. Here, everyone helps and everything is given equally. If anything, I suppose we could trade, but by looking at you, I doubt you have something valuable you are inclined to give us. I might be able to provide a room in my place for you two, but you'll have to do something for us."

"Such as?"

"You see, recently we met an increased number of attacks from demons during the night. If you help our patrol understand what's going on, I'm willing to provide you with a place to stay."

I look at Lyet, and she nods at me.

"Would it be a problem to stay for more nights?"

This situation matters to me as well. If demons are as bad as the humans portray them and if they attack elves, all I can think of is that Lyet is an exception; is she the only kind one? But she never presented the demons as being cruel in nature.

"As long as you help. We aren't going anywhere with our research anyway, so an outside consultant is very welcome. You may come to me again tonight for the room, and tomorrow you'll meet the patrol."

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

-

After talking with what seems to be the chief, Lyet and I are sitting on the edge of a platform, outside.

"Do you have any idea what he was talking about?" I ask.

"Not really. Among demons, of course, some are bad, as it happens within humans. But it's not the first time I've heard mortals talking about being attacked by demons; they are usually referred to as having horns and being humanoid. I'm as curious as you are about this. But..."

"But?"

"It's weird... Lucifer created demons to need to interact with mortals, just to survive."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she wants to free the demons from hell, and the only way is the mortal realm, meaning coexisting with humans. Therefore, to avoid demons sitting in Hell for their entire life, Lucifer made them so they have to come to the mortal realm at least a few times every year."

"She doesn't sound like a bad person. If demons are all like you, I agree with her, coexisting would be better."

"..."

"Also, what did you mean by interacting to survive? Like, what do you need to do as a succubus?"

"...I'll tell you about another race. An akuma is a demon capable of bringing luck to those around it. Biologically, it is forced to do this with a mortal a few times each year."

"Eh? So, at the end of the day, demons are forced to be kind to mortals? Why are they presented as cruel then?"

"Because some hate mortals, and with loopholes they manage to do 'good' while doing bad. Like an akuma could just give someone his blessing right before killing him. Also, even those who don't hate mortals still fear them. As you saw at Neverland, humans won't think twice before killing demons, so demons are reluctant about coming here even if they can hide their nature."

"That makes sense, I guess... Let's go back to the chief for the room. Tomorrow we'll see what's going on."