Kind Demon King

After a brief silence, the bear-eared man spoke up.

“He could have stolen it or, worse, he may have killed her!”

Arslan scoffed. “Do you really think she is that weak?”

"Your trust in your comrade is going to bring me to tears."

I mocked and silence overtook the room once again.

“I still don’t trust him.”

“Me too,” the rabbit and bear said in unison. I shrugged.

“I don’t really want your trust. Just give me back my companion.”

“Beastkin are better off with their own people.”

“You’d also be better off without a broken jaw, so shut the fuck up.”

I growled, moving towards the bear, but the fox-eared woman placed her hand on my chest.

“Let’s calm down. A friend of Morrigan is also my friend, and I fully believe he is her ally.”

She tried to reassure her companions.

“Arslan, say something to her!”

The bear and rabbit looked at Arslan, expecting him to change the fox’s decision. He just shrugged.

“She’s smarter than me, so if she says something, I have no right to oppose her.”

Despite their protests, it seemed I was somewhat accepted.

“My name is Amaterasu. You can call me Ama. Let me start from the beginning. I—we—are from a group called Black Claw. We fight for the freedom and rights of beastkin. Morrigan was once one of us, but she moves alone right now. We are here to free beastkin slaves in this city under the orders of Börü Whitefang, the third leader of Black Claw.”

She sat down on the bed where Larve was sleeping.

“As you can see, we are not very successful right now.”

“Is your main goal the beastkin in the mines?”

She looked surprised for a second before collecting herself. While I had never gone into the mines, I had seen beastkin returning to the city in chains. Naturally, I asked several questions to others and learned that the city I was in was founded upon a gold vein being discovered not long ago. I pieced together the puzzle on the second day I came here, but I had been too busy caring for Larve to do anything. Still, I doubted I had the strength to make a meaningful impact even if I were free. I had the chance to look at the camps that were held from far away and came to the conclusion that there was too much ground to cover by a single person.

“Yes.”

“Then what you did tonight was dumb. Why did you guys show yourselves before a big operation? You’re outnumbered and outgunned. Your only advantage right now is that people don’t know you’re here to free beastkin, and you risked exposing yourselves for one person?”

Arslan looked at Ama and then back at me.

“Yeah, he’s a hundred percent Morrigan’s friend.”

I leaned against the wall.

“First, how much information do you have? How many beastkin are there? How many guards? How well are they equipped and trained? What is their guard schedule? Are there beastkin inside who can form resistance?”

I sighed.

“Can we just break them out in one swift move, or do we need to do it one by one? What is the closest place they could escape to? Can children and the elderly make the trip?”

Arslan held his head. “Wait, this is too much! Also, we?”

“Don’t you guys need a spy?”

All four of them looked at me as if they were questioning their entire lives.

“Why? What do you gain from this?”

The bear asked, almost accusatorily.

“Want to know the truth?”

Arslan put his hand on his sword.

“I have no fucking idea! Morrigan asked the same thing. I guess I just don’t want others to suffer. Or something like that.”

I laughed. Guess this was my life now.

“Also, I need to get that letter to Börü, and you work for him. It’s much easier for me that way. I’m terrible at directions.”

Despite my goofy words, Ama offered her hand.

“Welcome to the team.”

“Wait, what? Are we just going to accept his help? Arslan, say something!”

Arslan turned around.

“Something. Are you happy now? I’m going to sleep.”

He left the room. Despite the others’ protests, Ama remained firm. She shooed them away. As she did, I caught a glimpse of a fluffy fox tail behind her. It looked soft. This was the first time I had seen a beastkin’s tail. I had assumed their animal traits ended with eyes and ears since I hadn’t seen one before, but they must be hiding it under their clothes. I wondered if it was a cultural thing.

“Was she okay?”

After we were left alone, she asked in a low voice.

“Her head seemed to be filled with a lot of things.”

“Same as before she left,” she said somberly. “Thank you for helping her. She must have been difficult.”

“She sneaked up on me and put a dagger to the back of my neck. It was lovely.”

She laughed before stopping and looking at Larve.

“Is she okay? She hasn’t reacted or woken up. She’s breathing normally, and her pulse is steady.”

I sighed and told her the story.

“I need to find a mage. I don’t even know where to find one—why are you looking at me like that?”

I noticed a cheeky smile forming on her face. She snapped her fingers, and a fireball appeared.

“You should have told me before. I could have checked her soul.”

“You can?”

I jumped towards her.

“Yes. I need to concentrate first. It can take between 5 to 30 minutes.”

She touched Larve’s forehead and closed her eyes. I watched as her breathing slowed as if she had fallen asleep. Despite being in a close space, her hair seemed to move as if reacting to the wind. I got closer to inspect and realized the heat radiating from her. While it made me feel a little anxious, I didn’t do anything to distract her. I also saw three lines appear on each of her cheeks. It was hard to describe them. Tribal markings were the closest thing I could think of. She opened her eyes again, and I could swear that fire burned inside them. Her eyes had been red before, but this time it was different. Soon, she returned to normal.

“You okay?”

She seemed a little tired as if whatever she did took a lot of her.

“Can you hand me that water over there?”

She sounded out of breath. I poured water into a cup on the table and handed it to her. She gulped it down as if she had just run a marathon.