The Demon Slayers Sidekick

Rorio dashed towards the castle at full speed. There were a few more ninjas that tried to catch him, only to fail and end up on the ground either unconscious or withering in pain not long after.

Other than those slight inconveniences, Rorio managed to make it to the castle pretty easily.

Once he did, Rorio scanned the building from the outside.

There were plenty of baren rooms, as well as sleeping chambers. But despite that, there wasn't anywhere Rorio could easily slide into. That was until he noticed an opening in one of the castle windows and jumped through it.

Once inside, Rorio walked down the halls of the castle as his footsteps echoed in the halls.

At first, he thought the castle was empty. But then, as he made his way deeper inside, he could hear the sounds of moans, kisses, and weird squishing sounds.

Ignoring them, he continued walking further inside.

As he did so, he eventually came upon an open room that had an entrance completely lacking any doors. Making it look similar to the entrance of a ballroom.

Deciding to take a look around, Rorio stepped through the entrance and made his way into the room.

The place was fairly large and had loads of empty shelves making it look like a ransacked library.

In fact, there were a few books lying all over the place on a single shelf which Rorio decided to walk over and take a glance at the titles.

“How to Catch a Slime and Eat it too, Baby Making for Beginners, and Sudoku Times Ten.”

All these books were completely different from one another and Rorio could easily tell that the sole purpose of their existence was probably just to pass the time.

Turning toward the door, Rorio let out a sigh.

“This has got to be the saddest place I've ever seen,” he muttered.

But then, quickly glancing back, he noticed a book that was hidden away from the rest.

His interest piqued, he walked over and picked up the book.

“The History of The Outbursts? Hm. Could come in handy.”

Not even considering that he was stealing, Rorio pulled out his inventory bag and stuffed the book inside.

After that, he left the room and returned to walking down the halls until he found himself standing in front of a giant set of doors that screamed this was a throne room.

Not thinking twice, Rorio pushed the doors open and walked inside.

The room was pitch black. And when Rorio tried looking around, he suddenly heard a slamming sound behind him.

He turned around to find the doors were completely shut.

“How predictable,” he muttered to himself before a spotlight lit up in the middle of the room.

Under said light stood a woman.

Her skin seemed well-tanned, wore make-up that showed just how much she wanted to look pretty, and had a well-balanced body.

She had thick thighs that were just right, breasts that any man who wasn't into flat chests would gush over, and the face of a fashion model. It was all topped off by her silver and gold crown that sparkled on her head.

She looked at Rorio and spoke with a tone that sounded like the voice of a goddess.

“Welcome rule breaker. I am Queen Lustrous. And I have been informed of your visit and wish to teach you a thing or two myself about what you're missing out on.”

As she said this, she struck a seductive pose.

“No man has ever been able to look at me and stay sane for more than a few seconds. So I do hope you coopera -”

“Oh, you're the queen? Perfect! I was actually hoping to get some answers on the Outbursts and your minions are a little too hostile.”

“...”

There was silence for a moment between them.

The reason behind this silence was simple. Normally, by the time a man just looked at the queen, their face would already be blushing harder than a tomato.

But Rorio just stood there unfazed. As if he was just talking to another average person.

“BWA!”

Caught off guard by his reaction, the queen backed away for a moment. But, figuring it was just taking a bit of time for his desires to kick in, she tried to calm herself.

However, Rorio continued standing there completely unfazed.

After about of minute of silence, Rorio looked like he was starting to lose his patience as he tapped his foot.

At this, the queen finally reacted.

“Y-You’re not drawn in by my beauty?” She questioned while trying to sound as composed as possible only to fail as her voice cracked a little while she spoke.

“Why would I be?” Rorio asked with a frown.

She held a gasp in her throat as the queen focused her eyes on Rorio before a mix of confusion and rage began swelling up inside her.

“I don't understand! No man has ever resisted me! How dare you resist! I will make you fall for me!”

At those words, the queen bent her legs and jumped at Rorio with the intent of hugging him into her chest.

However, when she landed, Rorio had vanished.

A strained smile appeared on her face before she looked around the room to find where Rorio had gone.

Feeling a wind blow by, she suddenly spotted him standing next to her with a bored look on his face.

“What was that for? Is this really how you treat your guests?" asked Rorio.

Despite it not being his intention, the queen took his words as a taunt which only made her anger flare.

“Why you!''

She jumped at Rorio only for him to dodge once again and the two continued this for a few minutes before Rorio let out an annoyed sigh.

“If you keep this up, I may have to hurt you. And I’m already in enough hot water with a jerkwad of a king, so I'd rather not sour my reputation in the Outbursts right off the bat.”

Ignoring his warnings, the queen charged at Rorio once more.

Seeing as things were getting nowhere, Rorio realized he would have to end this sooner before reinforcements could have the chance to arrive.

So, during the next attack, when the queen once again jumped at Rorio with the intent of grabbing him, Rorio didn’t move this time.

Thinking he had finally given up, the queen zoomed toward him at full speed.

And as she drew closer and closer a wave of excitement rose within her.

But then-

SLASH!

-with what seemed like super speed, Rorio pulled out his blade.

He jumped off to the side as she was coming at him.

And, with pinpoint accuracy, cut right into her shoulder.

The sword dug through her flesh almost like paper and in just a few mere moments, she landed on the ground as her arm slumped to the ground next to her.

“...”

She was silent for a moment.

“...”

Then two.

“..A..A...AHHHH!”

Suddenly, she screamed out in pain as her body began processing what happened.

And as blood gushed out from where her arm used to be, her voice echoed in agony.

“Oh my god! my arm! What the actual hell!? Why does it have to hurt so bad!? Stop the bleeding! Make it stop! Make it stop! PLEASE!”

Screaming like a newborn baby, all she felt was fear as she tried over and over again to heal her wound but couldn’t stay focused as the tears clogged her vision.

Figuring she got the point, he push his hand out as it glowed a lime green color.

“From the one who heals all, Heaven's Healing!”

This was another one of the few magic spells Rorio used.

While he kept it on hand, he disliked the spell since it was a person he hated who taught him about it.

He hadn't seen said person in a while, but just thinking about them still pissed him off.

To be clear, it wasn’t a full healing spell, but it was powerful. It’d be a great tool if it didn’t have one dumb restriction. That being it couldn't be used to heal the user casting the spell which was a huge setback.

Despite that, it had helped heal up Domino on many occasions. That’s why Rorio kept it around.

The spell reached the place the arm used to be and sealed the wound. Leaving only a small knot to tie it together.

Only gods had the power to repair full body parts that were cut off, so this was the best any normal person could do.

The queen started to calm down as the pain subsided. Still slightly terrified about the fact that she now had a missing arm.

Rorio walked up to her and looked her in the eye.

“So, are you up to talking now?”

After a few maids came in and cleaned the blood, they left Rorio and the queen, whose name was apparently Lori Lustrous, alone so they could have a small chat.

“I've never witnessed someone with the ability to resist my beauty before,” Lori said as if somehow still amazed at how Rorio wasn't fazed by her at all.

Rorio simply shrugged. Not wanting to elaborate as to why that might be.

If he had to guess, it was probably due to his disinterest in the topic of romance, along with his training when it came to honing his mind.

“Meh. Guess I’m just hard to enchant. Now then, would you please just give me information about the Outbursts?”

Lori realized that it was pointless to try anything else, so she just sighed and started explaining what she knew.

She went over most of the basic stuff that Rorio had already learned. Such as the stuff with the Creator Knights, how the Outbursts only came to be around ten to twelve years ago, and even the stuff about the inner and outer layers of the Outbursts.

Already knowing about all this, Rorio started to think that he did all this for nothing when something Lori said piqued his interest.

“I'm sure you've heard most of this already, but there is something that only the leaders of cities know that they don't inform any of the citizens about.”

Lori’s expression grew serious.

“Most citizens don't know it, but there’s something strange going on behind the scenes here in the Outbursts. While many monsters have sought this place for the purpose of freedom inside its borders, there’s been information leaking out that the Creator has been summoning monsters to the inner layer to use them for some dangerous unknown purpose.”

As she said this, Lori clenched her fists.

“Because of these concerns. several monsters seek to escape the Outbursts. But because of the barrier, it's impossible. And with the only way to freedom being the defeat of the four Creator Knights and the Creator themselves, no one has any hope anymore.”

“So in short, you’re telling me this because you’re asking for help in freeing the people from the barrier?”

Lori nodded.

Rorio put his hand to his chin as he processed the information.

After a few moments, Rorio let an excited smile slip onto his face.

“Sounds like it could be a fun adventure. I'm all for it,” he replied.

With Rorio giving her such a confident smile, a few tears of happiness seemed to enter Lori's eyes before shaking her head.

“Well, I hope you can do it. After seeing your skill firsthand, I think you might just be able to handle this task.”

Rorio beamed proudly.

However, the next words she spoke made him freeze.

“However, I don't think it would hurt to expand your party a bit. I know you have the Demon Slayer on your side, but I don't know if that will be enough to beat the Creator.”

These words sent a chill down Rorio's spine.

Not the idea of getting more teammates, but the other thing she said.

“People know about the Demon Slayer out here?”

He had hoped that due to the response of the people back at the bar a week back, people didn't really know about the Demon Slayer here, and it could be Rorio's chance to prove he’d grown to be on the same level as Domino.

But as long as people knew who Domino was, they would always look at him as inferior.

“Of course! His story has traveled long and far. While it's true he's human, and because of this, he is still treated harshly by most monsters, it's still nice to know he took care of the major bad apple of all monsters. You must feel lucky to have him as a teammate.”

She said this as if somehow it was Rorio who was the lucky one to have Domino on his side rather than the other way around.

“I wouldn't call it luck,” he murmured to himself.

Lori looked at him with confusion.

“What was that?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing. I'll definitely give it some thought! One hundred percent! New members or something I dunno!”

Rorio was trying to escape the situation before he made a slip-up in his words since he didn’t want to look petty when as if it was a signal, a familiar face entered.

“Have no fear, my dear sidekick! I have come to save you from this witch!”

Domino burst into the room full of energy. But as he looked over to the two of them, the queen gave him a warm smile.

Walking over to Domino, Rorio patted him on the shoulder.

“It's fine, idiot. I've already taken care of everything and got what I wanted. Let's go.”

Domino looked at him confused for a moment before looking at the queen.

“Holy crap! You're beautiful!” he shouted out.

Lori’s smile widened before she turned to Rorio and gave him an expression that said “At least someone thinks so!” only to find Rorio wasn't there.

He had walked completely past Domino and was already almost out of the castle.

Domino immediately regained his composure and noticed his companion missing and turned around to chase after him.

“Hey! Wait up Rorio!” he shouted.

He left Lori to stand there as her smile grew a bit bigger.

“Maybe, just maybe, they could be the ones to bring the Outbursts and the Inlands together.”

After that thought, she brought her hand to her ear.

“Disengage all units from following the Demon Slayer and his companion. I'll allow their behavior for this visit.”

After making her orders clear, she thought back to Domino and Rorio when Domino’s appearance appeared in her head.

“Now that I think about it, the Demon Slayer sure was handsome.”

As she muttered that, her cheeks seemed to grow a bit warmer.

Rorio and Domino made their way out of the castle and jumped from roof to roof on their way out of the city.

Thinking about some of the stuff Lori talked to him about, Rorio tried to think of what to do next when he suddenly turned his head to look down at an alleyway.

He must’ve been staring at it a bit too long since Domino turned back to him with a confused look on his face.

“What's up?” he asked.

“It's probably nothing. This place has my senses acting up and I think it's putting me on edge.”

Rorio's response wasn't entirely wrong either. With all the people he's had to face thus far, his senses really were on high alert.

Leaving the alleyway behind, the two continued making their way across the rooftops at a fast pace.

After they were gone, someone pulled down a pitch-black coat from inside the alleyway. He had set it up with the intent to hide his favorite slave till the grand event. And it was finally time.

Walking over to the cage of his most prized slave, he opened it up and grabbed the leash on the girl inside. She was a human with bright red hair, a body so thin it was clear that she was barely allowed to eat, with dead eyes that seemed to have given up all hope. As if she knew that no one would come to save her and that she was just a prize that the trader would never be willing to give up.

“It's your time young lady!” he said aloud as he pulled her out of the cage.

She got out and barely seemed to be able to walk. The man then grabbed a big sign that had the sentence “SpellsWorth's Chain Breaking Slave Challenge'' on it.

And after pulling on her chain, the man started to guide the girl toward the location of the big event he had planned. And all she could do was follow behind him.

Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, Rorio and Domino scanned the city one more time for information.

Sadly, only the queen had any useful information for the two of them. Meaning they had wasted a lot of time out here. So they decided it was about to get out of here. But as the two started to make their way out of the city, a sign caught Rorio's eye.

“I'll be right back. Can you meet me by the gate?” Domino turned back to Rorio and gave him a thumbs up.

“Will do!” He shouted as he dashed off and left.

Glancing down at the growing crowd on the ground below, Rorio jumped down and joined the crowd.

At the center, was a man standing with a stick enchanted with audio amplification magic as he was shouting out to the people around him.

“Step right up! You could walk home with your very own slave! All you have to do is cut this dragon chain and she's yours!” he shouted, full of energy.

This man's name was SpellsWorth. He was a slave trader that used the people he'd obtained as both sellable products and carnival prizes.

The woman currently attached to the chain was a redhead who seemed quite frail. Her skin was pale, and her eyes looked empty. She may have seemed like quite a worthless slave to anyone else, but to SpellsWorth, she was a prized possession. She was so special, that he made sure not to inform anyone of the truth.

“Jokes on them! Dragon chain is almost completely impenetrable! And as long as I keep using this loophole, I’ll be able to hold onto my favorite slave forever!” SpellsWorth muttered to himself.

Some might wonder why he even brings her out in the first place. The reason behind this is that it's in the slave trader code.

It required that any and all slaves obtained were to be either sold or won in some way.

If a trader kept the slave without paying for it themselves, which SpellsWorth was too cheap to do, then it could result in both a suspension of their license, along with over forty years of jail time.

These rules applied to both the Inlands and the Outbursts so there was no escaping them.

That’s why SpellsWorth found this loophole.

It’s indeed true that dragon chain is pretty much impenetrable.

This is only proven more by the fact only a hundred swords in the entire world have the ability to break it. And the odds of someone having one of those hundred swords in this day and age was pretty slim.

SpellsWorth chuckled to himself as person after person came up and attempted to win the prize in front of them.

But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't break it. SpellsWorth looked at the sky to see the time before turning back to the crowd.

“It seems this challenge is far too hard! However, I shall permit one last try before I go! But after that, no more attempts!” he shouted out in a way that almost made it sound like he was pitying the people for not being strong enough to break the dragon chain.

“So! Which one of you thinks they can-”

“I'll do it.”

As SpellsWorth was about to finish his sentence, a boy who seemed to be in his teens stepped forward. He had blue hair that spiked upwards, his blue eyes seemed to add to his hair as they sparkled in the setting sun.

He wore an odd-looking adventuring outfit that seemed to be what someone ten years ago would wear, along with a sparkling gold sword on his hilt.

SpellsWorth looked at him hesitantly for a moment before regaining his composure. The strange man looked at SpellsWorth for a moment and then...

CRASH!

The man plopped down to the ground, unconscious.

Standing behind him was another man with very similar attire.

“No. I'll do it,” he said in a calm voice.

People just stared at him as he stood there with his sparkling black sword at his side. This man looked down at the girl for a moment before turning over to SpellsWorth who didn't seem fazed by this new opponent.

“What are the rules?” he asked.

SpellsWorth ignored the man that just got knocked out and turned to the new challenger.

“The rules are simple. Do whatever you can to break the chain. If you break it, then she's yours!”

“Am I allowed to use my own weapon?” the man asked.

“But of course,” replied SpellsWorth.

SpellsWorth then stepped back as the man pulled out a new sword from behind his back and prepared to strike.

“Just need to finish this last turn. Then me and my prize will be alone together once again.” he thought to himself.

The man who stood in front of the chains turned and looked at the girl. There were so few emotions flowing from inside her eyes, that it almost made it difficult for the man to tell how she truly felt. But after a moment , he brought his sword and just like everyone else, he brought his blade down on it with a loud SLAM!

“....”

The chain remained unscathed. Everyone looked at the man who swung the weapon as he stared at his sword in confusion.

“Oof! Well, you get one more swing so give it a try buddy!” SpellsWorth shouted cheerfully.

The man looked at his sword for a moment more.

“Shoot! Wrong sword!” he whispered to himself.

He then immediately pulled out the bag he was carrying and dug around until he pulled out a blade that looked very similar to the previous one.

Stuffing the other sword in the bag, he turned back to the chain. Then, with a heavy swing, he brought the sword down on the chain.

SLICE!

It cut through it immediately.

The chain's two halves fell to the ground with a thud as one laid on the street while the other hung limply from the girl's neck.

SpellsWorth just stood in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes and wasn't even able to respond to the contestant's next question.

“Did I win?”

SpellsWorth had nothing he could say about the event that just occurred in front of him.

Thus, the man simply walked over to the girl who was previously tied to the chain and scooped her into his arms.

Everyone, even SpellsWorth was in complete and utter shock. No one was able to utter a single word as the man made his way off with the girl.

And before long, the two vanished from the streets entirely.

Domino stood by the gates waiting for Rorio.

He had no idea what was taking his friend so long but figured that it was probably something important so he tried his best to remain patient.

As he waited, Domino thought of how different Rorio had become over the years. He didn't know if it was a change for better or for worse, but he accepted it nonetheless.

Sighing, he looked into the sky for a few minutes before hearing some footsteps behind him. Domino turned around to find Rorio walking up to him. In Rorio’s arms was a girl in her teens with red hair. Who was completely passed out.

Moving past his friend, Rorio kept walking with Domino trying to speed up in order to get in front of him.

The two walked in silence for a bit after that.

Domino didn't know how to bring up the topic of the young girl without it sounding weird, so he kept silent.

After about twenty minutes, Domino finally decided to ask.

“Hey Rorio, Why’s that girl in your arms?”

Rorio waited a moment before speaking.

“They were having a slave competition and I decided to compete and won. Simple as that.”

Domino took a few moments before processing everything Rorio had said.

“Wait! Don't tell me you're gonna make that girl your slave!” he shouted.

Instead of responding, Rorio just kept walking. However, it wasn’t because he was ignoring Domino. He was busy thinking about what he just did and why he did it.

“Who knows? Maybe,” he replied without thinking.

“Wait! What! That would be wrong on so many levels! Also, when were you into picking up slaves!? What the heck have you been keeping from me Rorio!”

After a few seconds, Rorio had finally processed what he’d said.

However, rather than correcting himself-

“Oh would you just shut up!”

-he decided just to dismiss the conversation entirely.

After that, the two adventurers walked in silence until nightfall.

In truth, Rorio didn't know why he competed. Maybe he just felt bad for the girl, maybe she reminded him of himself back when he was younger before he met Domino, or maybe it was some other reason entirely.

All he knew was that he wanted to help her. That was all there was to it.