NOVEL NEXT Ch 15. Children of the Damned
The Demon Lord kneeled in front of the girl, grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes with a devil smirk drawn on her face.
“Are you threatening me, child?”
She looked scared, pale and paralyzed. Her breathing stopped and you could see her sweating. The girl started trembling, she couldn't even speak. But she never looked away, her eyes were fixed into the Demon Lord's.
“What happened, child, a demon ate your tongue? Whakaka~”
My Lady laughed in the girl's face. Poor child, she wanted to cry, but she couldn't even breathe in front of the strongest being of this land.
“You know, girl? You have a strong spirit, just don't let it kill you. We'll spare this child's life, now it belongs to me!”
After the Demon Lord shouted her new orders to her vassals, every demon let out a cry to show our Lady that they had heard her orders, and then, they continued killing the villagers. The scene looked just like a child killing ants near the anthill, human lives are meaningless for them.
The slaughter kept on for hours until the noise gradually started to disappear. During all this time, the human girl was crying, but she didn't move nor make a sound. She was just a cold statue with tears flowing from her eyes.
We didn't know it at this time, but the adventurers that could escape started spreading news about the Demons taking juscity by their own hands. The message was loud and clear, for all the humans and monsters.
But now, the night was cold, even with the fires nearby that were burning to ashes what's left of the town and the dead bodies. Phlum came to us, and gave her robe to the human girl so she could resist the chills of the night. Then she patted both our heads and started walking to the castle. That was the last time I saw her.
The journey back to the castle was quiet. No one talked, neither the Demons or the child sitting beside me on the cart where previously were those human heads that were burnt into stakes.
Under the Demon Lord’s orders, I'll be in charge of this girl from here on. That being said, the first thing I did when we arrived at the castle was to take her to the slippery nurses Verónica and Victoria so they could treat her.
They checked her status, her wounds were not deep, but she needed to recover her stats and rest, so they prepared a bed for her. Then, the nurses started drying their bodies with tissues and putting them on the girl’s forehead. Why couldn't they do that to me too?
When I was back in the main building, the Demons were having a feast. I could swear that the moonlight entering through the windows was a little bit red. It seems like even heaven knows what happened this cursed night.
The next day, first thing in the morning, I went to the infirmary to check the girl's status. She was sitting on the bed, hugging her knees with the stuffed animal that she brought to the castle by her side. I sat on a chair next to the bed and started talking to ther.
“How's your body feeling, kid?”
“I-I'm not a kid, I’m 16. And you don't look old enough to call me kid, you know?”
She was right, after all, this body was made like the one of a 17 years old handsome guy. That's the Demon Lord taste for you.
“Guess I won't be calling you kid then, but how should I call you? What's your name?”
The girl seemed to be debating whether to tell me or not. After a few seconds she let out a long sigh and answered my question.
“Kirwha, my name is Kirwha…”
Now that there is more light I can look at her more clearly. Her body is thin and her size small, yeah, everywhere. Her hair was red and reached her shoulders, but it was a total mess, because she was the one that cut it. She was the oldest of five brothers. With her mom sick and her father bussy at a low tier work, she couldn't take much care of herself, she had to watch after her brothers.
Her life was meaningless, but it was a life after all. She can remember drops of joy from time to time, everyone loved each other in her family after all. But their lives were hard, really hard.
Please, don't think that I’m trying to make a point here, we didn't save or rescue her, we mercilessly killed everyone from her family and everyone she knew, then, we spared her life.
“You need to eat something, let's go get some food.”
“Okay…”
Kirwha followed me quietly through the castle. She wasn't scared or angry, indeed, she did not express any feelings. We ate bread and vegetables along with a glass of milk. I haven't had bread or milk for a while, so I was really pleased by doing that. I just needed to ignore the fact that all of our food was tainted in yesterday’s blood.
After we ate, the girl kept on following me all day. I’m in care of her, so it's better for me if she's the one following me and not the other way around.
“Here we are, are you ready?”
“...”
She didn't answer my question with words, but she nodded her head instead. We finally reached the hardest part of today's work: The throne room. I pushed the door and walked inside with Kirwha stepping on my shadow.
“Oh, you're finally here. Thought that maybe she was too scared to come or something, but it seems I didn't overestimate her yesterday. She has a strong spirit indeed. Whakaka~”
Kirwha did not respond at the obvious taunt, she just stood there, at my back looking silent at the Demon Lord with a cold expression instead.
“Oh? You have talent, kid. You know what? You two will start training with Fynx.”
“B-But Lady…”
“I’m sorry, you need training too. We won't have Phlum protecting you anymore…”
“Oh yeah, where's she? I haven see her since yesterday, maybe she still sleeping.”
There was a weird expression on the Demon Lord’s face. She walked to the window and stood there, silent, looking outside for a while. She gave us a look over her shoulder and answered.
“Yeah, she is sleeping right now… You should be going with Fynx now, and don't overdo it this time. We can't have our nurses out of service everytime they take care of you.”
We (me and Kirwha) bowed to the Demon Lord and left the room on our way to the training fields. I felt a chill in my back just remembering what happened last time I met Fynx, I really hope she can control her against this child.
Author's Note: No chapter has been reviewed this time.