"I used Recovery, but will it really work on a demon?" Ryan muttered as he observed his power taking effect on the young woman's body.
The demon girl slowly opened her eyes while curiously bringing her face closer to the person in front of her.
She looked at Ryan's face for a second.
"A human?" she asked herself, and after a moment, her eyes opened wide.
She leaped to the side and took a defensive stance in front of Ryan, pointing her daggers at him.
Her violet eyes looked at him with suspicion, and her long black hair whipped violently as her gaze scanned the entire area, trying to understand where she was.
"I'm not going to hurt you, but right now you'll have to obey my every command for saving you," Ryan said, chanting an order, stepping a bit closer, keeping his eyes fixed on the daggers in the demon's hand.
The blue-haired mage hid behind Ryan.
"That's why I told you to kill her..." the young mage added.
"Save me? Why would a human help a demon?" the young demon questioned and took a step forward. She looked at him with defiant eyes, as if warning him she was ready to fight.
'Just as I thought, she won't listen to me, but it's already too late for her to put up resistance.'
Ryan extended his hand toward her.
"Don't try to fight us, it would be useless. We just want to talk, come here," Ryan ordered in a calm tone.
"Talk? Sure... I don't intend to waste my time here, you can't stop me."
The demon said, turning her back on them, and leaped, ready to escape.
'It's already too late for you to try that,' Ryan thought, raising his hands with annoyance, as he already knew what would happen and how he would handle the situation with this young demon.
The young demon who had leaped to escape fell flat on her butt on the ground.
"Ouch..." She let out a groan as she fell. "What is this feeling? I can't move." The young woman began crawling on her knees across the ground.
Toward Ryan.
"What are you doing to me, wretched human...?" she said cautiously, by her expression doing the impossible to stop her advance.
"Wow, how sadistic, she's actually obeying him!" the young mage commented, surprise in her eyes.
Ryan frowned. "Stop calling me sadistic, will you?"
The demon girl was already under Ryan's control and was approaching, looking at him with a mixture of uncertainty and fear.
"What kind of control skill is this? Who are you really?" the demon questioned as she planted herself on her knees in front of him.
"I'm not even trying, you know?" Ryan continued in a superior tone, making it clear that he had full control over her. "I told you I just wanted to talk and you tried to run away; these are your consequences."
The demon girl was now on her knees in front of Ryan; she grabbed his leg and began kissing the fabric of his pants.
'What is she trying to do? I didn't specify anything sexual,' he thought to himself.
Ryan placed his hand on the demon girl's forehead and pushed her back. But she took Ryan's hand, looking at him with a confused expression, her face red from humiliation.
She tightly gripped Ryan's hand and began kissing the back of it, then the palm. And amidst groans, she ran her tongue over Ryan's fingers and began licking them intensely.
The mage girl, who was still behind Ryan, took a step forward.
"I can't believe you're forcing her to do that... I'm no longer sure who the demon is here," the young mage questioned.
"Brat, you'd better shut up," Ryan said with a frown.
"I told you I'm not a brat!" She hit him lightly on the thigh.
Ryan looked back down at the demon upon feeling a new sensation; she had now put two of his fingers into her mouth and began sucking on them.
'It's already been a day since I separated from Helen and Mirian. I imagine they're looking for me. I hope they don't cause trouble...'
he thought as he looked at the demon girl in front of him, right at his feet.
'Alright, this will do. Now that she knows her place, she'll have no choice but to obey me.'
"Please... just... leave me alone. I promise I won't try to run away and I'll listen to you," the young demon pleaded.
'Got her,' he thought with a subtle smile on his face.
The demon was on her knees; the debt payment was not over yet, so when she spoke, her voice sounded strange since she still had Ryan's fingers in her mouth.
"Hmm... Good thing you understood quickly. I can do this whenever I want, so you'd better not try anything from now on, understand?"
She nodded.
[Debt collection applied]
[Debt Bonus: +50 points]
[Debt Bonus: +45,000 EXP]
'Just in time.'
The young woman let go of Ryan's hand. She had regained her mobility, but remained motionless, perhaps out of shame. Ryan then pulled his fingers out of the demon girl's mouth.
He wiped them on his pants.
The young woman, still on her knees, looked up at Ryan.
Then she sat on the ground, looking down with her ears flushed red.
"...I know if you're here, it must be to rescue the kidnapped child, right?" the young demon asked with a certain hesitation in her words.
"Hmm? A child?" Ryan asked.
"Is that not it? Then why is a human this strong in Demon King territory? Aren't you with the holy knights?"
"No." Ryan shook his head. "We're just adventurers."
"Both of you?" she asked in confusion.
Ryan nodded, and the young mage stepped forward to intervene.
"Tell me what you mean. Did those beast demons kidnap a human? For what purpose?"
"I see, so you don't know. Well... seeing you with that little girl, I assumed you were with the rest of the holy knights," the young demon continued, looking at Ryan. "But now that I see you treat each other with trust... are you a party?"
"Ha, ha, of course, of course, we're a party!" the mage exclaimed excitedly.
"A party with this brat? I don't even know her name," Ryan stated.
"Hey!" The little mage grumbled.
Still, it was true: despite being together for an entire day, Ryan didn't even know the blue-haired girl's name.
In fact, at that moment, all three present were complete strangers to each other.
The demon girl stood up and asked them to follow her; it would be faster if they saw what she was talking about with their own eyes.
As they walked, the demon girl introduced herself and gave them her name.
Beatrice. A Principality-rank demon looking for her missing little brother.
Ryan and the mage girl introduced themselves as well.
"So you are Karol and Ryan... I should have thanked you for saving me, but this isn't very common. I didn't know how to react, I've never dealt with a human..." Beatrice said, blushing slightly.
She paused briefly.
"But you must be quite strong if you're unhurt in this place, and protecting this little girl."
"I'm not a little girl!"
"Huh? Of course you are," Beatrice replied.
"No, she's not," Ryan replied, raising his hands in a gesture of annoyance.
"I don't understand what you mean..." Beatrice murmured.
Karol walked up to the demon and grabbed her hand. Beatrice looked at her, showing confusion.
"My mana..." Beatrice murmured, looking at Ryan.
Almost immediately, the young mage's body returned to its normal size as she absorbed part of the demon girl's mana.
"Do you see it now?" Karol said with a smile.
"What is this...? You guys are a very unusual party..." Beatrice commented, looking surprised.
After walking a bit further, they entered a nearly destroyed house, but it had a basement. Upon entering, there was a demon child and a human child.
Both were at least 10 human years old.
"Sister!" The little demon shouted with tears in his eyes and jumped to hug her.
"Don't cry, I told you I'd come back."
"Who are these people, Sister?"
Karol stepped forward and went straight to the human child; after checking him, she noticed he didn't have any injuries.
"Now, will you tell us what's going on?" Ryan said, taking a more serious tone.
"That's my intention, that's why I brought you here. A few days ago... my little brother was kidnapped. I followed the trail I had and found a demon from the beast clan... This area is very far from the demonic cities, that's why it's practically a ghost town," the young demon explained.
Ryan intervened.
"I get it, it wouldn't be very complicated to stay hidden around here. But why do they have a human child? How did he get here?"
"Wait a minute!" Karol intervened and stepped closer to them.
"Those demons are from Demon King Rigal's territory. Why would they be here? Isn't this Demon King Rohan's territory?"
"That's true. Demon King Rigal and His Majesty, Demon King Rohan, are at war with each other. But this place has a secret portal connecting to Ehres Valley. That passage connects to the place where the sealed dungeon was. I suppose they know about that portal, though I have no idea where it might be. And the human city is very far from here."
"So a portal to move between cities, huh?" Ryan commented.
"How strange... Even I have never seen that portal in the village, it must be hidden in a distant place," Karol reflected.
"Don't get distracted. The point is, after interrogating those demons, one of them said Demon King Rigal had a deal with a holy knight. Unfortunately, he didn't know the name, so I don't know anything else about it."
The young demon approached the little human and continued:
"I don't know the reason, but that holy knight wanted to deliver this little boy to Demon King Rigal. Ever since I saved him, he hasn't said a single word."
"A holy knight...? What scum!" Ryan muttered.