Ae Rin's eyes widened and her body froze when she heard the old woman's voice behind her, standing near the door. She took a deep breath and turned around bravely to face her.
The old woman had an eerie and calm smile plastered on her face.
"I suppose you saw it all? What should I do with you now?" The woman asked with the same sweet smile that she wore at the time she met Ae Rin, but not even a single word could slip out of Ae Rin's mouth because of the situation she was in.
"This is bad. At this rate, I am surely going to die. I don't have anything to defend myself, too." Knowing that she couldn't use her powers in this world for some unknown reason, she knew she had high chances of getting killed. Her heart hammered against her chest as her eyes anxiously wandered in every direction of the room to find any useful weapon.
When she looked back at the woman, she had already vanished into thin air. "Where did she-!?"
Before she could process what had just happened, she heard a low growl coming from behind her. She quickly turned around and gasped when she saw the creature she was looking at. The old woman had turned into an ugly, black creature with saliva dripping from it's long, razor - sharp teeth as it approached her with heavy steps.
"Do you want to know how I killed them?" The monster asked while picking up a hand soaked in blood from the floor and tearing a piece of it with his razor sharp teeth and swallowing it with a grin.
Ae Rin cautiously took a few steps back, hoping to somehow get out of the room through the door.
" I cracked open their skulls with my bare hands and then ripped off the brain from it. But don't worry, I won't make you suffer like them. I will cut your head off first. That way, you will die much faster and it will hurt lesser!" The monster ran wildly towards Ae Rin with a maniacal laugh.
At that moment, she realised that she had been overlooking a strong weapon the entire time even when it was so close to her; the weapon was she herself.
She forgot the fact that she had more than enough physical strength to defeat the monster, which was that of a real demon. Confidence flooded her body as she prepared herself for the coming attack. "Living with humans really made me lose my sense!"
As soon as the monster reached out to grab her by the neck, Ae Rin dodged the attack.
"Here I come!" She bent down cautiously and raised her fist upwards to punch the monster in the jaw with all her might and strength.
The blow of the punch took him by surprise when he found himself sent flying out of the house, breaking one of the wooden walls of the room. Ae Rin cautiously approached the monster's unconscious body and nudged his head with her leg.
"It's dead. What in the world is this creature? I never saw any kind other than a demon capable of shape shifting. This world is crazier than I thought. First, it was those random men with horns asking me to marry them and now it's this sweet old woman turning into a monster. I should be careful when trusting someone in this world. First, I need to get some real weapons to protect myself in future. I can't always use my physical strength or else I will run out of energy." She mumbled while getting out of the room and began searching for any useful item around the house. She went inside the kitchen to search for knives or any other sharp objects that could help her at all.
There she saw a knife covered in blood plunged inside the head of a man lying on the table.
"Oh, there it is." She casually approached the table without a hint of surprise and took out the knife from the head. After cleaning the blood stains from her clothes and the knife, she headed out in search of Kyou and Iris.
"This place seems like a village but it's deserted. No matter how much I search, I can't find a single person here. And it's really quite. No birds, no animals and not even an insect." She thought to herself while walking around the unusually quite area.
"I can't waste much time here but... I don't even know how to get to the Lord of Arthalia!" Her shoulders dropped in discouragement as she continued walking aimlessly.
While she was absorbed in her thoughts, someone called out to her. "Hey, you!"
Surprised, she looked up to see a man in his 40's wearing an armor with a sword in his hand and behind him, were a few more men with armors and swords just like him.
The man glared at her, "What is a woman doing out here in middle of the night?"
"Night? But it's day right now..." She answered with a frown.
"Who are you trying to fool? It's the middle of the night!" The man said.
He glanced at her outfit and suspicion filled his face, "I have never seen that attire before. You are going to come with us, lady."
"What?!" Ae Rin took a few steps back and turned around to make a run but was grabbed by the man and his comrades.
"Where are you taking me?! I didn't do anything!" She tried to protest and escape from their grasp, kicking in the air wildly when she was picked up by one of the guards and thrown into their carriage drawn by a couple of horses. They tied her mouth with a cloth and blindfolded her before she could even say a single word to prove herself.
"What is even happening to me?! I came here to search for the Lord not to get caught up in something like this!" She sighed in frustration as the carriage rode slowly on the bumpy and uneven path.