It was now early morning of the following day and the man was looking at the demon with a pensive look on his face. Yesterday the demon had asked to follow the man out of town for a few kilometers so she wouldn't be bothered by the guys from Phoenix Quill. After talking for a bit, the man found out that the demon was planning on travelling south and since he himself was headed south, he offered they travel together with his family until their paths diverge. He even sent a message to the wife last night telling her it'd take a couple of days longer than expected to fetch them from the town they were waiting in.
Problem was, after they had travelled about two kilometres from the town the demon decided to take off her mask revealing that she was succubus.
How was it supposed to end well for him when he brings a succubus to his wife about a week from now after disappearing with said succubus for an entire week? He had known the woman for a hundred too many years to be optimistic.
He was considering reneging on his promise right now, an important factor wasn't considered when making it, it should be annulled. Hell, all the demon wanted was a few kilometres, it was his mouth which decided to invite the demon for a few hundred more kilometres. His mouth, his mouth... He blamed the alcohol.
The hell did that idiot give him last night? Did he regret it? Definitely not, it was the first time in decades something managed to get him drunk, why would he regret it? It'd probably be a while before he gets his hands on something good again, but the elves' renown in the field of alchemy gave him some hope.
While the man was troubled by marriage issues and lack of a good drink, the succubus was troubled by the strange look the man was giving. One minute they're calmly walking down the road, the next he stops walking for some reason and gives her a weird look. In no way was it the usual lust, she definitely wouldn't miss that, otherwise she wouldn't be a succubus. It was something much more confusing, there was some regret and pensiveness and, for some incomprehensible reason, satisfaction and hope and other indeterminable emotions.
As a succubus she considered herself highly empathetic, knowing the emotional state of your victim was a necessary state when one of the pillars of your existence could be described as 'manipulative, deceitful and shrewd' among many other good words. As much as that was true, she couldn't claim to understand the emotional state of the man in front of her. But it didn't seem to be anything bad so she decided to calmly wait for the man to be done with his thoughts.
She didn't wait for long since a moment later the man calmly turned around and continued on his way as if nothing happened. As for the succubus, she followed the man's example and calmly followed from behind as if there's nothing wrong in the world.
At the speed they were going, they should arrive in the next town in about 3 days. Along the way the man discovered the atrocity that was the succubus' combat prowess after they came across an injured Storm Strider Harpy. The succubus asked to take care of it just to practice her combat skills, the succubus won in the end, but that was only because she had a magic weapon that made it impossible for the harpy to injure her. She was on the defensive for the entire fight and only won after the harpy tired itself out. The demon further wasted time by harvesting materials off her quarry.
The man couldn't help but wonder who taught the demon her energy control but forgot to teach her how to stab something properly, and they even went so far to give her such a nice dagger.
Later that night, the man decided to teach the succubus some basic combat skills. The unscrupulous succubus decided to exploit the man's kindness to get herself some free combat lessons for the next month or two which they'll be spending together. The following night, the succubus found out that 'combat lessons' meant getting beat up every night but she decided to bear with it since she was getting something.
On the third day, they reached the town aptly called Siniy. It had a tall defensive wall made from blue stone, but the town seemed to have recently expanded beyond the wall. It was more crowded than the succubus would have expected, it'd didn't take long for her to find out that there recently was an influx of outsiders here. The man didn't seem that surprised by the number of visitors so the succubus asked if he knew the reason for it.
"There's...Let's say 'event' happening in the Plains soon. There'll be a few Dukes participating but they're probably gonna limit themselves to some important stuff. There'll be many more weaker Nobles and probably a few notable Knights. Since there are so many Nobles participating, the entire thing can be expected to last a few decades if not an entire century. Since it's happening in the Plains, resources and people will have to pass here both ways. It's an opportunity for businesses and organizations alike. Businesses would develop the area while organizations have been sending people to scout for a while. The Plains are an annoying place, one day there's a beautiful lake and the next there's a majestic mountain, quite annoying when you were planning to dive down to the depths of the lake, trust me."
You could feel the frustration oozing from the last one, but at least the demon got her answer, somewhat. Which brought her to the next topic.
"We'll be leaving tomorrow morning, right?"
"Yup."
"Cool, then I'll be at the black market until then."
The man turned around to look at the demon following a few steps behind him. The blue eyes, pink skin and light brown made her look human, quite beautiful if not for her her short stature and the fair, roundish face which made her seem like a child. It just felt wrong for him to call it beautiful, cute was much more fitting.
Those words seemed quite unbefitting coming from that cute face. No matter what it was still a fully grown succubus, not something you associate with the word innocent.
"Good for you I guess, I got coin to spare so you can go now," he said while dismissing the succubus with a wave. It brought to the mind the image of a man swatting away a fly which had been bugging him for a while.
The succubus went on her way while grumbling under her breath. Siniy was not a criminal ruled town so finding the black market would take longer than it did in Tusk Town. While looking for the black market, the succubus decided to buy herself a Knight Stage Void Ring, some maps, a set of clothes which obviously included a cloak and a few extra sets to change into and a properly made mask. After changing into the new clothes and burning the rags she'd been wearing for who knows how long she continued on her search.