"Everyone thought that it was probably just another newly formed beast, but this theory was soon thrown away. The damned that were not supposed to be touched, the souls that were forever supposed to be stuck there, to forever be tortured, were suddenly being set free one by one."
The smoke changed once again and this time Alora was somehow able to recognize the figure displayed on it. It was the human-like things that she would often kill when she found one.
Alora, "There is something weird about this."
"Hmm?"
"Didn't you say that you went there to collect corpses? How come you went there if no one dares to go to such a place?"
Dorothy smiled as she pointed at Alora and spoke, "Because of you of course."
Beth nodded enthusiastically, "The demonic beasts you killed cost a lot. Previously, no one was able to kill them so naturally, there was nobody going there to collect their remains but you came and killed so many. It was basically wealth given out for free."
Mary smiled as she spoke up, "Why would we miss out on such a great offer?"
Beth, "It was basically free money. Of course, we had to go and collect it!"
Alora seemed to understand these three a bit better after having heard this. Previously, they had to go and kill the demonic beasts themselves so they would use their fear as an excuse to stop themselves from going through the trouble, but since Alora had already done half the work by killing the beasts, they only needed to go and collect the remains.
In the end, there was no better way to put it. They were all enjoying the money earned by Alora's hard work.
Mary, "We had no idea that we'd be able to meet you."
Beth nodded enthusiastically as she spoke, "We weren't even sure if it really was you," She pointed her finger at Dorothy and continued, "She even told us to cook you."
Alora seemed to be a bit taken back as she heard this, "Cook me?"
Dorothy glared at Beth as if trying to stop this woman from speaking any further, but the woman didn't seem to mind it as she continued explaining, "If you're the warrior, you must have special powers, right? We thought we'll be able to get those powers by eating you."
"..." Alora had never experienced a situation where she needed to answer such a question so she simply looked at the woman and blinked.
Dorothy smiled at Alora as she spoke, "But we didn't, did we?"
Alora seemed to be even more shocked at this as she asked, "Why didn't you?"
The three demons looked at each other and seemed to share a mischievous smile which made Alora feel as if there was certainly something wrong with this situation.
There was no reason for these demons to be nice enough to feel pity or sympathy for her.
Just like she had expected, the reason why these women didn't kill her was different and definitely not innocent sympathy.
Mary looked at Alora and responded, "We had a better idea."
"What... Idea?" Alora felt as if she was going to regret asking such a question, but she still ended up voicing out this question.
Dorothy, "If we cook you, and don't get your powers, it would be a waste."
Alora nodded as she unhesitantly agreed, "It's not a good idea to cook me."
The smile on Dorothy's face widened as she spoke, "So we thought: How can we have access to your powers without having to kill you?"
Alora's gut feeling seemed to be turning out real as Dorothy continued.
"Isn't the best way not to take risks? What if we don't eat you and instead make use of your powers?"
"I don't think I follow you," Alora spoke up. She wasn't lying, she really did have a hard time understanding what these women were wanting to say. She tried to guess what they were saying and she didn't really like what she was guessing so she wanted them to give it to her straight.
"We are willing to give you a job, warrior. If you work for us, we'll be kind enough to not kill you."
"Um... What if I say no?"
"Then we choose the second option." Mari frowned as she spoke, "We'll take the chance and cook you."
Alora chuckled awkwardly as she took a minute to think about it before she bobbed her head up and down, "You will never have to do that! I'm more than happy to be working with you!"
"Yay!!" Beth clapped her hands together as she enthusiastically responded, "I thought you won't agree so we had this whole illusion set up! Glad to know that it wasn't used."
"Illusion?"
Dorothy didn't answer her question as she took a deep breath in and blew it towards the light that was illuminating this room which was a single candle that was now blown out.
The room turned dark and Alora could no longer hear anything.
"A-anyone there?" Alora waved her hands around, but she found that she couldn't touch anything. It seemed as if she was trapped in a void with only darkness filling the emptiness.
"Open your eyes, honey." She heard a sweet voice and somehow she was able to see a light.
The sudden light made her squint as she looked around. Her hands tried to reach up to rub her eyes but they were being restricted by something and when she looked down, she found that she was tied to something.
It took her a whole minute to realize that she was being barbequed like a pig.
"Oh! Sorry for that!" It was Beth who came rushing over. She put out the fire underneath Alora and cut the rope that was tying her to the piece of long wood.
"No! No! Don't do-" Alora's words were cut short as she fell onto the fire pit that was still just as hot.
She felt the burning pain rise up and immediately jolted up.
Dorothy chuckled as she commented, "Your skin is so sensitive, warrior."
Alora had her eyes wide open as she looked down at her hands, which had taken the worst impact from the short fall. Her skin was completely red and she could almost swear that she was able to smell her burning flesh.
Alora looked at the three women in front of her who looked a bit different than before. Somehow they seemed to look a lot more beautiful as compared to before. Their skin seemed to have a bit of pigment and they no longer looked like ghosts.
Alora sighed as she commented, "You guys have really bad greeting manners."