◇A Town near a Certain Forest◇
An enormous Enchanted Frigate came to its regularly scheduled stop
outside the boarding tower in the middle of town. As the passengers
disembarked from the ship and made their way down the tower's stairs, a
storage unit was lowered from the hull of the Frigate to the ground below,
where it was carried to the local warehouse to distribute foodstuffs and
other air delivery orders made by the people in town.
Greanyl the shadow demon watched from the magic window installed in
the helm of the ship, ensuring everything was proceeding smoothly.
Greanyl was a member of the Dark Army's former spy network, the
Silent Listeners. Now, however, she was piloting the Enchanted Frigate as
the demon in charge of the Fli-o'-Rys General Store's transportation
network.
Good, she thought. It looks like the demons we have handling the
warehouse's groundside have gotten used to their tasks.
The warehouse demons were all lesser demons vouched for by Ura.
Some of them had objected to the idea of taking such unassuming work,
but...
All we had to do was advertise the Wolf of Justice's relationship with the
Fli-o'-Rys General Store, and they were more than happy to work... Greanyl
recalled. She watched, nodding in satisfaction as the demons carried out
their tasks at a brisk pace.
During the war, Flio had taken to wearing a mask patterned after a
lupine demon, assuming the persona of the Wolf of Justice and driving off
demon raiding parties all over the land with judicious application of
overwhelming force. It got to the point that many demons, who traditionally
revere power above all else, began to worship the Wolf of Justice with
something akin to religious fervor.
We have more demons working for us than we used to, Greanyl thought.
Lately I'm even often finding myself with free time at work. Well...I suppose
there's nothing wrong with enjoying one's leisure now and again. An image
of the demon horse Dalc Horst popped unbidden into her mind at the idea.
Suddenly, her face flushed bright red.
Wh-Wh-Why would Sir Dalc Horst's face come to my mind at a time like
this?! she thought, covering her face with trembling hands in shame. Y-Yes,
perhaps Sir Dalc Horst has treated me more kindly than I deserve...a-and I
suppose I don't entirely dislike him...
On the platform next to her were two tickets for admission into the Dark
Mountain Pudding Pudding Park racing hall. Greanyl, it seemed, had been
thinking of inviting Dalc Horst if she ever got a chance. But...
I-I-I just can't do it! she thought. Asking a gentleman to accompany me
for something like that is far too high a barrier for an absolute novice to
romance like myself!
She shook her head, which had turned as red as a steamed lobster,
clearing her mind as best she could. It seemed it would still be some time
before she would work up the courage to use those tickets.
◇ ◇ ◇
Soon, the Enchanted Frigate had finished loading and unloading its
passengers and cargo. It disembarked from the boarding tower, heading on
to the next town on its route as two children stared up at the vessel from the
tower's base.
"Can you believe it?" one of the children said to the other. "We were on
that big ship just a second ago!"
"Yeah!" the other answered with a smile. "I take that ship to school
every day, you know! It's a lot of fun!"
Suddenly, with a noisy fluttering of wings, an enormous two-headed
bird monster descended from the sky. As it landed, it glowed with light,
becoming smaller and smaller. Soon it had transformed completely into a
man with a slender, slight build. This was the doppeladler Hugi-Mugi,
former member of the Infernal Four. Since quitting the Dark Army, they had
retired to a quiet life deep in the forest with their three human wives.
When the children saw Hugi-Mugi, they ran up to hug them, smiles on
their faces.
"Papa!"
"We're home, papa!"
"Welcome home, you two!" Hugi-Mugi said, smiling from ear to ear
themselves. "Yes, you two, welcome home. Did you have a good time at
school, yes?" Hugi-Mugi's original form was of a two-headed monster bird
—they spoke with two distinct overlapping voices even in their human
form.
Hugi-Mugi's children each took one of their hands as the group set off
walking down the road.
"Guess what, papa!" said the first child. "I've been learning how to use
magic at school! Isn't that amazing?"
"Well! How amazing, yes! Yes, very amazing! You're very clever, Huca,
yes!"
"I can use magic too!" said the other child. "Praise me too!"
"Of course, yes! Yes, of course!" Hugi-Mugi said, turning their happy
smile from one child to the other. "You're quite amazing too, Muno, yes!
Yes, well done! Now, yes, shall we buy those things your mamas needed
and return to our cottage?"
"Yes, papa!" the children cheered.
"I'll help with the shopping!" volunteered Muno.
"Oh! Well, I'll help too!" added Huca.
"Yes, yes!" said Hugi-Mugi. "Let's do our shopping and head home,
yes! Yes, shopping together!"
The three (or four, depending on how one counts Hugi-Mugi) made their
way down the street to the town's shopping district. As they left, however, a
woman in a tattered gothic lolita-style dress with abnormally large and
shiny black eyes stepped out of the shadows behind them. She was a very
strange-looking person, enough so that a crowd of townsfolk had already
begun to form a circle around her, keeping a wide berth. The woman did
nothing to change the townsfolk's impression, then, when she suddenly
began to dance.
"Drat, drat, and damnaaation!" she sang in a high operatic voice with
musical cadence but no particular tune, twirling and contorting her body in
a strange dance all the while. "We failed, oh failed, oh failed in our plan to
capture the magic beeeaaasts! Now, oh, now, oh now, what can I do, but
catch the rumored, rumored, rumored golden bird! If only I could fiiiind it,
my sister Janderena would surely forgive, forgive, forgive me...but oh
where, where, where could it be?"
Of course, this strange singing and dancing woman could only be
Yanderena.
The golden bird Yanderena was hunting, incidentally, was none other
than Hugi-Mugi in their monstrous demon form, but she had no hope of
guessing their identity from the display of doting parenthood she had
witnessed.
Unfortunately, Yanderena had another problem to worry about
immediately.
"Excuse me, sir guard!" cried one of the townsfolk. "That's her, I'm sure
of it!"
"Well, she's certainly a suspicious individual..." said the guard. "You
there! You aren't the criminal we're looking for, are you?!"
"Waaaiiit!" Yanderena wailed. "Please, oh please, oh please, don't call
the guuuaaards!"
"What was that?" the guard replied. "I knew you were suspicious! Now
come along quietly!"
"No, no, no, I won't, I won't, I woooon't!" Yanderena sang, quickly
dancing away from the scene. The guard followed her as she left the road,
twirling all the way into the forest.
"What was that commotion about, yes?!" said Hugi-Mugi. "Yes, what
was that commotion?!"
"Never mind that, papa!" said Huca. "We need to buy potalpos for
mama Cartha!"
"Yes, yes, the shopping is more important, yes!" Hugi-Mugi agreed. And
so the family continued merrily on their way, completely ignoring the
altercation.
◇Houghtow City—Flio's House◇
Right in the middle of the second floor of Flio's house was a living
space shared by Ghozal, Uliminas, and Balirossa. It had one room for
Ghozal's private living space, one for Uliminas, one for Balirossa, and one
bedroom that all three shared. From the hallway, it didn't seem any larger
than any of the other two chamber rooms used by the residents of Flio's
house, but thanks to Flio's magic, the interior had been expanded to a size
suitable for a married triad.
Ghozal sat in a chair in his private room, reading a magic grimoire when
someone came knocking on the door. "Hrm," he said. "It's open."
The door opened up, and Uliminas stepped inside. "Meow isn't a bad
time, is it?" she asked.
"No, now is fine," said Ghozal. "What do you need?"
"Mrr..." Uliminas considered, awkwardly avoiding eye contact as she
approached her husband. "Well, need is a bit of a strong word... A-Actually,
I was just thinking of how meowch fun I had at the magic beast racing
hall..."
"Oh, that," said Ghozal. "Dawkson built something pretty decent, didn't
he? I had a good time on our visit too."
"Yes! Folmina and Ghoro both had a great time! A-And I had a purretty
good time too..." She had stepped right up to Ghozal now, but she was still
looking down at the floor.
Ghozal tilted his head, puzzled. Uliminas was fidgeting terribly, clearly
struggling to find the words to something she wanted to say. "Uliminas...
What exactly is this about?"
"Mreow!" Uliminas exclaimed, twitching involuntarily. "Erm, well... I-I,
um..." she said, stumbling over her words. She stood there, averting her
eyes and squirming uncomfortably, clearly hiding something behind her
back, until she finally worked up the courage and held out the thing she had
in her hands. "H-Here!" she blurted out, blushing bright red and still
refusing to lift her head.
"Magic beast stir-fry...?" Ghozal said, looking at the large plate in
Uliminas's hands piled high with a large helping of stir-fried meat.
"W-Well...mew know..." Uliminas said. "It seemed like mew really
enjoyed the homemade meowgic beast stir-fry Rys meowde us for lunch
when we went to the racing hall, so...I-I thought I'd try meowking it myself,
as best I can..."
"Oh?" said Ghozal. "You made this, Uliminas?"
"Th-That's what I've been trying to tell mew!" said the blushing hellcat.
Ghozal accepted the plate from Uliminas with a great smile. He grabbed
the spoon Uliminas had provided him and scooped up a bite of meat.
"Hrm!" he declared. "This is delicious!"
"Meow way..." said Uliminas. "Mew don't gotta flatter me..."
"Don't be ridiculous," Ghozal reassured her. "You know full well I don't
say anything I don't mean!"
"W-Well, I can't purretend to deny that..." Uliminas admitted, her face
growing redder still.
"Hah," Ghozal laughed, grinning as he took another bite of the stir-fry.
"E-Excuse me?!" said Uliminas. "Meowt exactly do you find so
funny?!"
"Nothing, nothing!" said Ghozal. "I just can't believe I finally got to
taste your cooking, Uliminas! I'm glad."
"M-Mreowr..." Uliminas said, mumbling as she spoke. "W-Well, mew
know. Back in the Dark Army, I was busy with my duties as meowr
confurderate. I didn't have time to do things like this."
"Hrm," Ghozal agreed, smiling at his wife's behavior between bites of
stir-fry. "That's true. We were both always busy with something in those
days. Back then, I would have never imagined how soon we would end up
living such a relaxed, peaceful life..."
"Yeah..." said Uliminas, sitting down across from Ghozal—although she
still hadn't managed to bring herself to look him in the eyes. "It's something
to be happy about, I suppose..."
Ghozal smiled, and went back to eating his food.
◇One Night—Flio's Bathhouse◇
"What's this, what's this, what's this?!" Hokh'hokton came running out
of his cottage, running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the public
bath.
Hokh'hokton had just recently been appointed to the position of
troubleshooter for the new bathhouse Flio had built outside the oni village
—the one the villagers had confusingly taken to calling Flio's Bathhouse.
"I don't believe this!" he fumed as he stormed into the entrance to the
bath. "The very day I'm appointed bathhouse troubleshooter, there's already
trouble to shoot!"
The front door of the bathhouse led to a large front room before the bath
proper, lined with lockers for visitors to use to store their shoes while
bathing. Hokh'hokton swiftly changed into a pair of slippers and hurried
farther inside. Past the front room straight ahead was the attendant's booth.
To the right were the women's baths, and to the left, the men's.
It was obvious at a glance that something was wrong. The demon
woman villager on duty in the attendant's booth was looking fearfully in the
direction of the men's bath, while outside a number of male demons paced
back and forth in agitation, wearing towels around their waists.
"Mister Hokh'hokton!" said the woman in the attendant's booth. "This
way, here!"
"Hmm..." Hokh'hokton mused as he approached. "So the trouble's in
the men's bath, is it? So much for using my duties as a pretext to enter the
women's bathing area—not that that was ever my intention!" he hastily
added, realizing he had said a little too much. "Well, what is going on in
there, anyway?"
"Well..." the attendant said, "some strange troublemaker has been
keeping the bath occupied."
"A strange troublemaker...you say?" Hokh'hokton asked.
"That's right!" one of the men volunteered. "Seems she's been drinking
in the bath, making a nuisance of herself to anyone else who steps food
inside!"
"Plus, there's the fact that there's a woman in the men's bath," another
added. "Can't be too careful in how we handle the situation..."
Hokh'hokton twitched involuntarily at the men's report. "There's
a...woman in the men's bath?" he asked.
"That's right," said the attendant. "That's what makes this so tricky..."
"Hmmm..." Hokh'hokton said. "And you've tried all sorts of methods to
get this perv—this woman—to leave, I take it? The nerve! Why, my blood
is boiling so hot I can just about feel the steam coming from my ears!" He
stretched out his shoulders in preparation, grinning jubilantly at the prospect
of giving this mysterious drunken woman some much needed discipline.
"And..." the attendant continued with a note of misery in her voice, "I
did my best to be brave and kick the woman out, but she wouldn't listen to
me! She just kept going on saying, 'Who cares? What's the harm?' while
she stripped off my clothes! And she did this...and that...and some other
things..." At this the demon did what she had been threatening to do for a
little while and burst into noisy tears as the other demons hurried to reassure
and comfort her.
Hokh'hokton's expression fell. He had been enjoying himself imagining
a fantasy of charging in to drive some lady pervert out of the bath, but
suddenly, it hit him. There's only one woman I know who's that much of a
nightmare drunk... he thought. Don't tell me I've gotten involved with her
again!
Keeping a stiff upper lip, Hokh'hokton stepped gingerly into the men's
bath. As he passed through the changing room, he heard someone singing
up ahead, an undulating wavering melody: "Oh what fun to roam and quest,
with wine in hand from east to weeest."
That singing voice... Hokh'hokton thought. I knew it! He walked briskly
up to the door to the bath, and cast it open. There on the other side was
Telbyress, drinking away in the men's bath.
"Yooou!" Hokh'hokton bellowed. "I knew this was your doing, you
damned no-gooddess!"
"Hwuuuh?" said Telbyress. "Who'sh there? Get out! I'm jush gettin' to
the good partsh!" She seemed to be in uncommonly high spirits.
Hokh'hokton seized a nearby washing pail and flung it at the fallen
goddess's face. He scored a clean hit, sending her reeling out of the water.
Telbyress didn't make the slightest effort to conceal her voluptuous body,
but Hokh'hokton paid her figure no mind whatsoever as he made a beeline
straight for his foe.
"O-Ohhh?" said Telbyress. "I-If it ishn't Hokh'hokton! Wh-What'sh got
you so angry?"
"That's quite enough out of you!" Hokh'hokton declared.
"B-Buuuut," the no-gooddess protested, "I was jusht havin' a nice time
drinkin' in the bath! Can't you cut me shome shlack?!"
"I will not!"
"S-Shuddenly I see the errorsh of my waysh!" Telbyress pleaded. "I-I'll
jusht be leaving, then?"
"Yes," said Hokh'hokton. "Because I'm kicking you out!" He descended
upon her, heedless of her pleas. A moment later, the sound of a single
merciless blow rang throughout the bathhouse.
"Well, that was certainly a bit of trouble!" Hokh'hokton declared,
arriving back in the bathhouse lobby with the rolled up towel he had used as
an improvised weapon slung over his shoulder. "But I assure you, the
culprit has been punished!"
"Th-Then..." said the attendant. "The woman...?"
"I taught her a lesson and expelled her from the premises—don't you
worry about that!" Hokh'hokton said. "You can all go about using the bath
in peace."
The demon men who had been forced to wait in the lobby let out a cheer
and went back into the bath.
"E-Excuse me..." the attendant said, smiling down at the triumphant
goblin. "Mister Hokh'hokton?"
"Yes?" said Hokh'hokton. "What can I do for a lovely lady?" He gave
her his coolest smile—a far cry from the enraged expression he wore when
dealing with Telbyress.
"I just wanted to thank you," she said, reaching down into her booth and
rummaging for something. "You were a tremendous help today. Here, let
me give you something..."
"No need, no need at all!" Hokh'hokton assured her, grinning with
delight and striking a pose. "But if you really want to thank me, perhaps we
can have dinner together sometime, in a restaurant somewhere with a
beautiful view of the night sky! And then afterwards, perhaps, we could
spend a night entwined in passion! Ahhh—my blood is boiling just thinking
of it!"
The woman in the attendant's booth, however, didn't seem to have heard
him. "Here you go!" she said, producing a bottle and handing it over to
Hokh'hokton.
"What...is this?" Hokh'hokton asked.
"It's cuffee milk!" she said. "A new item from the Fli-o'-Rys General
Store!"
"C-Cuffee...?" Hokh'hokton repeated.
"That's right!" the woman said with a smile. "It's made with cowdin
milk combined with a drink called cuffee. It's the perfect beverage for right
when you get out of a bath. Take it along with my gratitude!"
"Ah...right..." Hokh'hokton said, accepting the bottle with a dazed look
on his face. He left Flio's Bathhouse, cuffee milk in hand, towel still slung
over his shoulder.
◇Flio's House—Elinàsze's Room◇
That day, Zofina arrived in Elinàsze's private chambers.
Zofina was an angel and disciple of the Celestial Plane, as well as a
resident of that realm. She also served as one of the Contract Executors who
enforce the magic of the Blood Oath Contract. When she worked in that
capacity, she took on an appearance that was half young maiden and half
skeleton.
"H-Huh...?" Zofina said, looking around Elinàsze's room with evident
confusion.
Elinàsze had been sitting at her desk in her room poring over a magic
grimoire. She was just in the middle of conjuring a magic circle when
Zofina appeared. "Um... It's Miss Zofina, isn't it?"
"Y-Yes, that's right," Zofina said. "But um...do you know what I'm
doing in this room, by any chance? I came here to pick up the usual supply
of medicine from Mister Flio, but somehow I ended up here..."
The medicine in question was a very special concoction that could only
be synthesized from the bones of a Beast of Disaster, a dangerous type of
monster not meant to exist in the world of Klyrode at all. It had all sorts of
powerful restorative effects, from nourishment to fatigue recovery to skin
beautification. Moreover, it worked even on the goddesses of the Celestial
Plane, who were ordinarily unaffected by mortal medicine. However, not
even the celestials themselves possessed the ability to refine Beast of
Disaster bones. In fact, of everyone in all the worlds under their purview,
Flio and Flio alone was capable of carrying out the process.
Or so Zofina thought.
"Yes, here it is," said Elinàsze, handing a bag over to Zofina.
"Excuse me," Zofina said, looking between the bag and the girl in front
of her. "M-Miss Elinàsze... Is this...?"
"It's the medicine," Elinàsze answered. "Papa asked me to make it for
him."
There was a moment of silence. Then...
"Wh-What?!" Zofina's eyes threatened to boggle out of her head as she
finally managed to wrap her head around what Elinàsze had just told her.
"M-M-Miss Elinàsze! Wait a moment! D-Do you mean to say that you were
the one who synthesized this?!"
"Yes, that's right," Elinàsze said. "Here, look." She opened one of the
drawers of her desk, pulling out a Beast of Disaster bone left over from the
last batch of medicine she had created. The ends of the bone had been
broken off and neatly polished, a telltale sign of the refinement process that
went into producing the much desired medicine.
Zofina looked at the paper bag in her hand in disbelief. She summoned a
magic circle, scanning the contents up and down. Once her spell had
finished its investigation, it displayed the results in a window that appeared
before her eyes.
◇Powdered Medicine (Beast of Disaster Bone)
Zofina stared in disbelief.
"Is there a problem?" asked Elinàsze.
"Huh?" said Zofina.
"I believe that should be the precise quantity of medicine promised to
you by my father."
"O-Oh! Yes!" said Zofina, finally coming back to her senses. "D-Duly
received," she added, bowing her head low. Th-This medicine can only be
derived from Beast of Disaster bones, I'm sure of it... she thought, a bead of
cold sweat running down her brow as she stared at the paper bag. I-I never
would have imagined that anyone other than Mister Flio himself could do
it...
Zofina was still dumbstruck as she left the house through the front door.
But no matter how much I think about it, it doesn't make sense, she thought.
The fact that Mister Flio can produce this medicine is unbelievable enough
in the first place. But his daughter Miss Elinàsze can do the same thing?
As Zofina puzzled it over, she passed Rylnàsze coming the other
direction riding on a magic beast.
"Good afternoon, miss!" Rylnàsze greeted her, bowing politely from
atop her mount.
"Ah, yes. Good afternoon," said Zofina, returning the greeting out of
habit. As Rylnàsze went by, however, Zofina did a double take. "W-Wait!
That magic beast you're riding..." she said, trembling at the realization. "CCould it be...?"
"Oh!" said Flio, coming up from behind her. "That would be a Bear of
Misfortune cub."
"M-Mister Flio!" Zofina exclaimed, startled, as she wheeled around to
face him. It looked like Flio had just arrived home via a Teleportation spell
—the door he had come out of was still visible behind him. Zofina glanced
between Flio and Rylnàsze, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, at a
loss for what to say.
"We heard a rumor about a Beast of Calamity during one of our recent
visits to the Land of the Rising Sun, and Garyl and I went to go capture it,"
Flio explained.
"C-Capture it, you say..." said Zofina. "But even if it is a juvenile, a
beast like that would be extremely dangerous..."
"Yes, the mother bear was quite tough," Flio agreed. "Still, we managed
to defeat it."
"Y-Yes, I suppose you are more than capable of defeating a Beast of
Disaster on your own..." Zofina nodded.
"Oh, no," Flio corrected her. "It was Garyl who took down the Bear of
Misfortune this time."
"What?!" Once more, Zofina found herself reeling. W-Wait! Slow down!
she thought. It takes a whole team of Disciples of the Celestial Plane to
challenge a Beast of Disaster without seriously imperiling an angel's life!
Mister Flio's magic is on par with a goddess's power, so perhaps I can
understand why he is capable of defeating Beasts of Disaster alone...but his
child Mister Garyl can do the same thing?!
As Zofina's distress mounted, Flio gave the best explanation he could,
smiling his usual easygoing smile all the while. "After we defeated the Bear
of Misfortune, we found this cub in its nest. It seemed fond of Rylnàsze, so
we decided to take it home as one of her familiars. Oh, and not to worry—
we made sure to perform the familiar contract properly."
Zofina's face was completely blank as she took in Flio's account. A
familiar contract... she thought, her head positively spinning. With a child,
perhaps, but still. A Beast of Disaster...as a familiar. She pushed through it,
however, and snapped out of her befuddled state. "I see... Well, I suppose I
will be back for my next scheduled pickup." It was a strangely businesslike
thing for her to say, but it would have to serve for parting words. Zofina
conjured her Scythe of Judgment and spun it in a full circle. The space
where the blade of the scythe passed through split open, and she gracelessly
threw herself into the space between worlds.
I need to stop thinking about Mister Flio and his family... she thought to
herself as she left. They're simply too exceptional. Trying to understand it is
a waste of time. Having reached that conclusion, she quieted her mind and
returned to the Celestial Plane.
Flio cocked his head with benign curiosity, staring after the space where
Zofina had vanished. "Miss Zofina seemed to be in a strange mood today,"
he said. "I wonder if she's doing all right." With that, he turned and headed
towards home.
"Papa!" cried Rylnàsze as she noticed Flio returning to the house.
"Welcome home!" she said, beaming with her whole face. She rode the
Bear of Misfortune cub up to her father.
"I'm home, Rylnàsze!" said Flio, holding back his daughter's exuberant
mount as it bounded up to him. It might have been a cub, but it was still a
Beast of Misfortune, and its charge was a force to be reckoned with. With
all of Flio's continual magic effects, however, he had no trouble at all
arresting the monstrosity in place. "Rylnàsze, you have to make sure not to
let this cub charge at anyone other than me."
"Of course!" Rylnàsze nodded, smiling brightly. "I know!"
"Speaking of which..." Flio continued. "Have you decided on a name
yet?"
"Well..." Rylnàsze considered, "I have a lot of ideas, actually. I'm
having trouble picking one."
"How about coming up with something together with your papa?" Flio
suggested.
"Oh, may we?" Rylnàsze said, nodding happily. "I'd be delighted!"
The Bear of Misfortune nodded its head eagerly as well, seeming to
understand what was happening. And so, the bear, man, and girl together
made their way inside the house.
"I'm home!" Flio called as he stepped into the threshold.