Luca held Rachael as delicately as he could. But he was not a delicate man, so he only had a little going for him. Still, he was sure that he would be able to get Rachael to like him. He had a plan and everything in motion, after all.
"Hey, kid, will you not thank me for saving your life? I am sure that most decent humans usually try to repay their saviour somehow."
Lucas asked Rachael, but she only gave him the most deadpan expression possible. It seemed as if she did not care if she was saved or not.
"Are you done playing around with me? If so, let me down and tell me why you saved me. Human nature is not selfless, and I want to know what you want from me in return for saving me."
Luca frowned as soon as he heard the child speak. During his job, he had been around all sorts of kids. Mafia had an abundance of young children they got every year. And Luca oversaw looking after them all the time.
He had seen all kinds of children. Some young, some older. And some were even geniuses whom no one wanted to take.
But never had he seen a child this mature. This child matched the young master well, and Luca felt ashamed for doubting his master's choice.
"Well, what would you say if I told you that I am doing this all out of the goodwill of my heart? I promise I do not have any ill intentions to harm you or anything."
Luca tried to sound as harmless as possible. He even held his hand out to show that he did not mean any harm to Rachael.
"Bullshit. I am sure you do not want to reveal your colours before me, and that is alright. I will not force you to tell me what you want. Since I can't overpower you anyway, I will be at your mercy for some time."
"I might as well get used to it now so that it does not cause me a problem in the future."
Rachael spoke like a true diplomat. She made Luca feel bad about himself, but knew he could not let Rachael go. He had been ordered to bring her to safety after all.
"You can hate and resent me all you want, my little lady. But my task is to bring you back to safety. There is nothing I will not do to make that possible."
Luca bowed to Rachael, and it was then that she had suspicions about what was happening.
'This man…is he a henchman of my father? Did the Chlorance family send someone to retrieve me since they need my power?'
Rachael was curious to know if that was the case. But she felt better about going with this man once she realised he was not here to harm her.
Since Luca has already proven himself by not harming her, Rachael did not see a point in keeping it at bay any longer.
"So, when are we going to head from here on? Do you have a plan to get us out of this place? Not that I doubt your powers or anything. But this dungeon is still dangerous despite being a low-level one."
Rachael had a point when she said that. Luca also trusted his power, but it was better not to take any risk.
"You are right. The sooner we get out of here, the better it will be for all of us. Let me check my map to see where we are."
Luca opened his device screen that the high-level dungeon experts were given for the mapped dungeon. This was a well-explored dungeon, so it had a comprehensive map.
Looking at the setup, Rachael was even more sure that her father had sent Luca after her. And that made her suspect this man's true intentions even more.
Was he saving Rachael for money? Or future connections?
"Once again. I must warn you that you will not gain anything even if you save me. Are you still sure you want to travel around with me?"
Rachael asked, her voice a little nervous. She was very much dependent on Luca now.
"Hmm, what would you say if I told you I would abandon you here? Don't look like you do not care about what I say. At least pretend to be a little worried about being left behind."
Luca complained as he watched Rachael turn her head away with an uninterested look. Her casual indifference made Luca sigh and follow Rachael.
He could not tell why the kid was suddenly in such a hurry. But Rachael had picked up speed.
Not only was Luca surprised, but Rachael was just as surprised as he was. She could not point out why, but Rachael felt that something or someone was following their group.
The more she walked, the deeper her feelings got. And as soon as she walked out of the forest, she was sure she was being followed.
Rachel stopped moving as she felt her follower was too close.
"Hey, is everything alright? Why did you stop moving suddenly?"
Luca asked as he looked at Rachael with a surprised expression. From the looks of it, he did not know that anyone was following him.
'What is going on here? Why did only *I* only notice someone that someone is following us?'
Such questions circled Rachael's mind, but she was more bothered about doing something about the presence following them. At the same time, she did not say anything to Luca out loud because she was afraid of their stalker knowing.
"Wrong? There is nothing wrong. I thought I felt a presence following us, but I must be mistaken. This is a forest, so there are bound animals and all kinds of noises coming after us."
Rachael looked around the forest last time, and Luca realised what was also happening. He looked at the woods behind him but did not find anything.
Most people would have considered Rachael a kid and ignored her words. But Luca was different. This girl was too much like Master Elias. If she said that she felt someone following them, then Luca was willing to take his words.
Not only that, but he wanted to clear out the situation as well.
"We should stop around for now. I can tell that you are tired from walking."
Rachael had done no walking at all. But she went along with Luca's wish and stopped as well. They both did not bother making a camp, and Luca stood up precisely five minutes after he sat down.
"Hey, kid, I will be back soon. I need to go and use the restroom."
Luca called out and went away. Rachael was left behind, and now she was worried about her situation.
'This will be alright now. I do not need to be concerned about anything when Luca is there to help me out. I just need to wait for things to go according to Luca's plan.'
That was what Rachael believed in and why she stepped down to rest. But 15 minutes into her rest, Rachael became aware of one thing - the stalker was still following her.
With Luca gone, the stalker had become even bolder, and Rachael felt he was closer to her now. Maybe even close enough to touch her if he dared.
"Who are you? Show yourself, and do not hide your presence. You might think I cannot sense you, but you are wrong."
Rachael yelled back into the empty air and waited for a reply. The reply never came her way, but she was not saddened.
She knew someone was following her, so she needed to wait patiently. And her patience was rewarded once her stalker finally decided to make himself appear.
"When did you realise that I was following your group? I made sure to hide my presence. But it looks like I got caught after all."
The teen who walked out of the woods looked slightly older than 13 and smiled gently. A smile on that beautiful face should have been enough to put Rachael at ease.
But for some reason, looking at this person did not feel like she was looking at a human being.
"Who are you? No. What are you? I refuse to believe that you are a human being."
Rachael yelled what her instincts were telling her to say. The teen stopped walking halfway and looked at Rachael as if *she* was a rare specimen he had never seen before.
"How fascinating for you to call me anything other than a human. I was not aware that there was a human who could tell the difference between other humans and demons like myself."
"Since you showed me such a unique talent, I should also reciprocate. I will allow you to feel as little pain as possible as I devour you. Is that fine?"
Rachael looked up at the demon in front of her. Even now, he looked nothing like a demon, and Rachael was lulled into a false sense of security when she looked at the monster.
"You want to devour me? I will tell you I do not taste excellent, and you will not be satisfied if you eat me."
Rachael tried to distract her opponent while waiting for Luca to return to her. However, her opponent was not as naive as she had hoped him to be.
"Are you trying to distract me? How cute! But I am afraid my family is holding back the person with you. You should forget about being saved and just become my dinner. It will be much less painful on your emotions."