"Hey, you damned system. Come out now! I have questions." Nora yelled into the dark, empty room. The temperature in the room suddenly started to drop rapidly, making goosebumps rise along her spine. The aura of the room changed in a moment, making the atmosphere dark and eerie.
Nora turned her head and finally noticed a figure leaning on the wall. It was a handsome blue-haired demon king she had become familiar with over the past couple of days.
"Sir Calix? What are you doing here?" She asked tentatively.
'He did not hear me calling out for the system, right?'
"System? What a unique name for your employer." Calix mused.
'Ah, he heard. I'm screwed.'
Nora let out a nervous laugh. "What do you mean by employer?"
"The one who sent you to assassinate me, of course."
Nora understood the reason for her goosebumps at that moment. The Demon King was no longer willing to play.
She remained silent, not knowing what to say.
"You like to talk a lot of nonsense usually. How come you are staying silent now, Lady Elynora?" He asked, amusement evident in his deep golden eyes.
"Because I don't know how to explain this misunderstanding."
Once again, Nora shamelessly chose to lie with her life on the line. After all, what other choice did she have?
A bright blue flame lit the top of Calix's index finger. She swallowed, realizing the meaning of it immediately.
'Start talking or die.'
"I had a dream foreshadowing that our patrol team would rescue a dangerous person and that person would bring misfortune to the family when I was in a coma after my injury. So I was just planning to prevent that person from coming into my home. I had no intention of killing anyone." She finished the short and sweet explanation in one breath.
Calix raised an eyebrow at that.
"It seems you have foreshadowing dreams often," He tilted his head, obviously enquiring about the dream she had just now.
"Ah, this is a nightmare I have had often since I was a child. I have not figured out its meaning yet. It's of no importance," She said, waving her hand dismissively, trying to downplay the situation.
Calix looked at the little redhead who was shamelessly lying to him. He knew that the dreams foreshadowing his appearance had some truth to it. Otherwise, it would be hard for her to appear at the exact timing of him laying there injured.
But it didn't make sense why she didn't reveal it to her family beforehand. She could have definitely resolved the situation much more easily by revealing it to her family beforehand instead of trying to find him on her own.
He glanced at her shabby self, drenched in sweat from her nightmare, looking like a wet rat.
Maybe she didn't have enough intelligence to come up with a good plan. That seemed plausible.
Blessed with the Flames of Gehenna, she could forge any divine weapon one could imagine, but with no one to teach her, it seemed she had grown up as a fool. That did work to his advantage.
While Calix was coming up with his own conspiracy theories, Nora was sweating buckets, trying to figure out how to get out of this deadly situation.
"Sir Calix, I never intended to kill you, truly. How could someone as weak as myself ever attempt such a thing? How about this? You go on doing whatever you need to do, and I will pretend that this never happened. I won't tell a soul! I promise!"
Nora decided to beg for her life sincerely.
Calix tilted his head.
"What do I get in return?"
'Look at this guy, pretending to be all sly. He could have killed me anytime, but he's only keeping me alive because of my flames of purification, which is pretty useless!'
She didn't know what he wanted to achieve with her flames that couldn't even hurt him, but knew that it was her only lifeline.
"I will willingly let you use my flames of purification in whatever way you want!"
Calix let out a snicker.
'So she still has enough intelligence to comprehend what I want from her?'
He thought about it. He could, of course, force her to do whatever he wants, but it would be no fun.
"Fine. Add the condition that you will do whatever I want, and I will let you live," Calix said, looking a bit bored.
Nora nodded vigorously while shedding tears of relief in her heart. She could do anything to live. She would even sell her soul to the devil. Or the Demon King in this case.
Suddenly, Calix walked to her and leaned towards Nora. She leaned back in the bed, startled.
"Stay still," He ordered.
Nora immediately froze as she felt a finger on her forehead.
Calix drew a symbol on her forehead using mana, and quickly took his hand away, wiping it on his shirt in disgust.
"There. If you disobey me, my mana in your body will make you self destruct. Understood?" He asked, his face still close to hers. His face was even more handsome up close but, Nora had no time to admire it.
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good." Calix stood up straight and walked out of the room, as if he came for a friendly chat and didn't just turn her into a living walking time bomb.
A blue panel appeared in front of her without notice.
[Side Quest: Prevent the Villain from destroying the world.
Mission Progress: -13%]
Nora wanted to cry.
She angrily waved away the transparent panel before her and got out of the bed.
Nora paced back and forth in her room, trying to figure out what to do.
If she didn't do what the demon king told her to do, she would die by his hands.
If she did do what the demon king told her to do, she would die by the system's hands.
Nora made a decision, looking determined.
The demon king was right in her home. The system was far away.
So it would take some time for it to kill her, but if she died, the mission would be completely over and the world would be doomed.
As long as she was alive, there was still a chance to turn things around.