Working on orders from up high, I trudged through Sandy Branch’s main street. Amalia sent me out with a shopping list for dinner. She seemed eager to teach me how to cook dinner. I helped her out when she asked, but now she was adamant that I do most of the work this time. I wasn’t sure why.
“She looks mean,” I heard a voice mutter nearby.
Suspecting it was about me, I located the source of the voice and was surprised to see its owner wasn’t looking at me but somewhere further in the market. I followed their gaze to see Tart investigating a stand with assorted meats.
My eyes sparkled. We are going to become best friends. And then you’ll tell me everything you know about devils, the devil continent, and archdevils. You just don’t know it yet.
I basically skipped over to the woman and situated myself behind her. I waited patiently for her to finish her transaction. As she turned to leave, she saw my face, let out a small yelp, and recoiled backward.
“Hi!” I waved with the brightest smile I could muster. “It’s me! Yennifer!” I grabbed her hands, as she had already placed the meat she had purchased in her codex. “Hungry? Thirsty? Need to talk? Let’s talk!”
Tart’s face paled. She gave me a wry smile as she slipped from my grasp. “No.”
“Come on! We have so much in common. Let’s talk. I wanna pick your brain!” Tart had created some distance between us, but I immediately closed it. “I have questions, and you are the only person who can answer them.”
Tart’s eyes shifted to my ears. She frowned. A sigh left her. Then she shoved me to the side. “Get away from me, brat.”
I stared after her, pouting. “I’m a cute brat, though. Help me!”
Tart picked up her pace.
I followed her.
When Tart rounded a corner, I sprinted to catch up. I froze when I did. There was no one in sight. She’d disappeared.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered to myself. “That’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”
Every free moment I had, I hunted Tart down.
At first, she acted as she did during all our other confrontations. Dismissive and rude. My persistence continued, however, and she realized I wouldn’t stop bugging her.
Our “antics” progressed at that point.
“I just want to ask you a few questions!” I said as I sprinted after Tart through the streets of Sandy Branch days after our first failed interaction.
“Take a hint, kid!” shouted Tart. She didn’t even look back at me.
“Never!”
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after dinner. Every free moment, I scoured the city, trying to find her. I even started camping out in front of her room at Beginner’s Rest once I learned where she was sleeping. Then she started using the window to come and go, and that became a waste of time. I still kept doing it, though.
“Little brat!” Wind built around Tart’s feet. She jumped. It propelled her up high to the roof of a building, where she landed gracefully at the top. “Go away.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
My eyes widened with excitment. “Teach me how to do that!”
I saw the hint of a grin play out on Tart’s lips, but it was soon replaced with a frown. “Bother someone else.” With that, she turned and left.
Groaning, I kicked the dirt and put my hands on my hips as my gaze thrust to the sky. “Oh, never.” I grinned. “Time to dig up more of your weaknesses.”
That meant bothering Bydon again. He saw me chasing Tart once and asked what I was doing. I explained I wanted to talk to her about my heritage, as she had a lot of insight and knowledge I needed and craved. Feeling sympathetic, I guess, he to me what he knew about Tart, her interests, and where to find her during the day without completely divulging her past without her permission.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“This time of day, he’s probably in the field,” I muttered. “If he’s not eating or sleeping, he’s training.” I cleared my throat. “Enough putting this off,” I told myself as I trudged away.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, Tart had returned to the roof. Her eyes followed me as I charted toward the eastern fields where warriors train.
“Hraaaa!” screamed Bydon. He slashed his great sword through two trees. They fell to his blow. The cuts at their base were clean and level.
One tree threatened to fall on Bydon. He lifted his hand and stopped it effortlessly with his palm without moving. He then casually tossed it to the side, where it landed on the ground with a loud thump. It left a dent in the earth in its wake.
A thin, violet outline hugged Bydon’s skin. It looked like someone had drawn a border around his body. That’s what happened whenever Bydon channeled his mana into the Chaos style. The outline of his body glowed, but not himself.
Each style provided a visual cue for what type of physical mana style a person was channeling. The Chaos style created an outline around the user. The Heavenly style resulted in mana particles like fireflies beading off the weapon or body part being charged with mana. As for the Warring style, the user’s skeletal structure glowed where the physical mana was being channeled, which was hard to see depending on the type of clothes people wore.
The colors of the forms usually reflected the mana level of the user. White particles appeared when I used the Heavenly style, but when Barcus used it, they were green. Likewise, when I saw Nigel use the Warring style in his arms, his skeletal structure, where his energy was focused, was visible through his flesh and appeared brown.
“Hello!” I called out to Bydon once I saw a lull in his work. “How ya doing?”
Bydon looked up at me. He was shirtless, with sweat dripping down his body. Instead of wearing it, he used his shirt to wipe his face and neck. His wolf ears flickered at the top of his head as his mane of black hair coasted down his back and stuck to his dark skin.
“How much stronger do you get when you do that?” I asked, pointing at the fallen trees. “Can’t even imagine it.”
“I could clear a large section of this forest in one swing if I wanted to,” admitted Bydon. “But this is just practice. There’s no need for that.”
“Pretty devastating practice.”
“You’ll be able to do something similar once you widen your mana pathways,” said Bydon. “Once you get to a certain level, only a few people will be a threat anymore. The only person I’ve ever faced that gave me trouble was a Heavenly Master.”
“Where?” I asked. “Who?”
“Water’s Bastion. A man named Gregory Talbert. When we fought, he was a soldier. That was years ago, and he’s likely stronger now. These days, he serves as a counselor for that city’s baron.” He smiled. “We eat dinner together whenever I return to visit family.”
“The Heavenly style’s that strong?”
“An understatement,” replied Bydon. “To become a Master of the Heavenly style, one must be able to coat their weapons in mana completely.”
“I’m looking forward to doing that someday,” I said with a smile.
“I’m sure you will. I’ve never met anyone with such raw talent,” admitted Bydon. He leaned against a tree he had not cut down, sat, and beckoned for me to join him. I sat cross-legged on the ground before him. “You’ll get there in a few years.”
“Hope so.”
Bydon stared at me for a moment. “Have you managed to talk with Tart yet?”
I frowned. “She keeps running from me.”
“Still?” muttered Bydon. “Don’t mind her. She’ll come around. Keep trying.”
“If you say so.” I fidgeted in place. My mind wandered away from Tart and fully focused on Bydon. A thought occurred to me. “We’ve never talked before, have we?”
“We’ve talked.”
“About devils. Your life,” I said. I’d only used him to get closer to Tart because we looked similar, and she’d lived abroad, but Bydon was also a devil. It should have been obvious that he could help, too.
“We have not,” agreed Bydon. His ears flickered. “Do not be afraid. Like the others, all I wish is for you to succeed. Ask your questions.”
“Um…okay.” I fidgeted a moment. “Th-Thank you,” I said, nervousness filling me for some reason.
I was an adult, I think, in my past life. There’s no way I wasn’t given the random skills that kept popping up when I tried things. While I had the skills, though, I lacked the maturity that came from experience due to my amnesia. Yes, I was intelligent for my age, but intelligence did not necessarily equate to wisdom. I could tell from watching others. It’s something I detected a lack of in myself. There were too many things I just wouldn’t totally grasp until I lived a little longer. And because of my kind and what Eve told me, there was probably much I’d never connect with, no matter how hard I tried to.
“This place is all I’ve ever known,” I began. “I’ve faced discrimination, but I’ve always had people around me to support me. Even so, I know I’m different, but I don’t know why. The people in this town can’t tell me what it’s like to be a devil, and most devils won’t talk to me. I need guidance and information from someone who is connected to the world I was born into.”
Bydon’s face turned serious. “You wish to know about devils from another devil since you believe only one of our own can offer an accurate perspective for you.”
“Kind of, yeah,” I replied. “And honestly, Tart is more similar to me, so I wanted information from her first, but that hasn’t gone very well.”
“And I am your next best option,” added Bydon with a smile.
“N-No,I—”
“I’m messing with you, it’s okay. I understand your logic, and it doesn’t hurt my feelings”
“Oh. Good!”
“It appears you are already aware of the challenges you’ll face here on the Human Continent. People think less of us. They always will. Beast and forest devils are common in cities and towns, but we are considered second-class citizens to humans. We look different. We’re more powerful than them. They fear us. They enslave us. They kill us. But some of them see us as friends, lovers, and people worth dying for. No one person is the sum of all evil. Humans are not bad or good, and the same applies to devils. The individual matters. Always be conscious of that.”
I chewed on my lip.
“My parents were slaves, and I was born a slave,” admitted Bydon. “I’ve seen much of this world, both good and bad.” He readjusted his sitting position and leaned forward. “If experience is what you desire, let me share mine with you.”
From there, Bydon told me his life’s story.