A Reincarnated Demon’s Life of Wonder

"*Yaaawn*, I slept so well...not..." - Ciara

Stretching my aching body, I jumped out of the bed I had been borrowing and looked out the window cautiously. Is there anyone nasty enough out there to be spying on a sleeping maiden? ......Well, good enough. 

Fortunately, I found this home with its door unlocked and a bed relatively in one shape, but the problem's not over with just yet. After fleeing from the Double Dragons yesterday, I went west before moving to the southwest to try and confuse any trackers, but there's been no reaction from the Chaos Church ever since I managed to flee from the Double Dragons' breath assault. Those guys should learn to take a mint after their meals. 

Jokes aside, I'm in trouble. Plainly and easily, in BIG trouble. Forget the Double Dragons and the potential infestation of Chaos Church members hiding in the city, I also have to deal with the problem regarding that mutated Gold Slime creature living in the city's river channel. Even if you can count the Church and the Dragons in one package, either of those two options is a big threat on its own. 

Worst of all, I have no idea where the others are. *Sniff*, why must I always be the girl alone at the dance party? And I'm not referring only to that graduation party back on Earth... Stupid mafia-jerks. The next time I see them, I'll give them the paint job of their nightmares! 

Oh, now that I mention them, I guess the Church and the mafia aren't working together. Maybe it's safe to say they don't have any strong connection with the local "authorities" overall? If that's the case, I could assume that they won't have any reinforcements waiting in the wing. Not that it helps too much. I mean, they already have two Treasure Dragons. Reinforcements would be... 

"Yeaaaaaah. If they already have two of them, the third Treasure Tower's guardian might also be on their side." - Ciara

If my memory's not wrong, the four Towers in the Invidia Marshland represent four of Solomar's "12 generals", specifically, the four who have the monikers of "Darkness", "Chaos", "Earth", and "Water". The Irritation Lord's Tower's Dragon was already defeated by the man himself, while the Chaos and Earth Dragons must have been those guys who tried to attack me yesterday. I'm going with the assumption that all the Treasure Guardians are "dragons", despite how they looked to have something else mixed in. 

The Chaos Tower represents the guy known as the "Cult Lord" and they're also one of the heads of the Chaos Church if I'm remembering this right. With "cult" and "chaos", having some tricks to control your own Treasure Dragon shouldn't be too weird for those guys. They were already weird from the beginning. 

As for the Earth Tower's Dragon, I have no idea. Maybe all the dragons have been programmed to listen to their source of inspiration? Wait, that can't be it. The Irritation Lord had to fight his fiend-like Dragon back in the tower. There goes that hypothesis... 

Ignoring the reason why the Cult has those two under their command, what happened with the Water Dragon? Maybe it's already been defeated? Or did the Chaos Church not get it under their command? If so, knowing the difference between it and the other two could be key to setting the Double Dragons free and rampaging within the Chaos Church's ranks...

*Gruuuumble*...

"No good...I can't think..." - Ciara

My tummy's hurting. I'm not going to ape after Lily, only she can do that hungry-cute routine. But having to go almost a whole day without food is tough. Saying the cafeteria service in the mafia group's solitary cell was great would be a big fat lie, not to mention I didn't get to eat too much from the stock in the limousine carriage either. 

Sure, there might have been poison or brainwashing serum hidden in small amounts in that grub, but not having anything to eat at all is pure torture! Starving strategies are for wimps! Please give me some snacks! Even a batch of fries is enough, along with an XXL burger and a shake!

Gah, I can't think straight. Sure, a hungry artisan might sound like a stereotype, but let me tell you, it's HORRIBLE trying to work under such conditions. Especially when I'm not going to pain, but fight for my life trying to escape a gigantic ghost town. 

Worst of all, it's not only food I'm missing. All I have on hand is my Magic Catalyst wand, my magic shoulder bag filled with painting tools, and my clothes. Then again, they were hand-made by Garami, so they're far from "low quality". Still, no food. Could I try to drink one of the bottles with my special ink blend if I imagined it to be a smoothie? No, I'm not that desperate. Not yet, anyway...

Sneakily, fueled by the desire to escape the fate of the ink smoothie, I left the house and headed outside. Staying here and trying to think of a way out of this mess might be good, but it drains too much brain energy when I can't increase my blood sugar. I need my eats. Is there some super-duper time capsule-like fridge nearby with fresh food even after being abandoned for who knows how many years in this city? 

The town has seen better days. I thought so yesterday, but seeing it in the morning mist sure brings out the atmosphere of a "ghost town". Maybe Revi and Iron's rumored hometown was like this. Hmm..., a little paint here, some strokes there..., great! Now this wall has turned much better looking ~. Onward to my next assignment~. 

While moving, I tried to keep my direction heading west as much as possible. The sea is located in that direction, so maybe they have anything stored there? Even if there isn't, being closer to the sea is a plus for me. If the Double Dragons try to ambush me after I reach the port, they will see just how much of a tsunami my Ocean-type spells can produce-!

*Click*

...Already? Somebody doesn't know how to practice patience.

"My, my, to think you would reveal yourself already, oh mysterious little stalker," I asked, not turning around to face my pursuer. Even I recognize the sound of someone pointing a gun at my back.

"...You knew?" asked the person back, their voice quite low. Are they keeping their distance? Not to mention, this is the voice of a young girl. Argh, now I so REALLY want to turn around! And have a canvas ready! Even a camera could work at this point!! 

"Who wouldn't? A mysterious fog appearing out of nowhere along with cursed markings painted on the walls? I should give you props for making the signs with paint similar to the color of the walls, but regardless, if someone couldn't notice any of that weirdness, then they'd be dead meat before entering this city." - Ciara

Please forget about the episode where I didn't see past the fake Alf's disguise. 

"And most of all, you weren't making yourself scarce. I could see you from the window when I first woke up." - Ciara

"Wha-!? How did-GYAAAAA!!" - Stalker

Aaaand there came the ink beast~. That stalker had been setting up traps using pre-made magic ink, but I wouldn't recommend them. They're too easy to disturb by a magician with some experience in the field, or even worse, take control over it by doing some alterations to the sign. 

Long story short, I stole her trap. And added a little bonus to it, the [Ink Outer Demons] skill's summoned token. Man, combining [Ink Tentacle] with [Ink Demon] was a brilliant move on my part~. 

Hearing that the screams aren't stopping, I'll deduce that it's safe to turn around now. And boy, it's a masterpiece~. A giant ink creature with the body of a classic Fiend demon, the head of an octopus, and multiple tentacles for limbs came out from the revised sigil I had painted on the wall before the stalker pointed her gun at me. Hmm, maybe I should start looking more into traps and magical markings from now on. 

As for the stalker, they're being swung around by the demon like a toddler having fun with their baby rattler. Their gun's fallen to the floor..., OH MY GOD! Is that a sniper rifle!? Heck, it even looks like an anti-material one! I was being held at gunpoint by one of those? ......*Gulp*. I-I was a genius for making that trap just in case...

Th-their equipment notwithstanding, I'll try to fade that out of my memory for the sake of my sanity, the stalker looks far from comfortable in the grasp of the ink demon. They're even foaming around their mouth while their face is looking a little purple-ish, green-ish, orange-ish...? Are they okay? 

I signaled to the ink demon to let the stalker down and took a look at her... Okay, who told this girl the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" when she was a child? 

The girl, probably around my age despite her looking younger, was wearing a hunter's outfit topped with a large red coat with a hood. More striking is her fluffy wolf ear picking up from earholes in the hood, making you imagine her choice of clothing by the hands of someone who loves Grimm fairy tales. The fluffy tail is another point I can appreciate! Good job, whoever pervert made her dress like this! 

Still, the girl in question doesn't look too swell. Or, she is swelling. Her face looks like she's had a bad attack of allergies. There are goosebumps all over her body, her skin's discolored in several locations, and she's drenched in a cold sweat. 

...This, isn't this bad? Is she sick? Or maybe plagued by a curse? She's so knocked out that her eyes are rolled up, leaving only the white to be seen...

AHA! Now I understand everything! This little sick riding hood has to be an assassin sent by the Chaos Church! And being the chaotic sadists as they are, they made sure she wouldn't tell anyone by putting a spell on her to end up in this sorry... Is it fine to call it a "mess"? I feel like this is several thousand steps above that level. 

A-anyway, my hypothesis has to be right! I'll bet my... Hold on. If that was the case, why did she try to strike up a conversation? Couldn't she have just blasted me to kingdom come with that giant rifle of hers? 

Hmmmm..., I don't know~. I lack info. And there's no search engine I can access to find the answers I want. Sometimes, I REALLY miss modern conveniences. Maybe this little Miss Sick Riding Hood has some clues on her. In that case, it's strippy-stripping time~. 

"Smack!*

Ouch!! My ink demon hit me! Hey, I'm your master, for crying out loud! Eh, even a demon wouldn't do that to a sick patient? Ehm, excuse me? She was (probably) this close to shooting my guts out of me! ...Fiiiine. I'll settle for her pockets. Just stop staring at me like that! Sheesh. 

After some searching, I found a map in one of Little Sick Riding Hood's pockets. It shows the entirety of the ghost town, with some areas marked with different colors. I'd wage a guess they are Sick Riding Hood's scribbles of the different forces currently in the town. Why do I think so? Because almost all of the eastern side of the city is marked "C.C.", as in the Chaos Church. 

Another point of interest is a large, golden lake located in the north. The rivers of mutated Gold Slime spread across the city seem to be connected this this lake, or maybe it's a spring? Whatever the case, I'm keeping a good distance from there. 

The western part of town has a large area marked with a bear picture. Is that supposed to be a polar bear? Polaris? Meh, probably not. This bear looks like a gangster, not a cozy ball of fluff like Polaris. 

And in a part of the south town, a blue ring has been hastily written above the original map. Nothing else is written there, but compared to the other marked regions, it's the least threatening-looking and the smallest area to boot. Even the "Slime Spring" is bigger than this. 

Other than those four areas, nothing else of interest is on the map. I'm not planning on visiting the Church, therefore we can cross off the eastern part of the town. And the north just screams "Danger!!", so nope. Leaving only the western ports and that strange blue area in the south...

Meh, whatever. The south area is the closest, so let's see if I have any luck there. Besides, I can't leave behind this girl in the streets. If I did, my ink demons might never forgive me. Seriously, am I the only one with these kinds of troubles? Rebellious tentacle demons...... sound kinda nice, actually~. But for now, the sick wolf girl. And after that... Gue-hehehehe~. 

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