Little big demon (II)
“Fine… Dabla, let her go.”
“Got it, boss.”
She snapped her fingers once again, and the tentacles binding Aeldrya vanished into thin air, causing her to fall face first to the ground. When the elf raised her head, her eyes met Dabla’s, who was crouching in front of her and gazing directly into her eyes... Given her small size, crouching was enough for her to look someone lying on the ground into the eye…
“Oh, you are… I see, you are all the same. As soon as you see one of us you wouldn’t hesitate to kill us.”
Aeldrya was taken aback by those words, but she quickly pulled herself together and responded with obvious spite in her words.
“Of course, you are demons! You speak nothing but lies and commit heinous deeds! You bring ruin and damnation wherever you go!”
“You don't know anything about us.” Dabla replied as she stood up and turned her back on Aeldrya.
“My father once actually lived among demons for a short while, and my grandfather battled against your kind just before you were sealed away! And they told me you bring nothing but misfortune. Also I… I know more about demons than you can possibly imagine!”
“Is that so? What is it that you know about us? Do you know how difficult it was for us to survive, being constantly under attack by all existing species and races? We were sometimes even attacked by our own kind… You have no idea of the kind of hell lesser demons like me went through to survive…”
"Lesser demons?" Aeldrya and I asked at the same time.
"Isn't it obvious just by looking at me? I am an imp, the weakest demon race in existence.”
‘An Imp…’
Although Aeldrya's reaction was similar to mine, she seemed to have a good idea of what Dabla meant. I for one had no idea what she was going on about.
“So... What’s a lesser demon?”
“Boss, we demons are a species with a lot of different races. Based on our individual power, we are divided into lesser demons, major demons, high demons and demon lords. Although we are all demons, there are huge differences in strength between each race. The strength of the lesser demons is significantly lower than that of the major demons, and among the former, the imps are the weakest of the lot.”
“Well, you seem pretty strong.“
“Of course, I had no choice but to become strong in order to survive. Just managing to live to see another day was quite the achievement, hahahaha.”
“I see…”
“Just to give you an example, the strongest lesser demons have a strength that’s comparable to that of a low-level grade 3 monster. Major demons, however, already at level 1 have the strength of a low-level grade 4 monster. Knowing this you can get a rough idea of how powerful high demons are, ha ha ha.”
“Well... that sounds dangerous...“
“That’s exactly why I told you to never summon a demon, you asshole!”
“Don’t worry about it, she is just a little girl like Limy.”
As usual, Aeldrya did a lot of complaining, but in the end, she never actually got mad… Well, she did get just a little bit mad this time… But she eventually calmed down after a while, and she actually seemed more concerned about the dungeon itself than about the demon.
“First, you build a dungeon in my basement, and now I have a demon girl living in said basement... My life is getting more complicated by the minute.”
Aeldrya stood up and straightened her clothes a little before letting out a heavy sigh.
“I am not a child, I am a full-fledged adult.”
When we heard those words, Aeldrya and I stared at Dabla in disbelief.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well… for starters, you look to be… maybe five years old tops…” I replied.
“Try adding a couple of zeros to that, and then doubling it. It will give you a rough estimate of my actual age, hahahaha.”
Hearing that she was an adult had been a surprise, but this was baffling. The only one who showed no reaction was Limy.
“Whatever… Well, Limy, you wanted a little sister, didn't you?”
Limy nodded silently.
“So that settles it. Dabla, from now on, you will be Limy's little sister.”
“Ehl? I already told you that I am an adult, if anything, I should be the older sister.”
“If I say you are the little sister, you are the little one. Besides, it is obvious just by looking at you who the oldest one is.”
“Boss, I am many years older than this girl! It’s not like imps grow any bigger you know!”
“Would you rather be an old rag than a little girl?!”
“For an imp like me, reaching a four-digit age is something to be proud of!”
“Enough with this nonsense! The issue here is not her age, how big she will grow, or even what kind of demon she is. The problem is that she is a demon! A demon that’s currently living in my basement!”
“Well, to be precise, she’s living in my dungeon.”
“Which happens to be located inside my basement!”
Somehow, we ended up going up to the living room all together. The erofu allowed me to continue building the dungeon as long as it didn’t cause any trouble for her, and she even asked me if she could use it sometime. It’s not like I had any complaints about that… but I had no intention of spending all my time inside the dungeon just to finish building stuff…
Dabla also took the opportunity to tell us a little about how matters looked like from a demon’s point of view. From what she told us, I got the impression that there weren’t many differences between the demons and the other inhabitants of this world. The only real difference was the sheer number of different demon races that existed.
Regarding the whole hating-on-demons affair, it turned out to be the perfect example of punishing the many for the sins of the few. There were many demons that had great ambitions and wanted to forcefully control others, so they fully deserved what they got. The problem was that, as is the case more often than not, the consequences affected those demons who just tried to live a quiet and peaceful life as well.
Not unlike humans, there were all kinds of demons. Some were peaceful, some were obsessed with waging war. Their superior strength earned those warmongering races the hatred of other species, which already did not think very highly of them and often times considered them mere monsters. The conflict stemming from that hatred quickly escalated and ended up involving all demon races without exception.
She also explained how racism between demons themselves was a widespread occurrence. Major demons and high demons despised lesser demons. That meant the lesser demons were in a rough position, burdened by the hate of all other species and bullied by their own kind.
Ironically, the fact that demons outnumbered every other species and victory for them was all but guaranteed, led to bonds being formed between former sworn enemies to fight against them. In the end, demons could not overcome the alliance formed by the other species and races, and as a result they were cornered and finally sealed away indiscriminately.
“Well, that doesn’t necessarily contradict what my father told me about demons...” Aeldrya murmured.
“Anyway, since I’ve already brought her home… Can I keep her?”
“Don't make it sound like you just picked up a stray cat!“
Aeldrya inspected Dabla from head to toes several times. She scratched her head a bit before folding her arms thoughtfully.
“Well… I will allow it for the time being. The real question here is: how are we going to hide the fact that she is a demon?”
“That’s a good point. Well, her wings are rather small so they could be hidden quite easily under her clothes. The tail doesn't stand out much either. As for the horns…” I interjected.
Her horns were tiny. She could easily hide them with a hood or a hat. The problem was their positioning. They grew from the side, so if we hid them, that would still leave a somewhat suspicious bulge sticking out like a sore thumb. I wrecked my brain trying to come up with a solution... until I had a brilliant idea.
“I figured it out!” I yelled at Limy. "Since you two are sisters now, how about making you look alike?"
“Look alike? Boss…”
“Erofu, help me. We're going to give Dabla some pretty pigtails to match Limy's!”
“Oh, I see what you have in mind.”
“Wait…no…what are you planning to do to me?!”
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt!”
“Wait…”
“Limy, hold her!”
“Understood, master.”
Taking advantage of Limy pinning her down, Aeldrya and I approached Dabla with evil smiles. We used a couple of headbands to tie her hair around her horns, hiding them under a pair of cute pigtails.
“It is perfect! What do you think of your new hairstyle?”
“It is too childish! Come on, this isn’t funny at all!”
***
Name: Dabla
Kind: Demon | Race: Imp
Level: 21 | Experience: 326/996768
HP: 873/873 | MP: 5133/5133
Stats:
Vitality: 58 | Strength: 16 | Agility: 54
Intellect: 24 | Magic power: 39
Resistances:
- Darkness: 6
- Fire: 9
- Mental attacks: 3
Abilities:
- Alchemy: 7
- Magic inscription: 5
- Mana cannon: 6
- Mana control: 9
- Mana manipulation: 5
- Meditation: 7
Special abilities:
- Curse: 8
- Dark vision
- Demon claws
- Lesser regeneration
- Magic perception
Magic:
- Dark:
-- Black Spear: 7
-- Cloak of darkness: 3
-- Dark Orb: 4
- Fire:
-- Fireball: 4
-- Fire Bomb: 3
-- Fire Burst: 2
-- Fire Wall: 4
-- Ignite: 6
- Mental:
-- Mind Break: 1
-- Mind Shock: 1
-- Strike Fear: 2
- Neutral:
-- Magic Shield: 4
-- Telekinesis: 6
- Shadow:
-- Living Shadow: 6
-- Shadow Binding: 5
-- Shadow Cleaver: 4
- Time:
-- Accelerate: 4
-- Slow: 4
Titles:
- Annoyance: 94
- Survivor of the fourth incursion