13 The demon, Lucifia Beleth

While trudging through the forest Andrew grows more bloodstained as the she-devil continued to bleed on him, her blood getting soaked up by Drew's white shirt. He worries about the she-devil's condition, thinking that he's only prolonging her suffering by doing this.

"Hey, are you alive?"

The demon responds with a low growl to let Drew know that she's not interested in making a conversation with him.

"I'll take the growling as a yes. So, you're not a witch, are you?" The she-devil stayed silent and Drew takes that as a no. Now he knows that she's a demon.

"I didn't know demons could use spells like you did. Those flames you have also raised a bunch of questions. But for now, I just want to ask, did you kill any people?" The same alarming silence filled Drew's surroundings -it was extremely unsettling for him because he can't even hear the chirp of a bird or an insect. "I could understand the plaza but why can't I hear anything in the forest?"

Suddenly Drew's startled by the she-devil growling. He got his answer and it actually comforted him that the demon he's carrying is breaking the silence.

"Why? Was it out of self-defense?" Drew waited for an answer but got silence instead. "Okay, then can you promise to explain everything soon?"

The devil thought about it and her situation. She didn't believe that she'd live long enough to fulfill what Drew wants her to promise him, and she has no idea when her hunger will take priority over her fatigue. So, while she could still think for herself, she wanted to answer Drew earnestly.

"Yes. Whatever you say." Drew once again hears the devil's voice and he found it soothing because of how smooth and gentle it felt for him, despite sounding rude.

"I'm Andrew Gwyndel," Drew introduces himself slightly causing the she-devil's mind to stir awake from the mention of his name.

"I didn't ask though," she replied bluntly.

"I, -Is it wrong to get acquainted!? I'm carrying you after all!" Drew argued.

"I didn't ask you to carry me either. I asked you to bury me somewhere," another blunt reply from the demon.

"That means I still need to carry you."

"No, it doesn't. You could've conserved your energy by dragging me by my hair, feet, or arms-"

"Do you think I'd treat you that badly after you healed my wounds!?" Drew suddenly retaliated

"The wounds I inflicted on you?" The she-devil retorted while raising a brow. "Did your parents drop you as a child or something?"

"Probably, because I don't remember my real parents!" Drew answered jokingly as he turned to smile at the she-devil, who didn't find his response the least bit amusing.

"Lucifia Beleth," she replied monotonously and pushed her head against his back, burying her face in his bloodstained clothes.

Drew could tell that he crossed a line he shouldn't have with Lucifia and turned his head to look forward again. He sees no signs of Aranea's house at all, and he feels like he's walked more than he should've. Drew hasn't come across the trail that leads to Aranea's house either.

"I rushed into the forest but I sure hope I didn't get lost." Drew continued walking through the white trees, hoping to come across a clearing as he feels suffocated by the forest and its strange unnerving silence. "H, -Hey, don't press yourself too much against me."

"Why? I'm already covered in my blood," Lucifia replied, muffled as she's talking while her face is still buried against his back.

"… That's not the problem." Drew's face gradually becomes flustered as he tries to think of a way to explain himself.

But no amount of explaining will save him from being called a scumbag.

Out of nowhere a bullet shoots past Drew's head and hits the tree behind him. It made him jump and shout at Melissa. He knows it her since there weren't any other people or any shops in Aspen that involved themselves with firearms.

"I'm not cheating on you!" Out of all the things Drew could do he chooses to complicate things for himself even further.

"Hah? What does that mean exactly?" Lucifia asked, getting angry.

"Andrew is that you!?" Melissa rushed in, her hands holding onto her rifle.

"Oh no, I'm his evil twin brother you've never heard of, Werdna! I'm glad you missed your shot because now I have the chance to kill you!" He replied sarcastically earning him a bash from Melissa using the stock of her rifle.

The pain and fatigue caused Drew to buckle, dropping to his knees while finally breathing a sigh of relief.

"After being told by Basil that you ran straight into danger, then being ordered to stay put, and finally ditching that runt to look for you, and the first you do is crack a joke about me worryin' about you?!" Melissa ranted and tells Drew that if he doesn't take her seriously, she's going to bash his face in next.

The renegade anti-mage just wanted to say that he's been through an entire ordeal this day and he just wanted to have dinner and relax, but Melissa wasn't done giving him an earful.

"Just when I thought I escaped Cecil's ranting." Drew now believes he's cursed.

"So, who's that girl you're carryin'? I wanna ask 'bout the blood too, but ya both seem fine as a-"

"Melissa, your accent-" Drew points out and the redhead tightly clutched her rifle. Drew could tell she wanted to cave his head in from anger, but instead clears her throat.

By this point, Andrew had completely collapsed to the ground and is serving as a human mattress that Lucifia is resting on with her elbow on the back of his head and using her hand to prop her head up.

"Who are you?" Melissa asked while her eyes are focused on Lucifia.

The she-devil��s appearance -the color of her hair and her bright blue eyes were things that rattled Melissa's nerves but as rare as it is to see white hair, Lucifia isn't her quarry. For one Melissa knows that the witch never had black crosses for pupils and she didn't have horns either. Although, Lucifia's image does unnerve Melissa.

"I'm danger," Lucifia condescendingly replied with a sultry voice and a wide smirk while she looks up at Melissa.

"Not surprised, I can pretty much tell that you're a demon -but I didn't think your kind would wander into this world." Melissa reloads her rifle and points it at Lucifia.

"No offense but, it's hard to trust something as dangerous as you. Give me a reason not to shoot you."

"None taken. If anything, it's a compliment~. And here's an easy reason for you. The moment you fire that staff of yours I'm going to squash this guy's pretty head in." Lucifia flashed her serrated teeth at Melissa with a grin.

"You're vile!" Melissa hissed.

"I am!" Lucifia replied getting ecstatic.

The tension between the two was suddenly lost when the human mattress' stomach rumbled, and like a yawn, it spread and caused their stomachs to growl as well. Melissa has an excuse since she waited for Drew to come home so that all three of them could eat dinner together, but with what happened she completely forgot about her hunger and focused on trying to find Drew. It was only until Drew's stomach reminded her. The same can be said for Lucifia who wandered the world while she slowly succumbed to her carnal instincts brought on by her growing hunger.

"I have a suggestion," Drew said with a muffled voice while holding up his hand. "How about we have dinner then try to intimidate each other?"

An unspoken agreement was formed since neither Melissa nor Lucifia wanted to relent, their egos wouldn't allow it.

"Can't be helped. We did make enough cottage pies in case Hagurd decided to join us for dinner."

"Hoh? Then I hope you don't mind having me instead."

Getting up from the ground, Lucifia had no choice but to rely on Andrew to keep herself up. She treats him as a glorified walking cane and she even says that he is. Drew doesn't mind because his attention was on their surroundings. He still can't hear anything and he's wondering why Melissa and Lucifia aren't picking up on this as well.

On closer inspection though, Drew notices that Melissa is wary of her surroundings as well. Makes sense since the first thing she did was open-fire at Drew and Lucifia when she confronted them. Drew turns his attention to Lucifia and sees if she's also suspicious about the silence, but the second he looked at Lucifia she was already glaring at him.

"Not a word about it. I'm not stupid," Lucifia said as she breaks eye-contact with Drew.

"First the rats, then the flute, and now this silence. It does feel like witchcraft." Drew now realized that there's both a demon and a witch that arrived in Aspen. The question in his mind now is whether or not that witch is the Burning Witch.