Little Devil

Waiting outside, Secre couldn't hold it anymore and asked Merlin, "That child, so he really is a Devil?"

With a nod, Merlin said, "That's right. But, don't jump to conclusions. Just like us Humans, I feel that not all Devils are evil like the ones that we've met. You just need to search hard enough. But the real conundrum is… how is he here?"

With a complicated face, Secre didn't really know what to make of the situation. Although she knew that the situation was a lot more complicated than what she saw at face value, all she knew of Devils were that they were extremely scheming and took their enjoyment from the malice and hatred of Humans, toying with them.

Feeling a hand on her head, she turned to look at Merlin who smiled, saying, "Don't think too hard about it. Just keep an open mind, alright?"

Pushing his hand off her head, she nodded. Right at that moment, the door behind them slowly creaked open, revealing the boy, Liebe. He was still extremely wary of the two people in front of him. However, the feeling that the girl next to Merlin felt somehow familiar, like something from the Underworld.

"We're fine now. She wants to talk to you." Liebe said, opening the door fully and walking back towards Licita.

Merlin stopped Secre first, saying, "I'm not 100% of her condition yet, so to be safe, wait out here till I call you in. '' although she drains mana, she also drains people's life force."

Understanding him, Secre obeyed and waited outside, sitting on a nearby bench.

Following Liebe, Merlin came up to Licita, still laying in bed but looking much better than before. The blood on her clothes and face was already wiped clean by Merlin beforehand through simple water magic.

Looking at her saviour, Licita saw his calm and gentle smile. She also felt more at ease the closer he came to her. With a small bow of her head, she said, "Thank you, for saving me. I-I'm not sure if I am worthy of your help… but, to be able to be with Liebe again, that's more than I could ever hope for."

"That's alright. You're also a citizen of the Spade Kingdom, so I have a duty to look after your well-being. Even if you are being ostracized for your body's condition." Merlin said, sitting on a chair nearby.

With a sad smile, Licita said with a helpless tone, "So… you know. You should leave then, although I want to pay you back, it wouldn't matter if I were to drain your mana and life."

"Have you not noticed anything peculiar at all when we both came in?" Merlin asked with a slight laugh.

Raising her eyebrows, she now finally noticed that although she was draining mana from the man in front of her, she didn't feel as though his life force was being sucked away.

"T-this is… How? I've never seen this before…" Licita muttered, not knowing how Merlin wasn't fully affected by her.

"Although you drain the Mana and life from those around you, I won't be affected by it. I have too much Mana within me for you to take away anyway, so you don't have to worry." He then looked over at Liebe, and wasn't able to sense any Mana from him.

"The child, however, Liebe, has no Mana in him. Since Mana and a person's life are connected, he isn't affected at all." Merlin said, turning back to her. "It must have been hard, having to live your life like this. You must have sacrificed a lot."

With a sad smile, she shook her head, saying, "It's alright… I chose to live like this. I don't want to put anyone in danger, especially…" Her words stopped at the end, as an image of a baby passed flashed in her mind.

Liebe, standing on the side, was also slightly distressed, seeing how depressed Licita was. Walking over to her, Licita smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Seeing how you called Liebe by his name and not as a Devil, I assume you don't hold any malice towards him. Otherwise…" Licita paused, letting her words trail off.

Looking at Liebe, Merlin could see him shake for a moment, remembering how the humans had tried to hunt him down when he was first thrown into the human world.

"I'm going to bring my friend in, so I'll put up a barrier for a moment. She can't afford to have her Mana drained, unlike me." Merlin said, to which Licita nodded in understanding. Waving his staff, Merlin cast a translucent orb around the bed that Licita and Liebe were in, isolating them from him.

Calling Secre in, everyone was now present in Licita's small wooden house. "Well, I've got a lot of free time, so do you mind starting from the beginning?"

With a reminiscent smile, she nudged Liebe, letting him start the tale first. Still wary, Liebe nonetheless recounted from the beginning.

In the Underworld, from the time they're born, Devils have a set place in the pecking order, and there's no way to change it. To them, Devils found the Underworld boring, so to kill time the Devils on top terrorize the ones beneath them, and the lower Devils beat up the ones below them.

Since Liebe was born without magic, he was solidly at the bottom of the heap, worse than the weakest Devils present. There wasn't a day passing by where he wasn't bleeding.

In that world, toying with 'Humans' was the biggest thrill any Devil could get, so everyone wanted to go to the Other World, where the Humans were.

One day, ticked off, a Higher Devil threw Liebe at the gate of the Underworld. Contrary to his thoughts of being smashed to pieces, since Liebe had no magic, he passed right through it.

That was how he ended up in the Human world.

However, since he was a Devil and had no magic, he was loathed and feared by Humans, hunted down by the ones with powerful magic. He ran until his body couldn't move any further, waiting till he would die.

But the next time he awoke, he found himself in Licita's house.

This was where Licita took over and recounted her side of the tale. Before finding Liebe, she found a 5-leaf clover Grimoire buried under a cluster of dead twigs. A few days later, she then met a Devil, Liebe, so she assumed that it was fate for them to meet.

Of course, when meeting a Devil one would be afraid, but according to her words, "Who'd be scared of an injured little kid". The fact that Liebe didn't have any magic made him frail as well.

The reason she lives alone away from the village was because of her body that stole Mana and life from whatever was near her. But since Liebe didn't have magic, she found it to be fate and decided to adopt Liebe without hesitation, much to Liebe's confusion.

"I was the one that gave him his name since he never had one," Licita said with pride.

During their time together, Liebe's world changed for the better, he knew how to enjoy the life he was given with Licita without the fear of being terrorised by Devils.

"Just because somebody's a Devil doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad guy." Licita said, patting Liebe's head, "After all, Liebe's not a bad guy. Living all on my own hurt me, but Liebe saved me from that."

Her expression then turned grim, "That was when Liebe was possessed by another Devil, some guy who calls himself Lucifero." Hearing this again, Liebe's body shook.

"Lucifero wanted to use Liebe as a way to come into our world, but I wasn't going to let him take my boy away," Licita said. "So, I sacrificed myself to drain his Mana away and sealed Liebe away. If Liebe was sealed, Lucifero wouldn't be able to track him down. I didn't want to lose him too..."

Her eyes then raised up, looking over to Liebe, to which she cried out, "Liebe, why aren't you in the Grimoire! That guy can still come and get you if you're out here!!"

Merlin had to step in, "It's alright, he's still bound to the Grimoire. This isn't his entire physical form, it's more of an image. He's still inside the Grimoire, but he can occasionally come out. However, he won't be able to be outside all the time."

Hearing this, Licita felt more reassured, calming down. Merlin continued explaining. "If he wants to manifest fully into the Human World from the Grimoire, the Grimoire will have to choose someone. He can then use that person as a vessel, or a medium, to come into the Human World."

Nodding in understanding, she asked him, "How long can he stay out for?"

"Hmm, for about 5 I would say," Merlin said, rubbing his chin.

"5 what?"

"4… 3… 2… 1…" With that countdown, Liebe's body began to turn translucent, feeling himself being pulled back into the Grimoire.

"Licita?" Liebe muttered, seeing himself being pulled away.

"It's alright, we'll meet again," Licita said, reassuring Liebe. Merlin walked up and patted Liebe's shoulder.

"There were some interesting things I found inside of the Grimoire. Use this chance to train up your new power. When the Devils come again, you can protect her this time."

Staring at Merlin's smile, Liebe gave a low sound of agreement, gripping his hands. With that, he finally disappeared back into the Grimoire.

Turning to Merlin, she then finally said, "I never asked you for your names till now, I kinda got caught in the moment and all, haha."

"It's alright, you can call me Merlin, and this is Secre." Merlin introduced himself, with Secre lightly bowing her head in greeting.