The path is rocky

“I have been wondering this for a while now, but why is the day less city called so? Like, it's obvious from the name but still isn’t it against the rules or something?” Erin asked, boredom colouring his voice.

The party had been travelling for around a day now by foot. The demon realm, like the human realm, was divided into sections. In planning, it followed the concentric planning method where the most prominent form was located in the innermost location. As you branched further, the location shifted into a more rural context.

While it may seem crude at first, this was actually really efficient based on the geography of the regions it occupied. The Demon realm was not a continuous place but was a combination of connected pockets of space interconnected with each other.

It made it incredibly difficult to navigate if one already did not know how it operated. It existed in the abyss beyond the human realm and something more which merely exited and had no form to speak of.

Hence, unlike the flat earth, every pocket in the demon realm had a start and an end, a clear endless cliff that fell into the abyss. The pockets existed in the form of an icosahedron at minimal and unknown at maximum with each node occupying a space. There was never an official count, just a recognised 10 from where the calamities existed.

Hence, there was a linear sun moment throughout the place but unlike earth, it had two of them revolving perpendicular to each other. There was no large pocket that did not receive the sun without external factors but even they were not given the title as such. The only exception was the nightless city.

“It’s because of the influx of the illuminant grass. M-my caretaker said so” Ten’s soft voice answered which made the other two pause in surprise, Asato more than Erin.

While the presence of illuminant grass was not a big secret, its effects were very much so. First, the place it grew was dangerous but many fools would brave it if they had to. Second, the place was not well protected but not many had returned from there.

Then the third problem was the unregulated usage which no government wanted to take care of. So the information was never revealed. However, Erin was not privy to that information since he’d left the demon world so long ago.

To Asato, this raised too many flags and his brain decided to rethink the situation. His brain entertained the fact that Ten might be more than what met the eyes. There were only so many entities, made or not which could actually bypass Asato’s instincts.

Especially when it was an anomaly such as his own type of people. But Ten had not been recognised which he had not thought about at first.

But maybe he was looking too closely into this. Maybe it all was a coincidence after all. After all, the person was so meek and if any of the entities of such calibre died there would be news, right?

“Was your caretaker resourceful? What else do you know? C’mon, tell me” Erin had a grin on his face which screamed of curiosity which made the nervous expression on Ten’s face even worse.

“N-no, I was not supposed to know about their talk. T-They were planning something else and the t-this topic came up” the voice was too nervous and shaking to make out most of the things clear.

“What kind of things could an orphanage caretaker plan which could require such specific information? It is not a commonly found material” Asato probed but kept his voice uninterested. He was curious and yet felt the panic and sadness on that face made him regret asking the question.

The face seemed to have lost all the colour and the body looked to be crying without the presence of tears. Asato stopped walking as soon as the other had. Erin, seeing the commotion also stopped walking.

“Ten?” Asato asked the teen who seemed to be shaking quite violently now.

“T-They wanted it to kill o-others. T-those who were t-too old f-for children fund but had nowhere to g-go. I-I was to be n-next before f-fire” what Asato had thought to be sorrow and fear had actually been the rage that presented itself in the broken words.

Erin had a horrified look on his face, his jaw going slack and Asato felt the situation draw on his face. On this side of the world, children come into the age at 13. Despite that, demons usually lived a long life. There was surely a job scarcity, but the funds to the orphanage only covered minors.

That meant the orphanage had chosen to give up on their older brethren for the younger generations. That was horrifying to think, how many children would have lost their lives to that.

“Wait, can’t the children leave the orphanage?” Erin asked his voice tense.

“B-but where would they go? The streets are not safe and they would rather take their chance in the orphanage. Those who survived were generally taken up by the count as special soldiers for poison tests since they won’t die from it anymore” that was certainly true.

Asato knew that this reason was a big part of why the information about illuminating grass was kept secret. While the practice was inhuman, the benefits were just as great. But it did not elevate the pain, not to mention the odds of survival.

All of a sudden, the orphanage burning down did not seem so bad.

“Hey, cheer up now. The orphanage is no more - it all burned down so you’re free” Erin tried but that was the wrong thing to say. The moment that came out of his mount, Erin himself winched.

“T-They’re all dead now. H-How could it be better?” Ten asked, his voice almost touching the yell counter in Asato’s head. This was not good, they were too exposed out here and their shouting would bring more people here.

“Exactly, they’re dead while we are not. Now pipe down or we’ll be discovered out in the open. We’re at the door to the dayless city now” his words were met with silence. Ten had looked at the verge of tears the whale time and finally some of them fell.

As much as Asato wanted to help him out, he had no idea how to do so. Erin was better at that, already having an arm around the teen.

“It’ll be alright. Tell you what? You follow me when we get out of here and I’ll help you make out to do whatever you want. Deal?” Erin consoled the crying boy who let out a small smile.

“Are you sure you want to make a deal with me? To help me out with whatever I want?” The voice was soft but rough.

“Sure, if it makes you feel better. You’re worrying Asato here” Asato just passed them an acidic look at that but otherwise didn’t comment. His heart was worried about the other after all.

“Are you done? The entrance is near to our left. Let’s hurry there”

While the human worlds had dungeons, demon worlds had its plantations. Same place with a different name.

They worked similarly too, having special mechanisms which worked in just that place. The party had calmed down after the bomb. While there was still a feeling of uncertainty in Asato’s mind, he decided to lay it at rest for now.

They almost reached the entrance to their destination before the loud cursing reached their ear.

“Someone is here already. Should we observe first?” Erin asked the other two. Asato nodded while Ten just stood there awkwardly.

“Erin, take Ten up and spy from there. I’ll keep a watch from down here” with a nod, they split up.

Asato made his way quietly toward the door, his steps were quieter than the breeze. Making use of the terrain, he positioned himself in such a way that allowed him to make the maximum area observation.

There were almost 10 people there, all crowded before a hole in the ground. The hole was small, barely able to fit a single human. Beside this, nothing was visible to anyone in the vicinity and there were talks about how to expand the hole.

“-won’t it open? Are you sure the entrance is here?” one of the people, a rough buff guy asked.

“Of course. The earlier party shipped it from here. Why did they have to take a long mission now?” another asked, his tone full of questions and irritation.

“They said it’s here. The grass grows here after all” this voice was younger and female, but the figure was still more buff than Asato, a testament of all the labour the female did.

Smugglers? This might have surprised him if the conversation before had not happened. After the conversation, it was clear that the grass had not resulted by legal means and while some of the middle people knew, the authorities had a curtain pulled over their eyes.

Someone higher up had to be involved, if not the upper council. As soon as this was done here, Asato would file a complaint with the in-charge - the ones even higher than the council.

Let them clean their dirty laundry this time. It would no longer be Asato’s problem.

However, this also posed a problem right now. As long as these people were here, they could not open the gate and enter inside. The risk would be too great, though apparently, the earlier part did know how to get inside.

The long mission was most likely an excuse for killing off. Must have found out some sensitive information or maybe something else.

Asato knew how powerful people got. This group was also a scapegoat in their power struggle. But again, this was a web that existed and as much as Asato was loathed to admit, necessary to keep others in check.

Didn’t mean he had to be a part of it. He would turn a blind eye for now.

So, this leads to their first agenda here - should they engage these ignorant people in combat and kill them to not delay their fate or should they distract them and allow them to die a painful but by bit death?

When Erin arrived, Asato had already made his decision regarding the topic.

(Great news, my fever broke today and I'm feeling great now. I wrote a lot too, almost 4-5 chapters so I'll give you all a massive update too. How does a mass release of 4 chapters sound? There will not be one tomorrow likely due to this, but hope you enjoy this little treat. I'll see you the day after tomorrow then)