Close Call

Day 123 of 183

"Regis?"

Lea whispered as she walked in an alleyway.

"Here."

Hearing Regis's voice, she hurriedly went over towards him.

The two then walked inside a house hidden deep within the same alleyway after making sure that there was no one around.

"Come here." Regis sat on the ground and gestured for Lea to lay her head on his lap.

"Mhm."

Lea did everything smoothly, as if it was something that she had done regularly.

And it was indeed so.

In the past 23 days since that event, the two of them had been meeting secretly after every village raid.

"We'll be having our combat training in 30 minutes as usual, let's make this quick."

Regis said as he placed his hand on her forehead.

[Corruption Manipulation] 

He chanted softly.

Lea closed her eyes as soon as she felt something within her ripple.

Since that day, the demonic emotions that had been welling up in her mind diminished by a little bit.

Even though it was a small amount, it had been a great help to her.

It even made her not want to kill herself anymore.

Regis, on the other hand, focused with everything that he had in order to ensure that he would not make any mistakes.

After about twenty minutes, the process was done.

He knew that with limited time and his lacking proficiency of his evil craft, it would be impossible to extract all the corruption aura inside Lea's head.

Therefore, he made do with gradually extracting it through multiple sessions.

"Huuu~"

Regis sighed as he wiped the sweat on his forehead with his arm.

"Thank you." Lea said as she opened her eyes.

Regis smiled in response.

However, after a second, he asked, "Aren't you curious?"

Lea had never once asked a question about this ability of his nor why he was able to relieve her of the demonic power's bloodthirst..

This was something that he really liked about her.

However, he also knew that as friends, she deserved to know even the tiniest bit of the truth.

Therefore, he steeled himself and prepared to answer any question that she might ask.

But to his surprise, Lea only smiled and shook her head.

"Everyone has their own little secret. Just the fact that you're willing to save me is enough."

Regis widened his eyes, at a loss for words.

"Hehe."

Lea giggled and just stared at him.

Then, she asked, "How about Greg?"

Regis thought about the boy who had a cowardly expression when he first met him.

"I think I would be able to start the process later, so I'll find him as we do our combat training "

"Oh? Just like what you did to me?" Lea smiled.

Regis had an awkward smile on his face, "Yes…"

Remembering the day where he let Lea be beaten up for a while before coming to save her, he felt embarrassed.

Though in his defense, he only delayed because he needed to gather information.

The two chatted for a little while.

However, Regis's expression turned serious in the next second.

'What the hell is with this timing!?'

He could sense the demonic human leader approaching.

"Hide." He immediately said to Lea.

"Why?" 

"The Leader is approaching, so you must hide!"

Feeling the urgency in his voice, Lea began to think.

"Did he know that I went here with you?"

Her question made Regis pause.

"Yes, I think so…"

"Then me hiding will do nothing."

Sensing the demonic human leader's demonic power, Regis began to panic.

'I had been too complacent…!'

He and Lea had been meeting like this in the past twenty days or so, but the demonic human leader never spied on them.

Now, Regis had just exhausted himself in using the evil craft and couldn't immediately think of a way.

"Then what should we do?" He asked Lea.

"Umm… leave it to me!"

Then, at the corner of his eyes, he saw her expression.

She seemed to be a bit… red?

Lea acted hastily, but her actions made Regis astonished.

"Hey, wha—"

***

'I don't care what he do in a secluded place, but him suddenly meeting up with that girl makes me feel that something's fishy…'

The demonic human leader thought as he stealthily approached the alleyway that Regis and Lea entered.

Although he initially did not care what Regis did in a secluded area, bringing another person was another matter altogether.

He was innately careful, thus he would make sure that nothing would go wrong in his plan.

The demonic human leader coated himself with his aura that was tainted by demonic power and made sure that no one would sense him.

However, he didn't know that Regis had already known that he was in the vicinity.

He slowly approached the door that the two entered.

'Now, let me see just what it is that you're hidi— what the fuck?'

The demonic human leader couldn't believe his eyes.

After all, the sight before him was too shocking.

As someone with his experience, he had already seen all sorts of things.

Despite that, what he saw still made him flabbergasted.

'I-I know that pure demonic power would cause the children to develop bloodthirst but…'

The demonic human leader had an unsure expression on his face.

'Well… I guess I better go.'

He then left immediately.

'Though I have to say… that child… Regis, wasn't it? Right. He's good…'

***

Sensing the demonic human leader leaving, Regis heaved a sigh of relief.

"He's gone."

"Oh… okay." 

Lea suddenly turned her back towards him.

Regis looked down and immediately blushed in embarrassment.

"Why the hell did you pull my pants down!?"

"W-Well…"

It was the solution that Lea had thought of earlier.

Just as the demonic human leader arrived outside, she immediately pulled Regis's pants down and knelt in front of him.

In the demonic human leader's perspective, it seemed like they were doing something unholy.

Faced with Regis's glare, Lea didn't dare to make a sound.

"L-Look… I'm sorry."

She turned to Regis with teary eyes.

Regis sighed, "Well, I know that you only did what you could…"

"But still…"

"It's fine just don't mention it agai—"

"It's cute…"

Regis's expression froze.

"What the hell is cute!?!?!"