Tossing away the now-dead corpse of the female imp, Nine-finger turned his attention back onto me: “Since that moron killed herself, how about Master tell me instead; what exactly is ‘that thing’?”
“…” ‘For the love of all p0t@t0es, have you no decency?! There’s no way I’m telling you that, not even if you kill me! But then if I don’t tell him, would he strangle me as well? And kill me by accident before stupidly exclaiming with a shocked face: “If you don’t want to talk then so be it, was there a need to kill yourself?”…’
“That thing means that thing, what else can it be. Don’t you even know that, and you consider yourself a male, hmph.” Just as I was fretting over my inability to throw out a tsukkomi, the tender but clearly disdainful voice of a loli came in for a hard swing at Nine-finger. Looking down in response, I was stunned…
‘That devil egg…it hatched?’
A conspicuous crack had formed across its egg shell and from within, a tiny loli head sporting an eggshell cap could be seen sticking out of it. She craned her neck around and surveyed Nine-finger, all the while keeping her body hidden within the egg shell except for her beautiful face and two little hands grasping at the sides of the egg shell. Looking at her, I was suddenly reminded of a manhua scene where a tiny dinosaur just popped out of its egg —just too adorable! Unfortunately, the little kid’s first words were just…
Hatch? Wait, why did it hatch all of a sudden?
Even though there was an egg shell blocking the view, her face was fully unobscured; it was one of a human child’s, assuming you ignored that slight but noticeable tinge of reddish-pink.
‘That’s not the appearance of a newly-born imp…does that mean this little kid already has an original sin protecting her?’!
“D*mned brat, what do you know?” Clearly not happy about being made fun of by a newborn, Nine-finger stomped off towards her with a sullen look on his face: “I dare you to say that again.”
“Like this one is going to listen to you, bleh leh leh leh, *sticks out tongue*”
‘Even her insults sounded so milky smooth and adorable…but now’s not the time for acting cute, Nine-finger’s a bad, bad devil, don’t you know?! There’s no way the little thing can handle him on her own…’
“You asked for it!” Railed an incensed Nine-finger, not at all interested in anything else but what ‘that thing’ was, especially not her show of adorableness. To him, if someone dared to get in his way, that just meant he had one more shot at interrogating someone with a different method.
“Run away, QUICK…you can’t beat…him…” And then, what I wanted to say was completely cut off.
Just as I was worried that Nine-finger would flatten her into a pancake with his fist, the little kid gave a light ‘hmph’, extended forth her bare-skinned right hand and flicked her finger. Immediately, a snaking whip extended out from her finger in rapidly billowing clouds of darkness that finally gave a mighty crack before slamming Nine-finger out of sight and out of mind.
“Mama, did you see how great this one was just now?” She uttered a string of words that left me completely dumbfounded. However, that wasn’t the only surprise I was about to get. Her little egg home wiggled ever so slightly as she squatted down and then, with an adorable hop, leapt a feet into the air. Like that, she made her way towards me…
‘How did she even hop with her egg? Didn’t she just squat down, what happened to the laws of physics?’
‘Hold on…laws of physics aside, what did she just say before hopping? Mama? What the heck is a mama? Is she calling me a mama?’
“Mama, this one finally found you!” Pressing her shelly half into me, the little scamp wrapped her tiny arms around my head and rubbed her baby-tender face against mine just like how an energetic and adorable house pet would.
“Aren’t you making a mistake? I’m a male, so it should be Papa.”
Yet, the little scamp would have none of my explanation as she continued to rub against me in a satisfied manner: “Mama smells so fragrant, so so nice, there’s no way Mama’s a Papa.”
“…but…but…I’m really a male.”
“Mama’s lying, there’s no scent of a male coming from Mama at all.”
“…” ‘Ah…this again, breaks my heart just listening to it…just let me spend some alone time with Quiet, don’t ask me who Quiet is.’
(TL: Some reference/pun about a female character in MG V.)
“Blasted brat, you dare to hit my face, don’t you know that only Boss can do that?!” Before I could continue this discussion however, Nine-finger, who had just been sent flying by a whip, climbed to his feet once more and charged at us fist raised: “Die!”
“You’re too loud.” Frowned the little scamp before swinging her darkness whip once more and sending him flying away. This time however, he flew much further, dropping right into the lava river with a resounding *ploop* and an anguished cry.
‘Ah, it’s over, just like that? Somehow it all feels so surreal…’
“Mama, did you see how great this one was just now?” Her eggshell-wearing head bobbed up and her eyes practically sparkled with pride as if to say ‘praise me, praise me more, quick.’
“Mhm, really great. Just remember that it’s Papa next time.”
“Got it, Mama. This one will remember that next time, Mama.”
“…”
As time passed, the side effects of my mana exhaustion began to lessen. By now, I was at least able to sit up right so I decided to throw the little scamp another probing question: “Hey you, how about coming out of that egg shell for now?”
Hearing me mention the eggshell, the little scamp immediately blushed before answering in a panicked voice: “Ah, this err…I can’t, not right now.”
‘What do you mean, not right now, Don’t tell me you’ve really claimed that as your home? Or is she trying to say that she only hatched because that female imp accidentally cracked the eggshell due to a slip of hand. Isn’t that a premature birth then?! That’s bad!’
“Don’t tell me…you haven’t fully hatched yet?” Not knowing what else to do, I gingerly asked her that. “Do you feel any discomfort somewhere?”
“This one…this one…” She stuttered and paused for what seemed like a half day before finally breathing a deep sigh. Then, she scrunched up her face as if making the hardest choice of her young life, and closed her eyes: “This one is naked…”
“Naked…”
A few minutes later, the little scamp put on my robes, my one and only possession which I brought back from the human realm, to comical effect as its obviously oversized sleeves draped onto the floor. As for me, I fashioned a simple set of armor from the bones of One-eye and the female imp, though it only covered my chest and pelvic region, revealing my thighs and belly for the world to admire. However, such a level of exposure was nothing at all. After all, I was and still am a bonafide male.
I had to admit though, dressing like that felt a little odd as if I was wearing a female swimsuit. Ever since I reincarnated as a devil, I had basically lost any notion of remaining clothed. That changed when I visited the human realm after which I began to realize how weird it felt to not wear clothes.
While taking care of the issue of garments, I took some time to portion out the meat I harvested from One-eye and gave them to No.3 and Big 4. As a Four-star flame demon child, the energies contained within his flesh were massive. Even so, they weren’t enough to fully heal the injuries on No.3 and Big 4. At the very least however, they weren’t in a such critical state anymore.
With regards to these two loyal bodyguards of mine, I truly appreciated them. Despite just being betrayed by One-eye and Nine-finger whom I thought were loyal as well, I still believed that No.3 and Big 4 were genuinely loyal to me. To those that were loyal to me, I would never let down them.
At least, that was how I thought then.
In order for them to recover, more meat and souls were needed. However, Purgatory was an unfamiliar environment for me, to be sure. What were the factions here and how were they distributed? I still lacked such crucial information but the matter of their injuries was just as pressing as well. Without nourishment, their injuries would never heal up so I had to remedy this situation immediately.
“Mama, if it’s food you’re looking for, leave it to this one.” Said the little scamp sporting a no longer comically oversized set of robes. However, because there were thread and needles to be found here, I had no choice but to settle on a rough job by using Shadowfang to slice up the fabric. I shortened the garment so as to stop them from dragging all over the floor as she walked. Also, I cut a pair slits on the back just for the little scamp’s wings to flap freely.
Even so, its width was the one thing I couldn’t change so the robes remained rather strangely proportioned as if they were meant for a human but weren’t at the same time. In other words, it was still rather comical looking. Thus, I tied a sash made from the leftover fabric, around it as a temporary measure.
The little scamp was a lust demon, bearing the signature heart shaped tail end and elegant twin horns of said race. Her purplish black wings were just beautiful as well and instead of hooves which you found on low level lust demons, she possessed a pair of human legs. That meant the little scamp shouldn’t encounter too much difficulty when breaking through to the higher levels. As of right now, she was shorter than half a meter and yet she was already at the level of a primal lust demon. In terms of mana alone, she was a Four-stars.
Her appearance could only be described as adorable and nothing else. The reddish-pink hue on her skin seemed so smooth and moist that you could probably squeeze water out of her skin if you tried. Her body had a faint milky aroma which seemed rather odd seeing as she hadn’t any milk at all. However, there was one thing for certain, and that was that she was going to be a ruinous beauty in the future.
“It’s worrisome if you go off alone like that, how about we go together instead? We can search the vicinity.”
The plan was to have No.3 and Big 4 wait at this spot while we make a foraging trip. While the meat of One-eye and the female imp should be able to sate my two subordinates for now, leaving them alone wasn’t safe so speed was crucial. Should we fail at finding anything, it would be wiser to return as soon as possible, at least that was how I thought. After all, in a foreign environment like this, caution was best.
“Oh, oh, oh,oh, time to find some good eats!” The little scamp flew into the air, momentarily flapping around in joy before plopping herself down on my shoulders, legs by the sides of my neck and hands on my head. “Mama, that way, that way…Mama, let’s go that way instead…”
Like that, I ended up letting her drive us around seeing as my guess was as good as hers anyway. Not only could we familiarize ourselves with the surroundings, we could take a leisurely stroll as well, though that ‘Mama’ part still stung a lot…
‘Still, this little scamp is just so adorable and I guess she isn’t wrong in saying that either. My current body isn’t exactly that of a man’s so I’ll just let her have her way for now. However, calling her little scamp forever isn’t an option either.’
“Oh right, how about we decide on a name for you first?”
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