Duties

The path inside the crevice fit only one person. The Witch didn’t couldn’t event spread her elbows. Thankfully, the walls were not wet or muddy, or her outfit would have been covered in dirt.

With only the echoes of her footsteps for company, the Witch forged ahead on her narrow path. The rocky valley twisted and turned but never got narrower or wider. It was almost as if someone had designed this route only to be traveled by one person to a singular destination.

Up ahead, a fork in the path stopped the Witch. She knelt down to examine both paths. Whether this fork was by design or nature was difficult to tell. The Witch closed her eyes and expanded her senses into the paths. While she could not sense the shapes and presence of inanimate objects, she could sense mana from living things. However, as far as she could tell, there were no life forms up ahead. That meant no creatures and no plants.

No plants.

That was a strange idea. Even as they had traveled down from the surface, there had been some forms of plants, whether they were moss or fungi, along the walls or on the ground.

The space all around her was eerily dead. When the Witch first thought of the mana plant, she did not think about dead things but rather the complete opposite. Where there was pure and abundant mana, most people would think there would also be a lot of life, an abundance of vibrancy.

However, other than the mana plants and her two companions, still not too far behind her, she could not sense anything else nearby.

But what about the mana plants that the Fleur sensed?

On her first trip here, she had been too focused on survival. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t sensed the deadness of the place back then.

Despite the quietness and the absence of life, this place did not feel dangerous. Perhaps that was logical to some extent. At least there were no dangers from life forms. However, whether or not there would be any physical traps or natural disasters would be a different story. She would be buried alive in such a narrow space if there were a landslide right now. Rescue would be difficult.

Or, the Witch realized, she might be paranoid. Perhaps it was because of the narrowness of the space, or maybe the eternal darkness of the underground cave. It could also be the stillness around her. The emptiness was making her head come up with ideas to fill the void, to light up her mind with images to keep her alert to any dangers that might arrive.

The Witch rolled up her sleeve and drew a line on her arm that split into two, mimicking the paths. She marked an arrow on the right path and wrote the number “1”. On the wall of the right path, she also carved a “1” into the wall. The Witch rose from the ground and stepped into her chosen path.

After making the camp comfy for everyone, the Paladin didn’t have much to do. He went to join the Succubus in her monster hunt. It didn’t take long to find her. All he had to do was follow the trail of dead bodies.

When he finally had the Succubus in sight, he almost threw up.

Sitting on the ground, the Succubus was surrounded by dead monsters and was feasting on them.

“What are you doing?” the Paladin almost yelled but suppressed his shock.

Despite the demon’s outrageous behavior, the Paladin could not afford to offend her. Not only was she the strongest in the group, she did not do anything harmful to them. Therefore he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt that she could be trusted. But also, as horrendous as it was to eat monsters, she was not harming humans.

“Shocked. Surprised. Disgusted. Prejudiced? It’s alright, I know how you humans view demons,” the Succubus said, shrugging her shoulders.

“I asked what you are doing, not condemning you for your actions,” the Paladin said.

“Your face says it all,” the Succubus said, picking up the next monster that resembled a cross between a rabbit and a scorpion and continuing her meal. The Succubus smiled at the Paladin and offered the monster to him.

The Paladin flinched. He liked to think he was a brave man. He ran into fire to save people. He took swords through his body to protect his charges. He had tumbled down mountains and fallen into lakes. He’d had monsters biting down on his torso and almost been eaten alive. During all those times, his head had remained clear, and he’d known what he must do. He had never been fazed, even at the jaws of death.

However, this demon in front of him scared him. She wasn’t trying to kill him. There was no threat coming from her. If he had to put it into words, she was just being a… demon.

It was not his first time interacting with demons. He had fought them before when they were out of line, but he’d also helped them if they were in trouble. He did not discriminate. He didn’t want to. As long as they were good, he didn’t care what they were.

His contact with demons was limited, but he thought he knew them well enough to understand them. Demons were not evil. They did not feel deeply, but when they did, they kept those feelings with them for a long time.

Demons were strong because of their resilient bodies and great strength. Demons were smart because they were rarely clouded by emotions. Demons were fair and did not like to lie. They did not fight each other without a clear reason.

In some sense, the Paladin thought that demons were a better race than humans who had their greed and lust.

Was he just scared because of the Succubus’s violent behavior that was beyond bizarre? But before he could understand why he felt the way he felt, he needed to clear up the misunderstanding.

“I am shocked. Who wouldn’t be?” the Paladin said. “You might not know, but humans can’t eat monsters. It turns us crazy. We die soon after as if the monsters, even dead, are eating us from the inside. We bleed through all of our orifices and rot from the inside out until only a dead body remains. Even if we’re desperate, we won’t eat monster meat unless we want to die a painful death.”

Even while the Paladin talked, the Succubus continued to eat her prey. It was then that the Paladin realized that the monsters weren’t completely dead. His breath snagged.

“Yes, that look,” the Succubus said. “How humans look at demons.”

“Why are you doing this?” the Paladin asked. “Do you really need to make them suffer while still alive?”

“What, you have compassion for monsters just like the Fleur?” the Succubus asked.

“As long as you’re alive, you’ll suffer pain if someone bites into you,” the Paladin said, “no matter what creature you are.”

“Wonderful, we have another saint in our party,” the Succubus said. “Oh wait, my mistake. You can use Holy Powers, of course, you’re like a saint.”

The Paladin rubbed the heel of his hand on his forehead at the remark but didn’t retort. “Are you hungry? Is that it?”

“Of course, I’m hungry,” the Succubus said. “I can’t exactly suck the life energies out of any of you, can I? You guys are already scrawny as you are, weak and unappetizing.”

While saying this to a Paladin might not seem very convincing, but when he considered that she was over 400 years old, and a demon, he was resigned to the statement. He might not be as good at judging magical strength as the rest of their group. He was not magically oriented like them. He could still tell that the demon’s mana pool was beyond what he could measure. He could gauge the power of the Scholar and the Fleur, but looking at the Witch and the Succubus was like looking into an endless tunnel.

“Alright, I get it, but do you have to be so cruel about it?” the Paladin said, eyeing the monsters.

“They’re unconscious,” the Succubus said, throwing the one she just finished aside. “They can’t feel pain anymore. What’s your problem?”

Right, they can’t feel pain anymore, and killing these monsters will help them escape here faster when they have to leave, so why did he still feel it was so wrong?

“What are you more disturbed by, the pain that this pile of unconscious monsters can’t feel, or me eating them and sucking the life force out of them? Would it help if I cleaned up?” the Succubus said, waving a hand over her body while her other hand picked up another creature from the pile.

The answer was the latter, but the Paladin didn’t feel like staying any longer, nor did he feel like answering. As soon as the thought entered his mind, he felt like a hypocrite. He’d claimed that the suffering of these monsters bothered him, but in fact, it was her behavior. He didn’t care about the lives of those creatures.

“Have a good meal,” he said and turned to leave.