Strolling through the forest on the shoulders of one of his brother's puppets, Beelzebub licked his lips.
With this, he could probably shorten his reflection time to one month! Maybe if the boss was feeling generous, he might be back on duty immediately!
Stopping at a large birch, he casually flicked the spider's web covering a hole.
A light flashed, and a tired man's voice rang out.
"Bee, this better be important."
Beelzebub nodded his head impatiently.
"This is! You know I wouldn't bother you for nothing, Boss!"
The man thought back to their previous conversations.
"That's subjective, but what is it?"
"That item you told me to sniff out? Turns out it's not in the temple. That family's really cunning, it's always been in plain sight."
The man seemed to remember something, and his soft eyes curved up.
"I see. That's indeed useful, but I know your Sundew order hasn't even found the temple's barrier yet, who told you this?"
Beelzebub's brownish pink eyes shifted guiltily, he couldn't say he got it from a random kid right?
The man, although not present, spoke as if he could see Beelzebub's face.
"You gluttonous thing, don't swallow just anything anyone gives you."
"Aish, you know how good my nose is, regardless of the source, the information is accurate!"
"Alright alright."
With a tone that sounded like he was placating a child, the voice disconnected with his last words.
"Go back to Mammon."
With that, Beelzebub felt the invisible strings that had been tied around his body loosen.
Ooh! He was free!
He hopped up happily.
Brother, wait for me! I'll be home in a few days!
…
The trek out was a long one, and the trio of boys plus a ghost had plenty of time to chat.
From his words, Alex was from a nearby merchant group hoping to cooperate with Fatalite. Chasing after a rabbit, he had wandered deeper into the woods where he had met Erin. Coincidentally, he was also in need of water, so Erin was bribed by a silver coin to show him the way.
Hm?
Bribed by a silver coin?
He looked at Erin, who was flipping the coin nonchalantly.
"Brother…You've changed.."
He wasn't so stingy before!
\Wow, I wonder who influenced him?\
Ciel paused guiltily.
Oh, it was himself.
Erin shrugged.
In the previous life, his salary wasn't high, but shelter and meals were provided automatically for everyone—not to mention there wasn't much to buy anyway—so money was useless to him. However, in this new world, things were completely different. Sure, they did have responsible parents this time, but he couldn't expect them to buy them every little thing they wanted, right?
Nor could he, as an elder brother, completely rely on his youngest for income.
And so, the rigid soldier had become corruptable to money.
Theresa shook her head.
\Great, now the entire group is easily bribed by money.\
Ciel: …
See no evil, hear no evil.
For the crime of speaking the truth, Theresa was ignored by Ciel the entire journey—not that she would have gotten any replies anyway with Alex with them.
They were now being led to where Alex's group had settled down—a small area near the coastline bordering the new Evanair territory, according to his words.
A few minutes later, the trio stared at the roaring river, then at the ocean a few miles away.
"See? I knew we would've gotten back if we kept walking!"
Erin nodded, patting Ciel's head as praise.
But if there was a river here, why did Alex say he was in need of water earlier?
As if he had read his mind, Alex smiled, his dark eyes curving up into crescents.
"I drank all my water earlier when chasing that rabbit, good thing there was a stream nearby!"
Ciel lowered his gaze, fiddling with his blindfold.
As if anyone would believe that lousy excuse.
Well, even if Alex was suspicious, he had still helped them.
As he thought, several dark figures approached. Under the clear starry night sky, their features could be seen from a distance.
"Alex you punk! Who goes hunting right after we come back with food? You just didn't want to eat vegetables didn't you!"
Alex scoffed.
"Who wants to eat leaves? I'm not a rabbit."
"You—wait a second. Where did those kids come from?"
Only one entered the forest, how come one became three?
"I found them in the forest. Don't worry, they were just lost."
The leading figure, a rough looking brown haired man, raised an eyebrow.
They didn't have the manpower right now to send lost kids home.
"Where they from?"
Erin pointed to across the river.
"Evanair."
Ciel grinned, hugging his doll.
"Sorry to bother you misters. We were lost in the woods and Alex led us out. Now that we know where we are, we'll be on our way."
The man's eyes had changed as soon as he heard Erin's words, and he quickly rejected Ciel.
"Oh, no. How could we let such young children go alone in the dark? We're also headed to the Evanair dukedom. How about you stay with us for the night and we can find your family together tomorrow?"
His mind ran with calculations.
The Evanair dukedom was recently established, and all the residents there were either immigrant eves or…
He looked at the two brother's refined looks.
Eves was normally good looking, but he had heard that the duke had two sons, and the younger one always had a silk blindfold around his eyes.
It was a lucky day.
Before Ciel could refuse, he turned around.
"Nepal! Go organize the tents, they can stay with…"
He looked at Alex, who gave an ambiguous smile.
"Since Alex brought them back, they stay with him for tonight."
Alex didn't mind, after all, he was the one who led them back with the intention of sending them home.
During dinner, leafy greens and potatoes were served, and while Ciel and Erin ate with gusto, Alex poked at his greens with boredom.
Nepal, a timid looking man who had reorganized the tents, gave an apologetic smile when he saw Erin looking at Alex.
"Sorry we can't serve anything else, we've run out of meat recently."
Ciel swallowed the potato.
"Oh its fine! We like vegetables!"
After all, they were a delicacy back in his world.
…
The next morning, Ciel and Erin were woken up by a large 'boom!'
The two reacted immediately, Erin swiftly unsheathing his sword, and Ciel instantly summoned his gun from his storage ring, stepping behind Erin—no sign of sleep could be seen on either of them.
Alex, who drowsily woke up to see the two form a perfect two person formation: …
Well, even children this small were so alert. He couldn't do nothing as the older one here.
He silently unsheathed the sword by his side and parted the tent's flaps with the blade.
Outside was a mess.
Tents were burned down, and his merchant group was desperately fighting off two wolf demons. Off to the side, another smaller wolf demon was crying, a crimson colored gadget stuck in its mouth.
"Tier 2 demons, three of them."
Following his words, Erin poked his head out. Eyes widening, he shoved the two out of the tent, barely avoiding a broken tree trunk thrown their way.
Seeing them, the brown haired leader from last night gritted his teeth.
"Oi, you kids get out of here!"
Erin paused.
"But we can help."
Just then, the man caught sight of several shadowy figures behind the trees.
Of course. Wolves traveled in packs, and even being contaminated by miasma wouldn't change that.
Roaring, he waved his hand, slashing down a wolf.
"Help or not, I'm not letting children fight for me, Alex, take them away until things settle down! Everyone else scatter! Make sure they don't target the goods! They're just mindless beasts! If anyone dies I'll fu–"
He paused.
"If anyone dies–I'll…I'll…Dammit Alex, just take the kids outta here!"
The teenager sighed, picking up the children and slinging them over his shoulders like two sacks of rice before dashing off into the forest.
Behind them, they could hear the leader's furious voice.
"Charge! If anyone dies here, I'll fucking go down to hell myself to kill you again!"
Ciel: …
If he was going to shout profanities out this loudly, it would've been better to just tell Alex to cover their ears.
Alex seemed to feel the same, as he stopped and looked around. Finding a rather tall tree with large, thick leaves, he nimbly jumped up, placing the two children in the nook of two large branches.
"Stay here, alright? I'm going back to help."
"Wait–"
"Don't worry, wolf demons can't climb trees, just stay hidden in the leaves until I come back, ok?"
Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and jumped down, disappearing just as quickly as he had come.
Erin looked at Ciel, still holding his sword.
"Do we go back?"
Ciel fell silent.
They could clearly help, but no one let them.
Just because they were young children.
He mentally counted the number and the level of the wolves he had seen. Hm, it was about the same number as the merchant team.
He shook his head, the gun disappearing into his storage ring.
"No. They won't die. Besides, isn't being the protected one nice for a change?"
Erin sheathed his sword quietly in disbelief, looking at the smile on Ciel's face.
"This world is quite kind."
While the boys were leisurely enjoying new experiences, their elders were not as relaxed.
A few days ago. Evanair mansion.
A basket full of fresh produce fell to the ground.
"You idiot! Why did you let them go off alone? I was in town for two hours! Just two hours and when I come back, my children are gone?!"
The usually neat dining room was a mess, but this time, even Azar couldn't care less. At the moment, he was concentrating with his eyes tightly shut.
Seeing this, Lanae calmed down, but her curly horns didn't retract. Jadiel was worse, pacing around her in full cheetah form with his tail wrapped around his wife's wrist.
An hour later, Azar stopped, a rare panic in his pale blue eyes.
"They're not within my boundary."
Jadiel stopped pacing.
"Cedric said he only saw a faraway shadow when he looked up before they disappeared. It must've been a demon who could fly."
Lanae sat down directly on Jadiel's back.
"Those things usually live in Medusa forest, but with your clan moving in, they must've been driven out or killed. Elder Verdalite, do you know anywhere they could have settled?"
"Near the coast, there is a large virgin forest, with several smaller mountains that the demons would love. It's also close to our territory and in the direction Cedric told us the thing flew in. Let's head in that direction. Too bad our little birdie is out right now, or it would be…"
As he said this, he heard a thumping sound at the window. Opening it, a hawk flew in, transforming into a woman with choppy brown hair.
"I'm back, my caravan's settling in the front ground of the estate. I have gotten five eve tribes to agree to a trade, the first is—"
Jadiel sprung up, transforming into a man. With his ears and tail still out, he grabbed Kierra excitedly.
"Report later! Gather all the men who are free, we need to find our kids!"
Kierra paused, her eyes pupils sharpening.
"The kids are missing?"
Mini Theater:
Kierra, who flew back as soon as she settled in just to see the youngest members of her family: …Sad face emoji.
…
While searching for the children.
Lanae: Hurry up! What if my babies are injured again? Those careless kids always leave home and come back looking like ragdolls!
Lanae, now in the lead of the group: Move faster! What if my kids were wronged by someone outside of home?
Lanae, dumping a bottle of poison down a demon's throat: Our kids weren't carrying anything at all when they disappeared, can they handle the demons alone? Ah, speed up, speed up!
The others: …
Facing this worried mama sheep, they could only move faster.