Finding people to party with is a lot harder than I thought. Most everyone is already part of a party and I don’t want to join one, I want to create one. Joining a party means that I have to fit into whatever style they already have going for them, but if I create one myself, I can make the style. Of course, trying to get people to want to party with a Rank E adventurer is a bit difficult. Persuasion can only go so far when there’s a glaring piece of common sense that is telling them that letting someone who’s Rank E be the leader is dumb. They aren’t wrong, but I really can’t follow someone’s orders. It goes against my entire predisposition as a powerful demon. As if I can listen to someone else’s orders. This makes convincing people to join me nearly impossible. If this goes on any longer, I might have to swallow my pride and join another group...

A commotion draws my attention from my downtrodden thoughts. There’s a child crying in front of one of the reception windows. She looks like a young girl of twelve with a mop of red hair, looking like a kicked puppy with tears streaming down her face. The receptionist is trying to calm her down, but the man is behind the window and can’t offer any physical comfort. Curious about what’s going on, I approach the kid. I’ve always had a soft spot for kids.

“Hey sweetie, what’s wrong?” I ask in a comforting voice. I also give her a gentle smile to try and give off as comforting an appearance as I can.

She doesn’t answer and continues to cry. The receptionist guy answers for her.

“She just found out that her parents aren’t coming back, and we need to turn her in to child services so they can take care of her,” he says in a regretful voice.

Well fuck. I can’t help her there, but I can at least try to make her feel a bit better.

“Sweetie, your mom and dad were adventurers, right?”

At her teary-faced nod, I continue.

“There’s a fantasy about adventurers that I’ve heard when I was younger. Adventurers are the pioneers of this world. They explore new dungeons and solve quests to help everyone around them. While they are alive, their brilliance shines and when they die, that brilliance doesn’t dull. No, it gets engraved into the stars so that their brilliance remains ever present. Their contributions will always hold its place in this world, so they never truly die.”

The girl is paying rapt attention to my tale, and I go in for the finishing touch.

“Your parents were adventurers. Just taking that mantle, that title, qualifies them a place in the stars no matter what rank they were. So your parents aren’t truly gone, their brilliance is written in the stars now. You just need to look up at the night sky and they will be right there amongst the stars. Even then, as long as you remember them, they aren’t truly dead. So don’t be sad, they will always be with you no matter what.”

She nods, seemingly star struck with my explanation. I’m glad she likes it, since that story was complete bullshit. But sometimes bullshit is needed when it comes to children. The receptionist chose this time to speak.

“Abigail, now that you’ve calmed down, I want to let you know that I let child services know already. They’ll be here in a bit to help you through this okay?”

I stare at this guy incredulously. Dude, she just found out her parents are dead, could you be a bit more sympathetic. The girl starts tearing up again.

“I don’t want to go to an orphanage!” she sobs, “I want my parents!”

“Now, now. The orphanage will help you find a new family! They’ll love you just as much.”

“I don’t believe you! My mom said that if they ever have to leave me, then I have to stay away from the orphanages! Those places are bad!”

Wow, if even her mom told her that, there must be some substance to that statement. This world seemed a bit too good to be true honestly. There weren’t any overt signs of problems that I noticed since being here, but if this girl is right, then there’s some more hidden problems people don’t talk about in public. Orphanages have always had a dark side to them on Earth, so it’s safe to say there might be more insidious things happening here, too. If this girl, Abigail, says she doesn’t want to go to the orphanage, then I might as well help her. I’ve never been able to ignore a child in need.

“Hey Abby, can I call you Abby? If you really don’t want to go to the orphanage, then will you be alright with me taking care of you?”

She stares at me in confusion.

“But, I don’t even know you?”

“I know, but I want to help. I’m not going to be able to replace your mom and dad, but I can try to take care of you as best as I can. I’m only giving you this option because you don’t want to go with child services.”

The receptionist butts in again saying, “That’s not exactly legal. You can’t just take a child like that.”

“Yes well, she doesn’t want to be taken by child services either.”

“Ma’am I’ll have to call the guards if you try and take her.”

I feel a headache forming at his implication. Why is it that whenever I try helping someone, stupid shit always gets in the way? Abby comes to the rescue then.

“No! I want her to bring me with her! I don’t want to go with the scary people!” she yells as she attaches herself to my leg.

Awwwww, she’s adorable.

“Well there you have it, she wants to go with me,” I say with a shrug.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to call the guards,” he says as he pushes a button on his desk.

Are you serious? They have signals they can just send to alert the guard? Isn’t there too much advanced technology? I sigh audibly for once as I pick Abby up and cradle her in my arms. The kid is really small, so she’s completely cocooned in my arms.

“So Abby, it looks like I’m going to have to run from the guards. Is there anything you want me to get from your house before we leave?”

“W-we’re leaving?”

“Seems so. If you really don’t want to go to child services, I’m going to have to leave the city.”

“…isn’t this kidnapping?”

“Probably. Well, I don’t mind becoming a criminal for a cute girl like you.”

Why the fuck did I say that? Now I sound like a child molester. God fucking dammit.

“I’m sorry, what I meant to say is that I don’t mind being a criminal if it’s to help a young girl escape from a shitty situation.”

There, that’s better. Hopefully Abby doesn’t think I’m a pedophile.

“But why me? There’s hundreds of other kids that are orphaned. Why help me?”

“Well that’s easy. You’re the first kid I’ve met with this issue, so I’m helping you.”

She stays silent at that before answering, “My parents told me to get a chest that’s in our house if they ever can’t come back. My house is in the eastern district. It’s pretty easy to see since it’s the biggest one there.”

The…biggest one? Are her parents actually some big shot adventurers? Well, time to run there I guess. This whole time I was running away from the guild hall towards the…west side? I cheat a little bit and use my [All-Seeing Eyes] to figure out the direction I’m going. Basically, I looked directly up at the sky and thought of the cardinal directions.

When I found out I had my own personal compass, I personally burned every compass I had in my possession. There are boundaries between each of the four directions and I could see them easily. Manipulating the boundary of such a fundamental idea of the world is something I can also do, but the more entwined a concept is with the world or universe, the harder it is to manipulate. There are also much larger consequences in messing with things integral in how the world is perceived. It’s why I always tried to stay away from manipulating the boundaries of such things. Seeing them is a different matter though. There’s no harm done just looking at where the borders exist.

My bullshit powers aside, I start to run in the east direction. Of course, I have guards on my tail but that’s alright. I hop on one of the roofs of a store and start running along its surface. Roof jumping is something I’m quite fond of. There’s something exhilarating about stepping on someone else’s property as if it’s nothing more than the ground I walk on. I’ve always had a superiority complex, but who wouldn’t with my powers?

The guards following me split up into a group chasing me on the ground and a group chasing me on the roofs. Well, if they want to follow me, they’ll have to be able to see me to do it. Pooling illusion magic to the palms of my hands, I cast a camouflage spell. Now you see me, now you don’t. I also cast another spell on my feet so that it cushions them as they make contact with the roof tiles. Wouldn’t want them to hear my footsteps. I pivot to the right and start bounding over for a hundred meters or so before heading east again. I don’t have to worry about the illusion spell stopping anytime soon, so I maintain a leisurely pace. Illusion magic is a type of magic that relies on a person’s mana more than others. When a spell is cast, it only lasts as long as mana is provided to it, so people with huge mana pools can maintain a spell for as long as they want. With my huge reserves, I don’t have to worry one bit about it.

After traveling into the eastern district for a while, I finally realize what Abby meant. Her house is so big, it’s not even a house anymore. It’s a straight up mansion. How important were her parents?

“Hey Abby, mind telling me how we’re supposed to find the chest you were talking about?”

“My parents have a treasury, it’s in there.”

As she says that, her face still shows some excitement from the previous chase. I head towards the mansion, aiming to break in through a window. As I climb the mansion by basically running up the sides, Abby looks at me in awe. It’s not that impressive, I’m just casting an ice spell repeatedly to freeze the soles of my boot to the wall and break the spell to unfreeze it. It’s a simple application even if it is tedious. I have to freeze the sole of my boot along with the surface of the wall and make sure it’s strong enough to not break as I run up. Only people with excessive amounts of magic would even consider doing it this way. I could’ve just cast a gravity spell, but that’s not as fun.

“Um, miss? Who are you?” Abby asks in a tone of reverence.

Oh yeah, I don’t think I ever introduced myself. Which brings me to a different question. Why the heck is she letting me basically kidnap her? Are orphanages her really that bad? I guess I’ll ask her later.

“I’m Misaki Miyamoto. I just registered as an adventurer today, nice to meet you,” I say with a smile.

“…you don’t act like a beginning adventurer. Beginners wouldn’t be able to outrun the city guard and they wouldn’t be able to do everything you’re doing. Who are you really?”

Her tone of reverence never wavered, but suspicion is now lacing her voice. You should’ve been more suspicious at the start, kid. I’m not sure what I should tell her, but she is going to be in my care for the foreseeable future, so a little bit of the truth won’t hurt anyone. Let’s keep my more demonic origins a secret for now, but being a summoned hero will satisfy her curiosity.

“Hm, you’re right. I’m not exactly normal for a beginner. I’m actually a hero summoned from another world.”

She stares at me with a shocked face, at the exact same time as I promptly destroy a window with an icicle. A little destruction here and there won’t hurt anyone. I jump in through the window before looking upon a well decorated hallway.

“Wait! Are you actually a summoned hero? That’s so cool! My dad told me about how there’s a legend that says that heroes from another world will be the one to defeat the [Demon King]! Can you really do that?”

“I don’t know about that legend, but I don’t really want to kill some guy just because everyone tells me to, so no, I won’t be killing the [Demon King] any time soon. I just want to be an adventurer and explore.”

Abby goes silent for a while before finally speaking up again.

“I understand. Being an adventurer will just make you disappear one day though, so I don’t want to go with you anymore. Can you give me back to the guards?”

“Woah there. We already came this far. You want to go back already?”

“Yeah, no matter how strong you are, you’ll die, too. My parents were Rank S adventurers, yet they still died. Being a hero won’t change anything.”

She says all of this with a grim look on her face. It’s a look I’ve seen before, sometimes even caused by me. It’s a look of dashed hopes. Seeing it on a little girl makes me a bit reckless even if this feeling of hopelessness is feeding me.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me dying.”

Mouth could you stop moving? This is a bad idea. She’s looking at me confusedly.

“I’m not just a hero you know? I’m something way stronger.”

Holy shit, shut the fuck up me. I can’t just reveal my identity like that just because some kid shows me a helpless look. My mouth doesn’t listen to me at all.

“In my world, I’m someone really important. Do you know what my title is?”

Oh my god, am I seriously going to just tell her? Why am I such a softie towards kids? Someone’s going to send a child assassin after me one day and I’m going to let myself get killed.

“…what title?”

“I am the [Demon Queen]. The most powerful demon in my world.”

FUCK. Well, cat’s out of the bag. Hope Abby doesn’t mind having a demon take care of her. And Abby is now completely speechless and I’m still standing in front of the window I broke in. Fear starts to show on her face and fuck. I’m going to have to use my persuasion skills to the max.

“Don’t worry Abby. The demons on my world are different than yours. We live alongside humans and some of us even get married to humans. We aren’t bad people, we’re just like humans. Except for the obvious power difference.”

“…y-you’re not lying? You’re really a demon?”

“Yes, but don’t be afraid, I won’t do anything to you.”

“…you’re really the [Demon Queen]?”

“Yes, so don’t worry about me dying. Nothing short of a god can kill me. Will you stay with me then?”

“…you really won’t die?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“…then okay. I’ll stay with you.”

Phew, that could’ve been a sticky situation. I can’t kill a child, and I hate messing with brains, so I can’t just erase her memories either. Good thing she’s in such an emotionally unstable state that she can accept everything so easily. Now, time to find that chest of hers so we can leave before I do anything else stupid.

“Can you point me to where the treasury is now?”

She nods and starts giving me directions. I follow them dutifully until we reach an office. It’s very well decorated with trophies and books. There’s also magical artifacts in glass cases. This office has a lot of expensive things in it already. It might actually not be an office but a storage room. There’s a large safe door hidden behind a false wall that Abby shows me how to disable. She knows the combination so I set her down so she can input it. The door slowly rises up to reveal a room full of treasure chests. I’m curious about the contents, but I won’t touch them since they’re Abby’s to do with as she wants. It’s rude to take someone’s inheritance. Abby runs all the way to the back of the room and comes back with a chest that’s just small enough for her to carry.

“This is the chest my parents told me to have.”

She opens it with ease and inside are a few items. A bookbag, a necklace, and some armor. The necklace is definitely enchanted along with the armor. The armor itself is very light in appearance and also very expensive-looking. The armor is a light blue with white accents. The armor looks like something a fantasy rogue would wear, but without the typical hood. Abby immediately strips out of her clothes and puts on the armor. Does this kid have no modesty? Whatever, it’s not like I’m looking so it’s fine. I’ll have to warn her about the perverts who might take that as an invitation to do something illegal. Once she finishes putting the outfit on, I have to give the creator some props. The armor makes her look like dangerous and not like a twelve-year-old girl.

“The armor looks good on you sweetie.”

She looks up and beams at me. A warm feeling blossoms in my chest. My maternal instincts are going haywire. I want to give this girl everything in the world, and I’ve only met her today. I’m way too weak towards kids.

She puts on the necklace next and gives it a small pat. Abby then starts looking into the bag and pulls out so many items that I have no clue how they fit in there. There’s a lot of medical supplies, food, survival gear, and clothes all tumbling out of the bag. Does the bag have an infinite storage? I can detect space magic from the bag so it must be some type of spacial manipulation spell. Abby then puts everything back and slings the bag onto her back.

“I’m ready to go!”

“Seriously? You don’t need anything else? Like, I don’t know, money?”

She looks at me sheepishly before opening one of the chests and taking out a coin purse. She stuffs it with gold coins, or gold pieces. I hold up my own coin bag and raise an eyebrow at her. She nods so I toss her the bag so she can fill it up, too.

“So what’s going to happen to the rest of these things? Shouldn’t you inherit them?”

“No, I can’t inherit them until I’m sixteen. So until then, the city safekeeps the money. There’s a fee for that so they get to take 5% of the remaining money every year until I can inherit it.”

“5% is a lot of money.”

“Yeah, but they can probably get everything if I join the orphanage. They just need to make someone in the government adopt me and then everything will belong to them to use fit until I come of age.”

“I can see why you don’t trust the orphanage system then. Is that why you didn’t want to go?”

Abby shakes her head as she says, “My mom told me that the kids at the orphanages who don’t get adopted end up being recruited by shady people and are never seen again. And even if kids get adopted, it might not be into the best families since they don’t have a lot of rules against who can adopt. The only two things that doesn’t let someone adopt is if they don’t have enough money or if they have a criminal history.”

“Hm, that’s not a very good system.”

She shakes her head. Yeah, I can see why she doesn’t want to go if that’s what her mom thought was going on. I’m inclined to believe her, considering rich people tend to have more knowledge of the shadier parts of society. I’m glad she’s coming with me then. I might see what I can do about these orphanages, but trying to fix it will require a complete rewrite of the system and I don’t really want to go through that trouble. I might have a soft spot for kids, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to help faceless kids who I’ve never met. I doubt I could do anything right now anyways. I have absolutely nothing to my name so why would anyone listen to me? Physical prowess only goes so far. I pick Abby back up into my arms before heading out.

“It’s a good thing I’m here then. I won’t let them take you. We might not come back here again Abby, so do you want to do anything before we leave?”

She just shakes her head and grasps her necklace. It’s her call, so I leave the mansion and head out towards the north gate. If I leave that way, I can make it to the next city without having to double back on the distance outside of the walls. When we reach the gate, I can see a numerous amount of guards stationed there. I guess they were expecting me to leave this way. I don’t really want to kill anyone, so I place the illusion magic over myself again. I take a running start before leaping over the entire group of guards, landing on the ground with a thud. Small cracks form from the pressure since I had to jump a large enough distance that they wouldn’t hear me. I really love being a demon.

After walking a long enough distance away from the city walls, I dispel my magic and set Abby down. She pats herself off and looks around apprehensively.

“So where are we going?”

“Good question. Far away from here, maybe even a different continent.”

She looks a bit scared at the thought, but clenches her hands and nods to me.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go. Just remember, you’re not allowed to die.”

“Of course,” I say with a grin. “Now let’s head to the next city. I need to find some people for a party.”

“A party?”

“Yeah, the quests at the guild said people aren’t allowed to go into dungeons unless they were in parties of four.”

“Oh, then I can be a member! I’m registered as an adventurer. My parent took me with them on missions before, and I’m a trained [Archer]. I’m actually Rank D.”

Huh, I guess I found member number one. I’m not sure how to feel about taking a twelve-year-old girl with me, but I’m strong enough to protect her so why not?