For the first time in my life, I was laying on a bed. Soft, warm, and...cozy. All feelings I wasn’t really used to. After having only pretty much just rock to lay on for about a millennium, I hadn’t really considered laying on anything else. It’s not like a demon needed to sleep either. Laying down and closing my eyes for a period of time as if I were asleep was a nice habit I had gotten into. Feigning sleep also lulled enemies into thinking I had a period of time where I was vulnerable so it was a win-win. After all, messing with people was one of my favorite pastimes.

The half devil half elf girl lay next to me sound asleep after having fed from both of my breasts. Nina had explained to me that the females of the common races started to produce something called “breastmilk” sometime between conceiving and giving birth but I had never known I had a supply of it. Well, we couldn’t confirm it was breastmilk anyway but it fed the girl so I didn’t think too much of it. Still...it bugged me that there was something I didn’t know about myself after all this time. What else could there be that I still didn’t know...

I studied the round face of the girl that we had named Helia.

Lukas had insisted that we come up with names for myself and the girl before the day was over. Having a name was useful all around and helped give people a sense of identity. I’ve always just thought of myself as...well me. A name was something I never cared about; though others seemed to have given me one of sorts.

So obviously, I couldn’t go around calling myself Amethyst. It was too recognizable and not one I wanted to use anyway. At least the nickname was fitting and it didn't bother me but no one named their child after a demon in this world. No sane person would anyway. I wondered if anyone named their daughter after me? That would be weird if I ever met them...hope that’s not foreshadowing anything.

After a lot of back and forth which I’m not going to bother explaining, I agreed to name the girl Helia and for myself I went with Alya. Not too weird. Not too common.

Anyways, I was looking forward to tomorrow. I could hear Lukas and Nina arguing into the night but I chose not to pay attention to the specifics of it. We still had a lot to figure out but it was different from the norm I was used to and I was excited for the change.

One thing I wasn’t excited at all for was the strong sense of racism in this country. Why is that? Lukas and Nina didn’t care as much cause apparently they used to go around with an elf in their party but why would any common race think another one was superior than another. To me they’re all insects anyway; smart and creative insects but still.

Well the three that I knew here meant a little bit more than that. Just a little.

And Helia? A little bit more than them.

To the rest of this place, I felt like burning it all down but that would have to come on a different day. Maybe once Lukas and Nina died of old age?

I know, I know...priorities right? I won’t dwell on that for now.

Meanwhile Tania was awake. She should have been asleep but something was keeping her up. Seeing that I never had truly slept before, I wasn’t quite sure what the issue was. Either way, the days weren’t going to be like an attack on a naval convoy, that’s for sure.

Too soon?

“Tania, go to sleep,” I whispered.

Tania squealed in surprise and I heard a dull thud.

“Did you really fall out?”

Silence as she got back into bed, and rolled over with her back to me. I observed her for a little bit and heard the sounds of muffled crying. Later, the sounds of crying changed into the soft breathing of sleep and for a rare moment in my life, I wondered why another being was crying.

Walls ruined a good sunrise.

It was early morning and Helia had woken up earlier than everyone else so I decided to quietly leave the sleeping Tania in the guest room and went outside in my devil form. Even though I didn’t really sleep, I was rather cognizant of what lack of sleep did to everyone else.

You can thank a grumpy black dragon about that.

I had set Helia on the ground and she had started feeling the grass around her, observing the crops that Lukas and Nina were growing, and exploring anything else within sight and reach. Oddly enough, I was doing something similar. Seeing these things from afar was one thing but actually being on the ground, where food was being grown for others, there was something special about it. Even if it was just for this moment.

Could something similar be passing through this little one’s mind?

What will come tomorrow? Next week? Next month? The uncertainty of it gave me a feeling of eagerness. To tackle new things.

For now…

“Tania, how long are you going to stand there?”

“You knew I was here milady?” she responded, sighing.

“Don’t start with the honorifics now.”

Helia was doing fine so I turned around to face her. Looking more closely, her shoulder length orange and black hair looked nice paired with her oval face. Interestingly, her ears were closer to the appearance of a lion’s than a tiger’s. The same went for her tail as well.

“As your slave, I was worried that you had got up and left before I had even gotten up so I rushed out here but since you looked like you were lost in thought…,”she quavered.

“Don’t tell me...are you scared of me?” I teased softly.

“Yes,” Tania squeaked.

“Well, you should be. But here’s the thing: I’ve started taking a liking to you. So have more confidence. Granted that doesn’t happen overnight so I’m not expecting a complete 180 change.”

She nodded.

“Also the concept of slavery...disgusts me. So you’re my servant from here on out, not my slave. Got it?”

“Yes…,” was her weak reply.

I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow.

Raising her chin a little higher and with a slightly fiercer look in her eyes, she repeated “Yes.”

“There we go. Now, here’s a question. Why were you crying last night?” I asked while picking up Helia who made the motions and noises of a child wanting to be held.

Suddenly appearing crestfallen, she looked down. Guess I hit a touchy subject. Tears started to form in her yellow eyes, she whispered “Would you even care?”

With my free arm, I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me.

“Unless you tell me, I won’t know whether to care or not. So. What. Will. It. Be?”

Seeing her steel herself, I let go and she told me.

How she was afraid to be a slave.

How she was afraid of me.

How she was afraid of the future.

And how she feared for her twin sister that was kidnapped from their demihuman tribe a few months ago.

Tania and her twin sister Luiza lived amongst the demihuman tribes east of the Veplar Kingdom. Born to a lion demi father and a tiger demi mother, the two twins looked very much alike except Tania took after her mother and Luiza took after her father. A Tigon and a Liger.

Mixed demihuman couples were common but mixed race children were rare. More often than not, a child either took the race of the mother or father but not both. In this case, the twins were rather unique.

Life in the demi-human tribes was rather simple. Eschewing a lot of the structure and organization of the human nations, the demi-human tribes hunted, gathered, and farmed small plots of land for food. While not necessarily backward in terms of technology, they more than made up for it with their greater physical abilities. In terms of strength and speed, they outmatched the humans.

But that was what made them the ideal target of humans craving cheap physical labor. Or cheap sex. Some humans were into that sort of thing.

The age of adulthood was 18 for most of the demi-human tribes and the twins were celebrating their adulthood by going on their first independent hunt. As children, they hunted together to reduce the chance of harm befalling any of them, but hunting alone became a sort of rite of passage.

While hunting independently but near each other, Tania had heard the struggling roars and cries of her sister. By the time Tania had reached Luiza’s location, she had already been captured by Veplar slavers. In the past, the slavers usually didn’t come out that far but over time they had become bolder.

Tania had decided to go back and to tell her parents; her first instinct had been to go after her beloved sister. That’s when she learned of the slave processing done at Chamont, the adventurer’s known as Lukas and Nina, and what possible fates could befall her sister.

So she had journeyed to Chamont. She had snuck in to enlist the help of the retired couple. And that was when she herself was captured, only to skirt by death’s door again...when I had entered the picture.

The uncertainty of being at the mercy of a being she did not understand in the slightest scared Tania greatly.

When Tania ended her story, Helia who had been paying attention reached towards the demi with her tiny hand. Tania, having teared up during that story, looked surprised but took her hand in hers. I didn’t think this tiny one would understand any of it but maybe she understood the feelings that came from the person opposite of her.

Anyways, time for a decision...again. A lot of those lately.

Do I care? How much do I care? And if I cared, what would I do about it? It wasn’t the reason why I came here in the first place.

For now the verdict was simple.

“Tania. If there’s an opportunity, I’ll rescue your sister but for now hold on to a little hope. Ok?”

“Okay,” she nodded as she wiped away a tear.

I wasn’t lying before, I thought slavery truly was disgusting. One common race thinking another was inferior and using that as justification to enslave them? They’re all inferior.

Keeping a being chained...unable to exercise their own desires...it pissed me off. Didn’t matter who it was.

On impulse I wanted to fly straight to whoever was in charge, smack them around a little, and demand the freedom of a certain slave named Luiza. That would have been gratifying.

That’s not what I was here for though. Plus I made a promise which I wasn’t intending on breaking so soon.

I pulled Helia away, heading back inside the house.

“You two ladies sort out what you need to? Hopefully you weren’t talking about me were you?” Lukas greeted us as we came in through the door.

“They definitely weren’t talking about you, stupid,” growled his wife.

“Breakfast’s been ready by the way. It's probably a little cold by now but it should still taste fine.”

Lukas motioned for us to sit down at the table and went on to place plates in front of us.

“What’s all of this?” I asked.

“You’ve never seen this stuff before? So we got here scrambled eggs, pork sausage, and some good ole fashioned biscuits.”

The range of foods I consumed could be considered limited I guess. It mostly consisted of raw monster meat. Occasionally something else would be on the menu but it usually wasn’t cooked. There was no need.

Helia grabbed some egg off the plate and started to mash it with her hands while I watched Tania start to scarf down the food with a fork so I followed suit. Except I’ve never used a fork before. Or plates.

A second later we all heard a shattering sound. Well that was embarrassing. Though I wasn’t actually embarrassed in the slightest.

“Oops?”

“That’s quite alright. We only bring out the special dishes for important guests anyway.”

“Huh?”

“I’m joking. We don’t have any special dishes and these things are easy to replace.”

At that point, Helia decided to grab a piece of broken glass. I didn’t stop her because I didn’t think it would be an issue but Nina noticed and attempted to do so. She was too slow though. Grabbing a piece of the broken plate, Helia cut herself and started to cry. The piece of glass fell back onto the table.

Some blood started to pour out onto the table but a moment later it stopped.

Great...

“Well that’s interesting,” Lukas remarked.

“What is?” Tania asked.

“Very few beings, none of them humans, elves, etc., are known to have the ability to regenerate or heal like that,” turning towards me he asked, “Are you sure she’s not biologically yours?”

“I already told you yesterday. Who would I let touch me like that? And clearly I don’t reproduce asexually.”

I comforted Helia while Nina had cleared the mess. The red haired woman had a stony expression on her face but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t due to the broken plate. Questions about where Helia’s ability had come from popped into my mind but I had no good answers. There was one idea that I could not easily dismiss though but I would need time to know for certain. Either way, it wasn't like it was an actual problem. It would just make things all the more entertaining.

The rest of breakfast was a quiet affair and I put the appropriate amount of force behind the fork this time around. With my time here, I definitely wanted to learn how to cook. Today, I learned that raw monster meat really doesn’t taste that good. It was depressing to realize that I had been missing out. All. This. Time. Grrrrrr.

After the meal, we continued our discussion from yesterday. Lukas started us off.

“So, starting off with some facts, Nina and I have agreed to help Alya and Tania raise little Helia over here but currently the two of you are being pursued as criminals right now so that makes leaving our farm area kind of difficult right now. Also, Nina and I have our farm to maintain and you, Alya, have promised not to go on a rampage. Tania as your slave won’t be leaving you. Are we on the same page so far?”

“I have upgraded Tania to servant status but yea we’re on the same page.”

Lukas chuckled and said “Well I guess demons even make those types of distinctions.”

He kept going. “Feel free to make suggestions or interject, but we’re going to ask the two of you to lay low here at our farm for some time until the excitement from yesterday’s events dies down. We’ll help take care of and give Helia a proper education as she can’t exactly act like a normal child outside of here but in exchange, we’ll need your guys’ help working our farm in the meantime. Once things have settled, we can attempt to maybe get you a place of your own in the middle or outer tier but that's in uncertain territory for us especially considering the current social climate around here.”

“That plan sounds good to me. I’m sure we’ll make changes along the way.”

Normally, I didn't let anyone decide for me but I wanted to try and give Helia something I couldn’t do on my own so here we were.

“You really don’t have any objections to that?” Nina asked tartly.

“No. Just at some point, we should find out where Tania’s sister is but that can come later,” was my cheerful reply.

“Don’t tell me you actually care about that. That you actually care about what Tania wants. What you’re doing, what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense coming out of you.”

“Nina! There’s no need to -”

“It's alright. It doesn’t make any sense does it? But it doesn’t have to. I’m telling you what I want. And I acknowledge that I’m being a burden. I can also tell that you’re afraid of what I’m going to do if you anger me or once we’re all done here, right?”

She acknowledged what I said with a curt nod.

“I’ve done a lot of things over my long life but I’ve never done this. I need someone’s help to do that and I’m swallowing my pride to do so. Oh by the way, you can blame Tania over here for bringing us to you if you want to focus your anger at anyone.”

Nina glowered at Tania as she shrunk a little in her seat but her expression softened a little bit after a moment's thought.

“Don’t try to divert the blame to Tania. You’re the one who’s being unreasonable here.”

“Unreasonable. I suppose by your standards that would be the case. Would it help if...?”

Telling Tania to go get my bag, I asked Nina to hold Helia for a moment. Her expression melted as Helia reached out to her and I took the bag from Tania. Pulling out the pouch of coins, I drop it on the table and a number of gold coins spill out.

“I have no idea how much this stuff is worth nowadays but shall I share my resources here to make things easier or shall I continue being unreasonable?”

“Well I never doubted for a moment but Nina here…,” teased Lukas.

“...,” Nina’s eyes having widened at the sight in front of her.

“At any rate, I’m assuming you're willing to help pay for living expenses and other things you want?” Lukas asked. He continued after I nodded, “That lifts a great deal off our shoulders. We’ll have to exchange these for Osetia notes but some of this should sell rather well to currency collectors.”

Osetia being the agreed name given to this world.

He picked up a random coin and examined it.

“This coin’s hundreds of years old. Just how old are you Alya? You look nothing like your age.”

I looked at him with a deadpan expression.

“Nina.”

“Y-Yes?”

“May I hit him?”

“...please, try not to kill him.”

“...”

“Hey, get back here!”

“You’re not setting a good example for Helia!”

That was the first time I saw Tania laughing. Dang, she had some sharp teeth.

So, one week passed by rather quickly; I learned quite a bit.

Lukas had gone into the middle tier the following day to meet coin collectors, gold buyers, and, I learned this afterwards...he went to a museum as well. Apparently, selling a ton of gold coins to one buyer would raise a lot of red flags which is why he visited various interested parties. All told, what I had brought was worth ₳ 5.75 million in Osetia notes. Just as reference, the average Veplar farmer made about ₳ 40,000 a year. Obviously, I had no idea how much ₳ 40,000 was worth but money was not going to be an issue for us which is all I cared about. To humans especially, if you threw money at something, the problem tended to go away. Other common races appreciated money but none loved it more so than humans. Strange creatures.

When Lukas was in town, he created something called a bank account in his name where he deposited all of the funds. He told me that it was accessible via a card he handed me, that used a set of numbers as a password to prevent others from just stealing the card. I wasn’t familiar with how it worked but it was definitely handy. If we ever needed anything, we would just use the funds on the card.

Worst case scenario, I could go back to my dungeon for what I needed or just...you know...take it.

To my surprise, they had stopped using gold and other metals for currency because they were being used in other things, especially something called a mana battery or “manabat” for short. Coming in various shapes and sizes, that's what powered everything around here. The cars, the radio, the lights in the house, the managuns, you name it.

One day after fixing the wall where a few managun blasts had hit it, I had asked Lukas about the manabat as I was curious. He took me outside to the stolen car, which we had hidden from view, and he opened up a compartment at the front of the vehicle. Inside were a bunch of things I couldn’t begin to comprehend but he pointed to a hand sized box that was coated black. According to him, there was a crystal inside that contained mana and the box made it easier to transfer the power to its intended user.

Larger ones tended to light whole sections of the city whereas the smaller ones were able to supply hundreds of shots to a managun.

For me, who has seen a lot of things, this impressed me quite a bit. Technology sure has made a lot of leaps and bounds recently.

Did it all happen because I wasn’t around?

Nah...there’s more to it than just that.

Manabat technology also helped with farming too. Many farmers used vehicles specific to farming to make taking care of their fields easier. This allowed them to produce vast quantities of food, not just for Chamont, but for export as well. Despite the efficiency, Lukas and Nina preferred to do things by hand. They were retired after all and this is what they wanted.

No arguments there. I did what I wanted and didn’t care about what others thought either.

Tania and I helped them with their crops, which primarily consisted of corn and beans. Rotating them helped keep the soil healthy. It made sense to me; I had realized long ago you never wanted to over-hunt one type of monster as it created interesting imbalances.

Making mental connections, yay!

It would be a little while till they were ready to harvest though so the tasks were to keep them watered and to keep the weeds out.

A week of that and I already knew farming was not what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Fortunately, my relationship with Nina was improving as well; not cause I wanted to be her friend or anything but I saw how much she started to care for Helia as well.

Since I was interested in cooking, I volunteered to help Nina with meals while Tania played with Helia. Tania helped Nina with the cooking as well so we were starting to have a good balance.

That night, Nina was preparing a dish of beef, potatoes, and assorted vegetables with cheese. I was a little nervous to be honest as I didn’t know what I was doing at first but she showed me how to prepare the potatoes.

At first things were a little tense but as potato pieces went flying in different directions, things lightened up. Nina wouldn’t let me touch anything else cooking related that night.

That same evening, Lukas had borrowed my card to go purchase clothes for Tania, Helia and myself and proper diapers. For Helia of course.

He came back with many different outfits for the three of us including summer dresses, V-neck shirts, halter tops, cardigans, skirts, shorts, blouses, tank tops, shoes, boots...ummm. Well you get the idea. Women’s fashion is exhausting.

Somehow Lukas got the sizing pretty much right. He had even bought various sizes for Helia as children tended to grow fast. Unfortunately for Tania, she was limited to wearing skirts as her tail got in the way of wearing anything else unless we made certain adjustments.

The important thing though, is Helia looked rather cute in her new outfits so I’ll just forget the convenient dent that Lukas had left in my supply of money. And I can’t believe what I had worn initially. I should have done a little more research…

Despite my experience, I was still rather impulsive at times.

My pride took quite the hit this week. Despite that it was having a type of fun I haven’t had in a long time so it was kind of worth it. It almost felt like someone's idea of a normal happy family for a little bit.

Normal except for the fact that Helia had grown substantially during that week...skipping the crawling stage and going straight into walking. And she started wailing last night.

Because of the teeth and fangs that were coming through in her mouth.

And the black feathered wings that sprouted out of her back?

Just like mama...

?!