Hello guys, I am sorry for taking a break this long without saying anything. At first I only wanted to take a two weeks break, but having exams and many other little things to do it extended a little too much while I only used the time I had around to work part by part of Elskria.

I'll also put Elskria aside for a moment until I finish this arc of Dragon Princess, we are really close to the end of this arc and only have only a few chapter left.

Also, those chapter are not proofreaded since I have no news of my proofreader right now. (Guess my break was too long)

This chapter is really short, but I'll upload another one a little later tonight.

Hope you'll enjoy it and don't hesitate to leave

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The young demon who seemed to be slightly younger than Shina hugged her as she approached him.

Being hugged, Shina took off the hood on the demon’s head, revealing two little horn and it’s long deep purple hair.

Her face was very womanly, perhaps even more than Estiel’s. Beautiful round black eyes, very white skin with slightly red cute cheeks, an elegant chin and thin eyebrow of the same color as his hairs.

His body was very slim, yet it wasn’t because he was malnourished; it seemed to be natural.

Shina : “ It seems that those slavers managed to get their hand on a demoness. “

Fiona : “ A demon ? Did they come here from Delia ? “ She said as she thought of how they managed to enter the demon’s country.

Estiel : “ Mhhh…. What should we do ? The war is starting soon so we don’t have the time to help her to return to her country. “

As the young demon heard this, she hugged Shina even harder.

Young Demon : “ D-Don’t leave me here… “ The demon weakly said with teary eyes as it stared into Shina’s ones.

Shina : “ We indeed can’t leave her alone here, she would be unable to return on her own. “ She said to them.

Nuya : “ Nyannn… What’s up Mistress…? “ Nuya asked as she woke up and rubbed her eyes, not noticing the whole massacre which occurred in the area.

Shina : “ I sometimes ask myself how you managed to sleep through a battle this noisy… “ Shina said as she sighed, recalling how noisy the battle was.

Nuya : “ Nyahaha, it’s one of my good points… What is it with that boy hugging you, why does he have horns ? Is that a demon ?” She asked as she looked at the young demon.

Shina : “ Boy…? “

Shina looked at the young demon hugging her, all what she could see was a cute young girl with two horns.

Shina : “ Are you a boy ? “ Shina asked somehow doubtful.

Young Demon : “ Yes… My name is Rainte.” The boy answered in a low tone.

Nuya : “ See ! Don’t forget that I am a fairy, my ‘Truth-Sight’ is even better than most of them. “ She said as a large grin showed on her face.

Estiel : “ What are you talking about ? “ Estiel asked as she didn’t hear their talk.

Shina : “ Let’s take Rainte with us for now and help him to get back home when the war is over. “

Estiel : “ Guess we’ll be even more numerous now, but we can’t let her here anyway.” She said as she remembered the number of people traveling.

Fiona : “ Shina, you said it was a demoness… So why did you say ‘him’ ? “ Fiona asked as she approached Rainte, but all she could see was a cute girl of around Shina’s age.

Shina : “ Because it’s a boy ? “ She answered with a small smirk as she understood how strange it was.

Fiona : “ Impossible… She can’t be a boy, I mean she’s more feminine than Estiel ! “ She argued.

Estiel : “ Hey ! I am here you know ! “ Estiel yelled.

Estiel who saw Rainte’s face also couldn’t believe that it was a boy.

Estiel : “ From every angle I look at her, she’s definitely a girl. “ She said after looking at him from the head to the toes.

Shina : “ Geez you guys don’t believe me… Rainte please introduce yourself to them.” She asked Rainte who was still unwilling to release Shina.

Rainte : “ M-My name is Rainte, I am a 10 years old boy. “

After he introduced himself the atmosphere became blank for around ten seconds before suddenly changing.

Shina / Estiel / Fiona : “ WHAAAAAAAAAT ?! “ The three of them yelled at the same time.

Rainte : “ HIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE !! “ He yelled as he hid behind Shina.

Estiel : “ Being a boy isn’t a problem but… he is even older than us ! I mean he looks like a four years old child ! “

Even Eniel who was silently watching the situation couldn’t help but slightly show a surprised expression as she heard Rainte’s age.

Shina : “ Sorry for yelling, we were just surprised that’s all. “ Shina said as she tried to reassure him.

Rainte : “ I-I see, is my age a problem ? “ He asked.

Shina : “ Not really but… it was just surprising. “

Nuya : “ Can’t we leave Wendres behind while we take him ? I am sure he wouldn’t be as annoying as him. “ Nuya suggested.

Shina : “ I know you hate him but we can’t leave Wendres behind, I also want but... he is still Fiona’s brother. “ She answered with a sigh, even now Shina still wanted to leave him behind but she was really thinking about how Fiona would feel afterward.

Nuya : “ Muuuuuh… Fine.” She said as she gave up abandoning him.

Estiel : “ Fine then let’s return to Inkvir, we have to tell him. “

As they returned to the village, all the villagers corpses were gone and outside the village were a large number of tombstones. The villagers quickly understood that it was the doing of the blue old man which was standing in front of the tombs.

Within only a half hour, Inkvir had already buried all the dead villagers within the destroyed village.

The villagers still cautious didn’t dare to go greet the man, it was obvious to them that he was a part of the girls group.

Seeing the girls return with Rainte, he quickly understood the situation as he saw the young horned boy; a single thought came into Inkvir mind at this time.

‘Maybe I should start making a shelter or an orphanage for children if I continue like this…’

As he looked closer at the boy, something caught his attention, making him look at the boy with pity.

After hearing that Rainte was among the slaves carriage, Inkvir didn’t refuse him in the group; he even warmly welcomed him.

Rainte was filled with happiness as he was accepted by them, the smile on his face was so bright that Shina felt the need to cover her eyes not to be blinded.

But a single thing bothered him… It was the man tied with a rope and with half of his face frozen.

Rainte : “ Why is he tied like that ? “ He asked worriedly for him.

Shina : “ Because he like being tied ? “ Shina said as a joke.

Rainte : “ If he like this then it’s okay. “ He sincerely answered.

His sincere response made the atmosphere become blank.

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As they couldn’t afford to return to Delfia, the group continued their travel toward Aorlan’s capital, but as the night fell, Inkvir gathered the girls after waited for Rainte to fall asleep.

Inkvir : “About this boy, what are you going to do ?” He asked as he looked at the boy who was comfortably sleeping a few meters away from them near a fire camp with the tied Wendres nearby.

Estiel : “Since the war is starting soon we can’t take him back to Delfia, so I guess we’ll have to put him somewhere safe in the capital until we are done and come back for him.” She voiced her expression.

Inkvir : “ It won’t work… Why do you think a boy of this age would be doing outside Delfia ? Moreover, since the demon’s are always waiting for humans attack their border are always guarded. How could mere slaver enter them ?”

After giving it a second though, the girls indeed found it was strange for him to be kidnapped.

Add to this that demons are known to possess more magic than other races, having fought against the slavers they found them to be around the same level as the adventurer beginners they saw at the dungeon.

Even if they were able to discreetly enter Delfia by avoiding the guards, would they truly win in a battle a village full of demons who can use magic ?

Shina who was reminding of how Rainte had reacted after they saved the villagers felt that something was strange. The others saw them as monsters so why did he alone stay ?

He may have endured many difficulties during the time he was captive, but after witnessing such a slaughter, for what reason did he feel safe ?

After thinking for a few moment, she slowly opened her eyes.

Shina: “ He simply wasn’t in the country but outside. The first possibility is that he was forced to leave Delfia for some reasons, the second one would be that he was travelling with his family and they got separated or killed. But seeing his behavior it would probably be the first one, he was forced out of Delfia without anyone to rely on.”

Following her reasoning all the question would be answered, the slavers simply saw him walking around and enslaved him right away, and without having anyone to rely on, being saved by someone made him feel like he could rely on them.

Inkvir : “Close, he was indeed forced out of his country by the demons.” He said as he looked at the sleeping boy.

Estiel : “I don’t understand why, weren’t the demons kind to their fellows ? Why would they drive him out ?” She said as she suddenly got up.

Inkvir : “Maybe you can’t notice it, but I can… This boy bear the seal of the Dark God, his soul was cursed by him.”

This new left them speechless.

Fiona : “ B-But why ? For what reason would he do that to a child ?!” She said as she clenched her fists.

Inkvir : “Because gods are sore losers, and the Dark God is one of the worsts of them. Even in my time before we denied them, the two Primal Gods sometimes forced us to fight. Each time the Dark God’s hero lost, he cursed his soul which made them unable to use magic. It seems that even now their fight continue. The cursed ones are forced to reincarnate into demons, and after only a few years when their magic should awake, their curse awake and they are forced out of the country.”

Hearing this, the girls couldn’t help but feel disgusted by the Dark God. But although they were angry they knew they couldn’t do anything about it, the other side was a god.

Inkvir : “ So I am asking you once again, what are you going to do with him ?”

As they now understood the boy’s situation, they knew the reason why Inkvir asked this question. Being chased from his home, he now had nowhere to go.

Shina : “ We have no other choice than taking him with us, right ?”

Fiona : “ No, I know a place where he may life in peace but…” She said while avoiding the others stare.

Estiel : “ Is that so ? Then let’s take him there after the war.” Estiel said as she was relieved.

Fiona : “ Yeah… It’s near the capital, but we’ll have to wait for the war to be over.”

Shina felt that something was wrong with Fiona as she hastily averted her eyes when she talked to them, she had spent many months with her, how could she not be aware of that. In fact, she wasn’t the only one who noticed, everyone who intended this meeting had noticed but didn’t say anything.