Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 65: First Contact

With a spring in his steps he hadn’t felt for a long time Zac moved along the road toward the location of the now-gone incursion. He was planning on heading back to his campsite to complete his quest, but first, he wanted to check things out and make sure that the demons were truly gone.

He moved along the path leading to the fortified city, meeting no resistance on the way. Soon he reached the forest edge close to the town, and any further and he would be exposed due to all vegetation having been cut down to supply the construction.

He hunkered down and stared at the town for a good while trying to see any signs of demons. The good news was that the previously well-manned walls were completely deserted. Not a single guard was patrolling along the wall walk, and the towers were empty. The bad news was that he saw a few lines of smokes rising from the inner parts of the town.

After some hesitation he decided to take a closer look. The lines of smoke might just be left behind fires, and if there actually were demons here they must be disorganized for some reason. He briskly jogged over to the fortifications, and with a few tugs pulled himself up along the wall. He didn’t encounter any arrays impeding his path either, making him wonder if demons couldn’t use them for some reason. He hadn’t seen them use a single one so far after all, unless inscriptions on tools could be called arrays.

He looked out over the demon town and found it more or less deserted. He was disappointed to see that there actually were a few demons milling about, but they looked listless and without direction.

He also noticed that the town had grown considerably since he had seen it the first time a few weeks ago. Most of the military-looking rectangular buildings were gone, replaced with structures of various size and design. It almost looked like a medieval town by now rather than a military base. But the craftsmanship and cleanliness were far greater compared to some old city, and no garbage or excrement lined the sidewalks. Perhaps the large barracks were only temporary housing they used while they constructed the real city.

Zac soon spotted a solitary demon who walked towards a house right next to the wall. There were no other demons close to him and the small building would provide perfect cover, making him a perfect target.

Zac crept along the wall, and with one swift motion jumped down right in front of him. Quick as lightning he grabbed the startled demon by his tunic and dragged him behind the house. Without any pause, Zac slammed him against the building’s wall with one hand and brought out his axe with the other.

“Scream and you die. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Zac asked with a steely glint as he held the axe at his throat, ready to decapitate the demon at a moment’s notice.

The demon looked truly horrified after he saw Zac’s face. Tears started falling like rain, and even a snot bubble was starting to grow. He incoherently started whispering something in the demonic language, regularly interrupting himself with large sobs.

Zac was stumped, not expecting such an exaggerated response. Perhaps his deeds on the mountain had spread, and the demon was afraid he’d poison the town to death. But then again, this demon differed from the ones he had encountered so far. He didn’t look at all like a hardened warrior. Rather, he looked like a civilian. He didn’t wear any weapon, and while his arms looked sturdy he also had a pretty large gut. Furthermore, he was middle-aged, whereas most of the warriors he had encountered seemed quite young.

Just as he was considering whether he should kill the demon and find a new interrogation target a shaky voice behind him interrupted his thoughts.

“Um.. P-Please let my dad go. He can’t understand your words.”

Zac instantly whirled around, holding the stocky demon as a barrier against this new voice. He found himself face to face with a small bespectacled demoness. She was the shortest one he had seen, just about reaching up to his chest, and had her silver hair in a neat bun. She didn’t carry any weapons and shook with fright as she was facing Zac’s murderous glare.

“Move over to behind the house. If you scream you both die,” Zac instructed the scared demon with a low but harsh voice. Seeing her pallid face and remembering his words he was starting to feel like a villain, even though the demons were his enemies. “I just want some answers, help me out and I’ll leave,” he added in a softer tone.

The demon didn’t seem very comforted by his words and still shook like a leaf. Still, she complied with his words, much to the dismay of the middle-aged demon. He started wheezing something out, and soon even tried to scream. He likely wanted his daughter to run away from them and get to safety. While Zac could appreciate the sentiment, he couldn’t let her go as he finally had someone he could question. With a quick thud, he hit the pudgy demon in the back of his head, instantly knocking him out and shutting him up.

“Sorry about that, but he is alive. I can’t have him scream and warn the whole town,” Zac sighed as he placed the unconscious demon next to the demoness.

“Why is it that I can speak with some of you, but most only speak gibberish?” Zac questioned, eager to finally get some answers.

“Gibberish..?” The small demon seemed a bit offended but quickly readjusted to a timid face, “You.. You need a skill to speak with other races. But it is expensive so most people don’t have it. I am a merchant so the clan provided it for me.” She seemed somewhat proud of the fact, as it was quite a glorious job to have.

“Your class is Merchant?” Zac asked with a renewed relief he didn’t gamble for the Epic class when choosing a class.

“No, I’m a Scribe, a common class. But I am following, I mean I was following, the upgrade path towards a real merchant class in the future,” the demon answered, looking somewhat deflated.

What she said about upgrade path was something he was interested in finding out more about, but he had more pressing matters.

“Why are you people still on my island? Your invasion should have failed when the incursion ended. Why haven’t you gone back to wherever you came from?” This was the most crucial question on Zac’s mind right now.

“Going back… Some of us canʼt,” she answered with a melancholic smile. “We embarrassed the clan and cost it a lot of money when the invasion failed. If we went back bad things would happen. Some chose to stay on this planet instead.”

Zac felt a headache coming on when he realized he suddenly had a bunch of demon refugees on the island.

“How many of you are still left?”

“I don’t know…” she answered with a low voice, and hastily explained when she saw Zac’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I truly don’t know, I usually just file documents. Ogras should know. He is, was, the leader of the expedition. But most of the warriors left, their status is better in the clan.”

“That’s impossible, I saw your leader die right in front of me,” Zac growled, taking a step toward the demoness.

The Scribe seemed to have been reminded that the person was a dangerous enemy warrior and once again started shaking.

“I swear he is alive. I saw Ogras exit his palace before. He didn’t go to the mountains I think?” she managed to stutter out through clattering teeth.

It didn’t seem like she was lying, which confused Zac greatly. His mission was completed, and he had seen the general die from the huge black spear. Besides, she called the leader Ogras, which was the last thing the leader roared before he perished.

“Does this Ogras have white hair, a silver armor, and fights with two swords. Oh, and he can make the sword fly?” he tentatively asked, a guess forming in his mind.

“No… That is Rydel. He was second in command maybe? His grandfather is the clan chief after all,” she answered, happy that Zac’s murderous air receded somewhat.

The answer only made Zac more confused. If the one who died wasn’t the general why had he led the forces? If this Ogras was the real general instead, why had his quest been completed if he was still alive and kicking? Because he briefly killed himself? Why would he do that? He was certain that the mysterious Demon was Ogras, but he didn’t understand why he would kill his own ally and even suggest poisoning the whole army. This girl said Ogras didn’t participate in the battle, so it sounded like he had snuck out of the town behind his own army without their knowledge.

“Where is Ogras now?” he asked. It seemed this demoness held a low rank in the clan, and her knowledge was limited. It would be better to simply ask the source. Besides he had a bone to pick with this Ogras, as he almost got him killed with his poison idea. Of course, Ogras saved his life by killing this Rydel character, but he still had a sour feeling when thinking about the torment he was forced to endure when he jumped into the pond.

“Dad said he heard Ogras question many demons, then left the town toward the south,” she answered, seemingly excited at the prospect of sending Zac on his way to become someone else’s problem.

Zac mulled things over for a few seconds, before determining his next action. There were many more things he wanted to know, but he had a sneaking suspicion Ogras was heading toward his outpost. It was the only thing of interest to the south, the rest was just forest. And nothing good could come from the insidious demon fiddling around with his stuff, so he decided to briskly head back home.

As Zac had come to his decision he asked one final question. “Oh by the way, what is your name?”

“I’m Zakarith, my dad calls me Zak,” she quickly introduced herself.

Zac’s mouth tugged a bit trying to avoid smiling. “Well Zakarith, welcome to Earth,” he said and immediately slammed the butt of his axe in between her horns, instantly knocking her out. He felt a bit bad about it as she reminded him a bit of his little sister, but he couldn’t have her running around right now. He felt no need to kill both of them as it seemed the demon threat was largely gone. And even if they came to blows again he didn’t feel a little Scribe and her pudgy father would be able to turn the tides.

He quickly tied up both the unconscious demons and left them hidden between the house and the outer wall, before quickly leaving the town the same way he had gotten in. Same as with Ogras, his course was south. He was going home.