The kidnappers turned their ruthless gaze towards the two adult captives, who seemed to have been abducted alongside the child.
“Hii!”
“Don’t kill me, I won’t tell anyone!”
“I can only hope it’s worth the money.”
“Gyahahaha!”
The kidnappers laughed at the cries of the man and woman.
“Hmm…”
Fanny’s muttering had no meaning. As a demon, she had no sympathy for humans, and the emotions flowing from the child simply weren’t to her liking.
“Who’s there?!”
At Fanny’s faint muttering from outside, one of the kidnappers immediately drew the sword from his waist. The other man, also irritated, pulled out a thick single-edged sword and peered cautiously outside the hut.
They seemed to be mercenary amateurs, not thugs. The man who noticed first nodded to his partner, then kicked the door open and rushed out… but.
“Whoosh”
In that moment, the men met “something’s” gaze, and letting out a horrified scream, they were crushed in the “nightmares” they had experienced countless times, standing frozen until their last breath.
“Good evening.”
The two kidnappers fled the hut, and soon Fanny returned in their place.
The captive man and woman blinked in confusion at the young maid girl, around 8 years old, who greeted them in a surprisingly light-hearted tone.
Fanny crossed the hut without even glancing at the two, squatting down next to a 3-year-old boy who was crying, and gently began stroking his head.
Fanny didn’t say anything. But the boy, despite his fear, lifted his tear-stained face at her gentle touch.
“…Who are you?”
The child’s young voice made Fanny smile, and she pulled a black candy from her apron pocket.
“It’s candy! Want some?”
“Candy?”
“Yes, it’s sweet.”
“…I’ll eat it.”
Fanny held out the black candy to the nodding child. But the boy didn’t even look at the offered candy, and his eyes seemed clouded, not reflecting Fanny at all.
“Your eyes, can you not see?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Okay, say ‘Ah’.”
“Ah…”
Fanny popped the black candy into the blind child’s open mouth, and casually cut the ropes binding him with her nails.
“Mmm… big sister? Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Does it taste good?”
“Umm… it’s a weird flavor?”
“Not tasty?”
“No, it’s good. But it’s weird.”
“Ehehe, I see.”
Fanny happily smiled at the child’s honest opinion, and began stroking his messy hair again.
Best not to worry about the ingredients of the black candy.
“…H-Hey.”
Seeing the gentle scene between the white-haired maid girl and the young child, the captive man finally seemed to think Fanny wasn’t a dangerous person, and called out.
“Miss, before those men come back, please cut my ropes too!”
“Yeah, you already helped that kid, right? Cut mine too, hurry!”
The other captive woman also urged Fanny impatiently upon hearing the man’s words. Fanny frowned irritatedly and turned to them.
“…Are you the parents of this child?”
“No, of course not! I don’t care about that kid at all!”
“Yeah, miss, hurry up and cut our ropes! Hurry!”
“Hmm…”
Losing interest in the clamoring man and woman, Fanny resumed stroking the boy’s hair as he mumbled on the candy.
“H-Hey! What are you doing?!”
“Forget about that kid and cut us loose!”
“Eek!”
The adult’s angry shouts made the boy tremble and let out a small cry. Fanny’s good mood was interrupted as she had to stop stroking his hair.
“…You’re noisy.”
Fanny stood up and approached the man and woman. The man was relieved that the girl had finally listened, but also irritated at the wasted time, glaring at Fanny.
“Just do it already – oof!”
In the next moment, as the man was speaking, Fanny’s hand crushed his head, and the scattered flesh and fresh blood dyed the neighboring woman’s torso bright red.
“Hiii-“
Just as the woman was about to scream, Fanny’s hand severed her neck, and she let out an inaudible scream for a second before the light faded from her eyes.
“…Big sister? What happened?”
“Nothing at all.”
At the boy’s voice, Fanny answered gently.
“Where are the others?”
“Hmm? They’re sleeping.”
Forever.
“I see. It smells strange.”
“That’s the ‘scent of death’, you know.”
Fanny had a self-satisfied look as the hut was filled with the stench of blood. The blind young boy just tilted his head and said, “Is that so?”
Fanny didn’t want to help the child. She just wanted to pet his “soft fur”, like when she accidentally found a stray cat Nia the castle. Even if the creature in front of her had been a stray kitten instead of a human child, Fanny would have done the same thing.
Whether it was love for a living being or just a toy to be used up, it didn’t matter to her.
Anyway, Fanny eliminated the existence that disturbed her enjoyment.
With the annoying people gone, Fanny began stroking the boy’s hair again, wanting to fully savor its soft texture. But just then–
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
“Take your hands off him!”
A voice rang out from the cabin’s entrance. At the same time, Fanny, wearing the mask of a clown, easily deflected the magic arrow that was fired.
Someone had appeared. Fanny who was bored, distracted by the child, and the intruder likely had some skill, but Fanny frowned under the mask at not having noticed sooner.
“Release that child, demon!”
A black-haired man and a woman with long chestnut hair rushed in, swords drawn.
Fanny’s mission was to investigate, and she had been told by her master Eurushia to handle this [peacefully]. Reluctantly covering her entire face with the mask, Fanny turned her gaze to the rude humans who had barged in.
(Hmm? Could they be… heroes?)
Fanny hadn’t seen them directly, but had received visual information about them from Noa and Nia, who were part of Eurushia’s party.
(But what is this “demon” they’re talking about?)
Seeing their power, Fanny didn’t consider them a threat and tilted her head without tension.
In her current state, Fanny had completely suppressed the miasma of the devil in order to stroke the child. It would take a hero blessed by spirits to see through her strange masked appearance and recognize her as a “great demon”.
In fact, the term [demon] was a blanket term for the barbaric tribes hostile to humanity, which included wise magical creatures like Fanny, but she had nothing to do with them – it was a complete misunderstanding.
Seemingly mistaking Fanny’s puzzled expression as an opening, the hero Alfio charged at her fiercely.
“Perish, demon!”
The lightning-fast sword strikes were easily evaded by Fanny, who then casually smashed through the cabin wall with her bare hands to step outside.
“…Hmm?”
As Fanny pondered the unwarranted criticism and merciless violence, the child suddenly burst into tears at the shouting of the heroes.
“ …… Uwaaagh! “
“Aaah, there there, you’re not scared anymore,”
Cheria the swordswoman rushed over and comfortingly embraced the child.
For Fanny, it was like having the kitten she was doting on snatched away, and she found it very unfunny.
“…Stupid humans.”
In that moment, a faint miasma seeped out from Fanny, rotting the surrounding grassland, causing Alfio and the others to hastily jump back.
“Careful! This is a very powerful demon!”
Anticova the elf shouted from behind the sweating Alfio, raising her staff high.
“–Hika-ria–“
Anticova cast a support spell on her comrades with her clumsy divine magic.
Amused by the sloppy magic compared to Eurushia’s fluent divine language, Fanny was distracted, and Alfio, empowered by the magic, charged in even faster than before.
But it still couldn’t reach the Great Demon Fanny. She effortlessly evaded the sword’s tip by taking a half-step back, when she heard the child’s cries again.
“Waah!”
Looking over, Fanny saw the boy had been left abandoned in the dangerous battlefield. [What is this?] Fanny thought, eyes wide, when–
“Got it!”
From the other side, Cheria leapt in, sword raised.
CRACK!
“What?!”
Fanny simply pinched Cheria’s sword between her fingertips and snapped it.
“…………”
Fanny’s displeasure grew. They had stolen the well-behaved child from her, and now they were abandoning him?
She was tempted to just crush them, but Eurushia had told her to avoid serious combat. Eurushia seemed unsure of the awakened heroes’ strength, but to Fanny, who could see their souls, they were nothing special even at their full power.
Still, since it was Eurushia’s instruction, there must be an important reason, and just as Fanny thought this–
“–Flame Lance–“
“–Ice Lance–!”
“Huh?”
BOOOOOM!!
The simultaneous magic of fire and ice exploded behind Fanny in a burst of steam.
“Nice one, Ataline, Aureline!”
“We did it, Lord Alfio!”
Ataline’s fire magic and Aureline’s ice magic had combined into a tremendous force. Alfio praised them as Aureline excitedly celebrated.
“Don’t let your guard down yet!”
Ataline warned, sensing something unpleasant, and Cheria stepped forward, taking an extra sword from Anticova.
“My sword was easily broken. Could she be among the demon high ranks, perhaps even a demon general of the Demon King’s army?”
The tense voices of the wary women did not let down their guard. Alfio couldn’t believe any enemy could still be alive after that explosion, but…
“!?”
A powerful oppressive force radiated out, and Fanny emerged from the steam and dust, her maid uniform hem only slightly dirtied, causing Alfio to gasp in shock.
However—
(Eh? Eh? Eh?)
Fanny was confused. She hadn’t noticed. She could sense the number of souls, but likely hadn’t realized those two were the ones hidden until she let her guard down.
The two girls who had attacked with magic – especially the “older” one.
In investigating the Heroes as instructed by her master Eurushia:
[You mustn’t lay a hand on my prey, okay?] – she had been warned in Eurushia’s casual tone, yet if she accidentally injured them, Fanny broke into a cold sweat imagining the punishment.
“…Guess I’ll go home.”
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