Leveling Up With Monster Girls

Chapter 17: The Demoness

Zara stood on the top of the building across the Mudmilk Inn. She was cloaked in shadows, an ability unique to the demon race.

She had watched the human and Nekari walk around the outer ring and back to the inn that morning. She had also seen the Nekari come out and go off towards the market district on whatever errand she had to run.

The Nekari was not her concern. If she planned to harm the human then it was his problem to survive. Her orders were simpler. Observe him and decide if he was a threat to be removed or a tool to be used. ƒreewebɳovel.com

The house preferred tools. They always preferred tools and she was one such tool.

She despised him already. She had spoken to him once that morning in the goblin inn and that was enough for her.

Most demon kind shared the same sentiment and they had earned the right for it. Before their extinction, human mage scholars had created a spell that could summon demons across the boundary into the world.

They had not stopped there but also made the binding vow. An enchanting spell that was placed on an object that was offered to a demon after they were summoned. Most demons refused initially but due to the nature of the summoning spell which trapped the demon in the circle unless the caster freed them, they had no choice but to accept and the ones who still refused were tortured into submission.

The spell was a leash tied to the caster’s will and the object could not be removed without killing its wearer after it was worn.

The same enchantments were built into the collars in the streets, small scale, removable but still had similar effects. She had passed a few of them. A lycan hauling crates, a Kitsu at a stall haggling prices and an Usagi carrying a box of carrots. Humanity may have died centuries ago but their mark still remained and Julius would be a constant reminder for Her.

Her fingers instinctively moved to the ring on her finger. It went cold to the touch, It always did that whenever she thought of taking it off.

The mage who summoned her was long dead but the spell refused to die with him and had kept her bound to this world. The binding vow would not let her cross back and the object of the vow, the ring, could not be taken off.

That was why this assignment had found her. The house framed this as trust but she knew punishment when it was handed to her, dressed up as a duty. It was not her fault for being summoned and bound but the world of demons was cruel.

She could not refuse. She had been promised that her enchantment would be undone if she completed this task. The same way they had told her for many previous tasks. She was already growing tired but she was promised this would be the last assignment. A direct order from the demon king.

And so she watched the window and her thoughts of the human spilled forth.

He was no threat. He had walked into one of the most dangerous cities on the continent with a Nekari and a rusted blade. He had no army and did not seem to possess any power. The only thing that intrigued her was the shape of his aura.

His physique was below the average human three hundred years ago. She could not tell if it was the goddess intent or if it was an accident but there was nothing remarkable about him. Having to watch him was like a cruel insult to her.

But Zara remembered that morning when she had given him the cover to say he was Veshari. She remembered how he didn’t object or silence her.

He simply accepted the suggestion without question. That surprised her a bit as one who was used to doing the bidding of others, not one whose words were simply accepted. Still, he was nothing to her. A human in a small room.

She would send the house their report when they called for it.

Her tail moved once behind her. She did not notice.

Below, the street went on. Carts, shutters, a vendor packing early. She watched out of habit and let her attention drift back toward the window and the unremarkable human behind it.

A distant scream interrupted her focus. It had not come from the inn but the market district. The same direction the Nekari had gone.

She watched the human come to the window to see the source of the noise.