Chapter 49

Chapter 49

“Haa…… Hak!”

I felt no strength in my body at all. It didn’t seem like it was just because I came to the human world. I groaned and even broke out in a cold sweat. That was when my head started to hurt so much it felt like it was going to burst.

‘Ugh!’

It was a terrible pain. My body felt like it was going to burst with the heat inside me, but my head felt like someone was slamming it with an axe.

I couldn’t even guess what the cause was. Could this be the growing pains experienced by the Hirpus race?

Maybe the energy inside my body was running wild because I couldn’t grow. That was the most likely reason.

I also remembered Morus’s words when I ate Lepton’s beard.

‘Well, Hirpus, until you grow up… … it’ll be painful enough to kill you.’

An unknown heat seeped through my body, and my limbs trembled. That really couldn’t be the reason. Derion did not leave Bellatrix’s side even in the pain that seemed like he was going to faint.

Even though she was human, she was a child who lived only in the Demon King’s castle under the protection of the Demon King. He was worried about how she would survive alone in the unfamiliar human world.

Besides, Bellatrix was not afraid of humans.

He glanced at Bellatrix, who did not look in good condition, but he still wanted to protect her.

“Urgh-”

He gritted his teeth and endured the pain. It was harder to suppress the energy that seemed like it would explode than the pain that made his limbs feel like they were going to be torn apart.

He endured and endured, groaning, not knowing how to release this boiling heat.

The only good thing was that the boiling heat got better when he was physically close to Bellatrix.

‘It helps sometimes.’

Of course, it was reduced from the pain that was like dying to the pain before dying, but that alone made me feel alive.

‘Ah… maybe… ’

The first thing that came to mind right before I fainted was ‘The Contract of the Servant’. I wondered if I was going through an untimely change because of Bellatrix who had given me a name without thinking.

Derion felt much more at ease as he remembered the contract he had forgotten. If it was the Contract of the Servant, then Bellatrix would have to go through the same ritual as me.

He felt relieved when he thought that it was also because of that that he had not come to his senses easily, unlike his healthy constitution.

‘How foolish.’

He thought it was stupid, but he repeated the name Bellatrix had given him in his head over and over again. That was the last thought he had before losing consciousness.

When Darion opened his eyes again, the surroundings were not the musty, rotten log smell. There was a pungent smoke and the stench of something burning.

The smell coming into his nose was stronger than usual, and he frowned. His uselessly excellent senses felt a little unfamiliar.

‘What on earth is this smell…’

The terrible pain he felt before he fainted had disappeared, but his body didn’t move easily, as if he had been beaten by someone.

This was also unfamiliar.

But he could endure it.

“Ugh….”

He lifted his heavy eyelids. He saw a sky filled with dark clouds, not a crudely built log cabin. Where on earth am I? Is Bellatrix okay?

He tried to get up, thinking about Bellatrix’s safety more than his own, but his body felt strangely heavy and unfamiliar. It felt like it wasn’t his usual body.

It was then that I felt something heavy weighing me down.

“Ah… ugh.”

My body was crushed by such large masses that I wondered why I hadn’t noticed this before.

 It was when I exhaled through my lips and put strength into my limbs.

I flinched. 

“Haa…”

I didn’t know what it was, but the surroundings were filled with an uneasy atmosphere.

‘This is… a demon? Are they the corpses of demons?’

It wasn’t just one. The masses I could see were in pieces, and the stinging smell was 

coming from those corpse masses.

‘What is this…?’

I wondered if I had been attacked while I was unconscious, but then I realized again that this was the human world.

Why are there so many corpses of demons lying around in a place like this? Then what about Bellatrix?

He groaned and tried to get rid of the corpse, but it didn’t work as well as before. It didn’t seem like the contract with the group had been finalized yet.

“I think I heard a sound around here.”

“There are only dead corpses of monsters, so what kind of sound is that?”

“I heard Bella tell me to throw the puppy she was holding into the beast cage and feed it to her…… It might still be alive, right?”

“Do you really think it’s alive? The beasts were torn to pieces like this, so how could that weak dog survive?”

“It wasn’t just a puppy. It was a beast.”

“What?! You didn’t say that!”

“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t feel the beast’s characteristic aura… I’ve never seen a beast with white fur.”

“If you have any doubts, tell me! Don’t keep it to yourself! You idiot! Seriously!”

“Okay. I’ll do that now.”

I heard two humans talking. It was the first time I heard their voices, but they smelled strongly of Bellatrix. In addition to Bellatrix’s smell, there was an unpleasant smell and a rather strong smell from the two that I didn’t want to get close to.

The two were getting closer to me as they talked.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“There’s a person… a child!”

“What the hell are you talking about? Can’t you see the dead bodies of monsters here? How can a child survive in this mass of dead bodies…?”

“Can you see the hand over there? I can feel the breath of life! It’s still alive. Hurry up, Lawrence!”

“Damn it! You’re not picking up another weirdo, are you?!”

“Shouldn’t we just save it first?”

“Damn it!”

The two’s voices and smells got closer.

‘A person? A child? ‘Is Bellatrix nearby?’

Derion thought that and tried to gather strength again. Suddenly, a human with a white face and green eyes appeared before his eyes. The smell around him was so overwhelming that he didn’t even notice that he was this close.

He opened his eyes wide in surprise, but his body wouldn’t move, so he couldn’t dodge.

“Eyes….”

“What? What else? This time, instead of Arthur’s eyes, is it Cyril’s eyes that look exactly like him?”

“No. They’re red eyes.”

“What?!”

The man shouted in surprise at the word red eyes, but the man who was thrusting his face into mine didn’t even look away. Has he ever encountered a demon? Or has he ever met a demon?

Derion frowned and tilted his head. It was because the humans had been calling him ‘child’ for a while now.

“Child…?”

As usual, I muttered to myself, but proper language, not ‘kaeng’ or ‘Kyit’, came out of my lips. My eyes, wide open in surprise even after spitting it out, soon met the green eyes that had been observing me.

He stared at me with a slightly strange gaze, then suddenly straightened his back and shouted to someone else.

“Let’s deal with the body first. The investigation team sent from Alzahar will arrive soon.”

“Isn’t this a strange guy again? The daughter of the Demon King was enough of a shock to me.”

“The daughter of the Demon King? Bella is the child of the Hero.”

The two continued to bicker and converse. Derion wanted to confirm whether he had really ‘spoken’ a moment ago, but there was a human in front of him.

Since he didn’t know what the situation was, he decided to keep his mouth shut for now. From what I heard, it seemed like he knew that his eyes were red, but he was still thinking of helping.

‘Did I just say a child? Then, did I grow up?’

The corpse of the monster that had been pressing down on my body gradually disappeared, revealing my entire body. I could also see the figure of a man who had a rather strong smell, and he had quite a lot of hair for a human.

I blinked and slowly lowered my gaze.

I raised my upper body, but what I could see was not the body full of white hair that I always boasted about. I could see dark copper skin without a single hair. The ten fingers, which were not very big, were moving as they should.

They had legs and toes. Their legs were so thin that I worried if they could run properly. I raised my hand and felt their face. They had eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

They looked like a perfect human.

[‘Hirpus grows twice. From a corpse to a subadult, and from a subadult to an adult. From the subadult stage, you are given the opportunity to choose whether to remain a demon or to take on a human form and become a demon. I heard that you have to be very careful because it changes into the most desired form during that growth. Well, you won’t be able to grow, so it’s none of my business.’]

Regnator said that while babbling. Since I won’t be able to grow if you don’t drink your mother’s blood anyway, it was clearly a story to tease you. At that time, I really hated seeing you, but now it’s pretty useful information. That guy can be useful at times.

‘I grew?’

Derion blankly looked at his body, bewildered. The reason it felt unfamiliar was because his body was in the form of a human, not a demon.

“Is that a demon?”

“That… I don’t know. It seems like a demon, but it’s a little strange to feel the energy of a demon.”

“It’s not because you’re under the demon corpses?”

“But to call it a demon… isn’t the hair color a little strange?”

“Ahem, definitely…… that’s weird.”

I turned my head at the two people’s voices. I felt awkward every time I moved my body, so I tried moving my fingers and toes. I blinked my eyes a few times and looked at the sky and the ground alternately. After I got used to it a little, I adjusted my sharp senses.

It was essential because if you don’t adjust your senses, you’ll receive too much stimulation and your daily life will become painful.

I felt like all my senses had grown a step since they were all under the control of the devil.