Demons Beside You

Chen Zhao rubbed his hands. Did some mutant parasite thing latch onto him? He started thinking about scenes from alien movies. Zofee didn’t explain to him either.

“If you want to go back to the human world, you’ll need another day. Before this, you can stay in my castle or walk around the city.” Zofee snapped his fingers and a floating female spirit appeared beside Chen Zhao. “Jessica, help me take care of my guest. You can swallow whatever demon offends him.”

The female spirit was pretty, but unfortunately, she only had her upper body. She didn’t have a lower body. She wore a light white veil and her hair floated slowly as if she was in water.

Chen Zhao followed the female spirit named Jessica and studied her.

“Jessica, were you a human before?”

“No, I’m a Banshee, a demon. I’m Lady Kaleesha’s servant.”

She was probably the most human-like demon that Chen Zhao had met. That was why Chen Zhao thought she was a human’s spirit.

Chen Zhao reached out to touch her, but his hand touched Jessica, there was a very slight feeling. It wasn’t obvious though and more like touching some kind of vapor. If he did it without meaning to, he could completely miss the feeling.

“Respected Living Being, would you like to tour Obsidian City?”

“Will I be in danger?”

“Please do not worry. You are the lord’s respected guest and also a living being. No one can offend you. Plus, I will be by your side at all times.”

“Then let’s go see.”

Jessica took Chen Zhao to the highest point of the castle. There was a platform with a dozen two-legged dragons. These dragons were huge, all about 65 feet tall like huge helicopters.

They all had a saddle on their backs, clearly for people to sit on. However, they were way too big for Chen Zhao.

“These are Lady Kaleesha’s kin. They were part of the dowry, like me. Now, they are the mounts for the Lord and Lady Kaleesha. Of course, you’re the most respected guest of Obsidian City, so you’re also qualified to ride a two-legged dragon.”

With that, Jessica let out a shrill scream. A group of small demons half the height of Chen Zhao slipped out of the cave beside him. They quickly grouped before Jessica and uttered some things that Chen Zhao couldn’t understand.

“Go prepare a saddle for the respected lord.”

“Are they demons too?” Chen Zhao pointed at them curiously.

“They’re inferior demons responsible for miscellaneous chores.”

These inferior demons moved quickly, climbing up and down a dragon to change the saddle and seat. In a few minutes, it had changed to a fancy wooden chair. It looked like a wide carriage with a hood.

Chen Zhao climbed onto the dragon and sat in the chair. It was quite comfortable.

“Who will drive it?”

Jessica started talking to the respectfully grouped demons. The inferior demons started arguing, even fighting and biting each other. Finally, a dirt-yellow demon jumped onto the dragon’s back. The other demons made angry noises.

The dirt-yellow demon pulled the reins and the dragon soared into the air. Other than the shock in the beginning that was uncomfortable to Chen Zhao, it became a lot steadier after that.

“Is being a coachman this competitive too?”

“They’re too weak. If they’re not given a job, they’ll think that they’re worthless and insecure. That’s why they’ll fight for any chance to work. They may even kill their competitors for this chance.”

Jessica was still floating around Chen Zhao while explaining about the inferior demons.

Basically, they were like the cows of Hell. They ate grass and produced milk. When needed, they would even be used as food.

They were also the most loyal dogs and their value was displayed in many aspects, not just in hard work. If they became loyal to someone, they would do anything for the person. They may risk their lives.

They could even turn themselves into suicidal bombs. If there were enough of them, they could act as cannon fodder.

Plus, they had some intelligence. If they lived in the human world instead of Hell, they would definitely be more liked than dogs and cats. They weren’t very ugly or scary-looking either. If you got used to their appearance, you’d even think that they were cute.

“Living Lord, if you have the need, I can gift you some inferior demon children.”

“Uh, inferior demon babies?”

“Yes. Mature inferior demons already have someone they’re loyal to, so they won’t change it. The children don’t have one yet, so they will become your most loyal servants.”

“Can you do that?”

Chen Zhao really was tempted. If he could raise some inferior demons, he could put them in Blackie’s home. They could help him do chores or bring him food and water when he and Blackie did experiments in the future.

“Of course.”

“How long are their lifespans?”

“Around three years, but I can choose some who are close to adulthood for you. This way, you don’t have to worry about raising them for too long.”

“How many can you give me?”

“As many as you want. Inferior demons are the least valuable. Many are actually freed each year.”

“Do they have high fertility rates?” Chen Zhao was worried that if he introduced the inferior demons into the human world, they would cause a species explosion. That would be kind of troublesome.

“Indeed, but I can just choose one sex—all male or female. That way, you don’t have to worry about them reproducing too often.”

A while later, the dragon was above Obsidian City. After circling in the air, the inferior demon steered the dragon to land on the ground.

There were all types of demons in Obsidian City. There were some that even Jessica didn’t know the names of.

The city was quite lively. It seemed that Zofee governed this place very well.

“Oh, Jessica, I want to buy some plants from Hell. Where can I buy it from?”

“Plants from Hell? There probably aren’t any merchants who sell it specifically, but you can go to Omoro Market. There are many merchants there. Maybe someone brought some special plants. You can check.”

Jessica brought Chen Zhao to Omoro Market, but it was covered in fog. He couldn’t see anything.

“Living Lord, you must use the Demon Vision to look. Otherwise, you won’t see anything.”

“What’s the Demon Vision?”

“You can’t do it? It’s a low-level demonic spell.”

Chen Zhao hadn’t even heard of it before, let alone know how to do it. The low-level demon magic book he’d bought from Raz didn’t have any records of demonic spells.

“I’ll prepare a spell scroll of the Demon Vision for you,” Jessica said caringly.

“Thank you.” Chen Zhao accepted quickly. “But what do we do now if I can’t even see the Omoro Market?”

“It’s okay. I can lend you my eyes for now.”

“Uh...” Chen Zhao was confused. Eyes could be lent? What kind of crazy technology was this? Or rather, crazy magic?

“It’s a talent that Banshees have. We can lend any of our organs to others.”

“This is too amazing. So if someone’s missing a heart, can you lend your heart to them too?”

“Banshees do not have hearts.”

“Is your talent troublesome?”

“No, it’s very easy. Watch...” Jessica just dug out one of her eyes and handed it to Chen Zhao.

He was speechless.