Devil's Business

Adventure Start!

An apex of boredom is there for Juno. He turned the pages of the book and memorized several instructions as it goes several times already, but the demon has not cleared out from its business underneath the stacks of shelves behind the counter. The demon promised him with starter kit, and his mind-boggling creativity was rolling down in advance. He needs sword or a long spear to hack and s***h the critters around the city, if it is the first encounter of the day. An axe, in adverse, is something that he tends to avoid for equipment. He would rather minimize direct contact with people by extending the range of his attack, and having an axe is determinant factor for a close-knit encounter, or a big no-no for the first time brawl.

“Hey, when do I have to start, master demon? I am practically stranded in this league of boredom.” Growled Juno from the guest room of the potion shop.

“Just perceive the manual closely, Juno. I am tired of describing roles, so please memorize the book before we strolled out from this place.” Snarled the demon in response to the man’s qualm. It is still in charge of the search within, now with a magnifying glass in hand for supplementary assistance and a magical cigarette upon the mouth.

“Alright, I’m better sl....”

“Ah-HA! Finally!”

“What is it, master demon? I want to sleep so much....” Yawn the man for the cheerful demon before him. It jumps right over to the guest room in surprising expression, contrarywise to the sneering indulgence it shown formerly. A mischievous smile, however, is painted to the bone cheek of its facial feature.

“Here it is, your starter kit, mortal. Please rely on it in this long journey.”

A small and pathetic knife is within the grasp of the demon. It Looks confusing to the only human-in-charge inside the store. He grazed his head several times in succession by the degree of perturbing feelings emerged from his mind, dropped down in disagreement to his own self and grumbling inwards by the mind-bending action from the red creature.

“Why are you so cruel to me, master demon? I have stalling there, sitting and waiting for any awesome kit for my adventure, and you’ve granted me this silly pencil?” Stated Juno in abrasive fashion.

“Please, bear it with you for the time being, mortal. This is not an ordinary knife in actuality, and rather strong for starters in general.” Responded the demon in calm demeanor. It smiled a little, but conceived a bit of petty smirk down within.

After scaling up for future choices, Juno picked up the knife in reluctance for answers to the exchange. Not for long, the small knife turns out to be quite longer than expected. It gains several centimeters up from the hilt, reaching half a meter in length. The human male surely flustered by the sudden change of the humiliation, but relieved and showered with glee afterwards which was showed up with a glints of grin from his lips.

“It’s a pocket magical sword, mortal. I have it soaked with potions beforehand to save it inside my drawer with ease.”

“And you’ve tricked me once again, Master demon. I’m honored by your magic ploy from this one, but please never do anything like it again.” Uttered Juno to the demon as his plea to the bargain. In advance to the request, the demon laid down its finger to the chin and contemplating for some time before replying to the common sense of the man,”I thought it would be better for us to try out those sword. You’ve never handed down this type of weapon in your life, have you?”

“Well, you don’t wish to give a good smack to my formal request, huh? Darn it, come on, then.” Said the man in corresponds to the invitation from the demon.

---

After a long period of delay inside the vacant store of the demon, they ventured down to the training ground mentioned by the demon itself. The terrain in remote southwest from the unnamed kingdom, their destination for constraining some muscles of the human’s joint, were filled with several four-legged beasts in sight. It ate fire upon the hills’ soil, marked up their territory with an enflamed piss, and having a knee-jerk of a fight amongst them for fun.

“This is the very basic animals in this sector, Juno. We call them as ‘ghoul’, a basic element of life within the natural nuance of this land.” Explained the demon as they go. It puts its finger to one of the relaxed beast for the man to follow,“Please, kill the one I told you to. I’ll explain something else later.”

“But how? You are not telling me of the ‘random’ power. What do I have to do for discovering it?” Asks the man in bewildered fashion.

“Well, technically speaking, you have to find that one out in your own, Juno. It’s random, and that’s the challenge. After all, for this session, you have nothing to trade off against that ghoul, so a small hit would bode well to the beast’s body in overall.” Said the demon without peeking its sight to the man himself.  It laid its focus towards herds of ghouls from the west, while wondering of any sources from where it comes by.

“Human is having a great scale warfare, it seems.” Talked the demon to itself after putting its glance towards the big size wonder of the ghouls from the west.

“What do you mean, master demon? I’m ready to kick it down, anyway.”

“Just do it, then, don’t mind me. Remember, I’m your final opponent, so this is the best chance for you to show me something up.” Responded the demon by the abrupt inquisitiveness from Juno.

Juno then proceeded to s***h down the guts of a ghoul before him. Its claws are hanging down, showing what kinds of capabilities that the beast might throw as a token of appreciation to the attack. At some point, the beast itself is having similarities with humankind, despite it has numerous differential aspect from its anatomy were protruding against the close-knit reflection.

“What is that down the spine? Damn, it’s slimy and gross.”

The spine upon its back, one that Juno has stated while trying to smear some thoughts with his sword, is laying down a juice from the top of its hollowed spikes. It spread down the body of the ghoul with tacky liquid and covered it whole.

(Clang!)

As Juno’s sword laying down to the sizable apertures upon its bonely figure, the slime protected the bare flesh of the ghoul with transparent layer of skin and preventing damages to its body way further. The hardened substance broke down, however, since Juno had swung one heavy-duty swordsmanship for sure-kill to the beast.

In corresponds to the human’s opportunity, the ghoul’s vicious claws are attempting to throw something back against him. Juno’s quick reflexes helped him to parry the assault before he had to move away an inch from the beast.

“No way.... I thought it would be dead easily. Where is my damage, master demon? I suppose to land a free kill there, right?” Shout the man to the idling demon behind him.

“Hahaha, you’re thinking it way too simple. Are you pretending the ‘basic’ beasts here to be a walk in the park to you? Please, there must be something up from them that you can’t ignore.” Said the demon in cheerful rejoinder.

“It should be this slimy substance that blocked my way to kill it in one shot, huh. I have to s***h it continuously and having myself hitting them with speed.”

“You’re welcome to try, Juno. Do whatever would be the answer.” Said the demon, back again without peeking its glance to the man and his effort to have a first kill of the day. As for its way to spend time in overseeing Juno, it peeled an orange for a mouthful of sweet juices to its mouth. On the other way around, Juno slashed in extra-mounting speed than ever before. He doesn’t get the idea of how could he has such skills to enamor, but keeping them on track is his only option for the moment.

(Clang!Clang! s***h!)

One of the flurry of slashes are finally graced its presence within the meaty-side of the ghoul. It writhed in agony by the lacerate injury poised from the edge of the sword. This proven to be a nick of opportunity for Juno, as he puts the sword immediately to the beast’s nape and executed it down on the spot.

“Nice show, Juno! Well done!” Scream the demon from the distance, all while keeping aware of the herd of ghoul from the west that slowly approaching both of them one step at a time.

“It’s not a big feat, so... Why are you sticking down to that side, master demon? You are practically ignoring me right here, huh?” Pouted the man as he noticed the demon and its interest towards something down the western side of the hill.

“I’ll shove it down to you when you’re older, Juno. By the way, You must be wondering of why could you do swordsmanship right away without practice, right?”

Juno was perplexed by the immediate guess from the demon, but still nodding in agreement with the statement before sheathing the sword back to its scabbard right away.

“Shortly speaking, you’re not the first person right here. The remains, or any prior knowledge from the previous welder of this power were all transferred to you after the signing, Juno. I call that one as ‘licensing’ step from the latest owner.”

“What? I don’t...”

“You’re the 14th holder of this power, or so to speak. You’re already acquired so much experience from them all, so nothing could stand against you at this very beginning.” Affirmed the demon as it chewed a peeled orange as a whole. Shortly after, the demon slowly fades away from Juno’s sight. It withered down to transparent state, all before it laid down one last statement as a good bye

”Remember one other thing: You can’t grow money in hell, but spending it out from the earth realm would provide you with immense resources for your usage.”