Moving his body with a groan, [Name] looked around. Deciduous trees surrounded him, and the floor was layered with the needles from the pine trees, a deep shade of auburn, the slight fog that settled around the trees, blurring one from seeing too far into the distance. It was mystical, yet all [Name] felt was deep-rooted fear.
He hated being alone in big unknown areas.
'Lucian! Where am I?!'
'You're in King of Faes hunting grounds.'
'Am I in danger? Do you know where the nearest village is?'
'It is a twenty-minute walk north.'
'A-alright, thank you.'
[Name] let out a pained noise as he tried getting up, looking down at himself and found that his body was battered and bruised and there were even large gashes and cuts that were still fresh.
'Still my body, but fucked up because of the last world,' thought [Name], heart twinging at the thought of Desmond and the rest of the brothers in mourning; he could only imagine what the brothers were going through. Getting up and gritting his teeth against the pain and started limping north and soon enough the pain faded away, although there was still an inkling of pain, which [Name] ignored.
As the village came into view, there was a massive entrance.
The guards looked on in concern at the male that was limping towards them. One of them hurried over, "Is everything alright, sir?"
"I-I, is there a place where I can stay? E-everything hurts."
Diaval's eyes widened, calling out to Orlin over to help the injured male to the town's herbalist.
"What's wrong with him?!"
"I don't know but look at his wounds! They're from something fatal! Look at them! Either he was attacked by bandits or he somehow got away from a beast."
The two helped the barely conscious man through the village, gaining concerned looks and questions to which they could not give answers.
When they stumbled into the clinic the herbalist, Mala Morningstar, grabbed a basin and filled it with spring water and dabbed the cloth around some of the wounds, trying to clean the dirt and grime off the unconscious male.
"Lucy! Come down! We need your help!" Mala called out.
"What is it-"
Lucy gasped and flew down the last few steps and immediately went into action, grabbing ointment for the wounds and then wrapping the bandages tightly around his torso and leg, straightening out the bones with a splint.
Rushing around trying to heal the unconscious male, it took nearly four hours before [Name]'s condition was stable again. When everything was done the two sisters had to hurry to make dinner for the rest of the siblings. Washing of the dried blood off themselves and went into town to the markets and bought some fresh produce; the siblings ate plainly but savoured the feeling of being around family.
They were clearing up the dishes and clean themselves off from their days work, Lucy spoke up.
"We have a patient today. He was injured severely, telling you guys now, so you won't get spooked in case you hear some noises from the ward."
The sisters all nodded, acknowledging that there was a patient under their roof.
The layout of their house is massive, mostly due to the clinic and that their place was the only place in the village that had an area to look after the people within the village. That's why everyone in the village always contributes in any way they can to contribute to maintaining the clinic.
Lucy spooned some soup into a bowl and headed toward the wards where the unconscious male was resting. Upon entering the room, Lucy almost dropped the bowl, she saw a pair of glowing [Eye Colour] eyes on the bed looking at her as she walked in.
"O-oh. I s-see you're awake. How are you feeling?" Lucy asked whilst putting the soup onto the overbed table. Bashfulness coursed through her.
[Name] tried sitting up but winced, holding back a whimper of pain, until a firm hand pushed him down.
Looking up into familiar red eyes, "Desmond?" [Name] reached out to push the few strands of her hair back, [Name] was feeling woozy and his addled brain thought it was Desmond standing in front of him; [Name] felt his eyes water.
Lucy froze when she saw tears cascading down the male's eyes and floundered for a way to comfort the weeping male. She watched in distress as the male sat up and straining himself in the process. Lucy watched as he picked up the bowl with slightly shaking hands. She noticed many scars around the knuckle.
"Is everything alright?"
"Wh-who are you?" [Name] asked whilst looking around.
"I am Lucy Morningstar, the eldest of my siblings. We will be looking after you until you get better and then we will help you to settle in."
[Name] stared at Lucy, "[Name]."
"Pardon?"
"My name, it's [Name]."
"Oh. Do you remember how you got here?"
Lucy watched the other pause for a second before answering her, "I don't know. I woke up- woke up in the woods. I don't know anything before that."
Lucy frowned slightly, "Who's Desmond?"
[Name] snapped his head towards Lucy, his gaze hard.
"What?"
"I-I just heard you say that name whilst you were quite disorientated."
"Oh. Okay then. It was nothing."
[Name] looked down into the bowl and started gulping down the soup. When [Name] finished, he gave the bowl back to Lucy, thanked her and turned around. Waited for the girl to leave the room before getting out of bed and walked towards one of the big windows; [Name] looked at the moon, he smiled, it looked quite like the one in Devildom.
'Lucian.'
'Yes?'
'Do I still have my demon attributes and things?'
'Do you want to keep them?'
'Yes, I do. I want to keep it.'
'Alright then.'
Grabbing the bowl and a spare shirt and trousers from the drawer, throwing it on before walking out into the hallway, dimly lit with candles, walking down and turning at random intervals hoping he was going to the kitchen until he heard some footsteps coming his way. [Name] panicked and hid behind the big wooden doors.
Mala and Anna, walked past, whispering frantically. He watched them disappear down the hallway [Name] just came from, he turned around the corner and after walking for a few more minutes, found the kitchen. He was surprised with how big the kitchen was, filled with enticing scents lingering from the past cooking of the day. [Name] smiled again, it reminded him of the kitchen in the House of Lamentation.
[Name] wished he was back in Devildom, but he couldn't do anything about it. He just had to keep moving forward. Sighing, he put the bowl into the sink and walked out of the kitchen and retraced his steps before he came back to the room of his door, but instead of being alone, he found the two girls standing there and seemingly trying to find him.
[Name] raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you two?"
He snickered as the two let out a shriek.
"You- you-"
[Name] smiled, "Yes?"
Anna spoke up, "You're handsome."
[Name] lost his smirk, blushed slightly, before roughly pushing past them and shutting the door behind him, ignoring the protest of the two sisters watching him from the door, [Name] rolled his eyes and groaned, remembering that they can see through the door as there is glass at the top and they could still see into the room.
Glaring at them playfully, [Name] dragged the curtain around his bed and jumped on the bed, finding it weirdly comfy. It was different from the previous hospital beds, which were uncomfortable to [Name]. But he didn't mind it, he likes the beds, [Name] likes any beds if it's something he can sleep on then he likes it.
[Name] chuckled at his own thoughts.
'What is my mission in this world, Lucian?'
'Same as the previous one, one of the main missions is that you have to stop the nobles from coming down and laying waste to this village. Then later you'll have to protect them from bandits.'
'Alright. Is that why I get to keep my demon form?'
'No, it is something you have retained, that is now hereditary in you.'
'Yay! I get to keep my demon form! Is it powerful in this world?'
'Extremely so.'
'But I will burn out easily right?'
'No, you're endurance is extremely high. Although, they will have shamans that can make you weaker, with their magic.'
'How will they know?'
'They are religious and believe that this place is filled with other entities.'
'Oh shit. Okay then, thank you, Lucian. Goodnight.'
'Goodnight.'
******************************
It was dawn and the sun was just coming up over the horizon. Getting up, [Name] saw that most of his wounds had healed, probably due to his demonic blood, for that, he was grateful as he didn't need to be confined to a bed for too long. Because as much as he likes sleeping and lazing around, if he did it too much, he would start going insane because of the intense boredom.
Walking out of his room, he wandered back to the kitchen where he saw Lucy and another working together, making breakfast. [Name] watched with a tender smile, the scene reminded him of Desmond and Satan cooking because of the constant bickering, but despite that, they always made the best breakfast.
So lost in his memories that he didn't notice the spatula heading for his head, only once it hit his head he stumbled back with a groan.
[Name] glared at the blonde who threw the spatula, he walked over, towering over the two girls, making the two stumble back a few steps before putting the spatula into the sink.
[Name] then turned towards the girls, "Should I help with setting out the dishes and the table?"
"Are your wounds feeling better?"
"Yes," [Name] smiled, "Thank you for looking after me."
Lucy smiled and gave him a tray and piled it with most of the dishes and then gave him the directions to the dining room.
When [Name] got there, the rest of the girls all turned to look at him. He ignored their looks and set the food down before turning and walking out of the room.
[Name] walked past the kitchen again, intending to go out and go hunt, he had checked the supply of hare, this way [Name] thought, he could also make some money by selling the skin of a deer or other animals and whatnot. He was also levelling up his other skills in his inventory. When he kills, he can absorb the XP, and then [Name] can spend it on whatever skills he wants or buy more skills or have an upgrade on his weapons or attacks and whatnot.
So [Name] grabbed a long thin leather coat accompanied with a linen shirt underneath with a plain pair of trousers underneath, he grabbed some spare boots, checking that they were sturdy enough, but not too bulky, as to make as little noise as possible when trekking through the forest floor.
As [Name] was about to walk out the main entrance he hesitated for a moment. He didn't know how he was going to be promoted to be a soldier, and then rise through the ranks and die a heroic death, consequently completing the main mission. [Name] had no idea how to do that.
Sighing, [Name] rested his hand on the doorknob and turned it, closing the door gently behind him, he looked around. There weren't many people out today; as [Name] walked out, he turned back to look at the place he had stayed in last night.
[Name]'s eyes widened at the sheer size of it. It was colossal, and the architecture was beautiful. It clearly showed that the village cared about this place, this clinic or whatever it's called, a lot. They cared for it, and in turn, the place cared for the people of the village, which, to [Name] at least, made it all the more beautiful.
It had a high archway, and medium-size doors with mesmerizing metalwork, the blacksmith with the metal and framework was stunning; not only study but adding to the elegance on the front of the clinic.
[Name] stared at it for a bit longer before turning around and walking towards the woods. It was a nice day, there was peace. It was an intense peace that [Name] never would have thought he would have felt in his life.
He walked and walked, down into the depths of the forest, until he heard singing. It was beautiful singing, mesmerizing and bewitching. [Name] followed it down into the darker parts of the forest, not really keeping track of where he was going.
[Name] walked and walked until he found himself near a running river, the water was so clear, so fresh and soft. [Name] looked across the bank and found a nymph observing him with intense curiosity. His head was tilted to the side, his face was soft with pouty lips and straight eyebrows, long black hair and emerald green eyes.
[Name] stared back, interest evident in his eyes. He wondered who this was, he knew that the male wasn't human. [Name] smiled and waved, before asking, "Were you the one who was singing?"
He nodded.
"What's your name?"
"…"
[Name] gave an awkward smile before backing away slowly, as to not scare the other, his movements slow and deliberate. Then disappearing back into the thicket, going back to his original mission. He knew he had to go back and actually do some hunting and level up; he had no time to be distracted.
[Name] admired the trees and walked briskly into an opening before climbing up a tree, nimble just like a cat.
He stayed up there for a bit before preparing his bow and knocking an arrow back as soon as he caught sight of a deer. He aimed, knocked, and let go of the arrow and let it soar. It went in a true, and straight line, piercing the deer through its throat. [Name] waited some more and then saw a big hare and then killed it too, [Name] had gone down and hauled the deer up onto a branch close to him to prevent scavengers from taking his kill.
It was nearly night when [Name] had finished, he looked at his kills, they were plentiful. One deer and five big hares.
As [Name] walked back towards the gates, when he saw the two guards that had saved him look at him with suspicion and with their sword's half unsheathed. [Name] raised his hands to show that he was unarmed apart from the bow slung on his back and the quiver of arrows that he had. The carcasses of the hares were tied to his belt and the deer was slung over his shoulder.
The only reason why the guards were wary of [Name] was the fact that [Name]'s eyes were glowing an eerie [Eye Colour] hue. It put the guards on edge, as well as the weirdly silent evening the day was.
"Halt. Who are you?"
"Have you forgotten? You two were the ones who took me in yesterday."
"Oh. Excuse us, sir. But I will inform you to go to the town tomorrow to go and receive a visitor's pass, and until you have gotten all your details and given citizenship, until then do not go out and come back too late. It's because we know you, but you're not the only one. Other guards won't know. So, please, keep that in mind."
[Name] nodded, "I will keep that in mind. Thank you for telling me."
The guards shivered at the deep, sultry voice, they opened the gate for [Name] before closing and bolting it closed. They talked about [Name] for a bit, they wondered where he came from, what his past was like, what his likes and dislikes were. They wondered, they hypothesised, and they guessed. They were so engrossed in their conversations that they didn't notice their Captain coming up behind them and eavesdropping on their conversation.