Chapter 3

The Most Hellish Feeling

"I-Is this outfit really necessarily?" Neutro looked at the thin cloth that was on his body. The mantle was not only pathetic, but he wasn't able to wear anything under it.

"Stop complaining, your clothing is about to be the least of your worries." Lozen pointed out as the two of them sat in a strange waiting room. An indescribable light hung over Neutro, it clearly not being a candle.

"Um, what kind of magic is that?"

"Y-you haven't seen a light-bulb either?" Lozen stuttered before the red-headed demon quickly shook her head. "Never mind, I'll explain it to you later."

Just when Neutro was about to ask something else the door to the next room opened up. A single woman walked out wearing a pure white coat, she had black hair and like all the other demons piercing red eyes. Two antnee stuck out of her head like strand of hair.

"You're Neutro right?" She pointed to the newbie as he quickly nodded.

"Y-yeah..." Neutro stood up causing what he assumed to be the doctor to scan him.

"Yep, you're a screamer alright...come with me~." The woman wagged her finger.

Neutro did just that glancing back to Lozen.

"Good luck." That was the last thing she said before the doors shut behind Neutro, leaving him alone with the doctor.

"S-so is this going to take long?" Neutro felt a wave of fear creep through his body. The soulless caverns of a goblin hole were far more inviting than the metal hallways he was currently traveling through.

"Yes, quite awhile. Though with any luck you'll pass out fro the pain once we reach your bones!" The doctor smile. Neutro had no idea what she could could have meant by that.

They finally reached the end of the hall allowing the doctor to open the last door. Inside was a relatively small room with a bed and an indescribable machine next to it. The machine itself was filled with odd liquid with what seemed to be large needles and tendrils sticking out from the top.

"Please strip naked and lie on the medical table," The black-haired causing Neutro to flinch.

"W-wait you want me to strip in front of you?"

"Yes?" The doctor was blunt, "oh just a heads up I'll have to...never mind if I told you that you'd probably run out of the room." The doctor then snorted causing Neutro to grumble.

Even if he was an adult the idea of stripping down in front of a woman was somewhat unsettling. Still, it was probably far too late to turn back now. Neutro removed the cloth from his body before quickly getting onto the bed. Without a hint of warning the doctor quickly strapped his limbs and waist down.

"Let's take a look at these notes..." The doctor looked through a small clipboard.

"B-by the way, what's your name?" Neutro stammered, he mostly asked just to get his mind off the upcoming procedure.

"It's Doctor," the woman smiled flipping down the pieces of paper. "I see you picked a gene's of a wolf demon. Kind of generic really, though I can tell just by looking you didn't have a lot of imagination." The Doctor sighed before reaching under the table pulling out a strange dagger. "I hate this magic shit..."

"W-what are you going to do wi-" The adventurer couldn't even finish his statement before a gag was forced into his mouth.

"That should stop you from biting off your tongue..." The Doctor then placed the almost demonic looking dagger against Neutro's skin slowly cutting his skin creating symbols and markings.

Neutro's eyes twitched as he looked at the red fluids slowly starting to leak out of his body. Despite having his body mutilated there was something strange about the whole thing, he didn't feel any pain despite his skin being torn apart. In fact, it was rather soothing.

"Don't worry, the wounds should heal once you turn into a demon. Plus this dagger has a special property which makes it so the recipient of the damage feels no pain. Meaning I can carve in all the markings that I need and it won't hurt."

Despite the eeriness of having the first layer of his flesh being cut open without feeling it, it wasn't all bad. He honestly had no idea what Lozen was talking about when she said it would be the most painful thing he has experienced.

Once the Doctor was finished placing markings across Neutro's body the woman slowly licked the blade clean and sighed. "Well, the ritual part is done, now comes the therapy..." The woman than casually yanked the giant machine closer to the table.

She yanked one of the giant needles from off of the top, the tube it was connected to wiggling from the force. "Just to note, this is going to hurt...a lot." Doctor then pressed her finger against Neutro's collar bone before slowly sticking the over-sized needle into his body.

With each inch it dug into his skin Neutro trashed about until the steel tip reached the bone proper. With a bit more pressure the tip sliced through the outer part of the his collar bone digging itself into the marrow.

At that instant Neutro understood what Lozen said when she mentioned the pain. Up to that point he had never experienced anything like it, it felt like someone was yanking each and every nerve in his body like a spider biting its pray.

He let out a muffled scream while Doctor lips slowly curled into a smile. A small light blush slowly formed around her cheeks. "That face of pure agony you're making, it's kind of turning me on." The woman grabbed one of her breast pulling out another needle. "By the way, once we are done with your bones we're going to have to do your organs."

Without even a hint of prep time Doctor shoved another needle into his body, this time into his rib-cage. He wanted to grit his teeth, but due to the giant piece of cloth in his mouth that wasn't possible.

"AH~ You're crying, those faces you keep making is actually starting to make me a bit wet..." Doctor shoved another needle into Neutro's body before chuckling. "Just a heads up. One of these are going into your dick, I didn't want to tell you before, but now that you can't escape I want to see that revelation on your face!"

With each needle that Doctor shoved into his body it was like Neutro was experiencing a fresh hell. The main ran through his body slowly sapping whatever strength he had left. The tears slowly stopped before the light in his eyes started to fade.

"Eh? Don't tell me you're about to pass ou-"

"GAh!" Neutro nearly jumped out of bed, his body shaking. His eyes quickly darted around a strangely familiar room. "This is...Lozen's place."

"So you're finally awake?" Neutro quickly turned his attention to the doorway to see the red-haired woman leaning against the frame.

"W-what happened?"

"The ritual and therapy was a success, though you passed out like a little bitch," Lozen smirked, though Neutro didn't reply. "It's a joke, you can laugh."

"Y-yeah." Neutro gazed then shifted to his hands. "Does that mean I'm a demon now?" He certainly didn't feel any different.

"See for yourself." Lozen picked up a nearby mirror handing it to the bed-ridden adventurer.

He gazed at himself in the mirror, taking note of his piercing red-eyes and his overtly sharp teeth. Those really weren't the features of a human, to cap the whole situation off there was something fuzzy sticking out of his head. "...Wolf ears?" Neutro frowned looking at the twitching second pair of ears on the top of his head.

"Well you did want to be a wolf demon right?" Lozen pointed out. "You have a tail too, I should know since I had to carry your naked body back home."

"Oh..." Honestly a part of him expected more fanfare from the whole situation. "So, what now?"

"You rest for a few days while I introduce you to the foods you'll be able to eat. While you aren't experiencing anything right now, you're brain is going to have to catch up to some of the changes made to it."

"Y-you guys did something to my brain?"

"Of course, we said we were going to alter all of your organs. Why should your brain be excluded from that?"

Once again Neutro didn't really have a response. It made sense for them to alter every major part of his body. "Do I really need to rest? I feel fine really."

Lozen simply glared at the newbie grumbling. "Listen, I've been through this before. Even if the physical part is the complete, your body is going to start having cravings and desires soon. I'm going to take care of them until you are ready for your first quest."

Neutro sighed, there was no use arguing with her when she was probably right. "Can I at least see Cassable?"

"I can let you call her."

"Call her? Is she around?"

"I keep forgetting you aren't from around here." Lozen twirled her hair ever so slightly before walking to a strange device in the corner of her room. "Listen, most major adventurers and buildings have a device called a telephone. Right now they are only operational within the borders of the Capital, but we'd like to try to extend them to other major cities."

"What do telephones do?"

"They allow you to communicate with others over a long distance," Lozen wagged her finger like some kind of teacher. "So if your friend is currently staying with Elizabeth, we can call her number and talk to her."

"Number?"

"...Never mind," Lozen sighed not wanting to explain each and every detail about how a telephone worked. "All you need to know is that we can contact your friend later today."

"Alright." Neutro took a deep breath.

"Are you hungry?" Lozen asked.

The awkwardness of the situation was starting to put a strain on Neutro. Not only was he technically still naked, but the whole atmosphere felt a bit uneven. He had no idea what to talk about.

"Sure."

With that Lozen left the room once again. Neutro continued to lie in bed picking up the mirror that had been placed next to him. He continued to examine his newly acquired features before pointing his nose into the air. In an instant his brain was overwhelmed by the different scents around the house.

His mind grew hazy, like some sort of cloud had entered his brain. Despite that, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling, rather it was oddly pleasant.

It didn't take long for Lozen to return with a plate of food. Though it wasn't really the kind of food Neutro was expecting.

"W-what is that?"

"Just some goblin parts, I mixed some harpy and meat in it as well." Lozen handed Neutro the plate of raw food before taking a seat next to him. The only thing the newbie could do was stare down at it plate of raw monster parts. Lozen didn't even take the time make them presentable, they were just pieces of monsters that had been refrigerated.

"You...expect me to eat this?"

"Yes," Lozen said opening a book next to her drawer. "Since you are going to be eating live monsters once you start taking quest you need to get used to raw food. It may seem disgusting at first, but you'll get used to it, you'll even like it after awhile!"

Lozen smiled, though her comments did little to relieve the fact that Neutro was about to put raw goblin fingers and a rat tail into his mouth. "M-maybe I'll eat later."

"No, you'll eat now."

Neutro bit his lip glancing at the horned demon sitting next to him. He slowly lifted the severed goblin hand before opening up his mouth and shoving the first three fingers inside. Then, without warning his teeth reacting on their own, they slammed down on the joints tearing them from the knuckles.

Normally that would have been enough to set off his gag reflex, but for some reason his body shut such a worthless thing off. Instead he continued to eat, ignoring whatever taste the goblin flesh could have had.

"See? Was that so hard?"

"I...guess not." Neutro frowned. It was odd, the first time Lozen had offered him food he found it disgusting, yet now...

"I should give you a heads up, you will probably need to eat around six meals a day from now on instead of the usual three for humans," Lozen added.

"That probably explains why I'm kind of hungry," Neutro laughed trying to think of a follow up statement. "Um, so...why did you want to become a demon?" It was really just wanting to make small talk at that point.

"Oh? Asking such hard hitting questions right out of the gate..." Lozen chuckled closing her book. "I want to say that it was a part of some grand plan or something happened to me, but honestly...I just did it because everyone else was doing it."

"Is that really it?" Neutro raised his brow. Sure his reason for going through with the ritual was basically the same, but he honesty expected better from someone who carried herself like Lozen.

"...I think the most wonderful thing in the world is being able to follow someone else without ever thinking." Lozen took a deep breath before staring at the ceiling. "To be able to reach a utopia where you can comfortable do the same thing every day without ever changing or worrying about anything."

"I...guess that's kind of nice." Neutro couldn't inherently see anything wrong with that concept.

"So you do understand!" Lozen grinned, a spark of excitement started to well up in her voice. "Now that you are a demon, you don't have to worry about lesser beings like goblins or humans! A goblin couldn't even kill you know even if you let it!"

"S-sure..." Neutro scratched his cheek.

"That means you're going to help us spread our greatness right?" Lozen gave an almost girlish giggled leaning her entire body onto the bed.

"I don't mind, but I've been wondering about some of the other races too." Neutro frowned. Up to that point Lozen had only been talking about humans.

"Oh, those..." Lozen ran her fingers through her hair. "We have made a special ritual for elves, but for some reason those uppity bastards don't want to be apart of our greatness." The amount of venom in Lozen's voice was almost palpable. "They are almost as bad as the worthless priestess who cling to their gods and goddesses."

"Gods and Goddesses?" Neutro tilted his head. He knew there were some people who still worshiped some of them, and even were capable of using some power from the supposed gods.

"You don't need to worry about that anymore..." Lozen's eyes darkened. "Once the demon lord from 300 years ago was killed, the gods, goddesses and even demon lords ceased to be. The only things left were humans and monsters, even now the monsters are slowly starting to die off."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Neutro smiled. "A world without monsters sounds fantastic."

"Is that for a fact?" Lozen pressed her fingers to her lips. "Regardless, if god no longer exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

"Huh?" Neutro frowned, once again Lozen was saying something that he couldn't possible comprehend.

"It's not something you have to worry about any time soon, just be on the look out for any goddess worshiping dogs," Lozen said. "Make sure you do your best to...persuade them to our side."

"I don't think I could do something like that." Neutro finally finished his plate of gore setting it to the side. "I'm not that great of a talker."

"Really? Believe it or not one of the job types is actually requirement. We often try to find powerful priests and priestesses to join our cause." Lozen opened up her book once again.

"Is it like what you did with me and Cassable?"

"You could say that..."

"I guess doing something like that is easier than hunting monsters."

"Not always," Lozen sighed recalling a bad memory. "Speaking of that, you need to meet the guild leader once you can move. I'm sure she has quite a bit she wishes to speak to you and your friend about."

"Guild leader?"

"Well, she more of a demon that runs all the job operations in the capital," Lozen explained. "The concept of guilds kind of have been erased due to most demons taking jobs solo or in pairs."

"So we won't be in a team again?"

"Don't act like that." Lozen brushed her hair to the side. "Money talks, if you are willing to split the pay I'm sure you can ask any demon in the city to go with you, though you are strong enough to clear an entire goblin den alone."

"I don't feel like I'm strong enough to do something like that!" In fact he didn't feel any difference.

Lozen just chuckled. "Listen, how about I'll accompany you on first quest? Free of charge."

"R-really? You'd do that?" The moment Neutro said that he realized just how pathetic he sounded.

"Of course!"

With that Neutro felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Author note

The reason why some characters are obsessed with goblins despite them not being goblin slayer is because Goblins are now the main source of slave labor as well as food for demons. Ergo, clearing out and capturing goblins has turned into a profitable business, since even in hordes they pose no real threat to them. Of course their thinning numbers in the world presents a problem...

For the one person who's reading this lol. I was wondering if you'd think it'd be a good idea to switch between Cassable and Neutro's perspectives more. I already feel these last two chapters have been a bit info dumpy about the state of the world, monsters etc. Though at the same time I also regret not putting more in the first chapter.