~Being a daemon isn't all bad. Aside from having superior strength and in a lot of cases getting the ability to use magic, us daemons never have to worry about getting sick and we usually aren't affected by the weather either. Additionally, we recover from injuries a that would be lethal to a human. Given all of those benefits, it's no surprise that there are so many people out there ready to become daemons themselves.~

Sorey had to admit. He definitely could see the benefit of being royalty. The dishes that were served at Alisha's home were to die for. And there was so much of it. Back at home, Sorey practically had to care for himself, hunting his own food or trading his gains with the Seraphim who grew wheat, vegetables, fruits, etc.

"Wow, this was without a doubt the best meal I have ever had!" Sorey exclaimed in good cheer, causing Alisha to smile.

"I am glad it was to your liking," the princess replied. "How is your shoulder doing?"

"It's fine," the new shepherd assured, rubbing over his injury with his hand. "It stings a little bit, but that doctor sure did good work."

"Still, the doctor said you should take it easy and not strain your shoulder," Alisha reminded the shepherd.

"Haha, I know, I know," Sorey scratched the back of his head, using his uninjured arm. "Mikleo keeps reminding me about this non-stop." Sorey looked over to his longtime friend, who in return gave the Shepherd a meaningful look, before returning his attention to the book he was reading. To Alisha and the servants working in her household, it looked like the book was floating in mid-air, with the pages occasionally flipping over.

"He seems to care a lot about you," Alisha pointed out.

"Well we are childhood friends," Sorey pointed out. "We basically grew up together and learned together. We also explore ruins together, like the time where we found you."

"Yeah and I have to get you out of the traps all of the time," the water-seraph commented.

"Hey, you fell into a couple of traps, too!"

"Not as many as you."

"You're the one who set off the last one! I just happened to stand at the wrong place!"

"You mean the platform which the inscriptions told us not to stand on?"

Alisha giggled as she watched Sorey having a back and forth conversation with Mikleo, which eventually ended with the human scoffing and waving off his friend. Lailah too watched all of the proceedings, having just arrived at the dining room.

"Seeing you talking so casually to a Seraphim makes me ever so slightly jealous," Alisha admitted with an embarrassed smile. "I mean, I sort of did it with Symonne, but… it was a bit ponderous with her having to write down everything she wanted to tell me."

"Hmm, it's a bit of a roundabout, but maybe Mikleo and Lailah could talk to you in that fashion," Sorey suggested. "Maybe we should buy a diary or something, so we don't have to rely on singular pieces of paper."

"I believe I have a better idea," Lailah spoke up, approaching the table Sorey and Alisha were sitting on. Sorey turned around on his seat and looked at his newest friend curiously.

"Huh? You do?"

Upon receiving a nod from the Fire-Seraphim, Sorey's smile brightened and he turned towards Alisha, who was patiently waiting for Sorey.

"Lailah said there might be a way for you to speak to her and Mikleo."

"Really?!" the blonde almost jumped out of her seat, after hearing that. Sorey nodded and looked over to Lailah.

"Yup. She just needs to tell us what we have to do."

Mikleo decided at this moment to close the book he had been reading and put it away. Lailah instructed for Sorey and Lailah to stand in front of each other and hold hands.

"And this is really going to work?" Alisha asked. Sorey looked over to the older Seraphim and received an explanation.

"According to Lailah, when we hold hands, a part of my power as a Shepherd will be transferred over to you, as long as you're holding hands," the young boy recited. "But she also says that since I haven't been a shepherd for very long that it might not work."

"I see…" Alisha closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and exhaled the air slowly. After a moment of just standing in the room with her eyes closed, she opened her eyes and nodded. "Okay, I am ready."

"Well, here goes nothing," Sorey said and gently took Alisha's hands into his own. Both humans were a little tense in anticipation and they could each feel it. Sorey gave his fellow human a reassuring smile but quickly noticed that the princess wasn't paying him any attention anymore. In fact, the young royal was looking past him and directly at Lailah.

"Okay. Testing, testing-"

"Oh my gosh!" Alisha exclaimed out of nowhere and jumped backward. As a result, she accidentally let go of Sorey's hand and hit the table with the back of her legs.

"Oh, my," Lailah giggled at Alisha's misfortune. "It looks like it worked."

"Interesting," Mikleo commented and walked over to Lailah, so Alisha wouldn't have to look back and forth between Lailah and himself. The princess in the meantime had gathered herself and was at the receiving end of a cheeky grin on Sorey's part. The royal cleared her throat and suppressed the upcoming blush.

"Shall we try again?" Sorey asked.

"Yes, let's," Alisha replied eagerly and walked back into position. Swiftly she offered her hands to Sorey, who took them.

"Amazing," the blonde breathed out. "I can see them! Sorey, I can actually see them!" she exclaimed.

"Really?" Sorey asked.

"This is surprising," the Fire-Seraph stated and walked up to the two humans. Her gaze was entirely focused on the princess' during that time. Their eyes kept being interlocked until Lailah stood right next to Sorey.

"This is unusual. It seems that Sorey's latent powers are considerably stronger than I first thought. To be able to perceive us just by holding his hand…" The female seraph appeared to be amazed.

"That's Sorey for you." Mikleo crossed his arms, suppressing a grin. "What he makes up with talent, he lacks in the brain department."

"Hey!" Sorey turned around, offended. He made sure that he was still holding one of Alisha's hands. Mikleo grinned at his longtime friend, causing the human to groan.

"Still, I do not remember a Shepherd having this much talent," Lailah stated, before addressing the princess. "But before anything else, it's fortunate we can talk like this, princess. My name is Lailah, a pleasure."

"L-likewise," Alisha sputtered, mentally scolding herself. "You might already know this, but for the sake of politeness, I am Princess Alisha. It is an honor to meet you Lailah. You too, Mikleo."

"It's nice to meet you too. I am Mikleo, a Water-Seraph. Hm, I never thought I would be able to talk to a human aside from Sorey of course. If you don't mind, I would like to use this opportunity to ask you a few questions that have been on my mind concerning human society."

"Of course. It would be my pleasure answering every question that might be on your mind," the princess answered. "If you don't mind, I must admit I am rather curious about Seraphim society as well."

"Then I guess it's decided," Lailah happily clapped her hands together. "Since Sorey is still injured, I'm afraid he won't be able to perform his new duties until he has fully recovered. We could use this time to get to know each other better."

"That sounds great! Though, I am still allowed to go outside, right? I'd love to explore Ladylake a little more." Sorey sounded like a sick child, pleading with his parents to be allowed to play outside.

"We'll see," Mikleo said unimpressed. "Given our recent luck, I wouldn't be surprised if Hellions suddenly attacked us in brought daylight in the middle of the street."

"Oh, come on. Now you're just being pessimistic," his human friend retorted.

"I believe I am being realistic here," came the immediate reply.

Lailah giggled at the two friends' antics. "You two sound like siblings," she said good-heartedly.

"Gramps would often say that as well," Sorey commented. "But given everything that happened, we might as well be siblings, huh?"

"What? Are you expecting me to call you brother all of a sudden?" Mikleo asked, not sounding opposed to the entire idea.

"Hey, I was just saying. I don't mind if you keep calling me Sorey."

"I believe I'll let the servants have us served tea and a few biscuits," Alisha chimed in.

"Great idea," Lailah agreed. "Oh, biscuits. It has been so long since I had my last one."

As such, the group came together in the living room and started having a friendly conversation with one another. Although maybe Alisha and Sorey should have minded not to hold hands the entire time, at least not when the servants were present. As it just so happened, two female maids came into a bit of a talk with one another, when they met in the kitchen. As one might imagine, this would be the start of a very considerable rumor mill.

XXX

Later in the evening, Sorey, Mikleo and Lailah were overseeing the entire city of Ladylake from a vantage point in the upper parts of the city. Sadly Alisha wasn't able to join them, as she just couldn't put off her duties for too long. As such, only those three could go out and watch the sunset.

"What a view," Sorey commented. "It's not as beautiful as back at home, but the buildings do give the sunset a certain charm."

"It's wonderful," Mikleo agreed. "Too bad about all of the malevolence though. It kinda ruins the mood."

"Isn't there anything that can be done about this?" the human asked.

"There is," Lailah spoke up. "However, as I said earlier, you're in no condition to perform your duties with the injury you received."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But still, I am actually capable of getting rid of the malevolence?"

Lailah nodded to the question. "Indeed. But for now, we have to leave it be. Luckily, your actions already have an effect on the city."

"I'll say. I feel much better ever since Sorey became the Shepherd," Mikleo looked at his friend with pride. "But it's still there. I don't know how you managed to live here with all of the malevolence, but I don't think I could live here for even a year."

"The power of purification does protect me to a certain extent," Lailah conceded. "But that doesn't mean I am not uncomfortable around an area infested with malevolence."

"And it's not only Ladylake, right? The Lord of Calamity is responsible for doing this in more areas than just this city, correct?" the human asked. Surprisingly Lailah shook her head.

"The Lord of Calamity is not necessarily responsible for all of the problems in the world." The female Seraph looked thoughtfully into the sky. "Sadly, humans have always been prone to fall victim to malevolence. Be it a lack of faith, evil intentions or simply bad luck in life, anything can cause a human to fall victim to their darker thoughts. However, malevolence being prevalent at such a massive scale is definitely the doing of the Lord of Calamity."

"On top of that, we're not dealing with any Lord of Calamity," the male Seraph spoke with worry in his tone. "If Symonne's information is accurate, then we're dealing with the very first Lord of Calamity here. What was her name?"

"Velvet Crowe," Sorey supplied. "It sounds surprisingly human, now that I think about it."

"Velvet Crowe… I believe I have heard the name at some point in my life, but I can't remember where." Lailah put a hand under her chin, thinking.

"Given that it's a rather normal name, it's possible you just met someone who had the same first or last name," Mikleo suggested. "But back to the matter at hand, if she really is the very first Lord of Calamity, then she'll be way more dangerous than any of the others."

"How so?" Sorey asked.

"Think about it, Sorey. How much experience she could have possibly gathered all her life. How strong she might have become over time."

"But why come back now?" the human asked.

"I think that's a question we have to ask her ourselves."

XXX

Being a spy wasn't as romantic as some novels would love to make it out to be. In fact, it was a high risk, high reward job, although that reward more often than not ended up with a dagger in your back, as a way to get rid of witnesses. Of course, that only went as long as you were an average human.

Lana scoffed, as she listened in to the conversation between the accursed Shepherd and his accursed Seraphim. She would love to do nothing more than to rip the trio's throats out right here and there, but orders were orders. And she saw what happened to the last guy who disobeyed an order from the Lord of Calamity.

"In any event," she heard the boy, Sorey, speak up again "standing around and speculating won't bring us anywhere. How about we go and see the sights while there's still light?"

"Sure, why not?" the blue Seraph agreed. "Now that there are fewer people around, I'll hopefully be able to actually enjoy the view."

"Then let's go!" the lady of the lake exclaimed. "It will be interesting to see how much the city has changed in all these years."

Lana had to suppress a growl escaping her throat as the Shepherd and his companions passed the bench she sat on. She acted like she was writing something down in her diary when in all reality she wrote down everything noteworthy from the conversation she just overheard, along with the occasional doodle being drawn, showing her ripping the Shepherd apart in a variety of ways.

After she was sure that the three people she just spied on had left, the spy got up from the bench and casually walked out of the noble district. She ignored some randomly passing nobles making comments about her, as Lana wasn't sure if she could keep her bloodlust in check otherwise. It certainly got better once she entered the marketplace and generally the streets where the ordinary people lived. Given the casual clothes she was wearing, she indeed blended in better.

As she made her way through the streets, she occasionally would see one of her fellow Hellions on the road, but it wasn't like she had a special relationship with any of them. They were just Hellions. Half of those dark souls weren't even aware they had turned into monsters.

"But that will soon change…" the maid mumbled to herself, as she made her way into a back alley. There she took a couple of turns until she stood in front of a pretty run down inn. The sign had long since fallen off and was leaning against a wall that had more holes in it than any cheese in the world. The door wasn't even closed, just hanging there half-opened. Lana was about to enter the building when she felt someone touching her shoulder.

"Why, hello there," a slurry male voice spoke up. The owner of the voice violently turned Lana around and she found herself coming face to face with a man wearing filthy clothes and having a nose as big as a child's fist. His hair was unkempt, he smelled, his shoes had holes, he was bulky and his bare arms showed a multitude of scars.

"What's a little thing like you doing here?"

Lana wasn't in the mood for any conversation, when it was fairly obvious what the poorly excuse of a man was after. Without any warning, Lana's fingernails extended into twelve centimeter long blades, which she used to behead the man in front of her. Blood sprayed onto her clothes and face, but this minor nuisance didn't faze her in the slightest. Before the corpse even fully collapsed to the ground, she had already made her way inside the building.

Surprisingly, the inside of the building wasn't messy or anything, just dusty. Sure the tables and chairs looked like they needed to be replaced, but overall the furniture had been neatly placed into three short rows. Behind a counter stood an old man, who looked bored out of his mind. He barely raised an eyebrow when Lana entered the scene and approached him.

"You could at least make an attempt to hide the corpse," the old man spoke in a gruff voice.

"No one will miss him," Lana waved off.

"At least kill them in a way that makes it look like a human did it. Most people down here can't afford a sword sharp enough to behead someone! Pierce their hearts or their body multiple times, but don't behead them, rip them apart or do what you did to poor Johnny last week."

The spy maid rolled her eyes and placed her book on the counter.

"It's not like the guards bother coming here in the first place," Lana retorted. "And no one who lives here actually bothers calling the guards when something happens."

The old man let out a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother explaining the meaning of subterfuge to you."

"I am subtle," Lana insisted. "It's just that I need a little bit of an outlet every now and then."

"Whatever. But if we get caught, I blame everything on you." The old man shook his head. "By the way, what's the color?"

"Still green, maybe a bit yellowish," Lana replied. "Alisha… she's not the most productive of the bunch if you understand what I mean."

The old man grunted, nodding. "She's an idealistic child who hasn't had much experience in the real world. Give her a couple of more years. Then she's either dead or just like all the others. Say, you have been close to the Shepherd, right?"

"Please don't remind me," Lana sighed. "I have to serve him and those Seraphim all kinds of things the entire day, all the while pretending I didn't see or hear any of them. On the upside, I think our lady will be pleased with the information I have managed to gather."

"Be careful, though," the old man advised. "The last thing we need is having a bunch of Seraphim on our trail."

"Will you stop worrying already?" Lana complained. "It's the same every time I come here. You worry, worry and worry even more. Give it a rest already, old man. We are changing the world!"

"I will give it a rest when the world has finally changed. Get out of here already, before you're being missed up there," the old man said.

"Just make sure you do your job, old man. Unlike you, I actually have work to do."

XXX

By the time Lailah, Mikleo and Sorey made it back to Alisha's estate the sun had almost set on the horizon. A maid opened the door for the Shepherd and allowed him inside, but closed it so quickly that Mikleo and Lailah got locked out. Sorey had a hard time not to laugh at his friends' misfortune.

"I am very sorry Shepherd Sorey," the maid, Lana was her name as Sorey learned earlier today, said. "But Princess Alisha has yet to return I am afraid. Will you be having dinner without her?"

"Ah, that's alright. I'll just wait for her to come back," Sorey replied.

"As you wish. May I offer you some tea and biscuits?"

"Sure. They were delicious. I could always go for more."

"I see. Please, make yourself comfortable. I will serve everything as soon as it is ready." Being the ever dutiful maid, Lana quickly made her way to the kitchen to prepare everything. Inside she found another maid, named Alana already inside and doing the dishes.

"Has Lady Alisha returned?" asked Alana.

"No, but the Shepherd has," Lana replied. "He wishes for some more tea and biscuits."

"I see. Hey, just between you and me, is it true what I heard?" the maid doing the dishes asked.

"Heard what?" Lana feigned ignorance, although she had a pretty good idea of what the human meant.

"The others told me that Alisha is already falling for the Shepherd!"

"Well, they have been holding hands…" The Hellion decided to add fuel to the fire. "In fact, I believe they have been holding hands until Alisha needed to go to the castle."

"Oh my gosh!" The human maid let out a squeal. "Our poor girl is finally growing up into a woman! And I have to admit, that's not a bad catch she has there."

"What, jealous? Aren't you married?" Lana asked Alana with a cheeky grin.

"Maybe a little bit," Alana admitted with a faint blush.

Lana in the meantime had finished preparing the tea-set and took it into her arms. "Don't let your husband hear you say that. He just might get jealous. Or me for that matter." With those words, Lana quickly moved out of the kitchen and carried the tray to the living room. The Shepherd must have opened the door for his Seraphim friends since the two were sitting in the living room along with the Shepherd. The male one looked slightly miffed, probably due to the maid's behavior earlier. Lana took the small victory, as for the moment this was all she could do against the Seraphim.