Paimon yawns as she slowly opens her cosmic dark blue eyes. She stares up to the ceiling for a few moments as she hears the light purring of Nemuri, who's holding onto her side as she sleeps.

Sunlight shines onto her face after staring up at the ceiling for several minutes. She grumbles and sits up, which wakes up Nemuri.

"Stupid sun..." Paimon mutters. "Paimon will destroy the sun, and peacefully sleep forever!"

Nemuri yawns and rubs her eyes, before letting out a happy cry and floating into the air.

"Is it morning already?" Rein whines as he hides under the blankets.

Demai shoots up and throws a fist up. "YAY! NEW DAY!"

Everyone grumbles as they wake up.

"I want more sleep..." Teina mutters as sits up and adjusts her hood.

Abluis rubs his eyes and stands up, giving a thumbs up.

Julian yawns as he sits up, his hair sticking everywhere. "Uh, what time is it?"

"Is it time for breakfast?" Paimon asks.

Demai shoots off her bed with a happy look, her face looking a bit chibi. "Good morning Vophate Dynasty! I got a feeling that it's gonna be a wonderful day!"

'Is she singing the American Dad intro?' Paimon questions as she starts putting on her normal clothes.

"The sun in the sky has a smile on his face!" Demai slides over to the window. "And he's-"

"Demai! SHUT UP!" Rein shouts as he hops out of his bed.

Demai's ears droop. "Okay..."

Everyone gets ready for the day and they head out of the Inn. With Demai being more energetic than usual.

"Let's go get some food, then let's go fishing, then lets go-!" Demai speaks quickly.

Julian grabs Demai's shoulder. "Demai, why are you so hyper?"

"I-I-I don't know! I was walking outside the village yesterday and found some weird herbs, and they smelt so good, and I hate them. And then I felt really good! And I could stop sniffing and eating them, then I got real tired, butNowIHaveSoMuchEnergy!" Her cat eyes dilate. 

'Paimon thinks she found catnip.' Paimon says in thought.

"Um, Demai, I think you should stay away from that herb." Rein fixes a strap on on chest armor.

Demai gasps in shock. "WhyWouldIDoThat!ItWasSuchAnAmazingHerb!"

Julian shakes Demai. "Snap out of it!"

Demai shakes her head and her eyes return to normal. "Sorry... Hehehe...."

"Well, today's our last day of rest." Julian speaks to the party. "Kedrern said, we'll leave tomorrow morning... Four the four day trip to Greendale."

Everyone grows depressed at today's the last day of rest, and the long trip ahead of them. Nemuri falls onto the ground in a depressed cry.

"Ugh, Paimon hates long travels!" Paimon complains.

"Let's not get depressed today." Julian waves his hands. "So let's just enjoy our day and do what we want!" He throws a fist up.

"Yay!" Everyone, but Albuis and Teina, cheer.

With that everyone separates and heads their own ways through the village. Paimon hums happily as she floats around with Nemuri.

"Paimon's thinking we should go to the bar, then to the restaurant, then to the restaurant in the Inn." Paimon has a hand on her chin. "Then we should go to the shop to buy some rations for the road ahead."

Paimon starts nodding as she closes her eyes with a smirk, Nemuri follows her example and does the same thing. She hops onto the ground and smiles.

"Paimon is so smart." Nemuri nods along with her.

"Hey, let go!" A young voice shouts.

"Hmmm?" 

Paimon looks ahead and spots a bandit looking man holding on the arm of a teenage girl.

"Come on, I just want to have some fun." The bandit smirks.

"Let go!" The teenage girl tries tug her arm out of his grip.

Paimon grows a frown and walks over, stopping a few feet away. "Hey! Let go of her!"

"Uhhh?" The bandit looks over and spots the Faerie, and his eyes shine as he lets go of the teenager. "Hello, girly~" He grows a smile that disgusts Paimon. "Why don't you come back with me, and we'll have some fun..."

Paimon grows a look of disgust, and Nemuri glares darkly at the bandit.

"Eww..." Paimon gags.

"EWW?!" The bandit yells and he reaches for Paimon. "Then I'll just take you with me!"

Paimon backhands the Bandit, and he goes tumbling down the road and slides on his face for a few feet, before coming to a stop.

"PERVERT!" Paimon yells in anger. Nemuri gives an angry cry ass he shakes her paw.

The bandit jumps off the ground, holding onto his bleeding nose. "You-You'll regret this!" He points at Paimon. "Everyone in this village will regret this!" He stomps away, his pants falling down as he does, revealing a pair of ducky underwear. 

"Heh..." Paimon chuckles, Nemuri lets out laughing cries.

Demai and Julian appear behind Paimon. 

"What was that about?" Demai asks.

"He's a pervert and tried to have Paimon do nasty things." Paimon grumbles.

Julian and Demai's eyes glow red as they crack their knuckles. "We'll teach him a lesson."

Paimon shakes her head. "Paimon taught him a lesson, so if he comes back-" She grows a dark and evil look. "-I'll kill him and hang hos corpse from a pike."

Her two party members stare at her in shock, and slight fear. Paimon then clears her throat and laughs as she rubs the back of her head.

"Hehehe... just kidding..." Paimon chuckles. 'Whats wrong with me?'

Nemuri's stomach growls and everyone looks at the creature. Nemuri just stares at Paimon as she points at her mouth.

Paimon sighs. "You nearly eat as much as Paimon does."

Nemuri just gives her a closed eye smile.

"Now I know why we are always low on money." Demai whispers to Julian.

"Yes, we have a God of Gluttony and her disciple." Julian whispers.

"Yes, yes." Demai and Julian both nod.

"PAIMON CAN HEAR YOU!" Paimon yells.

.

.

The party are at the Inn's restaurant, eating. Paimon and Nemuri have several plates of food in front of them, shoving it in by the spoonful. 

Rein watches with a twitching eye. "Do you two have manners at all?"

Paimon shakes her head. "Why does Paimon need manners, she's an adventurer!"

Albuis sweat drops, and Teina just quietly eats. Demai hums in delight as she eats some fish. Julian eats a salad with some chicken. 

"...I miss Kirlen's cooking." A tear falls down Julian's face, everyone nods in agreement.

Suddenly the door slams open and a man runs in, sweat falling down his face. 

"The bandits attacked, and they kidnapped some villagers!" The man shouts.

"What?!" Julian shouts and he swiftly gets up and jogs over to the man. "Tell me what happened."

The man goes on to explain that a large group of bandits came into the village and kidnapped several villagers. They threatened to kill any of their hostages if anyone pursued them.

Julian pats the man's shoulder and gives him a smile. "We'll take care of it."

"We can?" Paimon asks and Julian looks back at her with a glare. "WE CAN! Hehe..."

The man sighs in relief. "What rank are you all, you look pretty powerful."

Julian smiles and gives a thumbs up. "E!"

The man goes pale and falls over. "The village is doomed."

"HEY! We're pretty powerful!" Rein shouts. "We can easily take out a small camp of bandits!"

The man stands back up. "There's fifty of them."

Rein goes quiet and swiftly looks at Julian. "We can't take care of it..."

"Rein!" Demai smacks him on the head.

"I'm just being realistic!" 

Teina sets down her fork and knife, then stands up and turns to her leader. "Let's do it."

Julian smiles and nods, he looks to everyone else. "Guys, we can do this. I have a plan."

Demai stands up. "Me to."

Paimon and Nemuri glance at each other.

.

.

Moonlight shines down on a large camp in the middle of the woods. White tents are set up around the camp, with the largest in the middle.

Several guards stand at the entrance of the camp, laughing as they eat some dried meat. Suddenly they notice a figure walking towards them.

They go on alert and grab their spears and point it towards the figure walking towards them. 

"Who goes there!" A guard yells and Julian walks into the light, with his hands up. "A kid?"

"Not a kid, an adventurer." Julian corrects.

The two guards glance at each other, before laughing.

One of the guards turns to Julian. "Go home kid, and back to your toys."

Julian shrugs. "If I did, then who would take care of you guys. I need you to hand me the hostages you have and leave the area."

Or-" A guards starts and he and his friend point their spears at Julian. "We can kill you and throw you body into the forest for the dragons."

Julian smiles. "Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" He brings his hands together. "Let's be civil about this! Let's make a deal." He points at the guards. "You surrender, and you don't die." He puts his hands on his hips. "How does that sound?"

One of the guards laughs. "And how do you intend to kill us?"

Julian shakes his head. "Oh, no. I can't kill you. But my buddy can!" Something crashes behind Julian, kicking up a large mound of dust. "Say Hi buddy!"

The smoke clears revealing Albuis, with a scary look on his face. "Hi."

The guards eyes widen and they back in fear. Julian grows a smirk.

Couple hours Earlier

Julian and the party are gathered in their room. 

"Me and Albuis will cause a commotion at the entrance of the camp." Julian paces back and forth. "While you all look for the hostages and free them."

"But how would you and Albuis take on fifty Bandits?" Rein asks. "We don't even know how strong their leader is."

"They don't plan to take on them all." Demai spins a small black ball in her hand. "They just cause a commotion, we go in to save everyone, and then give them a signal to retreat."

Demai throws the black ball at Julian, who catches it. He looks over the black ball. "A smoke bomb?"

Demai smirks. "Escape plan."

"But what happens if the plan fails?" Teina asks.

Julian clenches a fist. "We'll have to fight then... Maybe we'll have to kill them all."

Paimon throws a hand up. "What are we waiting for, let's go save everyone!"

Nemuri gives a happy cry.

Back in the present several bandits run past a tent, then Paimon, Nemuri, Teina, Rein and Demai's head comically poke out from the back of the tent.

"Seems like their distraction worked." Rein mutters as he sees a bandit fly up into the sky.

"We need to hurry." Teina whispers.

"Follow me." Demai orders as she pulls up her hood and starts to sneak towards some tents.

Everyone nods and sneaks behind Demai and leads them to a tent right next to the largest one.

"This is the one." Demai claims.

"How do you know?" Paimon asks.

Demai points to her eyes. "I have good eyesight."

'Right... Eagle Vision...' Paimon says in thought.

The group enters the tent and a guard, who's in front of a large cage, turns around and spots them.

"INTRU-" Demai silences the guard by stabbing him in the throat with her hidden blade.

Demai slowly puts the body on the ground and grabs the keys. She walks up to the cage, where several female teenagers, a couple kids and an old man sit.

"Are you all good?" Demai asks.

The villagers nod.

Paimon sicks her head out of the tent and sees several more bandits run by. She then moves back inside. "We should hurry, or Julian and Albuis will get overrun!" 

Demai opens the cage and the villages get out.

"Everyone follow me!" Demai orders as they exit the tent, only to run into a massive man welding a large sword.

Everyone grows scared.

"That's a large man..." Paimon gulps, and Nemuri nods slowly as she floats behind Paimon.

"I knew there were insects in my village." The Bandit leader stares down at the group as he pulls out his large sword off his back. "Seems like I need to teach that village a lesson."

Demai turns to the villagers. "RUN!" The villagers run away and out of the camp.

Paimon swiftly floats forward, with a fist pulled back. "Paimon will teach you a lesson!" She yells, even though she's kinda scared.

The bandit leader catches Paimon's fist. Making her freeze up and sweat.

"Shit..." Paimon mutters.

The bandit leader throws Paimon away, and she crashes through several tents and lands near Julian, who's a bit battered and bruised. 

"What the hell was that?" Julian questions as she blocks another sword that was aiming for his head.

The smoke clears, revealing Paimon, who has several scrapes across her body. She slowly gets up and rubs her head.

"Paimon?!" Julian shouts. "Why are you over here?!"

Paimon rubs her head. "Ugh... We found the leader."

"The leader?" Julian kicks a bandit away.

Teina and Demai both landed near Paimon, battered and bruised. A few specks of blood fly out of Demai's mouth as she coughs. 

"Yup..." Paimon says with a serious look.

Rein screams like a girl as she lands next to Paimon, with Nemuri on his back.

Rein grunts as he lifts himself up. "He's built like a bear!"

Everyone groups up and stares at the large group of bandits in front of them. Albuis has some small wounds.

"Paimon thinks we might be in danger..." Paimon looks around, and her party just gives her a 'Really' look. "But we can do this, time to power up!"

Paimon holds her hands out and several Health Potions appear in her hands. Demai, Albuis and Julian swiftly grab them and drink away.

"I'm not that badly hurt!" Rein states, as she holds his side in pain.

"We can't recklessly use them." Teina says as she readies her bow.

Nemuri gives a cry of agreement.

"So, now what leader?" Paimon asks as he finishes his potion.

Julian wipes his mouth and readies his sword. "We'll its about forty to six now."

Rein smirks as he spins her spear. "I like those odds."

Albuis cracks his knuckles. "Break them..."

Demai takes out her short curved sword and dagger. "If we can't take out some simple bandits, how can we reach high ranks?"

Paimon chuckles as she flexes her hands. "Paimon wants to hurt them!"

Nemuri throws a hand up and gives a cry of agreement.

"So..." Julian points her sword forward. "Let's do this!"

The Leader of the bandits chuckles as he steps back and stands behind his army. "Come at us them."

"Charge!" Julian yells and everyone charges forward.

Rein throws his spear forward, and it slams into the chest of a Bandit, killing him. "Return!"

The spear flies out of the bandits chest and back to Rein's hand.

"Light Arrow!" Teina casts and she shoots an arrow made of light, and as it strikes a bandit, it blows up, taking a couple bandits with him.

Demai slides under a sword slash and stabs a bandit twice in the back, before kicking him to the ground. Albuis grabs a bandit by the head as he tries to stab Demai in the back. He then slams the bandit into the ground, turning the bandits head into a red mess.

Nemuri gets surrounded by several bandits.

"What is this thing?" A bandit questions.

"I don't know, looks kinda soft." A bandit states.

"We should capture it!"

Nemuri looks at the three bandits around her in question. Then she lets out a cry and a purple waves flies out from her, sending the bandits onto the ground, groaning in pain.

Paimon laughs, sadistically, as she fires off several small rays of light, that easily go through the heads of several bandits. But a couple hold up their hands and cast magic shields. 

Paimon grumbles as the bandits who casted the shields, fire off several fire, ice and wind spells at her.

"Wah oh." Paimon weaves through the several spells and charges towards the bandits spell casters, who scream in fear. "YES, SCREAM FOR ME!"

Paimon swings her hand in an arc, sending out a Crescent shaped arc of golden light; cutting the bandits in half. Paimon laughs in satisfaction, but stops as she feels something coming down onto her.

Paimon floats back as a large sword mashes into the ground next to her. 

'That was close!'

The bandit leader lifts up his sword. "Hehe, you've got good senses."

Paimon sweats slightly as she looks at the man that's barely shorter than Albuis. 'This man is massive... Hehe, that's what she said.'

"Paimon will make quick work of you!" Paimon sends out another arc of golden light, only for the bandit to block it with his massive sword. "Now that's just plot convince!"

Paimon then lets out a screamed panic as the leader zooms up to her, and brings his sword down onto her. She flies away, but the leader follows after her.

'WHY IS HE FOLLOWING PAIMON?!?!?!?!' She screams in thought.

Paimon fires off several small rays of light at the leader, but he blocks them with his sword. He then lunges towards the flying child, and barely misses her with his sword. She then sends out another Crescent Slash, but he blocks it with his sword again.

'How is Paimon supposed to kill him when all her attacks are blocked!!!!!!'

Paimon screams in her head as she avoids several more attacks from the leader. Then she remembers something, the weird cubes she used against the Orcs, and how it instantly killed them.

Paimon then smirks. "Fell my wrath!" She holds her hands out and several scarlet red cubs fly out from her hands and towards the bandit leader.

The Leader just smirks and brings up his sword to block them. The cubes slam into his sword, blowing up and sending dust everywhere. The battlefield goes silent as everyone looks over to where the leader is.

The smoke clears showing the leader in a dreadful state. His entire right arm and shoulder is missing, and only the handle of his sword is remaining on the ground.

The leader coughs up some blood with a confused look. "What... happened?" He falls onto the ground.

"AHAHA! Don't mess with me!" Paimon cheers, Nemuri gives a happy cry off to the side. ‘Those cubes use up a bit of mana, makes me kinda tired.’

All the bandits yell in fear. "That child kill the Leader!!!!"

"I'M NOT A CHILD!"

"All of you surrender, and I promise you will not be harmed!" Julian yells.

All the bandits stare at Julian, before dropping their weapons and lifting their hands up. Nemuri sits on top of Albuis' head with a smile. Albuis just has his eyes closed as he seems to be sleeping.

.

.

.

The party grumbles as they sit in the back of Kedrern's carriage. Paimon's sitting on Rein's lap this time. Demai is on Julian's lap and they both still have blushes.

'Heeeeeh...' Paimon sighs in thought. 'After dealing with the bandits we tied them up and brought them to the village for their judgement. And then the village gave us a feast for saving them. But now the next morning, we're in the back of the carriage on a four day trek to Greendale... Paimon hates carriages...'

Paimon glances at Teina, who still refused to let Paimon sit on her lap.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Duke Malird Numbred nervously sits at his desk.

"What you seek will pit the gods against us!" The Duke states.

The man with the golden eyes leans onto the desk. "I thought you wanted to save your daughter?"

"I-I do but-"

The golden eyes man smirks. "And to do that, we'll just have to break a few rules."

"The gods forbid going into those cathedrals!" The Duke nearly shouts. "Going into them will make the gods angry at me."

The golden eyes man moves around the desk and puts a hand on Duke's shoulder. "Trust me, I have already thought of that. We'll be fine, I just need your cooperation with finding it and opening the vault. You should already know why I need your help."

The Duke grows quiet. "Because I'm a descendant of a Retainer..."

The golden eyed man grows an unnerving smile as his eyes shine. "Exactly, and what you seek is in the vault of the cathedral."

"What do you gain out of all this?" 

The golden eyed man smirks as he walks away. "Power..."

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02-24-2024

3300 words