Thinking about it normally, most people would probably feel very strongly about having someone try to kill them. As for me, I'm already used to it, which is a bit disconcerting now that I think about it...

"So... Your name is Zerana, right? Why did you try to poison me?"

"Oh, that was... I was testing your strength! The others also tried to fight you, didn't they?"

Mmm, is that what it was? I don't buy it.

"There's a difference between fighting and just trying to kill me. And I'm not convinced that poisoning someone is a good way of testing their strength."

"W-well. I'm different because my class is assassin you see. This is just the way I fight."

"Really? Well, I think I'd rather not be assassinated, so you have to promise to not do it again."

"Ah, of course. I promise that I will not try to-"

*Woosh*

With a quick and unexpected movement, Zerana closes the distance between us and her hand sinks into my chest.

Thanks to Arana, I have a lot of experience in dodging people who try to grab my breasts, it got to the point I even made her give up on it. And yet this girl did it without even giving me a chance to react, how impressive.

And now that I'm paying attention, her hand didn't actually break my skin. It somehow went through my body and now she's grabbing my heart.

"HAHAHA! You lowered your guard! Now if you don't want me to squeeze your heart until it bursts and drain all the blood from your body, you better-"

"Let go."

Even if I'm impressed by her skill, I'm still a bit annoyed. I mean, she just broke her promise before she had even finished making it, that has to be a record.

And why did she say that poison was the way she fights if she can do this kind of stuff?

"What did you say?"

"Get your hand out of me."

"You know that I'm grabbing your heart, right?"

"Now."

For a few seconds, we both stare into each other's eyes, I can feel her hand trembling more and more inside me. Eventually, she turns her gaze away, and soon after, removes her hand from my heart and takes a few steps back.

"Guh... To think that I would lose in a match of intimidation..."

Oh, she was using intimidation? I wasn't.

Why is she clenching her teeth and making an angry face? I think that I'm the one who should be angry in this situation.

"Hey! Pipsqueak! Come here a moment." She yells at the hallway.

Another blood demon, a rather short guy, comes running to answer her call.

"Miss Zerana! Did you call m- Ompf."

And she immediately punches him, first on the stomach, then on the face, sending him crashing against a wall.

"Ah, now I feel better."

"What are you doing?! Why did you hit him?!"

"Cause I was pissed off. What's the problem?"

I go help the guy to get back up while she acts like she didn't do anything wrong.

"You cannot beat up your subordinates just because you are angry at someone else! That's just wrong!"

"Why? She's stronger than me, so she's allowed to do that, no?"

He says that and looks at me as if I just said something weird.

"Eh?"

Why is he taking the side of the person who hit him instead of the one who's trying to help him?

Look, I know that I'm not the sharpest person when it comes to understanding social interactions. But I'm pretty sure that most of what she's been doing these past ten minutes would be considered extremely improper by the vast majority of people.

"Is this perhaps your first time meeting blood demons?" Says the apple folk leader from before, I forgot that he was here...

"Are they always this... Aggressive?"

"For the most part, yes. They are the most violent of all the tribes and they worship strength to a much greater degree than the rest of us, but they refuse to accept that anyone can be stronger than a blood demon to the point of delusion."

"Hah?! Are you trying to pick a fight you fruit-brained... fruit?!"

And she immediately proves him right...

So, if I understand correctly, the blood demons are to the rest of the demon wasteland what the demon wasteland is to the rest of the continent...

Anyway, I'm not going to let her attack the apple guy. The truth is that she's not given me a very good first impression, and I'm starting to find her quite annoying.

'Shadow chain'

"Gah?! What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"Look, I understand that you have your own culture and beliefs and I don't want to say that it's wrong when I know almost nothing about them. But you are going to be my subordinate from now on, so we're going to have to work together. And I don't think that's going to be possible with the attitude you have been showing me so far."

"So what? Are you going to beat me up until I start kissing your ass?"

She didn't listen to a single word of what I just said did she...

"I think I need to get some help."

"Wait! Don't pull the chain all of a sudden! Don't drag me on the floor!"

---

 

I dragged Zerana all the way back to the hall where we are having the feast and left her at the center of the hall, now everyone is staring at her, looking like they don't know what to say.

But Xania is the first one to break the silence.

"Hey, isn't that the boss of the blood idiots? Did she do something bad? Is this a public punishment? I would like to make some suggestions."

She seems strangely excited to see her in chains, I guess they must know each other.

"So this corpse digger is your underling? I should have known, she is too weak to survive on her own so she always bends the knee to anyone who seems a bit strong."

"Says the coward who kept hiding in her hole when Kalroth was around."

"YOU of all people are calling me a coward? You can't even fight without hiding behind the corpses of your dead grandpas."

"Well, I guess sometimes your cowardice does get offset by your stupidity."

"Hah?"

"Haaah?"

"Mmm, I see that the two of you are very similar in a way."

Both of them turn to look at me right after I make my comment, their eyes are almost bloodshot.

""I'M NOTHING LIKE THIS IDIOT!!!""

They even said the exact same thing at the same time...

"Anyway, let's get to the point. It seems like you have some anger issues that are very likely to cause problems with your coworkers in the future."

"Coworkers? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the leaders of the other manaborn tribes. That's why I brought you here so that you can share your feelings with each other. To begin, could you tell everyone why is it that you wanted to kill me?"

"Hah? Because I don't want you to tell me what to do."

"I see... Tell me, how does it make you feel to have to follow someone's orders."

"What are you? My therapist? Go look for some pampered noble girls in a human kingdom if you want to talk about feelings."

"Mmm, if you don't open up a little we're not going to get anywhere..."

As I'm trying to think of a way to make her talk, I see Arana stumbling her way to me. She's wearing an elegant white dress that I've never seen before and her face is all red.

"Luna! Let me... let me do it. I'll make her spli- spirt- spit it all out!"

"Ara, are you drunk?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Look, Luna, look... I know a spell that can make a blood demon talk..."

"Really?"

Zerana scoffs at her. "Oh, really? What are you planning to- GYAAAAAAH!!!"

A light comes out from Arana's hand... And does nothing. Isn't that just a basic spell to make light?

Oh! Now I remember reading something about blood demons. They are one of the strongest races of manaborn, and the strongest as a group, as they are not even all that rare. And yet, they could never win a war against any of the natural races, because of their crippling weakness against light magic.

Even the sunlight can apparently make them weaker. But I never imagined that it would be so bad that even a tiny light would produce such a reaction.

"So... so are you going to answer Luna's question?"

"Alright... Having you give me orders would piss me off because I know that I'm stronger- AGH!!!"

She did it again.

"Tell the truth." That pouty frown Arana's making... I've never seen that expression on her before.

"Look, if you want to execute me I would understand, but do we really need to do this in front of everyone?"

"..."

Ignoring Zerana's pleas, Arana prepares her light for the third time.

"I... I'm afraid of looking like a lapdog of someone stronger than me. The rest of my tribe looks up to me and I don't want to disappoint them..."

So Arana's 'spell' was to just torture her until she talks. Except that it doesn't look like she's actually hurt at all, just afraid of the particularly pure light magic Arana uses.

Actually, I think that Zerana is more afraid of Arana than she is of me. As should be the case for everybody if you ask me.

"I see... Well, if your only problem is with me then it's fine, you can keep trying to assassinate me if that helps you relieve your stress. But you will have to follow my orders, and I won't allow you to hurt anyone else."

"You say that I can keep trying to kill you? Are you suicidal or is there something wrong with your head?"

"No, but it's obvious that you are going to fail anyway, so I don't care how many times you try. But just to be clear, you can only go after ME. If you get anyone else involved... Well, let's just say that I'll stop being so kind to you."

"Y-yes... Understood..."

I tried using my intimidation skill when I said that last part and Zerana's face went even paler than it already was, making the red veins under her skin more visible.

Uh... I think I took the title of 'scariest person' back from Arana in her mind...

"Hehehe, that was sooo funny. Let's make her tell us all of her embarrassing secrets next!" Says Arana with a stupid grin on her face, Another new expression...

"No Ara, I don't think you should do that... Actually, I think that you should go and rest for a bit, you look like you're going to fall flat on the ground at any moment."

"Uh, sure... I'll rest here."

"Eh?! Wait! You should go find a bed, don't rest on me!"

She fell asleep while hugging me...

It feels a bit weird to say this, but Arana is surprisingly cute when she's drunk.