Even before her transmigration into this world, Juno disliked close proximity with other people. As a twenty-first century teenage girl, she was taught from a young age to be wary of strangers and run for help in cases of emergency. Of course, there was no longer anywhere for Juno to seek help from. And so, when she heard that demon's voice crawl down her spine, she was forced to make a swift decision.

When humans are in a situation they perceive to be dangerous, what is known as the fight-or-flight response is triggered. Simply put, it will make one choose to either flee or face the threat head-on. 

As the holy priestess, Juno's buffs were not only potent, but long-lasting. The spells cast hours ago upon their first meeting with the demon still had yet to expire, not to mention the ones she had just cast in preparation for fighting demons. Therefore, the current state of the "holy priestess" was akin to a bomb ready to explode.

Naturally, the demon wouldn't have known any of this. After all, the hero was basically a joke, so by that logic the priestess should have been the same, right?

 

As they got up from the demon-shaped indent on the cave wall they had just been smashed into, the demon cursed their luck.

'Of all the people to run into, it had to be those two!' 

The demon regained their composure, tidying up the dirt and gravel that had gotten all over their hair. Before any meaningful conversation could be made, another rock flew past and filled in the head part of the indent.

 

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm not here to fight!" The demon attempted to reason with the two adventurers, dodging a combined physical and magical assault.

"Too bad, don't care." Another chunk of the cave was broken off and thrown.

 

'What the hell is wrong with this gorilla-like priestess??? Isn't the holy priestess supposed to be a pure, benevolent maiden, peacefully staying by the hero-' 

A blade of wind shot past the demon, cutting around three inches off the left side of their hair.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not anything good!" Iliya fired more magical attacks, prompting the demon to escape upwards. Unfortunately, this cramped space was not ideal for flying, and before the demon could spread their wings, a loud "BONK" echoed through the cave. Dejectedly, the demon slowly floated down and rubbed their throbbing head.

No matter who was to judge this battle, the unfairness was obvious!

 

"Ahhhh!!!! You barbarians!!!! Stop it!!!! You're lucky I'm not fighting back!! Listen! To! Me! Okay!" Seeing the pathetic demon crouched onto the floor, Juno and Iliya finally stopped their onslaught. "My name is Malis. I serve as a general under his highness Leviathan, and I'm only here to inspect something with the demon village inside the caves. I don't intend to harm you, so I want you to just overlook our past grievances and let me through."

Malis sat straight, patting down the unruly streaks of purple in their hair. For a supposed "demon general" to get reduced to this state, the power of a pissed-off holy priestess was truly nothing to scoff at!

"Demon village? Leviathan? Is that the demon king?" Completely ignoring the demon's pleas for assistance, Juno started interrogating them instead.

"S...Something like that. The caves down here connect to a demon village on the outskirts of our territory. They haven't been keeping up with taxes, so I've been sent to check up on them."

"So why do you even need our help?" 

"Well, I can't exactly fight that slayer in these caves, lest we collapse them. I'm going to need you to ignore my identity as a demon and vouch for me so nothing gets destroyed."

 

After the destruction caused by only two low-leveled adventurers, Juno could understand why Malis didn't want to fight Lei, especially in a village that was supposedly already doing poorly. But although she was sympathetic, Juno couldn't immediately forget the incident in the temple. Especially since she had spent good money on the spellstone used to break out of that stupid illusion!

 

"Fine, but... What's in it for us?" Juno was certain. If she was going to help this demon, she would need to extort as much as possible from them.

"You..." As Malis's face turned sour, Juno silently raised up another rock. "Ahhh! Stop it, maniac! Fine, I give! The village produces lumite, you can have a whole lumite crystal."

"Deal. Now, get us back together with Lei."

 

Reluctantly, Malis dispelled the illusion magic placed on the caves. Before long, shouts could be heard from further in the caverns.

"Hey! Priestess?! Mage?" From the voice, Juno could tell it was Lei, wandering in search for them.

"Follow me, I'll take you to where he is." Though the voice remained familiar, Malis had changed back into the unassuming appearance from the temple. 

'Why does it have to look like that idiot?'

Silently, Juno began to follow the demon, with Iliya by her side.

 

As the trio went deeper into the ground, the walls of the cave turned a bluish color. By the time they found Lei, they were in a large chamber covered in glowing, blue crystals.

 

"Who is that?" Upon seeing the new face, Lei quickly unsheathed his scimitar.

Being bad at improv, Juno stammered, "Ah, this is uh... "

"Melli. I'm an adventurer, and I saw the job posting. I got lost, though, and fell into a pit, which is how I ended up deep inside the cave."

"Ah... Alright."

So it seemed that Malis was actually half-decent at acting! Surprisingly, they didn't immediately reveal their identity like before. But before they could count their blessings, a harbinger of misfortune arrived from an entrance to the clearing.

 

"Ah...! Are you...Envoy from his highness!" A childlike figure with a horned protrusion on his face ran up to Malis. "Sir, sir, sir! The village, it's-!"

"Sorry, kid, but we're adventurers." Malis quickly shut up the demon and pushed him away. "Ad. Ven. Tur. Ers. Not whatever envoy you're talking about, ahaha!" 

Juno silently rolled her eyes. When put on the spot, Malis was still a bad actor.

Once realizing that he had found adventurers, the child immediately flinched backwards and fell on his back. Slowly, Lei walked forward towards the child and held out his weapon.

"You said something about a village. Explain." 

An ominous air oppressed those around Lei. Despite it being silent, all sound seemed to have been drowned out by the sword. To have such an indomitable aura, how many demons has this man killed?

"I-It's... It..."

The young demon was frozen with fear.

"It's all your fault!" The child's sudden outburst left an expression of shock in Lei's face. What desperation, to be able to exclaim in the face of such pressure.

"Because of you... Because of you humans... everyone's...!" Tears started to flow out of the demon's eyes, adding a jewel-like shine to the lustrous blue irises he possessed. In the moment of shock, he quickly ran away, back into the tunnel he had came from.

"Tch, follow him!" The adventurers hurried after the demon, running through the dark tunnels illuminated by vividly blue crystals.

 

'Oh, so that's what his eyes reminded me of.'

Juno could match Lei's speed with buffs, but since Iliya couldn't, she had to maintain a slower pace. Noticing the widening gap between the front and back of the party, Malis pulled the two and started to fly.

"Hey, aren't you afraid you'll get caught?!" Juno flailed a bit, before giving up. It was better to let Malis do all the work, anyways.

"Ah, whatever! The village is more important!" 

 

Since the demon child was still young, its speed wasn't too fast for Lei. Like a bolt of lightning, he was able to instantly catch and kill much faster monsters. However, it was crucial to find out the truth behind this demon village. If the humans were responsible for intruding into demon territory, it could very well spell some trouble for the kingdom of Diverre. Without a strong hero to figurehead the humans, Lei feared that a war would end in total loss. As such, Lei kept a moderate distance between him and the child, remaining hidden to the unsuspecting demon.

The child ran into another clearing, with Lei following soon after. Upon entering, Lei was blinded by the brightness of the village. But the light soon faded, leaving only a barren wasteland of despair.

 

"This... What the hell happened here?!"