The rest of the “tests” were nowhere near as horrifying as the first one. The other ones were rather silly, in fact. They asked me to do some basic things that required no skill at all, like blow in a tube or strip myself naked and do some weird poses as the witch observed me from all sides.

That looks like a slave owner inspecting his goods to me, but the demons were insistent those were all health tests. I don’t know why they felt the need to lie to me, but hey, at least it didn’t hurt. At least no blood draining was involved.

It was mostly “step here, grab that” until noon. Then, finally, those silly tests were over.

“Good,” Mun-Hee said, “you’re health is good. Have to go now. Do I duty. But we see at eve-ning.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” I asked.

“You is free. Do what you want. Just no trouble other. Can stay in room if want.”

“In our quarters?”

“Yes.”

“… can I see my master?”

Instead of getting angry at me for mentioning my master, Mun-Hee started looking absent-mindedly into the sky.

“Hmm … can be goodest thing. I can not be with you, but he can. He is good. Not try some thing funny. He keep you safe. Rare male to trust.”

“Is that because he’s a hero?”

That made her smile wholeheartedly: “Can be.”

-----

As we walked through the hall, my caretaker stopped abruptly. We were in front of a big, two-piece door, but there was someone in front of it.

It was some middle-aged male I hadn’t seen before. He was smiling at us, but not in a good way. Somehow, he managed to pull off a smile that looked both creepy and sleazy.

“That’s probably their creepy uncle right there,” I thought. He certainly fitted the description perfectly.

“The way he’s standing in front of that door, with his arms crossed like that, he’s clearly trying to block our path.”

“And now the creep is talking in their demonic tongue so I wouldn’t understand a thing.”

“That’s right Mun-Hee, you go girl! Put that demon in his place! Just be firm like you always are with these males! Move him aside so I can finally see Jens. I don’t want the demonic hero to forget me so soon. I have things to do and information to pry.”

“This guy is even creepier than he looks. What’s with him smiling even wider! I guess he’s like that black Jens’ fuck-buddy. He likes it when the others talk down to him. Move aside already, will you!”

“Ok, this clearly isn’t going as planned. Mun-Hee is losing her resolve, and the creeper is getting more serious. He even stopped giving us his creepy smile. Please, Mun-Hee, do something about this meanie! See how these cute eyes are looking at you? Get these fluttering eyelashes? Come on, do something!”

“Oh, it actually worked! Some of her resolve is back. It’s not like it was at the start, but it’s something. You go girl!”

“Why isn’t this creep moving already? Come on! What’s your problem?”

“Oh no. Mun-Hee is slouching.”

“I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

“Please, sir, I just want to see my master. I will be a good girl,” I did my best to look as innocent and not threatening as possible, clasping my hands together in a pleading gesture.

The creepy smile was back on and in full force: “I know. You are a good girl. You just want to see your master. But the master is very busy. And you’re not allowed to go through here. There are secrets behind.”

He started ruffling my hair vigorously as I stood there in shock. Shocked to find a demon who knows how to speak properly.

“You are a good girl, right?” He continued, “And good girls do what I tell them. Good girls don’t fight back or ask unnecessary questions. Good girls listen and obey their betters.”

“Not true,” Mun-Hee said, shoving his hand away from me, “good girl not listen to every thing. Good girl think her self. Not do like this tell. He is not you’re master.”

“Unlike you, Mun-Hee is not a good girl. She refuses to accept her position. She is a good person, but not a good subject.”

That made Mun-Hee raise her voice quite a bit as she retorted in their tongue.

“Ok, this is getting out of control. I don’t want her to get in trouble because of me. I don’t want to compromise the one person I made some progress with.”

“It’s ok Mun-Hee, I understand,” I said while pulling her sleeve gently, “A slave can’t go wherever she wants and do as she wills. We can go back, I don’t mind. I just wanted to see my master, but I can wait. It’s ok.”

“What the … what is this?”

“Why is she looking so heartbroken? Am I that good?”

“Come Snirba. Let us go,” she finally relented with a sigh.

“It’s ok, I get it, you can’t win every time. You’re just a female after all. Just raising your voice at an older male like that is worthy of respect.”

“I is sorry.”

“Huh?”

“I is sorry for not go you to Jens.”

“It’s ok, I understand. I don’t want to bother my master if he’s busy.”

“What in the … now it looks like I’m comforting her! It’s supposed to be the other way around!”

“Is she really taking it that hard? Or is she an even better actress than I am? Putting an act on so I’d think she’s on my side.”

“I’ve heard about the ‘fellow prisoner’ act before. Don’t you dare pull it on me!”

“Francisco is true. You need not go there. Not good. Jens learn there. You’re be there distract him.”

“It’s ok, I understand. We all have our responsibilities. I just wish someone would tell me what mine is.”

“Great, now she is ruffling my hair. Why do these demons love doing it so much? What a strange fetish to have.”

“It looks like her smile is back on. Well, that’s something.”

“You’re responsibility is to learn. And learn us. We see each other late. Talk more. Learn both you and us.”

“That sounds like a privilege to me, not a responsibility. After all, knowledge is reserved for nobility. Only they can afford it. Besides, what good will knowledge do to a slave? How will it help me shovel or clean faster?”

“Is that really so funny? It’s just common sense.”

“You is not slave any more. You know … you can be noble here.”

“Huh?”

“Tell you later. With other. And tell you why I can yell at males.”

-----

Mun-Hee left me alone in our quarters. Apparently, I could get out. It wasn’t a cell or anything similar, but she strongly advised me against doing so. Demonic males can be dangerous and all that. I still couldn’t decide if she was paranoid or extremely commandeering, but it was slowly starting to annoy me.

“But hey, I’m in her quarters, so I don’t get to complain. Not until I convince Jens to give me some of my own. Hopefully, mine won’t be as cramped as this one.”

So, I spent the rest of the day like an incompetent peasant’s child. While my caretaker was busy providing for me, my only responsibility was not to break anything or set the house on fire.

Still, it could’ve been worse, considering I was among the demons. And their slave.

Speaking of which, what Mun-Hee said started bugging me. With nothing to do, her words came back to me again and again. How can I become a noble here when I’m a slave? I was given to them as a commodity, so what is she talking about? Not only that, I’m an outsider here. My family’s name means nothing. It’s not like I have some lineage I can count on. So, what would an outsider of a different race have to do to earn such a privilege?

Also, was Mun-Hee a noble? She certainly did talk like one and has had a self-righteous attitude, but she did admit she’s not a demon. Noble or not, I don’t see why someone like Jens, who allegedly slayed a dragon, would let a female talk over him in front of everyone else. Unless she’s somehow special to him.

That’s the kind of things I thought about while curled up in the sheets on the small bed. Nothing made sense in that castle. You couldn’t tell people’s rank, who’s important and who’s not, who you’re supposed to show some respect, and who can be trodden over.

And why in the heavens did nobody ask me to bow in front of them? That one troubled me the most. Nobody felt the need to put me in my place. Mun-Hee was constantly talking about learning and teaching, but she never deemed it necessary to teach me the basic manners of that place! For all I know, my lack of humility insulted each and every single demon in the castle!

The next thing I remember was Mun-Hee waking me up. I have no idea when it happened, but at one point I fell asleep. I guess I didn’t even realize just how stressed I was. She shook my shoulder gently while talking in a low voice, treating me like a child once again. Her usual dumb smile was all over her face. Somehow, I got the feeling that she was treating me like her baby.

“Wakey! Need to go. I tell you we talk in eve-ning.”

“Sorry, I … I don’t know how it happened.”

“It is good. You need rest. But now need to go. Other wait to us.”

So, we went to the same place we were the day before. The demons made their presence known from two halls away. They were incredibly loud, and their deep voices echoed all over the place. But once they saw me, they immediately got quiet. As if I was their superior.

The creeper from that morning wasn’t around, but I couldn’t care less about that.

We started talking about some menial things. Apparently, the main purpose of our gatherings there was for me to point out the mistakes in their speech. Which I did sparingly since I didn’t want to offend them too much.

But then, the smartass called Ira called me out on it.

“Not good. You is not doing you’re job right. I makeing errors on purpose and you not say it.”

“She is not comfortable erroring us every two words!” Mun-Hee jumped to my defense.

“Still, not good. She needing to know we not hurting her for doing good job. Us know us have terrible talk. Not needing to protect us.”

“I agree,” Jens said, “Be truth Snirba. Tells when us erroring. Not hurting you or geting mad. We need this.”

“I understand, master,” I said as I bowed my head respectfully.

“He is not you’re master!” Mun-Hee raised her voice, “You not bowing to he!”

“But … isn’t that just common sense? To show some respect for those who are above you?”

“No!”

I must’ve looked like an idiot to them because all the males started laughing at me.

Meanwhile, Mun-Hee was visibly irritated.

“Female not bow! Female is strong! Female can alone! No one is respecting you if you’re not respecting you’re self!” She continued with burning passion in her voice.

“Oh, I see! She is trying to say that they respect strength, which makes sense for the demons. I’ve heard they’re chaotic and all, but I never expected it to be like this, to the point that I’m considered weak if I show some respect for my superiors. But should I really be so disrespectful? What if she’s trying to start a fight between me and the other demons by lying to me?”

“But … but I’m weak,” I responded, “How can I pretend to be strong when I’m weak? I mean, these males can knock me out with a single slap! So how can I act arrogantly strong in front of them? Wouldn’t that cause some serious misunderstandings?”

Mun-Hee glared disapprovingly at me for the first time. She still had that motherly care in her eyes though. And just like all the other mothers, while she was giving me a speech on how I’m not supposed to bow to others just a moment ago, she clearly didn’t want me talking back to her.

“Let I explain to you how I can yell to this males.”