I Saved a Demon, and Now He’s After Me - Chapter 26

The demon couldn’t even lift its head as it huddled its feather-covered body and trembled violently. Since starting her work as a Hunter, Eden had faced countless demons, but this was the first time she’d seen one this pathetic.

Perhaps because humans were the targets they tormented and devoured, most demons looked down on humans. To think one would beg for its life from a human. From Eden’s perspective as a human, it wasn’t particularly bad, but aside from that, the feeling was strange.

“Hey. If you’re going to be this scared of humans, what did you come down to the human realm for? You should have just stayed quietly in Hell picking up grain.”

Eden tapped the demon’s body with the foot that had been stepping on its wing. Caw, caw, the demon made strange cries while trying to avoid her kicks, then suddenly flinched and looked up at her.

“Wh-what did you just say? H-human?”

“Of course I’m human. What, do I look like a demon to you?”

“…Aren’t you?”

What the hell. This ridiculous birdbrain.

She had seen cases of humans mistaking demons for humans, but this was the first time she’d seen a demon mistake a human for a demon. Maybe because its brain was the size of a fist, its cognitive abilities seemed pretty lacking.

“Right. You bastard, I’m a demon. I’ll gobble you right up!”

Eden bared her teeth playfully and growled. Even at that small gesture, the demon was startled and lowered its head again.

“Oh, great demon! As you can see, I am small and my abilities are meager, so there would be no benefit to eating me! If you would rather use me as a servant, I will do my best to serve you.”

This guy’s really funny. He seriously answers what was meant as a joke. When Eden just stared down at him in disbelief, the demon hurried to add more, perhaps misunderstanding her reaction.

“I felt your presence coming here from quite a while ago! I was actually preening my feathers to go greet you first… I’m sorry for making you take such precious steps to come here!”

After that, the demon continued spouting obvious flattery, saying things like this was the first time he’d encountered such pure malice, and that just seeing her face was an honor to his family.

No, you weren’t preening your feathers, you were just hiding. And demons have families?

Eden silently listened to the demon’s flattery before pulling out the sword that had been stuck in its wing.

The effort was commendable, but that didn’t mean she could let a demon live. It was partly because she could only get paid after completing the job, and partly because of Eden’s personal vendetta against demonkind.

When the sword was pulled out, the demon looked up at her with hopeful eyes, thinking Eden would let it live.

“A-as expected, a great being is different. I will never forget this mercy of sparing my life!”

“You idiot. You still don’t get it? I’m not a demon, I’m human.”

Eden raised her sword and thrust it straight down. Whether from fear or because it was relieved thinking it would live, the demon didn’t even try to fly away and was pierced through just like that.

“C-caw… Th-that can’t be. This is definitely a demon’s scent…”

The demon flapped its wings a few times, then its pitch-black pupils rolled back.

“Pure malice this, demon’s scent that. You’ve been talking b******t from the start.”

Well, with death right in front of it, what couldn’t it say. Eden shook her shoulders as if brushing off the blasphemous words and swung her sword. The sword pulled from the body split the beak that had been hanging open weakly. This was evidence to submit to the client.

Clients these days were picky, so if you just told them “I took care of the demon,” they wouldn’t believe you and would insist on going to the scene to check the corpse.

Going to the client and then returning to the scene was also work. Eden, who found that time wasteful, had started collecting evidence at some point. Demon necks, wings, tails, beaks… Though she rarely encountered humanoid demons, there were cases where she’d brought back fingers or toes.

“Hehe. I wonder how surprised they’ll be this time.”

Watching clients recoil in horror when she threw down evidence was one of Eden’s wicked hobbies and small pleasures.

Looking at this, it wasn’t strange that the demon had mistaken her for a demon. The sight of her laughing eerily while talking to herself in a place with no one around was exactly like her nickname of witch.

Eden picked up the beak and cheerfully headed down the mountain. Once she got the commission fee, she should go out to eat for the first time in a while. It would be both a welcome party for the new partner she’d be working with from now on, and encouragement for herself who would have to work without rest again for a while.