Arrival
Baachsburg, the sheep-horned demons’ settlement, was sprawled atop the side of a mountain.
Its most notable landmark was a cluster of massive central buildings that reminded me of something along the lines of a university. It almost looked to be the entire settlement’s origin point, with everything else built up around it. As a whole, it really did feel like one of those places that you would hear legends and rumours about, a secret village, hidden away in the mountains.
With that said, its population was a bit too big for it to be considered a village. It wasn’t exactly city-sized either, but it was getting pretty close.
Being up in the air allowed us to see just how well they had the settlement planned out. Everything was divided into distinct, neatly-arranged lots, organised about as perfectly as perfect could be.
Knowing sheep-horned demons were almost exclusively female, I started to wonder if that meant that they were putting girls on construction jobs, but soon recalled that there existed such a thing as magic.
They were likely whipping everything up through the use of some sort of spell system based in reason and logic, one that was a stark contrast from the primordial stuff that Lefi and I so often exploited.
Looking down, I realised that there was a crowd forming in front of the village. Sheep-horned women were coming out of their homes to observe our ship with a series of curious gazes. Yeah, I knew it. This place is just full of Leilas. Looks like curiosity winning out over fear is just a racial trait.
“Your race is… not difficult to comprehend,” said Lefi.
“As a race, we thrive on our curiosity,” said Leila. “It’s what lets us get up in the morning.”
“That ain’t wrong, but I’m thinkin’ it goes doubly for you, Leila,” said Lyuu.
“Really? I thought I was rather average,” said the demon.
I couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh at the fact that she was saying it with a straight face. The worst part is she might actually think that, even though I explicitly remember Eldegaria mentioning that she was kind of an extreme case.
The ship was parked just outside the town’s boundaries. The sailors didn’t disembark with us, but they were also going to be staying the night so that they could join Nell and I on our trip to the demon realm’s capital.
“Isn’t that Leila?”
“Can you sense that man’s magic? The one walking behind her. I think he might be a demon lord.”
“Look at the girl with the horns and the tail! She’s giving off a ridiculous amount of pressure…”
A familiar old lady stepped out from the crowd of overly curious sheep demons, none of whom were trying to hide their curiosity.
“That was a grandiose entrance if I’ve ever seen one,” said Eldegaria, with an exasperated sigh. “I know you said you were coming, but I wasn’t expecting you to come in one of the ships we used in the war.”
“It’s nice to see you again, professor Eldegaria.”
“I’m glad to see you too, Leila. I always knew that you would find a way to get by, no matter where you ended up, but I was not expecting to find you in a demon lord’s service, of all places,” said the old lady. “Though, it also doesn’t come as very much of a surprise, seeing as how this is you we’re talking about.”
“While I do think that there is nothing that cannot be explained through logic and theory, I truly do believe that it’s something of a miracle that I was able to not only meet My Lord, but also reunite with all of you,” she said, with a big smile.
Damn Leila, that one really hits right in the feels.
“I’m glad that you’re happy and getting along well, but you should visit Emyu as soon as you can. She’s been lonely since you left. Poor little thing’s done nothing but engross herself in her studies.”
“I will. I have also been missing her myself.”
“Good,” said Eldegaria with a nod. “I’ll leave the guests to you, but I’m also acquainted with some of them, so don’t hesitate to come to me if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank you very much, professor. The trip has left a number of us feeling rather exhausted, so we were thinking of starting with a trip to the hot spring,” she said, before turning back to the group. “Right this way, everyone.”
The rest of us followed her lead and walked right into the village.
***
“Damn… this feels amazing.”
A groan leaked from my throat as I sank into the long-awaited bath. The bath is the greatest thing ever invented by mankind. Period. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s still amazing, especially right after a long trip.
“It certainly is nice, but hot springs like this are rare outside of the mountains,” said the captain. “I’m starting to envy people who live in places like this.”
“Here especially, seeing as how it’s mostly women.”
“Aye, this place is like poison to a man’s mind. Makes me worried that my men are going to do something they shouldn’t.”
“No worries there, captain! We’ll make sure we take after you and do things like gentlemen.”
“We’ll use the way you snagged yourself a wife as reference.”
“…Do anything weird and I’m handing you lot right over to the local authorities, y’hear?”
The friendly banter had me nearly splitting my sides.
“Well, you know what they say. It’s better to make love than war,” I said. “Speaking of wives, which are amazing by the way, you guys should be getting some pretty good chances down the line. I hear that all the countries involved in the war are going to be looking to do a bit of a cultural exchange, if you catch my drift.”
“I heard about that. We were asked if any of our soldiers would be interested in some matchmaking. You hear that, men? Hold out until we’re done here, and we’ll see about setting you up with an opportunity or two when we get back from the mission.”
The soldiers let out a cheer as each envisioned himself in a much happier place.
“Y’know, man, I’ve actually been meaning to ask you something.” One of the sailors turned to face me. “What’s your secret dude? How’d you get so many beautiful birds, and get your kids so well behaved and adorable? There’s gotta be something, right?”
“You bet they’re adorable,” I said with a grin. “You see, the trick is just to be real with ’em. If you do your best at being honest and sincere and whatnot, then it’ll help you understand each other and communicate. And that goes for both the kids and the wives, especially the wives. If a girl ends up turning the other way when you’re doing everything you can, then it probably means you guys weren’t a good match in the first place.”
And so, the guys and I had a long friendly chat. I like hanging out with the girls too, but this is a nice change of pace every once in a while.
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