--------------- Zahariel's POV --------------

There are some problems with using 'Cupid's Arrow' to get a couple together. The relationship is not so solid compared to one forged by mutual trust and time. If too many problems appear, people will question their motives and the sudden infatuation can disappear.

One of these problems just happened. Marcy's doubts resurfaced, but the troll seems to be focused on fixing it. Good. I don't want them unhappy, but there is little risk of keeping Grendel out of sight or being left behind now. We are already on the road.

Guess I'll take a stroll and see the scenery.

The ease he recruited these flame gorillas into his service is problematic. Lucifer was the demon lord and had dominion over the monsters. Is this what is happening? More troubling, the flame gorilla is a vicious and warlike species. They accepted to just stay with humans too easily. I can't wrap my head around what is going on. It all points to a special power of dominion over monsters. Damn.

Past the lazy creek, there is a beautiful meadow. What is that over there? A group of cloaked figures is waking north. They look human, but humans would use the road. They are using clothes, so they are not ordinary monsters. I got a bad feeling. I'll hide and watch.

They are hunched. No, these lumps over their backs are hidden wings. They show a bit of skin, but it is greyish. Demon tribe. Our sworn enemies, the spawn of Lucifer. If they find Grendel and he is indeed the advent of Lucifer, the world will be doomed. I'll assault them and cut the evil in the bud.

I am itching to use my ultimate celestial magic, 'Comet Fall'. Time to relieve some stress on these demons.

I lost. Did I die? I don't remember anything after the comet crashed down. I don't feel anything bad. Is it cold? My nose is cold. My wings are itching. Wings? I should open my eyes...

I am inside the wagon Beowulf brought to use as shelter. There are several pelts and blankets over me and Helen is sleeping next to me, naked. It is snowing outside. I'm naked too. My arms are longer. And my wings are back?

The emotions overflow and I cry. I'm not dead and no longer mutilated.

From behind me where the coachmen seat should be, I hear Marcy's voice, "Hey kid, welcome back to the world of the living!"

------------------------------ Grendel's POV ------------------------------

Marcy wakes me up from my nap. These past few days were hectic and sleep-deprived. I got two levels of sleep resistance to show my efforts. We had to keep alternating healing magic on Zahariel while he fought the darkness infection. We piled up the blood bond regeneration, healing pulse, healing spells, full heal, a lot of meditation and Helen's own druidic magic. She temporarily sacrificed her consciousness to keep a healing over time buff on Zahariel and shoulder part of the burden from the darkness.

In the meanwhile between MP recovery sessions, I have been teaching the gorillas human language and Marcy the monster language. Some of the smartest kids have already picked up some vocabulary.

I got to level 6 of the darkness resistance skill before my own 'encroaching darkness infection' recovered on its own. As one side effect of the troll blood treatment, Zahariel's body changed. His wings' regeneration was expected. I can regrow my horns in a few hours. The strange change is that he is no longer a baroque cherub. His body grew and now he is almost 5 feet tall, the same height as an 11 or 12 years old kid.

Let's check out on our patient.

"Hey, no-longer-pipsqueak! How are you feeling?"

"Grendel? What happened?"

"You went on your own and aggroed a lot of evil... things, almost got yourself killed. We rescued you and nursed you back to health. But what were these grey guys? Devils? Demons? Bat-people?"

It seems he needs time to process the information.

"By the way, nice wings you got there. I think you can even fly now but take it easy. You should recover your strength before trying something crazy again," Marcy tries to lighten the mood.

"You rescued me from the demon tribe? They are the spawn of Lucifer, twisted humans created to serve him." His head tilts to a side.

What is he talking about? Was he expecting me to chicken out in front of some crippled demon? "Why would I not rescue my companion from evil beings?"

He was trying to say something in response, but Marcy cut him off.

"Make sure to thank Grendel, Zahariel! He went in and fought a throng of imps to bring you back here still breathing. Helen and he were devoting their entire strength to keep you alive. But can I ask one thing?"

"What is it?"

"How long are you going to stay there glued to the naked Helen?"

"What about it? I am naked too."

A sudden urge to clock that busybody tease is suppressed in me. I'll settle for a glare, "Marcy, angels have no malice and do no evil. He is feeling nothing. Zahariel, get out of there," He complies and leaves the bedroll, "See? There's no reaction in his body at all."

The seraph still apologizes, "Sorry."

"We didn't know how much you would grow, so we couldn't make clothes for you. Do you mind using Helen's robes for a while? I'll sew you something nice later. When I wake up. Bye!"

I spent three days without sleep nursing that brat. Guess I'll catch up now. There is a warm bedroll right there, but I am too big to fit this wagon. Stupid ten feet tall trolls. I have to settle to spreading some pelts over the flat rock outside.

Sunlight hits my face and I wake up fully refreshed. It seems they moved the wagon to cover me. We are still in the rocky outcropping we camped for my duel with Kochuraerc. Helen is wearing a bandanna and is playing with the rats and the bees, Marcy is crafting arrows, the gorillas minus Kochuraerc are playing among the rocks. I don't see Mittens or Zahariel. They are probably flying around.

Mittens flies over the cliff carrying Helen in his hind paws. Oh, of course. Zahariel is using Helen's spare clothes. It was the closest we could find that would fit him.

They notice my presence, and Zahariel runs to me. I am still not entirely awake, but why is he bowing to me?

"Grendel, thank you so much! I heard from the girls that you spared no effort to save me!" There is a sparkle in his eyes that is hard to ignore. He seems as innocent as a young child. "You even spent the skill points you were so carefully saving, you gave me not only my life but my wings back!"

Behind him, Helen and Marcy have satisfied smiles. I think some brat got a scolding about not being grateful enough. It was not necessary but it is not a bother. We need to bond more to work better as a team.

He takes off the robe, and underneath he is using a blue one-piece dress, a summer dress Helen fancies. It has a low back with straps so his wings can unfold and move without hindrance. He opens those two feathered wings and the glistening white of these feathers shine under the morning sun like a whitening toothpaste ad. The feather's rachis and barbs have a golden hue. It is awe-inspiring. Each wing is about as long as he is tall when fully spread.

I also won't take note of the fact that his slim body is too girlish, and the dress does not help. I think this world is not ready for traps.

"I am sorry for not realizing you missed the wings so much, Zahariel. But in the future please tell us if something is bothering you. We are all family here, we will do our best to make you happy."

"You will make me feel bad for..." He cuts his speech mid-sentence as if he changed his mind halfway. Why is he blushing and fidgeting like a boy that broke mom's china porcelain?

"There is a lot that is going to happen and there is even more that we don't know about the lore of this world. We need your wisdom. Now, will you tell us of the demon tribe, please? And please don't hide your status from us ever again. I know you had an innate dark weakness in your status. But since you survived and overcame the infection, you should now have both the weakness at level 0 and the resistance at least level 4," 4 was the level that stalled the spread of the infection for me. It went up to 6 before I was fully healed, but at 4 it was already slowly reverting.

"I am humbled by your display of wisdom, big brother Grendel!" He smiles and pulls the hem of his dress to bow. STAHP. Just stop. I need to change his clothes now!

"Let me sew you some clothes before you change genders or something like that." A flag! Honestly, I have my fill of females already. Any more and it will create the famous 'scene of carnage' the Japanese talk so much about.

A few hours later and his clothes are done. I haven't made them from scratch. I took Beowulf's spare clothes and adapted to his measurements. Gray linen trousers with a brown leather belt, a white pleated shirt with two slits running up and down at the back for the wings to fit through, a scabbard with short sword, black beetle carapace armguards and pauldrons with a bronze rim, boiled black leather vest with a big U-shaped hole in the back and some riveted bands hanging down that protects the groin and hips. The contrast of the white shirt beneath the black armor parts is very nice. He looks like a swordsman apprentice.

Using a C-rank pemadra, I'll have to enchant it with size adjustment, to begin with, because Beowulf's torso is larger than his.

Black Beetle Adventurer's Garb (B): Increase durability x3. Recovers damage dealt to the armor by absorbing light. Changes size to adjust to the wearer. Self-cleaning. Reduces dark magic damage by 10%. Reduces duration and effect of dark effects by 20%. Reduces cold damage by 10%. Resists cold weather. Reduces terminal velocity and falling acceleration by 50%. Soulbound to Zahariel. Skill Enchanter King level 7. {Reverse Engineer} learned. Allows one to study one enchanted item over one uninterrupted hour. A chance to learn how to craft the same item.

Zahariel is surprised when I present him the armor. "Are you sure I should be getting such an item?"

"Yes! You are too troublesome to keep alive, and that is how I like my allies!" I respond in a boastful tone.

Marcy enters the conversation, "Hey, Grendel, when are 'we' getting something too?" Those double-meaning innuendo phrases.

"I'll enchant some armor for you too when I get something good to work on. And no, I won't make matching armors."

The seraph goes into the wagon to try his new armor. He had some difficulty donning the shirt because of the wings, so I cut the hem at the back all the way up and added to the length. Now the shirt's back has two slits running from the collar all the way down. The way to deal with them is to tuck the shirt inside the trousers. Simple and practical.

I send the kid out of the wagon for the girl's evaluation.

"Looking good! Now he is a dashing and promising adventurer. Beware, ladies!"

"I'm so glad to see you this healthy and handsome, Zahariel!"

Before the mood gets too elated, I land my hand, just the index finger on his shoulder and scold the brat.

"Now let me tell you one thing, bird-brain pipsqueak! The only one allowed to run away to do stupid stuff and almost die is me, you understand that? We are a team. Talk to us if something is bothering you!" My second statement was met with protest from the women. It seems I lost the right to be stupid.

"Sure, thanks." He gives a short reply because he can't wait to unfold his wings and take a short flight. His happiness is contagious. Even the monsters seem to be admiring his figure now.

With the crisis averted and the wanderlust satisfied, it is time to sit and share knowledge. Over some food, because fighting and nursing angels for days nonstop make everyone hungry.

"Is it common to see the demon tribe moving in these lands?"

"Of course not! They should avoid human lands like the plague! They are regarded as a myth by the guild," Marcy answers.

Zahariel thinks for a while and complements, "The demon tribe rules the regions with the highest mana concentration. So much that ordinary humans might get poisoned by the thick mana. They require high mana to live even more than monsters."

This is even more troublesome. Human settlements are built over 'dead magic spots' and the roads along the corridors that connect these spots.

"Why would they be moving north so close to Colchester? If they have no interest in human lands and it is a sudden development, the only reason should be..." Helen's musings are interrupted because everyone reached the same conclusion.

"They want to do something to the dungeon!" We all say something like that at the same time.

"You said that Beelzebub guy was a demon general, right?" I ask Zahariel. On Earth, he is regarded as a high ranking demon, the right-hand man of Satan, or another name for Lucifer. If the lore of this world was the inspiration for the Earth legends, it might be true.

"During the war, he retreated to that dungeon to muster his forces for a counterattack. Instead of wasting tons of resources and lives entering his fortress, we decided to sacrifice only one life to seal the dungeon for good." Zahariel was sealed in that chalice for who-knows-how-many millennia. He shuddered a bit when he spoke the last sentence.

"If they contact the dungeon it will be bad. They sent quite the war band north. I counted over fifteen bodies at the crater. Even that guy that was summoning imps, he could just spam the bloody thing into the dungeon and wait for the Exp to cash in."

Zahariel denies my theory, "That is not something done lightly, even for a demon. Each 'imp' - as you call them - summoned cost a bit of the caster's soul. That demon was doing that on a repeated basis because he had little hope of getting out alive, with those crippled legs."

Marcy shares her scout knowledge, "If this band was supposed to travel north and contact the dungeon, they would be expecting word back at their base. They will wait until spring to send another group. Almost nothing can travel in the harsh northern winter."

"Then we have time. I stored some of the most wholesome bodies in the item box, we can report their presence to the guild next town. How is it called again?" There are two towns between Mirfield and Colchester.

"Barnsley. And further south is Strawford, already in the Heorot kingdom," Marcy is a walking geographic encyclopedia. That's a ranger for you.

"It is too wide an area to search. We would need time to find clues and follow tracks, and we need to move south. It is already snowing. We are departing tomorrow morning."

"And I want to get back to Mirfield before the midwinter festival," completes Helen with a happy face.