Fellia was born into a world of poverty and war. She had never even seen her father's face, as he had most likely been killed in battle. Fellia's mother was the poorest of the poor, barely earning pennies a day. Fellia could remember her mother's body getting frail, as the family only had enough food for one.

At the age of seven, Fellia was sold as a slave. Her mother knew neither of them would survive, and the only way forward was to live as a slave.

Fellia was sold to the Duke of Medoea, Howard Lennox. Luckily for her, Howard gave her a chance to train as a maid instead. Fellia focused on the training as if her life depended on it, and quickly became a model maid for the Lennox household.

Life was many times better than before. She was fed multiple times a day and had a comfy bed to sleep on. It was far from perfect; however, as being a commoner with grey horns inside a noble's household was like asking to be bullied.

Ever since starting her new life, she had been constantly nagged on by the second and third prince. The princes were twins from the Mulles family. They had essentially been kicked out of their own family and thrown into the Lennox household. This was simply because they held no political value for the royal family.

Unlike humans, demons don't choose their demon king through bloodlines, but ability and charisma instead. Oftentimes, the Demon King was chosen from royalty anyway, since they were generally more skilled in magic than commoners. The two princes, however, weren't talented enough and neither could ever even dream of becoming a demon king. They lived their lives by leeching off others by using their title of prince. They were both incredibly arrogant and thought of themselves as superior to Fellia, who was just a commoner.

The second prince, Larry was especially ruthless in his methods. He often sexually harassed Fellia, never showing any respect towards her hard work. She had to keep going though, having dealt with discrimination for her entire life. Nobody had ever defended her. Instead, people just walked by ignoring the situation.

That was changed today, however, when a mysterious person threw a rock at Prince Larry's head. The prince fell over, probably getting a concussion.

A second rock was thrown, this time hitting the other prince. He screamed in pain as the rock hit his knee. Both of them looked pathetic. Fellia had never seen them get so angry.

She had never experienced something like this and had to hold back her urge to laugh. She knew Larry would most likely kill her if she laughed at the situation. Fellia wasn't laughing at the princes though, but at the mysterious person throwing rocks instead. She was happy just knowing someone was crazy enough to anger the prince for her sake.

Fellia never knew the feeling of friendship, due to always focusing on survival instead. She wanted to know more about the mysterious person, who was crazy enough to defend her. Soon enough, she got her wish, as someone jumped out of a window on the third floor. The person had short brown hair with majestic red horns. He was wearing mysterious clothing and holding two beautiful green plants.

He immediately started sprinting, ignoring the two princes who were now begging for their life. Fellia's perception of time slowed down as the red horn passed her. She could clearly see his facial features, deeply embedding them onto her mind. He had small blue eyes and had an unusual shape to his face. He had most likely traveled here from very far away. Fellia could clearly feel her heart thumping. It felt like fate had set up this encounter with the mysterious red horn.

The person disappeared as fast as he had appeared, and Fellia missed her chance to thank him. It was regrettable, but she didn't feel sad. There was always going to be another opportunity to thank him.

The princes were both shocked. They had been completely humiliated. They had been spared by the red horn, while barely keeping their lives.

Just minutes later, a carriage from Eldham arrived. Inside was one of the most important figures currently alive. It was the Demon King's former right hand Abigor, along with his escorts. Fellia had no idea what such a person was doing inside the Lennox household.

Howard looked panicked as he took Abigor inside. The scene was absurd, to say the least. Fellia ignored the fuss and just kept doing her job taking care of the garden. After all, it would be disgraceful to have a commoner near a meeting with the most important guest in decades.

She couldn't stop thinking about the red horned demon. She wanted to meet and thank him. It was the first time she had ever felt emotions like this.

As Fellia was daydreaming, Abigor exit the house with an unhappy expression. It seemed like he and the red horned person were connected somehow. Abigor gave an order to his escorts before leaving.

"Let's start the search immediately! He must still be within the city!"

After this incident Fellia no longer got bullied by the twins. She vowed to someday repay the favour.

That was too close for comfort... I hope this is far enough.

Cole ran through the entire city and was now hiding in a dark alley behind a big building. He was making preparations for his new criminal lifestyle.

First of all, I should probably get a disguise. Those fuckers must be searching for me right as we speak. Changing the color of my horns is probably a good start.

Cole knew how flashy his red horns looked when compared to the usual gray. It was essential to change their color for a good disguise.

How do I get paint though...

Oh yeah, I haven't been wearing the translating glasses for a while now. I can put them on to change my face!

Cole had taken off the translation glasses since he didn't need them in the forest. This ended up working in his favour, as the debt collectors didn't know he used the glasses now. Understanding speech would become a lot harder if he couldn't use the glasses.

As he was consumed in crafting a battle plan, a bunch of thugs suddenly surrounded him. The thugs had shabby clothing exactly what you'd expect a bandit to wear. They were all armed with short daggers. Getting robbed here wasn't really surprising, as it's literally a dark backstreet.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here? A lost little puppy? You dare step afoot in our territory!?"

"..."

Cole thought nothing of the thieves, treating them as no more than ants. He was much more scared of the debt collectors after him.

"Are you ignoring me!? How dare you! Can't you see you're outnumbered!? Give us all of your money or die!"

"Will you shut the fuck please. I'm trying to think over here."

"What?!"

The bandits didn't take Cole's provoking words well, and their blood started boiling. Never in their life had they encountered such an arrogant person.

"Kill him and take his possessions! This is what you get for not... Heok!"

Before the thief could finish his sentence, Cole had suddenly grabbed his neck, holding him in the air. It took the thief a second to realize what had happened, and when he did, his expression changed from angry to terrified. Cole's bloodshot eyes stared at him from the depths of hell as his red horns shone like the devil's.

It had been too dark to see, so the thieves hadn't noticed Cole's red horns. They were now all going to get brutally murdered and dumped into a river. Or so they thought before Cole spoke up.

"You chose the wrong target buddy. All of you, give me your money along with a set of clothes. I'm kind of pissed off right now."

"Yes! I'll give you everything I got! Please don't kill me!"

The thieves handed over the bags of money they had. One of them stripped and gave Cole the rag he was wearing. Then out of nowhere, the backdoor of the big building burst open. An angry demon swinging a broom rushed out while yelling.

"You damn thieves again! Get out of my property! This is the last time you're robbing my customers... Wait..."

The angry demon seemed to realize the thieves were the ones getting robbed and not his customers. The thieves were startled anyway, and their usual arrogant attitude was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes! We will never bother you again! I'm so sorry! Please don't kill our families!"

"I won't kill your families if you get the fuck out of here right now!"

After Cole threatened their families, the thieves immediately scattered in all directions. No one was following the leader anymore. The demon armed with a broom wasn't convinced though as he looked at Cole with a confused look.

"Are you a thief too? What is a red horned demon doing on my property?"

"No, I'm just a nobody. Anyway, thanks for the thieves. I'm going now."

Cole had just obtained a bunch of bronze and silver coins. He thought robbing thieves would be a good part-time job and was about to leave until the owner of the building spoke.

"Wait! I'll let you stay at my place for the night. Think of it as repayment for getting rid of the thieves."

"Are you sure? People are looking for me right now. Do you want to get mixed up with my problems?"

Cole was sure that he wouldn't be let inside if people knew he was a fugitive. No one will get mixed up with other people's problems just through kindness alone. However, he received an unexpected answer from the owner.

"That's no problem to me. I often deal with criminals anyway. Anything goes as long as it brings in money."

Cole looked puzzled. He wasn't expecting to find a place to stay so easily. After thinking about it, he decided to take the offer.

"Alright. I'll stay for the night. Just don't tell anyone I stayed here please."

The two of them headed inside through the backdoor. The room was nowhere near as luxurious as the noble's place Cole had previously escaped from. It was dimly lit using candles, and the walls and floor were wooden with small cracks here and there. Along the left wall were stairs leading upstairs. The place seemed to resemble a hotel of sorts, as there was a wooden reception desk and a cafeteria with furniture also made of wood.

"My name is Rogg. This building is Rogg's inn. I've run the place for six years now. The business hasn't been doing so well after those thieves started robbing my customers a few months ago. The guards wouldn't do anything about it, but now finally they're gone. It's all thanks to you!"

Rogg smiled and expressed his gratitude. Cole wasn't good at receiving praise nor at introducing himself, so he responded awkwardly.

"Uhmm... Thank you? My name is Cole and... I'm currently trying to find a place to live and..."

Cole tried to come up with things to say about himself but couldn't figure out anything to say. He had always sucked at introductions, and doing so in a new unknown world wasn't any easier. Rogg seemed to notice this and held out his hand signaling for a handshake.

"Well nice to meet you Cole! You can stay here for tonight. Let me know if I can help you in any way!"

The two shook hands, and Cole was saved from having to introduce himself.

"Thank you! In that case, could you help me come up with a disguise?"

"A disguise? Yes, I think that would be possible. Normally I charge for this, but since you helped me out, I'll do it for free. You probably need to change your horn color as well, right?"

Rogg had made disguises for various criminals in the past. Of course, getting a hefty price in return. He decided to offer Cole a simple disguise for free in return for helping with the thieves.

Cole sat on a chair, letting Rogg color his horns and hair. Rogg did so by using some kind of magic. Cole had no idea how the disguise was done, but all that mattered was that it worked. The two had a conversation about a bunch of random things as it commenced.

"Did you hear about the Black forest burning down? It's crazy to imagine how that monstrous forest is now gone."

"Uhm, yes... The Black forest huh? That's crazy!"

Turns out the forest Cole had burned was called the "Black Forest". He started to get sweaty as he tried to not sound suspicious, failing miserably. Rogg didn't seem to suspect him though.

After an hour, the disguise was done. Cole's horns had changed from a majestic red to a simple gray, his hair color was changed from brown to black, and he was wearing the clothes stolen from the thieves.

"How do I look?"

"Perfect! The red horns along with your odd clothing easily gave away your identity. Now that they're gone, you should be completely fine walking around town. The disguise will stay for around a year unless I undo the magic."

Cole could now go explore the city without having to worry about guards and had a place to sleep for the night. He was thankful to Rogg and wanted to someday repay the favour.

"By the way, what are those plants you're carrying?"

!!

Cole's heart thumped as Rogg asked him about the cannabis plants. He had been craving for a friend to smoke with for a long time. Now the opportunity finally came.

"Want to find out?"