"Hey, hand over the book."
In the small cramped room of the inn that the demons had handed us, Noa demanded something while leaning against a chair. Her hair which used to be tied in a single pony was now cascading down the chair while her feet rested well on the table.
I had the towel on my head and my shirt off. A simple shrivel-wooded bed and deep crimson sheets stood at the center while a small closet and table filled up the entirety of the room.
The windows constantly creaked from the sandstorm outside, but we were still good.
Noa had decided to go teach the demons a lesson when she first saw the room, but since this was the best already she quietened down rather well.
"Instead of reading go take a bath. You stink."
"What do you think would happen when you have to shit and sleep in the same place for a whole month, you punk."
"Oh god, you better have burnt whatever you left there."
"I did."
Ew.
What kind of picture was this bitch putting in my head.
"Go bath. The water's all black, it's pretty cool."
"It's black?" Noa's chair plopped down as she sat up. Intrigued, she left me behind and rushed into the bathroom. Not long after, the sound of water showering down filled the room.
I shrugged and started scouring the room.
"Demons are bland."
"They are deprived," Titania answered, already on the bed. She had used her magic to turn her green dress into long loungewear, living the life.
"They are advanced too," I added. It was…
Pretty unique to find motorcycles around. Especially those antique ones. How did it function, did they just reach that level of magic engineering, or did someone from my own world or something similar possess someone here, just like I had?
Intriguing. It was very intriguing.
What was most intriguing, though, was the fact that the demons had something like this and I had a way to reach the demons.
"Are you planning something devious? You are right?"
"How rude Titania, have you ever seen a kind, charming, smart, handsome young man like me plan something devious?"
"You chased a bitch to hell after fucking twenty years of pretending you were under her grasp!"
"Two months really. And how is that devious? I am only bringing her kind judgment."
"Sure, sure."
At Titania's words, I stretched my hands and jumped back on the bed.
Thinking about it, I had definitely put Noa through a lot of bullshit and she accepted it all wordlessly, she even sent a message to me on the potion when I was losing myself, all to get a chance to stab Dantalian. She seemed my type.
Titania grabbed my hair and the two of us rolled around on the bed for a while. I had washed my shirt up, and the sheets directly touching my skin felt slightly prickly.
So naturally, I straightened them out. Steam pressed the shit out of it.
By the time I was done and back on the bed, the bathroom door creaked open.
A towel wrapped around her waist, the black and white locks of hair falling right next to it. Another, placed atop her head. Noa Roselle stepped out of the bath with her upper body fully uncovered, just like I had. The towel gently draped over her rather modest chest, only hiding their tips and leaving everything else bare.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
Noa grinned out loud.
"Embarrassed much?" She said.
I stood up from the bed and walked closer to her.
"Why, you be shirtless but a girl can't?"
I leaned down and peeked even closer. Noa started squirming her toes slightly.
With my hand raised, I slowly brought my fingers closer…
"Hn!"
And poked her obliques.
"No seriously, what are you doing? These obliques are way too strained. You're going to lose some urgent flexibility like this."
It was to an almost unnoticeable degree and was much better than a normal person, but this girl was still definitely skipping some stretches.
"Huh?"
"C'mon, we'll do it now."
"W-what… bastard."
I smiled and stared at her. "Embarrassed much?"
"Quite a bit. So, what stretches were you telling me about?"
Oh.
That was a much blander reaction than I was expecting.
I guided Noa through some light stretches. I wasn't one to miss hints, so I was sure she held no ulterior motives and I was sure she knew I didn't either. Some nudity between friends was more than acceptable.
We did some partnered and solo stretches before finally getting up.
"Take the floor," I said.
"Why? Who cares, just go to sleep. What are you, a child?"
Tch.
"I was just being considerate, alright?" I said and plopped down on the bed. "Considerate."
"Whatever, hand over the book though. Also, don't you have a lamp or something?"
Seriously?
"My storage is magic, not a genie. Who do you even think I am?"
"Doraemon."
Why do you know who that is!?
A chuckle left me as I snapped my fingers and handed over the BL book that she wanted. Noa accepted it without a word, turned on her side to face me, and started reading.
I glanced at her once, her towel and hair were no longer covering her up. I ignored it and stared up.
"We better rush. I don't wanna stay here too long."
"I agree, I want to hurry up and fight. But not before learning how to ride that thing."
"You're strangely adamant on it."
I didn't know her, but you wouldn't expect anyone to learn how to drive while trying to catch a demon.
"It's because I can't do it. It's spicy."
I turned to my side and faced her again. Noa stopped looking at the book and stared at me.
"Nothing is fun because you can do it all?"
"Yup. It was fun to learn the language though, it was slightly tough."
I agreed.
"I can do anything in this world, everything is bland, like wet noodles. So things that don't come easy are fun, I find them spicy like super hot noodles."
"I see. I guess it's the same with me, anything that could make me stronger is interesting."
"I don't know about strong… I find fighting the demons and outer gods spicy, sure."
She pulled the book up.
"But I also think these kind of sultry romances are spicy, or that motorcycle I couldn't ride, or even stretching without a top and many other things…"
"What about Luka Rune?"
Was he supposed to be 'spicy' too?
"Uh, why is that guy in this conversation?" Noa's tone changed.
"He regressed too, you know? He would remember everything that happened between you guys."
"Ah, that's the worst. Those guys saved me once, but were way too clingy."
"What's with that?" I thought they were supposed to be intimate. Albert said Noa was one of the main heroines of the story. Wasn't she supposed to be in a relationship with him?
"I can't stand those righteous types," she said. "I don't do things to help others or to make a change. I just do it because I want to have fun. I even repaid them for the favor, but they were still clingy. Not spicy at all, bothersome."
How strange. It seemed she wasn't intimate with Luka Rune at all.
I nodded my head.
"I see. I guess it's the same with me, anything that could make me stronger is interesting."
"I don't know about strong… I find fighting the demons and outer gods spicy, sure."
She pulled the book up.
"But I also think these kinds of sultry romances are spicy, or that motorcycle I couldn't ride, or even stretching without a top and many other things…"
I closed my eyes and thought.
If Lethe or Dawn or maybe even Albert approached me with something they were interested in, I would probably enjoy it too. The same was the case with Maria or Lily or Keith and even Luka. I also found cakes interesting after sticking around with the receptionist all that long.
"I guess I understand. There are many interesting things in the world. It's not limited to one aspect."
Noa nodded.
She then pushed a finger on my chest and said.
"I also find you spicy, Eugene Hall. The one you are."
I smiled slightly at that.
"I see."
Spicy, huh?
***
"Quack… quack quack…"
The demon at the reception was screaming fervently when we shook the motorcycle in front of her.
"How do we fix this, bitch," Noa said. "Explain with actions."
"Quack…" the demon pointed at the hole at the center of the skull. "Quack…"
"Oh? Do we need to get another demon's magic stone?" Noa asked, and the receptionist shook her head with fear in her eyes. It seemed she realized we would kill her.
The receptionist pulled out a book from the desk and placed it in front of us.
She flipped through the pages and pointed at a monster that had a giant red circle drawn around it.
"Quack! Quack!!"
"It's…"
"A wyvern…"
It seemed we needed to hunt down a wyvern.
I turned to the demon and gestured. "Wyvern. Find. Where?"
"Q-quack…"
The demon's hand trembled as she pointed at the emblem of the inn.
At the Dragon Blood Tree.
***
[A/N: I wanted to expand on the Hell lore long back. As always, there's a few hints of what will happen in the future splayed around!]
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