Demon Realm
Maruti and Esdeath finally arrived back at the border between the human and demon realms. It had taken them one and a half days to get here.
First, they left M.A.L.I.C.E's territory after their conversation and arrived at the dwarf kingdom. But unlike their last time, Teleporting to Colac village near the demon realm, this time they used the teleportation facility to go to a village in the Kingdom of Church that was quite close to the demon realm, just like Colac village.
And by the time they had some good food and rest and then departed to cross the borders, it was already early night. The air was cool, and the forest around them was alive with the sounds of crickets and unseen creatures.
Right now, they were in the neutral area of the Church Kingdom and the demon realm. It was just a place surrounded by forest, a stretch of land that couldn't be called territory of humans nor demons.
"This is it. We'll be in the demon realm in around five hundred meters," Esdeath says as she stops walking, her voice a low, serious tone.
"Why did you stop?" Maruti turns back. The journey had been long enough, and she was eager to get it over with.
"We are going into the demon realm. Of course, we can't just go in like that," Esdeath says.
Esdeath is a human, while Maruti is a barbarian. And they both know that neither demons nor humans or barbarians are friendly with each other.
"What now?" Maruti rolls her eyes with a sigh.
"Of course, I'm already prepared for it. You need to change," Esdeath says with a smile, a mischievous glint in her eyes. As she speaks, she takes out a few things from her storage-type essence stone, pulling them from the empty air with a practiced motion.
"You should've said it earlier. We could have just changed in the village and then come here," Maruti sighs once again, a deep, tired sound. The
"We? Who's 'we'?" Esdeath repeats, rolling her eyes.
Maruti takes another clear look at Esdeath and easily understood what Esdeath was talking about. Even without any change in appearance, she looked like a walking vampire or ghost, her pale skin and dark clothes and eerie look. So there wasn't anything to change at all.
Although vampires aren't demons, they sure are welcome in the community.
"Okay, so what kind of demon am I going to be?" Maruti asked, taking the things from Esdeath's hand, her curiosity piqued despite her annoyance.
"The one which suits you best," Esdeath says, with a light, mischievous smirk on her face.
Meanwhile, Maruti examines the things. There was brown woolen clothes, rough and warm to the touch. A pair of fake horns, Slightly curved and menacing. A big garland, but instead of flowers, it was made of different skulls. Their shapes were varied but almost of the same size, which gave it quite an eerie and spectral look, like a necklace of death.
"The garland is quite amazing," Maruti says, immediately wearing it without any fear, And its length was enough to reach till maruti's belly but her breasts had another thought, The skulls resting against her chest
But maruti's lips twitch immediately as she looks at the last thing. It was a nose ring, more accurately a horseshoe ring, with the shape of a 'C' but more circular and not much gap like each end Point of 'C'.
"Fuck, you want me to be a cow girl?" Her lips twitch again, She felt like throwing it all on Esdeath's face, this the ridiculous costume.
But Esdeath shook her head, a small, patient smile on her face. "Nope, a bull demon."
Maruti coole down immediately.
"Err... Okay, that sounds manly, but how is it so different?" Maruti pauses her anger to hear her explanation.
"Cowgirls are beast kins, not demons. The horns are special horns; they won't fall off as long as you keep channeling mana into them. As for this garland, woolen clothes, and that nose ring, these are all cultural things," Esdeath explains, her voice a low, informative murmur.
"All males wear leather clothes, and female bull demons wear woolen ones. They make garlands of the skulls of the prey they have hunted and wear them as jewelry or make a prize trophy out of it to keep at home. And lastly, this nose ring is the most common thing. It would be way more suspicious if you didn't wear it," she adds, her voice a final, convincing argument.
Maruti exhales deeply, mix of resignation and frustration. There was no point in denying it anymore, even if she didn't want to.
"Why can't I just use magic instead? It would be way better," she makes her last attempt, her voice a hopeful plea for an easier way.
"Demons are more immune to such things. As long as someone gives proper attention, they'll surely find out that your outer appearance is fake," Esdeath explains, her voice a patient, factual statement.
"I guess there's no choice," Maruti sighs, the fight leaving her. But then, another question pops into her mind, a small detail she had overlooked.
"What about ears?" she asks, her fingers instinctively touching her own ears.
"Like I said, you aren't being a beast kin but a demon. Don't worry about it," Esdeath replies, her voice a calm reassurance.
Maruti nods lightly, She takes one last look at the cosplay things in her hand with a grimaced face, Before finally deciding to put them on.
She takes off her clothes, And then changes into the woolen clothes. Which, surprisingly, looked quite good on her. The cloth wasn't over-the-top fluffy, but thick and well-made. It had clear cleavages at the right places and was overall quite a good fit on her, accentuating her strong frame in a way that was both rugged and strangely appealing.
After that, she sticks the fake horns onto her forehead, feeling the strange, cool surface against her skin. She channels her mana into them to keep them intact like a real one.
At the very end, she briefly stares at the nose ring, a small, metal 'C' that was the final piece of her disguise.
"Let me help you," Esdeath says, taking the ring from her hand.
She directly leans forward, her face close to Maruti's, extending the ring towards Maruti's nostril.
But the moment it touched her nostril, somehow it pierced through like there was nothing at all. There was no need for any piercing at all, no pain, no blood. It was a strange, impossible feeling, a violation of the natural order.
All thanks to Esdeath's affinity with the space element.
But the moment Esdeath was done with adjusting and pulls back her hand, there was a sudden jolt of pain for a moment in Maruti's nostril, a sharp, stinging sensation as the space magic settled. But she endured it without any change in her expression.
Esdeath takes a step back, taking a brief look at Maruti. The brown woolen cloth, the garland of skulls, the horns, and lastly, the horseshoe nose ring. It's circular part was inside her nose, while the part where the circle ended was outside, making her face look more sensual and appealing, a strange, wild beauty.
But of course, Maruti's expression was the opposite of how she looked. She was completely annoyed and bored, completely in displeasure. She didn't want to be in this costume for one more second than needed.
"Good, now let's not waste time and get going," Esdeath says, taking the lead once again.
"Okay," Maruti answers with an unmotivated tone.
For the next half an hour, they just walk straight without stopping. The surrounding forest gets thinner and thinner, the trees becoming more sparse, but they still didn't bump into any demon or any demon village, a silent, empty landscape.
"Is the whole demon realm just a large forest?" Maruti asks, her voice full of boredom . The endless trees were starting to get to her.
"Of course not. You can think of it as a kingdom of demons. And just like human kingdoms, there are certain regions where all the people live together, while there are multiple villages that are a bit separated from the main cities," Esdeath explains, her voice a patient lesson in geography.
"Hmm... Okay, so how long is it gonna take?" Maruti asks, her voice a weary question. The journey felt endless.
"Probably morning," Esdeath answers, her voice a calm, matter-of-fact statement.
"Morning? No way. Aren't we already in the demon realm?" Maruti almost loses her cool.
"Yes, but the demon realm is very big. Even demons don't rule over half of it, just certain sections. You can think of it as Russia or China. Most of the population lives in a certain section, while other parts have way less people," Esdeath explains once again.
"There isn't any scarcity of S-rank monsters in the demon realm, and there are so many strange places where even demons are afraid to go. That's why, while the demon realm is quite big, It isn't habitable for everyone," Esdeath adds.
"So much information to process at once," Maruti sighs, feeling a little headache, a dull throb behind her eyes.
"Don't think too much. Our destination is final: it is Terra Divina. But it is on the other side of the Kingdom of Demons, so we'll have to pass through the Demon Kingdom to go there. So make sure to not expose yourself," Esdeath says.