I Was Called A Demon

Song Village was a coastal town, and so it naturally had a small pier where they could see several people fishing, though it seemed like the majority of the town was instead dedicated to rearing animals and farming. There were pretty large pens and areas fenced off for some kind of planar beast, though to Bianca’s eyes, they resembled cows.

They were just grazing out and about, munching on grass and enjoying themselves, and there were a bunch of people walking about the streets, watching over their animals.

From the outside, the village didn’t seem particularly unique, though there was a strange chill in the air that made for a sharp contrast to the heat they built up on their sprint here. It cooled them down, feeling rather pleasant, though at the same time it felt like it didn’t quite belong, like it was out of place when the sun was still out, albeit setting.

It was reminiscent of the Ghostwood, where the prevalent yin in the air caused the wind to be chilly regardless of the surrounding temperature.

Naturally, since Bianca noticed it, the others did as well.

“This feeling… I don’t recall this place being like this,” the kitsune muttered to herself.

“Well, perhaps it would be wise to consider my prior warning,” Long Shiyi remarked, though as she looked around, she too seemed uncertain, “Hm, and yet I can’t notice any obvious irregularities. There’s signs of life and yang around the people and their livestock, the land doesn’t appear to be wilting and decaying… did they uncover some kind of artefact that radiates yin?”

“Fuck if I know… then again, we weren’t planning to linger for long, were we? We don’t need to sit around and figure out what’s going on here, we can just leave before it causes an issue for us,” Bianca said, “I mean, unless any of you really, really want to figure out the details.”

“There is no need… unless it’s related to the necromancers, in which case it might be advantageous.”

“… Why did you have to say that?”

“What?”

“Every single time one of us goes, ‘Oh, maybe it’s this or that’, we end up always running into exactly that. We really, really have to stop saying it, especially if it’s you arguing against me, Yaling,” Bianca let out a tired sigh.

The kitsune attempted to come up with some reply, but seemed to realise the futility of it.

“Yes, you do seem to be correct. At the same time, I’m relatively sure you just don’t want me arguing back.”

“Of course I don’t, you keep being right.”

“You’re always right in my heart, Mistress!” Song Ming exclaimed, almost leaping onto her,

“Thanks, pet.”

“The way in which you seem to be getting more and more loyal, devoted, obedient pets is… no, never mind,” the kitsune rolled her eyes, “Well, are we going to go in?”

“Naturally. Huang Su, Long Shiyi, stand by and be careful. If either of you sense something amiss, then lets immediately act.”

“Of course, Mistress,” the false phoenix agreed.

The dragon also didn’t show any disagreement, “I’ll do what I can.”

They advanced into the village itself, and slowly found eyes settling upon them. People spotted them and gazed upon them from afar, clearly standing out compared to the typical visitors. They were all dressed uniquely, and Long Shiyi was still completely naked, save for the cage… if anything, her bare tits alone probably earned most of the stares.

Bianca knew she’d be staring at them if she was in the place of those villagers.

Naturally, as they kept going, simply travelling deeper and deeper into the middle of the village with no particular direction or goal, the villagers eventually chose to alert their leaders, a few of the firm gazes vanishing and footsteps sounding around them.

Before long, an aged man emerged from one of the many paths around them, a walking stick supporting his every step, and a few older men and women around him, seemingly village elders or something of the sort.

“Visitors! Welcome to Song Village!” the aged man looked firmly into Bianca’s eyes, seemingly trying to avoid looking off to the bare tits to her side.

“We require lodging for the night. Lead us to one,” Bianca had to put in significant effort to avoid being hostile to him, and to help with that, she also kept her focus on one person – one of the older women standing near the village elder, just behind and to the side.

“Ah, yes, of course…” the village elder clearly wanted to say more, but her firm tone and dismissive attitude scared him off.

Still, the way they were acting, each of them looking as though they were trying to put on a brave face while subduing their confusion over the state of Shiyi’s undress… it certainly didn’t suggest anything wrong. They were behaving as any regular person might be, wary of strangers, drawn to the alluring, and without obvious malicious intent.

As such, Bianca found it difficult to believe that there was anything wrong with the villagers themselves, at least the ones she’d seen.

That could’ve been cause to just relax, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. If anything, it was like… like coming back to the dorms and knowing that the guy she lived with did something disgusting again while she was gone, but not being sure where or what. After every thing she checked without finding the answer, she’d just be more wary until the answer finally revealed itself.

In this case, they knew for a fact that something was wrong, so the feeling was rather similar. Inevitably, they’d find the issue, and she would’ve preferred to do so as soon as possible.

Alas, she could hardly just force the discovery to happen, so she had no particular choice. Thus, she followed after the old man as she led her towards one of the larger buildings, and then inside, a mostly empty structure with almost no furniture, as though someone had moved it all out in advance. A room at the back, however, with the door ajar, revealed a number of beds, all clearly on the older side, though nowhere near as old as the ones in the Reaper’s Grave.

There was a thin layer of dust over most of the floor, save for the occasional footprint, implying this place didn’t see much use, but outside of that, it seemed to be decent enough. Neither Xue Yaling, Huang Su nor Long Shiyi informed her of any issues, so it should’ve been fine… right?

“You may stay here as long as you need, travellers! If you need anything else, we shall gladly oblige.”

“Good. We’ll leave tomorrow, so leave us alone now,” Bianca would’ve happily kicked them out physically, but allowed them to depart on their own, watching their gazed expressions up until they shut the door behind them, “Hm.”

“Did you notice something, Mistress?” Shiyi asked, seeming to be surprised.

“I… wait, I may not be sure, but you definitely spotted something odd, didn’t you?” she sighed, leaning back against a wall while crossing her arms, “Fine, go on, tell me.”

“No, I… hm, revealing it openly would be challenging…”

“Why?”

“Because it might cause a change in our situation. Let’s just say that you ought to be aware of the nature of the situation, as this isn’t the first time you would’ve encountered something like it.”

“Something… wait, is it related to all the yin present here?”

Instead of responding directly, the dragon lifted a finger to her lips, giving her a sly little wink.

It really tempted her to just bring out her cock, force the dragon to her knees, and fuck that mouth until she was properly loose with her information.

That… probably wasn’t how it’d work, but still, if she just said she wanted to fuck every sexy woman around her, she’d seem like even more of a lost cause than she already did. No, these kinds of justifications definitely made her seem better… definitely.

“I think I understand it,” the kitsune, meanwhile, nodded calmly, “Do you believe that exposing the facts, even without one of them explicitly hearing it, would be sufficient to cause a reaction?”

“Wait, what do you understand?”

Ignoring her, Shiyi nodded, “There is no way for something as major as this to be occurring without a larger array supporting it – and if there was, this would not be the only place where it is occurring. However, if the rumours I’ve heard about your discoveries at the Reaper’s Grave, then… it can’t be the case.”

“What the fuck do you- oh shit, you mean they’re not actually-”

The dragon quickly pressed that same finger against her lips instead, frowning, “Please, Mistress, if you’ve pieced it together, then don’t just say it out loud. Surely both of our warnings would be sufficient…”

“Sorry, sorry… Uh, so are we just going to sleep and then leave? Without… triggering the horde?”

“The what?”

“You get the gist, regardless. If this is a place where the- ah shit, would that also trigger it?”

“I cannot be certain as to the rules of this place, but the nature of it is obvious. Those outside are unaware, and that is their desired goal – to attain a result that can pass completely unnoticed, and not just mortal, but cultivator, too. Take note of the fact that there isn’t a single cultivator among the villagers – this is unusual, extremely so.”

“So it is…” Bianca sighed, also bringing her head back to rest on the wall, “Can’t we visit some place without an incident occurring in the first day? Why did we have to get that kind of luck, instead of one where treasures and hot women drop on our heads?”

“I don’t think you’d want women doing that. The majority of cultivators would get into a conflict with you if a consistent pattern of such things emerged… especially if you happened to touch any intimate parts.”

“I… you know what, I don’t need to know. I’ll either be confused, or not mind, and then be more disappointed that it doesn’t happen. So…”

She glanced towards one of the few windows in the building, seeing a street where a couple of people were walking through, all looking completely ordinary, if perhaps a little pale and exhausted. It was the evening, so even that had its natural explanations, meaning that the other explanation was all the harder to believe…

And yet, she had a feeling that the dragon and kitsune were correct.

“Ah, fuck. Can we just go and fuck instead of this?”

“Whether we do that or not will not change the truth outside these walls, Mistress,” Long Shiyi told her, approaching to her side, leaning against the wall in the same manner, “On that note, a change of clothes would be very much appreciated.”

“A change? You’re naked, there’s nothing to change.”

“The state of nudity would be one.”

“Nope, I want to see that caged dick. I put in the effort to put it on you, I’m not letting it come off unless we get a smaller cage.”

“This is entirely unnecessary, but if you insist, then very well. I’ve dealt with colder and hotter climates alike,” Shiyi shrugged, “Did you know that if you go to the north, the land turns to glass? It’s so hot that only a scarce few planar beasts can reside there… and in the south, it becomes so cold that time itself freezes. And yet, from north to south, the ocean remains the same, as though completely unaffected by the temperature?”

“… Is that true? Surely it would freeze up in the south, and boil in the north?”

“Ordinary water does, yes… but the moment it enters the ocean, it is unaffected.”

“… the fuck?” Bianca was all too glad she hadn’t attempted to rely on the natural laws of Orbis in any aspect, as she would’ve certainly failed.

The water not freezing or melting alone was unbelievable, but then there was also the matter of the climates of this world seemingly going from cold to hot as one proceeded further north, reaching such intense extremes, whereas a round world like Orbis would have a hot equator, and cold poles.

‘Then again, I feel like someone told me the world was flat, and I probably just ignored it because it was absurd… not that it would make things any simpler, how would that even work? Does all that water just flow off the edge of the world?’

“A-Anyway, I think we’ve gotten rather off-topic. Do we just go to sleep and hope that nothing happens?”

“… I wonder…” Shiyi looked out of the window, frowning, “We can’t know the effects of the array covering this place, nor what it can do to someone residing here for a prolonged period of time. It is not guaranteed that sleep would be entirely safe for us.”

“Next you’ll tell me that trying to breed your cunt would be dangerous too.”

“Of course that’s what you think about. It is possible, Mistress, but at the same time, I am more worried about the potential consequences of methods I have never studied. They are able to do something that seemed impossible to most scholars in the field… or at least approximate that state. It may have a dangerous influence on… outsiders.”

This was all getting to be too much for Bianca. With so many theories and factors being thrown out at every moment, settling on one decision was practically impossible. So, she just stood up and headed over to the beds, sliding a finger along one of the bedsheets to check on the amount of dust.

As it turned out, there was quite a bit, camouflaged slightly by the grey sheets.

“… I feel like trying to sleep in one of these would give me a rash, or worse.”

“It’s unlikely with your particular technique,” the kitsune shrugged as she approached another bed, “That being said, I wouldn’t want to sleep in a place like this regardless. Dust is one thing, the significant presence of yin all around us is likely to lead to a drain on our lifespan if we linger too long.”

“Wait, what? You should’ve said that earlier, before the thought of sticking around any longer than necessary was even entertained!” Bianca glared at her, rolling her eyes, “Fuck all this, we’re… ah, but if we leave, we have to trudge through the wilds in the night… quick, say something to ignite a battle!”

“… Then we’d still have to sleep in the wilds.”

“Shush. It’s either that or we have to walk out without any fanfare, and then not have a good excuse for me to bring my dick out for ‘stress relief’,” she said.

The dragon came into the bedroom at that point, looking over the beds and shrugging, “I’ve slept on worse. Regardless, the presence of yin is unlikely to drain away our lifespan within a single night, especially as all of us are cultivators. Regular humans would only develop some weakness and need a day to recuperate after spending a day here… it’d take residing here for a prolonged period of time to- ah.”

“Ah?”

“I was wondering how they might have such a large population. With prolonged exposure to sufficient yin, regular humans could lose enough vitality to… awaken through the array’s power, rather than their own.”

“And thus, they’d have a whole village that may never have realised that something went wrong,” Bianca concluded, glancing at her dust-stained fingers, with disgust, “If any of them have slept here, would that mean that I’d be touching corpse dust?”

“Bianca… you didn’t just say that.”

“What? Oh…” she looked outside the window, where there had been a few villagers walking past.

In that moment, however, they all stood still, save for their heads, which slowly turned in their direction.