Salt and Pepper

Dinner was served. The smell of turkey filled the dining room. All of the fellow church members sat around the long table. Among the sea of strangers, James found a seat all for himself. Father Rick came into the room and everyone stood. Father raised up his arms and everyone took their seat.

"Brothers and sisters, let us all put our hands together and let's pray." Everyone did.

"Oh Heavenly Father, we thank you for the food that is served in front of us. We like to ask for You to continue to bless us in this safe haven, free from the threats of the demons. We pray that our brothers who are still outside to be granted safety and peace from their mission. We pray that You will continue to protect this land from the demons and protects the residents in it by granting the Church the ability to exorcise them out from the land You cherished so much that You even poured your Soul out to create it. We pray that one day, this battle will come to an end and your Fallen Son, Lucifer, will be damned for his punishment and be purged from this land once and for all and may we look forward to the dawn of a world where the evil of demon never existed and only peace remains. In Your Name, Amen."

"Amen," said everyone and everyone started to eat.

James was eating along, silently while everybody was chatting away. James felt isolated but he had expected it. After all, he was still a newcomer. Once in awhile, James could catch a glimpse of people looking at him and quickly looked away when he noticed them as they returned back to their conversation.

The roasted turkey looked delicious. The skin was crisp brown. Mash potatoes and salads as side dishes. James put a piece of the turkey into his mouth and expected the explosion of flavours. But he was disappointed. Something was missing to trigger the explosion. James couldn't wrap his head around it. He looked around the table and saw a bottle of salt and pepper. He took the salt and proceed to sprinkle it on top of the turkey.

"Yo!"

The voice startled James and his hand jerked, causing an unbearable amount of salt to be splashed on top of the turkey. He looked up to find Lily taking a seat in front of him

Lily looked at his dish with disgust. "Something wrong with your taste bud?"

Unwilling to dispose the entire dish, James forcefully took a bite out of the turkey.

"So how does it taste like?" Lily covered her mischievous smile, totalling expecting James to cringe from the saltiness.

"Hmm, not that bad," said James and he took another bite. Lily was even more disgusted by his actions.

"I am not sure if it is your ego or is it your taste bud. Either way, you have a problem, "asked Lily.

"Why are you here?" asked James while taking another bite.

"To accompany you. It's not nice to be alone, you know."

"I see-" James took another bite. "-Thank you."

"You are weird. The amount of salt you put is enough to scare away a spirit."

"Is the spirit really afraid of us sprinkling salt on them?" asked James as he was unsure if the myth was true.

"Of course not! Well, we never really used it anyway so there's no definite proof that it works."

"I see, I see. The meal looks delicious but there seems to be a lack of flavour when I put it in my mouth."

"You better not let Chef Wan hears what you have to say about his food or he will freak out. He is one of the best cooks and he volunteers to cook for us once in a while. To be honest, I don't understand what's is wrong with your tongue. I find the meal to be delicious and DOES NOT require extra seasonings."

"Hmm, it tastes okay though," said James.

"Jeez, do people like you always has something weird about them?"

James shrugged his shoulder and continue eating his meal.

As James was finishing the meal, he could not help but feel uncomfortable with the looks Lily was giving him. She had already finished her meal but she did not leave her seat nor cleared her plate. When James decided to ask her if there is anything she wants to ask, she started to leave the table and cleared up her plate. Strange woman, James thought. Finally, after swallowing the meat. James took his leave as well and return back to his dormitory.

Since he was not tired, he decided to not sleep yet and tidy up his place. He folded his shirt and pants neatly into the wardrobe. As he was taking off his shirt to change to another one, his door opened and it gave both James and the guests a shock.

"Put on some clothes!" shouted Lily.

"Hey, did you even knock!" said James.

Lily could see James leaned and muscular body. In her mind, she was thinking was it those muscles that allowed James able to beat a demon to his death. After all, there were accounts of people from the past who was able to subjugate a demon by using sheer force. But, that was only if the demon was weak. If faced with higher tier demons or, even worse, one of the Demon Lords, muscles and physical strength alone could not stand a chance to hurt them. But, the moment Lily's eyes laid onto James toned body, she could see that there was potential in this man to be moulded into a demon slayer just like hers and the others.

"Hey, stop staring! I have already put on my clothes. So, what do you want?!" asked James.

Lily shook her head to get rid of her thoughts.

"I am here to brief you about tomorrow's itinerary, newcomer," said Lily.

"Okay….so what is tomorrow's plan?"

"Combat and Soul assessment," said Lily.

"Soul? What is that?" asked James.

"Don't worry, you will know everything that is to know about it by tomorrow. The basics that is. From then on, we will assign you to groups according to your Soul's nature," explained Lily.

"So is that all you come here to say?" asked James.

"Y-yea, that's all I come here to say. See you tomorrow!" she closed the door and left.

James looked out from the window and saw how the city lighted up. It was pretty but at the far end where the borders lied, there was nothing but pure darkness.