15: A Whole New World

"Where am I?" asked Jolly.

"The streets suddenly became so quiet…"

The streets were in fact now empty.

"An exorcist. An exorcist. Oh boy, oh boy. What a meal!"

Jolly smelled a horrid smell in the air, and the medallion was vibrating like crazy.

"Oh well, I can't believe I get to fall into such a trap." He unsheathes his spear and prepares for battle.

He turned around and was not greeted by one, but an army of it.

"My God, just what is this place?"

...

...

James was still figuring it out what spell this lady was talking about.

"Let me go, you bastard!" cursed the lady.

"Let you go? Sure."

James stood up and got near to the lady.

"Oh well, since it is not really wise to converse with a demon, I will let you go, you monster."

"Hehehehehehe," the demon started to laugh.

James sliced a deep cut across her neck.

"With that, I have let you go from your sins and wicked form, you demon."

The body slouched. James pulled out his blade embedded deep into the wall and flicked the blood off from the blade. The body crumbled into ash and the lady was no more.

"So now what?" asked James as he looked around the town. There was nobody near him at all. But he could feel a presence lurking in the shadow, waiting for a chance to pounce at him. He turned but there was nobody at all.

"Hmm…. this city is definitely hiding something. Could Jolly be hidden from plain sight as well? Perhaps a trick? An illusion? Hmm…." James could not make himself forget those pair of enchanting eyes of the lady he has just slew.

James retreats back to his room in the church. This time the priest was there.

"You are back!" said the priest.

"Yes I am, you weren't here just now, where have you been?" asked James.

"I was looking for you."

James raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, then do you know where is my partner?"

"He is in bed sleeping currently. He just returned after he was finding everywhere for you."

"Show me," said James.

So the priest led him to Jolly's room. And there he was, Jolly, laying on his bed, sound asleep.

"Oh, I must have been getting worried for no reason," said James.

"Jolly and I have been searching every corner of the town for you. Where have you been?" asked the priest.

"Me? Well, it's kinda embarrassing, I actually get lost but I end up helping someone on the way."

"Anyway, we are glad that you came back well. There's actually been rumor lately that something bad often happens in the night. People are actually scared because of it."

"What's the rumor?"

"There's a demon hiding within this town and it is preying on the resident."

"Well, if you are talking about a demon, I think I just killed one just now," said James nonchalantly.

"What?! You did what?"

"I killed one demon. So there's no reason for the town to worry anymore isn't it?" said James.

"Yes, that's correct."

James took a step closer to the priest.

"Oh, priest?"

"Yes?"

Since James was standing so close to the priest, the priest could hear an eerie sound in his ears.

"It's not good to lie you know."

James shoved his hand onto the priest's throat and grab him up to the air.

"What are you doing, James?"

"Oh, you know, trying to shed the skin's that you are wearing behind that priest uniform of yours."

The priest kicked and struggle within James' grip and slowly he fell unconscious due to shortness of breath.

James threw his body away towards the wall.

"Just like this….?" James took a seat and waited.

The priest unconscious body suddenly rose up.

"How dare yo-" before he can utter another word. James threw his blade which gagged his mouth.

He went over to the demon and without wasting time, he decapitated his head in one clean swipe.

"So there are two demons. Mission accomplished?"

"Oh wait, I forgot…."

James went to the Jolly's body and stabbed his swords right at the center of his chest.

"You monsters seem to have some trick up your sleeves."

The body wriggled and started to scream but then it turned into a wooden log.

"An illusion. What a dangerous ability."

James lit the wooden log to warm himself up in the now empty church.

"Just what is happening around here?"

James took a stroll at the quiet street of the town.

Everybody is sound asleep except for a few workers busying setting up decorations. They were seen hanging lanterns across the streets and in between street poles.

Some of them were building up tents and setting up tables.

"It must be for the festival."

James walked almost the entire town and then he realized.

"Where do I sleep now?"

James took a seat while laying against a wall as he started to think.

"Hmm…"

And James fell asleep on the street.

The next morning, he was woken up by a lady calling out her name.

"Mr. James!"

"Linda?" James rubbed his tired eyes and could not believe he actually fell asleep.

"What are you doing here?" asked the concerned Linda.

"I was thinking of where am I going to sleep but I guess I fell asleep while I was thinking, hehe."

"That's not funny! You might get a cold!"

Speaking of cold, James realized that the robe is pretty good at shielding wind which must have kept him warm throughout the night.

"I thought you are supposed to be at the church?" asked Linda.

"Oh, I…erh….was kicked out by the church."

"WHAT!"

"Erm…"

James looked away from Linda's penetrative gaze.

"What about your partner? You say you have a partner right?"

"I still can not find him. I don't know where he is."

Linda furrowed her brows.

"Come on, you must be hungry. Let me prepare something for you to eat."

"There's not a need for that!"

"I must consider this as repayment for your effort yesterday. Oh my god, I can't believe a person like you actually fell asleep on the street," she sounded more frustrated than James. James didn't even bother by the fact he fell asleep on the street. It wasn't the first time he has done that. But that was a long time ago in the past when he was very young and a bit of a naughty child.

Linda turned and snaps at James.

"Why not you sleep in the inn!" asked her.

"It didn't occur to me before I fall asleep," said James in embarrassment.

"Oh my god. I can't believe it."

James followed Linda back to her home and she prepared breakfast for him. It looked delicious. It reminded him of the home that he once has. Well, you know, before the Father took it away.

James was eating the food as memories of back then came into his mind. James did not notice it but Linda could see James' was oddly quiet during the meal.

"So…do you like it?" asked Linda.

"….." James took a bite out of the meal.

"Is it good?"

James looked up and scan the table. There was no salt and pepper.

"Do you have salt and pepper?" asked James with a mouthful.

"Yes, I sure have. Why do you want it?"

James made a gesture of pouring salt onto his meal and Linda looked at him, pretty confused.

"Okay…"

Linda went and grab salt and pepper for James.

James started pouring the salt and pepper inhumanely.

After much "seasoning", Linda could not even imagine the taste of the meal. It must taste horrible but James was effortless chowing it down the abomination he created without any hint of being disgusted by the strong flavors that he had just poured onto the simple meal.

James gulped down the meal. It looked delicious but to his dismay, there was any lack of flavor in it. James really started to wonder what happens to his taste buds.

…..

…..

The preparation for the festivals was midway and almost everyone in the town had stopped their business in preparation for the festival. Everyone was busying setting up decoration and while the cooks were fully occupied in preparing the food that was going to be served at the banquet.

Initially, Linda was excited to let James taste the town's local delicacy but after witnessing his taste, Linda was doubtful that James will even enjoy it.

Since James had almost walked over every part of the town all by himself, he figured it would be ok for him to join Linda in her routine to prepare for the festival.

First, he accompanied her to gather the ingredients. Then he followed her to a huge room where mostly it was filled with female rather than male. All of the women had their sleeves rolled up and were busying prepping for the ingredients.

Some were chopping huge amounts of garlic. Others were seen dicing off vegetables which James could not be bothered to know the name of it. As you may have guessed it, since the room is filled with so many ingredients, the room is bound to have a distinctive smell where spices and aromatic herbs mixed together in the air creating a weird but somehow appetite-inducing fragrance that will make your stomach grumble in hunger. James had none of that effect.

He stood at the entrance observing the systematic way of how all the women prepare their ingredients when an old lady scolded him.

"Why not you come and help instead of just standing there you young brat!"

"Y-yes."

And so, James, the only man in the room with his white robe on him, joined the labor of preparing for the festival.

"Take off the jacket. You will only get it dirtied and it will only get in the way."

When James took off his robe, his dual blade which he wore besides his hip was revealed in plain sight but none of the people in the room paid attention to it, except for Linda.

Linda quickly came to James.

"What is that on your belt?"

"This? Oh, it's….er….."

"Just come and follow me," said Linda.

Linda grabbed James' arm and lead him out of the room.

"Linda, where do you think you are going?"

"I will back in just a minute!"

After they have gone to a more secluded place, Linda started to pester him with more questions.

"Why would a priest be bringing a weapon with you?" asked Linda.

"Don't priest normally bring a weapon alongside them?"

"No, they don't."

James begin to panic. Linda got a quick analysis of the situation.

"Demons. You are a demon slayer aren't you?" asked Linda.

"What?" said James.

Linda took a seat on top of some storage boxes. James was seriously left speechless.

"The Holy Church of the Light. The so-called mythical Church who was found by God himself to repel the demons away from the earth. Of course, we all think it is a myth and I believe the profession of a demon slayer has long been extinct after the banishment of Lucifer. So tell me, are you a demon slayer?"

"Yeess." James nodded his head.

"So demons still exist?"

"Yes, they do," said James.

"That explains a lot."

"Wait, what did it explain. I don't understand."

"The history of this place 10 years ago."

That story again, James thought.

Linda saw James' confused look and decided to explain.

"10 years ago, when I was just a young girl, I remember very well all of us here are in an extreme state of poverty. At that time, I didn't know what was happening but I knew one day the city leader claimed that a demon was feeding off the land we are residing and we have to move to another untouched land while he will ask the Holy Church to help us repel the demons away from the land. Then, after that, we flourished and we got off our poverty state and survive the famine. So are you here because there a demon hiding in this city?"

James thought for a while, hesitating whether to tell her the truth or not. In the end, James just nods his head.

"Then you should see the city leader. Oh by the way, you should also ask the city leader's help to find your friend!"' said Linda.

Linda got close to him to grab his hand.

Then, a ringing sound was heard.

James' eyes widened and retreated his hand.

"What's the matter?" asked Linda.

James started to doubt his medallion.

'No way," he thought.

"James?"

James was hesitant. Should he trust the medallion or not. Linda is a demon? Why didn't the medallion react when they first met?

James took a deep breath and focus. Then he sensed something awful.

James unsheathe his blade.

Linda was frightened and retreated away from James.

"James, what are you doing?"

James got closer to Linda and stab his blade into Linda's shadow.

"What?" asked Linda. She looked at the place where James stabbed his sword into.

Linda could see her shadow started to wriggle and a black hand came out from it to grab James.

"You don't have your robe, Exorcist!" claimed the shadow.

"So?" said James and he cut off the black hand with another one of his blades.

The demon lurking inside the shadow climbed out of the shadow. As it does that, the sword who was on the ground was now seen to be on his chest.

"Linda, stay behind me."

The medallion started to vibrate crazily.

"I almost have you kill her! Damn it." said the shadow. "After killing those two so quickly, I thought you will jill her as soon as you detect something is off, guess you are not that rigid after all."

The shadow demon wanted to pull the sword out of its chest but couldn't as the blade stung its hand when it touches it.

James figures that this demon must be a high tier type because the holy weapon didn't immediately weaken it. According to Master Lee, James was told that a high tier demons require a few more slashes to kill them for good. Hey, doesn't that mean the lady with violet eyes yesterday was a high tier demon as well?

Without wasting time, James ran towards the demon.

"Bold move, young kid." The shadow demon elongated its other hand and shapeshifted into a point. It thrust its hand at high speed towards James. As quick as it is, James still managed to dodge it and sliced up its hand with a clean swipe of its blade.

The shadow demon was shocked. Now, two of its hand was gone. Before giving it time to react at the sudden outcome, James was already within the reach to cut off its head and James did it without any hesitation.

Thus, the shadow demon who was known to be one of the high tier demons was slain easily by James. The demon didn't even know what hit it before its body crumbled into ash.

Linda who saw everything turned speechless.

"Are you okay?" asked James. Linda nodded her head.

"Could you follow me to see the city leader and reported this to him. Or else, I have a bad feeling that the festival will be jeopardized by the presence of this demon," said James.

Linda nodded her head but she found herself unable to stand up. Her legs had given out. Hence, James lends her hand to get her on her feet.

"F…Follow me…" said Linda weakly and James follow closely behind her.

...

…..

…..

Meanwhile, where Jolly was. Jolly was sitting on top of a box, thinking deeply. Next to him was a body of demon corpses starting to crumble into ash.

"Hmm…..this is bad." Jolly scratched his head.

"This is really bad…"

"With so many demons. It could only mean a demon lord is here…. Oh god, we have to request reinforcement immediately. I hope James is still okay by now."