Frog in a Well

It was the dead of night when I awoke to a strange sound,

"Kukuku~ that fellow really left himself out in the open for me..."

I shot up before quickly attacking the gremlin,

"Ahhh!! Forgive me!!"

I gripped him by the neck before slamming him into the ground, I used my Zenith Tempest to heat my palms and attempt to scorch into his neck.

He screeched as I began my berating,

"What are you doing?!"

"Nothing my lord, nothing!!"

"Cut the bullshit, I heard what you said!"

"Tsk."

The fuck, did this little gremlin just 'tsk' at me?!

I took my fist before removing air resistance and using Burst Step on my elbow, accelerating my fist onto his nose.

"Ah Fuck!" He screeched as I slammed my fist into him repeatedly.

"I put up with your shit, now answer me!!"

"Ow, ow! OKAY! What do you want!!"

"What do you know about the village nearby?!"

"Lots! Lots! Just please stop!" He yelled between muffled cries as my fist stop pounding on to his face.

I held my fist right above his head before glaring into his eyes,

"You better speak up before I send you straight to the pope himself, hurry the fuck up."

"Eeeek! Alright! Alright! I'll tell you what you want!"

I release him but make sure to make an enclosure of flames around him in case he wants to flee.

Beads of sweat roll down his face before he shakily responds,

"I saw t-them."

"Who? Hurry the fuck up!"

"Devils!"

"What Devils? What were they doing?"

"This h-handsome one doesn—"

He instantly quiets from my glare,

"I said cut the bullshit."

He hurriedly nods his head up and down before continuing,

"I was scouring for food a few months back when I saw them a-arrive."

A few weeks ago? King Lott must have been preparing for this for some time now...

"What did you see?"

"I-I saw three devils."

"Describe them, how many wings?"

"U-um."

"Hurry up! Think!"

"A-Ah there was 2 with 3 sets of wings and one with 4-4 sets of wings!!"

Hmm...so probably two middle class devils and one lower high class one. This could be troublesome...I don't want to rely too much on Excalibur as other, more powerful beings may notice it's holy aura.

"Are they still there?!"

"I don't know I haven't been out for a while!"

"Anything else?!"

"Y-yes."

"Well, spit it out!"

"Y-yes, one of them seemed to be a noble."

I raised a brow at this, noble devils are part of the seventy two pillar clans, this is peculiar since the Great War hasn't happened, yet.

This means a majority of these clans haven't been driven to extinction like in canon, I can't rely on what I already know.

"How could you tell."

"I noticed they had a unique magic circle."

Hm! "What did it look like?!"

"I-I wasn't really paying attention." He meekly replies.

Useless!

"What color was it?!"

"P-purple!"

Hmm? I don't remember any like that from canon.....

"What magic did they use?!"

"I just saw them teleport here! Since they first teleported to the forest!!"

"Tsk!"

I've had enough of this fellow and decided to use Burst Step while kicking to accelerate my kick and punt him away.

SMACK

The gremlin's bones creak as he is launched outwards in the air far away, while screeching.

"Now, back to Beagbury. I got some Devils to hunt."

——

I enclosed on the settlement and one again activated the runes engraved onto my cloak.

I stay at the outskirts while thinking of my next course of action.

King Lott has obviously been in contact with the Devils for some time, the Devils also have their own goals and can make use of him as a puppet king as well.

Now, what is the purpose of this outpost?

Especially on the border, what's the need to send nobles devils as well?

I put the thoughts to the back of my mind before walking into the village. The village seems peculiar, last time I arrived at sunset and didn't notice anything wrong but now....

...there is almost no one here...

The village is almost empty, and the weirdest thing, no children.

I continue to wander and most of the inhabitants seem.....dead.

Their skin is pale and they have a lifeless look in their eyes as it's as if I'm staring into a fish.

But they continue to move and interact, even share a few words together, I tried to listen in on their conversations but all of them were meaningless, nothing of value.

Sensing something afoot I decide to once again leave the town and continue observation longer.

I'm a firm believer in having as much information as possible, after all knowledge is power.....that's what will keep you alive.

I'm no longer in my old world, I will be hunted the second anyone knows what I have.

I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, a member of the weakest species. With our lifespans we still have barely accomplished anything, shit Merlin only just cracked magic.

If it wasn't for the Biblical God's Sacred Gears, humanity would be nothing more than cattle, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves much less put up a fight.

We are powerless, and only with my prior knowledge do I know this. This is a world of Dragons and Gods, shit even Dragon Gods, humanity is nothing. Only a frog at the bottom of the well.

But with the knowledge I have carried over I'll make sure to reach the top and,

.....to leap out the well.