Clean up

As I walked toward the bed with small bloodstains, I started thinking about how good I felt. Didn't I just kill three people and felt good doing it? I know I've never felt good about killing someone, but somehow, it almost feels amazing. Is this because of the demon pact? Has to be. My emotions aren't out of control and it feels like my Alm is condescending more and more with each passing second.

I looked at Cera with a careful expression and gently cleaned her dripping mouth with the blanket. I know she has good instincts, even if I don't have any evidence, it just feels that way. At the very least, I trust her survivalist intuition.

"It's okay, my little queen, I won't let anything like this happen ever again. I know it might be too much to ask in your current condition, but I need you to stay awake. When I ask the servants in the house if they're willing to serve us, I need you to tell me if they're being sincere or lying. You can just tug on my shirt if they're lying and not do anything for 10 seconds if they're telling the truth. It might hurt to talk, so a simple signal like that is okay, alright?"

I looked at her confused face and kissed her on the cheek. Her face flushed red and looked at me timidly. How addicting. If she keeps being this cute, I won't be able stop teasing her. After that, I picked her up off the bed and bridal carried her into the living room.

I was watching the maids from earlier trying their best to arrange the pillows and blankets. They still looked pretty scared. I shouldn't have blown the other two maids up. It made another mess.

"That's good enough." I dismissed them with a glare and sat down while moving Cera's arm next to my shirt seamlessly. I made sure she wasn't uncomfortable and grabbed the warm milk that was on the coffee table.

"Here. I prepared this before going to your room earlier." My right hand slowly drifting up and down the nape of her neck while my left hand brought the mug toward her mouth.

I gave her smile and asked.

"Do you like it?"

"It's good." She shyly replied and looked at me with an embarrassed face.

Her face started to turn red and she shut her eyes. She looks just like a little kitten!

I was about to kiss her again, but she forced her arms around me and tightly pressed her face against my chest.

"Thank you." Her voice was quivering and she was hugging me really tightly.

She must've been really scared. Damn. I killed Maddy too fast didn't I? A bit of torture next time. Next time? No. I won't let something like this happen again. Seeing that Cera wasn't letting go of me, I kissed the top of her head and started the sorting.

"When I call your name, stand in front of me." I looked around the living room and every single person looks scared as hell. I must look really scary to them. When I saw my reflection, even I thought I looked scary. Well, not that it matters. I can still feel Alm surging through my body. I think this will have side effects later, so I have to get rid of all the rats before I run out of power.

"Sandra." I called out one of the maids that was shaking nearby waited for her to walk in front of me.

"Do you swear to serve me with your life?" Before forcing an Alm oath on them, I decided to ask for their sincerity. Even if the Alm oath guarantees reliability, sincerity along with reliability is simply better. I still can't encroach them with the oath as it requires me to be focused and thorough. I'm also surrounded by a bunch of rats and even if I'm confident I can kill them, the house will probably fall apart.

"Y-yes!" Her shaky scream echoed in the living room.

I waited for Cera to tug my shirt, but it never came. I smiled at Sandra and figured I might as well start cleaning my room.

"Thank you, Sandra. Please go clean up the mess I made in my room. I'll send a few people to help you as soon as I can."

Even though she stopped shaking and looked relieved, when I told her to go clean up my room she got a bit jumpy.

"Okay!" She didn't yell this time, but her voice was still loud.

As she ran off, I started petting Cera's back.

"Dominic." He is one of the guards stationed to protect the house.

"Do you swear to serve me with your life?"

"Yes." He replied quickly and confidently.

Cera pulled the hems of my shirt while she was still hugging me and I instantly blew the guard into the wall. It wasn't as big as before since I didn't want to make another mess, but my power is simply too showy. Nailed into the living room wall, I tried my best to make an ice lance that was just big enough to pierce his head and I added another decoration to the wall.

"Alright, next."

*** Noire's Point of view ***

I'm not sure what I should be doing right now. I'm scared and the horrifying scene happening before me is only making it worse. How can a child do this? Miss Zara is only 9 years old! What's even more insane, is how powerful she is! I can feel her chilling Alm piercing my Alm reinforcement by simply standing next to her. When did she become this powerful? I've been with her all her life and she never showed this much prowess. She's always been laid back and arrogant. She almost feels like a completely different person. Is it because of the little lady that she brought home today? That doesn't even make sense. She just randomly went to the slums this morning and said she was looking for someone and brought her back saying she was going to become the lady of the house. That little girl is maybe a year or two younger than Miss Zara. I know she's not some commoner or abandoned child because of the way she handled her meal earlier. If my miss really liked her, why did she only help her now? She must've been homeless for at least a month, maybe even longer. There's just so many strange things happening all at once!

The crunchy bang from the wall brought me back to the reality before me. The wall is ominously dripping and the redish glow on the ice is accentuated by all the blood.

"Next."

I heard my miss continue this homicidal fit and could only think of when it was going to be my turn. Should I run away? No, I can't. I feel it completely. The others should feel it as well. As soon we run, we'll die. Her Alm is surrounding every single person here. One wrong move and we die without getting a chance to pledge ourselves to live. I'm among the stronger trained personnel here and even I'm frightened by how strong she is. A few people have already thrown up and the smell of blood is seething this insane atmosphere. My thoughts froze when I heard her call my name.

"Noire."

I could barely walk, my fumbling legs gave out a bit and almost I tripped. Going around the couch and looking at the wall made my emotions run wild. How can this cute little girl do something this horrifying? The same little miss that I raised and took care of. As I turned my back to the human wall, I met her dazzling orange eyes glowing with power. I didn't notice it before, and I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that people with incredible innate abilities tend to have their eye color change or a pattern appears inside their eye. Could this have changed her? It's possible. The little miss I know may have been spoiled and a bit rude, but she was never a bad kid. Even with the other noble girls, she never hurt them or seriously verbally attacked them. That's right! She's still the same little girl that I raised! She's probably influenced by her power and can't control it. Even if it feels like I'm deluding myself from the harsh reality before I die-

"Please get me more hot milk. I drank it all."

I couldn't hide my emotions. The Alm that was so oppressively cold disappeared. Does this mean she trusts me? I know that she just killed so many people right in front of me, but… for some reason, I'm really happy that believes in me. I tried my best to hold back my tears and crying voice, but I couldn't.

"Right away." I reached for her mug on the small glass table in front of her and rushed off to the kitchen.

As I was pouring the hot milk into the mug a seriously dangerous thought popped up in my head. Not sure if influenced by what I just watched, how my emotions are running wild, or the fact that I'm filled with an almost stockholm-ish awe for Zara.

But how are we going to clean up all the bodies?