Chapter 6: Half-Demons

Finding a fisherman to take them across the river had not been difficult.

De-Yong gave him a coin and they hurried back to the forest. His clothes were now stained with blood again. They would not be able to surprise the next patrol so easily.

De-Yong wasn’t worried about the soldiers’ bodies. The villagers would loot them and throw them naked into the river. There was also no fear that they would betray De-Yong.

Hopefully the path ahead of them was now clear. He would think about something for the way back.

Soon they had left the valley and reached the forest that hid them. To avoid any further unpleasant encounters, De-Yong suggested they return to the animal paths. Hesitating for a moment, Na-Ri finally agreed. After a short time, she chose a promising path, which they followed to a small clearing where they stopped. She immediately began to peel herself out of her clothes again.

Na-Ri couldn’t imagine regretting having to take these clothes off again. But De-Yong had called her his bride in it!

He stared at her in amazement.

“Why are you taking your clothes off again?”

With a slight regret, she folded the things into a bundle and tied them up. They were simply too impractical for her in the forest. Even just now, down in the village, the clothes had hindered Na-Ri in battle. Here, surrounded by branches and thorns, there were countless ways she could get caught. And tear them, of course.

“Because the clothes here in the forest are impractical.”

“All human women wear clothes in the forest!”

“People are stupid too.”

De-Yong turned away in a huff. A discussion with the demoness was obviously fruitless. Clothes were useful and, above all, decent.

“I need to eat something, my stomach is growling,” he changed the subject. “Let’s take a break for a moment.”

With these words, he opened the bag and looked inside. His expression became even darker.

“That’s all you left me?”

Reproachfully, he picked up half a rice cake. Not even enough for a meal.

Na-Ri didn’t understand the problem.

“Then take something else. Catch something!”

“Catch?”

“Yes, there are lots of animals here. Grab one!”

He stared at the Kumiho in disbelief. Was she mocking him?

“I can’t just catch any animal. I don’t have a bow and arrow or time to track them down. A hunt like this takes time!”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m with you, isn’t it?” laughed Na-Ri. “Wait here!”

Before he could say anything back, she disappeared light-footedly between the trees.

De-Yong stared after her in disbelief. What was she up to again?

He scowled at the half-bitten rice cake before finally eating it. At least it was something to soothe his growling stomach. It was unbelievable how hungry he was now. I wonder if it had something to do with his new strength.

When he thought back to the fight in the village, he was still amazed at how quickly and easily he had wielded the sword. He had almost been carried away by his own momentum. He had only managed to catch himself with a full turn of his body, hitting the second samurai with his momentum. That could have gone wrong. He had to learn to control his new strength.

Determined, he stood up and unpacked his weapons again.

His practice time was not too long before Na-Ri returned. She carried a small vampire deer under her arm and watched from the thicket for some time, undetected, as De-Yong hopped around the clearing with the captured sword, pointlessly splitting the air here and there.

What kind of game was he playing? But since he was waving his weapon around so wildly, she wanted to make herself noticed before she approached him, just to be on the safe side. After all, he could hurt himself otherwise. Humans were so jumpy and clumsy.

“I’m back, De-Yong!”

As expected, he was startled and jumped back half a leap, his sword outstretched in her direction.

Na-Ri stepped out of cover. Relieved, De-Yong lowered his weapon.

“What are you playing at? Are you fighting invisible air spirits? There aren’t any here!”

De-Yong grimaced angrily.

“I don’t play, I practise. My strength has grown and I’ve become faster. I have to learn to deal with it, otherwise I won’t be able to fight well when we meet enemies again.”

He bent down and put the sword back in its sheath.

Na-Ri threw the little deer at his feet.

“You could have made a small fire instead. Now you’ll have to eat it raw.”

“Raw? I don’t eat raw meat!”

Na-Ri shared the preference for prepared meat, but also ate raw meat. However, she had to eat raw blood in particular.

“Then I understand all the less why you didn’t light a fire.”

“How was I supposed to know you were going hunting? I thought you were getting other food!” he tried to defend himself.

“You humans are strange!” Na-Ri observed.

‘No,’ De-Yong thought as he set off to find some dry wood. ‘Demons are strange. Especially females!’

The preparation had taken longer than planned, but in the end De-Yong was full. The venison, although not even as tall as his hips, was of course far too much for one meal. Unfortunately, De-Yong had nothing to preserve the rest. He could still save a well-done piece for breakfast, but they would have to leave the rest behind.

The demoness had also eaten again. They sat together by the faintly smoking fire and stared into the embers. It was already too dark to walk any further.

“What did you mean by me casting a spell on the men?” she suddenly asked, pulling De-Yong out of his thoughts.

He hesitated for a moment and threw another piece of wood into the embers before answering.

“Your smile! It makes you even more beautiful! No man can resist you!”

“Is that what you mean?” She smiled again as she had in the afternoon.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what I mean. Can you please stop that?”

“Why?”

“Please Na-Ri!” he looked away, embarrassed.

“De-Yong?”

“Like what?”

“I see you are ready to reunite with me!”

Disgruntled, De-Yong ran after Na-Ri the next morning. She was using him!

Well, admittedly, it had been great last night, and again this morning. But she was using him! And he didn’t know what for.

As soon as he could think clearly for a moment, that is, as soon as he closed his eyes or could take his eyes off her, he imagined himself fathering little half-demons with her.

Seeing her shapely, bare bottom constantly in front of him as he walked didn’t make the whole thing much better. Because on the one hand he had this horrible idea, on the other hand another part of his body completely ignored his concerns.

Na-Ri, on the other hand, was unconcerned and happy in her thoughts. At the moment, she didn’t even care about getting to the temple. De-Yong saw her as his bride, that was all that mattered! But of course he had to introduce her to his parents. That was the right thing to do. So they walked on.

As they were largely walking on the crests of the hills, on elephant paths that had been used for centuries, there was no need for them to return to the valley and put on clothes.

They made rapid progress, although the paths rarely led directly in their desired direction. But they were so fast that detours didn’t matter. A horse would not have kept up this pace for long.

Accordingly, they came closer to their destination, and before they rested again in the evening, De-Yong was amazed at how far they had come.

“I know this place!” he said firmly, pointing to a small shrine that stood at a crossroads.

“It’s a two-day journey from here to my home!”

Na-Ri stood still.

“Well, let’s find a place to rest and eat something before we reunite. It’s about time!”

She picked up the bag with the unfortunate rabbit, which had had the misfortune to jump at their feet on the way.

“Is that enough, or should I catch another one?”

“A second one would probably be better. I’m really hungry again,” De-Yong replied. “Better two, then we’ll have something for breakfast too!”

The demoness threw him the bag.

“Good, then I’ll hunt something quickly and you find a suitable spot nearby and make a fire!”

Before he could say anything back, she was already gone.

Annoyed, De-Yong stood around indecisively for a moment. He hated it when she ordered him around. He was a man, and an officer at that! Nevertheless, he hesitantly followed the instructions because his stomach growled.

It really was time to get rid of the demoness.

He found a suitable place to camp not far from the shrine. The old fireplace proved that travelers had often stopped here.

It wasn’t long before the skinned rabbit was spinning on a stick over the fire. Then Na-Ri returned with her prey.

In fact, she had captured two more unfortunate rodents.

They were also quickly prepared and placed over the fire.

As they slowly cooked, De-Yong tried not to look at Na-Ri.

It was crazy: the longer he traveled with her, the more desirable she became. Even though he knew what she was. And when she smiled at him, his mind went blank.

“Na-Ri, would you please put your clothes back on?”

“Why?” she asked, puzzled.

“We are close to a road. And this storage area is obviously frequently used. Someone could be coming.”

“I didn’t smell any traces of samurai. Everything’s fine,” she said unconcernedly.

“I don’t mean samurai. I mean any travelers.”

“Oh. I keep forgetting how prudish you people are. Well, after dinner. And the union, of course! By the way: the first rabbit is cooked!”

Sighing, De-Yong took it from the fire.

‘Half-demons! A whole crowd of half-demons!” went through his head. But his one-eyed monk in the middle of his body didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, he was happy again.

A rude awakening

Waking up next to the most beautiful woman in the world wasn’t bad at all. Moreover, when this unearthly beautiful woman even woke you up by sitting naked on your morning stand and starting to ride him gently, that was usually heaven for a man. At least, if the man didn’t know that a bloodthirsty demoness was riding him and, according to his assumption, trying to sire little monsters.

But the worst thing was: even if this man knew it, at that moment he didn’t care at all. She could even have sucked his blood at that moment and he wouldn’t have noticed because he was floating in a sphere that seemed beyond reality.

And while during a normal act with his wife he was able to fall asleep comfortably relaxed afterwards, here he longed for even more.

This frightened De-Yong to the depths of his soul as soon as his mind had somewhat reconnected with his brain.

He wasn’t quite sure, but that morning he had probably even told the demoness that he loved her! When he remembered this, he shook with horror.

With difficulty, he forced himself to remember that her current body was just an illusion. An artificial shell for a monster that ate people’s souls. And as a demon, she herself was without soul or conscience.

Remorse and desire for this demoness battled for supremacy inside him, but there was no clear winner. At least so far. So far, however, the demoness had easily managed to give his desire the upper hand at her discretion.

Without spiritual help, De-Yong was sure he would lose his soul completely to this demon.

Na-Ri, on the other hand, was happy. Their union last night, but especially this morning, had been wonderful again.

Before that, De-Yong had remained strangely uninvolved a few times, but now he had joined in again, kneading her breasts and ass, scratching and kissing her.

However, she had resisted his desire to kiss her on the mouth. He didn’t know it, but then her pearl would inevitably have returned to her.

But the most important thing was: he loved her, he had said so!

Full of renewed energy from the union, which she connected with her pearl in him every time, she now pounced on the remains of the rabbits. However, she also left some for De-Yong this time. After all, he needed his strength.

She had even put her dress back on for his sake. He was always so terribly nervous when she walked around undressed.

She had already finished eating when he sat down opposite her and began to eat the rest.

However, his relaxed, happy expression had already disappeared again and deep lines of worry spread across his face.

Na-Ri couldn’t explain it, but she simply blamed it on the strange nature of humans. Well, maybe she could distract him from his worries.

“Will we be staying at your parents’ house?”

De-Yong choked violently on the piece of rabbit and began to cough.

Na-Ri looked at him worriedly. How did people manage to survive if they choked so often while eating?

After a few coughs, he finally got his breath back and asked with a pained expression and hoarse voice: “What do you mean?”

“You want to introduce me to them. Are we going to live there together or do you have your own house? You haven’t told me anything about yourself yet!”

De-Yong looked at the remains of the rabbit in his hand and then threw it into the ashes of the fire from the night before. He had suddenly lost his appetite.

“Why do you think I’m introducing you to my parents?” he asked teasingly.

Na-Ri looked puzzled.

“That’s what you said yesterday: ‘Yes, we’re going to travel as husband and wife. We’re newlyweds and I’ll introduce you to my parents. Those were your words!”

He rolled his eyes.

“I meant that we tell this to the posts, and to other curious people, so that they don’t get too curious. When people don’t have an explanation for something, they start talking about it with others. Not everyone needs to know what we really are and where we’re going.”

Na-Ri’s face darkened.

“And where do we really want to go?”

Now De-Yong looked irritated.

“I thought we were going to the temple? That was your wish, wasn’t it?”

‘Oh, that’s right. It wasn’t really that urgent at the moment,’ Na-Ri thought to herself.

“I wanted to, but when you said you wanted to introduce me to your parents, that became more important.”

“Why?”

“Well, because I know that leading the bride home is an important ritual for you humans. And then we would finally be properly married!” Na-Ri explained, beaming with joy.

De-Yong’s face suddenly darkened.

“Na-Ri, we may be bound by a pact, but you are certainly not my wife! I am already married. I am not allowed to have another wife.”