Chapter 2
But… wow…?
‘Good heavens, what is this beautiful living being?’
If it weren’t for the traces of blood smeared across her face, I would have believed she was a goddess descended from the heavens to take me to paradise.
A high nose drawn in elegant curves, skin so pale it looked almost translucent, and delicate features packed into a face so small it seemed unreal—she didn’t feel like someone from this world.
And that wasn’t all.
Her crimson eyes were deeper and more vivid than any jewel said to be the rarest in existence, and her silver hair shimmered as if it had absorbed the entire Milky Way.
I prided myself on having lived many lives, but I had never seen a face like this.
‘Wait… did I just hear something weird earlier?’
Is this what it feels like to be spellbound?
The moment I saw her face, I forgot everything that had happened before, and even what she had been talking about with that man.
[What is that in your arms…?]
The man on the other side of the screen asked, sounding puzzled.
“Hmm. A baby?”
[A… baby?]
The beautiful woman glanced at me for a moment. Then she suddenly lifted me up and brought me close to the screen, smiling brightly.
“Little one, you’re not the youngest anymore. This one is now the youngest.”
[What?]
“Wah?”
Both the man on the screen and I made equally foolish noises at the same time.
“I won’t take you to the Demon Realm because you’re too weak as a human, but well… it’s decided.”
What exactly is decided?
My mind was slowly starting to clear.
‘This person… no, she’s definitely not human. The Demon Realm…?’
Didn’t the man on the screen just say something about a Demon King’s castle?
‘Am I still a fish in front of a cat…?’
The moment I realized that, I blacked out from shock.
[—Baby, wait! Wait! Your neck!]
I vaguely heard a frantic voice, but it was none of my concern.
Just get me out of this world.
I’m becoming the child of a demon?!
Later
Across many reincarnations, the first thing I had learned was quick surrender—and resignation.
And alongside that, quick acceptance.
Even when this demon kept beating people up, I tried to rationalize it.
‘They must’ve done something wrong. Everyone’s begging because they don’t understand.’
When a burly man cried out in protest—
“If Lady Neriyuween is here, that means she has a contractor in the human world too, so why are you only targeting us…!”
—I simply accepted the name “Neriyuween” and moved on.
“Am I the same as you people?”
Even when Neriyuween casually beat the man while making hypocritical remarks, I assumed there must be a reason.
‘Isn’t it weird to expect morals from a demon?’
Honestly, every time I woke up, the scenery had changed, and the person being beaten changed too, so I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
The only consistent thing was their screaming: “What did we do wrong?!”
So whenever I heard something similar, I just assumed: ah, that one did something wrong and is getting beaten.
‘Even if they didn’t, it’s not my problem.’
I was going to die anyway—why bother thinking about it?
But…
Still…
Even if I could accept everything and let it pass—
‘I can’t accept losing humanity!’
“Waaah!!”
This isn’t some jungle documentary!
I’m not a wolf cub!
How can you threaten a passing mother wolf into feeding human milk to a perfectly normal human baby?!
“Hmm? Is the position uncomfortable?”
No! It’s not! Put that away!
I feel bad for the mother wolf who was coerced into offering her body, but honestly, I lost my appetite.
“Don’t you know how to drink?”
I had asked for a bottle too—of course I knew how.
The demon squeezed a little wolf milk into her hand and touched it lightly to my lips.
‘Whoa… what is this rich smell…? Since when did milk smell this good?’
My mouth instinctively opened from hunger, but I snapped back to my senses.
I was a rational human being.
“Waaah!!”
Though the only sound I could make was that.
“…Hmm.”
The demon thought for a moment, then stood up with me in her arms.
“Thanks. It seems she doesn’t like wolf milk. Go.”
No, it’s not that I dislike it—it’s just common sense!
“Waaah!”
“Alright, alright.”
You know nothing.
It was infuriating that I couldn’t speak because I was a baby.
The mother wolf glanced at us nervously before quickly fleeing with her cubs.
‘Sigh… live well and don’t run into situations like this again…’
I waved goodbye to the wolf instead of the demon. My arms were too short, so it probably just looked like I was flailing randomly.
“Are you hungry?”
Yes. I am.
That milk smell is killing me.
But that earlier thing was NOT acceptable!
‘Let’s go to a village and eat properly. Okay?’
But this demon seemed to have no concept of common sense.
“Oh. Not milk—something else?”
What does she mean, something else? What do you feed a newborn baby besides milk?!
And then, I wanted to grab my nonexistent hair in despair.
She had started threatening the nearby birds.
“Go bring fruit a baby can eat.”
What…?
Even the birds seemed confused.
Chirp?
[W-we’re being spoken to?]
‘Huh?’
Chirp chirp?
[She’s looking at us?]
‘Wait… what?’
Are these birds talking?
While I blinked in disbelief, the birds continued chattering.
Chirp chirp chirp.
[Hey! Someone hide! That’s a demon!]
Chirp!
[But this is weird! That’s clearly a fairy child!]
Their voices were being translated directly into my mind.
‘What is going on…?’
Ah. Fairies?
I remembered that in some of my past lives, fairies could hear nature because they were born from it.
Maybe that was the same here.
But that wasn’t the important issue right now…
Guys, this is not the time to have a casual chat!
‘Run away…!’
But it was too late.
As expected, the impatient demon released a terrifying aura.
“Bring. It.”
The birds panicked and flew away.
Even as they left, they were chirping something, but the demon didn’t seem to hear it.
After a while, I realized something.
This demon only cared about achieving her goal.
‘Wait… is it even okay to feed fruit to a baby who hasn’t even weaned off milk yet?’
But I couldn’t even protest because—
the fruit the birds brought back looked too delicious.
Even more absurdly, realizing I couldn’t eat it whole, she crushed it with her bare hand and squeezed out the juice.
‘That hand… has knocked out grown men…’
And yet I still drank it hungrily.
It was… delicious.
‘Come to think of it… this is also kind of…’
Is this really okay for a human?
Still… I was hungry.
Later
“Waaah! Waaah!”
So this is why people say not to eat random things.
After drinking the fruit juice and falling asleep, I woke up feeling sick.
Something surged up inside me—and I threw everything up.
How heartbreaking that was.
‘Uuugh… it was my first meal in days…’
It was embarrassing and confusing and miserable all at once.
“What, what is it?! What’s wrong?”
The demon was in the middle of beating someone again.
She looked flustered when I woke up crying and vomiting.
Still, she awkwardly held me on her shoulder and patted my back.
“Hey.”
At her call, one of the men jumped.
“I-I’m sorry! Please forgive us! We didn’t realize such an important being—!”
“Enough. How long does it take for a human baby to grow?”
“Eh…?”
“Don’t make me ask twice.”
“Y-yes! If you mean adulthood, then… about 18 years?”
She stared at me seriously.
“That’s fast. Why is this one so small?”
“Huh?”
“When do babies start talking?”
“That… varies. Our child started at 24 months… maybe 30?”
At that, she dropped me slightly and stared at me in surprise.
“So this tiny thing won’t grow until it’s two years old?”
“It will grow! It’ll walk and run by then…”
“Oh? So growth isn’t that different from ours?”
She studied me closely.
I had already stopped crying.
It was embarrassing that I cried just from throwing up a little.
‘Sigh… being a baby…’
I tried to cover my face, but my arms were too short.
“Eighteen years is short. Then you’ll grow quickly in a few days.”
I wanted to ask how 18 years could possibly be short.
But she nodded as if she had reached a conclusion and patted me again.
“Alright. Don’t pick fights with strangers. Be good.”
“Yes, y-yes! P-please take care!”
The atmosphere suddenly turned mafia-like.
Everyone bowed at a perfect 90 degrees as we passed.
Then she suddenly stopped and turned back.
“Oh right. Where are you operating from?”
“Y-yes?”
“Seems like the baby is getting motion sickness. You’ve been moving around too much. Humans are usually weaker.”
It didn’t feel like motion sickness at all.
If only I could speak…
“O-our base…?”
“You must have a hideout where you operate.”
“Yes, well…”
“N-no! We don’t have a base—!”
Boom.
With a single step, the ground caved in.
“W-we do! We do! We’ll give you our hideout!”
“I don’t need it.”
Then why did you ask?!
You completely insane demon!
