Refusing My God’s Advances

I tapped my chin with one arm crossed over the other as I watched the people of the town run away from the strangest things I had ever laid eyes on. The "Demons" were a horned race of 4-foot-tall humans with varying styles of horns coming out of their heads along with little bat wings coming from their backs.

Hardy what I would call fearsome creatures. What was more, none of them were hurting any of the people, just chasing them around. I couldn't say as much for the building, or any of the visible items. The mini demons were setting fires, and smashing things like it was their main purpose.

"Umm... How long are we just going to stand here and watch?" Shelli asked in an uneasy voice, and I shrugged. 

"I still haven't figured out how I want to handle this. It all seems like a bother, but something is telling me in my gut not to kill these things," I explained, and Shelli gave me a strange look.

"What? But they are attacking the villagers!" She cried, but I shook my head.

"No, they are just chasing them. I haven't seen a single person with a wound that wasn't of their own making. Something is fishy here, but we could probably just walk through town to the blacksmith's shop. The old man is probably there defending his shop, so we can just get the quest over with," I explained, and we stared at each other for a moment.

"Huh? You're not serious, right?!" Shelli finally demanded, but I nodded. 

"I will take one of the demons," I said, using my fingers for air quotes. "And we can interrogate them on the way to the next town that doesn't have these little imps running around it," I said, but then hummed, acting like I was forgetting something.

A bolt of inspiration hit Shelli at the same time, and she poked her finger into my chest with a self-satisfied smile that was growing on her face. I personally didn't like the sight of it.

"Break the demon's grip on the local town! Gotchu!" Shelli declared and then began to chortle, her weird colors finally coming out, but she did have me.

"Fine, but then we are going to blacksmiths, and getting out of here," I sighed, and Shelli nodded, making some strange cat-like determined face, making me shake my head. 

This woman was all kinds of strange, but I was starting to acclimatize to her behavior. I just wish I could trust her, but that isn't important right now. I had another stupid quest that was now made annoying after seeing the demons. It didn't even feel right calling them that, but whatever. If these creatures really were enemies of this world, then there should be one surefire way to get their attention.

"Hey! Imp children! I am the Hero, and I would like to fight you all!" I called after clamping my hands around my mouth in a cone shape.

As expected, all the demons I could see stopped what they were doing, and turned to my voice. Shelli quickly got behind me, but I danced back behind her and pushed her forward. 

"Go tell the rest of the demons that I am here, but take your time," I said, an interesting plan brewing up in my mind.

"Take my time?" Shelli asked, looking back, and I nodded.

"And when you are done, go and wait at the blacksmiths. Don't do anything stupid that will make me get distracted, okay?" 

Shelli gave me a determined look and then ran into the town as the first group of vertically challenged demons approached me. I had purposely stayed at the front gate and complained a lot, but I had been working on a plan. 

It was just fun to mess with Shelli.

As much as I wanted to avoid this, Garland had set me up really well. So, I had to deal with this problem, but something was also fishy. With all of this information, I deduced that something was controlling these mostly normal and actually pretty cute-looking people. This is where my problems started, and I started to tease Shelli until I figured it out.

"Hey! You! Human!" I called to a man not far from me, trying to hide as the first demon reached me.

The moment it was within my range, the little blue-haired dude with one horn lifted off the ground quick as a whip, trying to fly around me. That wasn’t happening. 

"Hurgh!" The male demon gurgled as my hand shot out even faster than its own movement, nearly wrapping all the way around its neck. I was only 5 foot 10 inches tall, and my hands weren't exactly huge.

The crazy demon stared at me with a strange combination of fear, hatred, sadness, and something else all at once. The eyes close very quickly from my finger cutting off the blood flow to its brain. Once it was out cold, I glared at the man who was still staring at me in shock.

"Go get some rope, or whatever to bind these creatures," I ordered, tossing the blacked-out demon behind me, outside the village. There was a wall around the village, but it was only five feet tall, yet it suited my purpose. "Find more people that can tie knots, or guards if there are any, and get back here!"

The man was too worried, trying to point at the two more demons flying directly at me. I was about to backhand them both, but just grabbed them by the neck out of the air. I was pretty sure they both would have just died from my slap or got as close to dead as possible. I had to be careful or my plan would not work like I wanted it to.

Tossing the two aside, behind the fence this time, turned back to see the man was already gone. I hoped the bugger did what I said. I wanted to get the demons all tied up before they woke back up.