“Master…Master…” Cain slowly opened his eyes to the faint voice calling him, “Master, listen to Spindle.” It was the middle of the night, Cain had fallen asleep after having a short night with Alice. The flames at the fireplace were already fainting as they burned through all the firewood. Moonlight lightly seemed from the window and brushed against Alice’s jet-black wings.
The small fiend flapping its wings behind the bed looked down at them, “Voices Master, I hear voices!” It growled.
Cain rose and looked at him, “What do you mean? Is it worth waking us up in the middle of the night?”
The small fiend backed up as he heard Cain’s words, the harsh voice indicated clear annoyance.
“I wouldn’t dare, those bugs are a problem. Something isn’t right about them.”
Cain stood and covered Alice. He then slowly walked toward the window and listened.
“Cicadas, what’s wrong with them? I don’t hear anything weird.” Cain said as he put his ear on the closed window.
“Cicadas?” Spindle looked confused.
“Yes, Cicadas. It’s their mating call. They usually act like this in summer…” Cain stopped for a moment. It finally clicked in his mind. They were in late autumn. It was almost winter.
“Go wake Sofia and Selena, we have an emergency!” Cain shouted. How did he miss such a thing?
“Gracie, you’re outside right?” As he called, the door was open and Gracie entered with her hair messed up. “I was sleeping outside, do you need anything?” There was a couch that could act as a bed right outside his door. Was that its purpose?
“Wake everyone, we might get attacked soon!” She turned serious when she heard his firm words. She stormed out without wasting any time.
“Cain…What is happening?” Alice slowly woke up and asked, she was still half-asleep scratching her eyes.
“In short we might be under a mental attack by a druid. I don’t know who or how but it couldn’t be anything else!” Alice slowly crawled into her clothes, “Are you sure, I don’t feel anything.”
“You’re a devil and I have high intelligence, we could probably resist it without even trying. I’m worried about the maids, if they managed to mind control even one of them we might end up poisoned or stabbed in our sleep!” Cain had already strapped his armor, there was only one way to fix this. It’s to find the druid controlling the Cicadas and taking him down.
“Druids are a type of spell casters that concentrate on controlling nature and talking with animals, some even call them green mages. Yet to think this one can call Cicadas outside their natural season, he must be quite strong.” Cain strapped his sword to his waist and stood by the window.
“Are you intending to fight? You’re still recovering!” Alice tried not to shout, she observed Cain as his face changed into a frown.
“Sadly I’m the only one who knows how to find him!” As Cain tried to smile, Spindle jumped from his shadow. He has already lost an arm, a massive wound spanned across his back.
“What happened?” Cain shouted and Alice rushed to Heal Spindle, luckily, she seemed to remember that Holy magic would kill devils so she healed him with her cursed magic.
“Master…It’s…” Cain had a bad feeling looking at Spindle’s wounds. They were too familiar.
“Se…Behind You!” Spindle screamed as Selena broke the window and swung her claws down at Cain. [Thunder step] BOOOM! Her palm cracked the ground as Cain zapped to the other side with Spindle.
Thud! Thud! She didn’t wait and chased behind him, her fangs flying toward his neck.
“Damn it, run!” Cain shouted as he threw away his swords and carried his sheath as a stick. [Swiftness], [Lesser Empowerment], [Haste], [Slow].
Quickly dodging to the side and trying to get a hit at her neck. Selena wasn’t that easy, she quickly changed her direction and pierced Cain’s forearm with her claws, the next thing he knew her wide open mouth was right in his face. ‘Damn, even with slow magic she is still this fast.’ [Blink] For a moment, Cain’s body seemed to turn translucent and Selena’s claw slipped from his forearm.
[Enchanting: Electric discharge], [Shocking grasp] CRACKLE! Cain didn’t pull any punches, he knew well how strong Selena was and how much HP and SP she has. The entire room was coated in white light as the lightning coursed through her body.
TAWHACK! A kick came right through Cain’s chest sending him flying to the wall. He coughed blood as he opened his eyes. Half of her body was burned yet she didn’t lose consciousness, ‘Even with this high output she stayed conscious.”
Selena released a faint growl as she licked her burned arm. She quickly got ready to attack again.
“You gave me enough time to cast it, for now, you can rest.” Cain said as she fell on her face asleep.
“Cain, what is happening?” Alice finally got a chance to speak, this all happened quickly she didn’t know how to act.
“Hurry and heal her. The sound those Cicadas are making is a sort of mind control magic, she must have fallen to that!” She was the one with the lowest intelligence of them all having only 8, that wasn’t the only thing as she was a Jaguar demi-human. The one race with the closest resemblance to wild beasts, which the druid specializes in controlling.
“What about the others?” Alice asked as she cast her magic on Selena [Holy Healing]
“I doubt you or Sofia would get controlled, Gracie is also a special case. If any of the maids got controlled just knock them out.” Cain said as he picked his sword back.
“Master…where are you going?” Spindle asked as he felt the rage coming from Cain.
“To kill the druid, he should be close. Take care of everything and report back to me.” [Mist step] Cain’s body disappeared in a trail of mist.
…
Downstairs, Sebas was tightening his gloves as he saw one of the maids approach him with a knife. “Ellie, I’ve been turning a blind eye to your nagging. To think you will try to take this old man’s life. Blame only yourself!”
“AHH!” Ellie Screamed as she swung the long kitchen knife at Sebas, The butler gracefully grabbed her hand, “Humph!” A single strong punch to the guts was enough to knock the wind out of the maid.
Sebas dragged the unconscious Ellie and laid her on the couch, “Stay put!” He said as he walked outside with his hands behind him.
The hallway was dark, he couldn’t see anything. Sebas snorted, it was the maids’ job to make sure the candles stay lit up.
Tap…Tip… As he heard the faint steps behind him he jumped to the side barely evading a fatal stab. “Amara, It was your turn this night to keep them lit!” He said as he snatched the iron pike from the maid’s hand, “Go back to sleep if you won’t do your work!” A single kick was enough to knock her out.
“For goodness sake, at this rate, I will end up beating everyone here. I only hope I won’t need to hit any of the mistresses!” He sighed with a sad voice, elegantly walking in the dark searching for the other maids.
As he was walking in the dark he felt an abnormal pressure, the one attacking him now wasn’t a simple maid. Sebas turned quickly and parried the broom with his bare hand, Just as he did that a kick landed in his face. Knocking him to the ground.
“I guess I’m getting old, isn’t that right Gracie!” He growled as he spotted the blood accumulating in his mouth.
“You can speak?” Gracie replied surprising him.
Sebas’s eyes opened wide, “You aren’t controlled?” He gasped in surprise.
“I’m not. And you too seem to be alright.” She replied in her usual calm voice.
Sebas tried to calm his thoughts, she must be in the same satiation as him. She thought that he was being controlled so she attacked him. He didn’t understand what was happening but having someone else by his side was reassuring, on top of that she seemed capable of handling herself.
“How are you feeling? Anything abnormal?” Sebas asked to confirm if she was alright, he didn’t know how the control worked so with how inexpressive she is, she could be in pain without him knowing.
As she heard his question, she remembered Cain’s words. He asked her to say the first thing she thought about when asked about feelings. “Kicking you in the face was satisfying.” Her reply stunned Sebas for a moment, there were many things wrong there and he wanted to scream.
“It doesn’t matter, let’s move on and check on the master’s well-being!” Sebas tried to calm himself by focusing on the work in front of him. It wasn’t the time to be nagging about small details.
“No, he is alright. We must make sure everyone else is awake!” she said and rushed ahead without waiting for him, Sebas sighed and followed her.