Demonic Devourer’s Development - Chapter 177

I hesitated to reply. This all was so complex—I barely understood the meaning of some words Bishop said. He must’ve sensed it, because he smiled and kept talking.

“You came from a village, didn’t you, Hector? You must know that when the entire village works together, they can grow more crops than if they each till and sow their own land.”

Now he was talking with words I could understand. “Yes! And then they could share the plough, too, and horses to pull it. And it’s more convenient to till the entire field and then count how much of the grain goes to everyone than to move the ploughs from one field from another, so more work can be done. Is that was you meant, Bishop?”

“Yes. All kinds of tasks become easier when people gather together. In that way, sowing justice isn’t different from sowing wheat. And our world grows scarce with both… People who should be looking for everyone’s well-being forget about their duties and seek only for their own gain, turning the blind eye to the fact that our world is crumbling beneath our feet.” Bishop shook his head sadly. “Because of that, it’s all the more important that those who choose to see the truth band together and support each other like brothers and sisters would.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure about the crumbling world, but I was ready to agree on other points. People certainly turned too many blind eyes. “But why are you telling me this, Bishop?”

“Because I see you are not the one to ignore a person in trouble. Gi told me how you tried to protect him from Yvenna. Yvenna… she’s a troubled child.” Bishop sighed. “It was always hard to keep her from harming others and herself. It’s easier now, a little, but…” He glanced at Gi. “She certainly isn’t soft in her teaching methods, nor in anything else. I can only assure you that Gi himself is strong enough to fend for himself if she ever truly wished to do him harm, despite his young age.”

Bishop paused and gave me a long, level look that made me go still in my seat. “Hector, I want you to join us and accept as your brothers and sisters, fighting for the better of the world. Whatever family you lost, we will be your new one. Me, and Gi, and other people. Even Yvenna—she can be nice in her own strange way, when you get to know her better… Though, I will admit, this isn’t an easy task. Do you want to?”

Did I? This seemed like a dream. I looked at Gi, who was watching me with expectant and closed-off expression. To be a helper of innocents like him, WITH him—that seemed like the best thing that happened to me since… ever.

“Yes, yes, I want to. What do I have to do?”

⠀⠀

This was how began my life in what Bishop called the Church of Devourer. It seemed like a scary name, at first—but it was less scary than the truth Bishop opened my eyes at. Our world was at its end, and the only one to save it was a great and terrible monster—a demon. Even more, he was chosen by the god above gods to do this, so it was all by design!

It was awful to think how one can’t just achieve goodness by simply doing good things. But it was something I knew already, for a long time.

My new family were great people. They treated me very well. Bishop arranged for me to live with one of them—Auntie, how I called her, since we were all brothers and sisters in the Church. She was a seamstress and had another adopted boy, who was sixteen and helped her in the store. She was great, but I still spend most of my time with Gi and, by extension, either Bishop or Yvenna. I didn’t have to work in a bakery anymore, too—Bishop paid for my expenses. I protested at first, but he explained that the Church was rich enough to afford it, and I needed all the time I had to train.

Bishop was a great man, too. He never raised his voice, or worse, hand at me. Yvenna, on the other hand… She was his opposite. I hated her guts, and she hated mine—but then, I was sure she hated everyone. The only person she treated with any amount of respect was Bishop. That, and her power as an adventurer, were her only redeeming qualities. She’d be fine if she was adventuring far away from me! I didn’t know how Bishop could be so patient with her, or how Gi could dismiss her personality like “necessary evil”.

Instead, she stayed in the city and trained Gi—and then me—how to fight.

I learnt about magic water that gave Gi power, and was given some myself. It did make me stronger, but still not strong enough as both Gi and Yvenna. But then, Yvenna was an experienced warrior, and Gi drank that water since birth… Still, it angered me sometimes, how it seemed like the gap between me and Gi never grew narrower, no matter how hard I trained.

Still, it was just great to work alongside someone. Gi softened towards me, too. He was still glum and stand-offish, but the more we spent together, the more I could see him respecting me. I really wanted to see more of his respect… even if he was younger than me.

Sometimes that irked.

When we weren’t learning how to fight, Bishop taught us how to write, count, and read. We both knew some, to read our own character sheets, but it was one thing to read a few numbers, and another to put them together. There, I did much better than Gi, to my pride and to Gi’s frustration.

It was one of these days, when under Bishop’s watch we both solved math problems, that there was a loud knock on the door.