Devil's tale

Devil's tale chapter 29

The sun was low on the eastern side of the horizon when Avarice, Jazz and Emily departed for their journey across the desert to the city of water.

"Thanks again for everything!" Sha'li called after the three departing travellers.

Avarice turned to wave at her before feeling Emily grip his wrist and quickly say. "Come on, we've got a long trek ahead, best get going."

Jazz noticed this and chuckled, looking like he knew something Avarice didn't.

The three outsiders were being escorted by five armed soldiers, dressed in white clothes and equipped with scimitars. The men didn't say much. Only ever speaking to help guide the party in the right direction. Their sergeant, a man named Amir, didn't seem to speak at all. He only ever communicated in grunts and nods.

After about an hour of silent walking, Avarice asked Amir. "So what's the next stop? I can't imagine we can just travel straight to the capital without a few pit-stops here and there?" The tall man turned his head and nodded, avoiding Avarice's eyes. Another soldier quickly stepped in and said.

"We're headed straight to the capital. I think the emperor and his counsel are very much looking forward to hearing information from someone from Northland's capital. We'll need to stay the main road, as there have been multiple sightings of demons in the desert as of late." The soldier smiled apologetically. "I mean demons from the hells, not devils such as yourself."

Avarice nodded. "I see. I see." He glanced over at Amir again, a little disheartened. Did this sergeant not like him for some reason? The devil nervously felt at his horns and sighed.

Soon it was time to make camp. The soldiers made a campfire easily enough and Avarice was glad none of them had asked him to help, with his pyromancy. Avarice still wanted to try and get Amir to talk, so he decided to tell a story. He spoke of some trouble he'd gotten into as a child. How he'd stollen Roland's harp and played it from atop one of the college's towers. His play had been no match for Roland's of course, but that hadn't stopped the entire courtyard full of students from gathering into a crowd at the base of the tower, seemingly believing their headmaster was gracing them with a performance. Avarice had then revealed himself and shouted something along the lines of.

"Guess you snobs really can't tell real talent from just a fancy instrument"

Or something like that, his memory had been a bit fuzzy. Just as he'd felt nice and smug, Roland had appeared behind him and said.

"And guess certain fools like to parade their stolen instruments around for the whole school to see."

It had turned out that the students had in fact all gathered together because they'd been waiting for Roland to show up and give Avarice a scolding.

"And boy did he give me an earful, let me tell you." Avarice finished.

Several soldiers chuckled. Jazz smirked at his friend and Emily smiled, looking up from her book. Amir smiled as well but didn't laugh out loud. Avarice supposed he'd take what he could get and was satisfied with the reaction he'd gotten.

"Did you have that braid in your hair back then as well?" Emily asked.

"I did. Most devils in the capital have long hair hanging loose. I wanted to look different." Avarice said.

"But it might look good if you let it down." Emily suggested.

"How about this? You can take off your cloak and I'll undo my hair." Avarice said with a small smirk.

"Okay, sure." Emily, with almost zero hesitation, undid her cloak and let it fall to the ground. Avarice's smirk melted away when he saw her in her thin, white gown without her cloak. Her gown was long and showed no skin except for a tiny spot around her neck. It was the first time Avarice had gotten a good look at her figure, as the gown didn't seem to be tailored at all and was a bit too tight. Avarice felt himself blush as he noticed for the first time that Emily was relatively busty. He felt a fire rise in his guts and tried his best to repress it.