Re:Demon - Reborn as a Demon Book 1

22

After making Nagi stand to one side, Thural had finished with the rest of the class before going through all of the books and scrolls she'd laid out on the table. All of the documentation had turned out to be references for every marking that had been seen in the town over the years, what each mark meant, what its placement was, what they meant in relation to each other, everything. But despite spending the rest of the day going through them, in the end, she had to concede that she had no idea what the markings meant.

Nagi could tell that this bothered her, not just because she'd found something that had no precedent, but because this was how she had to introduce her replacement, to show her an imperfect reading, something no one wanted to show their new trainee on their first day, though Nagi secretly thought it was a good thing, show them what to do in case of an extreme situation, but she kept her mouth shut.

To make matters worse, Nagi found herself homeless. She couldn't go home, even if she'd wanted to and her parents had no obligation to take her back in even if she did. She had no job to go to, which was where she was supposed to live from now on, which meant she had nowhere. In the end, Thural had to let her stay at her place, since she hadn't been able to place her.

Which left Nagi nothing to do over the next few days. Thural had sent a message to her contacts in other villages to get word to the capital, hoping that their archives would have some mention of the marks covering Nagi. She'd been forced to stand there in her ceremonial garb while the old woman had tried her best to replicate the markings on a sheet of parchment, an expensive commodity in the town.

Unlike other demons, Nagi's markings weren't organized in patterns as much as they were lines that ran the length of her body. Sure, there were swirls and jinks in them and there were strange bars running in lines, but they were more solid then any that she'd ever seen, running from her toes to the tips of her fingers. They weren't thick in their covering, but they covered more of her than anyone else. Most demons had a mark along one arm, or on their chest. A few, like Moss and Troth, had fairly large marks, but they were the exception. Nagi didn't know if that was the case everywhere, it might've been that the further away from the capital one got, the lesser the markings, but she had no way of finding out.

Making things worse, she was bored. Everyone else was busy learning their new careers, or getting ready to leave the town, but she couldn't do anything. She couldn't go to the training fields, a new class was already in her place. She couldn't stay around the hut, Thural was busy teaching Miror about her new job and as much as Nagi would've liked to sit in, since she didn't have the markings of a reader, she couldn't learn the job. For the same reason she wasn't able to look at any of the books or scrolls.

Since she had nothing to do, she found herself wandering the town, but even then, she got strange looks everywhere she went. No one knew what to make of her, she was the first demon that anyone could think of that hadn't been placed, so they didn't know what to make of her.

About the only place she could go was her uncle's shop, though she couldn't stay there long. As much as he wanted to talk to her and give her the support he could, he had a business to run, not to mention a new employee to teach all about running the store.

It had turned out that Wreth was able to return home, though now he was treated not as a son, but as an apprentice. Still, he got to have meals with his family and seemed genuinely happy the few times Nagi had talked to him. He was busy learning, so when she did stop in, he was always rushing around, trying to take orders and learn everything all at once. She wanted to laugh at him, tell him to slow down, that he had time, but she knew that he didn't want to disappoint his dad, so he was doing his best, which stopped her from being able to say anything.