Helluva Child

26: P'ay Games?

"Oh, lookie here! You must be the famous Mildred!"

The imp dismounted his horse and walked up to Millie, wearing a sauve smile. "Heard some good things about you from your folks, little lady."

He winks at her, causing Millie to giggle sheepishly. You stared hard at the pale imp, a bit put off by his aura. He notices and chuckles at you. "A cute kid to."

You still didn't smile, opting to suck your hand as you watched him shake Millie's hand.

"What're y'all doin' so far away from Imp City?" His voice had a bit of a patronizing tone as he asked. "Heh. The free workin' finally slowin' down?"

"Oh, no! Freelance isn't free! It's a--..." she pauses, realizing it was pointless to try and explain. "Nevermind. We're just visitin' for the festival. The prince is our boss' boyyyyfrieeeend!"

"Millie, I am not above hitting a female in front of her daddy and kid." Blitz warns.

"Boss, huh...?" Striker pondered for a moment before his face lit up in recognition. "Ohhh, so YOU'RE the bold imp to start his own killing biz?"

"Yeah, well if you're good at somethin', you should probably capitalize." Blitz affirms in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact voice.

"Not many Imps start businesses on their own." Striker notes. "That's pretty impressive, sir."

He offers a wink to Blitz, who was taken aback by the compliment. "Oh...! Yeah? It is-- I-I-I guess- I guess it is, isn't it?"

"So you even conned that ditzy blueblood into gettin' you to the surface?" Striker asked as he and Blitz shook hands.

"Well, it's long and complicated, but the short answer is yes. But he's not like, you know--" Blitz tried to explain to the best of his abilities. "W-We're y- We're not, like... We're not doing it... We w- What's betw- It's a transactional f**king, you see."

"Y'know... you boys should enter the Pain Games!"

"Games?" You perked up at the word, just in time to watch Blitz suddenly slide sideways over to Joe excitedly.

"I heard games! What games? I'm in!"

"Every harvest festival, there's a competition to be the roughest, toughest b*stard in Wrath!" Lin explains, causing your eyes to sparkle in awe and excitement.

You had no clue what any of that really meant, but all's you knew was it involved games.

"Yeah! Wish I could play!" Millie pouts.

"Millie, you know you get too carried away." Lin replies, setting a hand on her shoulder. "The last competition ended in fifteen separate funerals."

"I'm aware, but I only caused nine of them!" Millie retorts. "How come Sallie May still gets to compete?"

"Your sister doesn't have a neighborhood head count." Lin replies, causing Millie to roll her eyes.

"She so does!"

"Doesn't count if you don't find the bodyyyy~!"

A female imp called tauntingly as she walks by in the back, causing Millie to snarl in envy and agitation. You watched curiously as she carried a sack along with a smaller imp carrying what looked like a body bag off to somewhere.

"Still, you get to root for her and your brothers," Lin reassures her. "And now you can cheer on your boss and have your sweet little tyke to watch n' learn!"

You giggled as your grandma pinched your cheek affectionately. Though Lin's joy was short lived as Moxxie placed his hand on her shoulder, much to her disgust. "Y'know, she can also cheer for me."