"Oh, you mean the demon that came to interrupt my work? I was busy cleaning a house when he showed up," Damian said, turning around to face the demon, smiling at him.
The demon gestured with his hands. "Don't get me wrong—I don't want to fight you. My subordinate was in the wrong this time, so I'll let it slide. But maybe we can talk in the future? I'd be pleased to have you as one of my new friends."
Damian couldn't quite understand why a demon like that was being so friendly. His mind kicked into overdrive, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Maybe he thinks I'm too strong?" Damian thought. "That would explain it—considering I can see demons even though I don't have mana!"
It was the only explanation that made sense to him. He figured it was the same reason the other demon had given up its eye without a fight.
"Yes, we could chat in the future," Damian said. "But as you can see, I just arrived in town, and I'd rather keep my mind at ease by cleaning scenes like this one. Can I do that?"
The demon looked at Damian with a thoughtful expression.
"Why is this guy so weird? Is he like those crazy hunters who have hobbies or something?" the demon thought.
Some hunters were like that. After reaching absurd levels of power, they started pursuing odd hobbies—normal things, mundane things. Cleaning crime scenes wasn't exactly normal, but it wasn't too far off either.
"I understand. We'll talk again," the demon said.
With that, he turned and disappeared into the forest.
Damian returned to where Troy was and waited for him to wake up. It took around twenty minutes before Troy finally stirred.
Troy looked confused.
"I don't know why I passed out," he said. "Did you see anything?"
The first thing that came to his mind was that a demon might have attacked him, but seeing Damian completely unharmed made him second-guess that.
"You went to take a piss and didn't come back, so I went to check and found you there. That's all I saw. Maybe you should see a doctor, just to make sure everything's fine."
"Yeah, maybe I should," Troy replied.
Damian could see on Troy's face that he found the whole situation extremely strange. He just couldn't imagine a world where he would randomly pass out like that.
"I guess I don't need to worry about Troy figuring out what really happened… but seriously, what the hell was that? Now high-ranking demons want to keep in touch with me?" Damian thought.
That was by far the strangest part of everything that had happened. Another odd thing was how human the demon looked—and how casually he spoke.
For a moment, Damian considered something: what if demons had already infiltrated society, pretending to be human? After seeing that demon, the idea didn't sound so crazy anymore.
"Well, at least I've got some good news: I just finished cleaning."
Troy looked relieved when he heard that. "Great. Let's get the hell out of here."
They gathered all their things, got in the car, and drove away. On the way, Troy made a suggestion.
"How about we stop by a bar and grab a few beers? I need to relax a bit."
Damian liked the idea. Even though he had to wake up early for his shift as a barista, he could use some time to unwind too. After all, everything in his life had been changing so fast, and the things that had happened today were just... absurd.
Maybe going out for a beer would help take the edge off, at least a little.
"Should we stop by the company first to drop off the body parts?" Damian asked.
Troy shook his head. "We can do that after the bar. They're not gonna be pissed about it. That dump's open 24/7 anyway, we can swing by whenever to stash this stuff."
In that situation, Troy was basically Damian's superior. He might've looked like just a driver, but he was there as a bodyguard—and also to supervise Damian's work.
After all, they wouldn't just let a guy with no mana handle something like this without some kind of oversight. That would be stupid.
Because of that, Damian wasn't worried. If Troy's higher-ups had a problem with anything, they'd take it up with Troy, not him. He was just the cleaner.
The city of Morvane had plenty of places to go at night—and Troy seemed to know most of them.
"Looks like you're someone who really enjoys a drink," Damian said. "You seem to know all the best bars in town."
Troy just laughed. "You better believe it. A job like ours—being a hunter—is anything but easy. We're forced to see things we don't want to see and fight things we'd rather not. But if we don't do it, who will? Someone has to protect the people who can't protect themselves."
Whether he meant to or not, he was referring to Damian as well—after all, Damian didn't have a single drop of mana in his body.
But what Troy didn't know was that Damian was far from normal. He had a system—one that would surely make him stronger in the future. At least, that's what he hoped...
Anyway, the bar they went to was quieter than Damian expected. In fact, it looked like only a handful of people were inside. It was tucked away in a calmer part of the city, far from the busy downtown area.
"It might look small and kind of empty," Troy said, "but I promise the drinks here are top notch. And there's the added bonus of not having to deal with a bunch of annoying people."
"I have to deal with customers at the café early tomorrow, so honestly, I'm glad this place is empty," Damian said.
Troy patted him on the back. "All the more reason to have a few drinks then."
The two sat at the bar, and an older man came over to serve them. He clearly recognized Troy.
"Brought someone from work? That's a surprise," the man said. "You're not exactly known for having many friends."
"Bring me the usual—and one for my partner here too," Troy said.
"You got it."
It didn't take long for beers and drinks to land on their table, and the two started drinking. For a while, it helped Damian forget everything that had happened that day.
They hung out for almost two hours, drinking and talking about whatever came to mind. But when they returned to the car, they realized something was very wrong.
The victim's body parts—bagged and stored safely inside the car—were gone.
Troy kicked a nearby trash can. "Shit. Shit! This is going to be a nightmare for us. Goddamn it!"