Chapter 146

Jingai Musume 146

Road Trip — Part 1

Editors: Speedphoenix, Joker

“You okay?” I asked as I looked at the demon realm’s agent . Her face had turned blue and she had been left unsteady on her feet . It was a clear case of motion sickness, one she had acquired by riding on Orochi’s head; the way that the snake meandered as he moved had left her in quite the sorry state .

“I-I’m okay,” she groaned .

Unlike the other demon, Leila was perfectly fine . For her, the ride had been much more of an entertaining thrill than a vomit-inducing method of torture . The maid happened to be the type of girl with a natural penchant for roller coasters . Haloria, however, was not so blessed . It wasn’t my fault though . Riding Orochi had quite literally been something she had chosen herself . We had two options . The first was to take an extra day and slowly trek our way through the Wicked forest . The second was to hitch a ride on the Rir and Orochi express and reach a demon-run settlement before dark .

Riding the two adorable little critters had led to a change in Haloria’s schedule, but as far as she was concerned, that was a good thing . The reality of the situation was that the entire demon realm could more or less explode into conflict at any given moment . Time was of the essence . And as such, Agent McHoodface had chosen the fastest option available to her .

Being incredibly hard workers, both of my pets had already started retracing their steps . It wouldn’t be too long before they found themselves back home . The pet/rider distribution had been quite simple . The demon girl was stuck on Orochi while Leila and I rode on Rir . Having the maid sit behind me had been a… heavenly experience . The sensation of her chest on my back was one that had left me a very happy man . That said, I wasn’t going to go ahead and talk to anyone about it . Lefi would murder me if she found out just how much I had enjoyed Leila’s touch . The moment I realized that was the moment I swore that my knowledge of the softness of Leila’s chest was a secret I would take to the grave .

Only after the agent recovered did she finally take us into town . The first thing I did after getting inside was to let my curiosity get the better of me .

“Huh… so this is what demon-run cities look like . ” I muttered under my breath as I examined my surroundings . Unlike human cities, demon cities didn’t require ID . The guards had let us right past without even bothering to stop us . Another aspect that stood out to me immediately was just how varied and active the city folk were . The sun was only just above the horizon . It was sure to set shortly, and yet, the streets were still flooded . All sorts of different individuals were wandering about .

There were creatures with heads that resembled some sort of canine walking alongside individuals with heads reminiscent of some sort of avian . Many of the city-goers had horns, but each individual had a different number of them . There were so many tails all over the place that I couldn’t even begin to count them . Reptile tails, beast tails, and demon tails were all within the norm . There were people that walked around on all fours only to suddenly stand up on their hind legs the moment they entered a building . And there were even creatures whose lower halves seemed to have been ripped right off a snake . I’m pretty sure they were called like nagas or something like that .

Classifying the individuals I saw into distinct categories was more or less impossible . The only choice I had was to just dump everything in the miscellaneous tab and call it a day . I guess this must be what it means to be on the mosaic side of the mosaic/melting pot spectrum .

Although I had suspected otherwise, Leila had explained to me that having animal parts didn’t automatically make one a beastkin . Beastkin specifically referred to individuals that looked like they were human save for perhaps the ears and maybe a tail . Individuals with animal-like bodies and/or heads were demons .

Her explanation prompted me to immediately ask whether she was a beastkin as her most defining non-human trait seemed to be her horns . The answer was no . Though her race resembled beastkin, they were classified as demons because their animal-like traits weren’t similar to those of beastkin and because they had the tendency to be proficient in magic . The entire system of classification was convoluted and very difficult for me to wrap my head around .

There was one thing that immediately became clear to me, however, and that was that all demons were innately proficient when it came to magecraft . In other words, even the guys that looked like literal animals on two legs excelled at magic . Wait a second . Does this mean that beastkin and beast-like demons might act