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The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

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The state of the interior… was about what Polina expected. Utter ruins. What the maid didn’t expect, though was that there was just one single maid inside, and she was not just holding her own, but devastating the demon hordes surrounding her. Enough so that the Farisian had to actively dodge the demons’… corpses… being flung away from the pink-haired maid beating down on the creatures.

It made Polina briefly wonder why the creatures from earlier had been so reluctant to engage herself and Lucrecia, while these demons were throwing themselves into the meatgrinder that was very obviously the combat instructor’s daughter…

But now was not the time to be worrying about those troublesome thoughts, especially when she still had a child to protect and actually had to actively dodge dead demons to avoid being splattered herself.

More concerning was that Lyssa Stauhans sounded almost like that high demon that she had engaged only a short time ago. The same foul, sadistic mouth… but Polina suspected it was a similarity in personality, rather than a possession, given the situation.
Which meant the mask had slipped.

She winced as watched a demon nearly get torn in half, but she did let herself relax slightly. This maid… did not need rescuing.

When the pink-haired girl finally acknowledged her, she schooled her features and cleared her throat. “…Yes, but clearly you are not in need of assistance,” she replied with a deadpan tone. Yet, she couldn’t help but to have the edges of her mouth tug upwards as she continued on, but not before planting a volley of blades into a demon that had been sneaking up on her. Reckless, perhaps, especially in the middle of a fight with a girl on her back, but she had also reverse pickpocketed macarons into the pockets of this sadistic girl’s equally sadistic mother only a short while ago… “And, no. For your information, I did not hear a single peep of a rather spirited rant about the performance of the Enemy… You do look like you’re having fun, though.”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Despite the man’s protestations, Giselle dismissed his concern with a word of appreciation before she followed the tugging gorebat, with some mild annoyance at the way it tugged upon her hair as if it were guiding her like mere cattle. Even if she was without her land and subjects now, she still had the pride of a sovereign princess that had ruled for a thousand years… and that was a treatment that was more than beneath her.

She flicked at the small creature with her index finger. “Enough of that. Shoo. Lead me properly.”

Giselle waited for a few moments for the bat to make its moves before continuing on, examining the state of the village as she passed the houses on the street. Given the danger the era and the beasts clearly presented, it wasn’t all too surprising that the rows of buildings and houses on the outskirts of the village bordering the forest were damaged or burned. More curious were the barrels placed in obvious chokepoints or strategic places. She wondered what was held within the barrels; were they just to act as barriers, they would have been augmented with other materials such as overturned tables , for example.

Once past the village proper, she found the beastmen in question. And rather curious beastmen these were. They looked suspiciously like the dead creatures that her group had encountered not too much earlier. Upon further examination, it was clear the twenty of them were in fact creations of vampiric origin… which was a rather curious thing, when it came to what else resided in that blackened forest. Would she discover a friend or foe lurking within the dead woods? Whoever they were, Giselle did not have a high opinion of whoever created such monstrosities. In her lands, she would never have tolerated such grotesque twisting of the human form, nor such corruption of wildlife and fauna. Those that created such things outside of her territory she might not have touched, but it was an open secret that she looked down on those that preyed overmuch on humans or engaged in the more intolerable experiments into vampiric magic.

Giselle did not have much trouble making the decision to exterminate this group herself. While she still remained quite weak from her recent reawakening, she still remained confident in being able to take this group. Unholstering her revolver, she unloaded six carefully aimed shots into the group. Even in this state, it was child’s play to create the illusion that the shots had been fired from the window one of one of the houses in the village. Giving the creatures a moment to respond as such, she emerged from the trees behind them with her new silver sword to fall upon the stragglers before engaging the main body of beasts.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa frowned as she studied the carved marking on the tree. She had come across many languages on her travels, and learned quite a number as well, but all that she could determine was that it was Krysan in nature, and probably old. The Raam idly wondered how old the script used had to be that she could still identify it as such but not actually decipher it. After a few minutes of frustration, she moved on deeper into the forest, wondering when she would finally find where this necromancer girl was residing.

When she came across a small camp of Krysa, though, she wasn’t too surprised, though indecisive at how she would approach the complication.

For the moment, eavesdropping would be sufficient.

Hiding behind a particularly thick tree, she listened into the conversation the small ratpeople were having around their fire. Surprisingly, it seemed like they were trying to find the same necromancer that she was looking for… although with a brute force method without using a charm.

The thought to approach the group came into her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. It was her hunch that allowing them to find this girl, either intentionally or inadvertently by being followed would probably cause more trouble than would be worth than hitting them up for more information. There was also the potential that they would attack her as well, however unlikely…

So Lissa just shrank back into the forest, leaving the Krysa to their own devices as she continued her search for the Yaga girl.

Not before throwing a questionable glance in the air, however.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina tried to give her a reassuring smile. Having originally been a war refugee, she knew the girl’s plight. Producing one of her bags of macarons from one of the folds of her dress, she handed the sweets to the girl as a minor distraction as she made her way with Lucrecia to the old theater. She didn’t have very many words to console the child with, though, as she concentrated on the matter at hand—staying alive and recovering the original team of maids that had been inserted into the city.

Upon reaching the theater proper, though, things didn’t look too good. A quick reconnaissance showed that the entire place was swarming with demons, not to mention that higher demon that the young girl had mentioned. More importantly, though, were the obvious sounds of fighting from within. The Farisian gave a critical eye over the state of the building. Part of her education, surprisingly, had taught her a bit of something about buildings, and frankly, it didn’t look like the place would last much longer—especially with a whole section collapsed completely. It would probably compromise the rest of the structure soon, if it hadn’t already.

It didn’t take a genius to assess the situation wasn’t good, and whoever was still defending against the demons within would eventually be overwhelmed, if not buried by the collapse of the theater. The conclusion she came to, however, did not mirror that of her companion. “I cannot accept that, even if it is obvious the situation is dangerous for my current charge. I propose a compromise—I will back you up from behind. Now, go!”

If the child could do so, she would shift to have the girl cling to her back like a backpack, with a little bit of assist with her powers. Otherwise, she would keep a larger distance, but nonetheless, she unslung her rifle, checked its magazine, before reloading it with two stripper clips as she had originally intended. In the meantime, she kept a defensive ring of her blades around her and the child, kept at the ready if any of the demons were to move at her. Bringing the weapon up to her shoulder, she made to support Lucrecia with the ring of several shots as she went in.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

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Giselle simply let the men talk amongst themselves, only pausing to give a perfunctory nod when she was questioned for a confirmation. Some of the other humans in the group seemed fairly paranoid, but she was not going to judge. From what little she had seen of this era so far, paranoia was what kept you alive.

Perhaps that meant something as the man she had been talking to was marginally more trusting, but that gave her and her peers an easier job re-integrating into this world. Regardless, it seemed the concern over her announcement had won out, as he rang the alarm. The white-haired vampire opened her mouth to respond to his rather generous offer when one of Akyasha’s little gorebats alighted atop her head. She frowned for a moment, given the startled reactions the already paranoid humans gave, but she decided to affect an awkward, reassuring smile, as if this were a silly thing that happened often.

At Dragan’s prompting, she shook her head, before answering.

“Your offer is appreciated, and I’m sure some of my friends will accept your generosity, but it seems one of our companions is still in need of assistance. I will return once I’m assured that everything is safe.” Giving the former paladin a shrug, she stepped in the direction of the forest, waiting to see what the creature wanted. She was slightly apprehensive of being split from the group now, but she at least trusted the cleric and her familiars to not get her into too much trouble.

“Alright, alright. Let’s see what you want now, shall we?”

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

In the end, while it wasn’t quite the true assurance that Lissa had been looking for, she at least had a way forward to approaching the volatile situation with the Yaga and Kyrsa—enlisting the help of this necromancer Yaga girl. Lissa had her own apprehensions about a girl that was willing to dabble in such dark magics, but she was always willing to listen to a story, or hear out a redeemed character. In the end, she knew that political expedience was always the king, even if she disliked it at times.

After accepting the anti-illusion charm from Jolca, Lissa headed straight for the forest.

Ever onwards, after all.

Her trip through the forest was blissfully uneventful, enough that it made the Raam-in-disguise question if she had followed the directions correctly, or had been given proper directions at all.

She did come across a lone Kyrsa in the snow-covered forest, though, and the marking that she did on the tree made her curious enough to wait for the Kyrsan figure to leave before inspecting what they had marked. If it wasn’t anything of significance, she would continue on searching for the necromancer’s abode.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina decided that her choice to switch back to her battle rifle had been a good one upon seeing the devastating effect the high-power rounds had on their bodies and attempts at regeneration. Oh, they still regenerated, but not quite as easily if she had stabbed and slashed at the creatures repetitively. Had she not been carrying the girl as she jumped back and away from the humanoid demons, she would have emptied the rest of the magazine and loaded in another pair of stripper clips.

Instead, she fell back to keeping them away with some of her blades, and a combination of cobblestones and debris for good measure, even if they were less effective. Thankfully, it seemed the demons began to think better of pursuing her and Lucrecia too vigorously. Who knew they had such an adroit sense of self-preservation?

Once the situation had calmed some, the girl finally began to respond to stimuli. Hearing the girl let out a cry, Polina looked down at the girl in her arms. She paused for a moment to consider her question, before responding. “Yes. Do you know where other maids went?”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle suppressed a frown when Aleksiya attached herself to her arm like a lost, frightened child. For one, she felt it was beneath her peer to act in such a way, even now, and more importantly, it meant that she had to quickly change the narrative of any explanation that she might have to give, or otherwise limit her options.

It was too late, though. The white-haired vampire held up her free hand in both a wave and a placating gesture, before quickly affecting a slightly apologetic expression upon hearing one of the men’s complaints. Privately, she questioned his awareness. She had, after all, made more than enough effort to make herself known to not startle any of these humans.

“Hardly. My name is Giselle,” she offered, deciding against giving Aleksiya a name for the moment. “And yes. My home was destroyed, as were my companions’. We’ve traveled a long way to find someplace safe.” This was all true. In a manner of speaking… but still completely true.

The undead princess would have continued the conversation along these lines when she caught Dragan and Akyasha approach from her periphery. That was not part of the plan, but she rolled with it. As Dragan engaged the men in conversation, she was approached by the cleric, with some… complications. She frowned, both at the news, and for the men as well. It would look bad if they had just arrived and brought trouble for these villagers if they were meant to get anything out of the interaction.

“…Sorry, I’ve bad news. One of our other companions keeps overwatch on the road… they’ve spotted beastmen approaching and a girl fighting off undead... perhaps one of yours? We may have to prepare for a fight. If you have an alarum, I would raise it.”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Unfortunately, it seemed like the young girl was too traumatized to respond to her questions. Polina was only able to spare a few moments to speak to the girl; just a moment later, she was back to fending off the demons.

Lucrecia was also right, and Polina knew as well that their position here was not very tenable. They would have to pull back soon. Seeing the humanoid creatures’ unusual regenerative properties, the maid switched strategies. She quickly unslung her rifle as one of them charged at her, working the bolt of her rifle twice as two high-power shots rang out to slam into it. Relying on the tendency for the high power slugs to chunk its flesh on exit, she then directed a pair of blades to finish the hounds.

Thankfully for their situation, Polina was uniquely suited to rescuing little girls without compromising too much on her offensive and defensive ability. The moment the immediate threat was gone, she swooped up the crying girl in one quick motion, before jumping back to regroup with Lucrecia. “Hang tight with me, okay? We’re getting out of here.” Keeping her in a princess carry, she gave her a pat on the head.

If any additional demons continued to approach as she left, she would direct more projectiles at them.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa raised her eyebrows at the girl’s response. She wasn’t wrong, but Jolca’s behavior was starting to get a bit beyond social propriety as she clasped her hands over hers. It probably wasn’t nearly enough to keep Lissa there if she had really wanted to leave, but it left her wondering if it was some sort of negotiating tactic while she continued her dialogue with Ambros. Considering that she had gotten them out of a tight spot earlier, the Raam wouldn’t begrudge her for some strange behavior when she still owed the girl.

“Mm… I see. That’s helpful to know, at least,” she nodded, taking his words at face value for now. Lissa had no doubt the nuances of the situation were far different than what he was probably saying; internal politics were hardly ever that simple, but if she could work with him right now to get that caravan and other merchants through, then that was good enough for her.

What Lissa didn’t expect was the potential third party. Frankly, though, a necromancer and an enemy of the Death Goddess didn’t sound particularly promising. It sounded very dangerous instead, and her kneejerk reaction was to agree with Ambros.

Then again, she was a Raam, and certain aspects of such dark magics didn’t particularly faze her…

“I wouldn’t mind looking into this witch if we have an accord… Just give me some more information and I can see what I can do. Jolca, what makes you think she would help against the Krysa or getting the merchants though? Now, those patrols, hmm. They would let me or my companions just do that? There’s the envoy status, but that sounds a bit provocative.”