Chapter 5: Candy for a Demon

Ru was busy from early morning. As soon as he opened his eyes, he checked the red ants, watered the flowers, and shut the food storage door tight.

Since rain would pour starting tomorrow, he put the dried meat in baskets and covered them with stones. He made plenty of fruit preserves and wrapped the flour in cloth, tucking it deep in a drawer so it wouldn’t spoil.

Ru filled a large tub with water. Then he mixed in the powder he had selected, and it turned golden.

Ru looked into the water with a serious face. The powder needed to make armor looks similar to a poisonous mushroom.

It was almost identical to a mushroom so dangerous that just being near it could poison you through the air, but there was a difference in where it grew.

While the poisonous mushroom grows at a slant along the ground, this powder’s body grows along the ground toward the moon and has a straight root.

In other words, if you cannot read the overall flow of the earth, sky, and forest, you can never tell them apart. That was why countless Yondo subordinates were poisoned, dying on the spot or becoming maimed and never returning to the forest.

“The scent is very strong.”

For an ordinary human, it would be so faint they would hardly notice. It was close to odorless, not even worth calling a scent, but to Ru it was different.

This powder was clearly high quality.

Ru, with a slightly flushed face, gathered the white cloth that had been dried well in the sun. He began ironing the white cloth without a single wrinkle using the iron Swan had made.

He laid the cloth on a large stone slab and carefully ironed the clothes. Ru, moving his short limbs nimbly, was skilled.

He was very proficient, full of experience, and had pride in his work.

Ru was absorbed in work, not even noticing that Luti had woken up and was staring at him. By the time he finished ironing all the white cloth, the sun was high in the sky.

It was when he was working without even straightening his back once.

“Eat breakfast first.”

The welcome voice was young Luti. Luti, who had woken up at some point, was handing over goat milk and a flour lump spread with fruit preserves to Ru, who had been sweating since morning.

“You woke up early.”

“I have things I need to do too.”

Luti shrugged. After all, it was the first day of the deal with the demon.

According to Ru, it would rain starting tomorrow, so they had to make candy in advance.

“Where are you going today?”

“First I’ll go to Swan’s place again. I’m thinking of going to Mrs. Deborah.”

“Why Mrs. Deborah?”

“Why else? To show off my book.”

Luti smiled brightly. Ru did not particularly stop them.

The conversation from yesterday bothered him, but spending time with the forest people was good for Luti.

They might pick up strange information about the outside world, but it generally did not have a bad influence. And although there were times when bad humans loitered around Luti, the forest had many watching eyes.

There were minor demons passing by, and beasts that would charge at the mere sight of a human.

You could not simply say demons were bad, because sometimes they intervened and helped in dangerous situations.

“Before that, I need to make candy.”

“Candy?”

“Yeah.”

“I made and gave you candy yesterday, didn’t I?”

“Well, I ran into a demon.”

Luti did not beat around the bush. They really had met a demon and given the candy to it.

“I see. Did you give both?”

“Yeah. It was a greedy demon. It saw what was in my bag and demanded it. It said if I didn’t give it, it would throw stones and knock it out of my hands.”

Ru sensed the situation from the story. If it was near Swan’s lake, there were many rocks and the area was high, which meant Luti had gone up that far looking for a landter.

“Good job. Do you know how to make it?”

“I’ve seen you do it. If there’s sugar, I’ll try making it.”

You pour sugar into a pot and cook it over low heat. When the sugar melts into a sticky syrup, you put in a stick and let it harden, and it becomes a lollipop.

“Don’t use too much sugar.”

“I know. It’s as precious as salt.”

Luti did not like sweet things much. To be exact, they were a picky eater.

They ate dried meat and roasted flour lumps, but would not touch anything else.

They showed no interest in the fish they sometimes caught, and they hated the fried centipedes that were said to be a snack.

They disliked rabbit meat because of its distinctive gamey smell, and they absolutely hated eating roasted snake skin.

“All right, then give it a try.”

Ru handed the sugar jar to Luti. The sugar, which filled more than half the jar, was as white as salt.

When touched with a finger, you could feel the grains and it made a rustling sound, which the demon loved very much.

Luti ran to the kitchen and started a fire. They poured sugar into the pot Swan had made and made lollipops.

The promised time with the demon was before twelve, so they had to hurry. They had to give this to the demon and then go around to various places.

Though anxious, Luti did as Ru had taught. Following each of Ru’s actions, they actually made something decent.

While the sugar hardened, they changed clothes and washed their face.

The face in the flowing stream was still young, and still had eyes of different colors on each side.

Ru said this was great luck, but Luti knew.

It was not luck. They could tell just from the expressions of people seeing them for the first time, and from why only Luti was spared harassment by bad men.

The reason Yondo’s subordinates avoided Ru’s house was exactly these two differently colored eyes.

This was misfortune, and it might even be classified as a disaster.

“Mrs. Deborah doesn’t say it, but it’s clear the outside world hates these eyes.”

So when they asked, ‘Is there anyone else with eyes like these?’, instead of answering, he painted red dye on a large cloth.

Luti did not want to sink into pointless thoughts. They knew well that regretting being born with these eyes was useless.

If this was already their fate, then rather than going against it, they could embrace it and live harder and better.

They were now thirteen, and there were far more days ahead to live.

“Surely there’s at least one person who likes these eyes.”

They lifted their freshly washed face. Looking up at the sky, the morning sunlight poured down clear and bright.

Luti raised both hands toward the sky, just as they had once done. The sunlight slipping between their fingers was always warm.

“Why is the shape different from yesterday? The color is different too.”

The demon held the lollipop Luti handed over and narrowed its eyes.

“It’s no fun if every day is the same. But the taste should be the same, right?”

The demon made an intrigued expression and quickly put the lollipop in its mouth.

It put the lollipop wrapped in white cloth into its black mouth and grinned with pleasure.

“If you’re going to get that excited like yesterday, tell me in advance.”

“I won’t. Yesterday I was excited because it had been so long. Today I won’t be.”

The demon slightly bared its white fangs and looked down at Luti. At least it would not take this human up there.

If other demons knew, they would point fingers and mock it. They would criticize it for showing the forest to a mere human, and it could not bear such shame.

“Now then, you have to give me information too.”

The demon placed the candy on its purple tongue and smacked its lips. Whether it was stalling or had no information, it looked like it would act calm.

“Sorotel.”

When its name was called, the demon’s ear twitched. To be exact, it lightly flicked the small thing that did not even look like an ear.

“You’re a demon with the name ‘Fast-Footed Man.’ Right?”

“Hmph.”

“Since you’re a demon named Fast-Footed Man, I’m sure you’ve brought at least one of the three things I want.”

They had no way to beat the demon. If it said it had nothing or refused, they would have to turn back empty-handed.

They could not shake their head at it, nor could they shout and spank its bottom calling it a bad demon.

But by coaxing it gently, they could find out how much it knew.

“The landters will be above the lake. Right now the seeds buried in the ground are growing, so the soil is moist. Once the soil becomes moist, raccoons will move. After raccoons eat the underground moles and throw the leftovers into the lake, red fish will swarm to eat the leftovers.”

Landters were omnivores, but among everything, they liked the red fish living in the lake the most.

And the red-fleshed fish liked to use their strong teeth to crunch on the mole heads raccoons had left behind, so the landters would be gathered above the lake.

“You know quite a lot.”

“Ru tells me everything.”

“What do you mean, Ru? He’s your father. Insolent.”

“…I’ll say it again. Father tells me everything. So hurry up and tell me the water snake’s movement location.”

The demon crushed the candy with its sharp fangs and ate it. Then it used its tail to launch itself into the air and crossed its arms.

“The water snakes will arrive at the Hades River along the mountain ridge. The route to the Hades River will make a wide detour around the wetland where the somas live.”

The Hades River was a large river located opposite Luti’s hut. Somas were flat-bodied creatures that lived by eating moss stuck between trees and rocks.

“Will the somas stay still?”

“There will be a war. The wetland is something neither can give up. Last time the somas won and occupied the wetland, but this time who knows. The water snakes might win, occupy the wetland, and delay going to Hades.”

That was a little unpleasant. If the water snakes were going to move, it was better they did it quickly.

After all, when winter came, the water snakes had to go to a warm place where water would not freeze, so Luti wanted them to leave as soon as possible.

“And what else?”

The demon did not answer. Instead of answering, it tried to put the last candy in its mouth, but Luti stopped it.

“Wait.”

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