"Transformation magic?"
Jahy blinked, momentarily thrown by the question.
"This isn't a transformation. This is my true form. The childlike version you saw before was merely a weakened state I was forced into after losing my magic. While transformation spells do exist, you are human. You possess no magic, so you cannot learn them."
"What a letdown." Masao's interest vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
He knew about the magical power residing within those Mana Stones. But with the established rule that humans who touched them would be cursed, using them himself was obviously out of the question.
A low rumble cut through the silence.
"Grrr-owl..."
"Grrr-owl…"
Two pairs of eyes dropped to two separate stomachs.
Jahy's groan was born of magical depletion; her body was weak and was demanding sustenance to replenish its energy.
Masao's was simpler; he'd just returned from Tokyo, and it was dinnertime.
"Well, we're right by the shopping street. I'm going to get something to eat," Masao announced.
Jahy, who had been clutching her abdomen in a futile attempt to silence its undignified protest, instantly perked up.
"Sustenance? I shall accompany you!"
As she fell into step beside him, Masao didn't object, but he issued a firm warning.
"Let's get one thing straight. I'm not paying for you."
"Paying? What is this 'paying'?" In the demon realm, where power was everything and she was the second-most-powerful, Jahy had only ever needed to ask for something to receive it.
The concept of currency was alien for her.
"Enough of this tedious chatter! Take me to this feast at once! I am wasting away!" she demanded, shoving him from behind.
—
Propelled by Jahy's impatience, they soon found themselves on a bustling commercial street.
Jahy, with her striking beauty and scandalously revealing outfit, became a magnet for attention. Masao, walking stiffly beside her, found himself caught in the periphery of countless stares.
Jahy, supremely confident, seemed completely oblivious to the gazes.
Masao, however, was the first to crack under the social pressure.
"Hey, Jahy," he muttered under his breath, "couldn't you have worn a little more clothes? People are staring, they're going to get the wrong idea."
Jahy looked down at her attire, then at the drab clothing of the humans around her. She had worn this for centuries and saw no issue.
"These clothes perfectly accentuates my formidable charm. What possible problem could there be? Bah, never mind you. I must eat!"
With that, she darted off into the crowd, leaving Masao behind.
"You don't have any money!" he called after her retreating form. He sighed in resignation. "Well... she is a demon. She has magic. She'll probably be fine."
With that flimsy reassurance, Masao gave up the chase and ducked into a nearby restaurant for a quick, solitary meal.
—
About ten minutes later, Masao stepped back onto the street, his stomach still unsatisfied.
"Ugh," he groaned to himself. "I never should have had that cheat day at Eriri's yesterday."
His eyes wandered over the vibrant food stalls, each offering something more tantalizing than the last.
The bland health-food bowl he just ate felt like a betrayal. The aroma of frying dough and savory sauces made his mouth water.
'Maybe just one dorayaki?' He bargained with himself. 'Just one little pancake. Yukinoshita would never know... No! Absolutely not! One compromise leads to another. If I start now, my diet is finished!'
As this internal war between his stomach and his willpower raged, a commotion from further down the street broke his concentration.
A small crowd had gathered. Drawn by curiosity, Masao drifted towards the scene.
After only a few steps, a very familiar, haughty voice pierced through the murmur of the crowd.
"Unhand me, you insolent mortal! I am the Great Jahy, second-in-command of the Demon World! Release me immediately, or face my wrath!"
Masao froze.
That was Jahy, without a doubt. And from the sound of it, she'd been captured. It has to be because she didn't pay, he thought, a sense of dread washing over him.
'But how? She's the Demon World's number two! She got her magic back! How is she still this helpless?!'
—
The scene unfolding was exactly as he feared. Two police officers had a firm grip on a furiously struggling Jahy.
Her bizarre attire had already marked her for attention, and about ten minutes prior, faced with a wonderland of food stalls, she had simply helped herself—a skewer from this vendor, a bun from that one, all without a single thought of paying for them. The result was swift apprehension.
She writhed in their grasp, her face a mask of outraged pride.
The magic she had recovered had restored her to her adult form, but it only granted the physical strength of a fit human woman—nowhere near enough to break a professional police hold.
Then, her eyes locked onto a familiar face in the crowd.
"You! Masao!" she yelled, her voice a mix of command and desperation. "Come and rescue me now!"
The crowd's attention swiveled towards him. A path cleared as if by magic, and Masao found himself walking forward under the weight of dozens of expectant stares.
The senior officer, seeing a potential resolver of this bizarre situation, addressed him.
"Are you with her, sir? She took food from several vendors without paying. If you can settle the bill, we can handle this here instead of taking her down to the station."
It was a minor offense, really. A trip to the station would mean little more than a stern lecture and a call to someone to come collect her.
The officers preferred a simple, on-the-spot resolution.
Hearing the magic word "pay," Jahy latched onto it like a lifeline.
"Hey, Masao, hurry up and pay the money for me!"
She had finally accepted that brute force wouldn't free her and now pinned all her hopes on the one human she knew.
Masao looked from the weary police officer to Jahy—restrained, disheveled, and rapidly switching from arrogance to panic. He said nothing.
His silence made her frantic. The thought of being locked in a human cage was unbearable. How would she ever reclaim her rightful place and find the Mana Stones? Then, she remembered his earlier warning: "I'm not paying for you."
Jahy gritted her teeth, a plan forming in her mind. 'For the sake of my freedom I have no choice but to resort to this!'
"Masao!" she declared, her voice echoing dramatically. "If you help me now, I will grant you any wish you desire!"
'Once I'm free, whether or not I feel like honoring that promise will be entirely my choice,' she thought privately.
The surrounding onlookers' eyes widened. They began whispering among themselves, casting strange looks at Jahy.
"See? I knew it with that outfit... she's that kind of girl."
"What a waste, for someone so beautiful..."
"Any wish, huh? I wonder what her rates are..."
—
Masao let out a long, weary sigh that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul. 'This is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me, and I've been isekai'd as a fat guy.'
He decided he would pay.
It wasn't because of her grand, and undoubtedly empty, promise. He just wanted this entire spectacle to be over.
"Officer, how much is the total?"
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[email protected]/Raven_scroll (30+ Advance Chapters)