The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Read online

  Quest Accepted!

  “Of course! If you are staying, you can have our absolute best. Despite our reputations, we are very generous towards those who would be our allies.” She smiles brightly and nods quickly. “If you’d like, I can even assign one of our best mages to help you research.”

  “No, I don’t think that would help. In fact, I believe that this is something that won’t work unless I do it alone.” I shake my head and try to explain, but her confused expression tells me it didn’t work.

  “Might I ask why? Surely two heads are better than one, no? Or, three heads even depending on the mage.”

  “No, it’s not a matter of that. You see, the unique magic I mentioned before is possible because it was a rune of my own design. Given your position, I believe that if it was possible with the current system of magic to view the contract, you would know of it. Therefore, I have to design the method myself, from the very beginning.”

  “You… wish to make a new rune?” She speaks, her mouth a bit wide. “For the sake of the demons?”

  I smile to her, and nod. “As I said, you seem much better than your reputation. As long as I have no reason to disbelieve that, I will do my utmost to help you. Though, I will be requiring a good portion of your time, personally, if I need to test any theories. I trust that won’t be an issue?”

  She shakes her head with a grin, “Human, if it would save my people, I would serve you night and day.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Perhaps not that much of your time. I’d like you to remain close in case I get an idea, but any time you have a matter you need to take care of, you are more than free to do so. I don’t want to interfere with the workings of Hell.”

  She nodded, still smiling. “Of course. I’ll oversee what I can of your research, and your companion can receive whatever training she wishes.”

  “Well, then.. I’ll be in your care for the next few days.” I bowed politely to her, and Denise followed suit.

  “This is going to turn into a troublesome task, mark my words…” Denise let out a sigh as she stood back up, though after hearing Lilith’s story, she didn’t want to back away any more than I did. “We might as well get started. I’m still a novice with the sword, so I’d appreciate it if you took that into consideration, your highness.”

  “Quite polite, aren’t you?” Lilith smiles to her and nods. “Don’t worry so much about formalities. You two are officially guests of the highest order. I daresay that you could be called friends, if this all works out.”

  Denise nodded, “If you had asked me yesterday, or even two hours ago whether I would have wanted to befriend demons, I wouldn’t have thought of it like I do now.”

  “See? We aren’t all bad. Mind you, there are those among us that can be called evil. But as long as you are here under my protection, they will do nothing to you. And many of us have lost those we cherished due to these recent attacks. I had considered sealing all of the gates to protect us.”

  I smiled to her, “Well, I’m glad you didn’t. A den of chimera would not be my ideal place to be right now. But as Denise said, we should get started. My requirements for work are quite simple. I could do with a few books on advanced magic theory to reference, but mostly I just need writing utensils.”

  Lilith nodded, and waved a hand to someone at her side. “Of course. This is one of my generals, Krath. He can advise your companion on her swordplay. I’ll see to your requirements myself.” Krath was a large man, nearly seven feet tall with dark red skin, a serpentine tail, and two horns coming out of his head. His hair was pitch black and went all the way down to the middle of his back, while most of his body was covered in black armor.

  “And please.. if we are to be friends, it would be best if our names were known, aside from ‘you’ and ‘human’.” I smirked to Lilith and let out a chuckle. “My name is Jin, and this is Denise. It is a pleasure to meet you, Queen Lilith.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt it is. And I do like the name you suggested. I think I’ll keep it for my interactions with mortals.”

  I nodded, and then turned to Denise. “You going to be alright for a while?”

  She smirked, patting me on the arm. “Me? I’m just going to be training with one of Hell’s generals. You’re the one that’s spending some alone time with that woman.” She said teasingly while pointing to Lilith, who took the attention and struck a sensuous pose in her throne. “If anything, I should be asking you if you’ll be alright.”

  “You really doubt my ability to avoid temptation and focus on the task at hand?” I put a hand on my chest, making a pained expression, to which she responded far too quickly.

  “Yes.”

  Lilith let out another rich laugh. “Oh, I like her. She’s not afraid to speak her mind, is she?”

  “Oh, you have no idea, Lilith.” I shook my head and chuckled. Denise smiled to me, and then walked out of the room via a hall to the left with Krath, presumably to train.

  “So, given your requirements, would it be best if you conducted your research in my chambers? It would certainly grant us the privacy you require~.” She winked playfully to me, mixing a teasing tone into her serious suggestion.

  “It could work, yeah. Though, I am starting to believe that you took the sex demon thing as a personal challenge.”

  “Me? Do I seem like the kind of person that would do a thing like that?” She slowly stood up, swaying her hips just a bit too much not to notice.

  As such, it was my turn to answer quickly. “Yes.”

  She looked at me for a long moment before grinning. “You know me far too well, considering we just met.”

  And that was how I came to be spending my days with a sexy demon. Not just any sexy demon, mind you, but the Queen of all demons! Kevin would never let me live this one down.

  Chapter 14

  I was sitting at a desk in Lilith’s private chambers, reading over a book that she had just brought me. Lilith herself was sitting on her bed a few feet behind me, watching me work. She had a calm atmosphere about her that I would never have imagined coming from a succubus. “You know… I’ve not actually had direct contact with a human in years. It was refreshing, especially since I didn’t even have to disguise myself.”

  I smiled back to her, “I’m glad I lived up to your expectations of me, then.”

  “My expectations, as you say, were for you to wish to leave and never come back, believing as many do that angels are always good, and demons are always evil. I daresay you did much better than that, going so far as to live with us while working to solve a problem that has plagued our entire race.”

  “Hey, I’m just glad it was me that came along, instead of someone that would do things like that. As for your problem, though, we’re going to need several spells. Most likely a ritual.”

  Lilith laid back on her bed, making the size of her arsenal quite apparent. “Yes, I figured such would be needed. Though, the components are the problem, yes?”

  “Right. First, we need to separate the contract from your own being. That’s likely to hurt a great deal, by the way. Then, we need to manifest it into something that can be read. After that, it’s just a matter of me adjusting the contract and putting it back inside you.”

  Lilith twisted on her bed to grin to me. “Oh~, you’re so rough, and it’s my first time even~.” She spoke with a playful voice, obviously wanting to tease me.

  “If I can figure out a way to make it painless, I will. But, the contract is fused with you from what you said. And it has been for longer than any human has been alive. I’ll essentially be ripping out a part of you.”

  Her face contorted into a grimace. “That doesn’t sound at all fun, but I’ll put up with it.”

  “Thank you. It would be a problem if your guards thought I was trying to kill you because it hurt too much.”

  “Yes, that it would. I’ll make sure they are informed in advance.”

  “Also, the magic used for the contract is older than anything
I have knowledge of, so would you mind explaining the process to me? It would help me to understand what I’m dealing with.”

  Lilith rolled over again, this time landing on her stomach and facing me, her hands propping up her chin and giving me quite the view of her cleavage. “I don’t mind. It’s the oldest form of contract magic that exists. The parties involved must gather together, and agree upon the terms. Then a ritual circle is formed around the representatives, outlined with runes detailing the contract itself. Once all parties have put their magic into the circle, the contract merges with them, using their own magic to enforce its rule.”

  “I see. I may need to add another component to the ritual to link it with its counterpart after putting it back in you. Otherwise, it would only work against your own people.”

  “That would be most unfortunate, indeed. And, of the steps you mentioned before, the magic known to me would only allow you to manifest the magic once it is separated. I could adapt an old spell for that purpose. Something we often use to conjure contracts.”

  “Thanks, that would save me a step. So, my job is to figure out how to separate, integrate, and link the contract. Meaning I need to create at least three new runes.”

  “Can.. can you do that? I know you said you’d make a rune for us to help, but would you even be able to make three?”

  “I made one before to pass the human Mage test. But.. uh… could you keep that tidbit secret from the humans? So far, I seem to be the only foreigner that has passed the test.”

  Lilith giggled a bit, “Sure, I’ll keep your secret. But still, don’t you have a time limit?”

  “Yeah, but I’m more experienced now. I should at least be able to work out two of the runes in time. If I’m not done, I can just have my friend wait for me a while. This seems a bit more important for now.”

  “...Thank you, really. You’re going out of your way to help, when you could have just as easily walked out on us and ignored the problem. You might never even have noticed the difference…”

  I shook my head and smiled back to her again, before returning to the book. “How can I just ignore people that need my help? In a sense, I’m the same as you, you know?”

  “How so?” There was a curious tone to her voice, and I heard her shifting on the bed again.

  “I’m different from the other foreigners. I can’t return to my world. As far as I can tell, the only reason that would be possible is if the god of this world made it so. I can’t even let any other foreigners know that, or there is a chance that they could be stuck as well.”

  “I see… so, in a way, god made an enemy of you, is that it?”

  I thought about her question for a minute, and shook my head. “Not really. I’ll admit, I was worried at first, but I think it’s alright now. Honestly, I didn’t have much going on for me in my own world. In a sense, I’m better off here.”

  I heard a soft giggling from behind me, “Even though you have been trapped by god as much as I, you still have such an opinion. No, your prison may even be worse than my own. I still have the companionship of my people.”

  “So do I. Just.. not the same people as before.” I smiled to myself as I diligently read the book, even while holding a conversation with the woman behind me.

  “Well, I think that god probably had a reason for what he did. We might not like it in the end, but he usually does.”

  “Oh? You can say such things, given the situation?”

  “Ah, you misunderstand something. It isn’t god that commands the angels, but the angels themselves. We are two of the oldest races, granted dominion over our own kind. The king of angels chose to govern under a strict rule, while I wished to allow my people freedom of choice as was granted to us by our maker.”

  “I see… so even with this, I’ll be no closer to finding out what happened.” I sighed a bit and shrugged.

  “I do apologize. I thought you had understood. Do you still wish to continue, even knowing it won’t lead towards your goal?” Her voice was worried, like she thought I’d leave if this wouldn’t help me now.

  “I already told you, didn’t I? I can’t just turn away from people that need help. In the first place, talking to the god of this world was never my reason for accepting. It’s not even a goal the current me can achieve. I’ll help you because that’s what I’ve resolved myself to do, because I couldn’t live with myself if I condemned an entire civilization when I could help them.”

  “You.. aren’t you just a goody goody..?” There was a weird tone to her voice as she asked, and I was tempted to look back at her. It didn’t sound like an insult, not at all.

  “Maybe, but I should make the most of what I can do. That’s my path.”

  “Thanks… even if this doesn’t work… thanks for wanting to help us. I can’t even begin to repay this.” Lilith spoke in a small voice, almost like she was still afraid I’d leave at the first chance.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. In fact, can you keep another secret? This one, you can’t even tell the other demons. Just between you and me, deal?” I turned around and asked with a smile, setting the book down for now. Lilith was sitting cross-legged, abandoning her sensuous poses from before and fidgeting with her hands. When she noticed I had turned around, she quickly put her hands to her side and nodded, smiling.

  “Deal.”

  “Part of my unique magic makes payment really unnecessary.”

  “What do you mean?” She tilted her head, both sexy and cute at the same time.

  “My special magic is to change the nature of something. Originally, this allowed me to change one spell into another. But recently, I’ve begun to change objects as well.” I held out a single silver coin to demonstrate, closing my eyes and focusing on my Customize spell to quickly change it into a gold coin.

  Lilith’s eyes went wide at the display. “That’s…”

  “Yeah.”

  “Cheating!”

  I tilted my head back and laughed as she suddenly shouted that out, “Yup. That’s why I can’t teach this magic to other people. If it became widespread, then the economy of the world would collapse.”

  “You… really.” She shook her head and smiled. “You could buy any treasure you wanted, build your own kingdom, and this is what you do with yourself. I might just fall for you, Jin.”

  “Hey now, I know every man wants a harem, but don’t you have a kingdom to manage?”

  She grinned at my comment, “Oh? What’s a harem~?” She asked in her seductive tone, so I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. I decided to play it safe and think she was, though I was blushing fiercely when I explained.

  “A harem is when a group of people all try to get the attention of one person, either romantic or sexually.”

  Seeing my blush, Lilith laughed loudly. “Oh boy, I know what a harem is~. I was just seeing if you’d actually explain it.”

  I shook my head with a sigh, still blushing. “You… I’m surprised you are teasing me like this. Aren’t you afraid it’ll distract me from fixing the contract?”

  “Not really? I enjoy talking with you. And from what I’ve seen, you wouldn’t let yourself be distracted if you really thought it would be an issue.”

  I smirked. “I don’t know, you seem quite good at distracting me. Any warm-blooded man would have a hard time focusing around you.”

  Lilith stuck out her lower lip, pouting. “Only the warm-blooded ones?”

  I laughed, clutching my side, “Oh, right, there are cold-blooded sentients here too, so add them to the list.”