The Tentacle Awakens

by J. J. Pavlov

  "That's what I do. I drink blood, and I know things." A smile plays on her lips and extends to the stitches on her cheeks. It might have been intended as a smirk, but instead, it just looks sinister.

  "That's not an answer!" I'm beginning to get indignant.

  "So, what's your name?" She ignores my rebuke and leads the conversation elsewhere.

  "I'm Kuroe Makoto, though everyone here knows me as Chloe Marcott." There's no point in getting worked up over things here. "My actual demon name is Chaos, though."

  "Chaos... how original." She snorts while looking at me with pity.

  Oi, leave my name alone! I'm fully aware that it's an edgy name like no other.

  "In either case, what will you do about this situation? I'm sure you don't want that girl to know about your identity. I mean, this is the human territory after all." Pointing at the collapsed Luna, Senka makes a fair point.

  "If I make her disappear, it's going to cause a commotion... any ideas?" Somehow I feel like I can talk to this doll-like girl openly. She's not afraid of my appearance and doesn't care about the fact that I'm a demon that just killed three people.

  Well, I killed one, she killed one, and one more is still alive inside me.

  Oh, we're partners in crime, then.

  "Hmm." She tilts her head and thinks for a moment, before continuing. "Well, for now, put on some clothes. And then..."

  Luna opens her eyes and seems confused for a moment. Then she sits up abruptly and looks around with an anxious expression. I'm kneeling on the ground next to her, fully clothed once more, and acting concerned.

  "Huh? Where are the three men?" She's panicked, but when she doesn't see them in the store, a wondering look appears on her face.

  "I don't understand it either, but that doll over there went off and scared them away. They ran out of the store." When I think about it, this explanation may be pushing the limits of believability. I look at the doll in question.

  "The doll?" Luna stands up and walks towards it. "What do you mean, it 'went off'?"

  I think this is going to be fun.

  Senka suddenly snaps her head around with an audible creaking sound. Her eyes are wide open and staring right at Luna when she starts to laugh mechanically.

  "Kyaaah!!!" Luna lets out a girly scream and hits the doll over the head with her staff, throwing her off the chair. Wow, it seems she's even worse with horror than I am. Stepping back from the fallen Senka, the half-elf stares at her like it's a monster.

  "Hey, she saved us, you know?" I walk past Luna and pick the doll girl up into my arms. Wow, she's incredibly light, as if her body is hollow. "I want to keep her."

  I'll bring her along on my journey, as she requested. She'll keep acting like an automaton for the time being, until we're in a place where her appearance, coupled with her talking and moving about naturally, will no longer be considered the work of demons. In other words, anywhere on the continent of Ceogath.

  She told me that her body requires spiritual energy to function, so she prefers to remain unmoving unless absolutely necessary. Said spiritual energy apparently can only be obtained through eating the souls of living beings. And those living beings should preferably be humans.

  Apparently, there are no detectable bodily functions in her; breathing and heartbeat are entirely absent, so nobody will be able to tell that she's not a doll but actually alive. Well, I wonder whether she can be considered alive or not either way, but I guess it's like being a zombie.

  Oh, and she did say she was immortal.

  I hug her tightly and find that she feels soft and smells pretty nice. In this room of mold and decay, she's somehow the only good-smelling thing. She's beginning to grow on me, and I'm starting to understand the charm of her design; it's the niche appeal called 'creepy-cute'.

  "Why do you want to keep this disgusting thing?" Luna shows said disgust on her face in a most unladylike expression. That's really rude, you know.

  "I like the design." I really do, call me crazy however you like.

  "You must be crazy!" She practically spits in this my face. Ouch, I didn't mean for you to actually do it. Because of this she definitely dislikes me even more now, and she thinks I'm crazy.

  In either case, I gained some insights into the human world, mostly into its shady side. And I obtained some excellent information for the quest that this party wants to take on. Now, how do I relay what I learned to the others without appearing suspicious for knowing too much?

  "I think these thugs wanted to kidnap me for what I am." Luna changes the subject and talks about the three guys inside me. That's some nice deduction there. "So, as a dark elf, Lady Nightwane was already their target." And the next step is? "She must be still here since they had not left yet."

  Ding Dong! You're - most likely - correct.

  "Maybe she's in the storage room?" I motion to go and take a peek, but Luna grabs my arm and stops me.

  "Let me go first. There might still be someone else in there." She looks determined, but I can feel her trembling through the hand on my arm.

  You'll go first, huh? Since it worked so well last time, right? If what happened here earlier didn't cause whoever may have been hiding in the back to come out, it means there isn't anyone else. Or there's a back door, which would be really bad; my identity would be at risk.

  "I don't want to meet her..." Senka whispers to me when Luna walks ahead and peeks through the half-opened door leading into the back of the store.

  Someone who isn't afraid of my true appearance doesn't want to meet a person. I have to wonder just how bad this Lady Nightwane must be.

  "She's... a lonely woman... and there aren't many life-sized dolls available in this world, even if it's only one as small as me." Speak no further, I can somehow picture what you mean, even though I don't want to.

  "Ah, Lady Nightwane!" Luna seems to have found her.

  Senka's face twists into a visage of annoyance and disgust. Hmm, that expression looks familiar... I think it was something involving a certain holy sword on a journey to California.

  "I found her!" Senka's expression returns to a blank one when the half-elf turns around to call out to me. She walks into the back of the store, and I follow her.

  The storage area is similar to the store, with shelves full of strange and creepy occult things. Only, it's even messier here. The lady in question is lying on the ground, tied up, gagged and unconscious.

  So, that's a dark elf, huh? She has long pointy ears, just like those I saw on the elf queen's head, which Maou-mama ate, but her skin is of a mauve purple, and her long fluffy hair is the color of the starlit night sky. My first thought is that maybe this is an evolutionary trait to better blend in at night.

  That appearance can't be described as anything but that of a sultry mature woman's. Unlike the elven queen, whose pitiful appearance I got to see when Maou-mama transformed into her, this one has a very curvaceous body. Breasts almost as big as the demon queen's, a slim waist and an incredibly prolific pelvis.

  Her dark purple robe, which appears to be made of silk, clings to her body and accentuates her proportions even more. I can't help but feel a little attracted to it.

  It's my luck that she's unconscious; she didn't hear anything of what happened in the store moments ago, or I would have had to kill her - as well as Luna. If only these two disappeared, I could explain it by saying that I got separated from Luna and became lost, while she and Lady Nightwane were kidnapped from this store. Nobody would suspect that cute little me was the one who killed them and that I'm actually a monster.

  Or rather a Cosmic Horror, according to Senka.

  "She is still alive!" What part of kidnapping involves killing the target, Luna-chan? She begins to shake the woman. "Wake up, Lady Nightwane."

  If she had an injury to the spine, you could have paralyzed her with that. What's with people shaking someone unconscious without bothering to look for external injuries first? Then again, I doubt the concept of first aid exists in this
world.

  "Uuuh..." But the shaking seems to have woken her up, as she stirs and tries to move. "Hmmph?"

  Her eyes spring wide open and reveal beautiful amethyst irises. She realizes that she's practically in bondage, and begins to struggle. Then she sees Luna and looks up at her with hopeful eyes, who immediately takes off her gag and begins to untie her.

  "Ah, th-thank you so much, Runa!" Her voice sounds alluring, and her tone is soft, although she does seem to have a nervous stutter. Combining that with the knowledge of what she does to Senka, I can only see her as a sexually frustrated, socially inept loner, who most likely doesn't have any real sexual experience.

  How pitiful.

  Also, I can't help but think that she's a masochist and the submissive type. It's just the vibes she seems to give off.

  "Are you hurt?" Too late to ask that, you already shook her and all. "Did they do something to you?"

  "N-no, I'm fine." She speaks in a somewhat gloomy tone while sweeping her fluffy hair behind her very long ears with a delicate, gloved hand. It doesn't sound like her attitude is a result of the circumstances, but rather appears to be a personality trait of hers. Massaging her wrists, she stands up on unsteady feet and turns to look at me. "Ah, w-who are you? And wh-what are you doing with my... w-with the cursed doll?"

  Were you about to slip up and say 'sex toy'?

  "She saved our lives. I want to buy her." I see astonishment on Lady Nightwane's face. Luna stares at me dumbfounded.

  "You were serious about wanting to keep it? And it's even cursed!" Luna looks at me with pure disbelief.

  Have you seen my actual face? That's beyond creepy, and one can practically see the curses in it.

  Why do I hurt myself so?

  "How much do you want for it?" Ignoring Luna's complaints, I look into Lady Nightwane's mesmerizing eyes with determination.

  "You have money?" Surprised, Luna looks at me with a doubtful expression. Would I be asking about the price, if I didn't have anything on me?

  Well, her doubts are understandable since I was penniless when I met her and didn't earn any money since. But it must be my lucky day because I found a pretty fat wallet in the brainiac's belongings. I searched his stuff earlier, even while he's still alive, to look for things that could be useful to me. I can just say he dropped his wallet when he ran away, just like trainers do in a certain game about catching supernatural wild animals when you defeat them.

  "S-she's not for-" The dark elf is about to refuse, but I cut her short.

  "Is this much enough?" I pull out the leather bag full of money. I don't really know how much is in it, but I'll just let the jingle of the coins do the talking.

  Hey, your eyes are sparkling, Lady Nightwane?

  She jumps up and snatches the bag away, before going through its contents with an increasingly excited expression. I see, no poker face at all. I guess her business is going badly, but considering the location and smell of this place, I'm not surprised.

  "W-with this much, I-I could..." She trails off and seemingly begins some mental calculations. Well, I think this isn't just hook, line and sinker anymore. The whole fishing rod went down with it on this one. Now, let me hear your obvious answer. "B-but... it's a cursed doll. I-I can't, in good conscience, s-sell it to you. G-great misfortune will befall any who k-keep it close to them."

  "She means to say she modified a part of my body and great misfortune will befall her if you find out." Senka whispers without moving her lips, at a level that's apparently only audible to me.

  I don't want to know which part was modified. Please don't tell me.

  "I'll add this." Luckily, the thug with the club also had a purse. While not as big or as heavy as the brainiac's, it should add some weight to the scales inside her mind.

  Luna has been looking at me dubiously, but now she's giving me a gaze filled with bewilderment. You think I'm crazy for wanting to buy this doll already, and now your opinion is being reinforced by how much I'm willing to spend on it, right?

  "Where did you get all this money from?" She asks me with a hint of suspicious in her voice. I was waiting for this question, but...

  "I'll tell you later." I don't need to let the dark elf know that her assailants left this money in her shop when they ran away because of Senka - as they did according to my official version of what happened here. She might claim ownership of the money since it would mean I didn't actually contribute to getting it. I can't tell them that it was my achievement, after all.

  "I..." She's seriously considering it. Now, for the finisher.

  "Then I shall add a little more, but that's my final offer." I take out one more bag of money and offer it reluctantly. It's the purse of the guy who, upon seeing my real appearance, died almost right away. The amount is about the same as what the other muscle-for-brains had, but at this point, it should tip the scale in favor of selling Senka.

  Lady Nightwane makes big round eyes at the sight of three bags of money. Going through the contents of the last one, something inside her mind clicks. Her demeanor changes a little, and she's no longer hesitant.

  "I-I accept the offer. It w-would be rude not to, i-if the customer is so adamant about it." Even though she still sounds hesitant, there's no hint of it in her attitude; she's brimming with joy at having gotten her hands on a lot of money. "B-but I must warn you. It's a c-cursed doll, after all. It has caused the d-deaths of countless previous owners w-who... attempted to t-take off its dress."

  Ah, that's a pretty good one. You can't say no to the money, but you still don't want me to find out about the modifications you did on her body. Now I'm curious, even though I can imagine it. The jar of 'worms' comes to mind.

  I shake my head from the image and suppress a shudder.

  - You have obtained Creepy Loli Doll -

  I'm imagining a certain item-obtained tune being played in my head, originating from a game series about a long-eared hero dressed in green, who has to rescue a princess in every single one of his incarnations.

  "I cannot believe it... Miss Marcott, you have terrible taste." Luna shakes her head in resignation when the transaction goes through. She's being rude again.

  "To each their own, Miss Luna." Hugging Senka firmly, I pout.

  "There is no helping it, is there?" Shaking her head, she turns to the dark elf and reverts to her serious adventurer self. "Lady Nightwane, do you know anything about these kidnappers?"

  "T-they didn't say much when they attacked. T-the small and skinny one told the m-muscular ones not to hurt my face..." Regaining a hint of professionalism, the lady responds while looking up from her newfound fortune.

  That idiot who knocked Luna unconscious wanted to hit this dark elf's beautiful face, too? He should have died a more horrible death for even thinking about ruining two beauties, but Senka killed him instantly with her voodoo-like magic. Well, he's slowly dissolving inside me now, so at least he's getting desecrated after his death.

  "B-but I have heard rumors about s-slavers targeting our kind in these parts of the kingdom. A-after the complete ban on demi-human s-slavery, nine summers ago criminal organizations have p-prospered in this business." Lady Nightwane explains in a somber tone but retains her stutter. Unexpectedly, she appears to be quite capable, when serious. But unfortunately, I already know about her incredibly pitiful side, so it'll take her a lot to pull herself back out from these depths.

  Slavery, huh? While it's a good thing that it was banned, the fact that it only happened nine years ago reminds me of just how medieval this world is. At least the technology level is higher than that, most likely because of magic.

  "When you were knocked out, the one with the big head did say something about how their client would not buy damaged goods." I need to take this opportunity and make my words seem natural, even though I'm making up things as I go here. "I asked him who his client was, and he actually told me. It's Sveinn Itkonen."

  "What, really?" But Luna seems to buy it. "We have to let Rolan know."
>
  Umm, hello? What about reporting to the authorities?

  "Shouldn't we call the guards first?" I don't know if the concept of a police force exists in this world, but there are gate guards. So, I can't be wrong in assuming that there's something like an organized institution for keeping peace and order in this city.

  "Ah, yes. You are right..." Luna mutters as if she only realized that only now. "But we have to let the others know before they run into trouble."

  "We won't be meeting until nightfall, so we don't know where they are." Strange feeling, to be the voice of reason here.

  "The town is not that big, and I can imagine where they are right now." The half-elf argues though it doesn't make sense. In fiction, people run around a city in search of someone, and they almost always instantly find them.

  Something that convenient doesn't happen in reality, so I don't want to waste my time doing it. We're only two people, and considering Luna's unexpectedly protective personality, she'll refuse to split up. That way we can only search one place at a time, which makes it doubly likely that we'll just walk past the other members of the party on parallel streets - for enhanced irony.

  "What if they aren't there?" Let's see you find an excuse for that.

  "Then we will continue searching." She replies in a stubborn tone. Not even trying anymore, huh? This isn't going anywhere.

  "How about we split up? I'll return to the Dancing Dragon and wait for them there. Maybe someone will return earlier, and I can tell them what we found out here." That's definitely a much more sensible proposal than running around without a clue.

  "No, I cannot leave you alone. I'll come with you." Putting her foot down, Luna declares. "If nobody is waiting at the Dancing Dragon, I will leave a message with the tavern keeper, and we head out to search for them." Alright, at least that's better than nothing. "Leave that doll behind; we need to hurry."

  "What? No! I'm going to take her with me. She's really light." I embrace Senka firmly and turn away defiantly.

  "Please don't be a lolicon..." I hear the doll whisper. If you're not careful, I'll become one just for you.

  "Ugh... fine." Luna finally resigns and sighs. Hah, I knew it! I'm sure she wanted to make me leave the doll in this store and hoped that I would forget about it later. "Alright, let us go."