Fíliya helped the newborn demon up, then pulled her down to sit on the ground face-to-face.
She used the sleeve of her own mage robe to wipe the other's cheek, then stared into the demon's eyes with a beaming smile.
Whether her own robe would get dirty was clearly not a concern for her. She had already sat down on the ground cross-legged, so who cared if it was clean or not.
Besides, her clothes were standard issue, so she didn't feel precious about them.
The demon, for her part, watched everything Fíliya did with a blank expression. She was well aware of her situation; given the degree of hostility between the Demon Race and humans, she had no chance of survival.
But looking at the human woman before her, she still felt a sense of curiosity.
What was she planning to do? What did she want from her?
Doubt spread through her heart, but she didn't dare to be the first to ask. For now, it was best to try and please this human and answer her questions properly. She could look for a chance to escape later.
"Hmm, the Demon Race really is evolving in the direction of 'handsome men and beautiful women,' aren't they? To be this lovely at such a young age."
After wiping the dirt from the little demon girl's face, Fíliya couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"..."
The little demon girl remained expressionless, but compared to before, she had started to observe Fíliya with her gaze.
"Hey, did you know? The Demon Race wasn't always like this, you know? Records from a thousand years ago state that newly evolved demons had strange and peculiar appearances, even ugly and terrifying. Then, as time went on, by chance, some demons underwent a mutation in their appearance."
"This mutation caused their hunting success rate to rise dramatically, so all subsequent demons began to evolve in this direction as well."
"And this mutation, described in human terms, is called 'beauty'."
"..."
The little demon girl couldn't understand why this human was lecturing her on such knowledge—facts that even the Demon Race had long forgotten. What was the point of this?
"Because I'm trying to express my thoughts to you."
Although the demon showed no expression whatsoever, Fíliya could still read the confusion in her eyes. She continued speaking.
"The Demon Race evolved from the monsters of ancient times. And after that first evolution, the pace of evolution never stopped, ultimately leading to your current form... So I started to wonder, can the Demon Race go even further? Can they continue to evolve into a new form?"
"You know, what I hate most are things like 'fate' and absolute statements... for example, 'The Demon King will inevitably be defeated by the Hero.'... I despise prophecies filled with that sense of destiny. Mmm... although the final result was indeed the Hero's party defeating the Demon King, I'm still not happy about it."
"So, for as long as I can remember, I've had a dream. I must completely 'remodel' the Demon Race. And why? Because everyone says the Demon Race can never be changed."
"Since we're on the topic of remodeling the Demon Race... I'll let you guess. What do you think I'm planning to do? Hmm? Give me some reaction. If you keep ignoring me, I'll be very hurt, you know?"
Fíliya's tone, though friendly, seemed to be laced with a strange sense of menace. It made the demon's body tremble slightly, forcing her to speak.
"I don't know."
The demon replied.
"Oh... so you can talk. That's amazing, truly amazing."
Like an older sister praising her younger sibling, Fíliya patted the demon's head with a face full of smiles.
"Then let me continue explaining. What I envision is... to help the Demon Race evolve, the first thing that must be done... is to kill them all."
Fíliya cupped her chin with one hand, striking a pose of deep contemplation.
"Oh, no, saying 'kill them all' might be a bit misleading. What I mean is, I must slaughter the Demon Race to the point of near extinction. After all, your current form is already a very successful 'completed model.' Without a massive crisis of survival, it's unlikely you can be forced to evolve again."
Fíliya's expression was utterly serious, which made the little demon girl instantly lose all hope.
She didn't care one bit about Fíliya's 'ideal.' She gleaned only one piece of information from Fíliya's words.
Which was: after all that talk, she was still going to kill her... Humans were truly bizarre. Did they enjoy chatting with their prey?
And so, this newborn young demon decided to give up. Do what you want, she thought. Torture me, question me, I don't care. I'm not moving.
"Hm?"
Fíliya was a bit confused. She reflected on what she had just said, wondering what was wrong. Why had the girl in front of her suddenly deflated as if she'd lost her soul?
This wouldn't do. She still had so much more she wanted to say to the demon.
Mmm, I see... So you have to give them a little hope to create space for dialogue. Once they fall into despair, they just shut down and give up?
Well, what do you know? This demon has a very 'human' side to her after all. Fíliya covered her mouth and chuckled, then looked at the demon again.
"What's your name?"
Hmm, the lack of response was just as Fíliya expected.
So she continued the conversation.
"Since you don't have a name, let me give you one. You've managed to live this long; it would be too pitiful to not even have a name."
Fíliya's words made the newborn demon lift her head, but her face was filled with confusion.
"What's the point? You're going to kill me soon anyway."
"Mmm, that's not necessarily true. See, I said my ideal is to kill the Demon Race until they're 'endangered,' right? Since it's endangered and not extinct, that means some demons will get to live in my ideal world... Aren't you going to try and fight for that chance? I'm going to ask you a lot of questions. If your answers satisfy me, I'll let you go."
After she finished speaking, Fíliya paid no mind to the newborn demon's reaction and continued.
"I've decided. I'll call you Abby. So then, little Abby, how did you learn 'tactics'?"
The face of the demon, now named by Fíliya, was full of hesitation, but in the end, she opened her mouth. It seemed that as long as she was given a sliver of hope, she was willing to believe.
"It's my ability. I can acquire the memories of the humans I eat... I learned it from that person's memories. He seemed to be a human military officer."
Oh? Acquiring memories, is it? A decent ability... but the activation method is so primitive.
Fíliya thought to herself that among humans, some mages specializing in the mental domain could steal memories with a single touch, yet this demon had to eat someone to activate her ability... How weak.
Still, there was something in Abby's words worth noting, so Fíliya continued to question her.
"Mmm, how did you prey on that human?"
Regarding this question, Abby thought for about ten seconds before lifting her head to look at the sky.
"Back then, not long after I was born, I was discovered by a human army. Around me were many other, dead demons."
"That human said that since all the adult demons had been killed anyway, they might as well let him raise me... When I learned I wasn't going to die, I was relieved. I realized humans really are that stupid."
"That human even made me call him 'Father.' To make him lower his guard, I did as he asked. Then I lived with him for a year."
"And after that, I ate him."
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