The barony of Gull was a seaside town under the vassalship of the great Maruquessate of Ventura. Though Gull was a relatively small city, it was greatly important due to its strategic position that connected the coastal cities together, forming an unbreakable defensive line against foreign invaders and propagating trade via sea.
Due to these circumstances, the barony of Gull was thus a hub of commerce similar with the other coastal cities.
Despite the prosperity of Gull, a great disaster would soon strike–one that would not infect the coastal cities, but soon the entire Cambrian Empire.
…
Roughly two years ago, a tragic accident had occurred within a silver mine under the control of the Gull barony. It was due to the negligence of the fat and lazy Baron Cedric Gull that the ocean pressure collapsed the mine even though a request for resources had been made. As to not further damage his image, the Baron swept the incident under the rug and swiftly silenced all survivors, leaving only belligerent souls behind.
As the months continued and the Baron went without severe consequences, the souls became increasingly hateful, acting as a magnet for malevolent energies to gather. This resulted in an immense accumulation of malevolent energies that now condensed and birthed a hatchling devil.
"Hah…"
"ah…! "
plop
This new-born devil was small. Of course, it was small because it was a hatchling but by hatchling standards, it was still pretty tiny–about 30 centimeters in height. Yet, despite its small stature, it had many unique features, ones that would be remembered for the coming ages.
He had heterochromic eyes, one dark like the void and one a soft lilac purple. One small nub to the left of his head was present, showing the beginnings of what would be an iconic horn. His skin, unlike most demons who had darker, more violent complexions though, was stunningly white, a snow colored white that would shame the radiance of a full moon.
Despite being newly born, the hatchling could speak all languages as a devil. And as a creature of nature–though evil–it had the natural instinct and coordination to walk around the abandoned mines in addition to some basic understandings of magic, physics and nature.
click click click
It heard the rocks falling and instinctively hid around a large row of stalagmites.
There were people here.
It seems the lazy baron had finally sent a team to investigate the cave.
Since the accident two years ago, few expeditions have been made due to Baron Gull's negligence of the situation; the mine was not a large priority for the Baron either due to its unfruitful harvests year after year.
Still, some expeditions had been sent. None noticed the malevolent energy accumulating because of their low tiers–most of them being tier 1 or 2 combatants.
And even though the small devil child knew nothing about the intentions of this new expedition group, he hid behind the stalagmites while peering out a gap with his lilac colored eye. He felt no fear for this unknown as he could sense the mana signatures emanating from this group–there was no one too strong.
And even if he was spotted, there was a pool of water leading further down the flooded mine that enabled his escape. He had never tried breathing under water, but deep down, he could feel that his body was capable despite having no gills–call it natural instinct.
The expedition team composed of six people–five at the first tier with a tier 2 leader–carefully traversed the unstable mineshaft so as to not cause an accident for themselves.
In the hands of the leader, a tall bulky man, was a weird gilded apparatus with some blue mana engraved in it. It seemed to be guiding them.
As the team continued deeper down into the mines, the odd hatchling devil followed them, stealthily moving from one stalagmite to the next. It seemed his small size was going to benefit him big time.
"We're getting closer," the group leader said. "The tracker says it should be 100 meters right below us."
They appeared at a clearing.
"Shit" the team-lead muttered lightly, though it became audible to the team what the captain seemed down about as they caught up.
It was a massive pool of dark murky water that could barely be seen through even with the brightest lights.
"Hey Geralt, give me a glow stick," the team lead called to a frail looking lad with a comically large backpack.
The team-lead had prayed that a situation like this would not appear in this expedition. They had been tipped off about an unknown treasure that lay in the abandoned mines and had come to claim it for themselves. Yet it seems luck was not on their side today.
With a light toss, the team-lead threw the industrial glowstick into the water. Its bright yellow light only showed for a few seconds before it was swallowed up by the dark waters.
"Let's go back," the team-lead said to his teammates in disappointment."
"So are we just going back empty handed? We traveled to this faraway city for no reason?" A lean blonde lady commented.
"No, we will stay in this city and make preparations. We don't know what's in that dark water; it could be dangerous and I don't want anyone dying under my watch."
So, the hatchling devil watched the dismayed party leave the mines.
Right after they left, he appeared next to the water and peered into it. His night vision was much better than a human's due to his race so he could make out some small scaled fishes swimming near the surface but nothing more.
But even still, he could faintly sense the mana signature of dangerous beasts in the deeper parts of the pool, something unusual for a hatchling devil.
With a slash of his claw, which was just a hand with animalistic finger nails, he scooped up an unsuspecting armored fish. It was small enough to fit in one hand but had a chitin-like shell everywhere except the fins. It was tough, but soon the armored scales pulled away under his prying, revealing the skin underneath.
With two slightly sharp canines, he bit into the hard fishy flesh and swallowed without chewing much. It wasn't the most pleasant, but the palette of a devil does not discriminate with physical nutrients.