novelFated Partner
| ← Ch.35 | Ch.37 → |
The days continued and it has now been a few days since she left the country. She was currently in the midst of a forest 100 km away from the country, making preparations for lunch. Her location was detached from the road and the mountains acted as a natural a shield between her and the country, meaning that no one would be able to see the smoke from the campfire.
The female scholar whipped out her wand and lit the foliage she collected on fire before placing her pot on top. The pot which was brimming with water from the nearby river began to boil not too long after.
Once she confirmed that the water was boiling, the woman tossed the fruits she picked ahead of time into the pot. Although this fruit was hard, she deduced that it was probably edible due to the subtle sweet smell. Eventually, the fruits softened and a sweet smell permeated the surroundings.
It was soon the time to eat.
She heard the sound of snapping branches coming close and closer, a while later, a demon the size of an elephant poked its head out from within the trees. The demon sluggishly shifted its head and stared down at the woman with its small eyes.
The female scholar who was squatting by the campfire looked up at the demon, their gazes interlocking for a while. But the woman who was still fighting back her hunger munched on a fruit she grabbed from the pot as thoughts of "well, who cares since this guy won't attack me" floated around in her head.
Not long after, the demon scooted over to the woman's side and sat down to which even she was surprised.
This guy... what does it want to do?
Does it want to attack me?
But I don't have a second heart.
There's no way it would attack...
As the female scholar silently watched the demon, she realised the twitching movements of the demon's nose. And that it's gaze was focused solely on the pot. Saliva was dripping out of its overly big mouth and a red tongue occasionally stuck out, licking its lips.
Could it be that it wants to eat the fruit?
But I thought that demons didn't need to eat...
Truth be told, there have been several attempts, from the individual to national level research to tame the demons, but all of them ended in failure.
For some reason, the demons didn't require sustenance.
How can demons which don't require food remain alive? There still isn't a definite answer to this problem.
However, what about this guy?
It has shown a clear interest in the fruit.
If, if in the unlikely chance that it does want to eat this fruit, this guy might be a species different to the other demons.
This guy... would then be an important sample.
She took out one of the larger fruits from the pot, placed it on a plate made of leaves and left it in front of the demon.
The demon made a slightly surprised face and sniffed at it, then bit into the fruit.
Due to the long time period spent boiling, the fruit was soft, accentuating it's sweetness.
The demon noisily chomped down on the fruit then once again made a loud noise as it gulped down the piece.
It ate it...
The demon ate food...
It swallowed it.
...It doesn't seem like it'll spit it out either.
In fact, it's eyes looks like it wants more.
Indeed, every time she took out another fruit to eat, the demon would stare at her hands as it salivated. The demon would imitate her as she chewed, an unending river of droll leaked out from its mouth and its tongue repeatedly stuck in and out as it looked longingly at the fruit in her hands.
Eventually, the she lost to those expectant eyes and took out a second then a third softened fruit and presented it to the demon on more leaf plates.
In that instant, the demon's eyes sparkled, it used its long dexterous tongue to maneuver the fruit into its mouth before gobbling it down. The female scholar was dazed as she watched the demon steadily chew with a content face.
Is, is this is the face that demons which we are so afraid of make?
It looks satisfied... Is this thing which makes a face as though it's saying "it's very delicious" really a threat to humanity???
How can this be... I have to spread this news to the world as soon as I can...
She gave a deep sigh then gobbled up the rest of the fruits then walked towards her destination with her backpack on her shoulders... or she should have.
Something unbelievable suddenly happened. The demon which should have been sitting down beside her stood up and followed along. She could no longer hide her astonishment.
Her feet came to a stop and so did the demon's. When she walked again, so did the demon. The demon was slowly following behind her.
This... Did I just manage to tame it with food?
It was only some boiled fruit but it was tamed with just that much??
The food used in the experiments till now were all, "high quality meat", "cuisine made by chiefs", or "sugary sweets" and such things that even humans don't get the chance to taste...
But to succeed in taming it with just some boiled fruits.
If the people who have been trying so hard hear about this, they might faint from frustration.
She cautiously approached the demon at gave it's head a pat. The demon made a comfortable face and rubbed it's own head into her hand.
It really has gotten attached to me.
If I keep on giving it fruit every meal time, it would probably keep on following me. 𝘧𝘳e𝚎𝑤ℯ𝘣noѵℯ𝘭 - 🅽🅽novel
I can then continue making observations as I travel.
I'm quite lucky to have this encounter.
She stopped patting the demon and walked off.
The demon followed after the woman.
This was the beginning of what was to be the long journey of one human and one demon.
It has been one week since I met and tamed the demon. We're quite some distance away from the country, and it is now more common to see normal animals loitering around than demons. Without fail, the demon's eyes would sparkle every time from the boiled fruits with just a few simple flavourings sprinkled on.
Well, of course the fruits boiled from the small pot isn't enough to fill the demon's stomach so it has been wandering off at times to find food for itself but it would always be by my side when meal time comes. I had tried performing some small experiments on it.
I hunted some wild rabbits and deer with magic and gave the meat I cooked with various methods to the demon. Even when I placed the meat on a plate made from leaves, the demon refused to eat. It would appear that this guy is a herbivore.
...Not just this guy.
I've gotten the chance to see demons other that this guy eat food.
And the interesting thing is that, these demons only eat grass.
As a test, I added a morsel of meat into their meals but every single demon sniffed it out and refused to eat another bite more.
Only the smaller demons would eat a small amount of meat. But even those smaller demons' diet was focused on fruits.
This is merely a hypothesis but, maybe the demon's are mainly herbivores with the smaller ones as exceptions who are omnivores.
Well, even if the smaller demons will eat meat, I have never once seen them actively attack another animal...
She wrote about the ecology of the demons into her notebook with an extremely satisfied expression.
| ← Ch. 35 | Ch. 37 → |