The Maid and the Box 3

The hand coming out from the box was becoming shorter and shorter as it pulled in the green-haired maid. The box was only about a meter away from touching her feet now.

Electricity surged through Fang's body. He quickly bent down on the ground on all fours. With one push off the ground with his legs, a boom was made, and he was sent flying between the box and the green-haired girl.

The veins in Fang's hands became oddly apparent as his nails quickly grew, taking on the shape of claws. With the combination of his new sharp claws and his explosive takeoff, he swiped his hands at the arm connecting the box and the green-haired maid, severing it.

The green-haired maid, although still recovering from her injury to the ground, seemed to watch Fang in awe. To her, it was almost like Fang was her hero, and she was the princess. The unnatural strength and speed, paired with his fierce eyes shouting "I will protect you!" pulled a string in her heart.

Once the arm belonging to the box was sliced off, its hand disappeared with it, turning into a sparkly black dust that vanished in the air. The green-haired maid's ankle was no longer bound to the grasp of whatever was in the box.

Fang quickly landed on the ground passing in between the box and the green-haired maid and decelerated before turning back around. He kicked himself off of the ground once again shooting like an arrow and picked up the green-haired maid, holding her in his arms.

The green-haired maid's eyes grew wide at the sudden action of Fang. Her face was red—she seemed to be blushing uncontrollably.

Fang stopped beside the bed and rested the green-haired maid's body and head on it. With a soft voice, the green-haired maid spoke. "W-w-who are you-"

"Please don't tell anyone that you saw me here!" Fang interrupted, looking away from the maid's direction. He had to make sure that his Cerulean eyes weren't seen.

The words of Fang left the green-haired maid confused. "What do you mean by 'please don't tell anyone that you saw me here?'" She thought.

Fang looked back at the box. A flat, spinning piece of wood flew past the side of his head, creating a gentle gust of wind. It hit the wall behind him before falling to the ground.

"What the hell...?"

The walls holding together the box flew across the room, revealing what was inside. A red, fetus-like creature emerged from the box, floating in the air with an umbilical cord. One arm looked to be missing, presumably because of Fang.

Fang and the green-haired maid watched as the fetus began to rapidly change into something else. Its body became dysmorphic—a disgusting sight.

The green-haired maid's voice was nasally.

"It's... It's an imp..."

"What do you mean an imp?" Fang asked, still keeping his eyes away from her.

The fetus grew a long, pointed tail. Its chin and ears grew becoming elongated and its eyes turned yellow.

"I think there was an image of an imp on the box," the green-haired maid continued. "If it is, it's the first time I've ever seen one... They're lesser demons who feed off the mana of people to get stronger..."

Fang was unfamiliar with what an imp was despite living in a world where magic and mythical creatures existed. "An imp you say..."

Although having no clue what the green-haired maid was talking about, it didn't matter all that much. Coming out unscathed and surviving the thing in front of them took priority!

Fang felt a soft pinch on his forearm. It was the green-haired maid, holding onto him with just her fingertips. She looked up at Fang with her gleaming green eyes. "Will you protect me? Hero?"

Hero? Fang wasn't sure how to respond. He was no hero to anybody, at least that's what he thought. He was only helping out the maid because he felt the need to, not because he wanted to.

Even if he wanted to, he'd probably still have no choice anyway. He had dug his own grave by saving her, so he might as well continue helping out, just a little more.

"Stay here, you'll die if you move from the bed," Fang said bluntly, moving his arm away from Salika's fingers.

An awkward face appeared on the green-haired maid. Was she just rejected? Or maybe this was just how her hero acted.

"So cool and charming..." The green maid thought to herself. The stranger in front of her who she didn't even know the name of, upgraded from her hero to her prince at that very moment.

∗ ∗ ∗

The fetus-like imp fell onto the ground after completing its growing stage. It was a short, ugly, red creature with small horns. It lay on the floor, twitching with its hands in front of itself.

"You have to kill the imp..." The maid said. She coughed a couple times before speaking again. "It'll drain the both of us of our mana if you don't..."

Kill the imp? Fang thought to himself. How am I supposed to kill the imp-

A book was knocked off the shelf by the door, causing Fang's attention to change briefly. Another book was knocked off, followed by another, and then another after that.

The imp on the ground slowly got up, using its arms to support itself. It opened its mouth, revealing its pointed tiny black teeth, and began swaying side to side trying to maintain its balance. An indiscernible high-pitched mumbling combined with growling came out from it.

"Anam... Evig em ruoy anam... Ym ydob sdeen ot eb derevocer...!" The imp cried.

"You have to be careful about their telekinesis!" The maid said with her grainy voice, reaching her hand out to pinch Fang again. "They're sadistic little tricksters... Please be wary."

Fang was distracted by the green-haired maid and looked down at the ground to think. "I don't even know what an imp is... From what I can tell, it looks like a demon of sorts. Perhaps I should throw it out the window-"

Not a second later, one of the books came flying inbound at Fang's lowered head.

Another surge of electricity surged ran Fang's body, especially in his arms and hands. Like he was programmed to naturally react to situations like these, he caught the book midflight with his right hand just as it was about to hit him. He looked up at the book he caught, surprised at himself. He held onto the spine of the book tightly and turned his gaze to glare at the imp, who was smiling devilishly.

For just a second, the maid's eyes jolted open. She could have sworn she saw Fang's veiny arms turn blue. She saw them glow for just a tenth of a second, but perhaps she was just seeing things. She quickly dismissed any speculations she might've had and concluded that it was caused by her head injuries.

The imp's head tilted back and laughed hysterically, launching more books off the shelves, but suddenly stopped. It looked down at its body, noticing an enormous gaping hole in its abdomen.

Fang's body was now in a throwing position. Right after he caught the book, he twisted his torso and brought his right hand with the book behind his head. He put his left foot in front of him and twisted his torso again, leaning forward to use his entire body. He brought his right arm out in front of him and released the book from his hands, shooting it like a bullet with his monstrous strength.

"Bang."

The imp's face turned to horror as its body suddenly became weak, causing it to fall to its knees. Black and purple threads of mana flew aimlessly out of the open hole in the imp's stomach, caused by Fang throwing the book at it.

Perhaps it was a lucky shot, but Fang unknowingly managed to destroy the imp with a single move.

The imp let out a high-pitched moan in pain as it slowly had its body erased along with the rest of its mana. Screaming and begging for its life in its strange dialect, it disappeared from the room entirely, back to hell.

"Incredible... He was able to kill it with just a single move?" The maid thought. Her prince became even more amazing after displaying his unmatched strength against the imp.

Fang slowly looked down at the maid on the bed with his now fierce eyes. "Maybe she sees now, why I hesitated to save her. My Cerulean eyes and strength that only knows to kill. This is who I am." He said in his head.

The maid thought differently. Her heart pounded deeply as she looked into Fang's eyes. What happens at the end of a fairy tale? This must be the part where the prince and the princess kiss at the end; a happily ever after!

"W-wait... This is my first time..." The maid said shyly in her grainy voice. "We don't even know each other's names either..."

Fang raised an eyebrow. He had absolutely no clue what the girl in front of him was talking about. "Does she not see my Cerulean eyes? Why is she not scared?" Fang said in his head.

"What if I'm not a good kisser... You're going to have to teach me how to do it properly through trial and error-"

Fang moved closer to the green-haired maid's face so she could get a better look at his eyes. "Look into my eyes. What do they look like to you?"

"What do you mean...? I guess they're a wonderful brown... yeah, you have very nice brown eyes..." The maid said awkwardly. "S-should We k-kiss at this p-part...?"

She closed her eyes, easing her body. Her lips puckered a tiny bit, anticipating Fang.

Fang went over to the window and looked out of it. He saw in his reflection himself—just barely visible. Fang concentrated on his face, more specifically his eyes. They weren't the usual sky-blue like Ceruleans but were instead brown.

Using his fingers, Fang forced open his eyes to get a better look. He then took a look at his body, just now realizing he was wearing long black pants and a black buttoned shirt. They were like pajamas.

"How did this happen...?"

Salika's magic that changed the eye color of Fang was still in effect. It not only served to deceive Porch in their carriage ride, but it also ended up deceiving the green-haired maid.

"WAAAAAIIIITTTTTT!" The green-haired maid shouted, quickly sitting up despite the pain she was in. She thought he was going to leave through the window. She needed to stop her prince no matter what. "DON'T LEAVE! I WAS JUST KIDDING! HEAR ME OUT! LISTEN!"

Fang turned back and looked at the maid. Her hand was open and reaching out to him. Her breath was slightly heavy from her quick movements—she wasn't very athletic.

"My name is Sonia Farline, I'm a maid of the Kratian Capital, more specifically a maid in the Kratian Castle!"

"Kratian Capital?" Fang thought. "I feel like I've heard of that name somewhere before... I can't exactly point my finger on it though..."

He got down from the windowsill and jumped on the bed, sinking his feet into the mattress as he began to make his approach to Sonia nervously. He was still heavily on guard, still unsure if him being Cerulean was revealed, despite now having brown eyes.

"I guess I'll hear her out..." Fang thought.

Sonia began shaking anxiously and sucked in her lips as Fang approached her. Her efforts were successful and she managed to persuade her prince back.

Fang sat down beside Sonia, crisscrossing his legs. "Since you told me your name... My name is Fang..."

"Fang! A fitting name for my prince!" Sonia thought to herself, smiling. She placed her hands on her face, covering her shyness but stopped. Her face was still in pain from the rough fall to the ground.

The Kratian Capital piqued the interest of Fang. It was a word that he thought might've held some importance in the past.

Gulping, Fang spoke. "I'll hear you out."