Dancing with the Devil

Companion

The devil's fingers took a metal collar that had been casually placed aside and delivered it to Kalista, who then took her hand and held the collar to his neck, "This is the work of an alchemist, matching the bracelet that was given to you earlier." It can be used to restrain devils so that they do your bidding and can never harm you."

"Miss Kalista, I will give you my all. Please use me as much as you like, use me, but ... don't throw me off in the middle."

The collar is light and thin, and the surface is covered with characters, similar to the text on the communication paper used by the Holy See. And in the inner space of the collar, six letters are crooked and engraved.

-- Kalista.

The engravings were clumsy, and the letters varied in color, making them look like the work of a devil's claws.

Kalista remembered the promise Lancelot had made to the statue of the gods in the Chapel on the day he became her knight - that he would stay by her side, serve her, and die for her.

Lancelot presents her with his sword, while his namesake, the devil, presents her with a collar inscribed with her name.

At that moment, Kalista realized how despicable she was. She had promised Lancelot the glory of the Kingdom of Serafinia, but in the end she was unable to give him anything. Now she uses an ethereal future in exchange for the help of the devil, but she is not sure if she is qualified to lift the sword.

But she couldn't say it. In order to be able to return to the past, she must and will use all means, even if she has to lose the pride and dignity of being a princess, and more.

Kalista bit her lip to suppress the tears as memories and realities intertwined. She took the metal collar without a word, opened the clasp, and placed it around the devil's neck, but she didn't release her arms from around his neck. She embraced the devil, just as she had with Lancelot.

"Monsieur Lancelot," Kalista whispered his name, sobbing as she leaned against his shoulder to hide her tears, "I am about to embark on a journey, and I invite you to come with me. Will you be my companion?"

"It would be an honor," the devil replied, pulling her closer.

Kalista wiped her tears with the back of her hand and lifted her head from the devil's arms.

"Thank you, Mr. Lancelot. Right now, we need to deal with one thing. There were three more bodies lying in the street, which must have been discovered by now. The hunt will come sooner or later, and we must be the first to act."

The devil said, "I should have killed the countess long ago. It was a moment of weakness on my part that led to this. If you wish, I can go back to the castle at once and deal with her."

"No need," Kalista thought, "I know Evelyn, the countess's sister. If the countess dies, we'll be in a lot of unnecessary trouble."

"What do you want to do?" the devil asked.

Kalista reached under the bed for a cloth bag and pulled out her identity papers. "You found me, probably because you remembered my smell. Evelyn did this for me, and it has her scent on it. She's still in town. Can you help me find her?"

The devil nodded.

"Then I will set out at once to find her and explain to her the cause of the matter. Her sense of smell and hearing is so acute that she can pick up the scent of the devil. You can protect me from danger at a distance."

Kalista grabbed her clean clothes, took a quick shower, and then walked out of the hotel, following the devil's dictated route to Evelyn's house.

The devil jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

Kalista arrived at night outside a downtown hotel and saw a red-haired woman sitting in a corner drinking. Kalista ordered a glass of wine and went straight to sit across from Evelyn.

"Good evening, beautiful lady," Kalista said with a gentlemanly gesture, playing the part of a flirtatious teenager in a bar. "Do I have the honor of spending the evening with you?"

Evelyn glanced at her and did not answer. "What is it?"

When the sommelier brought the wine, Kalista thanked her and gave her hand a deliberate shake. A few drops of purplish wine spilled on the table. She smiled and dabbed the liquor in her fingertips, skillfully writing out a string of letters, "Miss, don't you think it's very noisy in here?"

The letters were written backwards so that Evelyn, who was sitting across from her, could read them. The killer was dead. Evelyn raised her eyebrows, grabbed her glass, and went upstairs without a word.

Kalista wiped the table dry without a trace and followed her.

Coming to Evelyn's room, Kalista asked straight to the point, "Did you go to the drugstore yesterday and buy a quick fix?"

Evelyn shook her head. "No."

The suspicion was confirmed, and Kalista told her with conviction: "The pharmacy owner was probably paid by the assassin sent by your sister. He wanted me to pick up the quick-acting medicine tonight and let the killer ambush me there in advance, but luckily I escaped quickly. Also, he's probably met the person who's after you, because he'll do anything for money."

Evelyn nodded. "I know. You just said the killer was dead. What's going on?

"I narrowly escaped death, and that is why I have come to you tonight." He killed two innocent passers-by, "Kalista said, wrapping her robe tightly as if her wounds were still sore." I sprayed him with half a bag of vertigo powder before I could bring him down."

Evelyn looked at her wrapped body. "Did you kill him?"

"If I hadn't killed him, it would have been me. I will leave tomorrow to avoid trouble."

Evelyn's face grimaced, but she didn't argue.

Kalista held the dagger at her waist, and after a moment's pause, continued, "I believe your sister paid for one life, but she brought in fanatics who took pleasure in killing." What if I don't want someone else to get involved again?"

She was asking Evelyn what she was going to do about it.

Evelyn mused for a moment. "It's easy," she said. "You just have to get killed."

Kalista took a step back, her right hand on the handle of the knife, her left clutching the powder in her bag.

Evelyn, however, did not change her face and clearly did not intend to kill her. She took a pen and paper from the side table, scribbled down an address and name, and gave it to Kalista. "Find this man before you leave the Lena Valley and have him make you a fake body and leave it in the forest, and put the fee on my account."

The scheme is feasible. Kalista thanked her briefly and turned away. "Be careful yourself."

Evelyn snorted, "You too."

Kalista walked down the stairs and quickly left the hotel. In the crowd, a tall man in a long black cloak came to her side and walked beside her.

"Miss Kalista," whispered Lancelot, the devil, holding the edge of his hood over his horns, "while you were talking to Miss Evelyn, I went back to the street where the killer died."

The Black market is in opposite directions from Evelyn's hotel and does not pass through the street, so Kalista does not pay much attention to whether it has been blocked off by patrolling knights.

Lancelot paused for a few seconds, as if searching for the right words, before settling on the plainest one: "All three bodies are gone, the scene is impossibly clean, and no one is near."

Kalista stopped. She looked up and caught a rare glimpse of surprise in the devil's face. Perhaps more serious than she thought, she asked, "How clean is it?"

"The crater left in the road by the killer's sword is still there, but there is nothing left at the scene... even the breath."

Lancelot is very sensitive to breath. He was able to pinpoint where Evelyn was based on the scent she left on Kalista's identity papers, but he couldn't pick up any scent at the place where the murder took place.

Someone covered for them?