Demonic Devourer's Development

Of course I let Bishop spend the money on the spy-stuff he wanted. Spy stuff could only be good for me, and what else I could spend the gold on? That wasn\'t a rhetorical question, because simply investing money took too much time and brought too little result. No. If I was going to make money, then I would have to use faster means.

"Bishop, if you will be low on money next time I appear… or if you will need more for a project… Do this—take the rainbow stone and sell the water from it to adventurers. But not fresh, let it wait for ten-fifteen hours. Its effects are especially noticeable the first time you drink it and diminish later, so after the first try people will instantly get impressed, after which you will be able to raise prices sky-high and cut the stock to create a shortage. Of course, your cult members will still get the freshest stuff and as much as they can stomach."

Bishop frowned in thought. Several seconds later, his face brightened. "Of course… A potion like that would be immensely popular amongst adventurers, and it\'s not unheard of for travellers to bring and sell unique chaos-spawned items with unusual capabilities. But, I imagine, you wouldn\'t want to give the adventurers too much power either, my lord."

.

I shrugged. "It\'s not like they are my direct enemy. I just don\'t like them as a whole. If you can empty their purses for my profit, do just that. And next time you have an idea how to expand your cult and I\'m out on expedition, don\'t wait for my arrival, just do."

"I will, my lord. Do you have any plans for the rest of the money?"

I hummed. "Just leave it, except… Bishop, you are already preparing a cult meeting, but I want you to also do something else for me…" I leaned forward, grinning from one bat-like ear to another. "I had that great idea…"

Bishop listened intently as I explained. He was silently calculating something in his head when I finished and pulled back.

"So, how\'s that?"

"I will do everything as you said, my lord, but are you sure about Yvenna?.. She has an unfortunate tendency of descending straight to unrestricted fighting when things don\'t go her way even at the best of days, and something like that could only make her more volatile."

I smirked. "Don\'t you trust me to do my thing, Bishop? Me, your lord Devourer?"

"Of course not!" Bishop waved his hands at me in denial, then bowed. "I will follow your orders to the letter in this regard. Even so, this will take, at most, two thousand gold pieces. You still will have five thousand left."

"Let them be. Don\'t invest, unless it\'s a really fast profit scheme." I pointed a finger at him. "Get it? Oh, wait… You know what, spend them on better items for Yvenna and materials for Rosha if you have nothing to waste them on." Under my breath, I murmured, "Wouldn\'t be good for Yvenna to die because she didn\'t have armour with the right protection…"

Bishop nodded. "She\'s a very self-sufficient girl, Yvenna, but this won\'t hurt. Thank you for paying attention to the well-being of your servants, my lord."

I hummed noncommittally. I had a weird feeling in my head that I just ordered Bishop to buy my girls gifts… But I wasn\'t doing that, was I? I would get them gifts if I needed to appease them, which I didn\'t need… No, that was just my old memory talking.

I dismissed the idea entirely and moved on with my life.

⠀⠀

I didn\'t stay for the night in Tinaris, but as soon as the darkness fell, sneaked out of the city and flew towards Glesk. With effort from my wings, I reached it before the sunrise and under the cover of the last shreds of twilight got to Rosha\'s store.

The building looked better than it was when I left. Cleaner, for a start, with the paint on the signboard new and bright instead of weathered and chipped. I spotted a new window frame instead of the one that was cracked and deformed and won\'t open or close without putting a lot of strength into it.

The entire ensemble just invited me to walk in like a normal customer, but the front door had the "closed" sign on it. It was too early for customers yet. That left me with only one option, which was my favourite one, anyway—I flew right to Rosha\'s window.

Even without entering, I knew she wasn\'t asleep. My blind sense showed me her in a nightgown, washing up her face with water from a basin, like she always did before brushing her hair and putting on her clothes every morning.

I could even see what was under her clothes if I wanted. Blind sense was amazing that way—the obstacles didn\'t matter for it at all. But I chose to not use it too much for peeking at naked people, because if I did… won\'t that just lose all appeal to me one day? What if I end up losing interest in sex, too? Just like aborigines who ran around naked all the time didn\'t care for a sight of boobs, I was afraid to stop caring after looking at them too much…

It was a dangerous power, one that had to be used responsibly.

Right now, I could\'ve stayed for a little longer at peeked… if I was willing to risk someone spotting me. But I wasn\'t, so I just did the same thing as always—opened the window and got in.

Rosha\'s reaction didn\'t disappoint. By the time I had both legs on the floor, she had a dagger in her hand and its pointy end was dangerously close to my chest.

"Never change, Rosha, never change." I greeted her with a wide grin and opened my arms wide as if inviting the strike, but also showing off my morphed body. "How do you like my new look?"