Chapter 18 (1/2)

The battle between Feisha and the little demon king

Feisha stared at the private part now exposed to air, then at Layton’s flaming red face. “It’s surprisingly majestic,” he amended after a while. In proportion to a dwarf’s average height, of course.

Layton quickly scrambled up and wrapped the robe tightly around himself. “Get the fuck out of my room!” he roared, pointing to the door.

“We’re all friends here, why be so distant?” Feisha smiled. “C’mon, it’s just showing some skin. Think of all the public baths!”

“Does my room look like a public bath?”

“…Well- I can’t exactly un-see it, so what do you want me to do?” sighed Feisha. “It’s not like I’m going to do anything to you.”

Feisha’s words were like fuel to Layton’s fiery rage. “What the fuck are you planning to do to me!?”

“…”

Feisha was sent flying to the door with a kick, turning around to the sight of Layton rummaging around in a box.

“What are you looking for?” Could it be that dwarfs like storing tea in boxes? “I’m fine with just a coke.”

Layton stood up abruptly with a darkly twisted smile. Feisha’s eyes darted to the rusty axe in his hand, face devoid of colour. “Erm, I’m fine with no tea at all if it’s too inconvenient, actually. It’s best to avoid stuff like cutting down trees, you know what I mean?”

“Get. Out.”

Feisha slowly backed away, opening the door behind him. As his feet touched onto the hallway floor, he called out in a last-ditch attempt: “Don’t you want to get rid of Borja quickly as well?”

There was a pause in which Layton’s eyes showed a trace of reconsideration.

Feisha held his breath.

“Come in.” The axe was thrown back into the box as the person outside quickly darted through and shut the door.

Layton emerged fully dressed from the bathroom after a period of time. “So, what’s your plan?”

Half a minute of silence passed by.

“Don’t tell me you only have a goal and no plan,” said Layton, scowling at Feisha.

“My plan is completely reliant on what tools you have.”

A moment of thought. “What do you need?”

“Do you have anything like atomic bombs or nuclear weapons?”

Layton shook his head blankly.

…Weren’t dwarfs in sci-fi stories all meant to be masters at forging weapons? Did Layton get sent to Noah’s Ark because he was too stupid?

An image of lab coat donning scientist dwarves making things explode recklessly came to mind, and the leader of which possessed none other than Layton’s face. In lieu of Layton’s answers, Feisha lowered the difficulty of his requests. “Then what about an AK47?”

“…”

“Do you even have any threatening weapons other than that axe?”

Layton flipped around in his box again, emerging with an object in his hand. It looked kind of familiar. “I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before,” hummed Feisha.

“There’s an identical one in the kitchen.”

Oh, right- wasn’t this the knife Antonio always uses to chop vegetables?

Watching the slideshow of expressions pass by Feisha’s face, Layton finally explained: “I’m a scientist investigating into ways to make our lives easier, so I’m not very well-versed in weaponry.”

“Oh, I understand. I guess even law could be split down into stuff like civil law and criminal law.” But right now he needed criminal law! He couldn’t see how civil law could help them at all unless they resorted to verbal assault.

…Verbal assault?

A lightbulb somewhere inside Feisha’s mind lit up. Layton felt a shiver down his back at the sight of Feisha’s gross smile and ran into the bathroom again for an extra layer of clothes.

Feisha was currently trying to adjust the DLD. Layton stood next to him, nervously fretting, “Can you hear anything?”

An exasperated eye roll and quietly mouthed ‘shut up’ later, Feisha nodded with vigour. “He’s snoring.”

“Fallen angels snore?” asked Layton, surprised.

“This is not the time to dwell on details. Hughes, you’re up.”

Hughes hesitated. “He’s still a child, don’t you think that this is a bit too much?”

“But I’m not even thirty yet,” Feisha argued, pointing at himself.

For a few seconds, no one moved.

Hughes relented, sighing, and took over the big chain of bright red firecrackers from Layton. “All I need to do is to put this into his room, correct?”

“It’d be great if you could stuff them under his blankets.”

At Hughes’s extremely disapproving look, Feisha backtracked. “I mean, on top of the blankets is fine as well.”

Hughes kept looking at him.

“…But putting it anywhere else wouldn’t have the same effect,” mumbled Feisha.