Chapter 15: The End of a Long Day

~ Dave ~

For a while, all I can hear is my subdued sobbing as the day slowly fades into uncertain dusk. I don’t know how else to deal with the crushing reality that I’ve failed to protect everyone again. Just as I lost my shield and sword, I also lost a part of my guild, which is as close to a family or friends as I possess.

Since my self-reproaching wailing dulls my senses, it takes me a while to notice that the brat woke up. Kenneth starts talking to her in demon tongue, but I can’t be bothered to listen. The kid is part of the problem; we shouldn’t have attempted to kidnap her. Berserker paid the price for his folly, while I’m paying for my lack of resolve. I’ve been against it initially; I should have known better!

Perhaps I’d be better off retiring and living a quiet life…

As I toy with the thought of finding a wife and starting an ordinary family until a random demon invasion ends my life or I die of old age, a hand suddenly rests on my shoulder. It’s Kenneth.

“Look,” he says and points at Berserker. I almost fall over in shock when I open my eyes.

Her?!

“I have questions!” I immediately demand. The demon we kidnapped kneels next to Berserker and holds out her hands. A mystical, greenish aura surrounds her tiny hands. Kenneth sits down next to me as he explains.

“You weren’t listening then, I thought so,” he says as he observes the tiny demon trying to save Berserker’s life. Gradually, the blood flow peters out as Kenneth retells his conversation with the girl.

“Does she know we killed her father?” I ask. It’s the first thing that comes to my mind.

“Unless she made the connection between the axe stuck inside Berserker rather than resting in her father’s hands, she doesn’t know,” he replies.

“Let’s keep it that way,” I mutter as I dry my tears. “I hope you didn’t bribe her with something. She’s one of them, so don’t be too nice to her…”

“Do you realize she’s trying to save the life of someone she doesn’t even know?” Kenneth points out indignantly. “She’s still a child, so don’t toss her into the same pigeonhole as the rest of her race. Just appreciate she’s trying to save him, however unlikely his survival may be.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” I shoot back. “I appreciate it, however, I can’t trust a demon, kid or not!”

Kenneth gives me that pained smile, which means he understands but also disapproves.

“If neither side can overcome their hatred, the hostilities will never wane. Someone’s got to make the first step. Think about it, Dave.”

I know he’s right, but still… Virtually all painful emotions, feelings, and memories swirling in my head right now trace back to a single source: The Demonfolk, represented by that small kid in front of me. Although she cooperates, I can’t bring myself to conquer my flaring contempt towards her.

Kenneth soon gets up when she gestures in his direction and carefully removes the axe from Berserker. Following an initial blood spill, no more crimson liquid adds to the pool below the fallen warrior. She had sealed the torn blood vessels before removing the object and is now working on sealing the cut itself. I can only muse about her motivation. I’m not going to play the nice guy, though. Never!

*

Kenneth returns after telling the kid to rest. Nighttime is setting in, which prompts Beatrix to start a small bonfire, its light fluttering and casting shadows, its warmth preventing us from freezing now that our supplies are sprawled across the forest. Berserker is breathing awfully slowly but is alive and no longer bleeding. At least not on the outside. Maybe there’s a slim hope of recovery after all.

“What should we do now?” I wonder as I reflect on our current situation. With most of our gear still on the battlefield and both mine and Lance’s equipment broken, there’s only a slim hope of retrieving it unless Beatrix knows a spell to get it here without anybody noticing. Berserker is still gravely wounded, and Lucy and Lance will require treatment once my mana reserves are back up in the morning. And if another fight were to break out, only Beatrix could effectively fight.

But how do we get out of here? She can’t levitate every casualty all the way to Mauer, can she? And what about our supplies? I’ll have to take a loan if I have to buy everything from scratch again…

As I look at the little girl anxiously eying us as if expecting us to change our minds and put her in chains anyway, the biggest of all questions enters my mind.

“More importantly, what about the brat?”

“You’ll take her in until we can initiate negotiations,” Kenneth replies. My revolting gaze immediately prompts him to keep talking. “You do realize this would create quite a stir if we threw her in some jail, right? People might ask questions. I’d prefer knowing she’s in good care before I get started on the follow-up work of this mission. I’d also like to study her.”

“Lock her up in our guildhouse, then?” I sigh. “Do we have to?”

“Hey, didn’t you like caring for your younger siblings back then, Dave?” he asks, which leads to an assault of unwanted emotions. I scowl at him.

“I did like it but those were my goddamn siblings and not some demon brat, Ken! Heck! I don’t know a thing about demons! I only speak very little of their tongue! Yet, you want me to be her babysitter? Ridiculous!”

“Any better plans?”

His exasperation with me is tangible; it’s been a horrible day.

“No,” I grunt, feeling too exhausted to continue arguing, which doesn’t mean I’m going down without a fight. “Maybe I’ll come up with something after I’ve had a wink of sleep.”

“Good call,” Kenneth agrees, touching my shoulder. “You’ve done more than enough today, so leave night duty to the rest of us. We can talk about the details another time.”

Momentarily, I feel an urge to throw at him that I didn’t even do half of what I should have done, but my aching body convinces me otherwise. I can feel almost every bone and muscle in my body aching in some way or another.

“Alright, I’ll be in your care, then,” I say, making myself as comfortable as one could be sleeping on the bare ground with only a measly campfire to keep warm.

If I had to reflect on the results of our efforts today, I could only say that we gambled and lost, but accidentally won a lottery we hadn’t planned to enter. Berserker’s survival is far from guaranteed, but we achieved more than I could have dreamed of. As I lie down, my eyes droop with every thought, and a faint sense of pride emerges at the prospect of having defeated the Demon Lord responsible for all the hardship in my life.

Maybe it was the right decision after all. Time will surely tell.