Chapter 19 - Mochi vs the Demon

The rain hit hard just as they left the dark village, and Milly was able to exercise her ‘pushing’ spell again, creating a bubble to protect them from the heavy raindrops. They needed to find shelter to sleep in though, as Milly had proven a couple times she was not able to hold her magic steady while she slept. First the incident with the projection spell, but again when her group had awoken to another Saski attack.

Zen offered to head into the surrounding rocky area and brave the weather to search for a cave, and Milly found herself admiring him again.

The girls huddled under a tree and waited for Zen. After a short while he returned, but quietly sat down and pulled one knee up to rest his arm on, and gazed out into the distance. Droplets of water dripped from his hair, and his face glistened.

Milly found herself staring and noticing small things, like how his hair became slightly more curly when it got wet, and how his uniform stuck to his muscles because he was drenched through. He just looked… Milly shook her head and her cheeks flapped. She slapped her face with her paws and asked if he had found anywhere.

“No.”

“W-well then why did you-”

“There’s a demon.”

“Zen, we don’t have time for pranks. You’re soaked through and if you get sick we’ll be set back by days-”

“Nao. There is a demon. He asked to see all of us. I don’t…”

“Zen?...”

Zen pulled his knee tighter to his chest and looked away from his sister with his eyes narrowed in frustration.

“I don’t think I can win against him by myself.”

Mochi crawled over to Zen and pushed his arm up with her nose so his hand landed on her head. For once his expression softened, and he indulged her and rubbed her head.

“Thanks, brat.”

Zen explained to the girls that he had been looking for a crack or an opening in the rocky walls that he could break open with his sword strike, as he thought it was a faster solution than looking for a cave that might not exist. As he was chipping away at one spot, the rain suddenly stopped and a large bird shadow appeared above him.

A giant bird did indeed descend, but as it got close Zen saw it had human arms and legs, and was the definition of ‘demonic’. The air around it was completely free from rain, like Milly’s spell but on a much larger scale.

Then, as he got into a stance and prepared to fight, it spoke.

“Child of man, you should turn back to your home, and leave this place."

Refusing to back down, Zen pulled back his sword, and lowered himself, ready to jump.

“Err. Wait a minute. Where are the rest of you?”

“Like I’d tell you.”

“No, no, I’m serious. The girls and the little fuzzy thing. Can you- Ugh. Could you please go get them? I really don’t want to have to do the whole ominous speech thing twice.”

“Stop talking and fight me!”

“N…Nah. Union rules, you know? I have to do my speech before any combat, and it really is a pain to get through it and then there’s more people, and then you have to do it again. And look, I’m going to be real with you here, I don’t like hurting the ladies, I don’t. So, if you just go get them so I can do my thing, you and me can hash it out if you -really- want to, but I won’t touch ‘em. Promise.”

The bird held his hand across his chest and the other in the air like he was making a vow. Zen felt so utterly confused by the interaction that he momentarily relaxed, and before he knew what was happening he was already walking back to where the girls were.

Nao stood up and dusted herself off, and lifted Mochi onto her back. Mochi lightly chewed on Nao’s hair while Milly scolded her to stop.

“Well, let’s go talk to this bird.”

“Shouldn’t we make a plan of attack first? Don’t be reckless, Nao.”

“It’s a demon. If we can’t take on the first demon we encounter, how will we take on the Demon Lord?”

Zen scoffed and stood as well, not to be outdone by his sister’s confidence.

Milly tried to protest, and pulled her ears as she shook her head, but as usual the twins had already set off and ignored her fears and negativity.

Arriving back to where Zen had encountered the demon, he descended from the skies again, flapping his gargantuan black wings, but keeping his arms crossed. Mochi began to incessantly bark, and Nao muffled her with a hand, making sure to keep her fingers clear of the sharp teeth.

“Oh, he had a loincloth. How proper.”

“Hey now! That’s great! It’s so hard to get people to comply with simple requests these days, you know? I just. Man. I really appreciate that. Thank you.”

“W-why is he so casual?...”

“Alright bird, I brought my party, now talk. Tell us everything you know about the Demon Lord!”

“Whoa whoa, let’s follow process here, yeah? Ahem. Children of Man… and… Whatever that floaty thing is. Return to your homes. Leave this place.”

The group waited for him to continue, but after almost a minute of silence Zen snapped.

“That’s it?! You said you had a big speech!”

“Uh, no. I said I had an ‘ominous speech’. And that it’s a pain to get through it. It’s embarrassing acting like some big scary demon. This is just my job.”

Zen grit his teeth and pressed his palms into his eyes. He had just admitted to his sister that he didn’t think he could take on a demon and this was the demon in question. He peeked at her through his fingers and as expected she had a smug grin, and was poorly hiding her mouth behind her fingers.

“Just… Tell us what you know… Who are you?”

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that one. If I tell you my name I’ll gain notoriety in this area, and your world’s adventurers are way more aggressive. They’d hunt me down in no time. Why do you think they had to outsource me?”

Milly couldn’t help but pick up on some curiosities in what the demon was saying, and her mystery book lover spilled out.

“...Outsource? Our world? What are you talking about?”

“Ah… nuts. I’m not really supposed to tell you all that. My boss is gonna ream me out again.”

“Your boss… the Demon Lord?”

“Yes. Well, no. Not anymore. Not yours. Gosh this is confusing ain't it?!”

The demon reared his head back and a cackle rang out from his beak.

“W-Wait…There’s more than one Demon lord?!”

Zen: 0

Demon: 1