The Capital

The party leaves after Raliz teaches Calum Judgment. They return to the road and have a conversation about Kia's place in the party. They make it to the capital without any more issues and meet with the king.

The party had only stayed for another few hours for Raliz to teach Judgment to Calum. The whole time she waited, Kia paced around, anxious to get as far away as possible from the high priest.

Once Raliz was confident that Calum would be able to use Judgment, he let him go.

Calum waved his farewell to the priest, grateful that he taught him useful spells but still upset that he tried to kill Kia.

They set foot on the highway and resumed their journey toward the capital.

Tilaya glanced at Kia while they traveled. “So, Kia, what’s your story?”

“My story?”

“Your past. Everyone has one. We know you’re a demon now, but it seems that your blood causes you great pain.”

Kia stared down at the road in front of her. “I was born on the border between the southern region and the northern region. I was born to a single mother a year after the Demon Lord took control of the southern region. That combined with my eye color made everyone certain that I was a demon. They weren’t wrong, but it’s only a part of my blood. I’m not evil like the majority of the others. Still, they banished me along with my mother. She died out in the wilderness when I was still very young. I remember someone taking care of me after that, but I don’t remember anything about them.” She took a deep breath. “Before my teenage years, I found my way back to society. Every town I went to threw me out, though. I couldn’t find anywhere to belong…”

Kia looked up and made eye contact with Calum, her somber expression that grew with her story was replaced by a soft smile. “But now I finally have a place where I can be accepted. I was scared that you would all reject me if you found out about my heritage.”

“We would never do that. Well, at least I wouldn’t.” He motioned to Erik with his head.

Erik rolled his eyes. “For the record, I never trusted her. Nor do I trust her now.”

“That’s a sad story… Do you know who your father is?” Tilaya held her staff by her side as she walked.

Kia shook her head. “The only thing I know about him is what my mother told me. Apparently, he was quite the gentleman.”

“Raliz thinks your father could have been a Demon God. What do you think about that?”

“That’s impossible. For generations, my mother’s family has kept watch over the seals and prevented them from breaking. No Demon God has escaped. If it had, the world would have ended by now. I think.”

Calum exchanged glances with Tilaya. “If your family has kept watch over it for so long, how come the Demon Gods are only a legend?”

“My family are the only ones that know of the history beyond the legend. Everyone ended up forgetting about it because they wanted to move forward instead of mourning the past, but the ones that were tasked with making sure the seals were intact have done their duty all these years.”

Calum momentarily stopped to think. “Wouldn’t it be possible that the seal cracked just enough to let one of the Demon Gods’ avatars through, and no one noticed until after he had escaped?”

Kia followed suit and stopped alongside Calum. “That might be possible…”

Erik brushed past them and turned around without stopping. “Can we not stop? We need to get to the capital quickly so we can improve our gear and take down the Demon Lord before it’s too late. Or have you all forgotten?”

“Calum down, Erik. We’re aware of our mission.” He started down the road again. Kia followed a step behind him.

…

A few days of no interruptions had passed, and Calum had finally arrived at the capital with his friends. The streets were lined with vendors, and a large crowd filled the area, making it easy for one to get separated from the others in their group.

Numerous stores and houses packed the city, surrounded by a giant stone wall. At the back of the city, set on a hill, was a majestic castle.

“Here we are, the capital city. All we need to do is have an audience with the King, and we’ll be able to pick out the equipment we came here for.” Calum pivoted to face the others. “Then we’ll be on our way to defeat the Demon Lord.”

“Excuse me, but how is new equipment going to allow us to beat the Demon Lord when we struggled against a class B demon?” Kia crossed her arms, convinced that they were not ready.

“We’ll train along the way. The road to the Demon Lord is long and treacherous. New equipment will at least give us a boost.”

Tilaya moved past Calum to the front of the group. “First, we need to get to the castle. Try not to get distracted by the vendors. They’re always here.”

Kia narrowed her eyes and scanned the city around her.

Calum noticed her behavior and tilted his head. “Is something the matter, Kia?”

“I feel like someone’s watching us…”

Erik laughed. “There are tens of thousands of people in this town. There’s bound to be a few watching the hero. He’s a celebrity to some people, you know?”

“I don’t think she means fans, Erik.” He turned to Kia. “If you still feel that way when we get to the castle, we might have to bring it up with the King.”

“I don’t think that would do any good. What would he do? Order people not to look at us?”

Tilaya rolled her eyes. “While his sense of humor is terrible, I do agree with Erik. The King doesn’t really have the power to stop an unknown person from watching us. All we can do is get to the castle and get out of their sight.” Tilaya signaled for the others to follow her.

The entire way to the castle, Kia couldn’t shake the feeling.