“I am getting punished?” Ren screamed in protest.

“Yes you are, you left me alone at the market for Great Ones know how long and instead were hanging out in a city!” Aijasil made a valid claim. Technically Ren did disobey her orders so it was a fitting to be punished.

Aijasil gave Ren a dangerously sharp looking scythe. It was about two meters tall, with the blade being just as large. It was surprisingly light, almost as if the wood of the handle was hollow, while the most of the weight was concentrated on the blade. Of course this scythe seemed rather old and rusty.

“Your punishment is to cut down and kill any Jilan snakes you find within the harvest field” Aijasil said adamantly.

“Jilan Snakes?” Ren asked rather confused.

“Boss, they are Snake demons about your size with two tails and sharp fangs. I heard that there are some with three tails and two heads…”

“Enough information! Orin! How in the world am I supposed to get rid of those monsters?” Ren felt that the direct confrontation with those creatures meant certain death.

“Killing them is easy! They have very thin bodies, about as thick as a trunk of a tree! You can easily cut them down with that scythe, here I will show you!”

“Orin, this is Ren’s punishment, I forbid you from helping him” Aijasil said in a serious voice.

Orin backed off. “Sorry Boss, I can’t help. Please watch out for the fangs, the poison is not a joke.”

“Yes, thank you for the word of confidence” Ren replied sarcastically. Basically he had to take care of the entire section of field starting from one river ending near the bridge. It was an area covering at least half a mile in length. It would take a team of demons a week to plough through all of the snakes and he has to do it alone. He was told that his probation would end as soon as he finished working on the field.

Ren grabbed the scythe. He clutched it in his left hand then lifted it up above his head. “DAMN IT!” he screamed his frustration out while Aijasil made a satisfied smirk.

Faced with rather idiotic and rather life threatening task ahead of him, Ren could only guess what Master Korgan’s intentions could be. Asking Ren to cut down a large field filled with serpents? No kidding! Ren inwardly wondered whether Master Korgan wanted to get rid of him.

In reality, Korgan had the opposite intention. He was impressed with Ren being able to recruit a strong warrior for Tengu clan, so he thought that making Ren toughen his body under an excuse of a punishment was a great idea.

Ren raised the scythe and swung it hard. The scythe had a blade size of Ren’s leg, so with each swing he managed to cut one meter path in front of himself. He kept cutting and cutting. As long as he kept cutting the field without encountering any Jilan snakes, he should be ok. It was great that the harvest in fields was very tall, so that upon entering into the field, the plants reached higher than Ren’s height. He had to cut a path for himself to walk through.

Ren continued the same motion for about half an hour. Just as he thought that the talk about the Jilan Snakes was just a myth, his scythe managed to behead one. A head plummeted down. It landed near Ren’s feet causing Ren to jump back from surprise. Head looked like it belonged to an ordinary serpent, just ten times larger. It was lying there with its mouth open with four fangs clearly visible near a triple forked tongue. Head was almost as big as an average demon head, so then the body must be… Ren looked at a corpse behind the severed head.

The body was huge. With white scales and black spots. It was about the same height as Ren and it had two tails. The body itself didn’t seem to have lost its life completely; it was wiggling and thrashing everywhere. It continued to do so for a couple of minutes before finally dropping down. Ren didn’t dare approach it until it completely stopped moving. The head on the other hand stayed still after being cut off, with only indication of steadily dying being its eyes and tongue gradually losing motion.

Jilan Snake was dead. Ren secretly wished that it was the only Jilan Snake he was going to encounter.

Sadly, that was wishful thinking.

A sound of hissing became audible. Then two heads launched themselves to strike at Ren. One head was blue and the other was red. Both had opened their mouths full of sharp fangs, fully prepared to strike.

Ren barely managed to swing his scythe and managed to severe the blue head. The red head approached him. It was not giving up even after losing one of its head. He could see that the severed neck was hanging from the same body as the one that belonged to red headed one. A two headed Jilan snake. If the one headed snake was not terrifying enough, he just had to encounter a two headed one! Ren cursed his misfortune for bringing him one unpleasant surprise after another.

Ren felt intense fear in his heart. The fear however did not stop him. He knew if he didn’t swing the scythe he would be eaten by this gigantic snake.

Red head screamed in agony after it lost the blue head, but nevertheless chose to attack Ren. Ren closed his eyes and swung the scythe as fast as he could.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was successful and the body was just leaning against his leg, bleeding…

“Aaaah!” Ren screamed; a severed neck of the snake was touching his leg. His pants became soaked in blood. He looked at the body still slithering menacingly, but unable to bite him without its head.

At this moment, Ren realized that he was living his nightmare. Giant snakes. Why? Why? Does Master Korgan have some kind of sick sense of humor?

“Curse It!” Ren shouted out. No doubt every servant in Tengu household heard him, but they most likely are laughing about his unfortunate fate.

He kept cutting and cutting. The rate at which he kept encountering snakes kept increasing. It got so bad to the point that he was facing at least ten Jilan snakes. They all were slithering towards him.

Screaming like a madman he kept swinging his scythe.

Like gigantic pieces of dirty snow, the snake heads fell upon the ground with an audible sound of flesh hitting earth. The heads were still moving their jaws.

So many snakes, so many types… Three tailed, three headed, some even had one arm attached! They came in so many colors, some were even had dual colored scales.

“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!” Ren practically lost it. Every time he swung the scythe he kept screaming ‘Die’, his instincts for survival took over. He was raging like a psychopath with sole purpose of cutting down all of the snakes before they manage to eat him.

He was scared of Jilan snakes, that much was obvious. Yet, he was far more scared of being eaten. The priority of survival far exceeded the priority to being paralyzed with fear. As he kept cutting them down into pieces with mighty swings, Ren’s imagination proved to be too much to handle. There were at least a hundred Jilan snakes inhabiting the field, but in Ren’s mind there were couple thousand of them, all crawling towards him without any intention of stopping.

He could no longer trust his eyes to see the snakes for the blood from their bodies ended up slashed on him everywhere, including his face, preventing him from seeing Jilan snakes clearly.

Not wanting to be caught off guard, Ren kept swinging the scythe in direction of any sound he could hear. One might say he was going on a blind rampage, quite literally.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, a certain demon was being chased by members of the Kas family. The name of this demon was Akjan Tang. At the moment this demon was trying to escape her pursuers by hiding within the field.

‘I must stay alive’ thought stayed within her head. ‘I must survive long enough to partake in Selection!’ Her sole motivation right now was to survive long enough to participate in the Selection, and if she is fortunate enough she will have the chance to become the wielder of Demon King’s power.

Akjan was not trying to aim for power for selfish reasons, not exactly. She didn’t really have much of a choice. Her family, Tang clan, has been almost completely destroyed. The captured members were enslaved, and the ones that managed to escape from such places are always in high danger of being recaptured. Tang clan used to be one of the major families before the power holding families have deemed them too dangerous to exist. Under blame of treason and simultaneous attacks, the power holding families have killed strong warriors of Tang clan, while enslaving the weak ones. What awaited the survivors was an existence much like hell under the thumb of the power holders.

As a slave, Akjan saw countless atrocities committed against her people. She herself was not spared from the abuse, bearing scars on her back as a reminder of the pain inflicted upon her and her people. She shuddered from the thought of being taken back and tortured. The voices of agony still haunted her at night. She herself has managed to escape Kas clan, who had subjugated her, two month before. Ever since then they have been sending assassins to take care of her. And now it seems like they have caught up to her. ‘I can’t go back, not like this!’

Without power nothing could be done. This is why she must partake in the Selection. It will give chance for her people to regain their freedom and take revenge upon the families that enslaved them. Akjan bore a rather strong hatred for Kas family, one of the instigators of Tang downfall.

Five distinct footsteps. Five Demons were coming after her. One of the footsteps sounded rather different. She could feel he was rather powerful. He must be their leader. Without a mistake, this energy signature, it’s him! Her fear had grasped her heart. The demon she feared above all is coming after her.

It was definitely Jar Kas!

Her fear was confirmed when Jar Kas proceeded to swoop down from above and throw silver arrows at her. The arrows managed to land at Akjan’s right leg and right shoulder. Just before she could enter the field in order to lose them, she was struck and a split second later one of Jar Kas’s subordinates slashed her diagonally through her front with a sharp sword.

With sharp pain coursing through her body she could no longer stand. She fell upon her back barely breathing. The fear mixed in with pain had incapacitated her body. She was trembling all over from fear of what would happen to her and how she was not able to save anyone.

Jar Kas is the firstborn son of the patriarch of Kas family, Saber Tooth demon household. He possessed many feline features, most notably his red and yellow fur that covered his muscular body. His appearance could be only be described in one word- fearsome. His fingers ended in razor sharp claws that looked like they could be used for piercing enemies rather than holding stuff. He was wearing boots that had three claws protruding for each foot. Jar Kas’s body was covered in horn-like protrusions that were shaped like small saber like teeth. His face was covered with upwards pointing small horns that made it look like he had side burns made of horns. As for the horns on his forehead, he had unusual amount of three horns. Each one pointed in different direction, right, upwards and left. His face was humanoid enough if not for the smile filled with razor sharp teeth. Long red hair only intensified the beast like aura he projected. Combined with a long spiky tail, he looked rather menacing. Trained since childhood, he has achieved power rank of Iron, one of the highest ranks possible to achieve for a demon. He was extremely strong.

His subordinates were not far behind either. They were most likely at least Stone rank or higher.

Akjan herself was a Brass rank, so she could usually put up at least some resistance, but in her current condition it wasn’t possible.

She was bleeding from her chest, leg, and shoulder. The pain was paralyzing, but she tried to force herself to stand up.

“On your knees, lowly demon!” one of Jar Kas’s subordinates kicked Akjan’s back making her unable to stand up. She fell upon her knees, barely able to stabilize herself by holding on to the ground with her hands.

Then, Jar Kas personally approached her. He grabbed her by the chin with his left hand and made her face him. “Well, well, well, what do you know? It seems like your days of hiding are over. Isn’t that right?” He beckoned to his subordinates.

All of them laughed out loud. One of them said “Master, too bad we have to bring her alive!”

“Not to worry, father said to bring her alive, not unhurt.” Jar Kas was viciously smiling. His subordinates understood the idea. Look of intrigue came over their eyes. As long as they kept her alive they could do whatever they want to her.

Jar Kas ordered two of his subordinates to hold Akjan in place. She struggled, but it was futile, both of them overwhelmed her in terms of strength. He, the man of her nightmares, was going to torture her.

Jar Kas took a sword from his waist and faced towards Akjan while facing the field with his back. “I wonder if you are still going to be a demon after I cut your horns off?” He smiled rather sadistically. He fully intended to do this to her in order to both deprive her of remaining power and humiliate her for eternity. Once the demon loses his or her horns, demon loses his or her abilities and status. It is considered an ultimate punishment. A humiliation above all. Many demons preferred death over living without their horns. His intention was clear- to break her sprit.

Jar Kas raised his sword up in the air.

Akjan screamed “NO!”

“DIE!”

A sound of metal striking flesh echoed through the field.

A demon fell down after being struck.

Blood spilled everywhere.

Akjan watched in astonishment how Jar Kas, who was trying to cut off her horns, fell face forward on the ground. The voice that screamed ‘DIE!’ did not come from Jar Kas, but from behind him. Someone cut him down, but who could it be?

As if to answer her question, a young man emerged from the fields. Before he fully came out of there he was hidden by the tall grass. Now he was there for all eyes to see.

The man looked positively bloody. He was wearing what was left of a shirt, long pants and boots. His shirt was missing right sleeve, looking like it was torn off at some point. He was holding a sharp scythe in his right arm. The most visible thing however was the fact that he was covered from head to toe in blood. His scythe was dripping with fresh blood. His face could not be completely seen.

His look reminded Jar Kas’s subordinates of the creature from their nightmares. With each step he took towards them the terror they felt within their hearts increased. It was as if the death himself has descended upon earth and was looking forward to cutting all of them down.

From his appearance they believed he was the bloody death himself. He was there to kill them all. Despite their strength, Jar Kas’s subordinates feared death more than anything else. Having an image of Red monstrosity bearing a scythe was too much to take.

“I WILL CUT DOWN EVERY SINGLE SNAKE!” the red monster shouted. “INTO BITE SIZED SLICES!”

The four subordinates instinctively thought that he was referring to them as snakes. When he raised the scythe above his head, they lost their composure. He was going to kill them all. He already killed their master, and now he was going to reap them all! The difference in power was too obvious, they will not survive!

Unable to accept their upcoming demise, the subordinates ran for their lives while leaving Akjan on the ground.

She tried her best to look at her savior. What she saw astounded her. He was wiping blood off his eyes and face. Young man’s clear face started being visible. He was no monster. He was a human. No there can’t be a human in this territory. Then who is he? Why did he save her? Her eyes started to involuntarily close, she lost too much blood, and her consciousness was slipping away. The last thing she saw before passing out was young man’s handsome face shining with confidence.

At least that’s what she thought she saw. In reality he was laughing nervously about the fact that he had to cut through more than hundreds of Jilan snakes without stopping. And now when he thought he was finally done, he spotted a large back. He thought that there was another Jilan snake left, which is why he screamed ‘DIE’ when he struck it. When he struck the body, blood ended up splashing on his face. He could hear other movements, so he readied his scythe for striking while shouting out his battle cry.

When he finally wiped the blood off his face, he saw two bodies lying on the ground.

‘Oh no, what have I done?’ Ren screamed in his mind. Two bodies lay on the ground; no doubt he was the cause of it. ‘How in the world did I end up killing two people? It wasn’t intentional, I can explain…’

A grunted sound of heavy breathing followed by shivering came from the body with white hair. The other body that looked like it belonged to a giant cat covered in spikes lay motionless. At least one of them is alive, thanks goodness!

Ren approached the white haired demon. Ren assumed the demon was male due to his clothing which consisted of pants, shirt, and cloak, all greyish white without any patterns or decorations. Unlike Aijasyl, whose maid dress made it obvious what her gender was, Akjan wore clothing that she stole from the inhabitant demons within the area. Ren didn’t know this so he assumed she was a male. Blood was leaking from white haired demon’s body. Broken arrow heads were stuck to the right leg and shoulder, not to mention a gigantic slash on the chest area.

Ren wondered how on earth this guy was still breathing. Ren removed the arrow heads and tore of parts of his own shredded shirt in order to make some bandages for the white haired demon.

‘What a pain, now I have to request a new cloak and a shirt, but to be fair Jilan Snakes destroyed almost all the clothing I was wearing.’ Steadily he applied the bandages upon the demon’s wounded body. White demon didn’t seem to notice as he slept on with mild discomfort showing upon his face when Ren was trying to put the bandages. ‘Not the most sanitary method, but it has to do for now’ Ren thought, he didn’t really have much of a choice or this demon would perish in no time!

The white demon lay on his stomach, so Ren had to flip him over. What he saw surprised him.

An armor concealed under the clothing. It was metallic in color, almost like silver, but greyer in color. It covered the upper chest area. The mark of the sword had made its mark in the armor while leaving the demon mostly unharmed. Of course a mark of a sword was visible under the chest area not covered by the armor, but it seems like it already started regenerating for it was not bleeding, just looking like a slash mark.

In order not to risk the slash mark opening up, Ren used the clothing that he tore off from white demon as make shift bandage for the body. He took some time for him to tie it properly around the body.

While he was doing this Ren noticed that white demon possessed some interesting features. For starters all of his hair on his head was completely white, cut in a short fashion. His face was, in Ren’s opinion, rather handsome, which Ren admitted he was slightly jealous of. Also, all of the body of white demon was covered in dark spots on the otherwise completely white body. He possessed two horns that looked rather unusual for they didn’t look natural; they resembled sharp white crystals rather than anything organic. Yet, that wasn’t the weirdest part. While he was bandaging her, something soft was touching his stomach area. Ren was almost alarmed that another Jilan snake sneaked up upon him, but then he realized that it was a tail. A fluffy, white tail coming from the demon he was treating. The tail seemed to have a mind of its own. While Ren had body contact with white demon, the tail was furiously rubbing itself against him. ‘This is too weird!’ Ren exclaimed. Who would have thought he would end up in such a situation! This was rather unusual.

Now that he finished bandaging the patient, Ren stood up and gazed at the two demons lying in front of him. The large cat demon was already dead; nothing could be done about him now.

Then, he glanced at the white demon whose tail was swiveling around almost as if it was looking for company.

‘I already saw demons that have tails, it’s not unusual, not unusual’ Ren tried to convince himself to no avail. No matter how much he ignored it, it looked too hilarious, leading him to chuckle.

After he finished thinking how the tail resembled a furry eel, Ren was about to leave. But looking back, with two bodies lying there, one dead, and the other barely clinging to life, he couldn’t bring himself to abandon the white demon.

So, he proceeded to lift up the white demon and put him on his back. White demon was slightly taller than Ren, so he had some trouble adjusting him on his back before he got it just right. He used both hands as a stabilizer while holding the handle of the scythe behind him in order to prevent white demon from falling down.

White demon was unconsciously holding on to his back. Ren thought that under any other circumstance having a guy sitting on your back would be just plain weird.

‘I think I will just carry him to Karatengu household until he recovers’ Ren thought, as he was walking back from the field, carrying an injured demon on his back. ‘I will just keep quiet about the corpse lying in the field, curse it! I should have buried him before I left!’ Ren exclaimed, realizing his mistake.

“Well at least you’re still alive” Ren said to his unconscious companion. While Ren was carrying him white demon’s head almost seemed to nod in agreement. Surprisingly, he was rather light; Ren was surprised to discover that despite being a little taller, white demon was surprisingly light weight. In truth Akjan was very emaciated from having limited food while on the run.

The three suns were going down, one after another. The horizon looked unusually greenish orange in appearance before finally becoming crimson sky. It was a regular occurrence within Kizilalem, due to the fact that in this world there were three suns and three moons, the morning light and sunset were quite different.

Ren kept walking while the demon on his back slept on. He walked almost three fourth of the way when he noticed movement on his back.

Akjan felt like she was walking, but her legs were not touching the ground. ‘Weird, am I floating?’ she could clearly see the ground, but her legs were not touching it. The last thing she remembered was Jar Kas trying to cut off her horns and someone coming with a scythe. ‘No way…’ She hesitantly touched her forehead with her left hand. The horns were still there. She sighed in relief.

When she looked in front of her, she realized that she was on someone’s back, leaning against him with her chest. Black hair, shirtless, and when she looked back she saw a scythe that was used as a make shift cushion for her while he carried her.

Did he capture her? Was he going to kill her? Or worse, bring her back to Kas family? This can’t be happening! I will not go back there!

“Let me go!” Akjan shouted from behind Ren.

“Oh, you’re finally awake; I was starting to get worried that you might have been out for good” Ren replied with a cheerful demeanor.

“Where are you taking me? I wouldn’t let you enslave me!” Akjan was trying to get herself off of Ren’s back, but she was too weak, so she ended up collapsing on his back. She realized she was helpless; the injuries she sustained on her body were rather serious. The arrows have hit locations on her body that were responsible for building up and absorbing energy, not to mention the slash that damaged her lower abdomen. If it wasn’t for her armor she would be dead by now.

“Enslave you? Do I really seem like the type to do that?” Ren asked, rather confused. “I am just bringing you to the household until you heal; once you recover you are free to go.”

Akjan noticed bandages on her body, leg, and shoulder. ‘He was trying to help me’ she thought which surprised her. No demon before outside of her clan members ever been kind to her, all of them tried to subjugate her. He clearly was different from them, somehow.

This surprising kindness of this fellow made Akjan to think of him as some sort of strange creature capable of kindness. Yet, she was rather suspicious of this fellow; none does anything without a dark motive.

Yet, he clearly meant her no harm. He even said that she is free to go after she recovers, what could be his intentions? If he wanted to kill her, he could have done it when she was unconscious. Instead, he chose to tend her wounds and carry her to a place to recover in. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to enslave and torture her like Kas family would, from the tone of his voice he didn’t seem like the type to do such a thing.

“Why are you doing this?” she cautiously asked, wanting him to reveal his true intentions. She couldn’t honestly believe that any demon would do anything without ulterior motive. Her past experience with Kas clan made her all too aware of the cruelty demons could pose for one another.

“Well, it was my fault you got injured in the first place and also I couldn’t leave a fellow demon alone while he was injured, right?” Ren tried to make sure white demon did not get angry at him for almost killing him with a scythe. Ren assumed it was his fault that white demon was injured while the large horned demon was dead. In reality he only caused the death of the latter one, while he accidently saved the former one.

“Your fault?” Akjan asked in confused tone.

“Yeah, you friend, the one with red and yellow fur and three horns, I may have accidently killed him and injured you, sorry” Ren tried his best not to sound insensitive, but his remark sounded way too blunt, which he reflected to himself as ‘Oh, I could have phrased it better!’

Red and yellow fur and three horns? It can’t be! Jar Kas was dead? Akjan was struck by the realization. She could now clearly remember the bloody reaper with a scythe coming out of the grassy field while Jar Kas lay there dead after being struck.

“It was…It was you?!” She asked him in an unusually hesitant tone.

“Yeah, my sincere apologies” Ren said so nonchalantly.

‘He rescued me’ Akjan thought in her heart. That bloody reaper was him. The one who bravely came to her rescue, when she thought all hope was lost, was him. And now she was lying on his back.

With this realization, Akjan blushed deeply, made completely visible from her pearl white skin.

“Don’t worry about him, he was my enemy” Akjan said while trying to contain her embarrassment of being carried on the back of her rescuer.

“Ah, is that so? Then I have one less explanation to make.” Ren was secretly worried about what he was going to tell Aijasyl and Master Korgan about the corpse of a demon that lay on the border of the field. Now he had an excuse to omit telling about it.

Knowing that he rescued her, Akjan couldn’t help tightly to his back.

“Thank You” she whispered.

“Ok” Ren said while feeling slightly weirded out. He had no idea what relationship the dead demon had with this guy, but it definitely was not good. Also, the fact that he had a guy passionately holding on to his back made the situation even weirder.

Ren tried to diffuse the strange atmosphere that he felt by starting a chat.

“My name is Ren. Ren Tengu. What is yours?”

Akjan hesitated for a minute before answering. A Tengu, that means he is a servant of Karatengu household. Akjan didn’t know much about the Karatengu family other than the fact that it was steadily declining due to lack of successor.

“Akjan. Akjan Tang” at the moment she felt it would be safe to tell him her real name. Karatengu family was one of few families that did not assault the Tang family and therefore were not responsible for injustices committed against Tang family. She had neutral opinion of the family as household that wouldn’t interfere due to lack of power. Who would have thought a servant of that household, out of all demons in Kalkan, would come to her rescue. She didn’t expect this turn of events.

“A weird name for a dude.” Ren replied.

Akjan’s mouth dropped in shock. ‘Does he think I am a male?’ she chose to keep up the charade. If others think she is a male, they would be less likely to try to attack her.

“Indeed” she said while cringing. Her rescuer thinks she is a male. She was crying tears in her mind. She felt rather bitter in her heart about the fact.

“Well, names aside, why were you and that dead demon there in the first place? After all, this is Karatengu territory”

“He was after me, I was trying to elude them, and as you can see unsuccessfully” Akjan said in a rather sad tone.

“Then if it is not too much of a bother to ask, why would he, wait them? There were more demons there? I thought it was just the two of you?” Ren exclaimed in a bashful fashion.

“The others fled after seeing you, you looked rather terrifying” Akjan admitted.

“Well, at least they weren’t trying to murder me.” Ren said with a goofy grin. His previous experience with other demons outside Karatengu territory almost ended with him getting murdered. Now he could only feel fortunate that he was alive.

Akjan was rather baffled how he could say such a thing with a smile on his face. He really is an odd one.

“Back to my question, do they have a grudge against you or something?” Ren asked.

“Ren, have you heard of Tang family?” Akjan asked after a short pause. She clearly was hesitant to talk, yet she wanted to say it, at least to someone who would hear her out.

“I have not, but I am not very informed, to be completely honest” Ren admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

Akjan clutched tighter against Ren’s back. She was at her weakest, emotionally and physically, so she needed something or rather someone to lean upon.

“There is a reason, you know, for this” She said in a sad tone. Ren could feel that the demon sitting on his back was crying from short panting breaths and shuddering. He didn’t intend to make the dude cry, this was getting too awkward.

“You do know you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to, right?”

Akjan, seemingly not hearing what he said, said while crying. “Tang… clan… my… family… They were… enslaved… by the Ruling families” she said the last part with huge amount of malice and hatred. Nothing could describe her emotion towards the Ruling families that destroyed her clan other than pure hatred.

Ren got the simple idea of Akjan’s situation. Apparently clans fought against each other and the winners always purged the strong while enslaving the weak members of the losing clans. Apparently that was the fate of the Tang clan.

“Enslaved? Don’t tell me they enslaved you as well?” Ren asked.

“Yes” Akjan said with a sad nod. That was the sad truth of her situation.

“So the other demons were from household that wanted to recapture you?” Ren asked. He was rationalizing everything without being too emotional about it, but he understood that Akjan was in pain, both physical and emotional.

“That is the case, unfortunately. They found me out far sooner than I expected.” Akjan was feeling more and more depressed in her heart. After all, now they will be hunting for her more intensely now that Jar Kas has been killed. None will protect her; she has nowhere left to hide, and nowhere left to go.

“Where are you going to go?” Ren asked.

“I don’t know, I just have to last long enough for the Selection” Akjan gave a half-hearted reply.

“Selection?” Ren asked in a rather confused tone. Invisible question mark seemed to appear on top of his head. Akjan looked at his puzzled expression with a look of disbelief of her own.

“Selection of the new Demon King, don’t tell me you have not heard of it?” Akjan was rather surprised that he knew so little of this world, almost as if he is not a demon. The thought made her extend her left arm towards Ren’s forehead and feel for horns.

No horns, just a smooth forehead. She was alarmed.

“Are you…”

“Not a human” Ren gave a sharp reply. Experience with Orin has taught him not to appear like a human to a demon or it might end fatally.

“But you don’t have horns and…”

“I am a late bloomer, ok?” Ren said in an exasperated voice.

“Yes, I believe you” Akjan replied with a smile on her face.

“Believing someone you just met, aren’t you the unusual one, Akjan?” Ren said with a chuckle.

“If I am unusual, then what does it make you?” Akjan replied.

Both of them laughed. Indeed, it seems they had a lot of similarities, Akjan noted. What a strange big world it is, to meet someone like him.

As they talked, Ren kept walking, and by the end of the conversation they were already at the gates of the Karatengu mansion.

“Ren, you’re back!” Aijasyl approached them from inside the house.

“Boss, you’re safe!” Orin ran towards Ren at full speed while carrying stacks of hay in each of his four hands, apparently he was tasked with taking care of livestock.

Both of them approached Ren. They didn’t realize from the distance, but as they came closer they realized he was carrying someone on his back.

“Hey guys!”

“Ren, who is this?” Aijasyl asked. Her tone was more professional than what she usually used around him.

“Someone who needs help, if it is ok? This guy is injured.” Ren mumbled in an unusually humble tone. He was afraid to get Aijasyl, his so called mentor (despite being close to his age), angry at him.

“Master Korgan’s policy is to help any demon in need as long it does not jeopardize the safety of the household” Aijasyl gave a surprising reply.

“Thank you very much” Ren and Akjan said simultaneously. Aijasyl was somewhat unsettled about the fact that both had the same expression of blank face as they said that. Was she imagining it, or are they alike in some manners?

“So how were the Jilan snakes?” Orin nonchalantly asked.

Ren’s face contorted in an expression of pure fear as he turned his head to his side to look at Orin’s face. Orin was rather shocked to see Ren look so scared. His eyes for a moment seemed dead while opening as wide as they could.

“Jilan snakes, so many of them, everywhere…” Ren gulped. He was shaking while drifting off to his nightmare realm. So many Jilan snakes, entire world made of giant Jilan snakes, his mind could only capture the horror made possible by his overreacting imagination.

“Boss, maybe we should drop the topic” Orin said out of consideration to Ren who seemed to be somewhat traumatized by the experience. At a mere mention of Jilan snakes, he was trembling uncontrollably with a sad expression of pure horror on his face.

“Yeah” Ren said hesitantly. “Besides, can I get a room ready, I do have a patient on my back” He mentioned Akjan who seemed very injured, but otherwise seemed a little too comfortable on Ren’s back.

“Follow me” Aijasyl beckoned. Ren just followed.

There indeed was a spare room with a bed. Ren put Akjan down.

Aijasyl brought ointments, bandages, and medicine. She took off the emergency bandages from Akjan’s body. When looking at them, she sighed. “Ren, are these by any chance your clothes?”

“He he, sorry” Ren apologized.

“Well, I did expect you to have your clothes damaged after a scuffle with Jilan snakes” Aijasyl noted, but she did hope in vain that he would treat his clothing that had the proud emblem of Tengu with more respect. “At least you made a good use of them” She cleaned Akjan’s wounds. The skin was smooth, almost like it belonged to a…

… woman.

Ren told her that the patient’s name was Akjan Tang. A pretty name for a lady Aijasyl remarked. She took off the old bandages, cleaned the wounds, applied ointment, and put on new bandages on Akjan. Then she gave Akjan special medicine.

Afterwards, Ren and Akjan were chatting among each other to their hearts content. Aijasyl sighed. Previously, Ren referred to Akjan as a male, but doesn’t he realize the truth? Is he really that ignorant? But, considering how clueless he is about everything, which probably is the case.

Aijasyl thought to herself. Is he pretending to be clueless, or is it really his nature. Master Korgan said to watch out for him. She interpreted it as if she sees anything suspicious about him that might harm the Tengu clan, she must eliminate him. It didn’t help that his appearance was exactly that of a human being, even though the tests have confirmed otherwise. Aijasyl couldn’t shake off the feeling of hatred in her heart towards him. Even when she pretended to talk nicely to him, she couldn’t help but feel that she is near a human being. Her natural enemy. The ones who have taken away everything from her.

When she blinked an image of her past burned into her memory resurfaced.

Herself, at a young age, running from human beings who have raided her village. They were likely allies of the Pishak Priests. They attacked out of nowhere; everyone was caught by surprise and was unable to defend themselves. Many demons were massacred, each one was stabbed and had their hearts torn out, literally. She remembered the moment her parents tried to protect her, they were overwhelmed by sheer number of humans who proceeded to hold them down while their leader proceeded to butcher them. Before being captured, her parents managed to hide her from human’s sight. She hid herself behind one of the pillars of the building and was forced to watch how everyone she knew, her relatives, parents, siblings, friends, and fellow demons were brutally executed one by one. After harvesting organs of demons, human beings retreated. Once she went out of her hiding space she saw a scene that she could never forget.

Mutilated corpses lay everywhere. Ground covered in so much blood that one could think the world could be painted in it. Bodies that once held life in them now have become lifeless, severed from reality.

Bodies of her parents; her demon father and human mother. Her older siblings. All of their bodies ripped open, some missing their eyes.

Once her mind comprehended what she saw, she could only scream.

Aijasyl opened her eyes. Ren was fooling around with the patient while Orin was cheering him on. ‘They sure seem to be having fun’ Aijasyl thought.

She felt out of place. She could only feel malice for someone who resembled human being so much, ‘How can those two feel at ease with him?’

For the last month, since Ren’s arrival, Aijasyl tried her best to see him as a fellow demon, instead of a human being he so eerily resembles. She even grew to care for his safety. But during this day, the anniversary of her family’s death, she could not overlook his human-like appearance that reminded her so much of the ones she dreaded.

Before her emotions took hold of her, she rushed out of the room into the courtyard. This place in the courtyard was made specifically for training. Right now she needed to relieve her anger.

Gigantic boulders burst out of the ground standing like walls between Aijasyl and the other end. This place was designed as break in entrance. The one who wants to enter has to break through the boulder walls in order to go forward.

With her intense anger, Aijasyl summoned black flame with a shout “Kara Ot!”

The flame encircled her fingers and shifted along her hand like a gauntlet. This was a special flame that had mass not just reacting air, so it had weight and was tangible. It was also hard to control, in a sense it was concentrated black flame. Due to being hard to control she could only make a flame that covered her forearm. Yet, that was enough.

Her calm expression was replaced by an expression of pure malice. She charged ahead at the boulder walls, slamming black flame gauntlet on her right hand upon them. The boulder walls were immediately cracked and shattered upon impact.

She screamed away her frustration while imaging the boulder walls as Pishak Priests. With each broken boulder wall she felt as if she was killing one of them. She destroyed thirteen boulder walls, now there was only one left.

Her right hand was bleeding from many impacts with boulder walls, but she didn’t care. She wanted relief that she couldn’t get for her anger that she wasn’t able to get ever since Ren has shown up.

She ran towards the last boulder wall. Suddenly, the image of Pishak Priests was replaced by image of Ren smiling.

The condensed black flame gauntlet around Aijasyl’s right hand suddenly lost its density and evaporated while her hand lost its will to kill. Instead of punching the boulder wall she ended up just tapping it.

‘Why can’t I crush it while thinking of him? Why? Why? Why?’ Tears started streaming from her face. She touched her face; face unlike any other demons, a human-like face, the face she began secretly to hate. Her family has been killed because the head of the family, her father fell in love with a human, and human beings thought to purge them for it. Because of her half-human heritage every single demon spited her or attempted to kill her. She spent a while running for her life, not knowing what awaited her. Until she was finally accepted into the Tengu household by Master Korgan. He told her “As long as there a drop of demon blood in your veins you shall be protected in my territory.” He gave her a shelter, a place she could call home.

Now a human face has invaded her sanctuary.

Why couldn’t she hate him, she could not understand. She should feel no sympathy for him; she should want to give him what humanity gave her people, a painful death. Yet, in the end she could not muster true hate while thinking of his face.

On this day, the anniversary of their deaths, all the suppressed emotions came crashing down. She leaned with her forehead against the boulder wall while crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

When she turned around she saw Ren silently watching her with an expression of disbelief mixed in with tinge of fear.

“Aijasyl, I…”

She put her hands to her face and ran off without giving him a chance to finish. She ran into the mansion and slammed the door behind her.

“What’s with her?” Ren mumbled.

“Funny you should ask” a voice behind him said.

Ren jumped up in place. The voice surprised him.

“Master Korgan!” he made a little bow with his head.

“No need for formalities kiddo.” An elderly demon missing right arm said in a calm tone.

“Anyways, why is she acting like this? Could it be she is angry at me for bringing in an injured demon?” Ren asked puzzled.

“Jumping straight to the point, huh, very well then” Master Korgan sighed. “Be at ease, her current state is not your fault, at least not directly”

“What do you mean?” Ren was now even more confused with how the flow of conversation went.

“Today is the anniversary of her family’s death. The day they were killed by human beings. This is the hardest day for the poor child” Master Korgan said with a tinge of grief in his voice.

“What does it have to do with me?” Ren asked.

“Your appearance. Your human-like appearance reminds her of the human-kind that massacred her loved ones” When he saw Ren’s horrified expression, Master Korgan used a slightly gentler tone. “None blames you for your appearance, you are obviously a demon, and you have not chosen to look this way. But for those who have lost their loved ones because of humans, a human face is the last thing they want to see.”

“I see.” Ren sadly replied.

“Not many demons are pure in blood these days, some have human-like features, heck even some demonic features resemble human beings, some more than others” he nodded at Ren. “Don’t blame yourself, after all hatred for self only makes everything worse. But I do suggest for you to leave her be for the time being.”

“Understood” Ren half-heartedly replied.

“Humans and demons are more alike than they realize, both have the capacity to love. But their actions against each other have corrupted the love into bitter hatred.” Master Korgan closed his eyes. “It started from bitter hatred, for so long it continued until the current time. And now it has gone so bad that human beings have become agents of our extermination. Sometimes I wonder if world could be at peace if there were more people like Aijasyl’s parents”

“World would be nicer wouldn’t it?” Ren asked cautiously.

“Indeed. But to tell you the truth humanity has done enough damage to us. At this point there no longer is a meaning in taking vengeance, after everything is lost. Only emptiness.” Master Korgan’s expression took on a look of profound insight. “That is the reason why this household’s priority is to protect and nurture any demon, regardless of their blood ties. To fill their emptiness with happiness, that is something I want them to have before I am gone.”

Ren felt like old man exuded an air of a man who has little reason left to live, as though he no longer cared about himself and was lost in a desert of desolation.

“I truly hope one day she lets go of the hatred she has in her heart and truly comes to love” Master Korgan said expressing his truest thoughts.

“Yeah, that would be nice” Ren replied.

“That is the reason I had her supervise you and not one of the other eight Tengu clan members” Korgan said. “I thought that exposure to a human-like demon would ease the flame of hatred in her heart, but it seems to have backfired.”

“I understand. I will not bother her anymore” Ren had a rather sad expression on his face.

“Don’t be so sudden. I feel like there is going to be time when she shall need your assistance” Korgan said, not knowing how true his words would turn out to be.

“I see. Then, if she ever needs my help, I will be there for her! That I promise!” Ren said with his thumb pointing up.

Korgan’s face flashed a quick smile. “Excellent. Nothing makes me happier than demons caring for one another.” He turned around and said while facing Ren with his back. “For the time being, you might want to check up on your injured friend.”

“About that, master. Can he stay with us permanently? He has nowhere else to go” Ren pleaded. “His family has been enslaved and assassins are hunting for him. I know this is too troublesome to ask…”

“That is fine. She can stay if she wants to.”

“Really, thank you so much!” Ren was happy for a moment, but then his expression of happiness was replaced with expression of shock. “Wait, did you say she?”

“You haven’t noticed? My, my, my, you truly are as clueless as Aijasyl said” Master Korgan chuckled. “She can stay if she wants to. This household exists to protect any demon that joins it, so be at ease, she is now under my protection.”

“Thank you master!” Ren said with a beaming smile.

“You did a great job saving a fellow demon, Ren, I am proud of your action” Korgan said with serious expression. “But could you tell me, how exactly you encountered her when I specifically requested you to cut down Jilan Snakes…”

He stopped his speech when he saw the effect of saying ‘Jilan snakes’ did to Ren. He no longer was standing. On the ground, with his eyes spinning, he was mumbling “Jilan snakes, so many of them, get away from me!”

“I might have traumatized him with this assignment” Master Korgan reflected. Another well intentioned action backfired. He could only bitterly smile from shame. His face and horns were hot from embarrassment.

“On second thought, the fact that you helped a demon is all that matters” Master Korgan said while trying to help Ren snap out of his nightmare.

After a few second Ren stood back up, still shaking from imaginary Jilan snakes within his mind, but now facing reality with relief. No Jilan snakes here, no Jilan snakes here, thanks Great Ones!

“Then I must go for now” Ren said. He bowed to Master Korgan and left the courtyard. He entered the household. Feeling rather disgustingly dirty, he proceeded to go to the bath building. Afterwards he asked one of the Tengu clan maids to give him a spare uniform for his own was destroyed. Of course he did this while wearing nothing but underwear, leading her to scream and mistake him for a pervert. Now with a new set of clothing and a vivid hand shaped slap mark on his cheek, he proceeded to enter to the room Akjan was in.

She was already asleep. Now that he knew that he was a she, Ren felt rather embarrassed. He carried a girl demon on his back, almost as if one of his romantic fantasies came to life!

Akjan looked like she was having a good dream. Apparently the effect of the medicine kicked in making her fall asleep. Her entire body was covered in bandages.

She didn’t sleep without movement either. She flipped over making her back face Ren and the sheets stopped covering her. Ren tried to recover her with sheets, but while he was doing so, he caught a glimpse of Akjan’s back.

There were three scars, three vertical scars extending almost full length of her back. They were not fresh, but old, but he cringed upon seeing them. She has seen pain in her past, Ren concluded, pain that has left scars that will never fade away.

“How can they be so cruel to each other even though they are all demons?” Ren unknowingly whispered his thoughts out loud.

“Not many sympathize with demons outside of their clans, boss” a beetle demon answered calmly.

“Orin!” Ren almost shouted. He did not notice Orin get near him before he was right next to him and answering his questions. “What is up with you and Master Korgan, are you two practicing for a Sneak up on Ren festival?”

“I believe there is no such a thing, but if you would like I can try to arrange it” Orin chuckled. His sense of humor made Ren feel rather uneasy about state of his heart; whether he will get a heart attack soon from shock.

After a minute’s pause Ren began the conversation.

“She has been tortured”

“Indeed. The wounds can tell quiet a story.” Orin replied solemnly.

“It is just too cruel. I understand hatred of humans, but to turn upon their own kind…”

“Hatred is blind, therefore it can be directed at anybody, no matter whether they are a human or not” Orin replied while trying to suppress his urge to run out of the room as fast as he can. What he said was the exact thing he did upon mistaking Ren for a human. Orin just hoped Ren did not make such a connection.

“Very true” Ren had to admit.

To tell the truth, by having such a conversation, Orin’s respect for Ren just became deeper. He praised him as his boss because he offered him a position when everyone else abandoned him. Furthermore, Orin even tried to kill him, which should have served as a deterrent, but instead Ren chose to forgive him. Orin did not care that Ren looked like a human at this point. Human or not, Ren was already accepted as the leader within Orin’s heart. Now seeing how truly generous and kind Ren is to a fellow demon despite her being an outsider, Orin felt that he made the right choice in becoming Ren’s subordinate.

Still, Orin still questioned Ren’s judgment, considering the idealists are usually are the deceitful ones. Of course Orin refused to believe Ren was deceiving him, but he had to just make sure.

“Why do you care so much for another demon, an outsider, enough to bring her into your own house?” Orin asked. If Ren said something like ‘Because it’s the right thing to do’ Orin would immediately feel suspicion in Ren’s integrity. He just hoped that would not be the case.

“I don’t know. I just couldn’t leave her to die there. Call me a fool if you want to, but I just couldn’t. That’s all there is to it.” Ren said without hiding any of his emotions.

Orin looked at him with astounded gaze. All four of his spiky arms were trembling from shock.

‘So that’s how it is’ Orin thought, with all doubts in his mind erased in an instant. ‘He didn’t have any ulterior motive; he was just following his instincts.’ All the more reason to follow this type of leader, someone who would do something like this without a second thought.

“Sorry for ever doubting you, boss” Orin replied after a slight pause.

Ren gave him a weirded out look of not understanding, shrugged his shoulders, and chuckled.

“I see” Ren said while chuckling. Truth is he had no idea.

Orin, seemingly understanding Ren’s intention, smiled and grinned. ‘It seems Ren already knew I doubted him, but he still kept someone like me around.’ Orin felt grateful for Ren’s strange generosity, an unusual trait for a demon to possess.

Seeing how inappropriate it is for him to keep being in the same room as the patient, Orin stood up to leave.

“Well then, boss, I will go back to my duties” Orin said still smiling.

“I suppose I need to get back to work as well …” Ren tried to stand up but a hand holding on to the sleeve of his robe didn’t seem to want to let him go.

Akjan’s arm unconsciously held on to him rather tightly, preventing any way of escaping other than getting half naked. The lady Shaula Tengu already screamed and called him a pervert, along with a slap to his face, based on that he could expect a similar reaction from any female household members if he appeared under dressed.

Orin, understanding Ren’s dilemma said in a soothing voice. “It might be ok for you to stay with her just this once; I will tell others you are watching over the patient”

“Wait, Orin!” Ren tried to get his sleeve out of Akjan’s unconscious grip, but instead she ended up catching him by his hand. Now he was really trapped.

“Worry not, it will be over quickly” Orin referred to how a person would eventually wake up. Of course, phrasing it like that has given Ren an ambiguous meaning of the words.

Orin left the room.

Ren sat near the bed on his knees, with his right arm still trapped by Akjan’s grip. He wasn’t sure if it was his rather bad case of bad luck had any influence on the situation. He just hoped that Akjan was not one of those demons that become a cannibalistic monster while sleeping. He heard from Tengu household members that there are some nocturnal demons whose innate powers awaken only when they are sleeping, and in some cases they go on an eating rampage, not caring who ends up in their stomach, a human or a demon. By the time they wake up, they have no recollection of what they have done or who they have eaten.

“Ehm, Akjan, I know you’re sleeping, but could you please…” Ren tried to smooth talk his way out of the unusually strong grip holding on to his hand to no avail.

Just as he was about to consider waking her up, Akjan’s sleepy voice mumbled. “Please, not you too, please, don’t leave me here…”

‘Is she talking to me, could she be awake’ Ren thought. ‘Or maybe she is having a nightmare.’

“Please, don’t go, Mother, Father, Akjai, Akjin, I don’t want to be left alone!” Akjan was still asleep, but she held on tight to Ren’s arm as if she was holding on for her life. She was currently in the middle of a nightmare. She was bound in chains to a wall, while her parents and siblings were dragged away. She remembered the exact moment when she last saw them. They had chains attached to collars on their necks by which they were dragged without being able to resist with their hands cuffed and their legs bound. In her dream or rather a nightmare she was seeing that exact moment all over again. Distance between her and her family kept increasing until they were out of the horizon, then they were gone, vanished without a trace. Akjan, in her dream, was left standing, desperately extending her hand, hoping to reach them. Then laughter filled her dreams, which were definitely the distinct laughter of members of Kas clan, a howling noise that reminded one of wild predator’s roar mixed in with gurgling noise. In a sense it was a cold laughter that was freezing everything around her in her dream. The source of the laughter just kept getting closer. There was no escaping it, the cold air, the fangs that neared her, everything was over. Akjan closed her eyes within her dream.

Then suddenly, as if something touched her forehead, she felt a warm feeling on her forehead that reminded her of feelings she has long forgotten- comfort and safety.

At that moment Ren actually chose to put the palm of his left hand upon Akjan’s forehead in order to calm her down. She was throwing a fit before, apparently with a nightmare, so Ren resorted to trying to calm her down. Amazingly, his touch seemed to comfort her, as though it was making her feel safer.

Ren came close to her long pointy ear and whispered. “Everything will be ok, I promise you.”

Unbeknownst to Ren, his voice transmitted itself within Akjan’s dream. The warm voice echoed like a pleasant melody in a world filled with parasitic laughter. The warmness spread, destroying the coldness and the images of Kas clan.

The chains that bound her within her dream were broken as if shattered by the strength of the kind voice. The dark world lit up with light once more.

She stood up within her dream, and then she ran towards the first thing she saw- a tree, and then gave it a large hug.

In reality, in her sleep, Akjan was hugging Ren’s entire arm. Ren found himself even more trapped when she tugged him towards her, essentially turning him into a hug pillow. Because of his below average strength, even for a demon as Aijasyl had so kindly remarked, Ren was unable to resist Akjan’s pull on his arm. He wondered ‘Even though she is gravely injured, she is at least twice as strong as me; I wonder how strong she would be at full strength.’

‘What an awkward position I am in’ Ren pondered, wondering how exactly he ended up lying in the same bed with Akjan who was so desperately holding on to his arm. When he tried to move himself, Ren noticed that Akjan was shivering, and he guessed it was from fear. Ren deduced that she has nothing to help her feel safe, so she must be clinging on so tight because she wants to feel at least a little safe. ‘I can’t get out of her grip, I might as well spend the night, at least until she wakes up.’ For a reason unknown to himself, Ren started sweating profusely, either from realization that he is technically sharing a bed with a female demon or from embarrassment, or maybe both.

Meanwhile, Kas family was thrown into disarray. Not only did the clan members fail to get back the escaped slave, but the firstborn son, Jar Kas have been murdered. His servants brought his body back claiming it was Red Reaper, incarnation of death, was responsible for Jar Kas’s death and disappearance of the slave.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Screamed the patriarch of the Kas family, Kar Kas, who bore a striking resemblance to his dead son, albeit with a far larger stomach. His rage knew no bounds. Not only the family name was tarnished for not being able to keep their slaves in check, but the main heir of the family has been killed.

Jar Kas was supposed to participate in Election; with his abilities the chances of him taking the position of Demon King were extremely high. Now, all that hope was blown into pieces.

Kar Kas absolutely refused to believe that it was a spirit of nature responsible for his son’s demise. He grabbed one of the demons that went with Jar Kas by the throat and lifted him up in the air. “Don’t you dare lie to me, who did this to you? Who? I said who?” He said each word while shaking the demon by his throat.

“Father, please calm down!” Nar Kas, the second son, tried his best to keep his father from killing his servant. He managed to get his father to drop the servant to the floor. Servant was clutching his throat; apparently he was very close to choking. Nar Kas patted his father on the back, trying to console him.

In truth, Nar Kas had mixed feelings about this event. While Jar Kas was his sibling, they in truth were half siblings, thus were pitted against each other their entire youth. Of course by the virtue of the order of his birth and his talent, Jar Kas had obtained the position of the heir and was on his way to becoming the future Demon King if he won in the Election. Kar Kas always favored the firstborn, thereby mostly disregarding his other children, from which Nar Kas has accumulated a strong envy towards Jar Kas. Not to mention that every fight with Jar Kas ended with Nar Kas getting beaten half to death, always realizing how outmatched he was. Nar Kas always thought that he was fated to always be second best compared to his brother, never having the chance to shine. However, this fortunate day has proven it otherwise.

For now he had to play the role of grieving brother, which is why he will fake concern even though he has none towards his brother’s death. Truth be told, Nar Kas felt somewhat grateful for whoever managed to kill Jar Kas, for that someone has removed a large thorn on his side.

“Father, I understand your grief, I feel the same, but for now we must focus on what exactly happened” Nar Kas tried to reason with Kar Kas, who was now just a weeping pile of snot, who was losing control of his emotions.

Kar Kas nodded, unable to speak further; he buried his head in his handkerchief.

“Now then” Nar Kas addressed Jar Kas’s former subordinates. “Where did this happen?”

“The northern field beyond the river, just near the entrance to the field. We chased the Tang clan slave until that location.”

“Was capturing her such a hard task? Was she the one who killed my brother?” Nar Kas asked in a serious tone.

“No! We got her! We captured her; she was too weak to do anything against us…”

“So then what happened” Nar Kas was beginning to lose patience with this servant.

“A fiend. Covered in blood from head to toe, carrying a scythe with a blade as sharp as wind. He killed Jar Kas with one swipe! I swear that is the truth!” the servant was cowering in fear; Nar Kas has the same fearsome temperament as his older brother.

“Why didn’t you attack and kill him?”

“The difference between our strengths was too obvious, he effortlessly took down our strongest and it seemed like he was going to go after us as well” the servant was shaking from imagining that scene. “Then he declared that he was going to chop all of us into bite sized pieces! We didn’t have a choice! We ran before he could kill us all!”

“I see. What about the slave?” Nar Kas asked calmly.

“When we went back to retrieve master’s body, the slave and the fiend were already gone.”

“Is that so, is this all you have to report?”

“Indeed it is, young master.”

“Then, farewell. Guards take them away!” Nar Kas was already ready for action. His personal guards forcibly took Jar Kas’s servants.

“Wait! What will happen to us?” one of the servants asked after guards grabbed him.

“Execution, of course. Kas family doesn’t need subordinates who can’t even protect the heir!”

The guards took away the struggling servants to their cells. Tomorrow, the execution awaited them.

Nar Kas turned towards his father.

“The territory they mentioned belongs to Karatengu family. I believe that they are in decline, however there are still subordinates of the family.”

“Do you believe that it was one of Tengu members who killed Jar Kas and stole the slave?” Kar Kas asked. He was rather impressed with his second son’s intelligence and ability to quickly assess the situation. Not to mention now he would need to train Nar Kas instead of his brother to succeed him.

“I am certain. Yet, there is one more thing that worries me”

“What is it?”

“If there is a Tengu clan member this strong, then it must mean Karatengu family is up to something, we must be cautious of them” Nar Kas warned. Someone strong enough to kill his elder brother appeared. He appears to be a Tengu clan member. Nar Kas realized that he must watch out for a potentially powerful enemy who can easily kill him.

In truth his enemy was anything but powerful. In fact, he managed to kill Jar Kas purely by accident; striking his weak spot with a very sharp weapon.

Currently, the said enemy was sleeping in a bed with white haired demon clutching on to his arm for comfort and safety.

In an awkward situation, unable to get out of Akjan’s strong grip, he ended up sleeping next to her.

Although he spent at least half an hour before falling asleep looking up at the ceiling, trying to distract himself from the one sleeping right next to him, he finally managed to dive head first into the land of dreams.

Within his dream he saw many shifting sights, many floating cities, flying roosters, twisting grounds, and then finally a gate-like archway made of trees.

There he saw a strange sight- two boys playing together, and at closer inspection, both boys had the same appearance except for clothes. The boys were hunting wild geese. The seemingly elder one shot an arrow which managed to pierce the wing of one wild goose, making it fall down. The younger one on the other hand was unsuccessful and ended up somehow cutting open the skin on his palm by accidently scratching himself with the tip of the arrow.

The scene that followed was the unclear image of their parents. Ren could see their outlines and hear their voices, but he could not see their faces. Their voices were warm.

There stood the younger brother, getting his hand bandaged.

The next second, Ren found himself standing in the place of the younger brother while his parents were taking care of his wound. Their soothing voices made Ren feel as if he finally arrived home.

The peaceful sight only lasted a few moments. It was abruptly cracked, and then it shattered, like a piece of glass into countless pieces.

The warm scene was replaced by cold scenery of a gigantic waterfall connected to a high ground.

He was running towards his father who was being stabbed by a human knight in white armor.

Then, he somehow found himself shot by many arrows.

He was falling. As if the flight down took an unprecedented amount of time.

Ren found himself choking under water. Unable to breath. As if everything in the world was going away…

Then, there was a light. He was being dragged to the surface, by a net.

He was leaving behind the depth of darkness, pulled up onto the surface…

Ren opened his eyes. ‘What a strange dream.’

The window of the room showed the morning light, it was already time to wake up.

Ren turned his head to the right and saw a familiar white haired demon’s sleeping face next to his own. ‘Right! I forgot I was sleeping next to her!’ A horrifying realization hit Ren, who had assumed that the events from the night before were just one of his fantasies within his dreams.

Now he was finally facing rather strangely stimulating reality. It would be his dreams come true if it wasn’t for the circumstances and the fact that this was reality.

He would need to sneak away before she wakes up.

Just as he was about to turn his body and get out of bed, Akjan’s eyes opened and stared at his own.

Then, the realization hit her. Her white cheeks suddenly turned to most noticeable shade of pink and strangely, so did her crystal-like horns. She just realized Ren was sleeping next to her.

“AAAAAH!” a scream resounded within entire Karatengu mansion.

From the sound of the noise, Ren stumbled and fell from the bed with his upper body, while his legs were still touching the tip of the bed.

“Wait! I can explain!” Ren was trying to defend himself while Akjan was throwing pillows at him. Surprisingly there were many of them on the bed, at least dozen.

“Explain what?! The fact that you sneaked into the bed while I was sleeping or Great Ones know what you could have done while I was unconscious?!” Akjan was being unusually hysterical.

“I swear I didn’t do anything!” Ren was trying to defend himself while Akjan climbed on top of him and hitting him with the pillow. She was using the pillow as some sort of a club in a strangely effective manner.

“A male demon sneaking into bed with…” Akjan stopped. She almost admitted to being a female demon. From her impression, Ren thought of her as a male demon, and she wanted to keep up the charade in order to mask her identity and show no weakness. She calmed down just for a second, and then her furious expression was replaced by an expression of calm hesitation.

“You … didn’t… do… anything… weird… to me ...did ya?” Her speech pattern was breaking off. She left the Kas clan under impression that she was a male, but Ren, he shouldn’t have discovered her gender. Not like this! It would be just tragic if her secret was exposed just like this.

“Of course not” Ren said with the most sincere expression he could muster under these circumstances. A girl demon sitting on top of his chest while blushing uncontrollably is a rather stimulating, making it hard not to be aroused. He could see she was rather underdressed. Bandages covered her chest area and a torn pair of pants covered her bottom, but her hands and legs were rather exposed. He found it somewhat alluring.

“Then… why … were … you…in bed with me” She got right to the point.

“It’s not like I had much of a choice, with you grabbing hold of my arm and not letting go no matter what I did.” Ren explained.

Akjan’s reaction was rather interesting. Her eyes opened wide. For a second Ren thought he saw her shudder. The next second she flew off of Ren’s body, back to the bed, and hid under the covers. A sound of crying out loud in frustration could be heard. The intense amount of embarrassment was rather obvious.

“Good grief, now what?” Ren mumbled. He stood up from the floor and sat on the bed near Akjan hidden by a bed cover making her look like a weird humanoid shaped boulder.

“How could I have been so careless…?” Ren could hear Akjan whisper in sobbing motion.

“Don’t worry about it; I am just glad that you are feeling better.” Ren expressed his purest thoughts while trying desperately to suppress his urge to run away from the room.

“Sob, sob. Of course I am feeling better!” She stretched one of her arms out of the bed covers. “I am feeling as strong as a tree under a… ouch!” The cover fell of her, now Ren could see she was holding to her right shoulder, the place she was hit by arrow. Apparently the damage wasn’t healed completely.

“You should rest” Ren said in his most compassionate voice.

Akjan lay on the bed with her back, getting her head out of the covers. She looked in Ren’s direction with puzzled expression. ‘He really cares about my well-being!’ She was surprised, he wasn’t faking his concern, and he genuinely cared. It is not an exaggeration to say this was the moment she first felt the kindness from someone who is not from her clan. First time ever an outsider demon actually cared for whether she was feeling ill or injured. The other outsider demons knew of only how to inflict pain and suffering, but he…he was different.

He rescued her… and now he was caring for her. The gratitude she felt in her very being was overflowing from within her. The tears started streaming from her eyes.

Ren thought she was crying from pain, so he tried his best to comfort her.

“Sorry about this, I will bring you some medicine against the pain”

Akjan was looking at him from a different light.

“Wait here a bit, I will bring it” Ren was about to leave.

“Wait! Please stay with me!” She unknowingly said the same thing she said in her sleep that made Ren smile awkwardly with embarrassment.

Ren pulled up a chair and sat near the bed.

“I was hoping that you might get a chance to rest and regain your strength after I left the room.”

“But the room will seem too scary without you in it”

Akjan’s response made Ren rather confused, but he just went along with it. Akjan on the other hand was embarrassed to ask this of him.

“That’s true; it would be lonely, wouldn’t it?” Ren replied with a smile, not realizing the fact that Akjan felt safe with him.

Akjan faced in Ren’s direction. She thought ‘It’s a shame I can’t stay with him, I wanted to find out more about him.’ She fully intended to leave once she recovered due to knowing that no family would be willing to host a Tang clan member.

“It’s rather sad I wouldn’t see you again, even if we just met” Akjan meekly smiled while she said that.

“Wait, why are you talking like you’re leaving?” Ren unexpectedly said with emotion he didn’t quiet expect to feel. ‘It’s just concern, nothing else’ he whispered in his mind.

“I must leave. The Kas family will be coming after me; I don’t want to cause you any trouble…”

“Trouble? I am the one who carried you here, so if they do come it would be my responsibility to greet them” Ren said, while thinking ‘Where did that kind of bravado came from, I am scared for my life thinking that there is another demon clan wanting to attack this place. But I have to make her feel safe; I did cause this calamity after all. It’s my responsibility to fix it. I hope they are reasonable enough to talk over a glass of tea…’

In Akjan’s eyes however, instead of looking like a coward who wanted to talk to his enemies instead of fighting them, Ren seemed like a fearless protector who was not afraid even from the Kas clan. Her perception of him was the exact opposite of what he was truly feeling.

“Even so, I imagine the leader of this clan wouldn’t want a Tang clan member around…”

“Actually, he said you can stay.”

The response took a couple of seconds to settle in. Her reaction was incredible. Ren didn’t realize this before, but Akjan’s ears were located at the top of her head, they just were the same color as her hair, so they blended in perfectly. They were large and catlike, covered in white fur. Her shocked reaction resulted in her ears that usually lay low to stand up in alert, while her face contained extremely surprised expression. Her tail stood up like a pole vertically, almost like an exclamation mark. Her crystal horn turned into a shade of yellow.

However, most astounding was her voice.

“WHAT?”

“I said you can stay” Ren said after waiting for her to calm down. Her reaction was rather weird, almost as if she found it weird that Master Korgan offered her shelter.

“But I am only trouble! Surely your master realizes that…”

“He knows full well, that is why he said you can stay. If you chose that is” Ren said in his most calm manner. Truthfully, after seeing her reaction he wanted to laugh for just a second. For just a few seconds she reminded him of a giant white cat instead of a demon.

She was staring at Ren in disbelief. ‘Like master like servant, is it? The servant of this family saved my life and the master of this family wants to protect me? What kind of uncanny demons are they? I can’t believe it!’

Her eyes spreading wide open with her jaw slightly open, while mumbling “Uhm, but, I…” She was struggling to form a coherent thought.

“I understand that you don’t think that other demon’s wouldn’t accept you, but this household’s master told us that no matter what kind, any demon shall be protected here, and that includes you as well.” Ren extended his hand to her while sitting in a manner of hand shake. “I also understand that the clan chasing after you didn’t give you any choice on the matter, but if you stay here, it will be out of your own choice.”

Akjan looked at Ren’s face. That confident face that was brimming with compassion and understanding nature filled her heart with ease. A powerful being who came to right the wrongs, so forcefully, yet so gently. He was like some sort of interference that stubbornly has found his way into her life and into her heart. At that moment Akjan felt as though something forcefully squeezed her heart and she thought she felt a bell ring from within it, spreading the warm feeling throughout her body. Her eyes were moist and full of unshed tears. Yet, after hearing Ren’s declaration, she couldn’t help but have the tears flow down her face.

He was her savior. At last he has come…

With each moment she spent with him she felt as though she was liberated from the pains of her past.

In her eyes she visualized him as a strong and powerful hero who came to her rescue. In reality he was anything but that.

Of course, seeing Akjan break down in tears in front of him only made Ren think that he has messed up somehow. ‘Oh no, she is crying now, did I make the wrong move? I must act natural or her emotions might cause her to view me as an enemy and try to kill me! I know for sure from her grip that she is at least three times stronger than me!’ Inwardly he was worried he might accidently make an enemy out of her.

To his surprise, however, Akjan grabbed his extended arm with two of hers. She was hugging Ren’s arm, almost like it was a pillow.

Ren thought ‘Not again!’ But he remained standing still, allowing her to freely hang on to his arm. What he sensed was that she was shaking. ‘Anger? Is she shaking with anger? I have to look to find out!’ He stretched his other hand out and touched her cheek with the palm of his hand, gently making her face him. ‘Nope, she doesn’t seem angry’ Ren let out a huge sigh of relief within his mind.

It wasn’t shaking with anger, it was trembling from joy. Akjan was flooded with the sensation of happiness she hasn’t felt in so many years. And then, when he put his left palm upon her face, turning her head towards him, she thought that the spell he cast on her was complete. She confirmed her own feelings- she has fallen for him.

She thought he was going for a kiss, so she closed her eyes and decided to let their lips touch. Ren was rather oblivious why Akjan closed her eyes and was leaning closer and closer towards him. He could not see that she was expecting a kiss.

Of course that did not happen.

Before their lips could touch, a large book came flying towards Ren’s head, knocking him backwards into the bed where Akjan was sitting. It was followed by a shout “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING! You animal!”

When Ren regained his sense of balance, he saw a familiar sight. A strict demon maid with green hair and very angry expression coupled with embarrassed blushing.

“Aijasyl, what are you doing?” Ren asked dumbfounded, not realizing that when he was knocked into the bed he ended up right on top of Akjan with his body supported by his hands. She was in arm’s length distance under him, with a goofy grin on her face. ‘Ren is so bold’ was the thought that filled her head.

“I should be asking you that question!” Aijasyl pointed at Ren holding himself on top of Akjan in a rather suggestive manner.

Ren just realized the position he just put himself in.

“Eh, ooh ow” He said while embarrassedly laughing to himself. He steadily got off Akjan whispering “So sorry…”

He got off the bed. Aijasyl was still staring at him angrily, but now she seemed calmer, somewhat.

“I just came to tell you to get back to your duty. That is all!” She promptly left the room.

“Right, duty calls” Ren hastily said farewell to Akjan who looked rather disappointed he left the room. He would have to check up upon her later.

Ren got out of the room and caught up with Aijasyl who was walking away.

“Aijasyl, about last night…”

“Forget about it. Think nothing of it” She told him tensely and coldly. She still felt animosity towards him due to his human appearance. Yet, when she saw him about to kiss another demon, she just couldn’t bear to see it. For some reason she couldn’t stand it.

She just wanted to keep her distance from him.

“You can get instructions for your next assignments from Shaula. She is waiting for you” In order to deliberately distance herself from him, she has asked Shaula to substitute as Ren’s mentor for a day.

“OK” Ren said with a goofy grin. He was scared of Aijasyl. So scared in fact that he thought she might want to crush him if he said something wrong.

Just like this the daily life in the Karatengu mansion continued on.

After the two days of resting, Akjan has made a full recovery from her injuries. Ren remarked that even with the aid of medicine, her regenerative ability was most impressive, to be able to get back on her feet after that level of damage.

Akjan promptly met with the head of the Karatengu clan, Korgan Karatengu, and expressed her wish to join the Tengu clan. Thus, a new member has joined the Tengu clan. Curiously, she asked a favor from Korgan, unbeknownst to anyone else, to work close to Ren, which Korgan accepted.

Now she was doing tasks with Ren who was in turn accompanied by Orin. When Ren got an assignment it now meant he would not be doing it alone but with the help of those two. Akjan and Orin got along unusually well, considering they resembled a giant cat and beetle respectively.

Akjan told Orin “I am so glad I was allowed to work with Ren, it’s almost like a dream…”

“I agree; boss is a demon worthy of being followed.” Orin expressed his loyalty as a warrior while Akjan was lost within her romantic fantasy. Orin saw Ren as a considerate leader while Akjan saw him as her knight in shining armor. Their impression of Ren within their mind resembled nothing to the Ren in reality.

Aijasyl kept being somewhat cold towards Ren, which he didn’t blame her for.

The days were somewhat the same, at least from the outside perspective. On the inside however…

I was rather busy nowadays. Apparently Akjan knew fairly many things such as sneaking into buildings, stealing, and swift assassinations. I can’t begin to understand how she knows such things, but I am rather glad she is on our side.

Ever since I joined the Tengu clan I have always been tasked with various things ranging from cleaning the house to gathering plants for harvest. The kitchen was a ‘no no’ area for me considering the mess I made by trying to modify the soup. Apparently the soup is not supposed to explode when boiled, and it was largely because I mistook several ingredients, creating a mini hazard. Aijasyl explicitly forbid me from ever entering the kitchen unaccompanied.

In case of Orin, however, he was a surprisingly competent chef. With four knives wielded simultaneously, he would slice through the ingredients with unbelievable swiftness. I was allowed to help in the kitchen, as Orin’s assistant. While we were outside I was mostly the one in charge, but in kitchen our positions were reversed. Sadly, the only thing I was allowed to do was to peel the vegetables, mostly onions.

“Why am I always stuck with onions” I moaned while my eyes were filled with tears after some of the moisture from onion ended up getting into contact with my eyes. Red with tears, I looked like I was crying in a sadly emotional way.

“Wow, Ren. You actually cry while peeling vegetables. Makes you wonder how sorry you feel for hurting onions.” Akjan said teasingly. She volunteered to help out within the kitchen. Due to the fact that she wasn’t very good at handling knives, she literally flinched when she saw them. It might be trauma or not. After seeing her face grow pale after seeing a large cutting knife I asked her to do the only job in the kitchen that doesn’t involve knives- cleaning dishes. She was surprisingly effective at it, most likely because of her cute furry palms that resembled paws with five digits. It was rather cute, I found myself imagining her meowing, but smell of onion snapped me back to reality.

“Very funny. I am a sensitive guy, you know!” I said while pretending to weep, wiping my eyes with my sleeve.

“Boss, are the onions ready?” Orin asked.

“All of them, hie hie, peeled” I said while sobbing due to my eyes feeling rather acidic. Onions, I just hate onions.

“Thanks” said Orin while slicing the onions quickly into bite sized pieces.

“Wow, you really are good at cutting stuff!” I said while looking closely at how Orin quickly turned whole onions into unrecognizable paste-like substance by cutting them countless times. It was rather an amazing sight to see.

“It is nothing special, just a skill you pick up after wielding swords for so long” Orin explained.

“Is it really the same?” Akjan unexpectedly asked.

“In principle yes. Both are just a purposeful way of cutting something, be it an enemy’s head or a vegetable.” Orin said while apparently not noticing the impact of visualizing his words had upon me. I could clearly see him going on a rampage while slicing heads with his sharp spikes alone.

“I see… Then why…” She said hesitantly while looking nervously at the four enormous cooking knives wielded by Orin. She seemed to fear it above all else, at least that’s how I saw it. She tried to stand the maximum distance possible between herself and the knives. ‘Man it seems like it will get me nowhere to ask her to teach me anything involving knives.’

“If that’s the case, then why haven’t I seen you ever use a sword, Orin?” I asked after realizing the flaw of Orin’s logic.

Orin turned his head towards me and smiled embarrassedly.

“It’s not that I don’t wield a sword, it’s just they keep braking so easily every time I purchased one. Besides, my spikes are sufficient for battle usage.” He said that while flexing his lower right arm from which a single long spike size of my leg momentarily protruded before sinking back into his arm. Apparently that is one of his abilities- growing extendable spikes that are extremely tough. Their downside however is the fact that they wither and turn to dust the moment they lose contact with his body, so they could not be used as throwing weapon.

“I see.” I said trying to not remember the time I almost fell victim to those scary spikes.

“Um, Ren, could you please tell me who that green haired demon maid was?” Akjan asked.

“Oh. That’s Aijasyl. She is… sort of… my mentor” I said hesitantly. “Did you want to ask something from her, or something?” I asked with innocent expression.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that” Akjan said while her horns turned green in color. She has the weirdest horns I have ever seen, they keep changing color every time I talk to her. Curiously, no such thing happens when she talks to Orin or others. It might mean it’s a danger signal, don’t tell me she thinks I am a threat!

I nervously looked at Akjan with sweat running down my face. She seemed to be benevolent, but what if she is secretly trying to kill me? I heard from Orin that there are demons hired as assassins and Akjan’s abilities matched the criteria exactly! I must act casual. Casual…casual…

“Ren, why are you boiling your arm inside the pot?” Akjan asked, looking at Ren’s lack of reaction towards the pot being heated by fire stove underneath it with his hand being slowly cooked.

“What? Ouch!” I pulled my hand out. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I ended up doing something unbelievably stupid.

“Boss, please don’t do that when I actually put the ingredients in pot, lady Aijasyl strictly asked of me to forbid you from even touching the pot. ” Orin said while looking rather flustered about lecturing his boss.

“I see. Sorry” I replied with a gloomy expression. Then I exclaimed “Since when do you call her Lady Aijasyl? Isn’t just Aijasyl fine?”

“She is my boss’s superior. I found it appropriate at least to call her Lady.” Orin explained.

“I don’t question your judgment, but that title just makes her seem at least ten times stricter than she already is and she is already the strictest demon I know around here!” I said my thoughts completely.

“That is true, she does look very strict.” Akjan chimed in.

All three of us laughed out. Yep, that was one of things we could definitely agree on.

All of us just enjoyed cooperating with each other. Akjan kept watching my movements. I really hoped she was not some sort of assassin with intent to dispose of me. I really hope I was wrong about my assessment of her.

I didn’t see Aijasyl at all, only managing to catch a glimpse of her while she was carrying some washed clothing.

The peaceful day slowly ended. I sincerely hoped that the next day would be unlike the worst case scenario I keep thinking about. None was there to assassinate me. None is there behind the door of my bedroom.

(As it turns out, unbeknownst to Ren, A green haired girl stood behind the door of his bedroom in her nightgown. She was hesitating to knock on the door. She wanted to apologize, but somehow couldn’t bring herself to completely overlook her hatred even if it was unjustified.)

The next day, Orin, Akjan, and I were going through the Karatengu territory to monitor whether there were any trespassers. The duty to monitor the surrounding came in shifts and this happened to be our turn to take on the shift.

We passed by the fields of grass. As we were about to turn back, we found what appeared to be some sort of strange carcass.

Orin explained “This is the skin of the lizard demon. Extremely rare item. It sells very well in demon market.”

I looked at the skin. It was hollow on the inside almost as if it was shed by its previous occupant. The hide was covered in countless scales and was yellowish green in color.

“Is it very valuable?” I asked Orin out of curiosity.

“Very much so, boss. The lizard demon skin is extremely tough against any weapon; at least ten times tougher than iron. It also has the property of being resistant to many spells. It makes a perfect armor.” Orin went on to say. “Because of this the other demon clans have started hunting lizard demon’s down in order to obtain as many skins as they can.”

Akjan was looking at what was left of the lizard demon with very sad eyes. ‘So this is the fate that demon-kind wishes upon each other.’ She felt rather sad about it. In a way, the one who had that skin was probably hunted down just like she was, and she was looking in horror at what might have been her fate if Ren had not intervened. In her mind she whispered ‘Thank you, Ren.’

“Hunting them? Is that necessary?” I wanted to find out.

“Indeed. The skin can’t be obtained without killing the lizard demon.” Orin nonchalantly replied. “The lizard demon skin being here can only mean one thing-there is a lizard demon group nearby.”

“A group? How can you be sure of that?”

“Lizard demons never travel alone. They always travel in packs. They invaded the Tengu territory. We must find them and drive them out.” Orin said with a slightly violent expression.

“Is that really necessary?” Akjan asked.

“What do you mean? They invaded the territory of our host clan, so they only could have malevolent intentions.” Orin replied.

“That might be not true!” Akjan protested.

“In this world, demons survive by feeding off of another demon. That is the undeniable rule.” Orin was adamant in his opinion.

I turned to see both Orin and Akjan arguing, so I decided to diffuse it as best as I could.

“That may be the demon way. But please don’t forget Master Korgan’s Tengu way.” I said while smiling.

Both of them understood my intention.

Orin thought ‘He is right, the Tengu way is preferable to old demon way.’

Akjan thought ‘A demon that choses to protect another demon rather than kill, that is Tengu way.’

Both of them looked rather ashamed of even considering violence against the lizard demons without a reason. I tried to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.

“Anyways. Why are the lizard demons hunted down? Are they on the run or something?”

“That is precisely so, boss. The lizard demons were formerly part of a major family called Kesir clan, but after the fall of the family they were forced to go hiding from many enemies they have amassed.”

“Enemies, you say?”

“Because of the properties of the scales, the other demon clan wanted to obtain them, so they started hunting them down.” Orin was rather well informed about these things.

“Orin, how do you know so much about lizard demons?” I asked.

“As a mercenary, I have heard countless rumors about them. I have also seen merchants selling lizard demon skin for outrageously high price.” Orin explained.

“I see, that does explain a lot.” I sighed. “All right, then let’s search for the lizard demons, but if we find them, don’t cause them harm, let’s try to avoid a conflict” I partially wanted to avoid conflict because I was scared that I would be easily killed if a struggle ensued. Monstrously powerful demons like Orin and Akjan can easily survive a fight, but in my case my chances of survival were slim.

Orin and Akjan apparently had another impression of their cowardly companion. They thought of him as someone who would want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Honorable reason- a very rare quality for a demon to have. So their leader truly is a noble soul!

“I see. Then just let me track them down, Ren” Akjan said with an understanding smile upon her face. I couldn’t really tell what she is thinking, but I take the fact that she is smiling as a good sign. For some reason she only smiles when addressing me, but with others her face has absolutely no expression almost as if they are barely even visible. That worried me somewhat due to the fact that it could imply she is targeting me. The paranoia of being killed in my sleep made me lock up the door every time I went to sleep, and the fact that I thought someone was outside the door didn’t help at all. Maybe I am really imagining things.

Unbeknownst to Ren, he was not target for assassination but for love. She has quickly developed some strange feeling for the young Tengu that she could only describe as love. She has never felt love for anyone outside of her own clan, so it was fair to say she was inexperience with this type of emotion. She only knew she felt happier when she was around this demon. His presence gave her a feeling of security. She went with him to patrol only because he was going to be with her, otherwise she would not have dared to step a foot outside the Karatengu mansion. As long as he was near her, she felt that nothing could go wrong. He was a demon stronger than her, one she could rely on to be protected. In her mind he stood as a powerful figure capable of righting the wrongs. He was the reason she was alive right now, not enslaved, and free. The fear she felt, the trauma of her past didn’t disappear, but with Ren nearby none of it seemed to matter. She has only known him for several days, but she knew in her heart she was not mistaken of her evaluation of him. He was her knight in shining armor.

If only Ren knew what she was thinking at the moment, he would have realized she saw him in a light opposite of reality, which would have made him laugh at the absurdity of visualizing him in such a powerful way. After all, out of three of them Ren was the weakest.

Of course Ren couldn’t read her mind to confirm.

“Wait, you can do that?” I asked her confusedly.

“The scent on the carcass is unmistakable. I can smell a number of demons that have somewhat similar smell to it.” Akjan sniffed the air, then she beckoned to us. “Follow me.”

Orin and I couldn’t smell anything from the carcass, so we had no choice but to follow Akjan’s lead. We walked for quite a distance before we reached the location of the lizard demons.

The scenery was rather strange. There were lots of tall spiky orange plants everywhere. The first layer obscured our view, so Orin had to cut through them in order for us to enter. Apparently it was specifically made as a camouflage in order to make the outsiders think there was nothing behind it. However Akjan was adamant that there was scent coming from behind the orange plants.

When we entered we saw lots of lizard demons on top of rocks under the sun. There were several eggs there as well.

Apparently the orange plant door had a hidden alarm on it, because the moment we entered we were greeted by spear wielding lizard demons.

They pointed their spears at us threateningly. Orin grew out spikes from all four of his hands preparing for a fight. Akjan extended her claws on her left arm with each one glowing with white light. Only I stood there, staring at lizard demons with a frozen expression of terror.

“Intruders! You are not welcome here!” One of the five lizard demon guards shouted.

“We don’t care how strong you are, we will not let you kill us! We will destroy you instead” Another lizard demon screamed in a horrifying growl.

All of them except me were prepared for a fight. I already knew what Orin was capable of; if I let him fight it would be a needless massacre. On the other hand, the lizard demons look rather threatening.

The lizard demons were wearing ordinary clothing with not much embroidery involved. They were mostly pants, with their scaled hides exposed. Some of them had hides in some shade of green, while few were yellowish in color. I wasn’t sure what kind of variation existed between them, but without a doubt, not a single lizard demon looked the same. They all had very sharp fangs and claws, and some had scales with sharp protrusions that made them look even more threatening. Their build looked not very strong, from their bodies that distinctly showed their ribs I could tell they were starving. Yet, their muscular arms were still as thick a log. No doubt about it, they were very strong.

“Bring it on!” Apparently Orin completely forgot what I asked of him. He made a motion with his head tilted backwards. A familiar black orb started to form at the base of his horns. Oh no, he was going to explode them!

The lizard demons didn’t remain motionless either. One of the lizard demons proceeded to stand stiff for a second before his skin changed color from green to red. Steam started coming off his body. He was a fire user. Another lizard demon’s arms became covered in leaves and vines, the coverings resembling gloves. Apparently he was a hand to hand combater. The third one’s skin turned completely white, the ground he was standing on became covered in ice. He was the ice user. The other two didn’t seem to have any special abilities because they only stood there prepared to intercept us with their spears.

At this rate, there will be casualty on both sides. And by casualty I mean me!

“Wait! Everyone calm down!” I raised my hands up in the air in order to demonstrate the fact that I am not a threat to them. “We did not come here to fight.”

The five lizard demons were still on their guard, but they did not drop their guard. The white lizard demon answered me back.

“Then why did you come here, outsider” That voice, it definitely belongs to a female. I couldn’t tell from their appearance, but from the voice I could vaguely discern the gender of this lizard demon.

“We are here on patrol as members of Tengu household that owns this land. We did not expect to have visitors here. May we please speak to your leader without any conflict?” I asked.

The white lizard demon whispered something to the other four, they had a small argument. After that they made a decision.

White lizard demon said.

“I am the leader of this tribe, Sukesir. Be warned, any attempt we perceive as a threat against us will be handled by swift execution. If you wish to speak in peaceful terms, have your allies drop their weapons, we will do so as well” She was rather adamant with her terms.

I beckoned towards Orin and Akjan with my head. Orin retracted his spikes and the black orb near his horns disappeared. Akjan’s claws on her left hand returned to normal size, no longer glowing, yet she still seemed tense. Both of them thought ‘Ren, what are you doing?’

After seeing that Orin and Akjan no longer were armed, the four lizard demons put down their spears, still watching their enemies with keen eyes. The white lizard demon’s scales changed back to green. She no longer emitted an aura of frost. She squatted down on the ground. She seemed to be ready for peaceful talk. I followed the suit by sitting the same way across her. Apparently that was the correct way to have a peaceful discussion.

“Then let us begin. What is your identity? Why are you here?” She asked me sternly.

“My name is Ren Tengu. As for why I am here I could ask you the same question, why are you here? This is the Karatengu family territory. Why have you intruded here?” I asked, while being as polite as possible. I didn’t want them to perceive me as a threat and try to eliminate me. The four lizard demons behind Sukesir, preparing to grab their weapons from the ground and attack right at the moment I look suspicious or pose a threat to them.

“We don’t have a choice. We prioritize our survival above all else. We have to hide ourselves from the sights of the major families that hunt us for sport and our scales.” Sukesir looked at me with a sad expression. “We will not go anywhere even if you try to force us. We will rather fight you rather than risk being prey to Major families.”

Apparently talking them to leave was not going to happen.

“I see. Then would you like to join our clan instead?” I asked.

The lizard demons behind Sukesir were shocked, such a proposal out of the blue. Sukesir’s eyes narrowed to slits. She seemed slightly angry for some reason.

“Have you made a deal with the major families in order to trick us? Do we look like fools to you?”

“Of course not, I am not even sure I know much about major families. I swear upon my name, my intentions bear no ill towards you or your people.”

The four lizard demons whispered something in Sukesir’s ears.

Behind me, Akjan said in a soft voice “Ren, why did you ask them this? What are you thinking?”

“Relax; I know what I am doing.” As if! If she knew I didn’t have the first clue how to diffuse this terrible situation then she and Orin will see me as incompetent. Worse, if they come to conclusion that fight is inevitable, they will cause a large scale conflict that will surely kill me! This was mostly about self-preservation on my part.

“If you have no vile intentions against us, what do you seek to gain from us?” Sukesir asked. She focused her eyes upon me, trying to discern my trustworthiness.

“Well, our clan’s motto is to protect and nurture any demon, no matter who it is. You might not believe me, but that is the rule made by the head of the household. That is the truth.” I focused my eyes upon Sukesir’s eyes, not backing away; otherwise she would think I am trying to deceive her.

“You are telling the truth, I can tell from your heartbeat.” She said calmly. “Our tribe values fairness, so in this case if you are offering shelter to us, we are obliged to give something in return.”

“I don’t know. I suppose you guys can help raise crops in the fields… Wait, why there are lizard demon corpses everywhere? Don’t tell me… you…have you by any chance resorted to cannibalism?” I asked after seeing many carcasses of the lizard demons covering the field.

“Of course not. Those are not corpses. We lizard demons shed our skins once every full moon. It’s a natural process.” Sukesir explained. “We are not savages like the major families that would feed upon their own in desperate times; we would rather take our own lives than commit such an atrocity!”

I may have hit a bad mark. She was glaring at me almost furiously. I need to think of something very soon or Sukesir will call off the negotiations.

“In that case, how about this. The Karatengu family will allow you to join it, in exchange for working the fields and donating the skins you shed every month.” That was the best I could think off.

Sukesir thought of this for a moment. Lizard demons had not value for their shed skins; they were off no use to them. If they accepted this deal it would be like as if they are allowed to join without any disadvantages! The terms this young demon has proposed were more than acceptable. At this moment anyone offering such a deal could be considered a miracle.

Sukesir turned around and whispered something with her four companions. I couldn’t hear it very well.

Then, she turned towards me.

“We choose to accept your proposition, but be warned, if we perceive any vileness in your intentions or you try to harm us in any way, we will end your life on the spot.”

“Sounds fair to me. On my part, I would expect you to treat the other clan members well, in Tengu clan cooperation and amity is a must.” I replied with a firm tone. I wasn’t going to show weakness while talking even though every fiber of my body and soul was screaming from fear.

“Then we have reached an agreement” Sukesir extended her left hand.

She was waiting for a handshake. It took me a moment to realize it.

Slowly I extended my hand. Unexpectedly, she grabbed my left hand with her left hand. A silver glow appeared between our interlocked hands.

“I have placed the spell of promise upon both of us; now neither one of us can deceive the other without dying.” Sukesir explained.

“Rather over cautious way if you ask me.” I said with rather amused tone.

“These are hard times for my people, we can’t risk being deceived.”

“I understand. Well then, if you and your tribe would be kind enough to follow us, that would be most welcome.”

Sukesir stood up and pointed her snout towards the sky. Then she emitted a sound I could most accurately describe as metal hitting metal at a very past pace. It was rather painful to hear.

After she finished her guttural sound, she turned back towards us.

“I have informed every lizard demon of my village. All of us will follow you. Please show us the way.”

“With pleasure!” I said while inwardly wondering what Master Korgan would think about a horde of Lizard demons joining the Tengu clan. I can imagine the shocked expression on old man’s face when he finds out.

I, Orin, and Akjan were walking in front, leading the way. The lizard demons were following us at our pace. There were so many of them.

“How many of them are there?” I asked my companions in a soft spoken voice to prevent being overheard.

“Approximately around fifty, but most very few of them are warriors, others seem far weaker.” Akjan replied.

“How exactly did you count all of them so fast?”

“I took my time while you were having a discussion with their leader; after all there wasn’t much else to do but wait for you to handle it, right?” Akjan said playfully with her left eye winking at me. I found myself somewhat embarrassed. I did say I was going to handle the situation, but it seems like the situation has handled me instead.

“Boss, what exactly do you hope to accomplish by recruiting the lizard demons into the Tengu clan? Aren’t you suspicious of their intentions?”

“Even with that considered, this was the best possible way.” I replied with a sulky expression.

Orin completely misinterpreted Ren’s intentions. ‘I see, keep your friends close, but your enemies close, huh. A brilliant strategy!’

Just like that, the trio led a horde of lizard demons towards Karatengu mansion.

Meanwhile, Korgan Karatengu sat at the porch of his residence, smoking a pipe. Just like the smoke that disappears moments after being blown, so has life and his loved ones have vanished without a trace.

While he could find a degree of consolation by watching the growth of likes of Aijasyl and younglings, it no longer bore a meaning to him, after all he couldn’t even protect the ones he cherished the most. He saw himself as a failure of a husband, protector, and a father. His wife died at the hands of human beings. Omir lost his life in battle with Phoenix clan. And his last son, Ymit disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again. The cruel reality is that all of them have passed on, leaving him behind to lead his purposeless days in complete loneliness.

He was an old man far past his prime. Now, none of the actions he might take bore any significance. His ambitions have died with his family, now he had nothing to live for.

Korgan considered going towards the faraway mountain and ending his life there, in the place he met his wife, the one location he considered the most beautiful and most precious. One of these days, he would have his wish fulfilled. Until then, he has to make sure Tengu clan can fare well with him gone. None was worthy of becoming the leader of the clan, none showed much progress. Aijasyl seemed like a suitable candidate to be in charge of Tengu clan, but scars of the past don’t heal so easily. The trauma inflicted upon her by human beings showed itself at most unfortunate times.

In the worst case scenario, Korgan would have to ask his old friend, Akil Ras, the current Demon King to take the Tengu clan members under his wing. Akil Ras and Korgan were old comrades from way back, although they haven’t kept in touch for a long time due to Korgan suffering grief for years and Akil Ras choosing to leave his friend in peace. As such, Korgan was unaware of Akil Ras’s relationships and vice versa.

Korgan looked up at the sky. ‘Such beautiful moons! One red, one blue, and one white, just like the old battle we fought in.’ He raised his pipe with his only hand and stared lovingly at the sky. He wondered whether his loved ones are watching over him from above.

‘Hrst, hrst, hrst, hrst…’without a doubt a sound of footsteps. Many footsteps. Almost like an army had appeared out of nowhere. Korgan was immediately alarmed after hearing the noise of the footsteps and sensing the demons walking towards the Karatengu mansion.

Korgan then saw large number of lizard demons walking in plain sight towards him. He briefly considered unleashing his spiritual form and attacking them head on until he saw a familiar face waving at him.

Without a doubt, it was that boy.

Ren Tengu along with Akjan and Orin was leading the lizard demons towards the Karatengu mansion.

“Master Korgan! Please come out, we have guests!” Ren was shouting on top of his lungs.

Korgan could only stare with astonishment at young Tengu’s actions. He left less than half a day ago and now he returned with an army. ‘How exactly does this kid’s brain work? I hope he has a big explanation for this!’ Even with such thoughts, Korgan was still overwhelmed by surprise at seeing so many lizard demons come all at once. So much surprise in fact, that he had his mouth open with wide eyed expression until Ren along with lizard demons have stood directly in front of him.

“Worry not, Master Korgan, I can explain everything!” I went into a detailed explanation of how we encountered the lizard demons and how I have invited them to join the Tengu clan. I half expected Master Korgan to shout at me or punch me, but he was listening to my explanation attentively, paying attention to smallest details. When I mentioned that I and Sukesir were bound by spell of promise, he frowned a little but it seemed like he was not going to over react. I told him of the deal I proposed and that lizard demons accepted it, and the fact that it would allow more workers to handle the fields considering we had too much work and not enough staff. After I finished my explanation, he stood up and faced the lizard demons.

“Greetings, my name is Korgan Karatengu, master of Karatengu and Tengu clans.”

All of the lizard demons sat down and made a courteous bow.

“If you choose, you are welcome to join the Tengu clan. If you do, you shall be under my protection. I promise to protect every single demon under my wing.”

Lizard demons looked at him with reverence and respect.

“However, as stated in terms of our agreement, you shall be addressing me as Master Korgan and you shall without any exception treat fellow clan members well. Tengu clan follows the way of protecting any demon, regardless of the type. So if you have any grudges against a fellow demon, I suggest you make amends. The terms of your service and jobs you will partake will be handled by Tengu clan’s finest and myself.”

He raised his left hand into the air in a grandiose manner.

“Fear not, in here you shall find shelter, safety, and protection. That I will guarantee as long as I live. If you feel mistreated or have any complaints, feel free to ask for help from Tengu clan members or myself.” Korgan was a masterful orator, not surprising considering he was the one of the leaders of Demon army back in the day.

The lizard demons stood up from their bowing positions.

The one in front, whom Ren named Sukesir, made a hand sign of respect to Korgan, the motion which was copied by every single lizard demon.

“Then, we shall declare our loyalty to you, Master Korgan and Tengu clan!”

Sukesir’s words echoed as each and every lizard demon declared their loyalty. It was a very loud event.

Korgan found the lizard demons a place to rest. Due to the large number of lizard demons, mansion couldn’t even fit them even though it was size of a castle, so encampments had to be set outside the mansion to accommodate the new Tengu clan members.

As the lizard demons began to dissipate, going towards multiple locations to find a place to sleep, Korgan and Ren were having a rather interesting conversation.

“Master Korgan, I was…”

“I understand your intention, Ren. You couldn’t have avoided conflict otherwise and had we attacked them we surely would have suffered losses against their numbers, so I am rather glad you have resolved it like this. Yet, I have to admit that you did shock me, youngling.”

“Sorry about that, Master”

“Think nothing of it, young one.”

“I am surprised, Master, I expected you to get angry at me for doing this.”

“Why would I be angry at a young demon trying his best to protect his clan and even making his enemy into his subordinates? In fact, I consider it a brilliant plan! You have done a terrific job, so there is nothing to be sad about. Of course, now there will be matter of assigning jobs to them, but with amount of force needed right now for the harvest, that is hardly going to be a problem.”

“I see, thanks Master Korgan” I replied with a beaming smile.

Korgan looked at Ren with a slight shock at his smile. Just then, his smile seemed extremely familiar for some reason, but Korgan couldn’t place it from his memory.

‘Maybe I am overthinking things.’ Korgan caressed his beard with his left hand as he was thinking. The feeling of familiarity didn’t leave him completely.

Next days that followed were rather fruitful.

Lizard demons were guided by the senior members of Tengu clans on how to harvest the crops. I was one of the demonstrators of how to use a scythe.

I swung the scythe around, showing how to cut grass and put it into stacks.

“Boss, would you like me to show them how to get rid of Jilan snakes? Or would you like the honor yourself…” Orin didn’t even finish before getting a panic reaction out of Ren who proceeded to run and hide behind one of the lizard demons.

It turns out most of the lizard demons that joined the Tengu clan are very young, so they were slightly shorter than Orin and their grown counterparts, but they still were half a foot taller than Ren who was desperately hiding behind them after hearing a terrifying word.

“Please don’t mention them, I am really begging you!” I said with an expression of absolute terror. I had enough of Jilan Snakes to last me a lifetime.

“Orin, how about you demonstrate it to them, I mean you can wield four scythes at the same time!”

Orin proudly stood tall. “As you wish boss, consider the lesson on teaching scythe wielding to be done!” He lifted a scythe with each hand, and then posed in a rather bombastic fashion in front of lizard demons. He definitely was showing off his skills. I decided to ignore what I just saw in favor of just planting seeds.

With more and more lizard demons helping around with work, the daily workload was much less.

Aijasyl was eagerly teaching the lizard demons the steps in tending to the mansion and the orchard. At least she looks happier than before. The atmosphere between us got very awkward very quickly. She avoided my glance every time I tried to talk to her. I think she is giving me the silent treatment. Orin told me not to worry about it, something about female demons being territorial… I didn’t understand what he was getting at, so I just nodded in agreement.

I chose to quickly ignore the weird mixed feelings about Aijasyl and focus on showing the lizard demons the proper ways of plowing the field. I have been a member of Tengu mansion for two months by now, so I am pretty much used to the workload. The lizard demons on the other hand knew nothing of the farming of crops, apparently they relied on hunting and fishing rather than growing plants, but they still were able to consume plant based foods. Sukesir kept a close eye on me, without a doubt so that I would see my end of the agreement through. That was the whole reason that I volunteered to show the lizard demons how to handle the equipment, so that I would not raise suspicion. Maybe I am overreacting; Sukesir seems rather tame for a lizard demon that placed a contract spell on me that will kill me if she suspects I betrayed her. Yes, ‘tame’ is the right word. She seemed genuinely curious about the fieldwork for some reason, apparently it was something new for her and for the rest of her kin.

As promised the lizard demons were fed and given shelters. As their de facto leader, Sukesir reported any events on lizard demons to Master Korgan, and sometimes to me because she thought I was in charge of looking after lizard demons. I could not deny her; after all denying her would have been fatal. This is why now I am the one in charge of assimilating the lizard demons to the Tengu clan, making me their de facto supervisor. Orin helped me this as well. He was rather great at demonstrating weapon usage and how most mundane item can be turned into a deadliest device. Thanks Great Ones he no longer was my enemy, or I would have been dead in no time.

As for Akjan, she seemed more distant than usual. She seemed fine when she was near me, but when she looked upon the lizard demons working alongside the Tengu family she seemed to be rather lost in trance.

As she watched the lizard demons, Akjan could not stop but wish that her family was here as well. Unfortunately they still were captive of Kas family. But if they could be rescued, then surely with such a generous head of the family like Master Korgan, being admitted to Tengu household is not a lost possibility. She already knew where the captives were held. She spent the time after healing to fully gather her strength. While healing her body regenerated the damages upon her body, she was very much depleted of energy and being struck upon the portion of her body responsible for gathering spiritual energy within her didn’t help matters. She spent the last days regenerating her lost powers, her soul power, the ability that every living creature possessed and could enhance with training. After getting injured her soul power dispersed making her weaker than normal, but now she has gathered enough strength in her body to be able to manifest her magical aura. She was a Brass ranked demon after all. She was stronger than a normal, untrained demon and she had the power to prove it.

The rankings from increasing power for mortals were Earth, Stone, Brass, Copper, Iron, Bronze, and Silver. There were of course powerful demons in history that ranked far higher than this, but currently the strongest demon, the Demon King was the highest ranked, Silver ranked demon. Many demons saw him as a role model for growth and enlightenment.

She has finally regained her soul power, now she can sneak into the Kas family territory and allow her family to escape. She was sure she could do it. She hoped Ren would be willing to extend the hospitality of Tengu clan to include her family as well, after seeing him recruit the lizard demons she felt that without a doubt Ren would understand.

That is why, after the third day of training the lizard demons, Akjan proceeded to sneak away from the Karatengu territory towards the Kas clan border. She disguised herself in dark robes, and the only hint of her identity were her large cat-like ears whose prominent outline was visible from outside the cloak she was wearing and the white hair that could be somewhat visible. She chose to sneak away at night in order to not draw too much attention to her and partially in order to catch the Kas clan by surprise. Even if they far outnumbered her, her special ability is to be able to lurk into the darkness and hide her presence. That is why she was able to survive for two months of being chased by Kas family, whenever she found someone searching for her, she used her skill to sneak behind them and quickly kill them. Of course it is only effective on weaker demons. Demons of higher level could detect her presence if she approached to close to them.

Her goals were clear-to get to the prison cells within the Kas territory and free her people. She hasn’t seen them for two months so she was confident that they didn’t have enough time to make the Tang clansmen go to another location. She was sure they would still be there, waiting to regain their freedom. They told her to forget about them and focus on surviving, but she could not do that, she just could not.

Unknown to Akjan, Ren who had noticed from earlier on that she was acting strange had managed to follow her.

Ren didn’t know what to expect. “Did Akjan betray them? No, it can’t be! Is my judgment of character really so poor? What was I thinking, trusting a demon I met just recently! She could be an assassin out to get the Tengu clan, and it would be my fault for letting her in! I just need to follow her to find out.”

It was strange; Ren could barely feel Akjan’s presence. It was as if she almost completely erased her presence. Ren was only able to follow her by following her sound and occasional sight of outline her cat-like ears. She was rather good at this, almost like an expert at sneaking away without any trace. Ren tried to imitate her soundless travel without much success. The only reason she did not see him was because she was too focused on what was ahead of her instead of seeing anyone following her. Akjan assumed that none was following her.

It was quite a long journey. Ren originally thought that Akjan would stop at some point to rest, but she did not, she continued on. ‘What a monster she is! How can she not be exhausted? We have almost crossed the Karatengu territory; does she intend to get out of the border? What could she be thinking?’ Ren pondered after following Akjan for miles. She entered the fields. Ren followed the suit.

Because of the dense plant growth he was only able to hear her rustle the tall grasses. And then, the sound stopped. Alarmed, Ren kept moving forward and ended up exiting the field. Now it was obvious why the sounds of grass being stepped on have stopped, Akjan had exited the field.

When he raised his head he managed to catch a glimpse of Akjan running away in direction of a river. The river was illuminated by three moons giving it rather light green color in contrast to reddish color it had during the day.

The river began on the side of the mountain. “Don’t tell me she plans to cross the mountain?”

Ren’s suspicion was confirmed when Akjan came towards the side of the mountain where the river was flowing. Yet, instead of climbing the mountain, she put her arm out to get it wet from the river flowing down below, then she pressed her arm upon the mountain side.

Suddenly, her arm along with her entire body was swallowed into the mountain.

“What was that?” Ren said out loud after watching how a mountain ate Akjan. “No, mountains are not carnivorous, or are they? I will ask Shaula when I get back.” He approached the side of the mountain where Akjan was minutes before. He touched the side of the mountain upon which she pressed her hand.

Nothing happened. It was just a solid clump of earth combined with other clumps to make a giant mountain. It wasn’t swallowing me.

“Right, she did this!” Ren dipped his left arm in water from the river and put it upon the earth of the mountain. Almost as if reacting to an earthquake, ripples started appearing on the side of the mountain where he has put his water soaked hand. The ripples proceeded to swallow Ren whole.

Strangely, Ren didn’t feel any discomfort, just a feeling of being pulled forward. Yet, he could see himself passing through the inside of the mountain almost as if he was an intangible ghost.

It continued on for a couple of seconds before his extended hand had reached the other side of the mountain. Then all of his body was thrown out from the other side.

Ren was thrown out rather unexpectedly. He ended up falling down. He stood back while dusting himself off. Apparently this was a secret magical passageway through the mountain. He was on the other side now, so that means Akjan is here as well.

Ren looked forward and the sight surprised him. It was a small town. Several stone buildings with spiked roofs and strange looking triangular doors. Yet, the strangest thing was none seemed to be there. The town was as quiet as the wind going through it, almost as if it was a ghost town.

Ren took a closer look at the buildings, some of the doors were open, some broken, and some even had slight damages to them. One house was missing the right side of its wall, with a giant gap where the wall should have been. When Ren approached closer he realized that there were many pieces of wood and debris everywhere on the ground. Then a twisted piece of metal that looks so much like…

Ren picked it up. A sword or at least what was left of it.

This is the site of a battle. What could have happened here?

It was clear there was some sort of struggle in this location. Ren managed to encounter several skeletons that without a doubt belonged to demons. After all, having horns on the skull was a definite proof.

Ren walked through this town while looking at it with astonished gaze. The town was deserted and was completely empty. Unlike the lively place that he saw at the market place, this was the truest meaning of desolation and gloom. Almost like a grave.

When Ren approached a certain building, he heard some kind of noise. Sob, sob, sob… Ren chose to follow that sound. It was coming from the underground basement connected to that building from the outside. The entrance was open, so Ren proceeded to enter it. Instead of being dark like he expected, Ren found himself in an underground room illuminated by shining rocks. He kept walking through the hallway.

He then stumbled upon a certain room. Nothing was special about it except for the fact that it had bars and chains within it. Underneath them were skeletal remains of what Ren assumed to be prisoners. On the wall, there were numerous crystal protrusions. Countless of them.

And in the center of the room was Akjan, upon her knees. Crying. ‘It was her voice that led me here.’ Ren thought.

Ren approached her. She was weeping, tears flowing from her face, while shuddering. Ren wasn’t sure for the reason why. He could not imagine what could cause someone with her strong mind to break down in such a way. From the time he has met her she seemed to be so strong, so stoic, and in a way somewhat admirable. But now the mental image of her as a powerful demon was shattered within Ren’s mind.

“Akjan.”

She turned to look at him. What he saw made his heart cringe. Her face was overflowing with tears nonstop, her eyes seemed red, and Ren could tell she was not faking it from the expression on her face. Something in her seemed broken.

“Ren.” She whispered.

Ren came closer. He put her hand behind her back.

“Akjan, could you please explain what is going on here…” Ren didn’t get to finish. Akjan extended her hand meekly, pointing at a wall with crystal protrusions. There were so many of them. Ren wasn’t sure what was so important about them until he took a look at Akjan’s horns.

The crystal protrusions on the wall, no way, they looked exactly like Akjan’s horns, except they were not radiating with the emotions, instead staying in constant shade of white.

These are horns of demons. The demons of the same kind as Akjan. The disembodied horns of demons were attached to the wall in full display of the cruel nature of fate that has befallen the owners of those horns.

She did mention her family was enslaved, but if their horns are cut off and put on the wall, does that mean…

“They are all dead, Ren.” Akjan said weakly, all the energy and courage she has gathered seemed to be gone. Now her horn was colored deep crimson. “Every single one of is …aaaauauauh” She began crying into her hands.

It was one of the most horrifying sounds Ren has ever heard, Akjan crying, it was so gut wrenching. He knew he must do something right here right now. Anything was fine, right now only he could do something, otherwise Ren felt that something ominous might happen.

Akjan looked at Ren with a desperate expression. Her eyes seemed to be going mad; Ren was worried of what was coming next. ‘Please don’t kill me’ Ren thought, he was worried that in her weakened emotional state Akjan might go in a killing frenzy just like Aijasyl did back at the Karatengu mansion.

“Ren, please end me. I no longer have a purpose left to live. This is it for me.” She looked at Ren who was horrified of the proposition. “Please, just do it.”

“No way, I am not doing that! No purpose left to live? Why would you say that?” Ren was angry at Akjan for even suggesting such a thing. He could understand why she would feel this way, but he wasn’t going to accept it. ‘No way, I will not let her die, not after I got to know her.’

“My clan is gone, my loved ones are gone, and now what was left of my family is now gone. I no longer have a reason to even think of freeing them anymore.”

“Then why?”

“Don’t you see? I don’t want to feel this, this pain, it’s too unbearable! I just want to end it, once and for all!”

“Me killing you will not will not solve anything!”

“In that case, I will just…” Akjan took out a knife from her sleeve and proceeded to stab herself in the heart. The knife connected with soft flesh.

Blood splattered.

Of course instead of stabbing Akjan’s flesh, the knife ended up piercing Ren’s palm. Ren managed to extend his hand just in time to block Akjan from delivering a fatal blow to her. She was surprised at his action and concerned at the state of his hand.

“Ren! Your hand!” She wanted to deliver a fatal blow to herself but the last thing she wanted to do was harm Ren, one person she actually came to like.

Ren nonchalantly took the knife out of his palm and threw it across the room. The pain on his right arm stung, but he had to bear it right now, or it might be too late. He looked at Akjan with a focused gaze. He was not going to let her die on his watch.

“Why did you…” Akjan mumbled hesitantly. “Why can’t you just let me die! Are you really that selfish to…”

“That’s right. I am selfish. Selfish enough to want you to live.” Ren said with a serious expression. He ignored the pain on his right palm that felt like a constant burning sensation. He could barely make himself seem as though the pain was irrelevant. If it was any other situation he would be freaking out while clutching his hand, most likely crying his eyes out, but right now he needed to be strong, or at least appear strong.

Then, he did something he wouldn’t have just a moment ago. He grabbed Akjan by the shoulders and took her in a warm embrace. Partially in order to make sure she did not go for the knife and partially to calm her down.

Realizing Ren was holding her in his embrace, the strong front that Akjan tried to put up instantly shattered. She was now crying upon his shoulder.

The more she cried, the tighter Ren held on to her. He was going to bear it with her, as long as it takes.

“I hate myself, Ren. I just hate myself.” Akjan said while Ren held her close. The sound of her heartbeat could be clearly heard. Her heart was beating so fast. “I wanted to save them, Ren. I just wanted them to be freed from this place, but instead, they are all dead!” She pointed at the wall filled with horns. Now that Ren thought about it, it seemed like a graveyard. Each pair of horns was a life a demon, and there were dozens of pairs. It was a clear evidence of a massacre. What a sad way for a demon clan to end. Stacked on a wall like a trophy.

“I wanted to end their pain, to bring them out of their misery.” Akjan sobbed while talking. “They allowed me to escape this place, allowed me to survive.”

“But now, without them… I just want to disappear.” Akjan was holding on to Ren for support and Ren didn’t let go.

“Akjan” Ren extended his left hand in order to touch her face. “I will not allow you to die! Not a chance!”

“Ren, but I am…”

“If you die, their sacrifice will be for nothing!” Ren screamed out loud. He had to think of a way of convincing her to live, even if he has to remind her of her clansmen’s sacrifice.

He now had the basic idea of what the situation was. “They made sure you lived while forfeiting their own lives in exchange for your own. If nothing else, honor their last wish of letting you live. I am certain that is their final request of you.”

While hearing Ren’s speech Akjan was weeping on his chest.

Her crying lasted for a long time. Ren proceeded to pet her back in an effort to calm her down.

“But Ren, my family is dead.” She said after finally calming down. “I no longer have anyone I have to live for. I am…”

“Then let me be your family!” Ren said rather abruptly, interrupting Akjan’s thoughts.

It took a few seconds for Akjan to process the meaning behind Ren’s words.

‘A proposal?’ Akjan thought confusedly. ‘Does he want to ask me to marry him?’ She blushed from the thought. ‘Why would he ask that of me out of the blue? What could he be thinking? Does he like me?’ Thoughts overflowed within Akjan’s mind. What Ren said was the last thing she expected.

“What do you mean? This isn’t a proposal, right?”

“Of course it is a proposal! What else could it be?” Ren said without understanding what proposal actually is. “It a proposal all right. I propose to you to return with me to the Tengu clan, our place is there now.” Ren naturally assumed that proposal and proposition meant the same thing, without realizing the romantic implication of the former. His somewhat naïve perspective despite trying his best to understand the demons he knew led him to be somewhat ignorant of things like love. It is safe to say he had no idea what Akjan felt at that moment.

“But…”

“I understand that you want to end yourself because your family is gone, but what about me? What if you think of me as your family?”

“That is not how it works, Ren.” Akjan replied with a sad expression.

“It really is! After all…” He hugged Akjan in such a way that her head was touching his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, loud and strong. “I do care about you, and I promise you that in happiness and sadness I will be there for you, so please live!” Ren said the last part with more emphasis, unaware that this was the part of marriage vow that he just uttered. His right hand held her back, still bleeding, while his left hand was holding the back of Akjan’s head in a loving manner, at least in Akjan’s mind. Ren on the other hand did not realize how his actions could be interpreted as affection, instead thinking of it as holding on to somebody so that somebody doesn’t leave, in both senses.

“But I am a burden, Ren. I will most likely end up breaking and crying.” Akjan replied.

“That makes two of us. So what? If you need help to stand up, I will carry you, and if you need to cry…” Akjan gasped. “I will lend you a shoulder to cry upon. No matter what happens I will not abandon you. So Akjan Tang, will you come with me?”

Ren stood up and extended his right arm.

Looking up at the strong look within his eyes, Akjan thought she was seeing a dream. She always had to rely on herself to survive; everyone else treated her with unimaginable cruelty or ignorance. She thought she would be left alone to fend for herself and die at the hands of her enemies, with none to care enough to lend a helping hand.

When she was about to die, he came as if by a miracle to save her, and now he was saving her again.

A wonderful hero rescued her from the endless despair. Her knight has finally arrived.

In her heart, she was thankful to Ren for not abandoning her to death by her own hand.

Akjan took his right arm into her own. “If it is with you, I will go anywhere in this world.” Akjan has now lost the spark that motivated her to rescue her family, and in her despair her spark of life was almost extinguished as well. But because of Ren, she gained a new spark, a new purpose for which to exist. And now with his offer, she could not refuse.

When shaking his hand she noticed that it was still bleeding. Ren cringed when she took his hand into hers. Nevertheless, ignoring the pain in his right arm he helped Akjan stand up.

“Akjan remember this, you have a purpose worth living for, so don’t throw it away.”

“Yes.” Akjan replied with a heartfelt smile.

Afterwards, Akjan helped Ren to bandage his injured palm. He said “Ouch” couple of times when she was tightening the bandages, but succeeded in staying still long enough for her to tie it to his hand. The bleeding has stopped, but it still hurt.

Ren and Akjan left the underground room after taking the horns and giving them a proper burial. It was a rather sad scene, with Akjan praying for the safe passage of souls for her clansmen.

Afterwards, Akjan and Ren proceeded to return to the Tengu territory.

“Ren, how did you find me?”

Ren scratched his cheek. “I followed you of course. I was about ten meters behind you all this time.”

“But how come I didn’t sense you if you were that close?”

“Sense me?”

“That is one of my specialties after all.” Akjan wondered whether Ren specialized in making his energy signature untraceable. Even with him in front of her, she couldn’t feel his energy. She assumed that it was due to advanced control over his energy. In truth it’s because of having energy so low that it’s almost nonexistent.

“I see, then maybe I was lucky enough to be outside the range of your sensing?”

“That is highly unlikely. My sensing skills can detect any living being within a mile range.” Akjan said with a curious gaze at Ren’s direction. ‘Just how good is your energy control, to be able to be unnoticed even by a sensor, almost like your energy blended in with your surroundings? If that’s the case, it’s rather admirable!’

“Ah, is that so. Then let’s leave it at that, because I personally am just happy to have found you, Akjan.” Ren said with a weird grin, while closing his left eye and tilting his head towards the right.

Akjan found the gesture somewhat adorable. She laughed out.

They kept walking until they reached the mountain. When Ren put his hand in water, Akjan looked at his action in surprise.

“How do you know how to access the secret mountain passage?”

Ren scratched his head. “Well, I saw you do it on your way here, so I just copied it.”

Akjan stared wide eyed at Ren’s nonchalant explanation.

“I am amazed you were able to replicate it so perfectly, after all it’s a Tang clan secret passage known only to the members of our clan. To think you were able to find out how to use it so quickly!”

“Isn’t it just dipping your hand in water and touching the mountain? Anyone can do that?”

“Is that what you think I did? If that were the case anyone could have gone through the mountain.”

“Was there anything else involved?”

Akjan hesitated before answering. “Well, you see, in order to pass through the mountain one must empty oneself of power and clear the mind. Only by being completely empty one can go through the mountain. In a sense it’s a skill of enveloping yourself momentarily in darkness, sending all of your energy into void, making yourself momentarily empty. It’s not an easy skill to learn.”

“Ah, then call me a lucky first timer.” Ren touched the mountain. Immediately he was pulled to the other side.

Akjan came to the other side just a few minutes after.

“You did it again! That is not luck we are talking about! Are you sure you never practiced Darkness style? Even I have to concentrate for a while in order to completely empty myself, yet you did it immediately!”

“Not that I recall, but I can’t really recall many things.” Ren said without realizing the real reason he was empty. His body has almost no magical energy within it, making him in a sense an empty vessel.

“It’s fine if you don’t tell me, Ren” Akjan seemed rather sad toned.

“It’s not about not telling, it’s just my memory is hazy” Ren admitted.

“Come to think of it, how long were you a member of the Tengu clan? Orin mentioned that you recruited him, and I have personally seen you recruit the lizard demons. Were you born in that clan?”

“I wasn’t born in that clan. At least I don’t think so.”

“Then why did you join it?”

“Well, Aijasyl pretty much found me in the middle of nowhere and then Master Korgan invited me to join the Tengu clan, and I just went along. And here I am!” Ren said it while having a foolish expression on his face.

Akjan wasn’t sure if Ren was telling the truth, but she chose to trust him.

“Is that why she looks at you in such a strange way? Because she is the one who found you?”

“Wait, she does what now?” Ren exclaimed. “What do you mean strange way?”

“Well, I have seen her stand behind your door at night, and she stood there for at least half an hour before going away, so I thought it was rather unusual.”

Ren gulped. Was Aijasyl looking for a way to kill him at night? He thought she seemed suspicious, but now he was afraid that she might crush him the same way she demolished that boulder.

“Is that so. He ha ha” Ren said with a raspy voice, obviously trying to conceal the fact that he was terrified.

“Well, she is apparently your and by extension our mentor within Tengu clan, so it would make sense.” Akjan did not realize how terrified Ren was after being told that Aijasyl was watching behind the door to his room.

They walked over a large distance. The three suns started to rise. The morning painted everything with a yellow light. It was truly beautiful.

When Ren was admiring the scenery, Akjan asked him.

“What you said back there, did you mean it?”

“I am a demon of my word. So yes, I meant it.”

“If that’s the case…” Akjan hesitantly extended her hand. Her hand ended up holding Ren’s left hand. “Then you should know, I am actually a girl.”

Ren didn’t look surprised.

“Oh, I already knew.”

Akjan reacted to his statement with a baffled expression of her own.

“But, I thought you mistook me for a male demon, I remember you referring to me as a ‘he’!”

“Yeah, my mistake. Master Korgan told me about it. I should really pay closer attention to things.” Ren said embarrassedly. “Plus, I took my time to confirm it for myself by sneaking into the bath while you were there…Ah!” Ren realized he blurted out a critical piece of information he intended to keep secret until the grave. He nervously turned his head around to see Akjan’s outraged face.

“You did what!!!” Akjan seemed completely red with embarrassment.

She grabbed Ren by the collars and started shaking him.

“Sorry, I was just curious!”

“How much did you see?” She was shaking Ren rather violently.

“Well, if I admit to seeing nothing I would be a liar.”

“I see.” Akjan stopped shaking Ren. She realized that if he thought of her as a woman then what he said earlier was definitely a proposal. The thought of that made her rather happy.

“Then, a promise is a promise, you can’t back out now.” She smiled the most charming way Ren has ever seen.

“Ok!” Ren said in an exaggerated fashion with his thumb pointing up.

Ren declaring it such a confident way made Akjan happy for having met him.

She was holding Ren’s left hand. Ren found it somewhat weird, so he tried to ask her about it, but the only reply he got was “It’s ok; after all it’s already settled.” He wasn’t sure what exactly was settled, but he chose to keep silent, she seemed to be so happy for some reason, so he chose to remain quite about it.

Holding hands they kept walking towards the field, nearing the border of the Karatengu territory.

It was just walking within the field, but in Akjan’s eyes it seemed rather magical, being led by hand by a demon she came to like, all of the bad things seemingly stopped mattering, the only thing that mattered right now was to hold on to that hand and follow it. ‘So this is what it means to fall for someone’ she thought. She never thought, she out of all demons, would ever feel so attracted to someone else. She used to think of it as trivial and useless emotion, but now she was seeing for herself how great that emotion felt.

When they finally reached the Karatengu mansion, they saw Orin outside the mansion. He looked rather exhausted. When he saw Akjan and Ren, he cried out.

“There you guys are, I have been looking all over for you!” Then he saw that Ren and Akjan were holding hands. Orin approached Ren and whispered in his ear. “Wow, boss, you really don’t waste your time, don’t you? Great job!” He made thumbs up sign with all four of his hands.

Looking at the bizarre sight before them Ren looked weirded out while Akjan was embarrassed at the implication.

“Orin, I hope nothing bad happened while we were away, right?”

“Worry not, boss, other than me, none seems to have noticed you two were missing.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” A voice belonging to a one armed old demon sounded out.

Every one of them gave a surprised sigh. Master Korgan was standing right behind them.

“How do you keep doing that, Master Korgan?” Ren exclaimed.

“Being unnoticed is an easy task while everyone is distracted. But that is of no importance right now. Why the two of you were outside the Karatengu territory? ”

“Well, you see…” Ren began.

“It was my fault, Ren was just following me to make sure I was safe. If you are going to blame anyone, blame me.” Akjan boldly declared.

Master Korgan didn’t seem upset. Instead he sighed and said “As long as you two are safe, that’s all that matters. Young one, worry not, I don’t have any intention of blaming you or Ren.”

“Thank you, Master Korgan.” Ren and Akjan said simultaneously.

“If the topic is sensitive, I will not demand a straight answer, but I trust none saw you?”

“None saw us, Master” Ren replied.

“That is good. Then proceed. I trust you have a lot of tasks to take care of today” Master Korgan gestured towards the inside of the mansion and the fields.

“Right away, Master Korgan.” Ren turned and ran towards the inside of the house to find Shaula Tengu to ask for his next task. “See you later, Akjan.”

When Ren was some distance away from hearing range, Akjan replied. “See you later, husband.”

Ren had absolutely no idea what he has gotten himself into.