Night had settled and the only thing that could be seen was the now dying flame, illuminating the camp below. Derb was hanging on the top of one of the trees, a small book in one hand with a blue flame lighting the other, studying up more on summoning in general. The basics were rather advanced… how to narrow the type of demon you want by using varying degrees of mana, how larger didn’t necessarily mean better. It even explained varying degrees of mana control between demons. The scope of it was vast and Derb felt he had to understand at least this before he delved into summoning again.

He looked over to the camp, Frederick was standing watch over it as the three slept in shifts. He’d been there for about an hour now and seemed to be getting bored. Derb wanted to ask to take part in the shifts but knew it was too invasive for a stranger to ask that for these people. He had just met them today, for christ’s sake. He’d been asked where he would sleep and felt embarrassed telling them he had no camp, instead, he told them he’d set up a short distance away. When asked why he simply asked for privacy, to which they backed off.

He still remembered their faces when he asked them why he couldn’t sleep alone. They acted as if he’d die out there with the disappointment in their faces. It was a bit hypocritical for him to sneakily hang over them like this, now that he thought about it. He felt scared that what happened before might reoccur so he decided to stand watch over the three from a distance. He assumed they’d take shifts as well so he had to make sure to hide himself, it’d make him look pretty suspicious if he was caught...

He thought back to their disappointment at his request to be left alone. Connor alone would be enough to warn him of what happened, and he didn’t really need to sleep for today either, so there’d be no chance for him to be taken by surprise. His body was still buzzing from what happened last night, not in excitement or fear, but from raw energy. It was like the first time he over consumed mana, restless energy that gnawed at him. It was to a lesser intensity, though, and it just made him feel nice and relaxed.

He wondered about what had happened in that fight to make this happen. He killed demons before, during his trip with Gerald, and nothing like this happened then. Was it supposed to be a warm, breathing animal? No, he almost forgot the demon he fought before Gerald put up a barrier, a thing that looked like a fox… or a wolf? He couldn’t remember but it didn’t matter. It was flesh and blood, just like these creatures. He thought it had to be from his dark mana affinity but nothing he’s ever read had something like this.

Was it different for some people? Did everyone get a different way to use their affinity? Was this even unique at all!? He hated the fact that he couldn’t just search up what to do on his phone like before… He remembered the library his teacher had and felt sick now that he realized what he passed up. He promised to be more dutiful in his studies if he ever came back to that village. Err... when he came back to the little village. He had promised to come back after all… He flipped the page haphazardly and realized something fell out. A small necklace loosely tied to the inside of a note. He read the contents inside and smiled, he was definitely coming back.

___

Frederick had hated doing this type of sentry work since he’d first left the village, time melded together in these cold and dark nights. He threw another piece of timber into the flame, the weird black knight had given them plenty to work off of. He glanced back at the camp and felt a flare of annoyance swell within him. Why had the man refused their companionship? He felt as if they’d gotten closer before so why did he rather choose to keep his distance? He kept his damn monstrous horse in the camp so he obviously didn’t think badly of them.

The annoyance changed to suspicion. Was the black knight not as nice as they wished him to be? He’d heard tales of summoners, how they communicated with evil demons and monsters. He’d even heard of them capturing and attempting to enslave the deformed. It was all bar talk, even less believable than fairy tales, but he’d witnessed something terrifying tonight. That knight had no need for his demons if he so chose. The flying summon had merely floated around Jenny while occasionally shooting at whatever came too close.

He’d never seen a summoner affinity caster choose to fight physically, their power was just too reliable. He was even beginning to assume the two demons were tied to him by an outside contract had it not been for his obvious flaunting darkness and ritual affinities. He’d spent the entire day on horseback consistently creating rituals mid-air, something Frederick had no idea was impressive or not. Usually, people kept their affinities hidden until there was no choice. There were too many ways to counter someone's fighting style, after all.

He looked up at the starry sky and felt like it was time to call in Derrick, he’d had enough contemplating about this, he’d turn insane with suspicion otherwise.

____

Derb moved his eyes away from the book only to realize the brother was gone, the other brother soon taking his place. He watched as the brother started chanting and glowing green, a breezy mist circling around him. Derb watched with interest as to what would happen, only for Derrick’s eyes to immediately lock onto his location. Shit, a detection spell, he was an idiot for not immediately catching on. He didn’t move, flipping a page of his book and acting as if he didn’t notice the attention.

Derrick’s eyes immediately moved away as he started acting casual. He’d felt something’s breath coming from the top of the treetops. He didn’t know if it was dangerous but it seemed large enough to be a threat. He turned back and went into his tent, going out the other side and hiding behind a tree. That was the direction the savage black warrior went, and he didn’t want him to be harmed. Unlike the other two, he respected the warrior for wanting his own space. He may not respect his fighting style but he understood the need for peace and quiet.

He activated his flurry feet, making himself faster while his feet produced no sound. He hopped up the tree and started scaling it. Once he made it to the top he jumped towards another tree and then another, slowly reaching the unknown threat. He climbed through the branches and realized the black knight was there, casually reading a large book with pictures of demons and strange symbols. He reached for his sword, no matter who saw this they’d be suspicious.

Derb saw the metal tip of the blade go down next to his neck, too close for him to be able to react. “What are you doing here?” That was all that was said. Derb tried turning around to speak but the blade tapped his neck, a solid refusal. “I didn’t really feel the need to sleep after that battle so I came to check up on you three, I swear.” Derb wished he’d had his helmet on, but the thing made it so hard to see at night. “That doesn’t explain anything, why did you choose to leave us but returned once we were asleep.” Derb sighed, it was suspicious.

He flipped the pages of his book back, when he felt the blade again he scoffed. “I can’t kill you with a book, you know?” He came back to the folded note and necklace, neatly put back. “These are from my sisters, they gave me this after I left to remind me of them. You can read the note if you want.” Derb grabbed the white piece of paper and handed it to Derrick, who opened it with one hand. “Hey! Did you know you made Hannah cry when you were leaving! I’m also mad that you have to go for so long but it’s for the best. I’ll make sure to take care of Addy while you’re gone so make sure to come back soon. Maybe you can make her a-” Boyfriend was erased and scratched out, an obvious mistake. “-friend by the time you come back. Come back before Hannah cries again, so in less than half a year. I’ll be mad too if you don’t come back, ok?”

Derrick looked back at Derb only to see him with tears in his eyes. “I thought those two would be just fine without me, I didn't think they’d actually want to see me again. Look.” He pointed at the page where a giant, menacing wolf was. “This is Adalia, I gave it to one of my sisters because they cried about me taking it with me.” Snot was coming from his nose, his gauntlets too angular to properly wipe it away. “I guess Hannah also wanted one, To think the two would miss me this much...” He blew his nose into a nearby cloth, which happened to be Derrick’s clothes. “Wha- Hey!”

He jumped back a bit, he’d already put the sword away at the first sentence. This couldn’t be a bad man, he’d bite his tongue if he was wrong. This was still suspicious, though. “So why were you spying on us? Were you trying to test us to see if we’d run away with the map? Jenny wouldn’t do that.” Derb noticed he didn’t include himself or Frederick in that statement. “You could have asked for the map back if that’s what you were worried about.”

Derb raised his hands up apologetically “No, wait. I wasn’t suspicious or anything. I just didn’t have a tent or anything, I didn't want to bother you three so I just asked to be by myself.” He placed the necklace and note into the book, not trusting himself to not lose them. “If I was suspicious of you guys I wouldn’t have helped in the first place.” Derrick’s face looked complicated, Derb could tell he didn’t know if he could trust him, it was a pretty far fetched story-

Derrick placed his hands on Derb’s shoulders. “Were you kicked out, is that why you’re all alone?” Derb gawked at the misunderstanding. “I know how difficult some people are towards summoners, my brother probably thinks you’re evil.” Derb had no idea how to respond to that. “Wait, no. Teacher Gerald and Deitre don’t care about the fact I’m a summoner.” Gerald was pretty damn happy, actually. Derrick’s eyes looked pitiful, his mind probably coming up with a million stories a minute. Why were people so quick to come to conclusions?

“You don’t have to tell me, I’ve already been too nosy. You didn’t want us to pity you, right?” That wasn’t… no, that’s actually the truth. “Um, sorta. I didn’t want to cause you three any trouble.” He was relieved Derrick finally didn’t view him as suspicious. He’d be able to hang with the three until they reached Ooravile at this rate. “As long as that’s all, I'll make sure to keep Jenny and the others from annoying you too much, ok?” With that confusing line, Derrick jumped from the tree, landing with a spinning flair. Derb sighed and went back to reading, better to not think about it.

___

Morning came as light started flickering through the trees. Derb closed his book as he saw everyone in the camp was awake. With a simple hop from branch to branch, he made it down. It was amazing how easily he could move with snake eyes, if only the damn spell didn’t burn so much mana… He walked through a few bushes and made his way back into the camp. The three were taking their tents down, making conversation while doing so.

“We could have stayed in a nice house while I bought pretty girls drinks with my salary… why’d I get roped into this mess…” Frederick mumbled while tearing down his tent. It seemed he wasn’t a morning person. Jenny was about to snark back before she noticed the black knight appear behind them. “Be mindful! We have company.” Frederick turned to Derb and haughtily laughed. “I’m sure someone like him doesn’t mind a little noise.” Derb smiled at the inclusion.

“I don’t, honestly the silence while traveling was a bit lonesome...” He removed the helmet, showing his honest expression. The two just smiled awkwardly, it was jarring to see such an honest man under such sinister armor. The two were surprised when Derrick, of all people, walked up to him.”You were out in the woods for a while, are you sure you don’t want a change of clothes?” Derb shook his head. “The armor cleans itself, and cleans me with it.”

The armor’s self-repair property seemed to have a large set of uses. It slowly removed any foreign entity from the armor and set it back to normal, this included the dirt underneath. He didn’t know why it didn’t affect the clothes underneath, however, only removing the grime from them as well. That seemed enough for Derrick. “As long as you’re good, man. Let’s head out.” With a slap in the back that hurt him more than Derb, Derrick set off. Frederick and Jenny gawked at their usually quiet companion.

“What happened to you two?” Jenny asked, both she and Derrick thought that the black knight wanted to keep his distance. They didn’t expect him to get friendly with the least sociable person in their group. “We just had a heart to heart last night… It's really nothing.” Derb walked to his horse to set things up, the two looking at him with a bit of suspicion. They immediately ran to Derrick to ask what happened. “Derrick, you ass. How did you even talk to him last night!? Did you go to his camp or something?” Frederick shouted.

The question made him laugh. “He wasn’t in a camp, the man prefers to sleep in the open. I felt his presence with ‘scouting winds’ and went to talk to him, that’s all.” The two looked at him weirdly, “He was stalking our camp? You’re not dumb enough to actually think-” He interrupted her with a glare. “I met him and he showed me he was a good man. He’s a brother, just like us, Frederick.” Frederick groaned, what did the black knight tell him to have him so defensive? “Whatever you saw, I'm sure it wouldn’t hurt if we were more on guard.”

Derrick nodded. “He showed me a note with a necklace, it had his two sister’s best regards to his trip. They were too embarrassed to properly bid him farewell so they hid it in his book.” The two looked at him with shock. Such a cute story from someone with such malicious armor? “I know that look, I'm surprised as well. I’m starting to suspect he didn’t choose that armor on his own.” The two nodded, before any of them left their teachers had them choose a set of armor. They’d all chosen a warrior's garb, even Jenny who was a mage.

Derrick suddenly gasped, was he able to tell this to them? He turned to warn them not to say anything only to realize Derb was already beside them, maybe they wouldn’t say anythi- “Hey, can I read your sister’s note? I’m too curious now that I know you have a family.” He facepalmed at Jenny’s overly friendly attitude. Derb stepped back a bit and looked at Derrick with betrayed eyes. He apologized silently behind the two, knowing this was going to cause a ruckus. “It’s nothing, really. Those two were more trouble than they were worth either way...”

Derrick flinched at the words, he knew exactly how he felt. Frederick didn’t let up, and soon everyone was rereading the cute words of Tiffany. Somewhere in the village was a girl waking up feeling like something really embarrassing was happening... Derb showed him the note to make himself seem like a good person. He didn’t want everyone knowing about his new personal treasure! “That’s all, you three. What happened to being mindful of your guests?”

That made Jenny remember another thing Derrick said. “Oh, yeah! Derrick said you didn’t have a tent! We could have you sleep in one of ours, why didn’t you just say so before.” This time Derb snapped, “You told them I didn't have a place to sleep!? I thought you understood that I didn't want to bother them!?” Derrick raised his arms to block his face, both in shame and from violence. “I just told them you’d rather sleep in the open! You were the one that mentioned lack of equipment!” Derb opened his mouth to shout, realized he was being rude, and then shut it again. These were strangers, he needed to be mindful.

“I’m sorry for acting so out of line, it was unbecoming of me. Let’s head out, shall we?” He headed for his horse, sighing a breath of relief. He’d almost become too comfortable and acted as he did with the sisters. They’d find it weird if he acted like that too soon. Best he’d show his good side for a bit more before he started acting close. Hell, he might not even see them after this trip, something to think about as he packed his things.

___

“Dude, how did you mess it up so bad?” Frederick asked the extremely depressed Derrick. The armored knight hadn’t spoken to them since they’d started moving again. He’d just been reading his book and using mysterious spells that didn’t seem to do anything. Derrick, head buried in his arms while trying to make himself as small as possible, thought the whole debacle was his fault. “I should have known that was personal information. He just seemed so open about it that I assumed he wouldn’t mind...”

Frederick nodded, “You did have a sword to his neck, though. Let us not forget that small part.” The sarcasm laced in his voice was unwarranted, and Derrick made himself even smaller. “Stop teasing him, you dunce. Can’t you see how bad he feels about this?” Jenny put her arm on his back, consoling him. “It’s not your fault you-… He probably isn’t as mad as you thi-... it’ll be fine if you just apologize, I’m sure!” Derrick grinned as his brother only groaned in agony, Jenny only making things worse.

__

Damn, he knew he shouldn’t have been so harsh but he didn’t think the man would be so distraught over the whole ordeal. How was Derb supposed to act with them consoling the poor warrior like that? He pulled the hood over his head just to make sure they wouldn’t see him staring. He’d just finished a ritual that made anything on it spin in a circle. It was possibly the most inane spell he’d found and he desperately tried to find a use for it. After a half-hour of useless struggling, he turned back to the cart just to see the same scene.

He sighed and started dismounting to make up with the man before a screech filled the air. He looked up to find Connor desperately fighting off three giant bats. Without thinking, Derb dropped his helmet and gauntlets, the only two things that could be removed fast enough, and jumped towards the tallest tree. He’d had the rabbit spell on but the boar spell made him heavy enough for the horse spirit to almost buckle under the strength. Connor saw his master coming and panicked at the thought of him being hurt. He cast a quick debuff on the bats at the cost of his left arm, anything to cause him less harm.

Derb’s mind exploded in anger at the sight of his precious companion in such a bloody state. He unsheathed his sword and burst forward with all his strength, slashing a bat clean in half. He grabbed another by the leg right before he fell and brought it down with him. He threw away his sword as he violently grabbed the right wing of the monstrous animal, it sunk its teeth into his arms and scratched at his head but he didn’t care. He released the rabbit spell as he tore off one of the wings, his cloak’s dark affinity and Connor’s weakening spell making that barely possible.

He crashed into the ground first, cushioning the bat demon’s fall. He stood up dazed, he hit his head pretty hard going down without his helmet. He saw the bat that had been tearing into Connor trying to limp away, he knew he wasn’t going to let that happen. He ran forward and grabbed the other arm, making sure it wouldn’t go anywhere. It turned its head only to see his face full of anger, and a metal boot aimed right for its head. With a sickening crunch, he let go, exhausted and out of mana. He’d been using snake eyes the whole fight and despite it only being a few minutes it still almost bottomed him out.

Connor dove in after him as soon as he finished off the third bat, it had been easy now that he wasn’t being surrounded. He went down and found his master lying bloody from both his hands and face. He cried in alarm as he reached him, checking the wounds and cursing himself for being too slow. Derb just laughed and pushed his incubus away. “Come on, Connor. You’re way worse off than me, let me see your arm.” It was bad, gushing blood profusely. He couldn’t stand to look at the wound anymore. “Connor, I’m sending you to sleep for now, ok?” With a cry of complaint, Connor was sent into his soul, slowly healing the wounded demon.

Shortly after he did so he heard shouting appear from his back. “By the divines are you alright!? You fell almost fifty feet!” Jenny was the first to come at his side, a bottle of antiseptics in one hand. She dabbed at his face and arm, slowly cleaning away the blood. “When we heard you hit the ground we assumed you met your maker,” Frederick said. Derrick slapped his rude brother. “We’re… glad to see you made it out ok, we can have you sit on the cart until you feel better, no need to risk a fall off your horse.”

Derb shook his head, standing up. “I’ll be fine, I just… need to lie… lie down for a...” He collapsed forwards, Jenny barely holding him up. The two brothers soon ran forward as well, “What happened to him? Did the fall hurt him that badly?” Jenny put his limp arm around her shoulder, “That doesn’t matter right now, help me get him to the cart.” The two complied as they each took the side and back. Jenny looked at the arm she was holding, two deep holes pierced the forearm, she feared the worst.