In the outskirts located west of Ravenwalt, Din and I set up a small camp to rest for the evening. I spent nearly the entire day talking with Din’s mother because I lost track of the time. As a ghost, I neither feel tired nor hunger so the only thing that made me realize the passage of time was when a nurse entered the room to close the curtains of the room.

“So they haven’t done anything to my mom, that’s a relief,” Din said as he swung his short sword in the air.

“Yeah, in fact, it looked like they took great care of her. Her ghost seemed happy there.”

Because we were so close to the town, we made sure to go far into the forest so we wouldn’t have to worry about being spotted. The campfire we had lit was only active for a bit to cook a hare Din had managed to catch.

Even though Din led a life served by servants, he would often go hunting and fishing with some of the servants on their days off. He had learned many skills due to that.

Just like now, I had only watched Din learn these skills. I never thought I would need to learn how to skin a hare or prepare it for a meal. Even for Din, I’m sure he was only doing it because he thought it’d be fun rather than to actually learn how to survive in a forest.

“Did my mom have anything to say to me?” Din asked suddenly.

He was out of breath from practicing his sword play. He wiped his sweat before turning to me.

“She wanted you to stay safe and to stay out of trouble.”

A slight smirk formed on his face. Without a word, he continued swinging his sword repetitively.

He practiced until the hare meat appeared ready to be eaten. After kicking dirt on the campfire, he enjoyed his meal.

“Did my mom remember anything from that night?”

Din was talking about the night of the break in.

“She mentioned the last thing she could recall was hiding with you under the bed, but then she just remembers waking up inside the hospital. And even though I could see her ghost, I could clearly see that her real body was breathing. I have no clue on how I could talk with her.”

“I… I don’t know how that can happen.”

“We were thinking since she was in a coma because her spirit had left her body and since I’m in a similar situation, I could see her spirit. The only difference seems to be the fact that she can’t travel far from her body while I don’t seem to have that limit. Could be just because my real body is dead.”

“That makes sense,” Din said while nodding his head. Rather than giving an affirmation to me, he seemed to be convincing himself.

Then suddenly, something jumped out of a bush nearby towards us. It was a girl with brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a large black hat that was too big for her and a white dress with a black vest. On her back was a heavy looking large bag.

She noticed Din as she came out of the bush and almost slipped in her boots when she tried stopping her forward momentum. She immediately rushed towards Din and hid behind him.

“Wha—who are you?!”

“Sir! I need your help real bad here!”

The girl pointed her index finger straight from where she jumped out of. Din focused his gaze there. I made sure to keep an eye on the girl just in case she was lying.

From the bush, a large man jumped out. He was muscular and his veins seemed like they might pop any minute now. He didn’t have a shirt on so you could clearly see his hairy arms and back. He was unusually hairy, hairier than any man I’ve seen, at least.

Then, his eyes caught my attention. He was a Spirit.

“Ahhh—!” The girl screamed.

“There you are.”

The man spoke in a monstrous voice. He started making his way towards the girl, who was still cowering behind Din.

Din raised his sword towards the man and warned him, “I don’t know what’s going on, but if you step any further, I will fight you.”

“Who the hell are you?”

Din remained silent.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill you too.”

The man got on all fours before leaping straight towards Din like some kind of an animal. Luckily, Din had been warming up before then as he barely managed to move to the side while also pulling the girl away.

In a matter of seconds, the man had already rushed past them while Din and the girl were on the ground from having to move so suddenly.

Without giving a chance for Din to get back on his feet, the man leaped again. Din saw he had no way of dodging so he held his sword high with both hands, pointing the tip straight at the man.

Noticing the sword, the man stopped his leap and jumped over Din instead.

Even with how much the man appeared to be a beast, I guess even he was wary of a sword.

Din stood back on both his feet, but his breathing was unstable. Had the man been able to hit him?

“Your reaction is fast, boy, I’ll give you that. But don’t think you can dodge all my attacks.”

Rather than jumping straight towards Din, the man leapt to the side and then immediately behind Din and then finally, straight at Din. Din was able to turn, but he couldn’t react to dodge. He was punched from the back and with the speed the man was leaping at, it was enough to knock the air out of him, causing him to drop his sword.

Din fell on the floor and then rolled down the slight slope on the grass floor before being stopped by a tree. I couldn’t tell whether he was alive. Din remained motionless under the tree.

I moved towards him and quickly checked if he was alive. To my relief, he was breathing albeit appeared to be in pain. I tried grabbing him by the shoulders but my hands only phased through him.

“Din, you have to get up!” I yelled.

“What the hell?! When did you get there?!” The man screamed suddenly.

I turned towards him to notice that he was looking at me.

“A ghost? No, you’re a demon just like me.”

Even the girl seemed to be able to see me as well. She was backed up against a tree and shaken with fear.

“What’s a demon like you doing travelling with him?” The man asked as he got on his hands and feet once again. He was prepared to jump depending on my answer.

“He’s my friend. We don’t want to fight you, mister. We don’t know why you’re chasing that girl, but we won’t stop you!”

Even though it felt wrong to desert her like that, I couldn’t see any way he could leave us alone. Even if Din were to wake up right now, there was no way he’d be able to fight him. The result will be the same as before.

“Hm… if you won’t be interfering, then that’s fine. I’d rather not involve outsiders into my business anyways.”

The man got back on his two feet and started walking towards the girl.

“Please, protect me!” The girl pleaded.

“Stop!” I don’t know what got into me to yell that out, but somehow I did.

The man turned around towards me.

“Why are you after her?” I asked. If there was a way we could solve this peacefully, then that would be the best possible outcome.

To my surprise, he answered, “Because of this bitch, my wife left me. I’ll make her wish she never talked to my wife in the first place.”

“I already wish that, sir. I’m so sorry about what happened. Really!”

The man quickly turned towards the girl, giving her a threatening glare.

“Ah—!” The girl began screaming but covered her own mouth.

“How did she cause your wife to leave you, sir?”

The man sighed, but he answered regardless, “The day I turned into a demon, I was with my wife, Rosalina. We were having our two-year anniversary that night. Even after my eyes turned into this, my wife wasn’t too bothered by them. She said it made me look tough and hot.”

“Hot?” I muttered under my breath.

“It wasn’t until she met this bitch that she changed her mind!” He grabbed the girl by her vest and pulled her closer, “This bitch told Rosalina that having black eyes meant I was a demon and that she should report me to the guards.”

While holding the girl up with one hand, he covered his face with the other. “My poor Rosalina believed her and I was surrounded by guards before I could even say anything. I was chased out of my own home for god’s sake!”

He slammed his foot onto the ground multiple times. “Now do you understand why I want to kill her?!”

I nodded. I completely understood his intentions.

“W-wait! Please! I didn’t tell her to call the guards on you! I only told her that other people told me to watch out for people with those same black eyes. Please, I was only trying to warn her.”

Noticing that the man had relaxed his grip on her, she continued, “I’ve been hearing tons of rumors about those black eyes, about how they’re demons and that they received those eyes from the devil himself. Your wife was a nice customer and when she mentioned her husband having black eyes, I couldn’t help myself but to warn her. Please understand, sir!”

She was crying her eyes out while trying to prevent getting chocked by the man. From her point of view, she was only trying to warn Rosalina, without knowing too much about the situations of Spirits.

The man dropped the girl, causing her to land on her butt. He paused to think for a moment. After a while, he said, “Rosalina was the type to always act before think. So she took your warning to heart before even checking the validity of these rumors.”

“Right, right!”

“How stupid!” He yelled. “There’s no way I’d be worshipping the devil. I’m a priest for fuck’s sake! Damn that woman needs to use her brain for once.”

The man suddenly started walking away.

I asked, “Where’re you going?”

“I have to have a talk with my wife. I can make her come to her senses.”

“But the guards would still be after you.”

He gave a pound to his chest before answering, “As long as I’m with my wife, we can run away anywhere. Maybe we’ll move to Zante or Mesotic.”

With a finger pointed at the girl, he warned, “Better watch out what you say to people in the future, girl. Words can ruin people’s lives sometimes. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, then be silent.”

With that, he walked towards Ravenwalt.

A long sigh of relief left the girl after the man disappeared from view. She said, “Thank you for—”

She suddenly stopped midsentence before approaching me.

“Where’d she go?” The girl whispered.

Could she not see me anymore? I moved my hands in front of her but it didn’t seem like she could see me.

“Oh, right! Hey, mister, are you okay?”

She walked towards Din, who was groaning at the moment. She shook him furiously, which woke Din up with a shock.

“W-what’s going on?!”

“Thanks for saving me, sir,” she thanked.

“Huh?”

Din looked at me with a confused expression, but I could only sigh, as we had somehow avoided such a dangerous event.