-Human-Demon Peace Party-

[A bi-annual conference held by the two Realms’ governments.

Representatives from both the Human Lords and the Demon Parliament

travel to the opposite capitals and hold a conference in an effort

to keep the peace between realms.]

Two days after Oroske, Nadred, Kared, Jarou, and I returned from our Hunt in the City of Towers, a very large poster was put up on the Hunt Board. The poster detailed the upcoming Human-Demon Peace Party, which was starting in three days. It had a header that talked about the event, with two columns underneath. The column on the left had “Human Team” boldly written at the top, and the right column had a matching “Demon Team.” On the Demon Team side, Oroske, Kared, and my names were all written at the top, clearly printed out at the same time as the rest of the poster. Our names were the only names printed out in such a way on that side, and the Human Team had only one: Rel. Under those printed names, on both sides, were a small handful of handwritten names. “You and Nadred aren’t going?” I asked Jarou, who had been focusing on resting and recovering from his injuries.

“If I can, I’d like to,” he responded, not moving his eyes off the board, covered by his hair from where I stood. “Unfortunately I haven’t been cleared to go out on Hunts again. The Clan healers said my recovery is going well, though! So maybe I’ll be ok to go by then.”

“Hopefully, it would be weird to go without you,” I said. I realized that since meeting him after being revived, the longest I had gone without seeing or talking to him was just under a week.

His injuries had been healing well, but he sustained a lot of internal damage, and we were told it would take some time for it to heal. The healers from the Clan explained that the attacks he was hit with were Holy magic. According to them and Nadred, Holy magic was devised by Humans in a time long before our world was born. It was created to combat the Demons, and it works by igniting their blood. As Half-Demons, it works on us the same way. This meant that most of the damage Holy magic caused was on the inside, and with blood veins being burnt, recovery took a lot of time, and there was only so much that magic could do to help. And so, he and Nadred were out of work until he was cleared by the healers to return to the field.

Oroske and I, on the other hand, in addition to Kared, were appointed by Danfis personally to make the journey to Ish’din, the Demon Realm’s capitol city. Despite not being a Red Cloak, Oroske is apparently one of Danfis’s most trusted. Danfis requested Oroske and Kared act together as the Clan’s primary representatives in the Human-Demon Peace Party. As we had this special appointment, Oroske and I remained within Tsumi’din, to avoid getting stuck out on a Hunt and subsequently missing the event.

“Still not cleared to go out, Jarou?” Oroske said as he approached us, with Nadred in tow. Jarou shook his head in response as Oroske examined the Hunt Board.

“Ah, Rel’s going to the Royal City, eh? Guess none of us got to go to our preferred sides.” He commented, also mentioning his surprise at the people who signed up to go with us to Ish’din. I did recognize the two names on our side, Ranfa and her apprentice, Fyr, and for Rel’s side, he was the only one I recognized. I had only met the Red Cloak once, and it was a very brief meeting. I looked forward to meeting more members of the Clan. Ever since I had been revived, I hadn’t had many opportunities to meet people, and just looking around the central plaza of Tsumi’din at any time, on any day was enough for me to know the Clan was much bigger than I would have thought.

“What do you mean by your preferred sides?” I asked Oroske.

“Ah, for our own reasons, neither Kared nor I are terribly fond of Ish’din,” He began explaining, “And likewise, Rel isn’t a fan of the Royal City. Though, I suppose it would be more accurate to say he isn’t a fan of the Human Realm in general.”

“Why not?”

“Well, to put it simply, they aren’t fans of him either. He’s one of few members of the Clan whose reputation precedes them over there. And it’s not exactly a positive reputation, either.” He told me if I wanted more details I’d have to ask him myself sometime.

As he finished his explanation, a timid voice spoke up behind us.

“Excuse me, can you move? Please?”

I turned around and was met with two familiar faces, Ari, the girl who got her Navy Cloak the same day I did, and her mentor, Xeron. “There ya go, Ari!” Her mentor cheered, “See, it’s not that bad. Could have been a bit firmer though.

“Ah, Xeron, our bad, we’ll get out of your way,” Oroske said, as he stepped back, pulling me back with him. “Looking to sign up for the Peace Party?”

“Bingo,” Xeron said as he and Ari stepped up to the board, “So Ari, which group do you want to join?” She looked up at the sign, flicking her eyes between the two columns, clearly putting serious thought into it, humming as she was thinking.

“The Human group has less people signed up, so I guess that one?” She finally said after almost a minute.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna go in Kuro’s group?” Xeron teased. I didn’t really get why, but she seemed flustered. She shook her head and confirmed her choice. Xeron nodded and casually pulled a pen out of his Demon Sheath, and wrote their names on the board.

“At this rate, the board will be full by the end of the day,” Oroske chuckled, “Usually it doesn’t fill till the last day.”

“Haha, yeah,” Xeron laughed, “Well, we’ve got prep work to do. See you guys around!” He guided Ari away, lifting his hand in farewell.

After they left, Oroske spoke again, “Well, I suppose we probably should start getting ready as well. Wanna grab some lunch before training?” The training part only involved me, but the question of lunch was directed at Nadred and Jarou as well. They accepted the offer, and Oroske led us to a shop just off the main street.

After eating lunch, the four of us went back to mine and Oroske’s home. There I spent the day training. I sparred with Oroske, and Nadred assisted me with magic training. The two also worked together to train Jarou and I in acceleration, using a method that didn’t strain Jarou’s body. By the end of the day I was starting to get the hang of it, and Jarou was starting to build up his endurance with it.

The next two days were more of the same. Jarou lamented throughout both days how he wished he could do more than watch me spar and passively train his acceleration.

On the third day, Nadred and Jarou didn’t come over. We also ended our training around midday, as the human representatives for the Peace Party arrived. After receiving word that they had, we traveled to the central plaza. There, around a dozen people in large, white cloaks were standing around. At the front of the group, a young looking man was speaking to Danfis. Going off of looks, he seemed to be only a few years older than me.

Oroske quickened his pace when he saw Danfis speaking to him, giving the two a silent greeting, so as not to interrupt.

“Ah, perfect,” Danfis said as we got close, “Raen, this is Oroske, he’ll be acting as our Clan’s primary representative.”

Raen turned to Oroske and I. He had a young looking face, framed by short, pinkish-red hair, and piercing blue eyes. “A pleasure to meet you, Oroske. I am Raen Sen’anum, seventh child of the Last King. I look forward to working with you.” He stretched out a hand, which Oroske took and shook.

“Likewise,” he said, before pushing me from behind him to infront of him, “This is my apprentice, Kuro. He’ll be coming along as well. I hope he can learn from you, in addition to the journey itself.”

Raen offered his hand to me as well, which I timidly shook. “It’s nice to meet you, Kuro.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I responded.

Danfis cleared his throat before speaking, “We’ll be holding the planning meeting at the HQ, in about an hour. Venn will be able to guide you to the conference room.” He turned to Raen, “Come, I’ll show you to your lodgings for the time being. We can discuss more on the way.”

Raen waved his hand, gesturing for his group to follow. The group marched behind the two leaders, and disappeared into the HQ.

“Guess we’ve got some time to kill,” Oroske said, thinking about what to do in the meantime.

“Yeah,” I mumbled, “I wonder what Jarou and Nadred are up to?”

And as if I had summoned them, the two appeared, walking out of the HQ. Jarou saw us first, and gave a big wave. We met up halfway, just out from the center of the plaza.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Nadred asked.

“Good, how about you two?” I responded.

They both responded favorably. “Just got some good news so that definitely helps,” Nadred followed up. Jarou raised his arm in the air as though declaring victory, “I got cleared to go with the Peace Party!” He exclaimed. He also said they already signed up to go with us to Ish’din.

“Oh awesome!” I celebrated with him.

“On the condition that he can’t fight or do anything physically demanding. So as long as he just walks with us he’ll be okay,” Nadred explained.

“Ah, gotcha,” Oroske nodded, “Well, hopefully we’ll have a nice, easy journey.”

Following Nadred chuckling, we chatted for a while, and decided to go to lunch until the planning meeting started. After some indecision, Oroske made the executive decision to go where we went a few days prior. Apparently the owner and Oroske were long time friends.

We ate our food, chatting about various things.

We finished before long, and made our way to the HQ. Venn welcomed us, and guided us to a large conference room on the first floor, which was very similar to the debriefing room for the Training Hunt I did not too long ago. Instead of having rows of tables and chairs, there was one large table with several chairs around it. It was similar to Danfis’s office on the second floor. On the table, a map of both realms was rolled out. Raen’s group all sat down on one side of the table. Danfis instructed the four of us to sit with him and Kared on his side. When Ranfa and Fyr came in shortly after, he had them do the same.

“Good, now that we’re all here,” Danfis started, standing up, “Let’s get started. I suggest taking the standard route, but if there are any additional stops you need to make along the way, this would be the time to say.” After giving people a moment to speak, and no one doing so, he continued. “Then I shall explain the route. I know many of you are familiar with the route already, but we do have people who have never gone.

“As is tradition, the party will walk from here to Ish’din over the course of a few days. You will start today, as soon as you are all ready to leave, and make your way to Al’din,” He traced his finger along the path leading out of Tsumi’din, quickly hitting the first town marker. “There, as usual, the party will hold a conference to learn of events and issues going on within the city and the neighboring villages. You’ll continue Westward from there,” he once again moved his finger along the map,” until you reach Fyrun. Host another forum there, and continue on, taking the Northern path out of town. At your discretion, you can choose to hold another forum at the village next to the bridge, or just pass through. Cross the bridge and go to Sanctis. There, you’ll hold your final forum and gain entry to Ish’din. The day after that, you’ll be there, and from there you should be able to handle everything on your own. Each of the major cities is about half a day, and you’ll probably spend half a day in each one. I’m sure I don’t need to, but I’d advise not to travel at night. Any questions for me before I go?” He finally finished his explanation with a question. When no one had any, he spoke again, “Very well. You all can coordinate and introduce yourselves to each other, and are free to depart when you are ready.”

Danfis left the room, and we were left to our own devices. Raen stood up, and introduced himself first. “Greetings everyone, I am Raen Sen’anum, seventh Lord of the Human Realm. This will be my first Peace Party acting as Lord, as previously I was too young, and had someone fill the position for me. I look forward to traveling and working with you all, and hope I can learn from you all.” He gave a deep bow, crossing one arm over his stomach. The others from his group bowed in a similar manner. One by one, they introduced themselves, and we followed suit.

We formed a plan to get to Ish’din quickly, traveling in the mornings and hosting forums in the evening. Al’din being as close as it is, we decided we’d leave tonight, giving ourselves an hour to buy any supplies we may need for the journey.

We went our separate ways to procure supplies. Oroske said he’d handle the shopping, if I’d run home and grab our bags.

An hour later, we met up at the gates to the Ishen Realm, and began our journey.