Next day, beyond the Eastern Ranges, on the outskirts of a village…

Early morning dew rests on the tall grass and the blanket of yellowy leaves covering the forest floor.

Crunch…

The mostly-dry leaves rustle softly as Falcon cautiously walks over them. His step is soft, but deliberate, feeling for the ground before committing to shifting his weight to the front foot.

「Falcon… Haahhh… How much farther?…」

Willow calls out from behind him, shambling slowly while leaning heavily onto his walking staff, out of breath.

「What makes you think I know for certain, Willow? I told you I have a rough idea where they might be.」

The young swordsman glances over his shoulder at the elderly mage sluggishly trailing behind.

「Ngehh… I just crossed an oh-so-perilous pass twice…」

The old man tops to take a breath, and glances over his shoulder down the hill. In the distance far below, faintly visible between the tall trees, there lies a half-razed village and rice paddies.

「…And now you're making me trek mountains again. No respect, kindness, or mercy for the old whatsoever!」

He adds, briefly wagging his walking staff at the swordsman ahead. Falcon stares at him with a calm, expressionless face.

「…You know you could just ask her Divine Embodiment to let you retire? She'd allow it.」「Geh.」

Falcon remarks then continues onward, leaving Willow wincing.

「As if I'd retire… I intend to die in service… Though that'll hopefully be in the palace, cozy, and sipping tea with a nice rainy weather.」

With a sigh, Willow follows, leaning onto his staff each step. After a moment of relative silence broken only by the faint rustling of fallen leaves, Falcon stops in his tracks.

「Chin up, old man. You just might get your chance…」

Falcon says as he looks through the trees at an opening of a cave in the distance.

「Oh dear…」

Willow lets out another resigned sigh, and follows Falcon to it. As they get closer, the signs of the cave being lived-in become apparent. Dried blood stains the cave's rock floor where the dirt and gravel meet to turn to solid stone, and large bones of cattle or beasts are discarded conspicuously by the entrance. The two stop for a few moments and listen carefully, swiveling their heads around for signs of movement. After hearing nothing but wailing wind, Falcon turns his calm eyes to Willow's fatigued face.

「Light please…」

The swordsman says as he walks in, hand on his sheathed sword's hilt. Willow sighs.

「Yes, yes…」

The old mage nods, then follows him in while muttering under his breath.

「『Illumination』!」

Just few seconds later, Willow speaks with a loud and clear voice. A bright orb begins floating around him in a slow orbit, casting pale light onto the surprisingly spacious rock tunnel. The blood on the ground trails for a while longer, before fading away. Perhaps whatever that was being dragged inside stopped bleeding. Every now and then, the old man looks over his shoulder with a cautious gaze as they delve deeper in.

The cave opens up. Falcon and Willow arrive at a large cavern with a ceiling so high, that the spell's light can't reach it. The air is filled with a damp, musty smell, and there is a faint but distinct enough sound of dripping water coming from somewhere indescript. They continue onward, and realize that the cavern has multiple passages leading deeper into the cave.

「So… Which one do we take?」

Willow asks while stroking his small beard.

「Which one do you have a good feeling about, old man?」

Falcon glances at him as he asks. The old mage thinks for a few seconds while looking at the branching paths.

「…That one. Can't exactly tell you why, but I like that one.」

Willow points his thin, wrinkly finger at a passage off to their side, then leans onto his staff.

「Then, let's go here…」

The young swordsman says and walks into the passage right in front of them with a light smirk on his face.

「Wha-? But- Then why ask-? Ahh, never mind…」

Willow shakes his head and simply follows. His staff clanks on the stone floor with every few steps as he supports his weight on it.

「I trust your gut feeling. If you feel that tunnel is safe, your instinct is probably correct…」

The swordsman replies while staring ahead into the darkness as they walk through the narrowing tunnel.

「…I have a bad feeling about this tunnel too, but… We're not here to have fun exploring a cave…」

He continues while they squeeze through a narrow opening into another cavern, though much smaller than the previous one.

「…We're here to eradicate them.」

Falcon adds as he draws his curving sword. A fatigued fiend is dozing off while sitting on the floor. When the light hits its half-open reddish-orange eyes, it wakes back up and shoots up to its bare, thin, elongated and clawed feet. Its head with curved, ram-like horns turns to the rest of the fiends lying asleep on the floor.

「Xarax! Xanuraxu! Xarax!-」

Swish.

The demon shouts, but before it can finish, Falcon's blade slides through its neck as if it was not even there. Its head sails off in an arc with a trail of blood following after it.

Crack.

The demon's hard horns impact the rock floor with a loud noise, and the head rolls away. The rest of the fiends gradually begin to wake up, groggy and alarmed, but Falcon does not wait.

Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish!

Taking full advantage of catching the demons off-guard, he runs along them while they're scrambling to get up to their feet. One after another, they lose their heads in his wake.

Swish-Fwoop!

As he runs up to roughly their center, one demon wakes enough to swipe its claws at him. As if anticipating it, Falcon leans out of its way while he slashes at its neck.

Thud!

The demon's head lands at his feet, bleeding profusely. The fiends are screaming something in their demonic language both at each other, as well as at Willow and Falcon. The rest of them are now wide awake and ready to fight, numbering in at least three dozens more. Half as many severed heads litter the floor as Falcon retreats back to Willow, taking position in front of him and slightly off to his left, sword at the ready.

「Are you done yet?-」

「『Fireball』!」

Falcon asks, but Willow cuts him off by shouting the spell's name while pointing his palm at the bulk of the demons. A small ball of flame at his palm quickly swells to the size of a basketball, then shoots out towards them. The fiends are taken aback by the suddenness of the spell, as it was just a moment ago that Falcon was hacking through their ranks. With absolutely no reprieve, the ball of flame impacts one of the frontmost demons, splashing all over it like a mass of water flung out of a bucket. The flames quickly begin eating away at at least a dozen and a half more.

While the cave fills with ear-piercing screams of demonic agony, the fiends that were spared charge wildly in a mass attack.

Willow begins muttering under his breath with his palm now pointing at the charging mob of demons.

From the darkness at the side, a cunning demon that was unnoticed by them both leaps out of the shadows, claws outstretched towards Willow's throat. He glances into its red-tinged amber eyes.

Falcon steps in and flicks its sword at the fiend, nearly bisecting it with a diagonal slash from his sheath. Willow's face and robes get splashed with its blood as Falcon quickly sidesteps and lets the mangled corpse drop limp with a surprised expression on its pale, thin face. Lacking a nose to speak of, blood spews out of its vertical slits for nostrils. The old mage quickly turns his attention back to the charging horde.

「『Fireball』!」

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He shouts again. The demons try to slide to a stop, some try to leap out of the way, but it's already far too late. With barely any distance between them, the flames' travel is nearly instantaneous. The fire covers the band of demons, causing them to jump and flail in pain, screaming while they boil inside and their pale blue skin chars through red to black. With only a handful of demons remaining, Falcon charges in through the heat. Just like at the village, they offer only paltry resistance, quickly losing their clawed limbs while defending themselves, then their horned heads.

Crack!… Pop!… Pop!…

The musty and damp smell of the cave is very quickly replaced with a smoky smell of charred flesh. Flames dance on the curled up shriveling bodies while the ceiling quickly fills with smoke.

「Let's get out of here before we choke, old man…」

Splat.

Falcon forcefully flicks his blood-coated blade aside, splashing the floor red like as if it were canvas for paint, and his sword a brush.

「…It'll be weeks before I can get rid of this smell. Now I have an excuse to visit the bathhouse again. He he…」

He grins as he turns around and jogs back to the cavern's exit. Covering his mouth with his robes, Willow follows, and the two make a hasty exit back to the antechamber.

「Did I really have to get splashed with that thing's blood, Falcon?」

The old mage asks as he looks at his blood-soaked sleeve. He wipes his face with it, and scrunches his mouth when he realizes that his face is covered with it too.

「You know my blessing's limitation, Willow…」

The swordsman calmly replies.

「I see… It can't be helped, then-」

Willow sighs and returns a resigned sigh.

「…I just thought that it'd be funny if you too got dirty while working. Heheheh!」

Falcon adds, cackling with a grin while jogging away from the narrow, smoking passage.

「You little-! No respect for elders! No manners! Lecher! Good grief, what a disgrace!」

The old man wildly swings his staff at Falcon from behind him. Falcon effortlessly steps out of the way with each swing despite not even looking his way. They return to the large antechamber.

「…Now what?」

Willow asks, shaking his head in disapproval as he leans onto his staff.

「Now we see if there's any more of them. Come, let's check this one…」

Falcon shrugs his armored shoulders and waves with his hand for the old mage to follow.

「…You better not intentionally let me get dirty again.」

Willow sighs, grumbling as he follows after the young man…

…

An hour later…

Falcon and Willow are heading towards the cave's exit, both almost entirely covered in blood.

「…I know I've said this before, but your gut feeling is really, really bad, old-timer.」

Falcon turns his fatigued, blood-spattered face to the old mage.

「Yes, yes, yes…」

Willow nods in reply, as well dismissively waving his hand.

「At least now the demon problem should be solved. We now have an excuse to slack off a day or two in the village- Hm?」

The young swordsman stops in his tracks, only to abruptly sprint off towards the exit.

「Eh? What?」

Confused, the old man asks. He looks nervously over his shoulder, then jogs after him, unable to match his breakneck speed.

「…Hold it right there! Stop!」

Falcon shouts as he dashes out of the cave and towards the slope off to the side. A few moments later, Willow runs out as well.

「Wait! What's going on!?… Good grief!…」

The mage calls out, chasing after him at a sluggish pace.

Falcon stops at the hill's crest, his eyes scan left and right wildly for a few moments. He then clicks his tongue and eases his wary stance.

「Tsk… Again… This time I'm sure of it…」

He mutters under his breath as Willow finally manages to catch up, panting heavily.

「Haah… What? What did you see?….」

The old mage asks, then leans onto his staff to catch his breath.

「That figure again. I saw it here, but then it disappeared down there, and now I can't find it.」

Falcon replies with a calm tone and serious eyes turned towards him.

「Are you sure? Absolutely certain?」

Willow furrows his brows, straightening out.

「Absolutely. There is no mistaking it. I only saw a glimpse, but I'm sure it was the same figure as the one stalking the village…」

The young man nods, then turns his gaze to the sunrise above the mountains in the distance.

「…The only questions I have now are who, and why.」

Falcon adds, glancing at Willow, before heading back to the village…

…

Around the same time, in Redwing Kingdom, outside the palace…

Right outside the gate, two very ornate carriages padded in decorative leather approach the palace gate. The plumed guard holds his palm out towards the driver at the front.

「Halt!… Who are you?」

He asks as he walks up to the driver's side, warily watching the man and the second carriage behind him.

「We are the diplomatic mission from Rankor Kingdom. I'm sure you were informed?…」

The driver replies, gently furrowing his brows at the guard.

「…Aye, we were. Go on through.」

The guard nods, then waves the carriages in as he returns to his spot by the gate. A group of maids approaches the visitors as soon as they roll to a stop. The driver hops off and opens the carriage.

「…We have arrived, your majesty.」

The driver bows, holding the door open. A young man dressed in regal attire steps out with an air of superiority about him. A maid runs off to the palace to fetch the honor guard.

「Welcome, King Rankor. Queen Cycelia has been expecting you, although we thought that you'd arrive yesterday…」

Both of the maids bow, while the older one talks.

「Good… Good. We had carriage issues. I will apologize to her personally.」

King Rankor nods his head, grimacing a little as he looks around the palace perimeter again while his two attendants hold his inconveniently long royal mantle.

A few moments later, the palace doors swing open, and a whole formation of red-plumed guards marches out in a lockstep, their sabatons clattering loudly.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!…

「King Rankor, if you would come with us…」

The maids straighten out, and with her hand, the senior one presents the young king a carpet that was rolled out ahead of time.

「…Of course.」

He nods and steps onto it, surrounded on both sides by Cycelia's armored guards standing at attention. Confused, the maid looks around in search for something.

「…Your highness, are you not accompanied by guards?」

She asks, noting only the presence of unarmored and quite mundane-looking officials.

「No. Now that I know the queen's disposition, the guards are an unnecessary ball and chain. I had them escort me to the border and turn around.」

He replies with his chin held high. The senior maid quickly rushes up to his side in small hops, then points her hand at the open palace doors with a polite bow of her head…