“Hey, Luqa, how else may I help?” Shara asked while I stuffed the last of our supplies into our packs. We had returned to Arnulf’s cottage after a couple of days’ journey from the heart of the Northern Forests, and we were now making preparations for our departure.

“That should be everythi— woah? When did you find the time to change into that?” I said as I glanced at her. She had gone from wearing just a spare long tunic I gave her two days ago to an outfit consisting of a long-sleeved shirt and loosely-fitted trousers ending in ankle cuffs, with a hooded cloak over the whole ensemble. Her tail was visible, poking out and hanging from the hem of her pants.

“Just now. I am wearing this correctly, no?” she asked.

“Yes, but where did you get that?”

“In that cabinet over there.” She pointed at Arnulf’s cabinet. Part of me wanted to reprimand her for rummaging through a dead man’s closet, but I stopped myself, realizing that I was doing the very same thing for much of our supplies.

I can’t wait for a Weaponmaster ghost to haunt my dreams for this…

“So have you any comments regarding my current appearance?” she asked as she spun around, her arms stretched out.

“Not bad,” I said as I glanced quickly at her before fastening a worn leather vest over my shirt.

“Dull you can be at times, Luqa,” she said, “though I’ll take it. But this sensation never does not feel strange to me.” She pinched the fabric of her trousers. “How do you bear being clad in these?”

“Just get used to it,” I said as I secured my curved sword on my hip. “You’re a proud gryphon, so you can do it, right?”

“I know those words are meant to be disparaging of me,” she said, “but you leave me no choice but to accept your provocation! I will suffer the customs of mortal fashion.”

Opening a heavy wooden chest, I dug through the varied stash within until I found two single-edged steel daggers, one of which I passed to Shara, who secured it to her belt.

“Do you also want a weapon aside from that dagger?” I asked.

“It has been a while since I have wielded mortal weaponry,” she said, “but I shall take one if that is possible.” She walked up to the wall displaying a collection of Arnulf’s prized weapons. “May I?” she asked, pointing to a spear with side protrusions from the base of the spearhead. It was a partisan crafted in the style of Golden Age Voralten weaponry, according to Arnulf.

The Paladin had told me before his death, according to his own words, “to do whatever the hell I wanted” with his weapons. I opted to keep most of them here, though I would appropriate a couple for our own use.

It’s what the Weaponmaster would have wanted, right? For these old, yet well-made weapons to see further use and not simply rust away in the middle of nowhere…

“Are you sure you can use that partisan? Just because it looks fancy and dangerous doesn’t me—” I asked in a sardonic tone before Shara began spinning and twirling the weapon in her hands. Finishing, she held the sharp end of the partisan pointed right at my neck.

“Well, what say you about this?”

“Okay, okay, I was going to let you take it anyway,” I said, backing away with a nervous grin. “And that flashy display doesn’t really mean you’re skilled in battle with it.”

“That is true, so let this gryphon prove herself later!”

“I’ll be looking forward to seeing your skills later, then. But how’d you even know how to use a spear?” I asked while browsing the many swords Arnulf had hung up on the wall.

“Family.” She kept her answer curt, her voice low.

Where is it… ah! Here.

I picked up an estoc, a thrusting sword characteristic of the Millieun Empire. I examined the thin blade before sheathing it and taking it with me.

“You intend to have two swords?”

“Mhmm,” I said. “My scimitar will be my main weapon, but I’ll keep this to widen my options. One for slashing, one for thrusting. I’ve spent time learning, so I should take advantage and have a good repertoire.”

“Learning from that Weaponmaster you told me of, no? Why did the Demon King reborn choose to train specifically under him?”

“Simple, he was the best at what he did,” I said confidently. After securing the estoc onto my belt, I picked up one last thing: my mother’s staff, which was bundled in cloth. “Let’s go now.”

“Let us be off!”

As I passed by Arnulf’s grave, I left a small earthen doll I made in the past few days. It was a crude figure of a man holding a spear in one hand and a sword in the other.

Thanks for everything again, old man. I swear I’ll be back to pay my respects.

“So, where exactly are we headed?” Shara asked.

“Before heading for the city of Lefke, we’ll be headed for this village, it should be by this lake here if I’m remembering what I heard a couple of years ago correctly.” I pulled out a crude map, sketched from my old memories. “There’s something I need to deal with there first.”

***

A demon woman with a lizard-like tail carried two heavy pails of water as she strode down a dirt path. The village she walked through was eerily quiet. Windows of empty homes stared at her, reminding her of the people they had lost those three years ago. Of the large group of men led by that foolish demon boy, for the delusional purpose of “conquest.”

Entering her home, she moved to enter the kitchen, passing first through the workroom where her sister and daughter sat.

“Daria, something’s happened. There’s a couple o’ visitors from outside. Right by the edge, near Nazir’s house. A bit… suspicious, they are,” her sister suddenly said.

“Hmm, ‘s that so? Gimme a minute,” Daria said. She left the buckets inside the kitchen, wiped off her sweat with an old rag, and walked to the exit, before finding her six-year-old daughter behind her, clutching to her dress.

“Mama, can I come, please?” the girl asked nicely, her tail wagging in hope.

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“Alright, sweetie. You can come,” Daria said with a gentle smile as she picked her daughter. “But you better behave, ‘kay?”

“Mhmm!” The girl nodded.

Weaving through the paths of the village, she quickly spotted the two visitors, who were surrounded by a commotion of tailed demons, most of whom were middle-aged women and young children.

“You’s up to no good. Outta here!”

“This boy ain’t even a demon… he’s a half-blood. Don’t trust ‘im one bit.”

“You were speaking human earlier amongst yourselves, we dun’t want anythin’ to do with ya!”

“Wait, wait, please I just want to talk. It’s very important, please!” a white-haired boy carrying a staff begged. Beside him was a teenage girl with a lion’s tail, snickering to herself as she watched the situation unfold before her.

“Then why’s that girl there laughing suspiciously to herself, huh?” a fiery old woman asked.

“I, uh, please just ignore my foolish companion. Really, we don’t mean any harm!” the boy said as he looked at his companion with annoyed eyes, causing her only to laugh even harder.

“Haha, oh, I am rather sorry, Luqa, but I just can not handle myself!” She continued giggling.

“Please, everyone, what’s going on ‘ere?” Daria walked through the crowd towards the two strangers. “What are you two ‘ere for?” she asked cautiously.

The white-haired boy coughed, composing himself.

“My name is Luqa, and my companion here is called Shara. I come from the horned demons’ village.”

Upon hearing those words, the tailed demons grew tense. Daria eyed the two swords the boy carried as well as the long spear the girl behind him held, before clutching her daughter closer, her hands trembling in fear. “Please… we… we already lost our husbands… we—”

“No, I am not here to harm you, so please don’t be scared,” the boy said in a soft tone. “Does the name Malachi mean anything to you?”

Daria’s eyes widened.

“He was my son… And he… He hurt many innocent people in your village, didn’t he?”

“Please, it’s okay. May we talk somewhere else? I’ll explain the full of it,” the boy said.

***

“Is that… true? Oh, Cyrus…” Daria muttered under her breath as the boy’s words sunk in.

“I’m afraid so,” the boy named Luqa said. Beside him, the girl named Shara sat quietly, having heard of the story of the fight with the tailed demons’ and the Holy Knights’ invasion for the first time just now. “Most of them seemed to be captured alive by the Holy Knights, but I ran away without finding out what was truly going on.”

“…No, we owe you lots, Luqa,” Daria said while bowing her head. “Going through the wastelands to tell us this… You’re a brave boy, ain’t you?”

“…Thank you,” Luqa said after a moment of silence. “But, still, your village may be in danger as well. These Holy Knights, their goal wasn’t to destroy our village but to capture demons. You should head somewhere else, please.”

“But that foolish son of mine's done you so much harm…”

“It wasn’t his fault.”

“Huh?”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Luqa said solemnly. “That black sword that he found those years ago, it cursed him, granting him extraordinary power while twisting his mind. So, please, don’t regret that you ever had him as your son.”

“Is that really true? How'd you know that?” Daria’s stoic facade started to crumble, tearing up as well. “It wasn’t his fault?”

“It was thanks to Clara, the human mage who was a guardian in our village. She could tell what had occurred with the boy. Though I’m sorry that he couldn’t be saved. It was an unfortunate accident. I’m truly sorry for your loss, miss Daria.” As Luqa said these words, Shara eyed him curiously, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “So please, let me help you and the others here. I want the remaining people of your village to escape the fate of my village. Please.”

“I understand, Luqa. Thank you for telling me this,” Daria said in between sobs. “And you’re right, if there’s even a little risk, we should move outta here. But the women and children of ‘ere… I don’t know if they’ll make the journey.”

“I’ll protect them, I swear,” the boy said as wisps of flame and icicles formed and floated around him. “I can use human magic. And that girl next to me, she’s a famed and veteran adventure despite her looks.”

“Then, if you’re really up to it, then I’ll do my best to convince everyone here. It might take a couple of days, though,” she said as she took the boy’s hands. “Luqa, I cannot thank you enough. The family of your village… I bet they would’ve been proud to see what a heroic and generous boy you’ve become.”

***

I sunk into my bed, grateful for the accommodations we were given for tonight. In the bed next to mine, Shara was sprawled out as well, hugging a pillow to her chest tightly, enjoying its fluffiness.

“Man, what a long day…”

“Truly was so. You almost had us chased out of the village!” Shara giggled.

“That was because you weren’t helping me out!”

“Maybe so, but I had thought they would be willing to confide more in someone who had demon blood. And though my inherent wisdom lends me the ability to understand the language of the demons, I speak the language not. So I am quite sorry I could not help,” she said in a tone that said she was anything but.

“Keep this up, lion girl, and I won’t cook for you anymore,” I said.

“Agh! I— I— I am truly sorry, then,” she stammered, “I will not do such a thing anymore! I swear on the name of the gryphons.”

“Hmm, you better.”

After only a minute of laying on the bed, my eyelids began feeling heavy. The almost two weeks of journeying here from the Northern Forests had absolutely tired me out. Before I could drift into sleep, however, Shara spoke up.

“So, Luqa, why did you feed lies to that woman and her daughter?”

“What?”

“You concealed the truth from them when you spoke of her son. I could tell.”

“I can’t get past you, huh?” I said. “You know how I told you that ape from before had a fragment of my soul? The thing is, my reincarnation spell wasn’t fully successful. Much of my soul still remains as fragments beyond my possession, scattered throughout the continent. And that boy happened to pick up a fragment that was stored in an Avestan sword he picked up.”

“Oh… I see.” Shara’s slightly confrontational tone lost its edge.

“Yes. It was my fault that that boy gained extraordinary power, called himself Malachi, and oppressed the people of this village before gathering men to invade ours.”

“Luqa…”

“And it was my fault this village lost half its people, to be taken by the Holy Knights. That their fates are left in the hands of such cruel people.”

“Luqa.”

“And it was again all my fault that that woman had to hear that her son was killed and her husband taken captive in some far-off place. My fault that her family was torn apart. It’s only my responsibility to deal with everyth—”

“Luqa!” Shara sprung up from her bed and stared me down with melancholic eyes. “That is enough! You must stop with that self-flagellation. That manner of thinking will only tear you apart.”

“But—”

“But I know I can not stop it. That is just the type of person you seem to be.” She lay in my bed beside me. “You seem to be one who cannot help but berate yourself and doubt everything you do. The type who will take upon more than he can handle due to a twisted sense of responsibility. And a few simple words can not reverse such a manner of living. I understand that. But do not let it overwhelm your life and prevent you from doing the good you could do. I have already seen firsthand some of the good you are capable of.”

What… what does she know?! But… I can’t argue against that.

“If you wish to wallow in your self-hatred, then at least verbalize it to me instead of letting such horrible thoughts stew within. I shall be willing to listen. That is what a companion is for, after all, no?” She shifted her body, looking at me.

“I… fine,” I said, scratching my head. “I guess my bouts of self-pity can get annoying. And if you’re really willing to subject yourself to listening to me, that’s your choice then, I guess.”

“It is.” Her warm gaze met my eyes. We remained quiet, enjoying the companionable silence that came over.

“Luqa.” Shara interrupted the silence.

“Uh, huh?” Her voice took me out of my reverie.

“I have something quite important and personal to say to you,” she whispered in a sultry tone.

“Y-Yes?”

Now, where is this going?! If it’s really that, I’m still technically a young boy! Stop!

“May I say it?” She leaned in closer.

“Sure?” I gulped.

Okay, if she really tries something, I’ll lock her in a chokehold, leave her unconscious, make my escape, and hope she forgets tonight’s foolishness!

Shara swept her hair from her face before opening her lips.

“Malaqa or Lulachi?”

“Huh?”

What.

“I ask of you, Malaqa or Lulachi?”

“That’s what you wanted to ask? What’s a Malaqa?! Or a Lulachi?!”

“Why such surprise? What did you think I would ask?” she said while smiling knowingly. “See, I happened to be pondering. Your previous name was Malachi but you are currently Luqa. I was contemplating a fitting name incorporating the characteristics of both.”

I… I don’t understand how this girl’s mind works…

“I am more prone to Lulachi, myself. But I wanted your input naturally,” she continued, obviously proud of herself for thinking of the two names.

…but, she’s not so bad to be around. Did she start this silliness to take my mind off my ranting earlier?

“Hahaha!” I laughed, releasing my tension. “Oh, Shara, you can be really amusing sometimes.”

“Very correct! So which is it?”

“I’ll stick with Luqa. It was the name my mother insisted on after all. If she was still around, I think I’d bring her to tears if I changed my name.”

“Hmph, I forget you happen to be a mother’s boy. But I guess no choice happens to be a choice, dear Lulachi.”

“Please never call me that again.”