“Be careful, don’t trip. Wouldn’t like to see you tumble down endlessly, as funny as that might be,” I remarked. Cautiously, I descended down the rather steep slope, holding onto trees as anchors for a safe descent.

“Well, if you find that might be funny, shall I pull you down with me and send us both tumbling? That would be two-fold the hilarity, no?” Shara responded from behind and above me.

“Please don’t take my words that seriously. And I mean please.”

“I would never dream to do so. And, in kind, don’t take my own words too seriously, as well.”

“Heh, you got me ther–” My foot caught on a branch, causing me to tumble over. Instinctively, my black wings sprung from my back. With measured flaps, I ascended. In the air, I steadied myself before setting myself down on the ground once more. “That’s what I get for not listening to my own words,” I said with a sigh of shame.

“…How could I forget? You are gifted with flight. Why have we not simply flown over this cursed hill?” she asked, baffled, with widened eyes.

“Hey, it’s less fun. Flying with these wings is more troublesome than it looks. They’re not actually meant for long duration flight like that of birds,” I said, grinning. “And, most importantly, I wanted to bask in a bit of nostalgia trekking through here on foot, y’know?”

“Fair enough. I’ll let the little boy do his reminiscing.”

“I’ll bet a fair fortune that this little boy won’t be so little in a few years, just you watch, lion girl!”

“I meant ‘little’ in another way. Like ‘little’ common-sense or ‘little’ intellect. Or just like the little understanding you have of my words!”

“I’ll shut my mouth and end this conversation if such undeserved abuse keeps coming at me,” I said. “Let us be silent and enjoy the beauty of the cicadas’ melody, shall we?” My mouth curved up into a wicked smile.

“Urk! No, no, I apologize, dear companion of mine,” Shara said nervously.

“You can’t keep pulling this companion card to justify anything you want, dear ‘companion’!” I chuckled. I was enjoying her squirming more than I should.

“W-wait! We still have a topic of conversation, remember?! I requested that you reveal something in return for me telling you what occurred between me and Lord Phoebus, remember?” she stammered.

“Uh… huh. I did promise that. But, in the spirit of our apologies to each other, you acknowledge that that matter with that Phoebus fellow was something you should have told me anyway. I declare it null! Return to silence, we shall!”

“Ack! Nooo!” Baffled, Shara made sounds I never knew she could make. “Brute! You’re a cruel, brutish boy… Agh… the cicadas… their horrid cry…”

Suddenly, my thoughts suggested something to me.

“Well, I guess we can renew this promise of ours. With one added item. You’ll have to allow me to ask about something else. That fair with you?” I looked at her discomforted face with a sympathetic smile. I could be kind to her when I wanted, right?

“Fair deal! Whatever to distract my sharp ears! However, let me pose my question first. Is that satisfactory?” she said, ease returning to her.

“Sure, works for me,” I said with a candid shrug.

“I have been wondering. Why did we depart from the tailed demons right before entering the Citadel?” Hearing her question, I glanced up at her. She wore an expression of genuine curiosity. “It was almost as if you feared going even near those walls.”

I went silent, opting to continue scaling down the hill wordlessly, if only for a moment.

“I guess I owe you an explanation. You see these white strands of hair of mine?” I twirled a finger through my bangs. “It’s a rare feature among demons. This is only my suspicion, but I’m fairly sure I’m related to a certain clan of powerful demons. If I enter those walls, I will certainly catch unwanted, unknown eyes. I don’t yet want to involve myself in the politicking of demons. Not when I have unfinished important business. And definitely not when I still need to build up my power.”

“Hmph, fair enough. But is that all?” The steep slope had flattened out. Our descent was complete. Shara caught up to me, and the two of us now walk side-by-side. “Never forget how discerning my eyes are. You’re holding back another, more important reason, aren’t you?” A quick glance saw Shara’s golden eyes, fixed on me. The color with which her irises shone was almost unnatural. Of course. At times, I forgot her true nature.

“You’re right…”

My eyes went downcast. I recalled it all. The bloodstained fight against Phoebus. The fight in which I was tempted to leave Farah to her death to give myself a better chance at survival. Mixed with my farewell to the tailed demons, in which they saw me off with smiles. In which Farah said tearful goodbye with overflowing affection. The memories of it all mixed terribly.

To stay by their side, even a little longer, I couldn’t bear it. In the end, I was but a shell of lies. I was weak. To accompany them to celebration within those walls? To enjoy the lively city of demons? I would feel hollow doing so.

“I didn’t deserve it.” My words rang out weakly. “Someone like me, to be their guardian? Preposterous. I’m not fit for it.”

“Luqa… you…” She held her breath as she looked at me with concern.

But as much as I felt this way, I hated feeling as such all the more. And Shara had probably had enough of such “self-flagellation”, as she called it.

“Ah, hey, okay, I’ll tone down the brooding,” I chuckled. There was something amusing I found in all of it, somehow. “To put it bluntly, I don’t think I deserved to enter those walls with them. So, in the meantime, I’ll find a way to be more deserving… I guess.”

“Luqa… I understand.” She let out her breath in a sigh of relief.

“I guess I’ve been thinking a lot about the past couple weeks’ events, perhaps a bit too much. I’ve even been recalling the words of someone who was precious to me in my previous life. Her words, I never truly lived up to them. When I can live up to her words is when I can stop being ashamed of what happened… I guess.”

“Really? Would you mind recounting the words of this precious one to you?” Shara was uncharacteristically gentle. She examined me with kind, comforting eyes. Seeing them, I decided that fate had a sense of humor. Those soft eyes overlapped with the very image of the Shara I knew as Malachi.

“Haha, it’s a bit embarrassing. This ‘precious one’, she called me the ‘shield protecting all of demonkind’.” Looking to see her reaction, I saw nothing but understanding.

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“I see.” A complex, heavy expression. This kind girl, was she the true Shara? Maybe she and Shara Vasalic, Malachi’s loved one, weren’t so different.

“Really? I’m glad… you can understand. Until I can live up to those words, I won’t hold myself worthy. Until I am the shield wh–”

“Hahaha!” All of a sudden, Shara burst out laughing. “Haha! I-I’m so-sorry!”

“…Don’t tell me. You found it cheesy?” My illusions of the girl beside me vanished to dust. I decided then and there that shared names meant absolutely nothing when it came to predicting the similarities between two people.

“I-I apologies! Oh, my sides!” she continued laughing. “I shouldn’t laugh, I know. You were recounting something of great personal import, something I should absolutely not make light of. But… but… the shield… hahaha! S-sorry, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be laughing. I don’t even q-quite know what I found funny. Hahaha…”

Her reaction caused furious blushing on my part. But I couldn’t be petty enough to be angry at her. Her words of apology were genuine and her laughter was pure, harmless amusement. And it was… pleasant to hear, in a way.

“Haha,” I began chuckling. “You’re right, I shouldn’t take myself too seriously. Now… it’s my turn to ask something, right?”

“Haha… oh, yes, correct…” She wiped away a tear from her eye as her laughter died out. “Yes, so what is it?”

As we strolled through the trees, shadows on the ground alternating with sun rays, I reflected. This was a chance to learn about Shara, who was usually so secretive.

“Since I’ll be showing you my home village, tell me,” I said, “about where you were born.”

The amused smile Shara wore grew smaller. She became quiet. Not only quiet in the sense of being speechless, but her eyes, her expression, her tiny smile, it was all completely quiet in tone.

“I suppose after all this time, I wouldn’t mind sharing.” Her voice lacked the sharp, witty confidence I was familiar with. It was wispy, as if the words could be lost to the winds if careful attention wasn’t placed. “My place of birth… I simply lack knowledge of it.”

Her words stopped, but I remained silent, listening to her. And her legs, like her words, had stopped in their tracks as well.

“The answer is, I don’t know, Luqa. I believe the way to explain it would be to say that one day, I was awake, and there I was. Lying on the beaches of a still lake, naked under the moonlight. I knew my name. I knew my heritage. If that is a birth, I suppose that lake was my place of birth. But was that my true birth? Was that truly where it all started? That,” she said, “I know not.” Seeing my dejected expression, she smiled sadly. “Apologies, I did not mean to ramble on.”

Hurriedly, she began walking ahead of me, her arms behind her back. Never before had she seemed like her physical appearance, so unlike the powerful being she declared herself as.

“Hey, Shara,” I called out to her as I jogged to catch up. “…Thanks for telling me. And remember what you said a while ago? A companion should be willing to listen, right? It shouldn’t be one-sided.”

“Hm?” At my words, she simply hummed in wonder. Her eyes still wore a somber spirit.

“You’re willing to listen to me and my ramblings, as painful as I know that is sometimes. So, uh, let me listen to you, too,” I said, somewhat stumbling on my words. This was difficult. Was I sounding comforting? “I guess that’s only if you’re willing to tell.”

Unexpectedly, her fingers poked at the edges of my mouth. And twisted them upwards, forcing me into a smile.

“Uh, Shara?”

“Thank you.” Those two words were said quietly, but, nevertheless, they sounded weighty. “Now, enough of that, let us turn that frown upwards. Return to your birth place, with a smile, after all!” And back she was to her usual self.

“Heh, gotcha!”

As if signaled by her words, a few steps further and we had arrived. The ground ahead of us sloped down, revealing the remnant village lying by the river’s waters. We were on the top of a forested hill, looking down at the wooden houses huddled by the river, concentrated around a stone bridge that connected the opposing riverbanks. And on a neighboring, lower hill would be my old home.

Cautiously, I turned on my mystic eye.

And my eyebrows furrowed at what they saw.

My mystic eye registered the presence of humans. One by one, I saw the mana signature of beings that filled the quiet village. All of them humans, not a single demon. As I glimpsed closer, I caught sight of figures walking through the village’s paths.

“Shara, wait. There’s unwanted company.” I thrust an arm in front of her to urge her to halt.

“[Sight]”

Using a spell to enhance vision, I crouched and took a closer look. A few of the figures were clad in armor. And banners decorated certain homes. It was a crest depicting a gryphon, sword in hand, and flag in the other. It was none other than the symbol of the Holy Knights of the Goddess. It was plastered all over this village whose population they had terrorized and taken captive.

My hand clenched into a tight fist at the very sight of the crest. My thoughts ran without my control. Several impulses suggested themself.

The impulse to run in, take one captive, and question them.

The impulse to catch them off guard and cut them all down, one-by-one.

The impulse to use magic to cause storms to blow them away, inferno to burn them all to the ground.

But I took three deep breaths to deliver the impulses away. I continued surveying the village from afar.

My mystic eye honed on two terrifying beings, with unbelievable power. The amount of mana that swirled within them was baffling. The sight of it was sobering. And I couldn’t forget, these Holy Knights were capable of divine magic. It was that divine magic that crippled me into feebleness during that cruel night, one year ago. It weakened every single demon in the village. If this was a fight I dared to pick, it may very well be my last fight. Poetic, in a way. Luqa’s grave in Luqa’s birthplace.

“Hahaha…” Without a thought, I laughed quietly, for a reason that eluded me. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was to verbalize something, anything, to spur myself to action, any action I could in the face of this absurdity. “What the hell am I supposed to do here, now?”

“Hmm, what’s wrong, Luqa? Could you use your spell of Sight on me? I would like to take a look as well.” Drawing closer, Shara stood by me, leaning forwards to catch a closer look of the village, supporting herself with a hand on my shoulder.

My eye focused on one of the powerful beings I sensed. It was a knight, with slicked back blonde hair, his back towards us.

Suddenly, he turned, facing our way. And smiled. His eyes were locked dead-straight with mine.

“Shit!”

He quickly grabbed a javelin set against a house near him and threw it directly in our direction. I hurriedly pulled Shara back. The next instant, the javelin impaled the tree by which Shara was just standing. The deafening impact sent splinters and bark flying everywhere.

“Damn it, it’s too dangerous. Let’s get out of here!” I sprouted my wings, carried Shara from under her arms, and flew with hurried swiftness. If I weren’t so terrified, I’d be uncontrollably angry.

That smiling knight… I could never forget his face.

***

“Excuse me, Sir Claude, but m-my javelin! That was mine, sir!” An armored man cried out in protest to another knight, who simply looked on into the hills with enduring interest. Eventually, he turned towards the speaker with an easy grin.

“Haha! Sorry, I just saw some unsavory beasts up in the hills,” the other replied, scratching his head casually. “Not a big fan of creepy little monsters watching us. A bit paranoid, sorry! Ooh, and sorry too bout that javelin of yours. I’ll make sure to repay you, Jean.” Claude’s smile was unnervingly wide. It was a smile of realization.

That white-haired boy had survived after all. And the look in his eyes had grown more ferocious, more fit to Claude’s tastes. Had he roamed these forests all this time like a beast?

“Uh, Sir Claude?”

Humming with joy, he simply gave Jean a friendly pat on the shoulder and walked away. He strolled through the village happily. Oh, how, Claude awaited the future, the bright, bright future. His right hand itched uncontrollably in anticipation of this future.

Thinking, his eyes narrowed as he did his best to remember the white-haired boy’s features. He needed to recognize him in the future. After all, this shining, knightly hero needed dastardly, monstrous foes to fight against. What was a hero without a villain?

“Hmmm, now I just need his name. What was his name? Pretty sure I’ve heard it somewhere… Remember, Claude, remember…”