“So, we find the heart of the demon.” Mouse raised his hands straight in front of him, trying to process this new information.

“Uh huh.”

“We bring it back to the guild commissioner.” He moved his hands to the left. Taiga nodded. “And we get the reward?”

“Yep.”

Mouse didn’t see why they needed to do this extra step. Why couldn’t they just find and kill the demon, go back, and get paid?

“The heart is used for medicine. They grind it up and use it as a salve to treat corruption burns.”

“So the mission isn’t to kill the demon, it’s to get a demon heart?” Why didn’t the mission just say that? Maybe it did, and he didn’t read that part. He thought it was perfect, and had left it up to Taiga to sign up for it.

“Well, it’s both. They need the demon killed, and the heart is a way to prove that kill. And it has another, extremely valuable use.”

“Are we getting paid for the value of the heart?”

Taiga paused, bit his lip, and sighed, “I don’t think so. I guess the guild’s gotta make money somehow.”

“But they get paid to post missions, don’t they?”

“And we’re getting free room and board. It’s a fair enough trade.” Taiga waved him off. Mouse didn’t understand. Weren’t they always in need of money? Isn’t this why he couldn’t buy more apples on their way out of town?

He sighed, cracking his neck. He should have checked those demons for hearts back when they were protecting the merchants. But neither of them knew about it back then. He wondered if that was why he saw the loud woman’s husband sneaking to the bodies after they were all dead. How annoying.

They passed through the gate of Winolin, and he ignored the line of people waiting to get in. The commissioner said they just needed to walk right to the gate, show their license, and walk in on their way back. He looked forward to all the humans watching them skip the line. It would be splendid.

Taiga paused ahead of him, so Mouse took the opportunity to sneak an apple from his pack. He bit into it while Taiga unfolded his map, checking the sun, then looked back to his map.

“The commissioner said this mission isn’t too far north. So let’s head down this road,” he pointed towards the end of the line, “then head to the right at a path. I remember seeing one yesterday on our way into town.”

Mouse shrugged, “sure.”

Taiga turned to him while he refolded his map. “Let’s hope we don’t get lost.”

Sure enough, not more than a hundred meters down the road, a small dirt path led in between the fields. They followed it until it tapered off, and continued through the grassy fields.

Around them, the ruins of old homes and buildings dotted the landscape. Mouse peeked into one as they passed, though only the remains of charred wood and fallen roof tiles lay nestled in the cozy brick framework.

“Looks like a fire took these,” he added after checking another building on their way.

Taiga nodded, “uncontrolled fire only leaves carnage in its wake. And fire under control should never be trusted.”

Mouse made no reply and instead hopped off the brick and back beside Taiga. He stepped forward, looking over Taiga’s face and trying to read it. But Taiga noticed, turning to him and flashing him an awkward smile before pushing Mouse’s face away with his hand.

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“I’m fine, stop worrying.”

“I’m not worried.” He turned away, though he drew his eyes back towards Taiga’s.

He laughed, “then what do you call all this?” Taiga paused, looking ahead of them.

Mouse followed his gaze, only seeing the greens of the grass flowing in the gentle breeze. But as he opened his mouth to speak, rustling caught his ear. He whirled around, inching to one of the dilapidated buildings, freezing at every rustle.

“The demon.” Mouse waved Taiga over, who still looked out further ahead.

“There’s more beyond this hill.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know,” Taiga snipped, “grass can’t count.”

Mouse snuck to a pillar of the building, the rustling growing as he neared. He pulled his half-metal sword out, carrying it like an extension of his arm. He pressed his back to the pillar, silencing his breaths and steps.

The rustle quieted, a crick on splintered wood, a ‘ssss’ sound of scales sliding over the brick. A click, then another. A few more, and he knew its location. Coming closer, around the pillar.

Mouse looked up, finding grooves in the stone to heave himself up, and pulling his weight over the edge of where the roof once stood. Below, the long talons of a demon appeared from the edge of the pillar, clacking over the side he’d sat by.

Continuous clicks sounded in a stream of noise, and Mouse moved back from his perch. From holes in a shattered piece of roof, he barely made out the black scales before it slithered around the pillar. He measured it at least a meter and a half in length; far larger than those they’d seen in the fields before.

Taiga had drawn his sword, though his eyes still focused ahead of them. Mouse couldn’t see anything from his vantage point other than more ruins, and kept his focus on the current threat. Taiga could worry about whatever lay ahead of them.

He glanced below him to where the demon had slithered to, but all he found was grass and charred wood. No demon. He stilled, listening for any sign of it, but nothing.

How could he have lost it? His senses were above a human’s, and above Taiga’s unless they were in his domain like now. If his ears couldn’t pick it up, he’d use his eyes. He stood atop his pillar, gazing around below him and upon the fragments of roof still in place, though no looming shadows made themselves known.

The clicks gave itself away. Directly below him, the demon slithered up the pillar, its legs latched to the brick. Its tongue shot at him, wrapping itself around his leg, and dragging him down. He yanked away, trying to get it off, but the tongue, like sap, refused to separate.

He’d checked beneath him. He’d looked anywhere the demon could have been, and it had not been there. And yet—

He smacked the wooden edge of his sword against the tongue, but it only bounced off. His skin burned as the demon’s saliva soaked through his pants, and he gritted his teeth before trying a new tactic.

Mouse grabbed the tongue between his leg and the demon’s mouth, and jerked up. His hand sizzled as the tongue slipped between his fingers. He clenched harder, digging his nails into the soft under-tongue, and tore it from the demon’s mouth with all his strength.

The demon resisted, its talons embedded too deeply into the brick to be moved. But the tongue ripped, the thick muscles snapping apart as he pulled, and blue blood gushed between snagged flesh. It unhitched itself, taking a swipe at Mouse in a desperate attempt to free the remainder of its tongue, but Mouse would not relent.

He twirled the loosened tongue around his wrist, tightening his hold, and swung his sword down in the split muscles. A whack and splurt, and the parted tongue hung free in his hand. He huffed, biting back as the acid made its way further into his flesh.

The demon screamed, or it would if the blood didn’t gurgle in its throat as it struggled off the pillar to spill the blood from itself. He hopped down beside it, letting out a breath and ripping the tongue from his arm.

“Not sure what you expected to accomplish with that, but I assume you failed?” He chuckled at the demon as it clawed across the grass in a meager attempt to escape him.

“You done?” Taiga eyed him for a short distance away, sword still in hand. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes glided over the demon, to Mouse, then to the tongue on the ground.

“Almost.” Mouse smiled, wiping a speck of demon blood off his chin that began burning.

The demon croaked, a call of clicks and screeches. It crawled from them, and Mouse took a few steps to keep up with it. He blinked from Taiga, back to the demon, watching it choke on its own blood.

“What about the other demons?” He asked when he lost interest.

Taiga shook his head, “the grass can’t keep track of them when they aren’t directly on it. They’re somewhere out that way.” He pointed out where he’d been watching since the warning.

“Let’s kill this one and—” In less than a moment, the demon turned, made eye contact, and vanished.

Before Mouse could react, Taiga spun around, grabbed his arm and yanked behind him. The demon, once ahead and bleeding out, now appeared behind them, tongue intact, ripping into Taiga’s arm.