Finally, Damien was heading for the edge of the world.

It felt like he had been on this quest to meet the Shadow Crusaders for forever. After all, he had first heard about their monopoly over the gateway to Medul about a week or so after arriving in Extim. He had traveled quick and fast, meeting Elana not long after. But then she got injured, unable to recover until he brought her back to Archmage Fornus.

After that, there was the whole debacle with the Inquisitors. But now, finally, there were no longer any hurdles. No more obstacles. Damien could actually traverse through the mist wall to the edge of the world.

There was absolutely nothing he was possibly forgetting about… right?

Damien shook his head, dismissing the nudging thought in the back of his mind. Instead, he turned his attention to Aria who was eyeing Elana curiously. The little demon girl tugged at Lena’s arms and pointed at the elderly woman.

“Mama, papa, who’s the strange old hag?” Aria asked.

Elana’s brows snapped together. “Who are you calling an old hag? I’ll have you know, I’m barely even a hundred years old!”

“That’s so old…” Aria gave a flat stare to the elderly lady.

Lena just scratched the back of her head when she heard that, remaining silent. Damien chuckled as he gave her a knowing look. She glared daggers at him, making it clear that he should remain silent.

So Damien did that, then turned to Aria instead. “Don’t call people, Aria. You have to be polite, remember?”

“Fine…” Aria harrumphed as she crossed her arms.

“So tell me more about the mistwall, Elana,” Damien said as he turned to the [Enchantress]. “Why exactly is it going to be difficult to cross the mistwall?”

“I’m sure you already know, the dangers of the mistwall are not the monsters that lurk within it. Although, indeed, there are quite a few fearsome beasts within.” Elana began to explain as she walked forward.

The group was making their way down a dirt road, not in any particular rush. Damien had a lot of questions he still had to ask Elana as of right now. Once he had everything figured out, he could just carry everyone else and run to the edge of the world.

Aria and Lena would be fine with the pace. Although, Elana would probably complain a bit. But Damien was fine with dealing with her complaints as long as he arrived at his destination as soon as possible.

Elana continued, “And while I am sure you can handle these beasts yourself, I am unsure if you would want to bring your… family with you”

“Don’t worry, they can handle themselves just fine.” Damien waved a hand off dismissively. “Tell me more— if these monsters aren’t the biggest threats within the mistwall, then what is?”

Elana wagged a finger as she started, “That is—”

But before she could finish speaking, Damien’s eyes flickered. His head snapped back as he spotted a familiar figure leaping out of the trees. It moved quickly, but Aria reacted even quicker.

The little demon girl immediately intercepted the figure, knocking the shadow out of the air, before pinning it to the ground. She snarled as she raised a clawed hand, and her hood fell from covering her head. The figure squeaked right as she was about to swing down.

But Damien exclaimed, “Aria, don’t!”

Blinking, Aria paused with her claws an inch right before the figure’s face. It was a man. A large man who wore a helmet to cover his face.

It was Ulric.

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And he was panting as he stared up at the little demon girl standing on his chest.

“I… I— what?” Ulric spoke in his tinny voice, staring up at Aria.

Elana blinked a few times too, taking in the face of the little demon girl without her hood. “You’re not human,” she breathed.

Damien and Lena just exchanged a hesitant glance as Aria scratched the back of her head, realizing her mistake.

“Oops,” the little demon girl said.

***

“Sorry for surprising you like that,” Ulric said as he scratched the back of his helmet. “By the time I found out you had returned to Verne, you had already left. So I had to chase you guys down.”

“It’s fine.” Damien sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “More importantly, are you not surprised to see… you know?”

Glancing to the side, Damien eyed Aria who was being reprimanded by Lena. The Leviathan-turned-human wasn’t yelling, per se. But her tone made it extremely clear that she was disappointed in the little demon girl.

“Aria, I told you that you need to be careful around other people!”

“I-I’m sorry, mama…”

“Because of this, you’re not allowed to go hunting for the next week!”

“What? But mama—”

“No buts!”

Damien pursed his lips as he watched Aria’s shoulder sag, before he looked back towards Ulric. The former assassin didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that Aria was a demon— not that he even knew what a demon was.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t perturbed by her appearance at all.

Ulric shrugged back at Damien. “Personally, I would never judge someone based on their appearance. So you don’t need to worry about me. You should be more worried about…”

Both Damien and Ulric looked towards Elana who was sitting to the side on a rock. She was rubbing her eyes, before looking up at Aria once again.

“Yep, I’m definitely not crazy…” the elderly lady shook her head. “They are the ones who are crazy for sure.”

“Hey, uh, Elana, are you alright?” Damien called out to her.

Elana’s gaze snapped up as she glared at him. “Am I alright? I’ve never seen or heard of anything that even looks remotely like that thing, and I’ve been around for a long time!”

“I’m a thing?” Aria blinked, tilting her head back at the elderly lady.

Lena frowned at that. “Take that back! Aria is my precious and beautiful daughter!”

“You are most definitely not even blood related!” Elana exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air.

“We’re… we’re not?” Aria’s eyes widened.

And Lena immediately covered the little demon girl’s ears. “Don’t listen to that wicked old lady! She’s lying!”

Elana opened her mouth to retort, but Damien sighed as he stepped between them.

“Look, I understand Aria isn’t exactly… a normal girl…”

“You can say that again,” the elderly lady huffed.

“But Aria is still my daughter, and she is still a child. Please try to be understanding of her. Especially since we’re going to be traveling together for a while to get through the mistwall.” Damien met Elana’s gaze.

He spoke pleadingly. And the elderly lady hesitated for a moment. She glanced between Damien, then looked towards Lena and Aria. Finally, Elana relented.

“Fine. I won’t make a big deal out of this, even though it’s quite literally a big deal.”

“Thank you.” Damien smiled back at her.

“But—” Elana raised a hand as she looked back at him. “You must make sure your daughter does not eat me when we’re sleeping. Is that understood?”

“Sure.” Damien nodded back at her. “Aria doesn’t eat humans… probably.”

“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that last part,” Elana sighed.

Now that that was resolved. Damien turned his attention back to Ulric. The former assassin was looking antsy, evidently about to speak up.

“And don’t worry, Ulric, you can tag along with us,” Damien said simply.

The giant of a man perked up like he was a puppy. “Are you really really really sure?”

“I mean, as long as you don’t slow us down, sure, why not?” Damien gave him a reassuring look. “I don’t want you to get arrested again, after everything you’ve done to help me out.”

“I promise, I won’t slow you down!” Ulric said as he bowed his head, practically touching the ground with his helmet.

“Alright.” Damien clapped his hands together, drawing the attention of everyone in this little party that had formed. “Now that that’s all been settled. Let’s get going. I want to reach the edge of the world by the end of the week.”

Elana shook her head as she straightened. “Unfortunately, that is very much unlikely to happen. For you see, traversing the mistwall will take quite some time…”

“Oh? Tell me more—”