The fragrance on the air after a heavy rain are somewhat unique, the earthly bitter smell of watered grass and dampen dust has a particular effect of calming one's mind. The sun just barely escaped from the clutch of the dark clouds, forming pillars of light that try to make its way to the ground. Some of those light has to struggle not to be blocked by the reddening leaves in this forest that are largely made up by chinquapin trees. On a road that cuts this forest in half can be seen a puddle of murky water, clearly the sign of rain in this place not too long ago. The usual white noise that can be found when travelling by the forest that made up by birds, insects and alike are not present, likely they are still hiding and sleeping in wherever nests they have. The only sound on this road are made by a pair of straw sandal-strapped feet and a wooden staff belong to quite a tall and large figure wearing a priest-like black outer robe.

The figure is wearing a bamboo hat on his head that clearly large enough to shelter him from the nauseating-sunlight in the summer and the rude biting of autumn's rain, or even the soft gentle touch of the cold falling snow in winter's time. The multi-purpose hat was designed in a round shape to cover his face so he can incur the curiosity of passerby that sees him. "A dangerous man" usually that was the thought that passed people's mind when they see him — well that and "He's ugly", but there's also people who thinks he's the combination of both. In this turmoil times when war ravages the country, it is common to find disfigured person on the street. Most of these people were ex-soldiers that desert the army ranks and roamed around as bandits terrorizing people and pillaging villages. Thankfully the lack of blade on his person help lessen people's caution.

Maybe it's because of the rain but the road is desolate of travelers and even though it isn't big, this road clearly enough to accommodate high traffic. The only person on this road is the black robed man in quite a wretched state. His clothes look bedraggled because of the rain and the black socks on his foot was stained by the mud. He walks slowly almost limping clearly exhausted by this journey, he might've pass out on the road side if not because of the staff providing balance and the beautiful sight of establishments with a plaque in clear writing — Restaurant & Lodge. Because of each villages and cities are far away in distance these establishments usually designated towards travelers before reaching their destination, they also to provide logging and refreshment for vagabonds.

After walking a few meters he arrived at the establishments with three buildings standing next to each other. The establishments are simple built guest-house and without doors so the traveler can see the inside of the buildings. One of them are two-floored building with the first floor serve as a restaurant, the other one is a store as it displayed many goods that travelers need such as clothes, sandals and other utilities. The last one is a workshop selling various type of metalwares such as blade, knives, even to horseshoe. Although the road were desolate, surprisingly there are a number of people in these establishments with most of them in the restaurant.

When the black-figured man entered the restaurant, he attracts the curious gaze of the customer's in the restaurant with all of them trying to size him up. Without paying attention to all the gaze directed at him, he walks up to a table near the entrance on the left side of the restaurant, sit down and put his staff beside him then proceed to take off his hat. The face that emerged from the hat's obstruction belong to a young man who probably hasn't even reach 20. He has a short black hair with light-brown complexion clearly the sign of being baked under the sun during his journey. His worn out dusty face show he just had a long journey, there's even mud smudged on his left cheek. His brown citrine eyes are lidded because of the assaulting fatigue but even so it still filled with warm amiable glow. He has a soft gentle demeanor on him which actually dumbfounding, because normally there are two types of standard features of vagabonds, the one who were mean-looking, giving out a dangerous vibe and the one called "The undead" with their hollow eyes and deadpan expression.

Apart from his pitiful wearied looks, the young boy didn't appear like a traveler at all, more like a naive stable boy from next door who lived in a peaceful city. The dumb countenance on his face while his eyes darted around the restaurant with his mouth shaping into an "o" and tired eyes makes him come off as the type of person who will get conned in every single journey he's on. Yup, that type of guy when you sold him into slavery, he will even help you put in chains and convince the customer to buy him.

After seeing his appearance and behavior, the watchful gaze of the people in the restaurant disperse immediately as they turn uninterested of the young man, some of them even replaced it with mockery. Finally there's a middle aged man in his 50s coming in from the back of the restaurant, seeing the young man seating at a table he hurriedly scuttle to his desk with a warm smile plastered on his face. Although he's a little bit short, he has a broad shoulder and thick neck, his visible forearms are lined up with green veins showcasing his unwaning strength in his old age. He warmly greeted him while putting up a glass of water in the table.

"Welcome young sir, do you want to order some food? I guarantee it has good taste and price" the middle aged man ask.

"Yes, a bowl of millet, vegetables soup and tea" the young man replied after drinking the provided water.

"alright, please wait a moment young sir"

"oh boss, may I ask you something, I reckon the Itsuwari Village is around this area? Can you tell me which direction it is?" Just as the owner wants to go to the back to prepare his meal, the young man ask. When the question jumped out of the young man's mouth, it shocked the room to silence. All of the customer began to stare at him again including the owner.

"Y-You want to go to Itsuwari Young sir?" Stammering his words, the question obviously shocked the owner.

"Yes, I've been traveling for a few days searching for the place"

"Actually, I-Itsuwari Village is not far from here. But Young Sir, don't tell me you haven't heard the rumors?" questioned the owner with concern.

"Rumors?"

"Yes, it.."

Just as the owner wants to explain something, he was interrupted by a skinny man sitting in a group of four, two rows from the back of the restaurant. "Hey old man, don't you feel sorry for him, I can see he's starving already. Why don't you just go prepare his meal?" The skinny man put up a smirk, the dark circles under his eyes make him appear as sick yet wicked at the same time.

He and his companions seems to be in their early 30s and one can tell immediately they are dangerous people by their appearance. The skinny man and two of his companions are not worth mentioning aside from their outfit, they resemble more as a peasant or farmer, but the other one was a man with an eye-catching build. He's tall with broad shoulder, large and thick back and with two bulky arms that are showcased out of his sleeveless robe which likely he tore it himself. With a big spiked wooden club at his side, he can intimidate any regular person to run at the opposite direction upon first contact. While the big man only wears a sleeveless robe and trousers, the skinny man and two of his companion are wearing a short-sleeve robe and short trousers (kobakama) equipped with armors (dō), vambrace (kote) and greaves(suneate) made of leather that decorated with many cut marks mostly made by swords. The three of them have a sword strapping on their waist and one of them even has a bow beside him. Their weapons and half-full armor they wore which probably stolen from the fallen soldiers in battlefield quietly insinuate their profession as mercenary.

The owner still insists on explaining further but the glance from the bulky man discourage him to do so. He bow to the young man and quickly step off to the back of the restaurant. After the owner leave to prepare his meal, the young man once again inspecting the restaurant and the all of the customers in it and quickly notice almost all of them are donned with leather armors and carrying swords, knives, bows and other type of weapons. It's not uncommon to see bands of mercenary on rest area between villages, but for all of the customers to be mercenaries is quite unlikely. The young man quickly realize the situation but still putting up a uncaring expression.

While he observed his surrounding, the customers are observing him too but mostly with a cunning look. It was the skinny man who started the conversation with him "Hey kid, you want to go to Itsuwari eh? I know the place" said the skinny man still with his annoying smirk on his face.

"Really uncle? if it's not too much can you tell me where it is?" seem impervious to his scheming mind, the young man nonchalantly replied.

"Well it's a half day walks from this place, if you follow this road you'll arrive at 3 way intersection, take the right and you'll arrive at Itsuwari."

"Oh so it's really not that far, thanks for the information uncle" he slightly bowed to the skinny man giving him a smile full of gratitude.

Seeing this, some of the customers in the restaurant giving out a light chuckle as if taking delight in the misfortune that about to befall this kid that wet behind the ears. And sure, as if he's rehearsed it a hundred times, the skinny man giving out a hearty laugh and put up a friendly smile showing his crooked yellow teeth.

"Ha ha ha, It's alright glad I can help, but it just so happens me and my friends here are also heading there. Would you like to join us, we're leaving at dawn tomorrow? We can share the road together, the more the merrier." The skinny man politely inquired.

"Thank you, but uncles seem on an important business there. So I'll have to decline I'm afraid I'll just be in the way. I'm sorry uncle."

"For your information kid, the road to Itsuwari nowadays are dangerous with a lot of wild animals and bandits between here and there, I heard they even attack travelers who are in groups let alone you who travel by yourself. Let's travel with us together at least we can take care of each other. What do you say?" he informed the young man, but his tone turned from polite to a mocking one.

"Thank you for your concern uncle, but I still have to decline. As for bandits and wild animals I don't think I'm that unlucky to encounter them." with an innocent smile the young man replied

"What a stubborn kid, if you want to let my good intention go to waste then suit yourself" he then continue on sipping his tea after shot him a ridiculed glance. The other customer seem delighted at the fail attempt of the skinny man to invite the young man to his group. The restaurant then return to its previous calmness where they eat and conversing in peace with their own group some of them even leave the restaurant to drop by to the other two establishments including two of the skinny man's comrades.

After a while, the owner come out from the back bringing a tray of food and putting it on the young man's table. While doing so he stare at the young man as if want to convey something to him but with a long sigh he then drop his intentions of doing so. With the same warm smile he asked "This is the food you order, please enjoy. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes do you have rice cakes? or any other food that suitable for long travel?" the young man take out a wooden box wrapped with white cloth. "and I see the "lodge" sign out there, is there a room available" the young man continue to ask.

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"We do have rice cakes, as for the rooms I'm sorry to say that we are fully booked tonight(that there are no more rooms available). Please understand we're only a small lodge house for passing travelers, we only have a few rooms in the first place" The owner smile apologetically while .

"are there any spare rooms? I'll even take a small storeroom, as long as it's large enough for resting. I don't need it for tonight either, I'll rest for a couple hours and continue on my journey"

The young man reply was loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear, and he once again draw the attention of every customers, but now it was accompanied with shock.

"For a few hours? you plan on to continue your journey to Itsuwari today? Young Sir, it's a half day walks from this place to Itsuwari" with widen eyes the owner asked.

"Yes that uncle just told me, I have urgent matters in Itsuwari so I'm actually in a hurry, but I need to rest for two maybe three hours. So boss can you help me?"asked the young man with a begging tone.

All of the sudden the people in the rooms started laughing and they chimed in on their conversation convincing the owner to help him "Yeah boss help him", "He's tired boss let him sleep for awhile", "I feel sorry for him why don't you let him rest in our room then, ha ha ha"

The owner still in his shocked state were immediately woken up by the loud roar of the customer's laughter. He wants to reject the young man's request but after seeing the determined expression even with his droopy eyes he can't help but accept it. "he'll still set out for Itsuwari today. But at least with a little rest he'll be in a better condition" he figured.

After the young man wolfed down his food and the received the wooden box that already filled with rice cakes, they pay a visit to the store next to the restaurant. There are two women at the store, an old lady around 70 years of age with head full of white hair and wearing a green yukata was weaving bamboo into the shape of a basket, while the other one is a plump woman in gray yukata probably in her late 40s cleaning and re-arranging the displayed goods. When the owner bring him into the shop, the middle-aged woman stop her dusting and come forward to greet them while the old lady only spare them a glance then continue weaving the bamboo basket, he then proceeds to introduce them to him. The plump middle-aged woman's name is Etsuko and it turns out she and the restaurant's owner were husband and wife, while the old lady is the actual owner of the store and they refer to her as Granny Sae, because of her old age Etsuko helps her from time to time to clean and manage the store.

"Granny Sae, could you rent your storeroom for him to rest for awhile? He has urgent business in Itsuwari and plans on going there today." The owner turned to granny Sae.

"Itsuwari? Y-Young sir you want to go to Itsuwari, haven't you heard of the rumors?" it was not granny Sae who replied but Etsuko instead.

"Rumors of wild animals and bandits? The uncle in the restaurant told me there's a lot of them occupying the forest on the road to Itsuwari."

"Wild animals? Bandits?" Confusion filled Etsuko's face and then as if something dawned upon her, she turned to glare at her husband.

Feeling the prickly stare of his wife, the restaurant's owner can only smile sheepishly, "Young Sir, back there because those group of mercenary threatens me, I'm too afraid to inform you about the real situation in Itsuwari, Please forgive me" bowing his head, he apologized to the young man.

"The thing that targeting travelers to Itsuwari is not something as simple as wild animals and bandits, but something more infernal — Demons" the room was silent for a moment after the word demon comes out of Etsuko.

"Demons? in the forest near Itsuwari village? How can people be sure it's not just wild animals?"

"Some of Itsuwari's villagers are reported missing after entering the woods, the first one is around two moons ago. At first they thought he just lost in the woods or maybe went to another village, but from then on more people went missing, after a while they find a human remain on the woods belong to one of the missing person. It put them on alert as they thought there are wild animals on the woods and then decided to do a search. but one night, a group that patrolling the woods were attacked by a bizarre creature, it wrapped and dragged them into the dark of night. The groups survivor told the rest of the villager it was a demon that attacked them, since then the people of Itsuwari never left the village not even to trade with neighboring village" the owner explained with a serious face.

"They stayed in the village? then how the rumors of Demons spread then? Boss, don't tell me you're from Itsuwari?"

"No no no, I'm from Fusa, the neighboring village near Itsuwari, if you follow this road you'll meet an intersection, if you take the road to the right you'll arrive at Itsuwari after more than a half-day walks, while the left road is the way to Fusa village. As for the spreading rumors, the last victim was a merchant as it attacked his carriage and he only survives by fleeing with one of his "

After hearing all of that from the owner, the young man was silent. He closed his in contemplation. His calm demeanor actually astonished the husband and wife couple, it's to see a lone traveler and a young one nonetheless to be this composed after knowing their next destination would be w . While the couple were astonished, the old lady has a different feeling, while inspecting him she get a very familiar feeling out of him

"If there's a demon involved, doesn't it mean the capital will send a team of demon banisher?" The young man opens his eyes

"The demon rumors only come up around two weeks ago, how can they already be here? although I'm sure the merchant already reported the case to the capital, It could take a few weeks even a month for them to arrived. That's why there's a lot of mercenaries here, they hope to earn some money from Itsuwari by hunting the demon" the restaurant's owner sighed.

Demon Banisher. A title bore by the people who has completed the hellish training to track, hunt and kill demons and purge evil. They are raised, trained and dispatched by the grand temple in the capital to every corner of the country to fight demons and they're also the only people who officially has the right to do so as commoners and ordinary soldiers are not trained to handle it. But of course, there's only so much of these demon banisher in the country and they are placed in important cities so they can't quickly respond to the demon problems in remote areas. Push come to shove, the unfortunate people will hire mercenaries to kill the demons. Most probably, that's the reason are here for, trying to solve Itsuwari's demon problem. If they can solve Itsuwari's demon problem they will be paid a huge sum of money by the villager and if they can't find it they'll dressed up some wild animals then present it to the villagers as "demon".

Hearing that the young man can only lightly shake his head. "Well, unfortunately for me I have important business in Itsuwari , it seems like I have to be vigilant on the way there, so granny Sae could you please rent your storeroom for me to rest for a while?" He broke out a resigned smile and once again put on his request to Granny Sae.

Even after knowing there's a demon reside in the forest near Itsuwari, he still stubbornly plans on going there. It really displeased Etsuko a little bit as it shows in her face with her furrowed brows. She just wanted to chide the young man, but her husband stops her by pulling her arm then gestured his eyes to the restaurant. Noticing her husband's serious face and his signal, she discovers some of the mercenaries are looking at them and understands her husband's intention. Even though she still felt a bit displeased, she choose not to say anything. This little action of theirs doesn't escape the old lady's eyes as she sitting quietly and still weaving that bamboo basket of hers. Suddenly she get up and walk toward the back of the store.

"Come, even if it's only a storeroom I'll charge you the same" she disappears to the back of the store.

The young man let out a relived sigh he then pay the restaurant's owner for the meal he had and gave a quick bow to the couple before following the old lady. After they're alone, Etsuko once again glare at her husband but he still maintain his serious face. "The mercenaries want to force him to their group as a bait so they can lure the demon out or maybe they want to rob him in the middle of the way. Nevertheless it's better for us to not interfere and keep out of their business besides we already warned him about the dangers and he still insists on going there." he gave a quick glance to his wife and he walk back to his restaurant.

——

It's been several hours after the rain stopped, although it still appear a bit glum, the dark clouds slowly but surely starting to clear itself from the sky showing golden blush on the horizon. The fresh wind after an autumn rain breeze past, swaying the grass on the roadside to Itsuwari left and right as if waving their goodbyes to the ones who leave. Currently there was a man clad in black robe with a staff in his hand walking down this road. It was the same young man that stops on the rest area, true to his words he only rests for a couple of hours then depart the rest area to continue on his way to Itsuwari. Not appeared as dirty and tired as before, he has been walking for some time before he was stopped by a voice.

"Looks like nobody's noticed you left" the young man turned around only to see it was the old lady, Granny Sae is standing on the road side with her hands hiding behind her. She was carrying a bamboo basket on her back not sure if it was the same as the one she was weaving before, it is filled with mushrooms, berries and edible plants.

"Well, seems like somebody did. Are you foraging in the forest Granny Sae? Must be tough" the smile on the young man still as friendly and amiable as ever.

"Be careful kid, a demon is not something to be taken lightly" said Granny Sae with a straight face, ignoring his remark.

One of his brow twitched, clearly taken aback by the Granny's words but of course he try not to shows it. "Yes, well I hope I don't run into it on my way to Itsuwari" he maintained his usual smile.

"I'm not as gullible as those foolish couple, you're not looking for something in Itsuwari. You're looking for the demon" the granny gave a light chuckle.

"How do you figure?"

"Usually if people learns there's a demon blocking the road to the place they're heading, they'll reconsider. They'll ask if there's another road or if the nearby villages has the thing they're looking for. But you ask neither one, instead you ask about the situation around the village for more information."

Silent descended them for a moment and after that the young man bursts out laughing. He was dumbstruck, surprised and mostly amazed by the Granny's perceptivity. It really is the case of experience comes with age.

"What's you name kid?" she walked towards him

"Just call me Crow." introduced the young man. Crow. Clearly an alias but she didn't try to ask further.

Granny Sae walked right to his side and stopped, she lift up her head to watch the sky. "When I was a child, I remember there was a man in my village. A monk, but unlike any other monks I know, he was very reserved, a bit cold even, but if anyone are in need of help, he was always willing to lend a hand. But what separates him and the other monks the most is he was never afraid of using violence. He fought off thieves, robbers, bandits and all of the people who likes to cause trouble and he was very good at it. He was our village protector."

"He was like you too, a man who travels a lot. Sometimes he left for many moons before he came back and nobody ever knows where he went off."

"On one morning, I saw him left the temple and I knew he was about to leave for his travel because he was wearing his usual attire he used to travel. Out of curiosity I asked him why did he travels so much and where did he go. He smiled and patted in my head "I have go to purge evil from this land, so you and the others can be safe". When I told the villagers that, they shrugged me off as children's rambling. I thought it was ridiculous too until one day he never came back from his travel. Not long after he disappeared, bandits and thugs came to our village. Without our protector, they beat us, robbed us and killed some of us and at the end, they even burned our home."

"Only after we lost everything I realized, all this time he had been keeping evil off of our village." She reminisced. Her aged eyes that has had witness many twists and turns of human lives were looking at the golden horizon. Moist. Yet there was no tear that come out. Even Crow can't tell all of the complex emotions that contains within them, but he did recognized one. Longing. For a person. For her distant past.

Not knowing what to say, Crow keeps his silence while he scrutinize the old lady's expression. Granny Sae then turned to him "Having the same purpose you remind me of him. At first it was only because your outfit matches his when he travels. You do have "that" on the inner-sleeve of your robe, don't you?"

Crow's face was frozen after hearing her sudden question, it really throws him off. "She knows that? how? Does she knows about us?" questions were popping up one by one on his minds. Fortunately his chaotic face were hidden by his hat although his silence already give her an answer.

The uncomfortable silence didn't last long and it was Granny Sae who broke it "This is my advice to you, kid. In your life, your responsibilities are only to yourself and the people who care about you. Don't go fighting for something that you don't understand, to protect people you don't know in a battle that doesn't concern you. The only demons you need to kill are the ones who attacked your loved ones"

Maybe because she was unable to bear the thought a young man throwing his life to fight demons, she ended up reprimanding him. Without hearing his response or looking at his face, Granny Sae turned around and walk back to the direction of the rest area. Crow also didn't say anything to her admonishment and only replied with a bow then he take off to the opposite direction. Recalling her advice he just heard, he can only smile, seared it to his mind. A voice, a murmur appeared and disappeared as quickly, only leaving it to be heard by the grass and few trees on this narrow street.

"Unfortunately, humans can't kill demons"