Happiness was a short-lived emotion. Life had a way of taking it away from you once it thought you’d had enough. Couldn’t let you get too used to it. For a brief half of a day, I had acclimated to my new companions. Care might be a stretch of reality, but they were my Party members, and it was my duty to protect them. It was this shirking of the inevitable that had left me alone and powerful; why be happy anymore and invite misery?

“What? Who’s that?” Florence paled as she spun around.

“No talking, run,” I growled. They had come too far to have their dreams ruined. “That’s an order.”

They both hesitated. We had not spent enough time together for them to go down with the bloodied ship, yet they still had that pang of heroic loyalty. The kind that got people killed. Relief flooded through me as I heard their boots scuff on the dirt and start pounding down the muddied trail.

Basil stood beside me with hands clasped behind his back as I drew my sword.

“Speak, fiend, let your purpose be known.” I brought the greatsword up in a defensive position. The hair prickled along the back of my neck.

The figure shrouded in pitch mist stepped from the treeline and onto the path three dozen feet from us. Although his form was blurred and obscured, the appearance of a dark suit and tophat could be made out. Amber eyes blazed out from where the face would be.

“Here I was… passing through… and I thought, hmm… that’s a familiar taste in the… air.”

His voice came out whispy, as though carried on the breeze. I wracked my brain for the hidden file of all the Villains I used to know - was this someone I should recognize?

“D Rank,” Basil murmured, “Shadow Demon, not known to us.”

“How do you know me?” I narrowed my eyes at the creature. Despite my prior bravado, I didn’t have much confidence in the two of us being able to take him in a fight. It was something that gnawed at me, a guilty twist in my stomach that told me I shouldn’t be here - I should be S Rank still, and lowly worms like this should-

“I do not… but I know what… you are…” the demon stopped and put his hands on his hips. “It is… interesting…”

I worked my jaw. Perhaps earlier in my life, I had been content to be a spectacle or an oddity to be wondered over, but not now. Especially not now. Still, if that was what it took to placate this monster…

“I can assure you, I will only get more interesting in time.” My right eye twitched.

“Oh?… I would like… to see that… perhaps we can… make a deal?” Despite his shrouded face, I was pretty sure I could see a grin forming.

This was classic demon stuff. They liked to make deals, usually in their favor - often something that you couldn’t uphold your side of the bargain so they could take their pound of flesh. I had never made a deal before and had no intention of making a start of doing so.

Would I rather die than make a deal, though?

“What kind of deal?”

I could sense Basil’s hand tightening on his book. We had given him a basic one from the many varied magical tomes we had. A minor heal, minor protection, and some disease resistance. Enough to seem like a basic Cleric without making my life too easy. Of course, now that we could really use a spell to rend demons from existence, the original restriction seemed like folly.

“Simple… I wish someone… dead…”

Air escaped through my nose as my lungs deflated. If it wasn’t someone the demon could kill themselves, then it might be a problem.

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“A… demon… called H’llav Ukdaa… the Silken Blade…”

Ah, now that was a name I recognized. Not from my immediate circle, thankfully - but she was a powerful demon that supposedly held a lot of sway in their courts. A political assassination of a monster? That seemed reasonable. However, she was-

“A Rank,” Basil murmured, seemingly reading my train of thought.

“You understand that it will take time?” My arms were tired of holding the sword in the same position.

“I am a… patient man…” the demon shrugged and folded his arms. “Do you… accept?”

I frowned. “That’s not a deal; you just want me to do your dirty work - what do I get?”

“A… vested interest… in your… success…”

Not the worst thing I’d ever been offered. Naturally, if he intended to kill us or hinder our progress, then I wouldn’t be able to get rid of his target. The occasional helping hand sounded nice - except for my ego telling me I didn’t need it - especially from a demon.

“Basil?” I verbally prodded my accomplice for his thoughts on the matter.

“Well, Victor. All things told, that seems beneficial.”

“Alright, demon - we accept your interest in our success in return for killing the demon you spoke of - when we are capable.” I bit at the words leaving my mouth, hating them.

“Splendid… enjoy the rest… of your… day.” With a crackle of ozone, his form faded away, leaving the two of us alone in the woods.

“Shit,” I growled, putting the sword away. It was unlike me to curse in the common tongue, but this situation warranted it.

“What are the chances?” Basil rubbed his grey mustache and slicked back his hair. “Looks like we have a Quest for later on.”

If we weren’t dead before A Rank, anyway. I doubted the demon would be content to just allow us to languish at our own pace. But he hadn’t taken anything from us, most importantly not our lives.

“Let’s go catch up to the others."

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It was a few minutes of light jogging along the path before we caught up with the pale and panting humans.

“You only made it this far?” I shook my head. Cardio was important.

“Victor! Basil!” Florence called out in surprise at seeing us. She was paler than normal and drenched with sweat and panic.

Jakob looked like he had emptied his stomach a couple of extra times and probably slowed their escape down. He was slumped on the floor and gave us a weak wave on our approach.

“What happened?” Her eyes danced with fear and anticipation; if the Ranger weren’t ill, she would probably storm over to me to wrench the answers from my mouth.

“A little bad news, a little good news.” I slowed to a stroll as we approached them. Basil was surprisingly spry despite being a skeleton under his Mask and had kept up well. I watched as he went past me to tend to the young man.

“Good news is you are alive? What’s the bad?” Her indignant fury was almost tangible. It had been a long time since I had been accosted with such fury. Her way of showing worry.

It was no fun when you didn’t ask them if they wanted the good or bad news first, but I relented to save her heart from bursting out of her chest. “I had to make a deal with the demon.”

“That was a demon?” Jakob spat out between gulps of air.

“Indeed.” I shrugged. “Don’t worry, though; my mortal soul is not in danger.” Never had been.

Florence didn’t seem to agree and was struggling to eke out a clear-cut answer without knocking my head open and reading it directly from my brain.

I tried to shoo her away. “I’ve been tasked with defeating an A Rank demon in the future, when I’m capable.”

“That doesn’t seem like a proper deal; what’s the catch?” Her hands went to her hips, and her anxious worry turned to annoyed disbelief.

Basil beamed up from healing the Ranger, “I’m sure the catch is far ahead of us. We don’t have the full picture.”

I nodded. “Basil is correct; once we are in the position to hunt down the intended demon, I’m sure we will find out there is a reason why this is more of a curse.”

She deflated and relaxed her arms. “The deal was just for you two, right?”

“Of course, you are under no obligation to complete the deal.” Normally you might consider that sort of trickery something a demon would level your way - but if they weren’t present and didn’t consent to the deal, then they weren't party to it. Demonic contract law had few rules, but the ones that were there were set in stone.

“That’s a long way off,” Jakob sighed as he relaxed against a tree. “Who knows where any of us will be by then?”

A Rank was indeed a long way off. Few even made it to that level - what was realistically considered the apex of your Class. At that rank, you were a Hero of folklore. S Ranks were living legends, and even fewer could make it to those heights. Not by being good, anyway.

“Let tomorrow’s problems not darken today’s skies,” I grinned and crossed my arms. “We are but a few short hours from getting our first Rank and Badges, forging our futures, and writing the paths of our destiny.”

“Poetic,” Jakob snorted - against the glares of Florence.

Unless there was even more danger lurking around in the forest that happened across us, of course. We had perhaps been unlucky - or just needed a little extra testing of our mettle before diving into this new world.

For now, I let any fears or darkness wash over my brain and seep into nothingness. I lent a helping hand to get the Ranger up with a smile.

Today, I chose to allow happiness temporary accommodation.