"It should be around here," Raed announced, checking the map Leif picked up before leaving Finulid City.
Leif came up to Raed's left side, looking over at the map. "Were there any specific landmarks or are we expected to search the whole forest?"
"If that were the case, we would be here for months up to years," Raed said.
"Is it really that big? I thought the town was clearing out the forest. Wasn't that why there was the crowd in front of the viscount's estate this morning?"
"Landis was a village not too long ago. The town limits do not extend to the forest on any official maps, and much of the Poran Forest remains untouched. That, along with the lack of any predators larger than a marten, has made the forest prime hideouts for bandits and in this case, a demon."
"Sounds dangerous," Leif said. "Does that mean you got more information when you visited the guild office?"
"The guild contact said there was a cabin in the southwest, not too far into the woods, that wasn't there a few weeks ago. This should be the general area," Raed said.
"Understood." Leif nodded and walked ahead a few paces, hatchet in hand to clear parts where the vegetation grew thicker.
Raed peered through the forest canopy at the sunny blue sky. Only a few clouds dotted the otherwise clear day, and there were still a few hours before sunset. If they were lucky they could find the demon and finish the quest in time to return for dinner. Raed was silently thankful to Valter for lending him his apprentice. The boy was prompt that morning, having arrived earlier than Raed to the front of the Deerhound Inn. He also packed well, having thought of bringing tools to clear branches, brushes, and other obstacles that would impeded progress through the forest. He also remembered to bring a map, something that Raed always had trouble with doing.
He followed behind the younger man, keeping his eyes open for anything man-made, or demon-made. So far only the sounds of chirping birds, and rustling grass and snapping twigs from passing rabbits and squirrels greeted them in the woods.
It would be so much easier if someone invented a device that could show the path to completing a quest objective, Raed thought. If the guild could already update quest information and track progress remotely through the adventurer license cards, then it shouldn't be difficult to include directions as well. That would be convenient, Raed concluded, and at least several aspects of questing had become easier. No longer was there any need to take inventory manually when performing gathering quests, or manually transcribing recipes for crafting quests. The automatic updates would be especially helpful for multipart quests, as Raed recalled with disdainful memories his experiences of filing segmented reports with the guild ten years ago.
While thinking about the wonders of modern guild technology, Raed spotted a branchless tree in the mass of otherwise unremarkable trees, a few meters ahead and to the right of him. He called out for Leif to stop, motioning for the young man to approach the strange tree.
Upon closer inspection, the branches were cut off cleanly. The remaining wood was smooth, indicating a tool had been used, and recently. Raed and Leif cautiously moved forward, encountering another similarly cleaved trunk. They followed the path marked by wooden poles that once had branches and leaves until they reached a small clearing. A small log cabin filled most of the space, and the smoke rising from the hold in the roof indicated it was inhabited.
The two adventurers crept slowly along the edges of the clearing, crouching and listening for any signs that they had been spotted. When Raed was at the door, he pressed himself against the wall and drew his dagger. Leif followed his example and took position on the other side of the door, hatchet raised. A muffled sound of soft singing came through the closed door. Raed and Leif looked at each other and nodded.
Raed pushed the door and it opened without resistance. Unsurprising, being that there were no large predators in those woods and there would almost never be any visitors. Except this time, there were two visitors. Raed rushed in through the open door, Leif following behind. Raed held his dagger in front of him while holding a bottle of caustic fluid in the other, ready to throw.
The singing stopped, replaced by a panicked scream. A pale-skinned woman dressed in rough peasant garb fell from her crude wooden chair. The wooden lyre she held dropped to the ground and splintered, snapping all but one string. Upon seeing the two men who had weapons drawn, she fell to her knees.
"Please, adventurers, we never hurt anyone!" She cried.
The red crystal held by a silver eagle claw shook forcefully while hanging off Raed's belt. Had it not done so, it would be difficult to discern that the female was demon and not human.
If Raed could see her face more clearly, he would notice that the demon had pupils that glowed red as opposed to the humans' empty black. Her skin also gave off a faint violet tinge, as if she had an aura.
A young boy who looked no more than five years old, ran in front of the kneeling female demon. Raed's amulet was still shaking, but it was ineffective at differentiating more than one demon.
"I won't let you hurt my mom!" The boy screamed, his small fists held in front of him in a pathetic imitation of a boxing stance.
"No, Chaibi!" The female demon screamed, taking the boy demon by the back of his neck and forcing him to his knees in front of Raed.
With her head bowed to Raed, she begged, "Please, adventurer, my son is young and has no manners. He means no offense to you!"
Wait, 'mom'? A 'son'? Raed mulled over the familial terms he just heard. As far as he knew from his prior adventures, demons had never been observed in groups that resembled families. Some people postulated that it could have been the result of population bias. After all, only a small subset of the human population ever fought in war, and even fewer non-combatants of the population would be encountered fighting in foreign lands. But there was a peculiarity with that logic. Even if a soldier had no siblings or children, the vast majority should have parents at least. A human soldier, no matter how lonely, was most likely to at least have a mother. The demons that plagued Galesia during the dark days of Primeval Infernal's invasion, however, never even indicated that they had parents. Some believed them to be created using magic or demonic technology. If the demons in front of him were being sincere, then that just proved those theories wrong.
Raed lowered his dagger and put the bottle back in his waistpack. Closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath, he said, "I didn't come here to kill a kid."
Leif already had lowered his hatchet by the time he saw the boy try to defend his mother. "Raed, maybe we have the wrong place."
"Get up," Raed ordered the two kneeling demons. "I'll hold off on the violence as long as you do too."
The mother released her grip on her son, who sprung back up, defiance on his face. The mother was slower to rise, standing up while still trembling with her entire body and her eyes cast downward at the floor.
"Now which one of you is a demon?" Raed demanded.
"I am!" Chaibi yelled.
"Chaibi, quiet!" His mother pulled him behind her legs. "Please, adventurers, we are peaceful. I only wanted a quiet home to raise my son."
"Your actual son? Not a human boy you kidnapped?" Raed accused.
The female demon shivered. "No, never." Her lips quivered and her legs began wobbling.
"Hey, Raed?" Leif said, coming to stand next to him. "Can I try talking with them?"
"Be my guest," Raed said, stepping back. "But remember that I'm not going to save you if they trick you into falling into a soul prison."
"Hello," Leif said, stepping up to the demon mother. "We're awfully sorry for the intrusion and for the damages. My name is Leif and this is Raed. We are here on a quest from the adventurers guild."
He knelt down and spoke to the demon boy. "I heard your mom call you Chaibi, is that your name?"
Chaibi nodded.
Leif stood back up and turned his attention to the demon mom. "And what is your name?"
"Tiryui," she said in a shaking whisper.
"Nice to meet you both, Tiryui and Chaibi. Like I said, we're sorry for disturbing you but we were told that there was a demon hiding in these woods that was threatening the townspeople. Your home is very isolated, so we hope you won't be in any danger. Now, you wouldn't happen to know about any demons that are attacking the townspeople in Landis Town, would you?"
Tiryui shook her head emphatically. "We have never set foot in any human settlements!"
Raed walked over to Leif. "That's enough Leif. There's something off about this."
Leif turned to Raed. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"There's only one demon listed on the quest description, and it uses the masculine form of the word for 'demon'. Now I can see the little demon has some fighting spirit, but I seriously doubt anyone would call the guild's assistance just for him."
"Then, there's another demon?"
"Could be, but either way the guild knows about this cabin too," Raed replied.
Raed turned to Tiryui and Chaibi. "You two aren't safe here," he said bluntly. "And it's not because of me."
"Why?" Tiryui asked the floor.
Raed looked at the top of Tiryui's head. Her short purple-tinted black hair covered her cheeks and jaw while her eyes aimed down at the ground. "The guild knows about this place. We won't be the last adventurers to come here."
"But where are we to go?" She asked.
"No idea, and don't care." Raed said dismissively.
"We can't go back. The demons there would kill us," Tiryui said.
"And if you stay here other adventurers will come and kill you anyway," Raed countered.
Chaibi looked quietly between Raed and his mom, scared and worried, the defiance replaced with fear.
"Can we offer you anything to take us somewhere else?" Tiryui asked. "We don't have much, but we can work for you!"
"Forget it," Raed declined the offer. He thought about his repossessed house in Silas Village. "I don't have anywhere safe for you to go," he said.
"So we are on our own, then," Tiryui said sullenly.
Chaibi began to cry into his mom's arms. Tiryui tried her best to hold back tears as she patted her son's head.
"Raed, maybe we could just help escort them part of the way?" Leif suggested.
"Impossible," Raed said. "If we were to be spotted by a patrol, they'd kill the demons and arrest us as demon worshipers."
"Then we can stay off the main roads and camp outside. I brought enough provisions to last us a week," Leif said.
"So what, are we to live like bandits when we did nothing wrong? Why are you so protective of them anyway?" Raed asked, "They're demons, and you're a human."
"I'm a Northman," Leif countered.
"That's not the same," Raed argued.
"Yes it is," Leif asserted, voice rising, hands balling into fists. "I remember the names you Galesians used to call us. We weren't seen as equals to Galesian humans either."
Raed fell silent at Leif's words. He had only traveled in the company of the hero's party during this younger days, and in the past ten years he had lived a hermit. He never paid attention to the prejudices in Galesia because of his surroundings and situations. But now that he thought about it, there would no doubt be discrimination in a hierarchical society like Galesia. The guild and its adventurers were the outliers, Raed realized, as he recalled his adventures in the hero's party and the superficial respect the nobles and commoners showed to two of his partymates.
"I...for what it's worth I'm not Galesian either, and I'm unaware of what happened outside the adventuring world. But regardless, the fact remains that we cannot travel with them and we cannot be seen cooperating with them."
"But we can't just leave them here," Leif contended. "Not when there's another demon threat out there that might hurt them and other adventurers who won't think about what they're doing. These two are not threat to humans, Raed, isn't that obvious?"
Raed shook his head. "Come outside, let's talk there."
Closing the door behind them, Raed continued, "I don't know for sure that these two aren't what the quest refers to. The guild is known for verifying quests thoroughly and their guild reps are very reliable. But I agree, these two don't seem to pose any real threat."
He paused to think, and coming up with an idea, he suggested, "Leif, how about a compromise then. We can't travel with them openly, and I still have three quests that expire in less than a week. A parent and kid are just going to slow us down and if I don't clear the quests on time they'll go back to the guild, open for any other adventurers to take."
"Then you mean to travel alone?" Leif asked.
"That's right," answered Raed. "Now if you are confident that you can stay alive, then you go ahead and take them to the nearest Benian sanctuary. But if anything happens, it's you over them. You don't risk your life for them, if only because I don't want to explain to Valter how you died for demons."
"Understood," Leif said.
"I'm going further east along the river. After you're done with your volunteer escort mission, you can message me on this." Raed took out a small rectangular object slightly larger than the size of his adventurer license, but thicker by about half a centimeter. He handed it to Leif. "I will receive it on my side." He held up another similar glossy tablet. "But keep it short to something like 'I'm done' or 'Where are you'. You get the idea."
"How do I use it?"
"Appraise it, and the rest should be natural. That is, your appraisal allows you to interact with the background, doesn't it?" Raed asked with an uninterested face but piercing gaze.
Leif nodded his understanding and put the device away. Having settled the matter, Raed went quickly, without another word, back into the forest.