Chapter 5 : He and She

“Where on earth did it go?”

On a narrow mountain path, a young girl walked alone.

She had beautiful long black hair cascading like a waterfall, her face still carrying the innocence of childhood. This was an age when she should be acting spoiled in her parents’ arms, yet she wore custom-fitted sword armor and traversed a land infested with magical beasts.

Her name was Serena, the prodigious swordswoman upon whom humanity had placed great hopes.

“I need to find it quickly, or the people down the mountain will be in danger.”

Little Serena was anxious, her voice childish and cute, but her tone mature beyond her years.

She was currently on a mission, pursuing a magical beast that had attacked humans, and had tracked it here.

“…Let’s try this.”

Serena stopped and took out a small magic orb, sensing changes in magical energy.

During her earlier battle with the beast, she had deliberately left its paired orb on the creature.

If it was nearby, she could detect it.

Buzz—

The orb fluctuated.

“It’s close!”

Serena’s eyes snapped open. She leaped onto a tree branch, moving through the mountain ginkgo forest like an agile monkey.

She had sensed it—the beast was ahead!

The girl kicked off a branch, soaring into the air while raising her sword, ready to strike at any moment.

As she looked down, an unexpected scene unfolded.

The tracked beast lay on the ground, lifeless.

Before it crouched a boy, covered in wounds, clutching his chest and breathing with difficulty.

The boy, around her age, had black hair and red eyes, emanating a repulsive magical aura.

A demon.

Serena landed. The boy turned, casting a puzzled gaze with half-open eyes.

That single look convinced Serena—he was a demon.

Demons were an extremely dangerous race, capable of corrupting beasts with abyssal energy, driving them berserk to attack humans. Countless had died by their evil hands from past to present.

They were humanity’s enemy.

Everything she had been taught since childhood said demons must be killed.

She was to become the sharpest sword piercing them.

“Urgh—”

The demon boy tried to speak.

Serena raised her sword, charged, aiming the tip at his heart, intending to end him in one strike.

The injured demon couldn’t move, only able to await death.

But just before the blade pierced his heart, Serena halted.

In her peripheral vision, not far from the beast’s corpse, she spotted her own kind—a mother and daughter from the village below, in a safe zone protected by magic.

This was the demon’s magic.

Serena struggled to accept it.

Why would a demon save humans?

After scanning the surroundings again, a near-heretical thought emerged.

Could it be… this demon wasn’t attacking humans but fighting the beast to protect them—and killed it?

Her gaze met the boy’s once more.

His eyes held none of the cruelty or madness unique to demons—only clarity.

…Unbelievable.

Truly unbelievable.

“Mom, we were saved. Shouldn’t we thank big brother?”

“What big brother? That’s a terrifying demon! Who knows what he’s thinking!”

The rescued mother fled in panic with her child.

“…”

The demon watched their retreating figures, motionless, lost in thought.

“Wow, so the beast I was tracking was killed by you,” Serena said, circling the corpse. “Now how am I supposed to report this?”

“If you want it, take it…” The demon’s voice was weak; blood from his wounds dripped down his thigh to the ground.

“I don’t need it.”

“Alright.”

“Are you… really a demon?” Serena couldn’t help asking.

“Yes.”

“Why save that mother and daughter? Don’t demons drive beasts to attack humans? Are you doing this on purpose to gain our trust, lower our guard, and get close?”

Serena fired off a string of questions.

The demon simply shook his head. “No special reason. I just saw they were in danger.”

“Impossible! Every demon I’ve seen was brutal!”

“Then I’m different,” the demon said seriously. “I don’t like doing that.”

“You…”

Serena was speechless, shaken.

She never dreamed a demon would bleed for humans.

Had the world gone mad, or had she?

The girl felt confused—this contradicted everything the adults taught.

“Sorry.”

“Hm?” The demon was surprised.

“I misunderstood you earlier and tried to kill you.”

“You’re strange too. Every human warrior who saw me attacked without question. You not only talked to me but apologized?”

“If the Holy Land knew, they’d brand me a heretic.” Serena muttered.

She took out a portable potion from her pack and handed it to the boy, who was about her height.

“Take it. Consider it thanks for saving them. Without you, they might really have died.”

“Okay.”

The demon boy accepted and drank it.

“You actually drank it? Weren’t you afraid I poisoned it?” Serena couldn’t resist saying.

“Huh?” The boy looked scared. “You poisoned it?”

“No, just teasing you.”

“I thought so.”

“You trust me?”

“Yeah, because you seem… different from the others.”

“What a fool.” Serena pouted.

“Maybe. My kind says the same—calls me a soft-hearted freak, shuns me, won’t even talk to me.”

After resting a while, the potion took effect; the demon boy’s wounds improved enough for him to move.

He started to leave but turned back after a few steps.

“I want to know your name.”

“…”

Serena looked at him, an idea forming.

Maybe this was a demon who could truly communicate.

Almost possessed, she gave her real name.

“Serena.”

“Serena? That’s a nice name. I’ll remember you.”

The boy smiled innocently at the girl.

A gentle breeze rustled through the golden mountain forest, leaves whispering as golden-green foliage brushed past them, their paths intertwining like threads.

“I’m Viel. If we meet again, let’s call each other by name!”