...A Crazy Request...

Everyone was hanging around in the main room. Aqua and Megumin were playing some chess-like game, Darkness was reading what appeared to be a magazine, Yunyun was looking over a letter, Wiz and Vanir appeared to be planning something, Anatalia was napping and Aurdel was still working on his sketch. "Ho ho! What is this sudden surge of emotion I feel?" Everyone ignored him, it was better to do that than to give in and keep feeding the emotions that this Devil fed off of. So he just kept working.

He heard a piece of paper crumple in someone's hands, "A-Aurdel! I want to have your children!"

Aurdel's hand slipped and tore the sketch paper, he heard the chess board Megumin and Aqua were playing with topple, Darkness' tea spilled and Vanir laughed with excitement. "What did you say?"

"I-I said I want to have your children!" Yunyun repeated it. He blinked, still processing it.

Megumin stood up, "Yunyun, allow me to fix your head with my staff." She picked up her staff and prepared to whack her with it, but Darkness held her back.

"Y-Yunyun, where is this coming from?" Darkness asked before he could.

"I need to-! If I don't, the world will-! The Demon King will-!" She couldn't even finish her own sentences.

"Aqua, did you put Yunyun up to something?" He asked.

"Why do you think I did something wrong?!" She sneakily switched the position of one of Megumin's pieces on the board as she was turned away, "I didn't do anything this time!" This time… Right, he'd keep that in mind.

"Okay then if it's not Aqua… Yunyun, where is this coming from?"

"It's… Here!" She thrust the crumpled piece of paper into his hands and covered her face. What was this, a letter?

He began to read it aloud, "'By the time you receive this letter I probably will have passed on from this world, the Demon King who feared the power of our magic is finally launching an offensive.'" Hearing this Megumin stopped her aggression, Yunyun was sniffling. "'They've already set up a massive base near the village, but that's not all. The General leading their army is one that is highly resistant to magic and is bringing a massive force against us. Fufu… The Demon King still fears us.'" He could see why Yunyun was worried, but where did the part about her wanting his children come in?

"'Because we were unable to break through to their base our offensive options are almost non-existent. But even with that, I, Chief of the Crimson Demon clan, will drag that General of the Demon King with me down into the depths below no matter what it takes. So Yunyun, my beloved daughter, as long as you live the Crimson Demons will live on, I entrust the position as Village Chief to you. As the last of the Crimson Demons, do not allow our bloodline to die out.'" That was the end of the first page. Hmph, that ending seemed to be where Yunyun's proclamation came from. Megumin seemed to miss most of that letter however and got hyper focused on one portion of the letter though.

"How can he say 'last of the Crimson Demons' when I'm right here?!" It was a valid point to get hung up on, but maybe he'd just forgotten about her?

"There's another page to this, so just hold on," maybe this letter would clarify things a little more. "'The Diviner in the village foresaw the destruction of the Crimson Demon village at the hands of the Demon King's army, but she also foresaw a glimmer of hope in the darkness that surrounded these terrible prophecies. Yunyun, being the sole survivor of the village-'"

"Why is Yunyun the sole survivor?!"

"-would make it her life's mission to defeat the Demon King and avenge her fallen people, training until the day that it would become possible. But one day she would meet a man in a city of beginners. This man was strong but broken, reliable but unwilling and would become her future spouse.'" He blinked, Megumin looked like she was about to try and strangle both of them now so Darkness continued holding her back.

"'Their lives together were a struggle but in the end they found that they were happy. Years later their child would grow up take up his mother's quest to defeat the Demon King and set on from their home following the death of his father. This journey was filled with untold perils, and ultimately it was up to this boy and his strength of will to avenge the fallen." Aurdel finished reading this, he had several questions. In the background he could hear what sounded like Vanir laughing to himself and enjoying every moment of this.

"Moi has never tasted such strong and dark emotions before!"

"Y-Yunyun, you can't seriously be considering this… c-can you?" Darkness stuttered.

"I didn't want to believe it, but I don't have a choice. Besides, I-I love Aurdel!" Megumin shot forward again to try and get at Yunyun.

He read to the bottom of the page silently, "I'm sorry to be the one to burst the bubble, but that second page wasn't part of the letter."

Yunyun shot a look of amazement towards him, "E-eh?!"

"It really isn't. Look here at the bottom it says, 'Legend of the Crimson Demon Hero Chapter One' and 'Postage is expensive so I asked the Chief to send this over with his letter -Arue.'" He looked up, Yunyun let out a squeak and covered her completely red and embarrassed face. Vanir kept on laughing. "Alright well look, even if that second page was a completely separate thing the first still stands. Your home is under threat from the Demon King. Wiz, Vanir, would either of you know which General would be there?"

"I'm afraid I don't," Wiz said with a pang of sadness, "I don't stay in contact with the Demon King or his forces."

"Moi would not be at the disposal of such information of the moment, after all thou did kill moi the other day." Well, it was worth a shot.

"A-Aurdel, we still have to save my h-home!" Yunyun managed to muster up a little courage after everything.".

"As much as I don't want to admit it, I agree with Yunyun. I have a little sister back in the village and I don't want to see any harm come to her."

"I suppose that means we're going then."

"If you're all going to the Crimson Demon village could you say hello to Hyoizaburo for me?" Wiz asked.

"That name!" Megumin shouted, "How do you know that name?!"

"Eh?! He's who I buy all my magic items from!"

"So you're the one that's responsible for my fathers constant self inflicted poverty!" Megumin tried to charge at her, Darkness held her back and Vanir let out a ferocious laugh. Aurdel's only thought was about he lives in a madhouse.

"Hey Megumin, I'm still waiting for you to finish your turn," Aqua said pulling on her clothes.

"Explosion!" Megumin flipped the board without a moment's hesitation, all the pieces went flying.

"Waaaah!"

Anatalia poked her head out over the couch, "Could you all quiet down? I'm trying to nap." He felt much the same. He was done trying to reason things out here. So, unwilling to stay here and listen to more arguing, he when the guild to go get a drink.

"Hey, there he is!" There was a cheer as he entered the guild. By now he and his party were recognized and celebrated figures in Axel. They were responsible for the defeat of three Generals of the Demon King along with the defense of Axel against the Mobile Fortess Destroyer. If anyone was considered veteran adventurers around here they were it. "Hey Aurdel, treat us!" "Yeah come on, all that reward money and you still haven't bought us a round yet!"

Hmph, normally he would tell them off but he wasn't in the mood to do that right now. "Alright, the next two rounds are on me." There was a louder collective cheer now that they knew he was buying. The drinks went out, he took his and began to drank.

Dust came up to him, drunk. "Hey man, I got to thank you for the drinks tonight. Really didn't have the money to spend on it tonight. And let me just say you're like a dad to me."

"What do you want Dust?"

"Hold on, I'm getting there. I just wanted to ask how you do if."

"Do what?"

"Come on man, you know what I mean. How are you so good with the girls?"

"I'm not."

He pointed at him, "Don't bullshit me," he burped. "Not only do you have a party of total babes but you also have that good looking shopkeeper living with you, hell you even have the counter lady making goo goo eyes head over heel for you." He punched his shoulder and pointed over towards Luna, he looked over and saw that she was in fact staring. She quickly turned away after she realized they seen her looking, "See?"

"I fail to see you're point, I'm not going after any of them."

"Huh, why not?" Dust spilled some of his drink as he pestered him.

"What do you mean why not? Dust, I'm in my forties and have already been with a woman before."

"So? Doesn't mean you can't keep playing the game."

"I don't crave sex, I can live without it. And even if I did I'm locked in this suit of armor." Part of it was also because his sex drive was essentially destroyed by the augmentation procedureshe'd undergone, he physically couldn't crave it even if he wanted to. Regardless, he didn't.

"If you say so, but if I were you I'd try it." Aurdel waved him away, so Dust drunkenly stumbled off. What a load of crap. Anyways, if he was here at the guild he might as well take the chance to do some prep work for them going on the trip to the Crimson Demon village.

He walked over to the guild's main counter where the clerks were working, some of them drinking at the same time. Doing that was probably bad for their work but with how much went down around here and how much work had to be done he really couldn't blame them for letting off some steam. "A-ah, Aurdel, how can I help you?" Luna's face was pink, possibly of mixture both of alcohol and her embarrassment from seeing her staring at him.

"I need some maps and lists of monsters for a specific area."

"You're leaving Axel again so soon?" Her tone held a little worry.

"I am, the Crimson Demon Village. Some in my party have family there, they don't want anything to happen to them since a General of the Demon King was spotted near them."

She rifled through the desk, searching for some papers. Judging by her movements she was at least a little bit drunk, though he had no idea as to how much she'd actually drank. But eventually she managed to pull out a stack of papers and laid them out on the counter, closing the drawer she'd pulled it from. "The area is quite dangerous even just heading from Alcanretia," she hiccuped, "No carriage runs to the Crimson Demon village, you'll have to get there by foot. The enemies you'll find along the way are all very dangerous, monsters like One Hit Bears or Orcs. I'd worry about the latter, especially for you."

"You don't have to worry about me, just worry about taking care of yourself."

"No, I can't…" She walked out from behind the counter and towards him, stumbling a little as she did. "You have to be careful because losing you would be too much, there are people that care for you and want you to succeed. But you can only do that by staying alive for them." She put a hand on his armor's chestplate solemnly, "So please, stay alive." The way she was acting was rather unprofessional but her concern was appreciated even if it was possibly unwarranted. He didn't plan to die yet however, there were still too many things that had to be done that he needed to do before he could go. He wasn't about to let those things go unfinished.

...Path of Demons...

"Just so you know, we're not going to be stopping or staying at Alcanretia. We're just passing through."

"But why?!" Aqua wailed.

"What do you mean 'why?' If the Demon King's General really is about to attack their village then there is no knowing how long they can hold out. And besides, weren't you chased around town by an angry mob the last time we were there?"

"But I love my faithful!"

"You might love them, but I don't see much proof of them loving you. Yunyun? Teleport us to Alcanretia."

"O-of course, Aurdel. Teleport!" At the end of their last trip, they'd made it a point of making sure they could go back to the city whenever they wanted to. Even if the city was full of crazies it was better to have places they could quickly travel to whenever they needed to.

The world shifted around them and once they came to they were greeted with the same blue brick color schemes of Alcanretia. Aqua immediately tried to sprint off, he grabbed her by the collar. "I already told you're we're not wasting time here."

"Don't call my patron city a-!" Unwilling to deal with her complaining, he dealt a precise chop to her neck with his right hand. She tumbled to the ground. Knowing where pressure points were on the body sure was useful. Since he was carrying all of their supplies on his back he was going to have Darkness carry Aqua for the trip, at least until they were out of Alcanretia.

"Alright, let's move before we get seen by any cultists." They booked it out of there. After that they found themselves on the path towards the Crimson Demon village.

"Alright, according to this map the village is about two days out from here. But if we keep a quick pace we should be able to make it there in a little more than a day."

"Aurdel I don't think even I can match your pace, especially with Aqua on my back," Darkness said.

"It'd be better to move quicker, that way we can avoid most of the monsters along the road. And that's another thing, me and Anatalia will be keeping watch for anything that comes our way. So if either of us says to run then you have to run."

"Why do we have to run?" Megumin questioned, "You're in the presence of the greatest Archwizard there is, the one that knows the strongest offensive magic in the world!" She raised her staff to emphasize her point.

"Megumin, Explosion magic is the only magic you know!"

"And what's wrong with that Yunyun?!" The two of them began to tussle.

"Can you two save the fighting for your home rather than each other?"

The smooth path in the dirt led them towards a forest, one with thick vegetation and a splitting path. He was looking down at the map to see which way they had to go down when the others began to make a fuss again over something, "Look, there's someone over there," Darkness said. He lifted her head to see who she was referring to, finding her pointing at what looked like a lone little girl with green hair sitting atop a boulder. On her were bandages covered with blood, she would occasionally glance to her right foot too. Then she looked over towards them and began to wave. At the same time he and Anatalia had the same feeling as their skills went off, they looked at each other.

"A-are you alright-?" Yunyun began to walk over towards her, he put a hand on her shoulder.

"As much as I don't want to say this, I have to. That's not a little girl. That's a monster." The others looked at him with a look of shock. How could they be surprised by something like this at this point? They'd already seen a mimic that did something similar in a dungeon before, they shouldn't be surprised.

"But how can such a cute little girl be-?"

He looked for the description of the monster on the map, "The Tranquility Girl is a plant type monster that doesn't hurt travellers physically, but it will stimulate their urges of protection and lure them to its side. Once one has become emotionally attached to the Tranquility Girl it is near impossible to escape it, leaving the traveller trapped until their death." They all glanced again at the monster, "Any adventurer that encounters this monster should proceed with extreme caution and exterminate it. When a traveller does go to its side the monster will cling to them, making it harder for them to escape. And if one tries to leave because of hunger it will offer them delicious tasting fruit that fills the stomach but offers no nutrients. Prolonged eating of these fruits will sever the danger signals of hunger, fatigue and pain, causing travellers who had encountered them to fall into a frail dream like state."

Such a fruit sounded like it might be useful to have even if it had its risks. He could already think of a thousand ways someone militarily inclined might be able to use it, that was the influence ONI had on him kicking in. He kept reading, "But many do travel to these monsters in search of a peaceful and tranquil death, hence their name. Once one has passed on the Tranquility Girl will root themselves in the corpse of dead traveller and use them as nutrients to sustain themselves for a long period of time." He was already dead set on killing this thing before, but that last part just solidified the fact.

The others wandered near it, only he and Anatalia stayed back from it after hearing an explanation about the monster. They all comforted it as if it was an actual child. Megumin held it's hand, Darkness brushed its hair. Cautiously coming closer he could see that the bandages and wounds it had weren't real, they were as much as a mimic as it being an actual little girl. He could see that even the boulder it sat on was a part of its body, just another trick to fool travellers that came this way. No wonder no one wanted to travel to the Crimson Demon village like this. Behind it he could see a branch with the fruits the guide on the map had spoken of, they looked like white peaches.

Monster or not, at least those could be useful in the future. He drew his sword, "Alright all of you, like it or not we have to kill this thing. If not some poor sucker is going to walk down this road and get killed by it."

"A-Aurdel! You can't!" Megumin stood defensively in front of it. "It's just a little girl, she-"

"That is a monster, not a little girl. And even if it wasn't a legitimate monster I'd consider it a monster anyways. The real monsters in the world are the ones that prey on the kind and naive, taking everything from them without a moment's hesitation just because a slight amount of help was offered to them."

"He… He's right…" Darkness drew her sword too, though she seemed unsteady and still somewhat unsure of herself in needing to kill the Tranquility Girl.

The Tranquility Girl looked like it was crying, that made Darkness waver more in her stance. "Didn't want to have to do this, but if you're not going to move I don't have any other choice. Anatalia?"

"Got it, Bind!" Anatalia use her skill to throw ropes at both Yunyun and Megumin who were trying to defend the Tranquility girl, tying them up and causing them to fall over.

"No, Aurdel, don't!" Yunyun shouted. He lunged forward quickly, not allowing himself to be stopped by any of the others, with his sword, he gave a swift strike. He bisected the Tranquility Girl, the others began to cry.

"This may be a dangerous world, but so was the one that I came from. I know better than anyone else that some things have to be done to stay alive."

They hadn't made it as far as he'd hoped, but the distance they'd gone was still acceptable. Night had begun to fall so they agreed to stop and rest until the morning. They set down a cloth along the side of the road, not directly as to avoid being attacked out in the open but also not extremely far away as to avoid losing the path by morning. The six of them all cornered off a section on the cloth and sat down. Because Aurdel could see in the dark and was capable of staying up for long periods of time, he'd be taking the full night watch while the others slept. It was unnecessary to have anyone else stay up with him, Anatalia at most might be helpful, but he preferred that he do it alone so that they might get more sleep. Besides, he was the only one that could deal consistent damage quietly. The others were either not consistent enough or would make too much noise.

"Are you sure that you're fine with staying up for so long?" Darkness asked, "You've done it before but-"

"Staying up for one night is nothing, I've stayed up for weeks at a time when it was demanded of me. Sure I felt like crap because of it but it was what had to be done at the time." He brushed Yunyun's hair, she'd laid her head on his lap and fallen asleep. He could tell that Megumin was upset seeing that but eventually just accepted it.

"You've already told us some of the things about you, but you haven't told us everything. Where are you from?"

"That's a complicated question, one that I can give multiple answers to."

"Then try and answer it in the best way you can."

He sighed, "Well, where I'm from life isn't limited to just one planet. Humanity had already long ago left its original home for the stars and colonized other planets. I don't know what planet I was born on or to whom I was born. Looking at my CSV, a document containing all the information the UNSC had on me, only gave me an unconfirmed possible birth place, a planet known as Galuade. But like I said I didn't know my parents so I ended up being orphaned, eventually I was adopted and my new family took me to a planet known as Arcadia."

"It all sounds so far fetched, but with the way your speaking it really does seem like it is the truth. What was it like on Arcadia?"

"That's because it is the truth," he shook his head. "Arcadia didn't have a lot of people, most of it was jungle and there was only really one large city and that was Pirth. That's where we lived, though my parents owned a small cottage out away from the city. It was nice there, I made friends with other kids my age and everything went fine." He bit his lip, "Then I got kidnapped by ONI, the apartment my family lived in burned down the same night. They said that the fire wasn't a result of the agents work but somehow I doubt that."

"But why were you kidnapped?"

"It's like I said before, I was kidnapped to become a part of the Spartan II program." He had no problem sharing any of this, he was far from ONI's claws.

"From the moment I became part of it until the day I was discharged and joined the Navy, I spent my time training on the planet of Reach. To me, to all of us, it became our new home. One that we fought, bled and died for."

"And Reach was…?"

"Reach was humanity's second most important planet, only Earth was considered more important. It was the hub of all the UNSC military activities and was considered an impenetrable fortress world. Oh how wrong they were…" They paid attention attentively as he explained everything. "Reach was where I died, I died saving two fellow Spartans. Then I came here."

"If that planet was so important that you died for it, what makes Earth so important?"

"Earth was… Is the home of humanity, it's where we came from. Millenia were spent fighting over every inch of its ground. There's no reason not to defend it. I just hope it hasn't been attacked yet."

"Why's that-"

"Because it's important to me, I lived there for some time, and there are still some people important to me living on it. Now I think it's about time that you two went to sleep, there's still a long way to go tomorrow even with the distance we travelled today." He shooed them off so that they might actually try and get some sleep while he kept guard. Time passed and the sun had gone down completely, the only sound that could be heard was that of the wind blowing through the trees and the soft snoring of his party. Though it was only soft because he'd shoved a pillow in Aqua's face, he knew from sleeping in the stables for weeks what to expect from her.

He was looking off towards the distance watching for monsters, specifically undead because of the aforementioned Goddess of poor luck, when something tugged at his arm. He turned, "I thought I told you to go to sleep."

"I couldn't, not without asking you something first." Megumin had refused to go to sleep despite him instructing her otherwise.

"Alright, if you won't go to sleep without asking me it then go ahead."

"It… it relates back to what we were talking about before. Have you… Have you ever thought about going back to where you're from?"

"Thought about it? Sure. There's people still alive that I care about, but as far as they all know I'm dead. Some of them have thought that for years by this point. But even then there's no way for me to go home." Megumin seemed almost sorry for asking, he could tell by her expression that there was a little pain showing on his face. "But I'm here now and that's all that matters. And I'll protect you all no matter what." He grabbed her hat and ruffled her hair, "Now go to sleep, it's still going to be a long day tomorrow."