The demon, who had resisted fiercely, was in this state after barely half a day – courtesy of McClart’s own hand.

“Can you feel any magic?” McClart asked.

The demon struggled to lift his head.

Demons could sense each other’s magic, which was different from the way holy power sensed it. For holy power to sense magic, there had to be clear hostility. But demons could sense residual traces of magic without such enmity.

This ability was part of what allowed the remaining demons to survive through guerrilla warfare. Even without meeting, they could still sense each other’s presence to some degree.

“Yes,” the demon whispered.

“You said there was only one who had contact with the Black Ghost, right?”

“Th-that’s right…”

The demon managed, though he couldn’t finish the sentence without coughing, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His reply was so faint it was barely audible, but McClart could understand him.

Narrowing his eyes, McClart scanned the hideout once more.

If there was a demon here, it had to be the one that had supposedly been in contact with the ‘Black Ghost’. What was their relationship?

This lingering question followed him like a shadow, tearing his mood to shreds. The irritation grew to the point where he felt he had to take it out somewhere, or he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

The nagging questions tore at his mood like thorns, to the point where he felt he wouldn’t be able to take it if he didn’t vent his irritation somewhere.

“News from the camp!”

A soldier announced, bringing up to date information. McClart’s mouth curled into a slight grin.

“The prey fell into the trap.”

It seemed that the demons he had deliberately released had lured a new target. His mood brightened, if only a little.

In the past, he would have killed any demon on the spot without a second thought, but a year had given him some flexibility.

The High Priest’s words that “even demons are children of God” now made sense to him. Sometimes, in pursuit of a greater goal, he had to overlook the smaller details.

Though he could have captured them all, he chose to focus on a single target, even going so far as to personally torture the demon. He was even willing to negotiate with these heretics if it meant securing the one thing he wanted.

As he prepared to leave the hideout, a soldier quietly asked, “What do we do with this one?”

They needed to get back to camp quickly, and the near-dead demon was more of a burden than anything else. Besides, this demon wasn’t the one in contact with the “Black Ghost”.

He had only dragged the demon here to track down the magical residue, but now that they had checked the hideout, the demon had outlived its usefulness. There was no reason to take a dying creature back with them.

At McClart’s nod, the soldiers threw the demon into the depths of the cave. With the soldiers gone, the bloodied demon lay alone in the chaotic room.

Leaving it there would probably result in its death anyway, but McClart wasn’t one to leave loose ends. He drew his sword and swung it in a wide arc.

Blue flames leapt from his blade and spread to the demon and the inside of the cave. As the demon writhed in the flames, McClart turned and walked out of the cave without looking back.

The lingering scent of blood in the air slowed his stride slightly, but that was all. It was only a trace, not the real thing, so there was no need to linger. Besides, he already had a piece of that scent.

He thought of the fur-lined blanket in his room, the one stained with dark, dried blood. A year ago, the scent of blood had been so intense; now it was so faint that he had to bury his nose in it to detect it at all.

Before the scent of that blood faded, he intended to capture her. Once he had her in his grasp…

Well, he’d figure out the rest afterwards.

Once he had her in front of him, he would know what to do next.

* * *

There was an almost disturbing silence. So quiet that it took Vienny a while to realise where she was.

This was Hellem Forest. As soon as she arrived, she made herself at home in a place she had scouted out beforehand.

Given her poor physical condition, she knew she’d collapse if she didn’t rest along the way. She had crossed the Teike Plains on little sleep over the past two days.

Whether by luck or misfortune, Vienny had managed to enter Hellem Forest without meeting a single person – or even an animal. The silence was absolute.

Just reaching a place where she could hide, as opposed to the open plains, was enough to give her a sense of relief.

After a few days of rest, her mind felt clearer. Sitting up, she took in the familiar surroundings. The sky was beginning to lighten in the faint twilight.

As she looked up through the leaves at the clear sky, Vienny suddenly found the silence unsettling. It was unusually quiet – no birdsong, nothing. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

It was as if the forest itself was holding its breath. A feeling of unease began to creep over her.

She hadn’t exactly been waiting for Gentian, but judging by the speed of their journey here and the days of rest, she thought they might be able to reunite around this time.

Since Gentian was a demon with extraordinary physical abilities, he would probably move faster when not travelling with Vienny, allowing him to get things done more quickly. Assuming there were no major problems, he would confirm the safety of his companions and then head directly this way.

If all went as expected, it would be today or tomorrow – the day she thought she might see Gentian again.

But as the silence continued, and no sound of his approach reached her, her heart grew uneasy. Absently touching the bite mark on her ring finger, Vienny finally made up her mind and got to her feet.

She had hoped to complete her connection with the squirrel here, if possible, but it was too late to wait any longer. Waiting for Gentian, who might come today or tomorrow, felt pointless…

“…!”

Breaking the silence, a faint voice reached her ears. Vienny froze, startled, and turned towards the source of the sound.

“…En!”

It was Gentian’s voice. The realisation sent a wave of relief through her.

Vienny quickly gathered her belongings. Since she didn’t have much, it didn’t take long. As she gathered her things, the distant hum of his voice came a little closer.

“En!”

She had been worried when he said he was going to the campsite near McClart, but it seemed they had managed to avoid a confrontation. Vienny turned in the direction of the sound, preparing to move towards him. Just then she felt a slight pain in her ring finger.

“Ugh?”

Startled by the sharp pain, she looked down to see blood dripping from her ring finger. Blood was oozing from the bite mark that had been healing.

A flicker of confusion crossed Vienny’s face and at the same time her vision began to blur and she felt dizzy.

Alarmed by her distorted vision, Vienny staggered, struggling to keep her balance as the pain in her ring finger increased.

“En! Where are you?”

Gentian wouldn’t know exactly where she’d decided to wait. Without the scent of blood to lead him closer, finding her would be a challenge.

For now, Vienny wrapped a piece of cloth around her ring finger. The cloth quickly soaked through with blood. Her vision flickered once more and then all was lost in the darkness.

Vienny blinked a few times and froze at the sight of the iron bars in front of her. Her body swayed.

It felt as if she were trapped in a cage and being moved. Startled, she looked around and quickly realised that the landscape beyond the bars looked strangely familiar.

Humans were nearby. Alarmed, she tried to escape, but she was surrounded by bars on all sides, with no way out.

Desperately scratching at the bars with her front paws, she tried to find a place to hide, when a loud noise came from above. A human, noticing her awakening, said something.

Suddenly, someone poked her body with a long stick. Startled, she ran to the other side of the cage. She accidentally looked up and saw a human with piercing blue eyes.

Her body froze, as if she were facing a predator. Her vision wavered. It wasn’t the cage that was shaking – it was her.

“Cough!”

Vienny opened her eyes with a deep cough, spitting out bitter stomach acid. A dull pain radiated through her limbs from where she’d fallen.

Her hands were drenched in blood from her ring finger, and panting she forced herself to her feet, clutching her bag with trembling hands.

In what felt like a fleeting moment of connection, she faintly heard Gentian calling her name again. But instead of running towards his voice, Vienny ran in the opposite direction.

Her grip slipped more and more as her strength waned, and she had to readjust her bag several times, biting her lip to keep going. The residual effects of the connection made her vision blurry, but staying here would surely mean getting caught.

The memory of MacClat’s eyes fixed intently on the squirrel – on her through the squirrel – flashed through her mind and made her catch her breath. Goose bumps crept across her skin.

Gentian hadn’t escaped from him; MacClat had deliberately let him go.

It was obvious that Gentian had no idea that he was unwittingly leading McClart. And somehow the blood-fed squirrel had fallen into McClart’s hands.

It wasn’t hard to guess that he was involved in her inability to connect with the squirrel, who should have been responding to her by now. Keeping such a red-eyed creature alive suggested that his target was the Great Witch.

Drops of blood fell to the ground with each step. The bleeding would stop soon, but the smell of blood would linger much longer.

Pushing aimlessly through the undergrowth, Vienny came to an abrupt halt. At this rate, she would surely be caught.

With that thought, she knelt where she stood. Blood quickly saturated her clasped hands, but she ignored it, tightly shutting her eyes.

As her erratic breaths became calmer and more regular, eventually so quiet as to be almost inaudible, a long crow call echoed in the distance.

* * *

Despite the urgent message, his companions were mostly safe. One of them, however, hadn’t managed to escape and had been captured. But… they had all embarked on this mission prepared to face death, so the fact that the rest had survived was still a relief.

The others suggested rescuing their captured comrade, but Gentian’s thoughts went first to Vienny, who was probably struggling to escape on her own. While his companions had each other, she was alone.

Naturally, he headed straight for Hellem Forest. Normally, he would have noticed the hesitant expressions on his companions’ faces, as if they had something more to say, but his focus on Vienny made him oblivious.

There was a fifty-fifty chance that she was still waiting for him. But even if she had already left, Gentian’s superior physical abilities meant that he would easily catch up with her.

His mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of Vienny that he paid less attention to his surroundings than usual – a big mistake.

“Damn.”

Gentian muttered under his breath. Despite the distance and the cover of the bushes, it was easy to recognise them as Chiron’s soldiers.

He must have been followed. And Vienny probably already knew it.

His gaze shifted to the crow perched on a nearby tree. When it had first appeared, he had thought it was there to lead him to Vienny.

But instead of Vienny, the crow had led him straight to Chiron’s soldiers. They had probably followed him all the way.

Gentian stifled a groan and pressed a hand to his forehead. How pathetic Vienny must think he looked. The thought made his face burn with embarrassment.

He gritted his teeth. Now that it had come to this, he had no choice but to either lead them elsewhere or take them down – either way, he would have to deal with them.