“I said I’m sorry.” The mixed-blood boy apologized awkwardly, sitting cross-legged a short distance away from the girl, who was holding her knees and sulking. “It’s not my fault. It’s too dark to see clearly, and divine demons are pale and wear white clothes.”
“You’re the worst,” the girl mumbled, her expression unchanging.
The boy scratched his head. “Look, my bad, okay?! It’s not like I expected to find a person down in this hole!”
“That’s not what I mean,” the divine demon girl said, pulling her knees closer. “You fell down here too. I thought I was finally saved.”
“Huh?” The boy looked at her in confusion. “Are you hurt or something?”
The girl shook her head.
“Then why can’t you get out of here on your own? Aren’t you a divine demon? Just use magic to climb out.”
The girl’s expression stiffened, and she shook her head once again. “I’m not good at magic. If I could do that, I wouldn’t still be down here.”
“Hmm... Guess that makes sense,” the boy responded flatly. “Unlucky, huh? The hole up there is hidden by bushes, so I didn’t notice it either and ended up slipping.” The boy laughed it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “We’re both kinda dumb, but at least we didn’t get hurt. The ground here’s weirdly soft.”
“That’s probably bat poop.”
“Bleh! N-No wonder it smells...”
The girl let out a short sigh as the boy stood up in a panic. He stubbornly brushed off his clothes for a while, then finally walked over to the girl and sat down where the ground was harder.
“So, what’s your name?” he asked.
The girl hesitated a moment before answering. “Lizolera.”
“Yeah, that’s a divine demon name all right,” the boy said as though it were obvious. “My name’s Adyahha.”
“Adyahha?” The girl named Lizolera looked up in surprise. “That sounds like a dwarf name.”
“My dad was a dwarf. He’s the one who named me.” The boy who introduced himself as Adyahha let out a cheerful laugh. It was unthinkable that the parent of a boy with so many different racial features could be a pure-blooded dwarf. The boy didn’t even have any dwarven traits. Lizolera had to imagine that the one he called his dad was just the person who had raised him. “Actually, this is perfect. There’s something I wanna ask you. A traveler we met said there was a divine demon village ahead. Are you from there?”
Lizolera nodded hesitantly.
“We were told it’s still a bit of a walk from here. Is that true?”
Lizolera nodded once again.
“Then I guess we’d better get going. I’m getting kinda tired of camping,” the boy muttered to himself before turning back to the girl. “What were you doing out here by yourself? Gathering herbs or something?”
“I left the village,” Lizolera said quietly, hanging her head. She glanced to her side, where there was a large brown knapsack that looked quite big for her. “I decided to set out on a journey. I’m never going back.”
“Wait, hold on.” Adyahha suddenly looked confused. “Even if it’s a bit of a walk, it can’t have taken you more than half a day to get here. You seriously fell down a hole and got stuck on the first day of your journey?”
“So what if I did?” The divine demon girl looked away in embarrassment.
“Y’know, you probably shouldn’t travel alone. I mean, how old are you? I think you’re a bit young.”
“I’m twenty.”
“Wh-Wha—? Th-That’s not what I expected. You’re older than I am... Are divine demons just like that?”
“How rude.” Lizolera snapped at the boy, irritation evident in her voice, before sighing once again. “Everyone says that. It’s not like I want to stay this small. Everyone treats me like a child. Nobody listens to what I say at work, even though I just became head priestess this year. I know more about the temple than anyone else. I’m sick of it, so I decided to leave.”
“Then...” Adyahha said softly, “were you being bullied too?”
“Not exactly.” Lizolera replied awkwardly. “It did feel like they were making fun of me, but it’s mostly stuff like patting my head.”
“Oh. Then it’s not like my situation.” The mixed-blood boy gave a relieved chuckle and jumped to his feet. “Let’s go home, Lizolera.”
“H-Huh?”
“Let’s get outta here. It’s about time I head back to my friends.”
“G-Get out how?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” The boy responded to Lizolera’s confusion with confidence, spreading the black wings on his back. “We fly out. C’mon!”
“Wah! H-Huuuh?!” Adyahha scooped Lizolera up into his arms. Though his arms were slender and boyish, he showed no sign of strain, as if he were lifting nothing more than a piece of cloth.
“That’s ridiculous! You...” Lizolera was flustered, caught off guard by his unexpected strength.
Mixed-blood demons tended to have weaker magical power. It became more apparent the more diluted their blood was, as though not only their appearance but even their very nature grew closer to that of a human. A pure-blooded birdfolk could likely fly while carrying a person, but for Adyahha, even just lifting himself should have been nearly impossible.
“No need to worry,” he said cheerfully, looking up at the sky where the sun poured into the hole. A magical current of air began to swirl around his outstretched wings. “I’m the strongest!”
With Lizolera in his arms, he bent his knees and jumped into the air, his wings beating down. They shot upward like an arrow, cutting through the air and emerging into the light. Feeling like she was floating, Lizolera hesitantly opened her eyes. The open sky stretched out before her.
“W-We’re flying!”
“We sure are!” the boy said with a cheerful smile, his wings spread wide. “See? Easy, right?”
“H-Hurry up and put me down!”
“Hey, stop struggling! Just take a look!”
“Huh?” Drawn by the boy’s gaze, Lizolera turned her eyes in the same direction. The vast sea of trees seemed to go on forever.
“Ah...” The forest covering demon territory spread out in every direction, as far as the eye could see, endless and unbroken. Bathed in the light of the setting sun, the scene looked like the distant ocean said to lie at the edge of the world.
“Did you know the world was so vast?” Adyahha asked the wide-eyed divine demon. “It’s filled with a bunch of amazing things and incredible people. Traveling is great.” His voice took on a gentle tone. “That’s why you shouldn’t do it for such a negative reason.”
“Adyahha.” Lizolera looked at the boy’s face. “Why did you start traveling?” She was certain it had to be a negative reason. Mixed-blooded demons were generally looked down on, no matter their race. While it wasn’t uncommon for them to band together and create their own settlements, they were small, and life there wasn’t easy from what she had heard.
However, the boy responded with the same jovial expression. “To find friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah. Friends I can trust. I only ever had my dad. In his final moments, he told me that my strength would be needed one day, so I should find friends who can support me, and who I can support in return.”
“Did you find them?”
The boy nodded intensely in response to her question. “You bet I did! The best friends I could ask for!”
“That’s good.” As though drawn in by the boy, a small smile formed on Lizolera’s lips as well. Bathed in the light of the setting sun, his face reminded her of the traveling braves from the fairy tales she’d heard as a child.
“That said...” Adyahha looked down at the forest beneath them. “We got a little split up.”
“Huh?”
“They’re probably back at where we separated...but where was that? It should be an open clearing you can see from the sky. Oh, there it is! All right, we’re going down!”
“Huuuh?! Eek!”
With Lizolera in his arms, Adyahha folded up his wings and began to plummet. “Hey!”
Though still not used to the floating sensation, Lizolera managed to face the direction the boy had called out to. Four figures that appeared to be demons were in a small meadow in the middle of the forest. Adyahha shouted at them once again, and the second smallest of the figures reacted, looking up at the sky. Upon seeing the flying boy, the figure started jumping and waving its arms, shouting something in return.
“Ha ha!” Adyahha let out a short laugh in response, a hint of relief in his voice. Finally, he landed in the clearing and set Lizolera down as the small figure came running over. With a smile, Adyahha raised a hand in greeting. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Tilsy.”
“Don’t give me that!” the girl who had come running over shouted angrily. “You said you were going to get water! How long does that take?!”
“Oh, right. Water. I totally forgot...”
“Excuse me?!” The girl looked dumbfounded as Adyahha sheepishly scratched at his head. “What have you been doing this whole time?”
“H-Helping someone...” Adyahha turned back to Lizolera as if pleading for assistance.
“Umm, it’s true, so don’t get too mad at him.”