Cher and Kaito continue laughing together even after leaving the remains of the goblin stronghold. Cher and Kaito did find a mutual respect for one another.
"I didn't think i'd run into any other strong new guilds out here!" Cher happily said.
Kaito beamed with joy. "You have a guild too?!"
"Yep, we're called the sunlight adventurers!" Cher strikes a pose, Taka lazily posing beside him. "What are you guys called?"
Kaito smiled even brighter. "We don't have one!"
Cher burst out laughing. "Of course you don't!"
As Cher laughs, a thought flickers across Kaito's mind. "Hey Cher, I was wondering, do you know about an adventurer named Haruko?" He asks.
Patty raises an ear, she too was curious if he knew her leader.
Cher begins thinking for a moment. "Yeah, she's just some older adventurer, she doesn't seem like anything crazy but i've heard of her."
"Do you know about the trickster?"
Cher raises a brow at the mention.
"Do you know anything, she's a member of our guild." Dante chimes in.
Cher coughed. "You telling me you guys know her?!"
They all get excited. "YOU KNOW HER?!"
Cher pushes them all back a bit. "No I don't know her, she robbed us when we first arrived in this side of Liberty!"
That just made Kaito laugh.
Dante stopped to check their supplies a while ago, goblins were in their bags so he had to be sure of what was missing. "Looks like we need to resupply." He says before he proudly smiles. "But at least the town we get to go to is one i've been interested in since I was young."
Taka yawned. "You talking about the city in the cave, Kieve?" He had hoped he wasn't
Dante nodded. "Yeah that's the one."
Taka shook his head, growing tired of their company.
Cher brightens up. "That's where we're heading, you guys wanna join up until we get there?" He asks and Taka silently mourns the peaceful nights.
Kaito of course agrees, and they begin traveling.
Toni plucked at the strings of his guitar as he caught up to them. "So," he said lightly, "which one of you masterminded this grand adventure?"
"That would be him," Taka said immediately, thumbing toward Cher.
Cher scoffed. "Excuse you? We planned this together."
"You planned it," Taka corrected. "I just agreed under emotional distress."
"You were nine."
"You were terrifying."
Toni's grin widened. "Ah. Childhood bonds forged in chaos. My favorite kind."
Cher shook his head, smiling despite himself. "We grew up in the same orphanage. Used to sneak onto the roof and swear we'd leave one day. Go somewhere big. Somewhere that wasn't just… that."
Taka's voice softened a fraction. "He made maps. Terrible maps. The ocean was shaped like a potato."
"It was a creative coastline."
"It was a vegetable."
Dante snorted under his breath.
Toni tilted his head. "And yet here you are. Dreams intact."
"Mostly," Cher said.
There was a brief quiet, filled only by boots against gravel.
Dante adjusted the strap of his bag. "I used to talk like that too," he said. "With Dennis."
Taka glanced over. "Old friend?"
"Yeah." Dante's jaw tightened slightly. "Before the empire picked him."
Toni's fingers stilled on the strings.
"He got elected during a magic screening," Dante continued. "Everything changed after that. Guess power looks good on some people."
"And ugly on others," Cher muttered.
Dante gave a small, humorless huff. "He decided I was an easy target. Easier than admitting he didn't belong up there."
The wind tugged at their coats.
Taka's voice lost its usual theatrics, or lack there of. "You deserved better."
Dante shrugged, but it wasn't careless, it was deliberate. "Maybe. But…" His gaze shifted briefly toward Kaito walking a few steps ahead. "If things hadn't gone that way, I wouldn't be here."
Toni's smile turned. "I know what ya mean friend, i'm thankful I met the fella too."
Dante smiled. "Yeah, Kaito's much better."
From up ahead, Kaito nearly tripped over a rock, playing ahead bothering Nanami and Patty. Who both respectfully are too nervous to converse with the new people.
But in the distance they began seeing something.
The caravan came into view just as the road narrowed between two rocky embankments.
At first, it looked abandoned, three wagons tilted at awkward angles, canvas tops sagging, wheels sunk slightly into the mud. Crates were scattered as though the merchants had fled in a hurry. A faint wind tugged at loose cloth and sent it snapping softly against wood.
The group slowed.
"Looks raided." Nanami mentioned.
Cher's eyes narrowed. The air felt wrong. Like the world itself was holding its breath.
A ripple shimmered in front of the lead wagon.
Then it rose.
A towering silhouette peeled itself from the space between the wagons, horns scraping the sky, shoulders brushing the cliff faces, eyes glowing like twin lanterns in the dark. Its form flickered like smoke wrapped around bone, claws gouging trenches into the dirt as it stepped forward. The sound it made was less a roar and more a distortion, a crackling tear in the air that made the horses whine and recoil.
"A high-grade phantasmal," Cher said calmly.
Dante groaned. "Of course it is. We can't just have a normal obstruction, can we?"
The immense creature leaned forward, its body stretching unnaturally as if trying to appear even larger.
"You shall not pass," it boomed, voice echoing unnaturally across the rocks.
Kaito tilted his head.
Cher stepped forward. "I'll handle it."
Taka folded his arms immediately. "Great. Handle it. I'm not lifting a finger." He lazily said.
Kaito glanced at Cher. "I'll help."
Cher's lips curved slightly. "I was hoping you would."
They advanced together.
The phantasmal swiped a claw the size of a carriage. Cher sidestepped smoothly as he cut through the smoky limb. It parted like fog.
Kaito stepped forward instead of back, watching the way the creature's outline wavered around the edges. The glowing eyes flickered, shrinking for just a second before swelling again.
"You're trying very hard," Kaito said thoughtfully.
The massive head dipped closer.
"I AM...." the voice cracked mid-boom, turning briefly shrill before deepening again. "...YOUR DOOM!"
Cher stopped moving.
The creature's chest puffed out as if it were inflating itself.
Kaito squinted.
Then he walked straight toward it.
"Kaito," Cher warned mildly.
But Kaito didn't stop.
He reached up, far up, and grabbed the monster by the face.
There was a sudden fwump.
The towering body collapsed inward like smoke being sucked into a jar. The claws, the horns, the titanic frame, all of it compressed rapidly until Kaito was left holding something very small by the scruff of its collar.
A tiny demon dangled from his grip.
It had little curved horns no longer than fingers, a round face, sharp but unimpressive fangs, and bat-like wings that fluttered indignantly. Its glowing eyes were now merely bright amber, not apocalyptic suns.
"HEY!" it squeaked, voice entirely too high to match its earlier performance. "Back off! You're ruining everything!"
Cher blinked once.
Taka stared.
The "high-grade phantasmal" kicked its little feet angrily in midair. "Do you knows how hard it is to maintain an illusion that big?! I had these idiots terrified! Free food! Free supplies! Free shiny things!"
Kaito held it up closer to his face, studying it.
"You're adorable," he said.
The demon froze.
"I'm not adorable, i'm Bein."
"And cool," Kaito added seriously.
The tiny creature puffed up, wings flaring. "I am a terror of the abyss!"
Kaito shifted his grip and casually tucked the demon under one arm.
The demon allowed it.
They returned to the group.
Gasps erupted immediately.
"That's it?!" someone from the caravan shouted.
"That thing was the monster?!" another cried.
The tiny demon hissed and tried to look menacing, baring its tiny fangs. It would have been more convincing if its legs weren't still dangling awkwardly.
One of the caravan guards drew a blade. "Execute it. Before it grows again."
Kaito's expression changed instantly.
"No."
The word was quiet but absolute.
The guard hesitated.
Kaito shifted the demon into both hands, holding him up properly now. "His name is Bein."
The demon looked up sharply. "What are yous playin at?" He questioned.
"And you're not executing him."
Murmurs spread.
"It was extorting us!"
"It threatened our lives!"
"It's a demon!"
Bein flared his wings again. "Yeah! I was! And I would've gotten away with it too if you hadn't-"
Kaito gently squished his cheeks together between his fingers.
"You don't need to do that anymore," Kaito said.
Bein blinked.
Kaito's gaze was steady. "I'll keep him."
The entire caravan stared.
Kaito's friends were all cursing him, he was literally recruiting a demon!
Bein sputtered. "Keep me? I ain't your pet!"
Kaito tilted his head. "You're my friend now."
There was a long pause.
Bein's face went bright. "You're weird!"
He wriggled violently until Kaito loosened his grip, then hopped down to the ground with a small thud. His wings fluttered as he straightened himself, brushing imaginary dust from his tiny shoulders.
"I don't like you," Bein muttered.
He shuffled a few steps away.
Then stopped.
After a moment, he drifted, very casually... back toward Kaito's shoe.
Not close.
Just… nearby.
Kaito smiled faintly but didn't say anything.
Cher observed the little demon's reluctant proximity with quiet satisfaction.
"Well," he said lightly, "this expedition grows more interesting by the hour."
Taka groaned again. "We are not starting a collection."
Bein looked up sharply. "I am not a collectible!"
Kaito crouched slightly so he was closer to eye level with the demon. "We're going forward," he said gently. "You don't have to block the road anymore."
Bein hesitated.
The caravan workers were already pulling their wagons aside, casting wary glances at the tiny creature that had once seemed like a catastrophe.
"…There's less free stuff ahead," Bein muttered.
"There's more interesting things ahead," Cher replied.
Bein eyed him suspiciously.
Then he glanced up at Kaito.
"…Fine," he grumbled. "But I'm not following you."
Kaito stood and resumed walking.
A few seconds later, there was the soft patter of tiny footsteps.
Not following.
Just… coincidentally moving in the same direction.