Chapter 12

Crystal lifts up out of the bed she laid in, her mind instantly going to the shards. Grabbing them out of her pouch, she sighs, if only she could find them better she'd speed up the process.

A soft knock comes to her door and she looks up with curious eyes, "Hello?"

"Ah, I have found you." Hajuka's voice whispers from the other side, "May I come in?"

"How did you find me?" Crystal says, the door slides open and Hajuka smiles at his sister before walking in, shutting the door behind him.

"You know Wolves have the best sense of smell, I just sniffed you out."

"Ah, makes sense. What's the purpose of your visit, you took extra care in hunting me down?"

"I have brought your family heirloom. It's rightfully yours, but you've been in hiding for a while." Hajuka pulls the blade and its shaft from his side, holding it out to her. Crystal reflexively touches Tatsuka.

"I'm not sure if I'm willing to give up my fang for Kitsuna."

"Oh? Did you find a sword of your own?"

"Yeah. I had it forged."

"Well lucky for you, Kitsuna can merge into another sword." Hajuka reaches for Tatsuka which immediately shocks him, "Ow. A barrier?"

"I actually didn't know there was a barrier, let me." Crystal puts her hand out and Hajuka puts Kitsuna in her hand.

"Smash them together, might want to smash Kitsuna down onto Tatsuka." Hajuka says simply, Crystal nods before taking the blade out of its sheath, admiring its shiny finish. Holding Tatsuka out, she lifts Kitsuna before slashing it down, the sword is immediately shattered in half, shards of metal spread out everywhere. But before they could embed themselves into anything, they start to glow before the sword is magically combined into Tatsuka. 

"What did the Kitsuna do?" Crystal asks.

"That was what made it so special, whatever its ability was, was unique to its holder."

"It sounds almost like an angelic weapon," Crystal says quietly, "I hope it wasn't."

"Oh no it was forged by a powerful demon's fangs."

"That's a relief, I should get going though. My journey awaits me."

"You are always on the run... I wish Mother wouldn't hunt you so you could live a normal life, maybe rebuild Dotsu's temple."

"Omose sure does have it out for me, but only one of us will be living when we finally meet face to face." Crystal stands up from her bed, "I'll see you around, Hajuka." Crystal walks out of the room, leaving her brother to watch as she leaves.

"Good morning." Rayth says as he looks up to Crystal as she enters the dining room, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." Crystal sits down before putting Tatsuka across her lap, she stares at it and the sheath she still had from Kitsuna.

"That sheath is nice looking!" Neca shouts, "So is the sword, so you're a swordswoman?"

"Yes I specialized in up close combat."

"So do I!" Neca grins as she pulls out her large war axe, "Like it?"

"Looks useful." Crystal nods before she looks at her food as its placed in front of her before she lifts the bowl of rice and begins to eat. 

"You guys been a thing for a while?" Neca asks as she finishes up her miso soup.

"What?" Rayth almost chokes on his tea as he starts to cough, "Not a chance! I'm just accompanying her to keep an eye on her!"

"What do you mean?"

"Only reason I even knew about her is because she burned down a human village, I was put in charge of investigating her. I still haven't determined if she's good or bad."

"Wait are you a demon slayer?"

"I was, I put my brother in charge of the slayers of Yakuma." Rayth nods to himself as if to verify the information within himself.

"Then its definitely a bit weirder that you're following around a half-demon, but I suppose it makes sense if you're observing her behavior to risk assess her." Neca finishes eating her fish, "So where are we going next?"

"Probably best if we go to Heartfalls. There we can find some demon hunting quests, eventually we should be able to find all the shards to the heart sapphire." 

"I don't really feel like becoming a demon slayer." Crystal retorts, "I'll just learn how to sniff them out better."

"Even if you don't want to take the quests, we should still head for Heartfalls, they'll have better armor and potions we can buy than here at Risenview."

"I suppose that's a decent point..." Crystal looks into her pouch, "Perhaps we can pick up some jobs, to get some money."

"So we're becoming hunters?" Neca asks, "I've always wanted to be a cool hunter!" 

"Yeah?" Rayth asks, "Why haven't you?"

"Most Quest Guilds require you to have a party of 4 or more to be entrusted with a quest to ensure it actually gets done."

"We're short a person then." Crystal says simply, "I'm gonna go shop, see if there's anything worth buying here."

"Alright." Rayth says up to her and she walks out, as she does she notices a large carriage being pulled into the village.

Browsing at the Alchemist's stand, she nods to herself, "I need 12 health potions, 4 Moon Water, and 2 Sharpening oils." 

"That'll be 7,800 Ales." The mage says and Crystal starts to pull the coin out of her pouch before handing it to him, he then hands her the bag full of her items.

Turning she notices the large carriage has now unfolded into a new market stand, now sporting exotic goods from all over the continent. Walking up she noticed a blue outfit folded up and she found herself staring at her own outfit in comparison.

"That outfit would fit you perfectly." A man says, and Crystal's light blue eyes dart up, meeting two emerald green staring back at her. 

"Oh, is it restrictive?"

"Its one of our more tighter outfits, it won't restrict your movement at all. It's a little revealing though." 

"That's not an issue, I'll purchase it. Do you guys tailor the outfits?"

"No, but I heard the local clothes store does, but I'm sure you'll find the outfit is almost a perfect match." The man smiles, "Name's El'gon, nice to meet you."

"Crystal." Picking up the outfit, she notices all the pieces underneath and makes sure to grab them. Walking over to the old man who seemed to be the owner, she places the outfit down, "How much?"

"10k Ales." The man coughs, Crystal frowns slightly knowing she didn't have that after the Alchemist.

"I'll cover it for her." El'gon says happily next to her, handing over the small pouch of coin that had 10k written on it.

"I don't care who pays." The man grumbles as he takes the bag, "Get lost."

Crystal picks up the clothes and starts to walk away, hearing the footsteps of the man who generously paid for her items follow behind her.

"I'm sorry if this is awkward, but I have never seen such a beautiful woman before." El'gon says beside her and Crystal looks at him.

"What does it mean to be beautiful? Is it how someone looks?" She asks.

"Beauty is not skin-deep. Like the ocean, you may appear shallow at first glance, but your depths are profound. True beauty radiates from within." El'gon motions to his chest, and Crystal stares at him for a moment, the intense look in her eyes making him sweat a little thinking he had offended her.

"Then... I believe you are rather beautiful yourself." Crystal says simply before she continued walking, leaving the stunned man behind. 

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"Kitsuna is in her hands..." Omose sighs, "She will be harder to kill, so I will have to start sending you out in pairs."

"I thought you said Lily was sent to kill her in her sleep?" 

"Tiatsu, do you really believe the woman who survived being burned alive will be killed by a simple girl?"

"No, your highness. I'm sorry."

"You're fine, just don't go into this underestimating her. She gained the prowess of a wolf, and the determination of an Ox. She'd kill everything in sight if she put her mind to it, and not even I could stop her by myself."

"Is your majesty saying that this lowly half-demon is more powerful than thy?"

"I am saying that while I have limitations due to a heart, my daughter does not share those same limitations." 

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"Whoa! That outfit looks so cool on you!" Neca says excitedly as her and Rayth look at Crystal.

Now adorned in leather pants that were tight until her knees, where they then puff out until her ankles being wrapped with a blue green strip of fabric. A pair of brown socks now covered her feet, and as they looked up, they noticed the intricate dark gray straps that wrapped around her waist, one giving just enough room to slip in her sword's sheath along with her pouch on the other side. Hanging from the lower strap was some light metal pieces, also colored blue green.

Her top was crossed over similarly to a kimono but it only covered her chest area, two different shades of the same blue that matched her pants, with lines of the blue green on top. Covering the peaks of her shoulders was a gray wrap, and around her neck was the top part of her cape, wrapped around loosely in the same blue green. 

"Doesn't she look really good, Rayth?!" Neca shouts excitedly.

"O-Oh... Yeah." Rayth looks away a little quickly, but Crystal shrugs it off as she sits down and grabs her food.

"What have you guys been up to today while I was shopping?" 

"Well I went and got my axe sharpened, asked around if anyone knew of anyone willing to join a slayer group." Neca says simply, "Rayth and I talked, we decided it might be best to bring a fourth person with us for Heartfalls."

"That's fine, I don't really care." Crystal shrugs, as she starts to eat she closes her eyes at the savory taste.

"But no one was willing, said it's suicide."

"I don't blame them, not a lot of common folk want to risk their lives killing demons, they just want to farm." Rayth says as he finally calms himself down.

"I might know someone I'll offer the position to him." Crystal says as she finishes her rice, "It was one of the commoners, he bought the outfit for me."

"Oooh?" Neca says in a cooing voice, "Did you two talk?"

"He told me I was beautiful." Crystal says as she picks up her fish and takes a bite.

"Wow getting all cozy with the commoners are we?" Neca teases.

"What? No. He just stated an observation. I'm not sure what being Cozy means."

"Eh?" Neca blinks in surprise before looking at Rayth who sighs in exasperation before Neca bursts out into laughter.