Hiring the Demon as Guide

"Excuse me, Sir. Are you perhaps, in need of a guide?"

Inside the Eternal Night Tavern, one of the most popular gathering spots in the town, the sound of clinking drinks filled the air, which was barely audible amidst the unstoppable outburst of heated talks and laughter.

The temporary leader of the Zephirre's momentary hunting squad, Gerald, was smoking alone in the furthest corner of the room, chilling when a cloaked figure approached him with long strides, directly offering her service without any further ado.

At the sudden intrusion of space, the man's lax movement seemed to have paused for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing as he lowered the burning tobacco stick in his hand to fix his eyes on the uninvited guest's figure, staying there for a mere three seconds before they turned away with disinterest.

It was embarrassing to be ignored like she was some kind of empty air, but Riize wasn't the slightest fazed by his silent refusal.

Unsurprisingly, the hunter wasn't interested in her offer, which led her to two conclusions – either the hunter had found one for the job or, he didn't need one to begin with.

If it's the latter, she might not be able to do anything about it. But if it's the former… Riize let out a small smile, her entire figure radiating confidence. 

Taking two steps closer, she decisively lowered her hood with a hand, exposing an ethereal head of midnight blue hair dark as the night, and most importantly, the tiny little horn peeking out on top.

As she had expected, the hunter's gaze returned to lock on her peeking horn, eyebrows raising as he opened his mouth to ask, "Oh, a demon?"

Beneath the devil's mask, the ends of her mouth curled as Riize boldly raised her eyes to stare against the hunter's glimmering pitch black ones, "Yes."

"Thus, if it's the Demon Realm you're heading to, you won't be able to find a better guide than a native of the realm itself. Don't you agree, Sir?"

Gerald lowered his eyes, chuckling in amusement. Never in his life had a demon come to stand before him, this voluntarily. Moreover to exude such confidence.

Fueled by curiosity, Gerald decided to humor himself with this amusingly daring demon.

"You made a good point there, demon." The hunter flashed her a lazy smile, "However, do you know who am I?"

Saying this, his sluggish eyes suddenly turned eagle-like sharp as his free hand moved to wield his most precious blade with a swift pull, throwing the incredibly sharp weapon towards the demon's direction.

Riize didn't dodge. She stood there motionless as if rooted to the ground, letting the blade shoot past her with a whirling spin, grazing the edge of her mask and drawing out blood.

The blade embedded itself 5 inches deep into the concrete wall, leaving a thin long slit across her left cheek and ear. 

The wound was shallow, but it stung and burnt her. As expected of the bane of every demonic existence, Pure Silver.

And for one with the need to wield such a precious and terrible weapon, what can they be if not demon hunters?

"Now, do you know?"

At the hunter's provocation, Riize's smile widened, as if the man's aggressive attack hadn't scared her but had instead excited her even more.

Riize didn't move. And with the demon's entire face hidden behind her mask, Gerald knew nothing of her current expression. He thought that the demon had been frightened silly to the point of standing still there without daring to make any single movement.

Now there goes the fun. How boring.

With his interest lost, Gerald slumped back to his seat, preparing to light up another cigarette when he saw the demon move from the corner of his eyes. He had initially thought that the demon was about to scurry away like a frightened little mouse, but the direction wasn't quite right and–

His hand froze, eyes unable to move away as they stuck on the demon's back, watching her pull out the short blade with ease and wipe the dirtied surface with a casual crumple of her cloak, before returning the blade to him with two hands.

"Honorable Sir, I believe this is precious to you as… not even a man of Sir's caliber can afford losing such an expensive weapon this casually, am I right?"

Gerald stiffened. The demon definitely knew what she's doing. He was sure of that, looking at the sizzle coming out of her skin just from a mere close contact with the silver blade. Thus, what was she up to?

"The job, are you still determined to get it?"

Gerald asked and saw the demon nod without the slightest hint of hesitation, and this confused him even more.

"You… Are you not afraid of me killing you?"

The hunter directly expressed his curiosity, no longer bothering to beat around the bush. Two seconds later, he heard the demon chuckle.

"Whether it's the Human Realm or the Demon Realm, there exists rules of hunting. I believe that Sir is an honorable person that will respect the rules."

Gerald didn't know what to say, feeling as if all words had been robbed of him. The demon was undoubtedly skillful with her tongue, but this didn't mean he would accept her just like that.

"Truth to be told, I am impressed. However, what makes you think that I would dare to put my trust, as well as the entire success of the expedition, on a demon I don't even know? You demons have always been unpredictable with your thoughts and intentions, not to mention the innate skills–"

"I'm only a failure of a demon born with nearly no horn," Riize cut the man's words whilst bringing a hand to touch her horn, as if stressing out how harmlessly tiny it was. "What harm can I possibly cause?"

A light of realization seemed to have dawned upon him as Gerald was utterly silenced once more. He found no fault in her words. 

A demon with no horn. In fact, it wasn't as if he hadn't heard of such cases before. It was said that a demon with no horns was no different than an ordinary person as a demon's fearsome powers originated from their horns, which meant that the more horns a demon had, the stronger their powers would turn out to be.

While one-horned demons can be quite a dangerous creature when one's not looking, it shouldn't be enough to pose a threat to experienced hunters such as himself and his squad, moreover a demon whose size wasn't even a fifth of an ordinary demon horn.

Rather than being wary or feeling threatened, his men might find her quite a feasible source of entertainment later on. Not to mention that with a demon as their guide, they might reap more of the benefits than they had initially expected.

Moreover, there's something else that he needed to verify on his own…

When Gerald himself arrived at this point, he seemed to have been thoroughly convinced. He sat back and pulled out another cigarette from his pockets, lighting it up with an expert-like flick.

Puffing out a ring of smoke, his fingers fiddled with the burning stick in his hand, the running thoughts in his mind unable to be deciphered as he slowly declared.

"Congratulations. You're hired, Demon."

===

As Riize navigated her way out of the tavern, her shoulders brushed past a man with flushed cheeks and glazed eyes. Though that didn't hinder her pace, the drunk man had stopped to turn around with a confused look, gazing at her back intensely as if intending to puncture a hole through her figure.

'That heartless woman…'

Max wondered if he had been dreaming, to see the woman he's been thinking all day in a place like this. His eyes traced back to the direction she had just trudged from, recognizing the smoking man sitting in isolation by the furthest corner of the room.

"Zep-phirre?"

He muttered with uncertainty, his legs finally giving way as he crumbled to the ground, losing his consciousness completely.