As they headed further north, the landscape began to change. The dense forest thinned out, giving way to rolling hills covered in grass that had turned gold from the cold. The trees along the path were different now, their bark pale and smooth, their leaves small and round. They reminded Subaru of birch trees back home, though not quite the same. The air smelled cleaner here, sharper, with a hint of smoke drifting from somewhere ahead.
Subaru went over the information she had gathered in the last city. The region around Vorig had a river that fed into a moat surrounding the main town, which was fortified with thick stone walls built to withstand attacks from the kinds of creatures that roamed these lands. The area was hilly and forested, mostly with trees like these, the birch-like ones that shed leaves in a carpet of gold during autumn. Lord Orden's estate sat within the town itself, a large manor that rose above the surrounding buildings, visible from a distance if you knew where to look. It was the home of one of the Three Great Knightly Families of the Northern Lands, which meant the people who lived there were not the kind you wanted to annoy.
Subaru kept her eyes on the road ahead, but her mind wandered back to the conversation she had with Übel before they left the last settlement. It had started innocently enough.
"So where were you born?" Übel had asked, her tone light, almost bored.
Subaru had prepared for questions like this. She had spent time thinking about what to say, what story to tell, what lies would hold up if someone asked too many questions. She had settled on something vague, something far enough away that nobody would know the difference.
"Near the Riegel Region," she had said.
It was a name she had heard in passing, a place mentioned by a traveler in one of the shops she had passed through. She did not know anything about it beyond the name, but that was the point. If Übel asked for details, she could claim she left when she was young, that she did not remember much. A convenient gap in knowledge.
Übel had nodded slowly, accepting the answer without pushing. Then she had asked something else.
"How are demons born anyway?"
Subaru had blinked. That was not a question she had prepared for.
"Are they born like mammals?" Übel continued, her voice genuinely curious. "With a male and female? Or do they just copy themselves? Make copies? Split in half?"
Subaru had no idea what to say. She did not know how demons were born in this world. She did not know anything about the body she was in, about the creature whose form she now wore. She had spent so much time trying not to think about it, trying to focus on survival, that she had never once considered the question.
Her mind went blank.
Then she smirked. It was not a confident smirk. It was the smirk of someone who had run out of good options and decided to pretend she had secrets instead of admitting she knew nothing.
"That is a secret," she said.
Übel studied her for a second. Her eyes did not narrow. Her expression did not change. She just looked, waiting, as if expecting Subaru to say something else. Subaru held her gaze. She did not blink. She did not look away. She just kept the smirk on her face, hoping it looked mysterious instead of desperate.
After a long moment, Übel shrugged. "Fine."
She had not asked again. Subaru was not sure if that meant she believed the lie or simply did not care enough to chase it. With Übel, it was hard to tell. She let things go easily, but that did not mean she forgot them. Subaru had learned that much. Übel collected information like someone picking up stones along a path. She did not always use them, but she kept them, waiting for a moment when they might be useful.
Subaru shook the thought away and focused on the road.
The hills rose and fell around them, the path winding between slopes covered in tall grass that swayed in the wind. The smoke smell grew stronger, mixed now with the sound of voices, many voices, carried across the valley. Subaru slowed her pace, her eyes scanning the horizon.
Then she reached the top of a hill and stopped.
The valley below stretched wide and green, a bowl of land ringed by hills on all sides. A river cut through the center, its water catching the afternoon light. On the far side, she could see the walls of a town, gray stone rising against the green hills, with a manor rising above the rooftops like a watchful giant. Lord Orden's estate. The seat of one of the Three Great Knightly Families. A place of power, of authority, of people who might ask questions she did not want to answer.
But that was not what made her stop.
The valley floor between the hills and the town was covered in tents. Hundreds of them. Maybe more. White canvas stretched across wooden frames, arranged in neat rows that spread across the grass like a second village. Between the tents, people moved in steady streams, carrying supplies, tending fires, gathering in clusters around larger tents that flew banners she did not recognize. Smoke rose from cooking fires, dozens of them, curling into the sky in thin gray ribbons. The sound of voices, orders being shouted, metal striking metal from somewhere she could not see, the low rumble of many people living in close quarters.
Subaru gulped.
"Looks like we arrived in the middle of something dramatic," Übel said from beside her.
Subaru did not answer. Her eyes moved across the camp, counting, estimating, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. This was not a small gathering. This was an army. Or something close to it. Soldiers in armor moved between the tents, their movements practiced, efficient. Horsemen rode along the edges of the camp, their eyes on the hills, watching for threats. The whole valley hummed with the energy of people preparing for something.
"What is this?" Subaru whispered.
Übel shrugged. "A war, maybe. Or a festival. Hard to tell from up here."
Subaru shot her a look. "Those are soldiers."
"Could be very organized festival goers."
Subaru did not laugh. She was too busy trying to figure out how to get around the camp without being seen, or through it without being noticed, or past it without being stopped. The road led straight into the tents. There was no way around. The hills on either side were too steep to climb easily, and the river cut across the valley floor, blocking any path that did not go through the camp itself.
She touched her turban, making sure it was secure. The cloth was tight, the horns hidden beneath it, but she could feel them pressing against the fabric, a constant reminder of what she was, what she looked like underneath. One wrong move. One person who knew what to look for. One soldier with sharp eyes and a sharper sword.
A soldier stepped out from between two tents as they approached the edge of the camp. He was young, maybe a few years older than Subaru's high school teacher, with a thin beard and armor that looked like it had seen better days. A spear rested against his shoulder, held loosely but ready. His eyes moved over them both, quick and practiced, checking for threats.
"Travelers, halt!" he called out.
───✧───
Subaru and Übel waited in the tent. The canvas walls flapped gently whenever the wind picked up, letting in small drafts of cold air that made the lantern light flicker. A wooden table sat between them, empty except for a clay jug of water that neither of them had touched. Two stools, one slightly wobbly, held them both in place.
Subaru kept a straight face. Her hands rested on her knees, fingers spread, posture rigid. Every few moments she lifted a hand and slapped her own cheek, a sharp sound that cut through the quiet. Then she would reset, straighten her back, and go back to staring at the tent flap like it might attack her at any moment.
Slap.
Pause.
Stare.
Slap.
Pause.
Stare.
Übel watched her companion with the expression of someone who had stumbled upon a strange animal in the woods and was trying to decide if it was dangerous or just confused. She tilted her head, her green ponytail sliding over her shoulder. Perhaps she had been wrong about this demon. Perhaps after all the fighting and the walking and the birds that fell from the sky, she had finally discovered the truth.
"Are you okay?" Übel asked.
Subaru's hand stopped mid slap. She turned, her face slightly red from the repeated contact, and gave a thumbs up. "Me? I am absolutely fine."
The thumbs up held for a moment. Then another moment. Then Subaru slowly lowered it and returned to staring at the tent flap.
Übel opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, the canvas rustled and a man stepped inside.
He was broad shouldered, dressed in armor that had seen real use. The metal was clean but not polished to shine, the edges worn smooth in places where a sword might rest or a shield might press. His hair was dark red, the color of old bricks, cut short and neat. His eyes matched, a shade of red that caught the lantern light and held it. He moved with the ease of someone who had spent years wearing armor, who did not need to think about where his hands went or how his weight shifted.
He stopped just inside the tent and gave a small nod. "Good afternoon. I am Wirt, the commander of this army and the eldest son of Lord Orden."
Subaru stared at him.
Her expression did not change. Her hands remained on her knees. But something in her eyes shifted, a flicker of recognition that did not belong there. She looked at his hair, his eyes, the line of his jaw. Her fingers twitched slightly, as if reaching for something that was not there.
Wirt frowned. He was used to people reacting to his name, to his title, to the armor he wore. But this was different. This was not respect or fear. This was something else, something that made him feel like he was being measured against a memory he did not share.
Übel nudged Subaru with her elbow.
Subaru blinked. Her eyes cleared. The strange tension in her shoulders eased, and she straightened on her stool, a smile forming on her face. It was not a normal smile. It was the smile of someone who had just been caught doing something embarrassing and was trying very hard to pretend it had not happened.
"Ah, good afternoon, good sir!" Subaru said, her voice pitched higher than usual. "I am Subaru! Broke and clueless beyond imagination! Nice to meet you!"
Wirt's frown did not disappear, but his eyebrows rose slightly. He had met many travelers, many adventurers, many people who came through his father's lands looking for work or passage or protection. None of them had ever introduced themselves quite like that.
"I am Übel," the green haired woman said, her voice calmer, more measured. She did not add anything about her financial situation or her mental state, which Subaru noted with a small amount of jealousy.
Wirt nodded to each of them in turn. "I see. You do not look like regular travelers. Are you adventurers?"
Subaru nodded quickly. "Yes. We are."
She was not sure when she had become an adventurer. Yesterday she had been running from birds. The day before that she had been running from a girl who could cut things by imagining them. Before that she had been dying repeatedly in a forest. But adventurer sounded better than any of those things, so she decided to stick with it.
Wirt studied them both, his eyes lingering on Übel's staff. "Oh, are you mages?"
"That is right," Übel said.
"And where are you heading?"
"Äußerst."
Wirt nodded slowly, a small smile forming on his face. "I assume it was for the First Class Mage Exam."
"Yup!" Subaru said, popping the word like she had been waiting to say it.
Wirt crossed his arms, his armor creaking softly. "Intending to join the Mage Exam. You must be quite competent mages."
Subaru opened her mouth to say something, but Übel spoke first. "You could say that."
Subaru closed her mouth. That worked too.
Wirt nodded again, his expression shifting to something more thoughtful. He looked at the tent flap, then back at them, as if weighing something in his mind. "If it is not bold of me to ask, the Exams are being held a few months from now. So could I ask a favor of you ladies?"
Übel narrowed her eyes. Her posture did not change, but something in the air around her shifted, a stillness that came before movement. "Let me guess. You want us to do something dangerous for you."
Wirt raised a hand, palm open. "Rest assured, you will be compensated accordingly."
Subaru leaned forward slightly. She barely had money. She had been living on what she could find, sleeping where she could, eating food that tasted like nothing because her demon body did not seem to want normal food anyway. The word compensated landed in her chest like a small flame.
"What is the job?" Subaru asked.
Übel glanced at her. She knew why her companion was interested. The girl who introduced herself as broke and clueless had not been exaggerating. In the days they had traveled together, Übel had noticed that Subaru's coin pouch made a sound like a two coins bouncing around in an empty room.
Wirt straightened, his expression turning serious. "We have been trying to hold off demons away from the city. We expect a large scale invasion soon, and we have lost many men recently. Plus, we do not have enough mages on the frontlines." He paused, letting the words settle. "So perhaps you could help me out."