"Midnight, the day after tomorrow. Outside Gaderia?"
Evening, at the inn. Rolwen, reeking of drink, found a slip of paper tucked against the sword he had left in his room.
"Hey... Rol... wen, I thought we were supposed to be gathering intel. How the hell did you put away that much booze? Still, the food in Gaderia isn't half bad."
Timmy came stumbling in after him.
"Tsk, now the swearing starts. Like you weren't stuffing your damn face too, kid." The stern set of Rolwen's face eased, and he gave a rueful, handsome grin.
The next day the two of them drifted around the city just as they had on the first, quietly noting the rhythm of Gaderia's defenses.
Midnight of the third day.
Rolwen, seasoned at this, took Timmy through Gaderia's sewers under cover of darkness until they reached the base of the city wall. With the grappling hooks they had prepared beforehand, they slipped past the patrolling sentries and got over the wall without trouble.
What they never noticed was the corner of shadow at the wall's foot, where a guard with a white beard watched the whole thing. He merely raised the bottle in his hand toward their retreating backs, then tipped his head back and drank deep.
"Urgh. I'm never drinking that much again."
"Still not sober? Your tolerance is as pitiful as ever. Pull yourself together. Like you said yourself, that madwoman won't be easy to handle." Rolwen clapped a hand on Timmy's shoulder as they moved side by side through the dark, both wrapped in black.
"Hauling us outside the walls in the dead of night, risking our necks. What's this even for?"
"Who knows? Maybe she's got something important." Rolwen's face went grave, and not one curse crept into his words. "But this job is genuinely dangerous. More hands and more ideas can only help."
Two days of wandering had left Rolwen amazed at how safe Gaderia was. He had never seen a city so peaceful. No thieves. No nobles swaggering about. Even the occasional member of the Demon Race walked the streets and nothing happened to them.
What unnerved him most was how many strong people lived here. Years of hunting the Demon Race had honed a warrior's instincts, and those instincts told him plainly that there were "monsters" scattered all through that city.
Only once they were clear of the range that had kept his chest tight did he signal Timmy that he could shed the disguise.
And in that same moment, a slender figure stepped out of the shadows ahead of them.
"Took you long enough~"
At the sound of her voice, Rolwen pressed the half-drawn blade back into its scabbard. He kept one palm resting on the hilt as he greeted her. "Tutesi."
Tutesi. Captain of Squad Two of the Demon Hunters, of the demon-hunting organization.
A slim oval face, sharply cut features, pretty by any measure. Yet between those two thin brows something cruel showed through.
"Follow me."
Her voice carried arrogance with a thread of allure running under it. Walking behind her, Timmy realized with a start that this woman was actually a little taller than he was, close to Rolwen's height.
Watching those long legs swing back and forth, and the two silver ring-blades hanging at her waist, Timmy swallowed. A strange place, a strange colleague, a strange darkness. Something about it pressed down on him.
"So what is this about? Why drag us out here at night instead of meeting in the city to talk?"
Rolwen had asked the very question in Timmy's head.
"Just follow me and you'll find out~"
That was all Tutesi said before walking on.
Impossible to talk to, exactly as expected. Timmy and Rolwen traded a look, and each found the same worry in the other's eyes.
They walked without pause for close to another half hour. When they looked back, even Gaderia's outermost wall had vanished from sight.
Only then did Tutesi stop. She turned around slowly, arms folded behind her back.
"Finally, we're here..." In the instant black cloud swallowed the moon, a layer of shadow settled over her face.
"Rol, slayer of a demon dragon. Ah, I can hardly stand it!"
Tutesi's features began to twist. White teeth spilled out through her splitting grin, her eyes and brows bent into crescents, and her breath came fast until she broke into wild, cackling laughter.
Long fingers closed around the grips of the ring-blades. Still wearing that warped smile, Tutesi flung her arms wide. She tilted her head, and madness came pouring off her.
"Come duel me and Gaderia's Demon Race!"
"Madwoman, what the hell are you talking about?!" Timmy shouted at this "comrade" who had turned her blades on them.
"Hush, sidekick. Nobody asked you."
Killing intent. Malice. Even across the gap between them, that stare, that stance without a single opening. Timmy understood: this madwoman Tutesi truly intended to kill a colleague of her own organization.
"Mind telling me why?" Rolwen took a step forward, his hand now fully closed on the hilt, keeping Timmy behind him.
"To destroy Gaderia. To ruin the friendship between Humans and the Demon Race." Another voice rose out of the shadows behind Tutesi.
Rolwen's pupils shrank, and his sword came free.
With a ringing clang he caught the Mana sword streaking toward Timmy and slammed it away.
"Ooh, impressive!" Even as she laughed, Tutesi threw a furious glare over her shoulder. "Don't damage my prey. He has to be killed by me, and killed whole."
"Very well. I did prefer the weaker one anyway."
Hair in a gradient of blue-green, a horned member of the Demon Race with the build of a young girl.
Solitär stepped forward, smiling.
"A Demon Hunter joining hands with the Demon Race? Don't tell me you killed the captain of Squad One too, traitor."
Rolwen took the sword in both hands, his face heavy. That member of the Demon Race was a "monster" as well.
"No, he was my target to begin with. But he went off to Gaderia ahead of me and got finished off by the enemy, so-o-o, all I could do was lure you out here instead. Hehehe."
"Tutesi, this violates the code of the demon-hunting organization. The nobles and the nations backing you will never let you throw in with a dangerous member of the Demon Race."
Rolwen stalled for time while he studied them. He knew Squad Two, like Squad One, had its patrons in the Northern lands.
"Set your mind at ease. I've already sent off all my dear 'companions' in Squad Two, and this member of the Demon Race has those idiot Northern nobles under her thumb. I'm free to hunt now!"
Watching Tutesi flush pink with delight, Timmy spat out a curse. "She really is a madwoman!"
"Do try your very best, both of you. Before long, your deaths will be the fuse that makes Gaderia lose everything."
Solitär's voice was gentle, and utterly chilling.
"Hey, Timmy. I'm the one who dragged you into this. Find your own way out of here. Stay alive."
"What are you on about? Two on two, isn't it? Perfect odds."
Under Rolwen's exasperated gaze, Timmy drew his sword as well.
____
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