“Okay, miss, start talking. What’s this about us being followed?”

  Sneaking away from a group to press a girl against a wall is pretty much a festival staple, isn’t it? That wasn’t my intention but was certainly how it looked to Sarasa.

  “Wow… You’re aggressive today… Did the festival get you in the mood?” She looked up cutely.

  “*Sigh…* Just explain what you meant by that. Who’s following us, and since when?”

  “All the way from the Ebrilyon, of course.” That’s pretty bad… Not that she seems bothered at all.

  “And the reason why you didn’t say something earlier is…? Did you really only decide to talk because I got you the coin? Come on, Sarasa!”

  “Wait wait wait! That was just a joke. The only reason I hadn’t said it earlier is because I only noticed it now.”

  “Really? Let’s hear it then.” Sarasa finally got a little space to breathe. “Who’s following us? How is that even possible when we traveled on gryphons?”

  “It’s not a who, it’s a bird. Shouldn’t have been able to follow us all the way here. At the speed we were flying, there’s no way a normal bird would have been able to keep up. Even with the pauses and all.”

  “Were we going that much faster than a bird? I’ll take your word for it, but what does that mean?”

  Sarasa stepped away from the wall and playfully circled me. “Isn’t it obvious?” She’s setting the pace now. Away from the stalls, she can pace around with some whimsy without drawing the attention of anyone.

  “It’s because it’s not a normal bird. It’s either some kind of monster or it’s under someone’s spell. Either way, seemed important to bring it up.”

  “No shit! Where is this bird right now? Can you track it down? We gotta look into it.”

  Sarasa raised her arm. “It’s right behind you, actually.” Her index finger pointed at a roof. No way… There really is something there… It’s too dark to see, but the lanterns give off enough light to create a faint silhouette. “Looks like a hawk, but it’s nothing like any hawk I’ve seen before.”

  Its shape was indeed a little weird. The creature didn’t have the symmetry expected from normal birds. Very suspicious. “Ah! It noticed us! It’s flying away! Come on!”

  I yanked her hand and ran at the wall. “Me too?” Without missing a beat, I ran up the wall and got on the roof. Scaling walls was no problem for her either. I could have pulled her up with me, but she pulled her hand back and scaled on her own.

  “Where did it go?”

  “Why did you run after it if you can’t even see well in the dark? Follow me.” Her innate cat features allowed our chase to continue through a few roofs.

  The silhouette eventually became visible again against the night sky as we got closer. “Uhmm… Attack, Sarasa! Take it down!”

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  “No way… I can’t hit it like this! I’m not throwing my daggers in the middle of the night just to miss and lose them. You do it!”

  “Fine… You tracked it, so I should be the one finishing it…” Burst Dash, Heart Piercer! I shot ahead of Sarasa and into the air, my sword thrusting toward the weird creature.

  *Woosh…* Either my sword missed or the bird dodged. Regardless, I fell down with nothing to show for it.

  “Caught you…” She waited and caught me as I landed. “Did you lose track of it again? That was not even close…” Even with how faint the light was, I could still see a mocking grin on her face.

  “Don’t fucking laugh… You’re supposed to comfort your girlfriend whenever she tries something, you know? I thought you were good with people. Did you never learn how romance works?”

  “My specialty is knowing how to rile up others. That’s what you signed up for when you accepted me into your harem.”

  “*Sigh…*” I pushed away her arm and stood up on my own. “That’s cute too, I gotta admit… We’ll work on the bad habits over time. Where did the bird go? Is it gone?”

  “I think it has given up on escaping… It’s above us, flying in circles, unfortunately out of reach now. I don’t think you can jump that high.”

  “I see what you mean… It’s barely more than a speck now… But we don’t need to jump… I got this right here…” I showed off my pistol in front of her eyes.

  “Oh… Equipped with cool stuff from your world, I see. It’s a harder target than the coin from earlier. Sure you can do it?”

  “You don’t believe me? I can handle something like this no problem!”

  It was not ‘no problem’… It went terribly. Dumped two whole magazines, and the creature was still in the air. Worse yet, the way I ran my mouth backfired spectacularly.

  “Wow! Amazing, Iroha!!” Sarasa enthusiastically clapped with a patronizing, overly sweet tone in her voice. “You managed to graze it once with… How many was that? Around 20… Bullets? Well done!”

  “You’re the worst… That’s not how you’re supposed to treat your poor heartbroken girlfriend either…” I had to look away. Can’t stand looking her in the eye right now. I’ll pretend to be sad and make her feel bad.

  “Nyahahahaha! You sure? At least we know that it’s something more than a simple animal now. Even if you just grazed it, I think a normal bird would have come crashing down.”

  “That’s… Something… I guess… What do we do, though? We need to bring that thing down… I feel like I have too many enemies now to let myself be followed without freaking out.”

  *Tip tap* The roof tiles from the house behind us suddenly rattled.

  “Even amidst the dark night there exists a hope for those who believe. Under the faint moon, she shall appear as a saving grace before they who are worthy and have earned her favor.”

  A silhouette of a girl in a long, black dress that appeared to shine under the moonlight stared at us with a smile. “I- is that you, Hecate?”

  “But of course…” She hopped across roofs and slowly walked toward us. Who else would make an entrance like that? “I sensed my dear Iroha was in trouble, so I had no choice but to show myself. What’s going on?”

  “Well… We may have run into a bit of a weird situation… Blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. What do you think?”

  “I see… I think you two made all the right choices. A bird able to follow us all the way from Ebrilyon is indeed suspicious. There is too much at stake to believe it’s just a coincidence, so it’s a good idea to take it down.”

  “You think so? Nice, but… It’s flying too far away. I think we just have to wait for it to get tired.”

  “No, no… Did you forget who I am, Iroha? Sure, it might be impossible to hit a target that small with your pistol, but I’ve got something better right here.”

  So captivating was her dress that her briefcase went unnoticed until she raised it. Instead of opening to reveal something inside, the briefcase itself started changing into the shape of an imposing sniper rifle. “I’m gonna put an end to your problems in an instant, okay? Do shower me with praise later.”

  She had to take a weird position for a shot more vertical than usual. Regardless, she rested the rifle against her shoulder and…

  *Bang!*

  A shot much louder than my pistol ripped through the sky, no doubt reaching the festival. Even with the music and murmuring going on there, I have no doubt a few people are bound to notice something. Not that they’re going to stop partying to investigate.

  “Hit! Bird down!” Sarasa gestured like a referee. “I saw where it landed. I’ll take you there.”

  Now that we had gotten closer, we were clearly able to see what was different about this creature. Despite the big hole on its body. It was still alive, and its flesh wiggled, trying to regenerate.

  “It’s an undead, isn’t it?”

  Just like the ones Sarasa and I fought in that village… She nodded her head in confirmation.

  “Should we assume that the one who asked Galene to fight the wolves is also behind this? That Thivadi guy?”

  Of that, Sarasa wasn’t as convinced. “But isn’t he just a human? Even if he’s a noble, I doubt a human would have the power to control the undead.”

  “So… Does that mean he’s working with a demon who can? Maybe that demon is even behind Molt’s attack.”

  “I think so… We at least have to assume that the undead cases are related. And if a demon has humans working with them, we shouldn’t be surprised if they have a big network established.”

  Sarasa and I were able to put some of the pieces together and draw some meaning from our discoveries. Hecate tried to follow along.

  “You briefed me on what has been going on, but I had no idea their reach was this big. I’m glad I didn’t let you come by yourselves.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Eliminating this bird will at least give us some breathing room as we make our way through the Forest of Illusion, correct?”

  “I hope so…” Sarasa nodded. “At least after we properly finish it off. Iroha, chop chop!”

  “Yeah yeah… Got it!”

  Slash Flurry!