The rain kept up for another half hour. The townsfolk spent the entirety of that time trying to dissuade me from my course of action, shouting such things as “A young lady like you shouldn’t be putting herself on the line!” and “Let the real adventurer’s handle it!” Among them, however, was a surprising ally.

“If she says she can do it, she can do it,” Lissera told the crowd. She hardly looked convinced herself, continuously throwing glances my way, but she nevertheless managed to deliver the line in a firm voice before turning to me. “But are you sure you don’t want to wait until morning? They’re more active at night…”

“I’m sure. I’m intending to camp out tonight, in any case, so taking care of them before bed would be ideal.” That was another lie, of course. I intended to sleep in a comfortable bed, back in the tower. I couldn’t tell the townsfolk that, though, and it was unlikely they’d let me simply slip out of town if they thought I was planning to camp among monsters.

“I told you that you could bed at my place tonight, though,” Liserra pointed out. She had a pout on her lips, but I didn’t think she was actually that upset about my refusal. Rather, she seemed worried over my plans. 

“I’ll be fine,” I told her, my voice gentle but firm.

“Oh, just let her handle it,” declared a blue-haired woman, slamming her leather jack on the table. If there’d been any alcohol left in the thing, it probably would have sloshed over the sides from the force she put into it. “We’ve spent half an hour trying to convince the fool woman. What do we care if she takes this on herself? It’s not like there’ll be a body left for us to worry about burying.”

“Mother Reliz,” one of the villagers protested, “you surely can’t be suggesting we condone this madness!”

“I’m suggesting that we stay out of its way and mind our own damn business,” Reliz declared. “And that someone gets me a damned refill…”

Tasha hurried forward to take the woman’s leather mug, bringing it to the cask for a refill. I, for my part, did my best not to stare at this so-called “Mother Reliz.” She was the one who’d helped me shoot down Jackson earlier that evening, which had somewhat endeared me to her up to this point. Hearing her called “Mother,” however, told me that she was likely a priestess, an affiliate of the church that vilified my people. Just knowing that caused a surge of anger and disgust to well up within me, though I quickly shoved it down. The woman didn’t seem to be too terrible a person, so far; perhaps a little salty, but that was all. Nevertheless, I thought I’d be better off avoiding her.

“The rain seems to have stopped,” I declared, making a show of putting my hand to my ear. I’d actually been tracking the sound as it trailed off. “I’d best be going, now.”

“At least let me get you a lantern,” Liserra suggested, frantically. “She can borrow a lantern, right, Tasha?”

“I’ll be fine without it,” I told her before Tasha could respond. “It would just ruin my night vision anyway.”

“But you can’t even see the moon with those clouds! You need a lantern,” Lissera insisted. “Come on, Tasha, please? I’ll pay it off if she doesn’t come back with it.”

Tasha hesitated for a moment, looking conflicted. To her mind, giving in would probably mean saying goodbye to the lantern. Further, with the merchants avoiding the area, it was uncertain when she’d be able to replace it. Despite that, she slowly, somewhat reluctantly nodded.

“I’ve got an old spare I suppose I can let you borrow. It’s just a candle lantern, mind, but it should give you a little light.”

“It’ll do fine,” I promised, eager to get underway. 

The innkeeper gave me a resolute nod and headed toward the stairs at the back of the room. I stood silently while I waited, ignoring the quiet murmurs of the worried townsfolk around me and the worry evident on Lissera’s face. Even though she supported me, she was still clearly concerned about whether I could really back my claims.

“I do hope you know what you’re doing,” Monica muttered from her seat. “Lissera really doesn’t have the money to be replacing a lantern…”

“Monica!” Lissera cried out, blushing bright red. “It’ll be fine. I know you’ll bring it back in one piece.” So she said, but I could hear the faint tremor of uncertainty in her voice.

“It’ll be fine,” I insisted, giving her a confident smile. “I’m stronger than I look.”

“Are you?” Monica asked, voicing the doubt everyone at the table seemed to feel. “I’ve seen plenty of people whose strength outstrips their physique - I’ve heard some of the strongest humans barely show any muscle at all, in fact. But getting there takes hard work, and I got a good look at your hands earlier - I don’t think you even have a single callus.”

“That’s because I’ve always healed myself with magic,” I fibbed, meeting her eyes and refusing to break contact. I knew the phenomenon she was referring to concerning muscles. It was common among demons. Our strength was primarily supernatural, and the stronger you got, the harder it became to give your body an actual workout. It was interesting to know humans worked the same way in this world. “Believe me or don’t. All I can do is promise to return.”

Monica’s brown eyes searched mine. I’m not sure what she found, but after a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and looked away. A moment later, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps walking down the stairs, and Tasha arrived with a lantern. It was already lit.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling as I reached out for the lantern. 

For a moment, Tasha’s hand remained firmly on the lantern. “Be careful out there,” she told me, voice pitched low. “Getting this taken care of soon might be what’s best for the town, but the last thing we need is your corpse on our conscience.” Then she took her hand off and looked away.

“I really will be all right,” I promised, trying to reassure everyone once again. Nobody responded, this time, so I shrugged my shoulders and turned toward the door. I had already opened it when I heard Monica whispering behind me.

“You’re going to be paying off that lantern for months, you know.”

“Shut up,” was Lissera’s whispered reply. “She’s gorgeous, and I don’t want her to die.”

My cheeks flushed bright red, and I hastily opened the door and stepped through.