All at once, the robbers rushed us with their weapons. Oda whipped out his daggers and engaged in close combat while I hastily secured my bag onto my back. Oda was quickly dealing with the robbers and all the attackers who rushed him were lying on the ground. 

I guess they learned that attacking Oda was a death sentence so instead they went for me.

Blocking an incoming attack with my arm, I used my other hand to grab and then knock the weapon out of the attacker’s hand. As the dagger was falling, I deftly caught it and threw it at a man who was trying to flank me. The weapon impaled him in the throat and he went down with a pitiful cry of pain. The first man who was attacking me finally noticed my black eyes and he screamed, “THEY’RE DEMONS!!!” 

“Oh, now you noticed? How observant!” I yelled as I punched him square in the face. I felt bones crack underneath my fist and blood sprayed from his nose. He flew backward and blood was pooling underneath him.

At the guy’s declaration, all the attackers stopped what they were doing and stared at us in fear. Then with renewed vigor, they assaulted us. Through the blur of fighting, punching, and kicking, I noticed that one guy was fleeing. 

I couldn’t let this guy run away, there was no telling what he’d do once he got back to civilization. My guess, he’d most likely tell everyone that demons were nearby and then get the holy knights involved. Then those knights would come after us and then I’d end up dead.

Yeah, I don’t want that happening to me. 

Letting myself fall into a rage, I transformed into my demon form. The force from the change was enough to get the robbers off me so I could run after the fleeing man. Tackling him to the ground and then straddling him, I clenched both of my fists together and smashed his head in. His head cracked with a sickening sound and I could hear the sound of the scuffle behind me still.

Getting up, I saw that my transformation scared the shit out of the rest of the robbers. 

Cocking my head to the side with a cold voice, I told Oda, “You know we can’t let them get away, right?”

With an unusual serious air around him, Oda agreed with glinting eyes, “Yeah. We wouldn’t want them telling others about us”. Then he also transformed into his demon form. 

The men before us cowered in fear and when they tried to run, Oda and I decimated them quickly. 

When we were done, all that was left were blood and countless corpses. I had Oda help me move the corpses and weapons off the road and hide them in the nearby thicket. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be discovered soon and with the look of the skies, the coming rain would wash away the blood.

With a call to Oda, we started to rush off. I wanted to put as much distance between us and the dead robbers. 

Oda didn’t make a fuss for once and complied. Together we ran underneath the darkening cloudy skies. As we ran, I made sure that my bag was securely tied. Hopefully, we will be able to find a covered place to sleep tonight. I’d rather not sleep in the rain.

After running for a couple of hours, we stopped for a rest underneath a large tree. 

Heaving from the exertion, Oda huffed, “Wow, I didn’t realize being on the run would be so tiring”.

With a side glance at him, I replied, “You must have piss poor luck. I’ve never had to deal with the likes of that before”.

“You’ve never run into packs of villagers or travelers on your way to the east?” Oda asked, stupefied.

“No. And I don’t want to make it a habit to run into people who want to kill or mug us,” I sassily replied. 

I threw an apple at Oda for him to eat and I got one for myself. In silence, we ate our respective apples while letting our bodies have a cool down from all the stimulation we’ve been through. 

Once we were done, we threw the apple cores into the woods and started to look for a nice place to settle down for the night. 

Oda squinted his eyes and pointed, “Hey! I think I see a cottage!”

“And why would we want to try to go there? Besides, I doubt we’d be welcome,” I replied while still looking at the trees. 

“We could at least check to see if it’s empty,” Oda whined while heading over to where he was pointing. 

I debated on whether I should follow Oda or continue with my journey without him. Oda turned around and whined about me not following him so I sighed and started to walk in his direction if anything, to humor him. 

When we got in the vicinity of the quaint cottage, we hung back underneath the trees. It seemed like it was empty and there was some sort of placard next to the door. Nudging Oda to go check, he cautiously moved out from under the trees. When he saw that nothing bad was happening, he moved quickly and assuredly towards the cottage. 

He quickly read the placard and then waved me over to join him. After looking around one last time, I walked over to Oda. When I got there, Oda explained that the cottage was a safe place for travelers. Everyone was welcome to stay the night as long as they left the place in the same condition it was in when they arrived. 

I voiced my concern over using a public space for the night but Oda argued that this place was empty and since we’d be taking turns doing the night watch, that we would be fine. If anyone came during the night, we’d just leave. 

I didn’t like this plan, it had too many ifs for me to be comfortable with it. But I had to agree with Oda about one thing: I was tired of sleeping in trees and caves. It’d be a nice change of pace to sleep in an actual bed. 

“Fine, we’ll stay here for the night. But, at the crack of dawn, we’re hoofing it out of here,” I said. 

Oda happily jumped up and down and entered the cottage. I followed him and looked around the cottage. It was a three-room building that was decorated with many wild flowers. The first room was like a living room with a fireplace for the wintertime. It was filled with comfy sofas and armchairs with nice side tables along with paintings of the surrounding landscape. The bedroom had six single beds that each had their own nightstand. The bathroom had a small clawfoot tub along with a full-length mirror on the door. 

“This place ain’t too shabby,” I complimented as I explored the rooms. I placed the bag of goods onto the nightstand next to the bed I sat on. Looking out the windows I saw that the rain had started. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to wash all the blood away. 

Oda came into the bedroom and he was gushing about how this was an oasis in the wet rainy outer world. Rolling my eyes, we started to discuss who should take the first watch. 

“I’ll do it! It was my idea to stay the night here after all. Besides, you look exhausted!” Oda exclaimed with a hand to his chest. 

Seeing his excitement, I allowed him to do it. I’m not going to lie, I was exhausted. I’d been secretly taking longer hours for the night watch since Oda was unreliable. Guess they were finally taking their toll on my body. 

Oda dragged one of the armchairs from the living room into the bedroom and sat down. I carefully arranged myself in the bed and snuggled into the blankets. Closing my eyes, I relished the feeling of being in an actual bed. It’s been a long while since I’d slept in one. 

Soon enough, sleep took me and the last thing I remember was Oda sitting in the armchair looking out the window.