Chapter 1 Demi-human Hachiru!

 

In the cold of night, the moon rested atop the skies. A piercing howl from the mountains could be heard fleetingly before it dissipated mercilessly. In a room that looked like it had been built in a day resided a demi-human that had nowhere else to go.

Emi Hachiru, demi-human slash cat woman for almost thirty years was scribbling something on the pages smacked flat against her desk brightened by a lantern. The tip of her quill was in between her teeth… Well, fangs.

She wrote till mid-afternoon without rest, emerging out of the confines of her room when she would hunt for food by a nearby grove. The seasons were slowly changing but for someone like her, the seasons were here to stay for a long time, especially considering her existence differed immensely from an average human.

With every stroke she made on the canvas, a low growl came out of her lips either from satisfaction of her extensive vocabulary or exhaustion in doing the same thing every day since the past week.

Writing a theory about black holes popping up in the wild lands as stepping stones to meet the dragon, ‘The End’ required patience and understanding of the terrain. Emi looked at these consistently even when she was laying down.

A knock on her door snapped her out of it. If it was the old man from this morning who tried touching her tail discreetly in the local market, she’d hiss at him immediately and probably suck his blood dry. Damn humans and their desires. Limitations really were starting to lose their purpose. Men and women liked breaking the rules.

Emi swiftly approached the door, rehearsing her scare tactic in her mind before opening it wide. Her claws were in full force. Just as she was about to give this poor denizen a little fright, she was met with a man made from stone instead. Everything about him screamed boring. His forehead, however, was shiny as hell it’d put this town’s blacksmith’s business into shambles.

She visibly gulped at his height. It would be an exaggeration to say his cranium reached the ceiling but it indeed was true. His shoes were wet.

Emi hadn’t noticed the rain outside. When did it pour? Who was this golem before her?

“Having stayed here for four days, surely you remember the required fee for reserving this room,” he said monotone. He might as well be dead with how his voice carried nothing but an impending sad melody.

Emi rummaged through her pockets in lightning speed with her eyes widening.

“Geez… Uh… Do you… Uh…” she smiled, hoping to lighten up the mood. He wasn’t having any of it. She forgot about reality for a second.

“Pay your dues or go somewhere else, lady. I’m running a business here.”

“Can’t you give me more time? In the next three hours?”

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible but there’s no denying your payment is still pending. Most I can give you is until dawn arrives.”

This’d be the time Emi wished she didn’t go against her family for being too ambitious in her goals.

She grabbed two copper coins out of her pockets. Cobwebs would form there later on. She chuckled, scratching her cheek.

“You accept down-payments?”

The man stared at her grimly, holding out his huge hand in between the door, his brusque palm laid out perfectly. Emi dropped the coins there, tearing up as she bid her farewells.

“By sunrise, I expect you to pay in full. Have a good evening.”

Quietly, the man departed into the darkness. The firm lines of his features sinking into the pathway’s black edges.

“Creepy old fart,” she muttered to herself, her cat ears twitched. Slamming the doors, the dust that gathered atop the room fell on her. She sneezed as a result.

“I could’ve slept in the forest instead.” That should’ve been her first choice and first decision.

Emi Hachiru came from a family of proud warriors who were cats. Her father had been the one who inspired her to travel the world and explore but the greatest achievement was to meet ‘The End’, the dragon no one sees.

Her mother, on the other hand wanted Emi to become just like her. A housewife. Emi refused her mother’s wishes, rebelled for freedom and in the end, Emi got what she wanted. Better than marrying someone from the Dog Clan for unification of strength and cooperation. Those demi-humans licked more than they chewed. Emi could lick herself.

And here she was, contemplating whether to run away from this inn or knock out the man with the biggest hand she’d ever seen.

“I chose this. Might as well see how it turns out,”

She gathered her papers, suited up her cloak, grabbed her two weapons and hopped out the window in a stormy night. Blowing the candle out was the last finishing touch before she landed on the town’s concrete pavement.

Rumaine Town was situated far from the capital. In other words, an agricultural-focused but rural part of the city. The authorities wouldn’t prioritize tracking her down when they already have a lot of issues regarding the king’s missing daughter, Aperes Siccilah. The best they can do to hunt her down would be another freelancer like Emi. The thought was possible. Emi hadn’t committed abhorrent crimes in her entire life. She’d come back to pay at a later date.

Her feet carried her out of the town and into the brown-carved crossroads that spanned long and wide towards the horizon. Seeing the path gave her a sense of adrenaline, one she loved feeling whenever she went from one place to another. It was always a breath of fresh air visiting places she’d been to.

It was more fulfilling if it was her first time.

She stopped at some point in her movement, extracting a cage out of her trusty pouch bag. The size of the cage was unnatural, normally, these things don’t fit inside little sacks that carried coins but Emi had been a natural-born trickster. Cats were pretty deceptive. She pulled it out like how a bunny came out from a magician’s hat. A bird was inside, squawking at her with its wings flapping.

“Emi Hachiru! It has been a long time since Porote was out of there! Porote was suffocating the whole time!”

Porote was Emi’s go-to in navigating the world. In basic terms, this bird was Emi’s familiar. Its rainbow-like feathers resembled good fortune but this situation was otherwise.

Emi poked at the cage’s bars, her eyes bored, “Yeah, yeah. I miss you too, Porote. We have to move to another place. I need your wisdom to guide me to a safer and… more secluded habitat.”

“Knowing your personality, you must’ve done something wrong again if you plan to relocate,” Porote said.

“On second thought, I should get you back in the pouch.”

“Porote knows you better than you know yourself, you need Porote for your travels,”

“Curse this all-knowing bird,” Emi clenched her fists.

“Your mother was indeed right about you. You should’ve just married with the Dog Clan’s prince. You wouldn’t be this unruly and cluttered if you had just followed your parents.”

“You’re just a familiar, how dare you get touchy-feely with my family life? What I do with my free time isn’t of your concern. Now be a good servant and tell me what’s north, east, south, and west.”

Porote sighed, turning its head behind, its body remained still like an owl. “From Porote’s peripherals, the west is generally safer than the rest. It has a village you can stay in as well as-“

“Okay, sure. Besides west?” Emi prodded for the bird to continue.

“You’re almost thirty and you still want to put yourself in more danger?! Goodness, this demi-human…” The bird’s feathers were withering away at Emi’s eagerness in throwing caution to the wind.

“Just tell me. The more danger there is, the closer my goal is to meet the dragon.”

“It is without doubt your morals have turned rusty. Porote prays to the gods your common sense replenishes.”

Emi smiled, “Morals are for chumps. Order’s boring. I’d like a thrill. I’ve had enough of what my family says about my passion, I’m going to make them love me again. Even if I can’t talk to them for a while.”

“’The End’, it is certainly a quest for any gutsy individual. But don’t you realize that what you’re doing might be all for naught? No one’s witnessed such a creature. What if this dragon doesn’t exist?”

“While no one was able to find out. There is one person who never came back from the skies after entering,” Emi grinned, “And that was my brother. I’m sure he’s up there having a blast.”

“And how do you know that, Emi-sama?”

“Because he threw me away before I can stop him.”

There was a long pause between them before Porote talked again.

“Emi-sama… Porote still hates you.”

“The feeling’s mutual. But we’re stuck to each other for eternity, I guess you’ll have to learn how to love me too,” she snickered through her fangs, “Now tell me which way is more exciting or I’ll grill you up. Rest time’s over.”

 

End of Chapter 1

 

Sketch of The Day! (^0^)/