Dawn light seeped slowly through the gaps in the abandoned cottage. Even after the night watch ended, Aira couldn't move immediately. Her back remained against the stone wall. The right hand resting on her knee still wouldn't release the sensation from last night. It had started to lift just a few centimeters before she noticed and stopped it—the memory of that right hand. Her body had moved before her will could catch up, in that single instant. The embers of the campfire rose in thin white smoke. The Emerald Twilight Forest—the deep woods that spread across the southern foothills of the Jade Peak Mountains in the empire's east, where the demon-kind had dwelt since ancient times—had a cold morning. Light filtering through the gaps in the leaves cut thin lines across the stone pavement. Aira rose to her feet, lifting her knees slowly. (There's no need to organize this. Don't think about it. It's the mission.) The moment she decided that, the cottage door swung open forcefully. "—