The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 169: The Battle of Norneau - Part 4 - Hireling

Chapter 169: The Battle of Norneau - Part 4 - Hireling

Sam left the smithy shop to find that a demon had landed nearby.

It was wounded, with signs of magic being the reason the demon had holes in one membraneous wing, but it was no less deadly on the ground.

Sam was just in time to watch as the demon reached over to grab a soldier and smash his head into the ground. The sound of crunching bone and wet spillage nauseated them, but they choked it down and switched the twin knives to an overhand grip.

They were daggers, but different from any Sam had ever seen. The blades extended down and past their knuckles, protecting their hands as one continuous piece of metal, interrupted only by the handle that had been wrapped around both.

The effect was like each blade was half of a silvery teardrop, fine-grained and tougher than mere steel.

The sharkskin grips were both rough and yet soft. Even though they hadn’t registered as magical to their sight, they knew that these were the sister blades to Kangetsu.

"Good eye," the smith hummed, passing his hand over the blade as he checked it with magic, using a spell to adjust the heat treatment.

That was when the demon noticed Sam guarding the smithy from just beneath the awning.

Seeing Sam was armed, he warily bent to start picking up the fallen guard’s halberd.

Perhaps the sight of a smith working the forge was as surreal to the demon as it had been to Sam. Because an odd look came over his face as he briefly looked about, taking in the city around him and his own situation in between hammer beats, as the smith resumed his tempering.

He said something in Demonic, a staccato cadence to the words in a reedy voice. Then the demon charged.

With a massive sweep, it allowed the halberd to extend as far as it could in an arc.

Sam was already in the air by the time the halberd cut both supports out from under the awning.

As the roof collapsed, they were running along the length of the halberd, close in along the demon’s wiry arm.

Their first slash almost took the demon at the elbow, but at the last second, he jerked the entire arm as he tried to smack the haft of the weapon into Sam.

Sam ducked into a roll, following the elbow as they rose into a slashing arc. The demon dodged the cut at their ribs, but in doing so extended their leg just far enough that Sam was able to get in a cut along their upper thigh.

Pain granted the demon speed, and as soon as Sam cut, they brought their arm in, backhanding the human away as he pulled the leg away from the source of his pain.

As soon as Sam had their footing back, they stared across the space between them as the hammer raised and fell and raised and fell. Each pulse producing a clank of pure, measured force.

They were getting slow. If only they weren’t pregnant... But even so, Sam found themself calm. They understood battle. The fight was a place of pure concentration. Of careful steps and-

"Akkul kildraan nes ad ky nes kles..." The demon spoke as he stepped slowly to Sam’s right, eyeing Sam’s bulging belly.

A look came over the demon’s face, annoyance, Sam thought. In a sudden move they threw the halberd at the smith, who simply rotated, hammered it out of the air, and continued his work.

This only seemed to incense the demon, who roared and charged the smith after a split second.

Realizing what the demon was about to do, Sam charged, pouring speed into their steps until they were able to leap onto the demon’s back, stabbing between the wingblades as they hoped to reach the demon’s-

Shlrk- Hisssss

The smith, with barely a turn, suddenly thrust the blade they were working on forward, through the clavicle of the demon and deep into his chest, where the dark, red blood began to boil and hiss as the blade quenched itself.

A moment later, he pulled the blade from the demon with a rapid tug, before setting it into a barrel of water to finish its quench. The entire time he’d held the blade with a pair of tongs.

"Not my preferred medium..." the smith said as he dunked the blade again and again. Pulling it out, he frowned a little at the strange pattern that had been imparted by the demon’s dying blood. Black rivulets charred onto the fine-grained alloy. Circled in places as if the demon’s pulse had pressed the blood into ripples...

Then he roughly laid the blade on the anvil, allowing the accumulated flash to fall away in fine flakes. There was surprisingly little of it.

"I suppose that is my work finished for the day. Thank you, for your guardianship," the smith said. "I’m-"

"Enu!" A smoky voice suddenly called out from the alley nearest the forge.

An orc appeared, big-bellied but hard-chested. At first, Sam raised their daggers defensively, but as they were about to step between the smith and the newcomer, the former left his forge and embraced the latter.

"Goro! I thought you would be sheltering with Sasa." The two shared a small kiss. Then Goro slapped Enu across the face.

"What the fuck were you thinking, forging in the middle of an invasion?" Goro raised his voice.

"I told you, I wanted to make a masterpiece before I die."

"You make a masterpiece once a year already, idiot!" Goro raised their arms in frustration.

"This would be the first without steel though. Kiralloy weapons will be my legacy..."

"Your legacy will be a smear on the street if you don’t come with me right now." They suddenly rounded on Sam, switching to a more cordial tone. "Hi. I’m Goro. Sorry about my husband. Enumasam can be a royal pain when he’s working."

The smith chuckled as he bent, retrieving the blade from the anvil. "I am done here. We can head home while it cools, and I will hone it there," he said as if he was simply taking a day off of work. "Will you come with us? Those twins in your hand are worth far more than a few minutes of bodyguarding."

Was this guy serious? Sam just saved his life... Somewhat.

Somehow Sam had the sense that the smith was more than he appeared to be.

A moment later they shrugged. "Fine..." they said.

"Good. I would not want to leave a pregnant woman on the street alone." He held his unfinished blade with thick gloves.

Sam bristled a bit. Despite everything they’d experienced thanks to Kir, they had grown comfortable not being gendered by those who they were thinking of as the New Black Sheep.

"Not... a girl."

"My mistake, sir," Enumasam replied without missing a beat.

"Not... a boy... either..." Sam clarified.

"How may I address you then?" Enu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just... Sam."

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