Mina grunted as she finished reading the note stuck on the board at the entrance of her guild’s building. As the only person available that day, she had been assigned to the worst possible job : go to the Golden Butcher’s shop. 

It might sound like a normal thing, but in that case, it was not. Because Mina had heard weird stories about the place, how the owner was a weirdo, the fact that they did not sell basic meat but dragon’s, along with weird creatures’ parts no one had ever heard of, except the mages. The ones with secret scrolls. 

And Mina, as a priestess, was in no shape or form to take care of such matters if she got attacked. But she knew she had to do it, or else the mages would complain and it was way worse than going to the Butcher’s shop. She made sure her staff was ready, and she left the building, slamming the door loudly to tell the ones that were still sleeping that yes, she was angry. 

She passed by the orphanage like she always did in the morning, gave the new kids their checkups, and joined the owners to greet them. Sana, a ‘retired’ thief had joined the young but talented knight Chaeyoung the day after she made the mistake of trying and rob the girl - which costed her a finger and the lose of her reputation as an uncatchable thief. Together, they had set up the goal of bringing in children who had been left alone in battlefields, in places no one could take care of them. Jihyo, Mina’s best friend and partner when they were working to become priestesses, was helping the duo, along with the villagers who volunteered - which could let the fighters of the group go and do what was needed. 

Chaeyoung had given her a weird look when she told them she was going to the Golden Butcher’s shop. Mina couldn’t say if it had been a worried gaze or a ‘you’re crazy’ kind of gaze. But the short girl gave her a special weapon, a little knife engraved with red stones, before she left the orphanage. 

« I… kind of know the owner. they shouldn’t be a problem but, we never know. Good luck. » and she closed the door with a sneaky smile. Mina made a mental note to ask the girl about her relationship with the butcher later. 

She walked slowly towards the shop. She had the whole day after all. But unfortunately, it wasn’t far and she reached the place in a short time.

The front of the building looked old, with tall and dirty windows covered by ivy and roses that had managed to climb up. the letters of the Golden Butcher sign were almost unreadable. She even noticed a wasps nest and scrunched her nose as the door emitted a very squeaky sound when she pushed it. Exactly the opposite of the quiet entrance she had planned. 

She managed to keep the door open with a rock, letting her a chance to escape quickly if anything bad happen. It also poured more light inside the enclosed space, and she could see more clearly then when she first stepped it. The only bad thing was the smell, a mix of rotten flesh and something she couldn’t describe. It wa bad, but only faint ; it would not disturb her anymore in a few minutes.

She made her way between the furnitures, admiring with a curiosity she would never admit all the foreign ingredients in the bottles, staring back at a strange creature’s eyes, gently brushing over the petals of an unknown flower, gazing a the cover of a shiny book - 

« Did you know that Ancient demonic forces have a really poor understanding of sarcasm ? » someone whispered in her right ear as she opened the book. 

« What the heck ! » she clapped her hand against ear and stumbled a few steps back, her eyes widening as she took in the form of the person beside her - who was not here anymore. She gasped when the door slammed loudly behind her ; her first reflex was to use her lighting trick with her staff, and she grasped on Chaeyoung’s knife in her pocket. 

The trick was doing a poor work, as she couldn’t see much past one meter. She took some careful steps around the place as quietly as possible.

« I learned it myself ! I still don’t understand what sarcasm means, though, humans are… well, human. You know what I mean, right ? » the voice resonated loud and clear this time. But for some reason, Mina didn’t feel scared anymore. She heard genuine curiosity and happiness in the person’s voice - it sounded feminine, but she didn’t want to assume. Especially since the person just admitted they were an ancient demonic force. 

A sudden flash of light forced her to close her eyes, and she carefully opened them back, ready to be surprised by some horrible face or, or anything but a pretty pair of eyes and the cutest smile she had ever seen. Which contrasted a lot with the huge piece of dragons’ meat hanging from the ceiling behind the person. 

« Hello you ! Nice staff you got there ! » the stranger extended their hand to take it, but Mina swiftly hide it under her cape before they could touch it. « aw. Not nice. » they pouted, and it took all of mina’s will to not give away her precious staff. 

« May I ask who you might be ? » 

« Why are you speaking like a ridiculous old person ?! Is that how priestesses live ? Boring. » they stuck their tongue out, and Mina swore she only heard a very soft snapping sound and her staff left her hand to rest behind the butcher. « There ! And to answer your question, my name is Momo ! Professional dragons killer, I’ve never lost at the eating contest held by the pub not far from here, and I’ve been alive for something like a thousand years. Nice to meet you ! » 

Mina could only stare. The Butcher most people feared was probably the softest and nicest demonic entity she had ever met - not that she had ever came face to face with one, but anyway… she introduced herself as Myoui Mina, awarded priestess by the magical military judges. Most talented in her class, saved the queen once. Momo stared at her with a blank look. 

«  I don’t care about that. Tell me who you really are ! What you enjoy, your most precious memory ! » the Butcher began to float in the air, and with a snap, everything around them turned bright and colorful. « or your deepest fear ? Intriguing, hmm ? And maybe I’ll give you back your staff, and anything you want to buy ! » with a twirl, she went higher, Mina’s staff turning around her like a Planet around the sun. 

The bottles, the books, the precious flowers, everything began to move and seemed to dance as Mina spoke up. The day she met Jihyo, how she cared about Chaeyoung and treasured her like the little sibling she had lost during the First Great War, the day the short girl brought Sana in her house, the most wanted thief in their country, to take care of her hand. 

How she got admitted into the best guild of the region, and how proud of herself she was when she got assigned as an official priestess of the Queen. When she said those things, everything was shining brightly, and Momo smiling. It got darker around them when she spoke about her family’s death, her wish to help people, and how her deepest fear was to… she didn’t know. She closed , and stared at the ground. 

Momo slowly let herself come down, ending the magical dance of the objects with a snap. She gave her staff back to Mina, and gently made the girl look up. 

« It is fine to not know what you fear ! It’s even better than knowing ! Like that, you can go through anything without thinking about it too much. I think it’s an advantage ! » Mina gave a small smile to the demon. « That’s more like it. Now that I know more about you… let’s do this ! One, two, three ! » she poked each of mina’s face moles, and flew again. 

« What exactly are you looking for ? something out of your folklore  ? » on that, things she had never seen before, animals, materials, began to turn around her. she tried to reach for some, but didn’t manage to catch any. « wait, I haven’t gotten an answer yet ! Don’t touch if you don’t want to end up in cold sweat ! » 

Mina didn’t know. She trusted the mages and thought the Butcher would give her their usual stuff. 

« Come on, open your mind ! So I can read what’s inside ! » Momo suddenly got closer to her, and their faces were only inches apart. She felt like she was drowning in the other woman’s eyes, feeling herself getting pulled in. But the demon disappeared, only to reappear behind her.

« What do you need, little one ? Anything will be considered… » she snapped her fingers again, and everything went back to its place « done. » Mina had never seen objects move that quickly before. Momo caught all of them : what she needed was shining brighter than the others and had left the shelves as the others stayed in their place. 

Momo looked satisfied as she put everything for the priestess in a bag. She added the book the girl had been curious about, and winked when she gave it to the woman. 

« There ! See, you knew ! » 

« But I didn’t say anything ! » she held the bag closely to her chest, feeling overwhelmed by what had just. « And, what, what did you do ?! Why is everyone saying you’re scary when you’re just… » she struggled with her words as Momo looked at her with curious eyes. « … weird ? » 

The demonic entity let out a loud laugh. Still chuckling, she explained to Mina that she hated mages. They were usually disrespectful, rude, always thinking too high of themselves. And she had gotten excited when she saw that finally, someone new was visiting her. 

« Do you never leave this place ? » 

« I do, I do ! When I have to kill new creatures, or to eat, but I always change my appearance. Usually I turn into a boy, it was impossible to fight outside while being a girl, too many annoying male fighters asking if they could help me. » Mina nodded. She had experienced it a few times too. That was before she got her Royalty badge. « so I killed them. » that… wasn’t normal. But it didn’t surprise Mina. 

« Say, Momo ? Would you like to go outside with me ? » the Butcher didn’t seem okay with the question, as she squinted her eyes « I mean… » 

« Sure ! Let me hold that for you then. No one knows what I truly look like anyway, let’s go. » she grabbed the bag in Mina’s arms, snapped her fingers for the door to open and they went outside. « hold on. » 

The demon turned toward the building, gave a smirk to Mina and snapped her fingers twice. The building suddenly shattered before disappearing completely. The priestess didn’t know what to say. She had never seen such powers before, and didn’t know if she was supposed to be scared of Momo or admire her. She chose the last option. 

Momo explained her powers, how she was supposedly banned from the magic world, but had found a way to stay with the humans, make a living, enjoy her life. How it would get really boring, sometimes. 

They left everything they had gotten at the butcher’s shop in the guild’s kitchen, before going out in the village. Mina took her new friend to every worth places, her favorite bakery, the little park with the magic fountain (she wished for Momo to live more freely), her school, and finally, but only from afar, the castle. Momo had refused to go there. She didn’t open up, but Mina guessed that something bad might have happen to the woman there. She didn’t force it. 

« I’m afraid I have to go now, miss Myoui. But I assure you we will meet again ! » the demon opened her arms wide, inviting Mina for a hug. The priestess smiled cheekily before opening her arms too ; but Momo dove in first, her hands brushing on the other girl’s waist before quickly squeezing her back and suddenly backing up. Mina didn’t even get the time to hug back. 

« I’ll take this ! » the knife Chaeyoung had given her was floating above the demon’s hand. « I believe it is mine, the troublesome duo you told me about earlier stole it from me… I would have loved to make friends with them, but they had other plans. » Mina wondered how and when her two friends had done that. 

Her train of thoughts got broken when Momo gently floated in her direction and left a kiss on her cheek, before, Snap ! fading away from her sight. 

Mina stared in the void for a few seconds before crouching down, head in her hands, panicking about what that woman had done to her in only a day. Such power… such power.