The demon grasped at his neck, gasping and struggling for air. Hiroshi tightened his grip, trying to force the creature to talk.
"That's it Hiroshi. Make him suffer," Kuro-Yami said, a wide grin spreading across his face. Hiroshi shook his head. He didn't want the demon to suffer, but he needed the information. No information meant no details. No details meant no analysis. No analysis meant that the demons would come back and rob them blind again.
That couldn't happen again.
He wanted there to be no loose ends before he went to the capital.
"Who do you work for?!" Hiroshi yelled loudly, trying to scare the demon into giving him the information. Despite that, the demon looked on more curious than afraid.
"How did you know we were working for another? We could have attacked you on our own!" the demon blurted out, and Hiroshi kept his grip firm around his neck.
"Simple. I had done my research. I knew that the demon race were, despite apperances with your heavy weaponry, are actually more peaceful than is led to believe. You use those axes for cutting down trees to build your homes, right?" Hiroshi asked, to which the demon replied.
"Y-Yeah...we didn't want to harm anybody..."
"But you did, now talk before I squeeze harder," Hiroshi said with very little mercy in his voice, tightening his grip anyway.
"Argh! Alright! Alright! We work for a human!" the demon coughed hard, and Hiroshi loosened his grip slightly. The demon rambled on. "I think he lives in this here village! He said he wanted to take the remaining valuables himself, so that he would always be prosperous, while everyone else lived in poverty! Then, he would use his status to take over the village as mayor or something?! I don't know!"
"That's a lot of information for 'I don't know'. Do you know this person well?" Hiroshi began probing for more details. The more he got, he knew he got even closer to success.
"Yeah...he saved us from a bear attack. I wasn't able to defend them-"
"Whose us?"
"My family. I have a wife and two young children."
Crap.
That's the only word that plagued Hiroshi's mind like a virus. He felt almost bad. This man had a family, and now they had to get used to the fact that their husband and father had one less arm.
Killing didn't seem so fun anymore with that new inkling of information.
Nonetheless, Hiroshi kept up appearances. He sighed heavily, and dropped the demon man. He fell to his knees, and clasped his neck with his remaining hand. He coughed and spluttered, trying to get more oxygen into his lungs.
"Good. Now, go back to your base of operations. I have a message for your boss," Hiroshi bent down low, and got in a squat position, looking into the demon's beady eyes.
"Tell him that I'm ready to come get him."
"But...he'll probably kill my family if he finds out I failed!"
"I don't care."
Saying that pierced Hiroshi's soul. He never wanted to say that. He always liked being nice to people. He just didn't think it was fair that nobody was back to him in return. However, he wanted the world to view him as a villain. Somebody to fear. A symbol of death itself.
"Now, what does this 'human' look like?" Hiroshi asked, keeping eye contact with the demon.
"Of course it's a human. Who else could be so cruel to force demons to fight for them against their will?" Kuro-Yami spoke up in Hiroshi's head, crossing his arms. Hiroshi couldn't agree more with the demon.
Wait...
"The people in that last village called you a demon, yet you look nothing like one of these demons," Hiroshi thought.
"I suppose they just used a general term. Much easier to call me a demon and hate, then ask questions later. Humans are very quick to point fingers and blame an opposite party."
"I know that all too well, my friend," Hiroshi thought, making sure Wisteria or the demon didn't hear his private talk.
"W-Well, he is a man, has brown hair, but it's slightly graying. He has deep wrinkles, probably early fifties. Dark eyes..."
"Hiroshi?" Wisteria picked up.
"What is it, Wisteria?"
"Why can't we show the demon around the village? That way, he can point out where the villager is that's doing this?"
Hiroshi stood up tall. Wisteria was smarter than she led on. Or maybe, she was just using common sense most of the time. Hiroshi realised he was blinded by anger. She was a very powerful ally.
"But the man will kill me and my family if he knows I ratted him out!" the demon yelped in fright, almost backing away, clutching the shoulder of the arm that was no longer there. Wisteria gave a big smile, and sat down in front of the demon.
"It's alright. Your family will be as safe as houses, I promise you." Wisteria kept her gentle smile.
Hiroshi could almost feel her energy. Her warmth. At first, it made Hiroshi happy. It meant that she hadn't really gone through a bad time in her life, and she was overjoyed and full of love and energy.
It could have also meant that she hid it very well. Hiroshi frowned. He hoped that wasn't the case. The kindest people often had the worse stories to tell.
Wisteria reached her hand out to the demon, who was still cowering in fright.
"Please, help us. What's your name?" she asked softly, in an almost soothing, motherly voice. The demon hesitated. Then, he reached out his hand.
"Arnold."
"A strong name!" Wisteria smiled again. "I can reassure you, Arnold, that you and your family will be safe."
The demon gave a small smile himself. He grabbed Wisteria's hand, and she pulled him up. She patted his back in support.
Hiroshi watched on. He could help the demons, and put an end to humanity ruling over them.
A wave of guilt crashed over him.
He looked around, the eleven bodies of demons laying face up in the mud.
Did they have families too?
Crap.
And he had gotten Wisteria and her family to kill them.
Hiroshi put his head in his hands. He knew that somebody else was behind this from the very start. Why did he make them fire down?
It was ignorance.
Using his anger and hatred, and projecting them on others.
Hiroshi dragged his hands down his face, his nails digging into his skin.
He really was the worse person in the world.
He sighed.
All these thoughts were so tiring.