“Another blizzard again.” An old man standing in front of the window commented.

A young woman sitting behind the counter glanced. “I told you we should’ve gotten that new cart, grandpa.”

“That fancy cart is a waste of money. There’s no way it can survive this blizzard.”

The young woman rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the book in her hands again.

The old man shook his head dismissively. Then, at a distance, he spotted something peculiar. A dot of red light. Curious, he squinted, trying to discern what it was. The dot grew in size with each passing second, and when it became the size of a fist, a faint chugging sound was heard as the snow on the ground was seen flying to the side.

The old man stepped backward as a drop of sweat formed on his forehead. “Layla, sound the alarm.”

The young woman was completely absorbed in her book.

“Layla! Sound the alarm!”

When she heard the fear in her grandfather’s shouting, she peeled her eyes off of her book in annoyance. Then, she saw a ball of red light, with a dark figure in the middle, charging toward them. Her book fell to the ground as her grandfather rushed to her side, his finger hovering above the alarm. Right as he was about to press it, the red light vanished the moment the figure arrived in front of the building. The bell hanging above the door rang as it was pushed open.

“I’m here for a package addressed to Mrs. Leim!”

The duo stared at their purple-skinned visitor with their eyes and mouths wide open. They recognized the young woman who arrived to be a demon, though that wasn’t the reason they were so flabbergasted. They had heard about a demoness living in the city not far from their settlement, but they also heard that she was a cripple. Instead, the demon standing in front of them had a pair of golden, mechanical legs. While the majority of the legs were protected by golden plates, the duo could still see the inner workings of the prosthetics at the gaps around the joints. The sounds made by the moving parts were barely audible when the demon approached the counter. Lastly, there was an artistically designed “E” carved at the front side of both her thighs. The logo took up a third of her thighs, so it was impossible to ignore.

Estria, with a grimace, sat the backpack-shaped device against the counter on the ground, lifted her goggles, and slammed a piece of paper on the table. “I’m here to pick up her medicine. Please give it to me now. She doesn't have much time left!”

Layla was still in a daze whilst her grandfather picked up the paper, tremblingly, and read it. The old man looked back and forth between the paper and the distressed demon hesitatingly. When the granddaughter snapped out of it, she stood up and leaned forward.

“You’re Estria, right?! Master Eisen’s apprentice?”

“The demon is his apprentice?” The old man furrowed his eyebrows at his granddaughter.

“Yeah! He talked about her when he came by before!” The young woman took the paper from her grandfather’s hand. “I’ll be right back with the package.”

“She’s not a courier or a family member of the recipient! We can’t hand the package to her!” He cast a suspicious glance at the demon and attempted to snatch the paper back.

Estria pleaded, “Please, her life is in danger! She needs her medicine now or she may die! I promise I’m only here to take the medicine to her! Please trust me!” Tears welled in her eyes as she gripped the stem of her tail tightly.

Layla ignored her grandfather and grabbed a package that had been sitting on a counter behind her. She speedily searched for another piece of paper among a tidy pile on a nearby table and placed it in front of Estria.

“Write your name and sign it. Your master helped me before, so don’t make me regret trusting you.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much.” The demon wiped her eyes, did as Layla asked, and hung the device sitting on the floor on her back once more.

“Good luck.”

Estria nodded firmly, grabbed the package, and put on her goggles. Without waiting for the device to kick in, she dived headfirst into the blizzard. It wasn’t until a few seconds later a heat bubble was generated around her, allowing her to sprint back to the city at maximum speed.

For her entire journey back, she winced and screamed in agony intermittently. The pain she was experiencing came from the poorly calibrated connection between her legs and the neural ports installed at her groin. She was aware of how powerful her legs were, but she underestimated the strength of her demon body as she had never done anything physically demanding. Therefore, it resulted in a mismatch between the input and the output, causing a huge amount of strain on her nervous system. Yet, she forced herself to run at full speed, even though the pain was like a cat digging its claws into her brain and scratching it. She wanted nothing more to prove to everyone that, despite being a crippled demon, she was a kindhearted and capable blacksmith.

After two grueling hours in the dark, she arrived at the hospital and promptly collapsed on the ground. Her eyes struggled to open as she fought against her hyperventilation. When nurses rushed to her side and assured her that the medicine would find its way to its owner, her eyelids fell and she passed out.