I must’ve stared at the tree for ten seconds or so. My heart pounded as I processed how close I came to knocking on death’s door.

  The dragon in my head chuckled smoothly. “I must say, that was quite the experience. One I’d personally rather avoid, don’t you agree, boy?”

  I sighed.

  Now is not the time for your sarcasm. I could’ve died. I shuddered when remembering that I hid behind one of those things.

  But more importantly, if these are the kinda things we have to deal with when the sun is up, I don’t wanna find out what happens when it goes down.

  “Agreed.”

  After quickly, but very carefully stepping out of the forest, I continued my journey down the river.

  It was relatively uneventful, aside from the goblin and the giant murder trees. I’m guessing these trees keep most creatures at bay.

  Anyway after about an hour of walking, I spotted lights, torch lights.

  And I heard voices.

  “Damn it, the little bitch escaped.”

  I paused in my footsteps, that’s imperial…

  Why do they speak the imperial language on the Demon Continent?

  I narrowed my eyes to get a better look. Two men were looking into the forest from the edge.

  They looked human too.

  “Fuck man, the boss is gonna be pissed if we tell him we couldn’t capture that goblin.” A skinny man said this, with short black hair and a sword on his hip.

  The other man shook his bald head and gestured into the forest. “You wanna go look for it, go right ahead. But as far as I’m concerned it’s dead.”

  The skinny huffed. “Hell no, it just sucks man, that was two days of black dust right there.”

  The bald man shrugged. “It’s whatever, let’s just get home before the nightcrawlers start popping out.”

  Nightcrawlers?

  You mean to tell me my only options at this moment are either staying with criminals or staying with murder trees and nightcrawlers?

  I sighed deeply before emerging from the forest with my hands raised. “Wait!”

  The reaction was instant, and both men spun around with their swords drawn. But the moment they laid eyes upon me, they froze.

  The skinny man gripped his blade. “Eric, why the fuck did a kid just emerge from the forest? A human kid?”

  The bald man, Eric, swallowed hard as sweat rolled down his face. “I don’t think that’s a kid…”

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  I raised an eyebrow.

  “What? No, I am a kid.”

  The skinny man narrowed his eyes. “Unless you mean to tell me that some idiot had the means to bring a kid to the demon continent, lose the kid in a forest death and somehow that kid survived? I’m not taking my chances.”

  I blinked. You know I hadn't considered how weird it is that a random kid would pop out of the forest.

  Still…

  The skinny man stepped forward. “Are you a mimic? Because if so, I might be willing to negotiate.”

  “Negotiate?” I repeated.

  The man nodded. “Mhm, you turn into a hot human chick and be my woman, and I’ll feed you Ouro crystals. I mean that’s the stuff you guys eat, right?”

  Eric blinked. “Are you seriously trying to get sucked off right now?!”

  The skinny man brought his blade to Eric’s neck. “Can you blame me?! I haven’t seen a hot piece of ass in three months! I have needs!”

  My forced smile twitched.

  I’m dealing with idiots.

  Guess we’re doing this the hard way.

  I lowered my hands and created finger guns. Two balls of high-pressure water spun at my fingertips. “Alright, enough with the games.”

  The two men paused, their eyes wide with shock. “With that quality of power, you have to be a noble’s kid.” The skinny man whispered, slowly lowering his sword.

  Eric raised his hands. “Hey, look kid, we're just humble mercenaries alright? We don’t mean any harm.”

  I stepped forward. “Good, then you’ll take me to the closest city.”

  The two men nodded eagerly and gestured towards their wagon. It was a rickety thing with a giant fox-like creature at its head.

  Inside the wagon were several bags. Looked to be survival equipment.

  I gestured for them to get on first. “Come on, move it, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

  The two men turned around slowly and got into their wagon. “Keep facing forward, either of you turn and you’re dead.”

  Then men tensed, but stayed still.

  I dispelled my water balls and climbed into the back of the rickety wagon. I settled down between a sleeping bag and a sword. “Alright, let’s go.”

  The skinny man nodded and whipped the reins. “You got it, boss man.”

  As the wagon rolled forward I let out a long sigh.

  Out of the forest and into the hands of idiots. What could go wrong?

  — — —

  The wagon rattled along the dirt path. I jostled in the back, my left hand pointing at the back of Eric’s head.

  This sucked, I mean this really sucked. Here I was holding a stranger at gunpoint and it hadn’t even been a day.

  I bet this was Lilith’s goal.

  She knew this would happen. Either I would die, or I would be just as ruthless as she was. What’s worse is how natural this feels, like I was born to be this way.

  “So,” the skinny man finally broke the silence. “Mind telling us why a noble kid was dicking around in Auma Forest?”

  “Jax,” Eric hissed with frustration.

  The skinny man, Jax, shrugged. “What, I’m just curious, usually they’re busy marrying their cousins, hahaha, you know, keep the bloodline pure and all that.”

  “How do you know I’m a noble?” I asked.

  Jax looked over his shoulder and blinked.

  “Are you kidding? No normal person has that much Ouro. I have a fire affinity, and I could light a cigar at most.”

  You know I remembered reading that outside of the noble families, most people couldn’t use anything more than cleaning techniques.

  And then you had some people who just straight up couldn’t use the stuff.

  Jax continued, “Still, it’s surprising you’re here. The only time nobles come to the demon continent is in bondage to have their core harvested. Nasty business, I wouldn't ever dream of doing that to you, boss.”

  He flashed me a smile.

  It didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Boy, you’re smart enough to know that’s a lie.” The dragon began, “The question is, how do we avoid having our core harvested by these mongrels?"

  Easy, with violence.

  I snarled. “I’ll see that you don’t.”

  Jax’s smile tightened.

  “R-right.”

  He turned back around and whipped the reins harder. The fox creature yelped and took off. The wagon lurched forward.

  — — —

  The sun was beginning to set.

  It wasn’t long before I saw high walls in the distance. They were made with white stone, a stark contrast to the black fields of grass that surrounded us.

  Our wagon slowed as we approached the city gate.

  The gate was made of rusted iron with two massive orcs standing guard. They had deep brown skin with gold eyes and long black hair.

  They were armed with heavy leather and spears.

  One of them held out a hand as our wagon stopped. “Hold it, what’s your cargo?” He spoke with a broad and heavy accent. He spoke to Jax, but kept an eye on me.

  Jax chuckled coolly. “Nothing much, just picked up a stray and got some loot to sell to the guild, that’s all.”

  The orc huffed. “Right,” his tongue licked one of his tusks with suspicion. “Just remember if the imperials come knocking, we’re not gonna save you.”

  He stepped aside.

  Jax gave a little nod before whipping his reins and rolling into the city. Inside, the city was buzzing with all kinds of life.

  Humanoids with four arms, some with black skin and glowing blue/red markings, kobolds, and more.

  The architecture was also brutalist-like. Everything was blocky and made with that same white stone the walls were made of.

  Jax spread his arms wide, “Welcome to Col-Rava city, boss!”

  “Charming,” I grumbled with a yawn.

  Jax laughed. “Ah come on, don’t be like that. Hey, tell ya what, why don’t you come back to our place? We can teach you about the city, get ya some grub in your stomach, I mean you look famished.”

  Does he think I’m stupid?

  “Why on earth would I stay with a bunch of sketchy mercs?” You know, besides getting my core ripped out and sold off.

  Jax turned to face me. “You don’t mean to tell me you play on surviving this city alone, boss. Ya got no money, you don’t understand the language…”

  “I understood that orc just fine.”

  Jax rolled his eyes. “A lot of demon-folk speak imperial, sure. But between you and me, the real shit is said in demon tongue, you know?”

  I narrowed my eyes, fighting off blurred vision.

  “I’ll manage.”

  Jax’s left eye twitched as he forced a laugh. “I’m sure you can, boss. But do you want to?”