After a trek down the path that led from the Pinekeep residence, we finally arrived in Lenosha village. During the journey there, I had of course put up a fight, as I didn’t want to join them on the journey in the first place. Any chance I had, I took it to try and escape, but all of my attempts ended in failure.

  Lilitu was just too fast and strong for me, even with my augmented strength. Apparently, demons were stronger than humans, or at least that was what I gathered from listening to Lilitu and Liora speak to each other. It did make sense to me, though. Whenever I would augment myself, I would become much stronger than Liora, but my augmented strength was nothing compared to Lilitu, who was the same age as Liora.

  When we arrived at the entrance of the village, I couldn’t help but notice how busy it was at the moment. Street vendors had booths set up throughout the village and were selling various goods. Many people were also walking throughout the usually quiet village. Not to say that the village was usually dead, but there were just many more people walking about today. The village actually seemed bustling.

  Maybe this is why Caelen wanted to go shopping today…

  Lilitu sat me down after carrying me the entire way there. “Alright, you're walking by yourself from now on, Reylus. And you better not run off, you hear me?”

  I crossed my arms and scowled at Lilitu as she looked down at me. The fact that she was giving me orders and manhandling me was infuriating. I didn't even want to be dragged out here in the first place.

  “Why are you looking at me like that? Do you wanna fight? We both know that won't end well for you.” Lilitu laughed exaggeratedly to herself. Though I couldn't tell if it was purposely exaggerated or if she just naturally laughed like that.

  She was right, though. As much as it pissed me off to admit it, I was not a match for her in my current state. Sure, my strength may have been impressive for my age and compared to humans, but I was nothing compared to a demon child.

  “Give him a break, Lili, he's already mad enough that you dragged him out here.” Liora stepped in, trying to be the mediator. “How about we get something to eat? That should make everyone feel better.”

  “That sounds like a great idea! How are you always so smart?” Lilitu asked, as if Liora's suggestion was some great concept.

  “Isn’t it obvious? Food makes everyone feel better,” Liora said with a laugh.

  Lilitu joined in on the laughter. I, however, elected to stay silent, instead choosing to glare at both of them with my arms crossed. The two of them were acting like children, and it was annoying being surrounded by them. The way they spoke and acted with such ignorant innocence really irritated me.

  “Alright, let's go!” Lilitu said before dashing over to one of the street vendors nearby.

  “W-wait, Lili, don't just run off!” Liora shouted. She then scooped me up and chased after her.

  When we arrived at the stall, Liora set me down next to her as she stood beside Lilitu. Looking up at the elven vendor behind the stall, I noticed that he was giving Lilitu an annoyed look.

  What's his problem?

  “Four goblin kebabs,” Lilitu demanded, holding up four fingers toward the vendor.

  “Please,” Liora added, making up for Lilitu’s lack of manners.

  I only continued to watch with my arms crossed. I was still upset at the entire situation; however, I figured that once I ate something, maybe I would feel a bit better. I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet after all. Though after thinking about what Lilitu had just ordered, I realized goblin meat kebabs didn't sound too appetizing—it actually sounded quite repulsive.

  “And why should I serve you, demon girl?” the vendor spat as he crossed his arms.

  Oh, I see. He’s some kind of racist or something…

  That explained why he was glaring at Lilitu the entire time. It made sense that in a world with different races, there would be some people who didn’t like others. I really didn’t have an opinion on any of it. I didn’t care about anyone in the world to begin with. If he didn’t like demons, that was his business.

  “What do you mean?” Lilitu asked in an innocent tone.

  “The last time I gave you some food, you and your little friend ran off without paying! I’m not serving you or her or anybody you bring over here!”

  The elven vendor’s long, pointed ears turned red from his anger. Apparently I was wrong about the man being a racist, and his annoyance toward Lilitu was actually just because she had robbed him before.

  “You idiot,” Liora whispered to Lilitu. “Why would you try to get food from someone we already ran off from before?”

  “It’s not like I can remember everyone’s face that we do it to. And it’s not like you recognized him either. But don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” Lilitu said before turning her attention back to the elven vendor.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  It seemed like Liora and Lilitu pulled that stunt often. So often, in fact, that they couldn’t even remember the faces of the people they did it to. I never would’ve guessed that Liora would be doing things like this. This must’ve been what she was doing whenever she would go out to play during the day. She and Lilitu were out getting into trouble.

  “Sir, I’m really sorry, but I did it to feed my family.”

  Family?

  “Your…family?” the elven vendor asked, confused. Liora and I glanced towards Lilitu, also confused.

  “Yes, my family,” Lilitu reiterated as she grabbed both Liora and me and pulled us both in close.

  “These are my family. We're all orphans; our parents died a long time ago. I don’t have any money or anything, but I still have to provide and make sure that we can survive. So yes, I stole food from you, but it was for a good cause. My little brother and sister needed it.”

  This girl's a piece of shit…

  Looking up at the elven vendor, I saw that the man was holding back tears. He really did buy it, the entire thing.

  “I… I’m so sorry. I had no idea you were going through so much. H-here, take six of them, children. It’s the least that I can do,” he said in a quaky voice as he handed Lilitu six goblin kebabs.

  We really got away with it, huh?

  “Thank you, sir. It helps more than you know,” Liora said as Lilitu took the kebabs. Apparently, she was fine with going along with the lie. Not that I had any problems with it; I was more surprised that he bought it than anything.

  And with that, the vendor sent us off.

  ***

  We strolled casually through the village as we ate our kebabs. Liora held two in her hand while Lilitu greedily held three, leaving me with one. When I had asked to evenly split the food, Lilitu argued that I was the youngest and only deserved one. She also added the fact that she was the one who did the sweet talking to get us the kebabs in the first place, so she earned herself three. While her logic didn't seem fair to me, I had no way to fight for more, so I just let it be.

  The one goblin kebab that I did eat was better than expected. It was a mildly sweet-tasting meat, which surprised me. Though it also had a bit of saltiness that balanced perfectly with the sweet. All in all, I’d say it was pretty decent as far as food in this world went.

  As I finished my kebab, I looked up at the sky. The sun was fully out, which meant that it was around the afternoon. I was already tired and wanted to take a nap. All of the training that morning, along with the whole Lilitu situation, had really tuckered me out. I needed to get this little adventure over with so that I could sleep.

  “Hey, don’t you think we should start heading to the forest now?” I asked the girls.

  Lilitu scarfed down the last of her kebabs, then threw the sticks on the ground before answering. “Oh, right! I forgot about that.”

  Liora slowed her pace and picked up Lilitu’s tossed trash before catching back up. “You idiot. How’d you forget already?” she laughed.

  “Guess my mind was too focused on the food.” Lilitu joined in on the laughter, and the two laughed in grating harmony.

  “Can you two knock it off!” I snapped.

  “Stop being such a downer, Reyly. Are you still mad about us dragging you out here?” Liora asked.

  “Of course I am. It’s hot, and I want to take a nap! So, can we just go get this whole thing over with?”

  “Alright, alright,” Lilitu said before pointing toward a secluded spot between two random buildings. “Let’s go over there.”

  The three of us walked over to the shaded alleyway. When we arrived, Lilitu reached into her trouser pocket and began digging. As she dug, Liora and I glanced at each other awkwardly, as she seemed to be taking a while. She checked all of her pockets for a while more before finally finding what she was looking for.

  “Aha!” she said triumphantly as she held up a crumpled ball of tan paper.

  “Um…” I said awkwardly.

  Lilitu then uncrumpled the piece of paper and placed it on a barrel that was beside one of the buildings we were standing between. We all gathered around the now-uncrumpled but still wrinkled piece of paper that sat atop the wooden barrel. Liora picked me up so that I could see it better—it was the stolen map Lilitu had spoken about.

  “Okay…so where do we go, Lili?” Liora asked.

  “Beats me. I don’t know how to read this thing…”

  “Huh?! But you’re the one who stole it. Why would you steal something that you can’t read?”

  “Hey, that’s what I brought you for,” Lilitu answered as if it made any sense.

  “I don’t know how to read this thing. I can barely read in general,” Liora said.

  Idiots. Both of them…

  I was already tired and frustrated, but the fact that they both couldn’t read the map made me even more upset. All I wanted was to get the day over with.

  “Aw, man. So what do we do now?” Lilitu asked.

  “Well… maybe Reyly can read it. He is pretty smart. Kinda,” Liora replied. The two girls turned their attention toward me.

  The fact that Liora said “kinda” really got under my skin. I was smart, way smarter than her at least. But did I really want to read the map for them? If I did that, it would mean I’d have to be their guide for the entire adventure. That sounded like way more work than I was willing to do. I didn’t even want to be here in the first place.

  Though if I didn’t read it for them, there was no guarantee that they would just consider the adventure a failure and call it quits. If anything, they’d probably just try to go without the map. If they were to do that, that would prolong the adventure even more than I would want. My best bet was probably to read it for them so that we could get it over with quickly.

  Besides, with me as the navigator, that meant I could call all the shots and make the trip go by quickly and smoothly on my own terms. With that settled, I took a look down at the map. It was a simple thing, really, depicting Lenosha village, a nearby lake, a couple of neighboring towns, and the path leading to the forest.

  There were labels above most of the landmarks, which led me to figure out that the name of the forest we would be visiting was Greenhound Forest. The path to it seemed to lead straight to the forest. Just on the outskirts of Lenosha village, there looked to be a path that was supposed to travel through some sort of field and into Greenhound Forest.

  Judging by the map, the trip would be straightforward. We would leave the village, follow the path through the field leading to the forest, take a peek, then leave. It was simple. With that settled, I looked to the girls, who were waiting expectantly for me to say something.

  “Well? Do you think you can read it, Reylus?” Lilitu asked, breaking the silence.

  I looked toward Lilitu and replied, “I think I can figure it out.”