~5~
"Thanks again for helping us Ayato"
"Not at all, we actually need some more customers because as I said we don't get many visitors"
"Need customers? Does the inn belong to your family?"
"Very observant. Yes it does"
"That's it, Ayame! we're going to stay in this inn for the night"
"OK" she again whispers from my back
Ayato shows us to the inn and introduces us to his mum. I never spoke to humans before and for the whole time I 'try' to speak without being awkward. Ayame as shy as she is in the village she speaks surprisingly freely with Ayato's mom, Mrs. Yami.
"Thank you for having us Mrs. Yami" Ayame says speaking for both of us
"Our pleasure" she replies "Ayato can you please go to the market and buy some more ingredients for dinner while I prepare the room for our guests?"
"Will do" he says
"I'll come with" I jump relived
"You don't have to" he says
'He rejected me!'
"I actually wanna see the village" I excitedly state
'It's not a lie, or is it?'
"Fine"
"Now don't get into trouble you two" Ayame shouts as we left the inn "now then I'll help you Mrs. Yami to prepare the room and dinner"
"Oh dear, you don't have to you're our guest"
"No worries, I enjoy doing this kind of things"
"Very well then" she smiles
As they are familiarizing with each other I am walking around the market with Ayato and then something caught my eye.
"Ayato, is that a school?"
"Indeed it is, I know it's small but it gets the job done"
"I wasn't trying to say anything bad about it, it's just..."
"Just what?"
"It's just that I've never been to a school before"
"You haven't!? Than how are you able to read your map?"
'I never showed him our map, I would have given us away'
"What do you mean?"
"It's written in the demon's language, isn't it?"
"I just learned on my own"
"Must've been tough"
"Not really"
"If you want to I can show you the school when we get back"
"I'd love to"
"And I'll introduce you to someone"
"Who?"
"You'll see"
Ayato shows me around the village and we get everything his mum needs for dinner and as he promised on our way back he takes me on a little tour around the school and when we are about to leave someone shouts behind us.
"Ayato! wait for me"
'I wonder who's she'
"Hi there Mayu, how come you're not home yet?"
"We just had to stay after class a little bit"
"Did you get into trouble again"
"NEVER!" she stops and stares a few seconds at me "Who are you?"
'That's kinda rude'
"Hi there, my name is Hiro" I respond to her rude question
"Hiro and her friend Ayame are our customers" Ayato backs me up
"I see. Hi I'm Mayu, I'm Ayato's younger sister"
"His sister!? You never told me you had a sister"
"Well, you see, we're not actually related by blood" he says
"How come?"
"I was actually just adopted and raised by Mayu's mother since I was a baby" he continues
"Should I be as sad or surprised?" 'I'm actually not that surprised, he doesn't resemble his mother at all. I mean Mrs. Yami and Mayu have brown hair, he has red hair. But should I be, really!? I was born from the marriage between The King of demons, Satan, and The Queen of elves, Etheia, so No I'm not surprised nor sad'
"No tears today! Now let us go and eat dinner!" Mayu excitedly says
"She's right let's go" I agree
After being lectured by a 12-year-old we go back to the inn, eat the dinner that Ayame and Mrs. Yami prepared, and hell was it delicious. And we go to sleep as the night and silence shadow the village. Something is bothering me. ‘It’s too quiet here, from what I know the nightlife is very active everywhere you go, but here… it’s just silence.'
"Hey, Ayame. You awake?"
"No..." she sleepily responds
"Don't you think the village is too quiet?"
"It's the middle of the night, it's supposed to be"
"Something strange is happening here but I just can't put my finger on it"
"Go to sleep" she interrupts me
"Fine. Good night"
I am not able to sleep, I only close my eyes for about 5 hours and then I wake up at some sounds outside. 'The sun isn't even up yet, what's going on?'
I look out the window and I see the villagers gathered in the village center. 'I knew something was going on.' I take my cloack and run out, stopping for a second when passing the mirror, 'Crap! my hair's still turned. I'd better put my hood on!'. Outside I see the whole village in the square, they are looking towards the main road with very frightened eyes 'That goes straight to Erydon! But why would they be afraid of it?' While scratching my head I saw Ayato, Mayu and their mother, I go near them and touch Ayato on the back.
"What's going on?"
My vague voice echoes, killing the silence and the tension in the people's eyes.
"You have chosen a bad time to come into our village, child" an old man says coming through the other villagers
"Elder!" Ayato says surprised
"When the full moon is upon us, a knight from the capital comes to collect money from our village" he says pointing at the still mooned sky
'Capital? Does he mean Erydon?'
"And who might be this knight?"
"Terric, the TerribleTerror"
'What kind of crappy title is that'
"Oh? And why is he named this way?" I sarcastically ask
"Because child, it's said that His power is almost equal to that of a demon general"
'I wanna see that one'
"And that is only the beginning child, it is said that he once battled the demons' prince himself and his army and won the fight, and there are rumors that he had killed a member of their royal family"
'I see three problems with this story, first there's no way that he fought Hide, second We Have Never fought humans nor elves before, third there's only me, Hide and Father in the royal family and nobody's dead yet, so yeah I'm not convinced'
"Ok, now I know what I want to do!" I happily announce
"What do you mean, child?" the old man asks worried
"I'm going to stay here and confront The TerribleTerror himself"
'And maybe teach him a lesson or two about spreading non-sense like that'
Just as I am thinking that, a cloud of dust raises on the main road, approaching extremely quickly.
"It's Him!" Ayato whispers
The cloud closes in and enters the village. And there he is Sir. Terric, captain of the humans' army, also know as The TerribleTerror. A muscular man, dressed in a shining silver armor, with a white cape on his shoulders. On his chest plate standing proud and motionless, The Elven Royal Crest. He gets off his horse and walkes towards the Elder, ironically smiling.
"Let's see what has changed since the last time I was here" he starts speaking, very full of himself "Nothing much it seems" he continues
I glance in his direction, giving him a bad look and he starts walking towards me. When he's one step away from me, he gives me a weird look and leans toward me, literally getting to my level, seeing that I was half his size.
"And who might you be, little girl?" he asks me
'Why is everyone calling me little?'
"Just a traveler" I bravely answer
"You don't say..."
"But don't think lowly of me" I interrupt him "I have found these people my friends, thus I think of protecting as my responsibility"
"You call yourself a traveler, but who are you really?" he asks as he leans to my ear
"I can't answer that but despite that I do not need to ask who you are because I know you're just a liar that abuses the power that he was given"
"Oh? And how do you exactly know that?"
"I can't answer that either, but I'll tell you one thing"
"And that would be?"
"I will make you wish you have never come to this village!"
~End of chapter 5~
