〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

IV. A Quick Conversation About Our New Home

"WHOOOOAAA!" Ray shrieked, as the direwolf he was on seemed to run faster than the wind. He clutched onto the hobgoblin in front of him, a smaller specimen who had introduced himself as Gobta.

"Isn't this great?!" Gobta cried out. "Of course, he can run faster, but I thought we should start with something a little slower for your first try!"

'This is slower?' Ray thought in disbelief, as he held on for dear life. Why the hell had he asked to ride on one of their wolves?!

Emma and Norman were sitting on a hill, laughing as they watched their friend speed through the grass, his normally long and straight-up hair now pulled back and flying behind him.

Emma lay back on the ground and smiled. They had done it. They were free! The countryside had never looked so beautiful, nor had the air tasted so sweet before. That was because, for the first time, they were not sitting on ground or breathing air inside of a glorified cage. They were no longer stuck at the orphanage, counting the days till they were shipped out to be some demon's meal.

The moment she thought this, she instantly remembered her friend Conny, and grimaced. 'If only they had come sooner', she thought. She knew she shouldn't think such things, as Milim and those other people hadn't known anything about them, and had turned up at the house purely by accident. But still, she couldn't help feeling resentful. 'If they had just arrived a few days earlier, then maybe Conny would be here, too.'

Norman looked over at her, and seemed to know what she was thinking, as he took her hand and squeezed it. "Let it go, Emma," he said. "There's nothing we can do for Conny now, except honour her memory. We escaped... with everyone, just like you wanted."

"I know," she replied. "I just wish... we all could have escaped."

He gave her a sad look. "I know," Norman said, and held her hand tighter. "But we're all here now. We escaped. We're free. We have a new home, one without walls. And we're living in a town with all these amazing creatures in it!"

Emma smiled. It was true, as this town was amazing, and its people were more than interesting. She was particularly fascinated with the people who looked human but with horns coming out of their heads.

Just then, Gobta and Ray came to a screeching halt, as the direwolf they were riding on skidded to a stop in front of the two human children.

"We'd better get back now," Gobta said excitedly. "It'll be time for the celebration soon."

"Celebration?" Norman asked, while Ray shakily slid off the wolf, trying desperately not to fall over.

"Oh yeah! Lord Rimuru insisted on everyone in the town gathering together to welcome you all here. He even had Rigur go out and hunt down a Knight Spider for tonight's feast!"

His words were met with shocked silence.

'... Spider?'