Chapter 39: Return to the City (II)
The wagons continued to push forward until finally, we arrived in front of the group of soldiers.
"Halt! Show me your pass!"
Phil had in his hand a pass and gave it to the guard. He was sitting in the front with the horse's reign in his hands. Even if Phil looked like a commoner in the clothes that he was in, he still looked like nobility in the way he carried himself.
"Household of Zemrick." The soldier spoke out loud. "I am surprised that you are still alive."
"I'm sorry?"
The soldier handed him back the pass. "We heard your town had been overrun. When scouts arrived, they were surprised to find the place deserted."
"That's true. We left to go move to a safer location. If we had stayed any longer, we would've all been wiped out."
"Where have all of you guys moved too?"
"The Forgotten Forest."
"What?" exclaimed the soldier in complete shock. "You don't actually mean the actually Forgotten Forest?"
"What else would there be, but that one?" Phil asked, annoyed. "I would like to sell my goods and leave in three days. If you don't mind, I have three cargos of wagons that I've brought with me."
"Do you mind if we inspect it?"
"Go ahead."
While the guards were busily inspecting from the back, I slipped into my blanket. I dove in to find my small purse filled with gold. My stomach was rumbling so loudly, telling me to feed it. This only happened when I neglected my eating gold for a couple of days.
Fishing out one gold coin, I quickly popped it into the mouth.
Crunch! Mmmmmmm. So good. It tasted so sweet that I wondered if I would ever catch diabetes if I'm not careful. Wait, I shouldn't even be thinking like that. The thought actually horrified me.
"What's that sound?" One of the soldiers that was done looking through the wagons was examining the one we were in.
I peeked out of the blanket to see that both Don and Phil were giving me a glare. Seriously guys? You have to give me that look right now? I really didn't do anything wrong, you know.
"Who's under the blanket?" The guards were tense.
"It's just my little sister." Phil quickly spoke.
"The Zemrick family has a daughter? This is news to me."
I slowly chewed the gold as if nothing was wrong, and every time I did, the sound of grinding metal could be heard. The guards looked at the lump of blanket as if it was a strange animal ready to pop out and eat them.
I gulped and pulled back the blanket in hand.
"Hi." I chirpily replied. Standing tall and proud, I was not scared of a couple of guards.
"You guys don't look alike." The soldiers replied, looking back and forth at Phil and me.
"Ahaha...." Phil weakly laughed. He gave me an evil stare saying, 'you should've stayed under the blanket doofus!'
Keh, this damnable demon lord. I, for one, felt stupid that I had even shown my presence. I thought it would help out the situation, but by the look of Phil's face, I wasn't sure now.
"She is from my mother's side of the family. Duke Hon's had adopted her into the family recently." He quickly replied.
"What are you talk-" Phil covered my mouth and gave me a glare to shut up. I slowly nodded and kept silent.
"I've been watching over her, and she's been learning the trade."
"I see. Go ahead then. Remember, you are only allowed to sell in the market. Anywhere it will cause revoking of your permit."
"I understand." Phil gave him a gentlemen's smile and let the horse pull forward. I sat down quietly next to Phil, trying not to piss him off anymore.
"Um, Phil." I finally spoke in a soft tone. I could see that he wasn't so happy.
"Yes."
"Can we browse around the market and buy up all the Magic stones?"
"I was planning on doing that."
"When?"
"After we set up our shop and sell some."
"Okay."
We silently continued onwards. The voices of the people could be heard intensifying around us. Large bustling crowds moved from stall-to-stall, buying up products that were on display. Phil moved the wagon to an open space and stopped. He jumped out and motioned the others to begin to set up.
"Is there anything that I can help with?"
"No. Just sit."
"I can bring business."
"No. You're going to break people's eardrums."
"I'm the mascot, though!" I cried out in outbursts, realizing that I had nothing to do and was bored.
"The Loli-mascot." Don chuckled.
"I heard that," I growled. I was not a child. Just someone stuck in a child's body.
I quietly sat in the corner, mumbling to myself. That wretched Demon Lord. I brought all the business like last time. Why won't he let me help? Was it that bad last time? I couldn't help but grumble. Throughout the whole afternoon, both Don and Phil were busy selling the things that we had created from the magic stones and even the townspeople's items.
The main attractions were definitely the magic lamps, but even still, all the other items were being sold off quickly. I couldn't help but be pleased by the large amount of luck we were having.
Still, I couldn't sit any longer and got off the wooden crate. I wanted to explore the busy streets, and especially check out all the stalls before the sun went down. Quietly sneaking out through the back, I left when Don and Phil were dealing with a lot of customers.
My eyes were sparkling at the sight of new things out before me. It was endless, like a festival. Each stall had unique trinkets that were sold, and some I had never seen before. Even still, when I came across magic stones, I quickly bought it all. We needed so many of these stones that I was running out, especially the lower level stones.
As I continually walked through the market, I couldn't help but stop in front of a strange tent. It was dark and musty with a smell of urine. I covered my nose from this awful stench.
"P-p-please. I want some water." A hand appeared out from the dark and reached out towards me.
I jumped back in fright when I noticed a girl locked up in a cage. What the hell is this? I couldn't help but muffle a shriek. It was like I was looking at a malnourished girl with dog ears and a tail. My guess is that she was probably around the age of fourteen, but I was not sure.
"Please, water." the girl's hand flopped down weak. Her raspy breathing sounded like she was suffering horribly. Even her legs were chained up with heavy shackles, cutting into her skin. It left behind an ugly red, festering with sickness. Next to her was a shaggy looking man with cat ears. He was sitting with his hands wrapped around his knees.
I quickly rummaged through my bag and pulled out a water bottle. Handing it to her, she slowly lap up the water with greed but stopped realizing that she drank too much. She bashfully gave it to the shaggy looking man, and he too took a slow sip out of the water.
"T-thank you." The girl stared with the most adorable eyes. I swear it reminded me of a lost puppy. Any longer and I would swoon. It wasn't until her stomach rumbled loudly, catching me off guard. A smile appeared on my face, her gaze was cast down in shame.
Well, nothing was wrong in feeding her anyways. I quickly pulled out a biscuit and handed it to her through the metal bar. "What's your name?"
"Siva." She glanced at the biscuit in hand and looked up towards me.
"Siva? That's a pretty name. Here you can have it. I'm not going to bite." I shook the biscuit in front of her.
Siva snatched the food out of my hand and devoured the food in one bite.
"What's your name?" I looked towards the man sitting still next to Siva. I rummaged for another biscuit and handed it towards him. He did not move and instead stared at the food. Compared to Siva, who was a dog type, Seth looked more like a mix between a tiger and a human.
"He's Seth. My friend and brother."
"Brother?" Siva stared at the second biscuit. They did not even look anything alike, but then again, I did not know the Beast-kin well enough. Honestly, this was my first time meeting a Beast-kin.
"Go ahead, take it."
Siva took it gleefully and devoured it in hunger.
I couldn't help but feel sad at the predicament that these two were in, I got the feeling that this whole tent had a variety of different slaves, plus they were not even properly maintained.
"Hey!" An ugly fat man walked up towards me with a cold demeanor. His potbelly jiggled from moving up and down. "What are you doing! Step away from the merchandise!"
I got up and stood my ground. This fat turd of meat is not going to boss me around. "Is that how you treat a customer?" I glared angrily at the fat man. My anger flared to the point where I could feel it seeping out of my skin. Silence followed after from my overbearing aura that I don't usually use.
The fat man froze and took a step back. "You, a customer?" The fat man rearranged himself. His face brightened up when he noticed the clothes that I was wearing. I could tell that he was already thinking about different ways to fatten his own pouch.
"I'm sorry. Please excuse me. I did not know someone so young would be coming to my humble shop." He rubbed his greasy hands together.
I clicked my teeth at the disappointment in his behavior. "What do you have to sell porky."
For a split second, I could see the fat pig lips twitch. I did not care if I offended this rude bastard.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone