The next morning the sun rose once again to deliver warm rays of light to the city and its surroundings. Clear skies with a cloud here and there drifting by slowly and lazily. Lilith had left the window uncovered since otherwise she would end up sleeping past noon. With heavy sleepy eyes, she got up and woke the rest of her family. As usual, Mia complained to herself for not waking up first for her master.

Today’s plan was to once again go out and gather herbs. They wanted to take things slow and easy. First, they drew water from the well at the back of the inn to wash their bodies. After doing so, I ate a bit for breakfast to keep appearances. Finally, they all got on their way towards the guild.

While walking something a little unexpected happened. A kid of about fifteen maybe fourteen years of age crashed onto Lilith. He fell to the ground while Lilith with her superhuman strength barely moved. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was her family which, as of now, were releasing bloodlust towards the poor kid.

“Mia calm down, am fine. Hey, are you alright?”

Lilith offered her hand to the kid. Taking a look at him she saw his clothes. A dirty shirt with a few holes on it. Shorts in a similar if not worse state and no shoes. His black hair is greasy and his dog-like ears had a few scars. The fur on his tail looked no better than the rest of him. He reminded her of a stray dog.

“I am fine”

The kid didn’t take Lilith’s hand and the words he spoke held a slight tone of jealousy and resentment. He stood up and began running once again disappearing into the crowd. Mia was about to go after the kid if not for Lilith’s previous words to calm down. She already understood that Lilith is a kind and forgiving child. Or at the very least she is like that towards those that hold no ill intentions towards her.

“Let’s get going”

And like that this little incident was over. However, who could have guessed they would meet again soon after. That’s right, the kid was inside the adventurers guild making a fuss. In his hand, a small, tattered and patched bag with a few copper coins. He had tried to put up a request for a special herb. Of course, the receptionist refused since the offered reward is too low. Due to his failure, he instead attempted to convince the adventurers to take the request privately. Yet luck wasn’t on his side. No adventurer was willing to do charity, much less at the risk of their own life.

“Why!? Please, I need that herb!”

“Scram brat”

The poor kid got kicked in the gut and fell to the floor coughing. Tears in his eyes, not from the pain but from knowing what would happen if he couldn’t get the herb. Even though it hurt he grabbed the adventurers feet and begged again.

“Please”

That only earned him a second kick. No one did anything to stop the adventurer. No one was willing to. It was obvious the kid was asking for something unreasonable. Not to mention he had been bothering the adventurers for a few days now. The receptionists didn’t care either. He was just a kid from the slums, who would care for someone like that. As for Lilith, she wasn’t interested yet something inside her told her to do something.

“Hey what herb you want to be collected?”

Lilith approached the kid. This time, however, she didn’t extend her hand for him. She wasn’t really interested in the kid but her instincts told her to help him. It was a weird feeling. Like having someone telling you to help someone not for that person but for what could come after.

“tch, go ahead make fun of me! I am just a poor kid from the slums. You who is obviously rich could never understand what we have to go through and I bet you don’t even care!”

At that point, even the calm Lilith was getting annoyed. Reach! what reaches!? She barely has any pocket money she has gotten from the few quests she has done so far. And what if he has had it hard? She had to survive in a damned forest full of beasts! Sure she became inhuman and so on but that is beside the point.

“Listen here. I am trying to help, no wonder the other adventurers are so annoyed with you. So just tell me what is the damned herb you want and I will fetch it. But since you were so disrespectful I won’t give it to you unless you beg and show me what you wanted it for so now speak.

Her aura had grown cold and deadly. Everyone inside felt a chill run down their spine as the temperature in the room dropped. Her normally warm and welcoming aura now felt like a raging blizzard seeking to reap the lives of those present with shards of ice. The kid was shaking both from fear and the chill in his body. Silence fell as no one even dared to breathe. Finally, the kid spoke.

“I-it’s mana grass”

As the words left his mouth Lilith’s aura disappeared and a warm small replaced the angry expression that she had before. At that moment everyone started breathing again. They wanted to believe this was some sort of special intimidation skill this kid has. Their common sense refused to believe a kid like her could be as strong as her aura implied but none of them wanted to test it.

“Master, why do you want to help that brat. He is disrespectful and sincerely he would be better of dead”

“To tell the truth, I don’t know. I just felt like I had to. You may call it a whim if you like”

Right now they are inside the guilds information room. With a name, they are now looking for information on this herb. It so happens to be a rare herb that is easy to find. The actual problem is harvesting it. As it’s named implies it is a type of grass that has had a lot of mana infused on it. As such strong monsters tend to live near it.

It didn’t take too long to gather the information and by the time they were done barely half an hour had gone by. With enough time they decided to go look for it. Thankfully the guild had records of where the grass grew nearby as well as records of the type of monsters that lived there. It also suggested that a party of no less than three C ranked adventurers was needed to be able to collect it without any problems.

“There is a lot of it isn’t it?”

“Yea, I guess very few people come to collect it, no wonder the selling price is so high”

Lilith and Mia were chatting while collecting the grass after the massacre they had just caused. The place was completely infested with a crocodile looking monster. It had from two to five tails and was quite quick, in human terms that is. It took a bit of time to get rid of them only because there were so many. And finally, they could collect the grass without any interruption. As a matter of fact, they only needed to gather a bit but since they were already there with why not collect a whole bunch?. That is how they came back with almost two bags full of it.

By the time they were back the sun was already at its highest. Meaning it was time for lunch. However, they had already had a crocodile blood feast. The taste was interesting, like that of a well-cooked piece of beef with a lot of spice. Anyway, since they had the rest of the day to do whatever the decision had already been made, a long nap. You may ask. Why not go deal with the kid right away and sell the rest? Well, to put it simply, it would attract too much attention. What they didn’t realize is that they had already gathered quite a bit.

The next day they went to the adventurers guild with a small pouch with some grass. This is to keep appearances. The rest would be sold at a later date in the black market or something. This way they wouldn’t be linked to it and so everything would be alright. Of course, the kid was once again pestering the adventurers and getting his ass kicked.

“Hey, didn’t I say I would get the grass? Sheesh. Anyway, here I have it. Now tell me why you want it and I might give it to you”

Lilith opened the pouch to show the grass. In that instant, the kid tried to take it which resulted in him getting kicked in the gut once again, this time by Lilith. Her patience towards this kid was paper-thin and her instincts were constantly pestering her to get him to guide her somewhere.

“What is it for?”

“My sister! She is sick. It’s for her, please just give it to me!”

“Take me to her”

“What? No! Just give me the grass!”

Lilith took a bit out of the pouch and then set it on fire with fire magic. She had been learning from Mia some magic. As of now, she can’t use it for combat as her control over it is lacking. However, setting a tiny bit of grass on fire is a piece of cake.

“My patience is running out. I have no reason to give this to you for free. If you want it you will have to comply with my whims. Got it?”

With those words, the shape of the devil with the body of a small girl’s body got imprinted into everyone’s mind. Even though they weren’t willing to help the kid, they wouldn’t be cruel enough to actually get the grass and burn it in front of him. Not to mention that thing is quite valuable, what a waste of money.

“Fine, I will take you to her. But you better keep your promise!”