Riley opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the roof of a carriage. She panicked and sat up looking around for her parents however they were nowhere in sight.

She quickly got up but felt an intense pain shoot through her back and she crouched back down whimpering.

She remembered her father’s words to her “Be strong Riley, become strong enough to protect everything important to you or spend your time finding something or someone worth protecting. Once you find that something, be sure to cherish it with all your heart and remember, never EVER ignore the pleas those in need of serious help” with those words in mind tears started to form at the corners of her eyes.

Riley carefully stood up and slowly limped out of the carriage, the first thing she saw when she got out of the carriage we’re the rows of bodies lined up.

Some soldiers had heard about a nearby attack on a village and had arrived too late to do anything, so out of respect for the dead they were burying the bodies of the villagers and burning the bodies of the demons.

A soldier noticed Riley and shouted

Soldier1:”OY, SOMEONE GET THE CAPTAIN! THE SURVIVOR WOKE UP!”

Riley stumbled forward and was caught by the soldier.

Soldier1: “Oop There ya go, easy does it you’re lucky to have lived through this y’know, everyone else died.”

He said while supporting Riley

Riley: “Have you s-seen m-mu-my parents?”

She said quietly in a voice as fragile as glass.

Soldier1: “The people you were lying next to? Do ya want me to take you to em?”

Riley: “P-please d-do.”

The Soldier then started walking down the line of corpses to the very end supporting the weakened Riley.

Soldier1: “Here they are ma’am.”

Riley: “M-mom, D-dad *sniff* WHYYYY!!!!”

Riley collapsed next to her parent’s bodies and cried and screamed at the top of her lungs the nearby soldiers just looked on with a saddened face.

Eventually Riley exhausted herself out and passed out, leaving the Soldier to gently pick her up and take her to the captain’s tent.

Once the soldier entered the tent the captain looked at him and said.

Capain: “Just lay her down on my cot for now she must be exhausted.”

Soldier1: “will do.”

As the soldier lays Riley down on the cot he salutes the captain and leaves the tent to go stand guard outside.

*_________________________________________________________________

A few hours passed and eventually Riley woke up again.

Captain: “Hey missy, would you like something to drink?”

RIley just looked up at the captain with tear stained eyes.

The captain slowly approached her with a glass of water in his hand, he then carefully handed it to her and waited for her to drink it.

Riley: “*sniffle* th-thank yo-you for helping me.”

Captain: “Mrg don’t worry about it missy it’s the least we can do for you right now, now i would like to ask you a few questions if you feel up for it, do you mind?”

Riley: “n-no I d-don’t mind.”

Captain: ”Alright now…”

The captain asked Riley multiple questions about what she had seen and what had happened, and Riley recounted the story as best as she possibly could while leaving out the details about her ability magic and her Mother’s healing magic.

After the captain finished he thanked Riley and had some of his men set up a small tent for her to sleep in, she skipped the meal and went straight to the tent and fell asleep.

After she left the captain called the soldier into his tent.

Captain: “So what did you think of the merchant girl?”

Soldier1: “ I think she’s incredibly strong for someone who witnessed a massacre like this.”

Captain: “Mrg yeah that’s one thing but I can sense an unusually strong ability around that girl.”

Soldier1: “Well that’s good to know it means she won’t become dependant on us.”

Captain: “As they say the best way to overcome a rut is to find a path out of it.”

Soldier1: “Aye that they do, we’ll I’ll do my best to help her out but she needs to have the will to move on, we can’t expect it in one day but I give her a week.”

Captain: “Yes indeed let’s have her come with us on the way to the next town, she can follow with us and move on from there that way we don’t fall behind schedule and she can start to recover.”

Soldier1: “Alright but for now i’ll let her sleep, she can be told all of this tomorrow.”

Captain: “All Right, Now for the more pressing matter what did you find out about those demons?”

Soldier1: “There were two Demon commanders one was killed while the second was horribly injured or dead.”

Captain: “I thought as much the Demons are becoming more and more active. Hopefully this war blows over soon it’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

The next day Riley awoke to the sound of birds chirping, she had spent the entire night crying and finally exhausted herself to the point of slumber when the sun started rising.

Needless to say she felt like crap, as she groggily crawled out of her tent she staggered over to fire that the soldiers had going.

The soldiers gave her a bowl of stew and a blanket to wrap around her shoulders she thanked them and sat down next to the helpful soldier from the other day.

Soldier1: “Mornin sunshine.”

Riley: “Mmh.”

Soldier1: “By the way I never introduced myself my name is Aeirun of the Snow Wolfs nice to meet you.”

Riley: “This soup tastes like crap.”

Aeirun: “Gahaha Well yeah we’re eating provisions they’re not meant to be the tastiest princess.”

Riley: “If I’m a princess than that makes you a fool.”

Said Riley slowly looking up from her soup bowl her eyes were sunken in and tear stained but she seemed to be regaining some of her energy

Aeirun: “Of course your royal pain in the highness.”

Said Aeirun teasingly in an effort to cheer up Riley. It seemed to be working as she made a pouty face and punched him in the arm.

Aeirun: “So Riley, would you like to travel with us? We’re heading to a nearby town, you would be safe and once you’re at the town I have some business connections i can set you up with so you can have a stable foundation to continue being a merchant, whad’ya say?”

Tears start to well up in Riley’s already raw eyes.

Riley: “Th-thank you for doing all of this for me.” *sniffle*

Aeirun: “Hey it’s the least I can do i’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”

Riley then clung onto Aeirun’s chest and started bawling completely forgetting the soup.

___________________________________________________________________________

3 days later they had arrived in the town of Trenzic, Trenzic is a medium sized town known for its baked goods and wheat, it’s also known for being the closest town to a mining district. So ore, rock, and gem trade were all common here.

Riley had followed behind the soldiers with Aeirun acting as rear guard and the trip itself had been relatively uneventful.

After passing through inspection at the gate, Aeirun informed the captain that he would be leaving for a bit to take Riley to his contacts. After receiving approval from the Captain he set off.

Riley: “Man this is one hell of a sketchy place. You sure your contact is around here. I’m beginning to question your judgement.”

Aeirun: “yeah yeah location, location, location, as they say he should be just around this corner lil sis.”

As to why Aeirun called Riley his little sister. Along the trip she started calling him older brother so he followed and started thinking of her as his little sister.

Riley: “So this is it?”

Aeirun: “YEP! this is indeed it.”

Aeirun and Riley now stood in front of a rat’s nest shack covered in thick cloth. Once they entered they were greeted to the smell of Phosphorus and Sulphur mixed in with some other chemicals it was a truly overwhelming smell.

Aeirun: “AAAH man this place never changes man, I missed this old smell.”

Riley: “HOW COULD YOU MISS A SMELL LIKE THIS!?”

Yelled Riley while covering her nose with both of her hands.

Aeirun: “See when you work as an apothecary/inventor’s apprentice for a solid 5 years you get used to it.”

Riley: “Sooo why are you a soldier?”

Aeirun: “Ah it was the draft. it’s actually pure coincidence that I got to come back here.”

Riley: “ah I see sorry about that…”

Aeirun: “Nah don’t worry about it helping out the country is a great thing too right?”

Riley: “Mmh yeah.”

Aeirun then walked to the back of the rat’s nest and yelled.

Aeirun: “ OY! OLD GEEZER! YOU STILL ALIVE?!!”

Right as he yelled that a beer bottle flew out from behind a blanket at the far end of the shop at mach 4 colliding with Aeirun’s helmet making him do a perfect backflip.

Riley: “Aeirun!!!”

Old man: “SHADDAP YA #$#$%$ I’M SLEEPIN E’RE”

Aeirun: “*CHE* WHY AREN’T YOU DEAD YET!? YOU OLD FART!”

Aeirun yelled back at the violent old man while Riley looked on shocked at the spectacle unfolding in front of her.

After hearing Aeirun’s voice the Old man emerged from the curtain.

Old man: “AH Aeirun me boy good seeing ya again. you get out of the army yet? Also who’s the missus?”

Aeirun stood up brushing himself up seemingly unaffected by the supersonic bottle incident.

Aeirun: “Ah Old man see this here is my little sister Riley, also no i’m still in the army.”

Old man: “SO why ya e’re then?”

Aeirun: “Ah about that Riley here happens to be a merchant and I was trying to set her up with a good place to supply her so I came here.”

Old man: “Is that so eh, quite a strange merchant to be visiting an inventor like myself.”

RIley: “Ah um i’m known for selling Knick Knacks, interesting stones, gems, and the like along with regular merchant things.”

Old man: “Interesting well i think i can help you I happen to have an excess of Knick Knacks that i would like to spread the word about are you interested?”

Riley: “Absolutely!”

And like that Riley got a stable supplier for her mercantile business. a couple years later Riley now had a firmly established Route to sell her wares.

This day like any other was fairly boring for Riley she was incredibly lonely with only her horse to talk to. Along with that she was also Dying of boredom so she was hoping for something, anything to happen.

And then it happened the goblin/ogre raid and the appearance of that mysterious idiotic human.

____________________________________________________________________________

RIley had finished reminiscing about herself as her horse galloped on towards the town to where John was it was now dusk and the sun was quickly setting.

Riley: “Hang on a bit longer John.”

Hey guy's Sorry for a day of delay i hope the double post made up for it :) Hope your enjoying the story so far and i would like to thank my good friend Captainratchet the writier of NEET no more! and others similar to those be sure to check him out :3 once again LOVE YOU ALL you guys are the reason i write feel free no please do comment it fuels my motivation!