"Why didn't you tell me you have elves in this world?" Damian excitedly questioned the girl besides him.

"You never asked." Emilia bluntly answered.

"Oh, I didn't. Well anyways, if elves exist in this world, do other demi-humans exist as well?"

"Yeah. Elves are common here but other demi-humans live in the Issho Kingdom of the East. I'd love to visit their country one day."

Damian pictured a country filled with cat girls and nodded in agreement.

"For some reason I feel like we have different reasons for wanting to go." Emilia shuddered at Damian who seemed to be on cloud nine. Anyways, shouldn't you be worrying more about what she said than admiring her? She said if we don't evacuate the village everyone is going to die!"

"She did? Well that does sound urgent, but Frank doesn't seem to be believing her." Damian noted.

The mysterious elf continued struggling to convince the village chief that they needed to evacuate asap, but the enraged Frank wouldn't listen.

"I saw it with my own eyes! A giant beast is making its way here as we speak! We do not have enough time to be squandering around!"

"Yeah? Well you can take yourself to hell before you convince me that there is no trickery being played here!" Frank retorted.

The elf tried her best but she understood that no matter how valiantly she pleaded, she could not convince the chief to send the order to evacuate. With a heavy sigh, she backed off and made her way into the woods. Frank turned the opposite direction and noticed Damian and Emilia staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" He barked. "Get to work you two."

Damian nodded and turned to head into the forest but Emilia didn't move an inch.

"Weren't you a little too harsh on that girl, Frank?" She asked the hulking figure.

Damian glanced at Emilia, his face filled with intense shock.

Talking back to Frank when he is this mad? Is she brave or just stupid?

"I don't trust her." He bluntly replied.

He didn't explode? How did she do it? I need to make her teach me sometime.

"Don't trust her? Why? Because she's untrustworthy? Or is it because she's an elf?" Emilia challenged.

"Because she's a damn elf! After what they did, how can you expect me to trust any of them?" scowled Frank.

"What some of them did doesn't define who they all are." She stuck her finger in Frank's chest. "You should understand that."

Frank stayed silent and his tight expression eased up a bit, as if reflecting on her words. Just when Damian thought Emilia had gotten through to him, his expression hardened and he pushed her hand away.

"You never suffered from their attack. So you don't get to lecture me, you hear?" He growled.

With that, Frank stormed off, leaving behind a saddened Emilia and a bewildered Damian.

"How did you do that?" Damian asked Emilia as they made their way to the traps set up in the forest.

"Do what?"

"Talk back to Frank in his face and escape alive?"

"What do you mean 'escape alive'? Frank would never kill me, he is too kind hearted."

"What about him is kind hearted?" Damian shuddered at his past experiences with Frank, most of which consisted of the chief berating him.

"He seems like a bad guy on the surface but he's actually sweet on the inside you know."

"I'd like to see his sweet side at least once." Damian admitted.

"You have seen his sweet side. Multiple times actually, you just don't know it."

Damian tried to recall a time where Frank had shown him compassion of any sort. Unfortunately, only a screaming Frank greeted Damian in his memories.

"I don't know what your definition of sweet is, but if it has to do with a lot of yelling and harsh stares, then I guess he is sweet."

"You'll understand, eventually."

"So anyways, what was that about what the elves did?" queried Damian.

"It happened before I was born." She answered. "I heard that a group of elves had asked to seek refuge in the village. The village chief at the time, Frank's father, agreed to allow them to rest at one of their empty houses. After taking advantage of their kindness, the elves killed both of Frank's parents and a few other villagers, and fled. That's what I was told at least."

"That's terrible...."

"Yeah, well that event traumatized Frank and now he hates elves with a fiery passion, but I have a feeling he doesn't really want to."

"He doesn't want to hate the elves?" questioned Damian.

Emilia nodded.

"He hates them because he thinks he has to hate them for killing his parents, not because he actually hates them, is what I think."

Emilia ran in front of Damian and faced him. Her face was illuminated from the sunlight. It made it appear as if a heavenly light emanated from her. Her posture was that of a cliche anime girl, back bended forward and arms behind her back. Damian tried to contain the blush that was beginning to spread throughout his face.

"What do you think?"

"M-me? I uh dunno?" He stuttered.

"Your blushing, you know? She smirked at Damian.

"Am not!" He denied, though he clearly was, in fact, blushing.

Emilia giggled. After being satisfied with teasing Damian, she extended her hands. Her light brown eyes began to glow faintly and the grass around her was ripped from the ground and wrapped around itself to form a grass basket. The blessing of plant manipulation. As the name suggests, Emilia can manipulate the plants around her to do whatever she wants. In this case, she used her blessing to weave a grass basket. Damian never got tired of watching her create countless items with her power.

"Here." She handed the newly crafted basket to Damian. "Your in charge of gathering fruits and berries today,"

Damian accepted the container and went on his way to gather his objectives.

******

After the day's work, Emilia and Damian returned to the village, baskets filled with fresh carcasses and fruits. The dark night had taken over the sky, littered with countless tiny stars. There were torches and lanterns lit on different stations so that visibility was still ensured, at least until it was time for the villagers to sleep. Emilia made her way to the village chief's house to deliver the goods and get paid. Damian just tagged along, as he refused to take money since he was given a home and was being fed. Currency in this world was also paper, in contrast to Damian's hope that it was gold coins, like in most fantasy worlds. The chief's house was located in the back of the village so it was the last house anyone would reach after entering the gates. It was also the largest building in the confinement, making it visible as soon as you entered the village. When they made it to the chief's home, Damian knocked on the door to alert the residents of their arrival. The door swung open but no one could be seen.

"Hi Big bro Damian!" a voice piped from below.

Damian looked down and was greeted by a mini Emilia that wore a headband. This was Frank's daughter, Mary Ferguson, who was obsessed with Emilia, if her appearance didn't already give that away.

When she noticed Emilia standing behind Damian she squealed in delight.

"Big sis Emilia!"

"Hey Mary!"

Mary ran to Emilia, who then scooped up the petite girl and spun her around. When they were done playing, they headed inside and encountered the chief's wife, Annie Ferguson, behind the counter where she was preparing dinner. She was an elegant lady that had lengthy brown hair that was braided to the side.

"Welcome, Damian. Welcome, Emilia. Are you here to sell your gatherings to my husband?"

"Yes, where is he? Emilia asked.

"He is out as of right now, but he will be back soon. Please feel free to wait here for him." Annie offered.

Emilia expressed her thanks to Annie and Damian did the same. They took a seat on the green sofa. While Damian waited silently, Emilia entertained Mary. 10 minutes had gone by and the chief had still not arrived home.

"Frank sure is taking his sweet time huh?" Damian yawned.

"I also find it strange that he hasn't returned yet." Annie agreed.

Dinner for the Fergusons was ready and lay on the dining table, waiting for its final member to arrive home.

"Just be patient." Emilia sleepily responded. "I'm sure he'll be back any moment now."

Emilia glanced at Damian's chest.

"My eyes are up here you know." Damian asserted jokingly.

"I know that, idiot, I was just wondering where your small bag thing was. You know, the fairy pack?"

"Fanny pack." Damian corrected.

He checked out his chest. The fanny pack, which contained his phone, was indeed missing. If anyone took his phone that would be a huge loss of profit. That thing would probably sell thousands in an underdeveloped world like this one.

"Aw man. I must have left it in the forest." Damian got up from his seat. "I'm gonna go get it."

"Wait!" Annie stopped Damian. "You won't be able to see in the dark, let me get you a torch."

She scurried into a room and moments after reappeared with an unlit torch in hand. Annie, Emilia, and Mary accompanied Damian to the front door. Before Annie handed Damian the torch, she intensely stared at it. Her eyes shined a light shade of orange as the tip of the torch combusted.

"Woah. I never knew you had a blessing of fire creation!" Damian exclaimed.

Annie meekly smiled at Damian's astonishment.

"I never use it much and I can only create small flames, so it's not too impressive." Annie confessed.

"It's still amazing to me since I can't use my blessing at all, whatever it is."

Damian gratefully took the torch and turned to Emilia.

"I'll be right back." he promised

"Just go straight home after you get your bag. It's late and I won't be needing your help any more." She waved him away.

Damian thanked her and said goodbye to Mary. He could hear Mary yelling goodbye as he ran towards the forest.