Moseying through the distant plains, I push a hand to my head. I’m feeling quite queer after leaving that village, and those strange dreams I’ve recently been acquainted with aren’t helping.

Well, besides myself, Lily’s as chipper as she is and my new companion trails just behind me. Flat and vacant, I’ve found myself pondering on her lucidity a good number of times. After helping out the little girl, she had started to follow me around, which made sense considering that she had just lost her home. The girl referred to herself as Lazari, a fairly demonic name.

Anyway, I digressed. It was quite clear that she had no home so I took her with me for the time being but I’m not sure that this is the best action, considering I’m being hunted by the Kingdom. But then again, she’s a demon. She, too, will also be hunted by the Kingdom if found.

Quite the conundrum I’ve landed myself in.

So should I just go to an orphanage and dump her there? I’m not sure, but from the village, I entered the grassy plains once more.

Abandoning the roads as that was for sacrilegious scum! And I’m no heretic!

I’m still having second thoughts about whether taking her with me is the best thing.

So should I just go to an orphanage and dump her there?

Eh! Who cares?

Problem for future me.

Scanning my surroundings, we've camped beside a riverbank near a lone tree. I had already started a campfire, with Lazari's clothes drying beside it. Of course, I had already found her a new set of clothes to wear, which were a bit oversized, but I tried.

I mean, I didn't bring any extra clothes with me, so we just made use of some of the goodies the village had.

I felt kind of bad that I made her walk a ways away from the village before allowing her to wash up and change. But I wasn’t going to run the risk of running into any reinforcements those guys might’ve had. And actually, thinking about this, I’m a pretty cruel person aren’t I?

Or apathetic? Am I apathetic?

“Kakaw!”

Thank you for the vote of confidence, and screw you.

Anyway, ignoring my skewed mindset, there was an issue I had to address quickly.

"So, do you really want to travel with me?"

Indeed, I couldn't just be taking children with me all willy nilly, now could I? At least, not without their permission.

"If you want, I can take you to a city somewhere-"

"I want to go with you," Staring straight at my eyes, hers glowed momentarily on her dull, expressionless face, as she made her decision. Her face also started to redden, which was concerning, but I'll ignore that for now.

After all, despite how much I’d hate to admit it, she’s a demon. She could probably beat me in a front on fight.

Though, I couldn't help but be sceptical about her choice, so I asked her again, only to be met with the same answer. Lazari was serious about journeying with me, but considering that she is a demon, it wasn't an unexpected answer. Though, I couldn’t help but be concerned for my own wellbeing for once. Although I was tattled as a heretic, I’m no different from your common guard so even if I was investigated or inspected I would still come clean. Lazari on the other hand, was a demon. And there was no doubt about that. And demons were not the most welcomed bunch, let’s say.

Looking at this fragile girl, I catch a glint of the weapon she used to ruthlessly kill a couple horsemen. A black knife, which peculiarly, against expectations, shone fiercely in the light of the campfire. Black was not a reflective colour, so it came as a bit of a surprise, but what caught my eye was something else. The blade seemed to have nigh imperceivable inscriptions carved on the blade itself. How ominous, must be a cursed knife or something. Very demonic.

Resting up for the night, we resumed our travel.

Lazari would most certainly need new clothes, as the ones she had were rather shabby. And so, we eventually wandered out of these grasslands as we entered some fresh plains, set with a city just over the horizon.

At the rate of our travel, we would arrive there tomorrow morning, so we set up camp as I chewed on some hard jerky. Lazari was also having her ration for today, she seemed to be handling things better than I thought, granted, she was a demon. And no matter how many times I say this, as expected of a demon.

Nevertheless, when the next day rolled about, we approached the vicinity of the city walls, just cresting over the distance. The city walls here were around the same height as Sharne’s, being around 40 feet if not higher. Despite them being the same height, these walls seemed much sturdier, with thick mortar pasted across the wall face. Not to mention the heavy ballistics distributed on towers spaced evenly across the long stretching wall, putting it in another league compared to the cities I had seen previously.

This reminded me of something and looking at my attire and thinking back on how numerous others have reacted, it would seem that I look incredibly suspicious, so going through the front gate was a no go. After all, I was probably already flagged around the surrounding cities as a criminal or something.

So, this begs the question. Should I even try to enter this city or not? Well, I didn't really need anything urgent from the city right now, and going would probably be just asking for trouble.

Meaning, the best course of action would be to not enter the city.

Mhm, that’s right. I’m not entering the city!

Which is how I found myself in the city.

Staring down at a group of footmen…

Of course this happened. Why wouldn’t this happen?

How did I even get in here?

Who’s screwing with my mind?

I look around, but I can’t find any traces of anything that might’ve messed with my actions.

I’m having a feeling that I may be subconsciously retarded. But that’s something to pore over another time!

"Ok bub, we're gonna hafta ask you to put your hands in the air, alright?"

I sure as hell wasn't going to do something so preposterous. Put my hands in the air? That was looking to get my ass whooped in a heartbeat.

Normally, I would just use the tried and true technique of running. But with Lazari here, that made things complicated.

Diplomacy, go!

"How about you put your hands up, huh?!"

The footmen were visibly startled by my demand, and they gave each other puzzled glances. Hah, it seems my verbal counter was enough to place them in a predicament whereby they were now unsure of how to proceed.

Being part of the law enforcement before, I can guarantee that guards weren't taught about how to deal with non compliant individuals besides the usual 'stand down or we'll…,' gimmick, which was entirely an empty threat. It’s a good thing that guards are all trained under the same programme, even in different cities.

This gap in procedure was usually abridged with experience, but these guards weren't that high ranking looking at their badges, I could tell instantly that these fellows were just greenhorn initiates.

"Sir, if you don't comply, we'll have to use force,"

Again this was an empty threat, they won't engage as long as I don’t actively harm them. In my silence, one of the footmen seemed to cave under the oppressing silence. It wasn’t my intention to stew them in an ominous silence, but I’ll take it.

"Hey hey, at least let that little girl go!"

Putting down their pride the footmen seemed to beg him to let the girl go…

What girl? Actually, looking beside me, yeah, there was a little girl there. Sometimes I forget that she’s a little girl. Despite being a demon.

Yeah, she’s a girl, who’s also a demon.

Oh wait. Does that mean that the myth of some demons hiding in the skin of children is real? Holy crap. I need to investigate this later.

Averting eye contact from her I look to the footmen again.

I make a quick mental note about this before my lovely silence is interrupted once more.

"Hehe, do you meat sacks think you could escape after finding one of us?"

Us?

Their voice sounded androgynous but that might have been because of the cloth around his face, similar to mine. They were covered from head to toe in black, set with a dark aura manifesting around their figure.

But that wasn’t the part that made him threatening. It was the fact that he suddenly burst out of a trash can located in between me and the footmen. Like I nearly felt my heart stop at such an entrance. In a rain of trash and draff, he made his presence known in a fashion none could replicate to such perfection.

His arua bashing down on us followed by his frightening bloodlust. The guards falter, before their eyes bulge at me.

Ay ay, don’t look at me like that! I don’t know this man.

I’m being framed. I'm tellin’ ya!