Chapter 6: A Town in Midland

[In the morning]

Wevil: Wake up already. Let go Minny, Lily.

Lord: Pretty sure you have to break a lot of jars if you want these two to go. Wevil, wake up someone else.

Lord: Ahh...Let eat 1-gold-coin-per-bite grape first before we go. ...munch ...munch... Still, I haven't seen Grapefruit in maiden form.

A berry trent is walking in and stands still.

Lord: Oh, this is also my breakfast I guess.

Minny: Have a safe trip, my lord. Even your charm can't move me out this water jar. [giggle]

Lord: I'm not confident of my charm anymore. T_T

Astille tries to give the lord a few green lotus seeds.

Lord: You want me to eat this?

Astille nods.

Lord: Oops. It's so bitter.

Astille stares.

Lord: It's very delicious, Astille.

Astille hands more lotus seeds.

Lord: I'm a little full, Astille.

Astille emits cold aura.

Lord: OK, just a few more lotus seeds won't hurt.

Wevil: Astille, stop trolling our lord. You know it's not delicious.

Lord: .....

[On the castle's grounds]

Iris: Sola is not coming. She is still angry with you from yesterday, my lord.

Lord: Nah, don't trick me. I know her well.

Almond: Let ride this giant trent to one of our wagon outpost, and then continue the journey with our horse-drawn carriage.

Lord: Sounds good.

Giant trent gives a friendly smile.

Ruby: Sis, it's my turn to ride the trent. You walk for a change.

Lord: Your lord approves it, Ruby.

Iris: Grrr...

Wevil: Wait. I almost forget it. Let me do the head count. Lord, Iris, Ruby, Violet, Jasmine, Almond, Astille. It's 9. Let's go everyone.

Iris: Better not do it at all, Wevil.

[Radish market]

Lord: I remember this place.

Almond: Our destination shares the same path with our previous journey, my lord.

Lord: Yes, it's a wonder that people can consume all of these mountains of white radish.

Almond: They are several million humans in this continent, my lord. If a person has just one bite on these mountains, a million bites will make them disappear just like a horde of rats biting on a corpse.

Lord: Your analogy is needlessly horrifying, Almond. What about hundreds of bee swarming on a flower.

Almond is blushing.

Lord: What?.......Oh, I get it.

Ruby: I want to taste those radishes once, my lord.

Lord: What about the one that always stands at our front door.

Ruby: Wow, you are so clever, my lord.

Lord: I won't take that as a compliment.

Violet: It's nice, right? This wagon is so spacious, and practically everyone is here.

Lord: Arhhh.. no.... It's my fault..It's all my fault.

Violet: What happened, my lord?

Lord: I forgot Holly.

Violet: Oops, I forgot her too. I heard you promised her yesterday. But don't worry about it, my lord. Right now she might just be crying alone in some dark corner of the castle.

Lord: Are you comforting me, or not!

Almond: Violet is kidding, my lord.

Violet, with a dry smile: I'm kidding. Don't worry about it, my lord.

[In some dark corner of the castle]

..............Holly is crying alone.

[In the wagon on the way to Midland]

Almond: I hired some human to work as our coachman and servants too. You will be amazed at how cheap they can be bought.

Lord: Give them a little bit more gold as you see fit. So they might have a better life.

Ruby: Our lord is so kind.

Lord: This road construction. Is it our funding?

Almond: I'm not sure, my lord. But I guess Sola sent our fund to village leaders, local lords and such. She doesn't control the construction directly.

Ruby: Look. Those goblins are working on our road.

Lord, whispering: Stop. If you see a goblin working, better call them engineer goblin, not goblin, or else they would be really pissed.

Ruby: Why?

Almond: They want racial seg....

Lord: You stop too, Almond. Better not talk about sensitive subjects.

Almond: .......

Lord: Wow, let check those cows over there.

Ruby: Should we raise cows on the castle's grounds, my lord? We can have some milk every morning.

Almond: Milk is bad for human health, Ruby. It is a cause of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, just to say a few. Human are not evolved to drink milk. Their ancestors start to consume milk only 20,000 years ago, which is a very short period compared to the entire range of their evolution span. Because of this, their body can't evolve fast enough. It is analogous to growing lotus on dry sand. It won't grow well, be ridden with disease or simply die.

Ruby: Wow, you are so knowledgeable, Almond.

Lord: You are not even 2 years old. How come you know so much?

Almond: Most maidens are born with general knowledge of this world, my lord. Some more, some less, and in my case, I also like reading. You should check thousands of human book I keep in our library.

Lord: What about safety during the journey?

Iris: Well, it's as safe as it could be, and we have brought enough firepower to fight an entire army. So, let's not worry about it.

Lord thinks: [Yeah, after I have seen how easily they killed those giant worms, I completely believe her about the destroying an army part]

Almond: Let not be careless. It does not matter how much we can destroy. Our lord could die from a single crossbow shot to the neck, and this time we don't have Sola's [Solar shield] around.

Lord: Yeah, most human could die from that, Almond.

Iris: Yes, this reminds me of our journey to Yggdrasil and the lightning bolt. At that time I wanted to spare her life, so I didn't kill her as fast as I could, and I didn't realize our lord is that weak.

Lord: Sorry, everyone. I am a weak man.

Wevil, crying: I almost forget her. Why did you have to bring that up, Iris?

Iris: Oops, sorry, Wevil. Come here. Let me hug you as my apology. You may talk now because we are alone in this wagon, but let go into doll mode immediately when we are outside, OK?

Wevil: I know. You can count on me about this, Iris.

Iris: This time I will kill all hostiles immediately.

Lord: Uh...Let tone that down about half, Iris.

Violet: What is in that box, Astille?

Astille hands over the box to the lord.

Violet: Oh, they're giant grapes. Grapefruit must have given them to her at the castle.

Lord: Thank you Grapefruit. Thank you too Astille. Let me hug you.

Astille flinches back.

Lord: It's OK. Each and every maidens shall have their ...

Violet: ...own free will. You have already overused it, my lord.

Lord: She just doesn't want to stay too close to me. It's OK. I still love you.

Astille: My flower stinks.

Violet: Oh, that's why you don't want to get too close?

Iris: Your scent is not that bad. Just weird.

Wevil: It stinks.

Iris: Oh, now I know where she get the idea from.

Jasmine is smelling her own flowers.

Lord: It's up to you, Astille.

Astille is approaching, reluctantly.

Lord, carrying her up: Let me sniff it. Hmm...It's too far from stink, Astille. Just strange.

Astille, smiling: When I grow up, I will marry you daddy.

Lord, dropping her down: NO!!

Astille is crying.

Almond: Don't use that two words together, Astille. In human world, sexual relationship between family members is prohibited. Even our lord is certainly exempt from it because he is the king of our land and we have our own law. He still wants to follow their law because he is also a human.

Lord thinks: [In fact, it's a little bit more than that, Almond, but good analysis]

Violet: Please forgive Astille, my lord. She doesn't know human's culture.

Iris: Luckily we bring Almond with us. She is doing Sola's role perfectly.

Almond: Children born from parents with close blood relationship are more likely to have birth defect. That's probably the reason behind this law.

Iris: Since she is not blood related with our lord in any way. Just stop calling him daddy and she can marry him with no problem?

Astille smiles a little.

Almond: That too, might also be a problem. Child marriage is also prohibited in human world. Since she looks like a human girl of age 7, and she has stopped growing for quite some time.

Astille is crying.

Iris: Hmm...I need to learn more about human's culture.

Lord: Come on, Astille. Can't I just love you like you are my cute little daughter.

Astille stops crying and nods.

Iris: I'm your mother then.

Ruby: Sis!

[Half way to the destination]

Coachman: My lady, there is a bunch of goblins ahead blocking our road, but don't worry. I'm also a fine swordsman.

Iris: You girls don't want to risk losing our coachman, right? Let me deal with them. This time it will be quick.

Astille shots a fireball at a nearby tree, burning the area down to dust. The goblins run away in all directions.

Coachman: OMG, such a powerful magician. I'm honored to travel with you.

Violet: We are honored to travel with you too.

Iris: If there is anything suspicious, just let us know immediately. We will do the fighting by ourselves.

Coachman: God damn, these ladies are so wicked...mumble...mumble..

Almond: A seemingly peaceful solution, but is it really a good one? They might rob and kill someone else tomorrow.

Iris: I can run after them and kill them all, if my lord wishes.

Lord: Hard decision for me to make. I'm not sure what is right but let them go this time, Iris.

Violet: Should we just give them money? They want only our money, right?

Almond: You can, but it won't solve the underlying problem. After the money is used up, they will continue with their old way of life, and it can even draw more and more goblins from the nearby area, if we continue to provide them with money. In the end, even some engineer goblins will beg for our free money.

Violet: Were they born evil? Can't we do nothing at all, except killing them?

Almond: It depends on how you look. Are Tigers evil? Other animals don't do anything to them but tigers hunt and eat them? However, tigers die if they don't eat animal, as their body can digest only meat. For goblins, I think it's their way of life, more or less. So, evil or not, it depends on how you look. With all that said, we still have full rights to protect ourselves to the utmost extent. It's natural for villagers to kill all tigers near the village, right? In my opinion, tigers and villagers have full rights to kill each other.

Violet: I want to re-educate them into a better creature. Is that possible?

Almond: You can try, Violet, but I don't think you will succeed. We can't even persuade Lily to get out of her jar. We can't even stop Holly from crying. We can't even stop our princess from being such a....umm, forget that last part. Do you think you can convert goblins that you don't even know?

Violet: So, you mean it's hopeless, am I right?

Almond: Probably. We can't change this world, Violet, not all the time and not every parts of it, at least. We can only do what we can.

[Morroc, an outskirt town of Midland]

Lord: At last we have reached our destination. Almost 8 hours of travel, but I don't feel tired at all. Only 2 hours on the trents and my back hurts.

Almond: That's because the cushions are the best grade. It is the most spacious wagon available, with top-notch construction and best breed of horse. All of these can be bought with money.

Violet: I begin to understand, little by little, that why money is very important for human, and probably for us too.

Almond: We plant need only water and sunlight to survive. Human need house, food, clothing, as well as all sort of necessity and amenity. All of these require money. Poor human have to work hard all day long to feed themselves and their family.

Ruby: Let find a hotel, sis. Oh, I found it.

Girl: Hi, handsome, come check our girls. Oh, you have a lot already? Never mind, we have handsome men to serve women too.

Iris: This is a brothel, Ruby. It is used for different kind of purpose.

Ruby: What purpose?

Iris: Never mind.

Almond: Places like this are illegal according to the kingdom's law, but you can still find them everywhere.

Violet: I don't understand. Both sides of the act are willing to do it, aren't they? Then, why is it prohibited?

Almond: Uh..I'm not sure how to explain this because I don't completely understand it either.

Iris: Let just say a lot of human think buying a woman's body is not a very nice thing to do.

Almond: Hmm..just like selling one of your eye, perhaps. You are not supposed to sell it. It's kind of ...uh... 'inhumane', yes, that's the word.

Iris: I like that word, Almond.

Almond: Or selling your children. Even in some cases where the life of all parties in the transaction, the poor mother, the children and the rich foster parents, could be better than before. Human have to care about what other human feel and think too. Not just action and result alone.

Violet: Hmm..sound complicated.

Almond: However, there are some merits in this way of thinking too. Not every sale of children could be a good one. There might be some evil parents who care only the money and sell their child without thinking about them. Or some rich buyers who want to buy children for some inferior purposes. Therefore, it's more convenient and safer to just prohibit each and every of these inhumane transactions.

Violet: Hmm..I think I get it, more or less. Those goblins on the road, too, right? It's more convenient for us to assume that they are hostile and want to rob us.

Almond: Good point, Violet. Most of the time, we, and human too, don't have time and resources to make a hundred percent sure of everything that come into our life, and must act on the most likely possibility, or in other words, safety first, our safety, not theirs.

Almond: To summarize it, there are several things that, in human eyes, should not be sold or bought. Organ, children, family or body.

Ruby: Human's organs can be sold now?

Almond: It's just an example, Ruby.

Iris: But hiring mercenary to fight in war is allowed? Isn't it like buying their life?

Almond: Human is a creature of emotion, sometimes illogical. I think we need to live in human community for a bit longer to understand them perfectly.

Violet: body...money....exchange....body....money.

Iris: Stop thinking about it too much, Violet. We found our real hotel now, and this time don't buy the whole hotel, Almond....... or should we? [giggle] Just for fun.

[In the hotel room]

Ruby: This bed is so soft. I think we should get one for our lord.

Iris: My lord, come over here, sleep with me.

Almond: Yes, I think I will hire more human for this sort of thing. Our trents can't go deep into human inhabited area and buy stuff.

Ruby: Our coachman seems to be a good guy. Hire him too, permanently.

Almond: Human can produce a lot of things we can't, and vice versa. Trade will benefit us both. More and more human start to become familiar with trents, so we can trade or interact with them easier as time go on. Very soon Wevil will be able to talk in public without attracting too much unwanted attention.

Wevil: Yeah. I hope that time come soon.

Lord: Grapes..munch...munch...Good luck Astille brought it. I think one things we are way better than human is the quality of premium fruit and vegetable.

Wevil: Drink me. Drink me.

Lord: Let sleep early so we can enjoy this town tomorrow.

[In a different corner of the castle]

..............Holly is still crying as if it's no one's business.

[Peony's room, almost midnight]

Peony: Stop right there. You think you can walk away unscathed after you did this to me?

Lord: I'm sorry, Peony. I'm so sor....

Peony: Stand still over there and watch this as your punishment.

Lord: Watch what? Hmm.....oh that....no, not that.....oh.....Peony...could you stop being so erotic...

[Midnight]

Peony: I have to really stop thinking about these sinful things before bedtime. Now I can't sleep anymore. Maybe I should .....

Several blue birds outside are chirping maniacally as if they don't want to see something again.