Lyte and Lisa walked together in silence. It was getting awkward as Lyte felt a sense of déjà vu. It felt like he was walking with Snow back to her mansion all over again. Lyte decided to start up a conversation, just like he always did.
"So, Lisa. May I ask you a question? It might be a little personal though,"
"You can ask. I mean, nobody is stopping you from asking, but I will answer depending on the question asked," Lisa jokingly said and giggled a little.
"O-oh. Erm. W-well. I want to ask..."
"What is it? You don't have to be nervous, I won't bite,"
"Very funny, Lisa. Anyway, I want to ask why do you and your sister live in a cabin in the Dead Forest? You two are witches right? Why not live in a witch cavern? Or even a normal human village? As far as I understand, witches, mages and certain harmless fairies are the only non-human creatures welcomed in human villages, right?"
"Oh, that. You are right about the fact that witches are accepted in human dwelling places. However, where me and my sister lived, they hated witches. It was because that village has a bad history with witches. They claimed that the witches had harmed them when they did not do anything to them at all. But we know the truth. We know what actually happened,"
"The truth? What do you mean?"
"The truth is that the people there had bullied witches for centuries. They would throw anything they can pick up at any witches they see. They would throw insults at the witches. It was until one day, the witches had enough and decided to summon a horrible flood to destroy the village. Crops were destroyed, livestock dropped to zero and human lives were lost. The witches did so to punish those who were mean while the others that treated them well were all safe. However, those who were spared the cruel punishment turned against the witches and claimed that the witches did so without any reasons. No motives. No warnings. No mercy,"
"Wow, that is a harsh history. I think the witches were not wrong for doing so. They were just bringing justice and protecting themselves. Nothing wrong with that at all,"
"I'm so glad you agree with the witches' actions. I honestly thought you as a human would think what my ancestors did was despicable. Thank you for understanding, Lyte,"
"You are very welcome, Lisa. I could not imagine how they treated you and Laura when you two lived there,"
"Ah, yes. It was the most horrible time in my life. When my sister and I first moved there a few years ago, we were treated badly. Every day, our front door would be full of graffiti. Words like 'Die Witch' and 'Evil Whore' will be written there and we had to clean it, every day. It was very difficult to remove them and we eventually just stopped trying to get rid of it, knowing it would be back the next day. Merchants and shops refused to trade or sell us things, even the daily needs. However, there were a few people who were kind to us and were willing to sell us stuff. But the others kept on taunting us,"
"I am very sorry to hear that, Lisa. Those people sounded horrible. But why not just move to another village? One that doesn't hate witches,"
"That is due to the incident that made us move in the first place. But, I would rather not talk about it, if you don't mind. I really hate remembering that day. Me and my sister moved here a few months ago. But the creatures here left me and my sister alone, at least until that ogre you defeated this morning,"
"O-oh. I'm so sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. I know how bad it makes one feels to remember such kind of events. You will not stop thinking about it for a while, you know, "
"Seemed like you have your fair share of bad memories. You seemed to know how it feels very well,"
"Yeah, I had a lot of childhood trauma. I lost my mom at 7 and my dad followed suit when I was 10. What about you? Where are your parents?"
"I'm sorry. Both my parents passed too. Actually, it has something to do with the reason we moved,"
"Oh, well, let us not talk about this more. I don't want to make this conversation uncomfortable for you,"
"Thank you, Lyte. You are very thoughtful,"
"Hehe, thanks for your compliment, miss. By the way, do you know a reapress who lives in this forest?"
"T-there is a r-reapress living here?!" Lisa who was cheery all day long suddenly looked afraid.
"Yeah, a reapress lives here in a mansion. I thought you would have came across her before,"
"N-no, I...I never saw a reapress around before!"
"Lisa, calm down. Why are you shaking? She is not that bad,"
"Lies! All soul collectors are bad! They took our loved ones from us! They made us suffer!"
"That may be true, but she is different. She offered me to stay at her mansion last night for shelter against other creatures here that might have harmed me. I would have been dead if not for her," Lyte tried to defend his new friend from his other new friend.
"She was just trying to get your trust and kill you when you are not aware. How did you even escape from a reapress? She must have been very clumsy and stupid to let her prey escape,"
"She is not like that, Lisa. And I didn't escape from her. We had the breakfast she made and she sent me on my way after we were done. She even gave me some snacks for the road. When you meet her you will like her. Trust me,"
"Meet her! No way! No way in the deepest layer of hell will I ever meet that reapress! I would rather suffer for an eternity than do so! And throw away those snacks she gave you! I bet it's poisoned!"
"Well, that is going to be a problem..."
"Lyte? What do you mean by that?"
"That reapress you would rather suffer eternity than meet, well she will join me in my journey too. So if you still want to come along, you have to meet her,"
"What!?! Why did you invite a reapress to come on this journey with you?! Are you insane?!"
"C-calm down, Lisa. I am not insane thank you very much,"
"Then why? Why did you do that?"
"Let me explain. First, I had a dream last night. The Greek Gods told me to invite her along in my dream. Second, she is a nice reapress. Third, having a friend with me in my journey would be nice rather than traveling alone. Lastly, I will not throw away the food she gave me. That'd be a waste and very rude,"
"Okay... First, the Gods would never send a dream to you. No offence, but Gods do not send dream to commoners. They only send dreams to prophets. Second, there is no such thing as a nice reapress. As I said before, she was just trying to gain your trust. As soon as you let your guard down, she will claim your soul without hesitation. Third, I'm here. You don't need her to accompany you anymore, right? Lastly, whatever. Just don't blame me if you get food poisoning,"
"Lisa, come on. Please. Who knows, you might like her,"
"Like a repress?! Never in my nightmares would I befriend a reapress, let alone learn to like one!"
"Please, just give her a chance. I promise you won't regret it,"
Lisa kept on refusing to accept the fact that a repress would be joining them in their journey. Lyte on the other hand tried his best to convince Lisa to meet the 'scary reapress' first before she made any judgement. At last, Lisa reluctantly agreed to try to get to know the reapress, even though she was not happy at all.
"Fine, I will give her a chance. But as soon as she tries to attack any one of us, I want her off the team. Got it?"
"Yes, Lisa. I'm glad you finally agreed. You are going to like her. You two may even become, besties," Lyte chuckled at that remark.
Lisa pouted and cringed, but she stayed silent knowing anything she said will be fruitless. Heck it might bring out Lyte's lecturer side again.
At this point, they had reached a small village. Neither of them even noticed walking out of the Dark Forest and onto a dirt path. They did not realise it was already near afternoon either.
Time sure moved fast when you are not alone. Lyte thought to himself as he looked around for any signboards to indicate the name of the village.
He finally saw what he was looking for. There, nailed on a pole, was an old wooden board where on it in white paint was the word 'Big B Village'. It was a weird name for a village but they were in no place to judge as a couple of outsiders.
Lyte did not notice that his partner's expression changed as they arrived at the location.