Lilith and I walked through the crowds of people, Sarah watching us from behind. It's been a couple of minutes into our search for Derrick and the others, but there hasn't been any sign of them.
But I think the more worrisome thing here was the gaze that I felt behind my head.
"So…what do you think Kale and Tera are doing?" Lilith asked. The silver haired girl walked next to him, fiddling with her hands as she too also felt the gaze of her mother on her back.
I think it's safe to assume that Sarah didn't expect this to happen, we didn't even tell her what we've done and yet it seems she already knows. Or maybe she's…overthinking.
"Either they are drunk right now or having a very wonderful night. One of those." I then leaned close to Lilith, whispering to her. "Your mom is eyeing us."
Lilith took a Glance back at her mother before Turning towards me again with a cheerful look. "She's just being protective!"
"I think she knows about our relationship."
"I think so too."
I gave her a confused look. "Ok, how do you know? I've just been going off by the way she looks at us."
Nonchalantly, Lilith raised her hand and pointed out that we were holding each other's hands.
Ah-Forgot we started to hold hands immediately after we began our search. We didn't say a damn thing and now we're doing this.
"I don't think she's that upset about us." Lilith lowered our hands. Her face began to redden. "I think she's just being overprotective about me."
"Who wouldn't be? You can literally punch a demon bird to death, I'm sure your mom is worried about that…Wait, did you tell her about the bird?"
"No, would you think she'd believe that?"
"…good point."
Lilith sighed. "I was hoping to tell her but…I was just too excited by the fact she was here. Hey, why didn't your parents come?" She tilted her head as she gazed at me. "It's been a couple of months."
I frowned, shaking my head. "No, they have to stay because synthia is pregnant, remember?"
Lilith gawked at that, realizing her mistake. She turned away from me, staring forward as she turned more red. "O-oh…"
Her reaction managed to evoke A little bit of evilness out of me, maybe just out of curiosity or just out of teasing Lilith. It was probably both. It's been awhile since I last teased her.
"Are you interested I-" A sudden pain struck through me as I clutched my left side. Lilith landed a quick and fast jab to my side and she turned away from me.
"F-forgot about that!" She said annoyed. "I'm not interested!"
Noted.
As I mended to my left side, I could hear Sarah let out a sigh of relief as she followed us. Maybe her worries have now drifted away.
We continued to walk down a road, where we stumbled upon a distinct figure. It was Edward, he leaned against a wall that was an entrance to an Inn. He had his eyes closed, seemingly asleep as we walked towards him. I gazed up at the Inn's sign to figure out what it was. It read White Gallow.
Prusha had a lot of Inn around the market district, I guess it was just a way to have people stay close to where most of the kingdom profit comes from. I'm starting to see why Sura and Tera have a distaste for this kingdom. Hell, the Festival is taking place mostly in the market district and the university, the two most profitable spots in the kingdom. I recall Kale telling me about how Most Inn would also sell things as well, Whether it'd be small or cheap magic equipment or potions.
Lilith immediately ran to him, excited to see him in some time. Edwards' eyes flew open at the apparent footsteps she was making. As his eyes focused on her, he let out a smile.
"…Lilith." He said in a gentle tone. "You seem to have grown quite a bit."
"Yeah!" Lilith reached out for Edwards hand and shook it furiously. "Kale says I'm about Intermediate in Fire king style!"
Edward let out a chuckle. He was keen on teaching Lilith some Wind King style moves. Ever since he found out about Liliths reasoning to go to Prusha, he tried to ask her about her interest in other king styles. Actually, I'm not even sure what his ranking is in Wind King style.
"That's Impressive." Edward found it hard to pull himself from her hand shake. I think anyone would find it hard to pull themselves from Lilith's iron grip. Lilith realized his struggle and eased her grip, allowing him to move his hand.
"What are you doing out here? I thought you were supposed to find me?"
"Erm…Derrick found us a sleeping place. Figured Kota would find you."
The doors of the Inn opened and out came out a laughing bald man who held a woman on his shoulders. It was Derrick and Mary, who were obviously drunk.
The two stumbled out of the door and made their way towards Edward before noticing us. Derrick took a moment to register us before he let out a bellow laughter.
"Bwahaha! If it isn't Lilith!" The huge man wobbled, Mary struggling to hold onto him. "We found her, Edward!"
"Kota did." Edward awkwardly pointed at me. Derrick promptly looked at me and then Sarah, who gave him a dumbfounded look.
"…Haha! Least you were found!" Derrick drunikly moved towards Lilith, causing Mary to fall off his shoulder. Luckily, Edward was behind the two and caught her as she fell.
"Mary is asleep." Edward said as he looked at her.
"Bah, she had more to drink than me! Hah, I'm lying! She's lightweight!" Derrick seemed to pay no kind to her falling, making light jokes about it. Seems it's pretty common for these two to be drinking. Last time I saw Mary, the two didn't drink. But who knows what transpired in the past months or so.
Finally, Derrick knelt down and gave Lilith a pat on her head. "H-How has it been living here, lilith? Any trouble?"
"Nope!" Lilith said. "I mean…We did kill a demon bird thing."
"Bird! You killed a flying thing with your sword?!" Derrick said, astonished.
"Yeah, stuck my sword right into it!" Lilith imitated a jab with her sword, showing off what she did to Derrick.
"You killed what?" I heard a voice behind me. Lilith and Derrick looked in my direction towards the voice as well.
I turned around to see Sarah's eyes squinted at Liliths response. I guess it was time for her to figure that out. Not like we could've kept it a secret for much longer.
"U-uh…" Lilith froze up at her mothers look. I haven't seen her in such a state since…well actually I don't even know I've seen her in this state of panic. Closest I can relate this to is when she gets yelled at by Kale.
In her state of panic, Lilith hastily moved her way to me. Ignoring Derrick's confused look and waving hand. She hid behind me as if I was a form of protection, but truth be told…I was pretty fucking scared too. Sarah's eyes beamed me like lasers, piercing into me as if she was certain that I was involved in this. Which she is guessing correctly.
"What do you mean you killed a demon? When did this happen? Why didn't Kale say anything about this in his letters?" Sarah walked towards us in an angry manner.
In an act of panic, I put my hands up in front of my face. "I-uh-I-we we're out doing our first bounty!" I blurted out, There was no way I was going to keep this a secret now, who knows what the hell Sarah was capable of when angry. I'm just assuming that Lilith got her way of venting anger from Her. "T-the thing tried kidnapping the king's prince and we ended up killing it!"
"What? What makes you think I'll believe that?" Sarah looked at me in disbelief. "I'll need to speak with kale…"
Lilith popped her head from my back, still looking scared. "It's true! Hey Kota, what was the name of the thingy?"
That's when the name popped back in my head, king Lucian said it when we were doing our dance lessons. "O-oh! It was Urrok! Yeah, it was like a commander for lady Marika!"
Suddenly, I started to feel like I was saying a bit too much in public as people who were passing by us turned towards me in confusion. The disbelief in Sarah's face worsened as she seemed to know of the name. Derrick and Edward looked at each other in confusion.
"You…are telling me you killed a commander of the demon king's army?" Sarah said slowly.
"…yes."
Sarah rubbed her chin as an awkward pause filled the void. Lilith Finally removed herself from my back and etched towards Derrick and Edward.
"What have you guys been up to since you dropped us off?" She asked curiously. Derrick and Edward thought for a moment and began to grin.
"Well, after we came back to Shanford, we helped Gerald with some bounties and such." Derrick responded. "Really it was just a couple of months not doing mercenary things."
"Lies." Edward butted in. "We killed some people here."
"Hopefully we didn't kill anyone you guys know!"
Lilith only laughed at the two bickering. When we lived in Shanford, I don't think me and Lilith really socialized with anyone there. Though if they did kill anyone, I'd hope it was those kids that bullied Lilith…
"Anyways, we spent most of our time just assisting Gerald and Synthia. Part of being in a man's group is being loyal! Ain't that right, Edward! Bwahaha!"
Edward nonchalantly nodded his head. "We feed off their food when we get the chance. We are vultures in their home."
What an odd man.
Derrick ignored his response though, simply nodding his head drunkenly. "We decided to come for the Festival, and hoped we'd get a chance to see you guys!"
"Tagging along with these three was quite…an interesting adventure." Sarah said, she seemed to have brushed our last conversation aside at the moment. "Never have I met such vulgar people."
"…ouch." Was Edward's only response. Derrick seemed to mind it, and Mary was out cold in Edwards arms.
"Not that I minded, I meant to say that in a positive way." Sarah continued. "Travelling with Lilith's father would be what I call…mundane? This was a nice change of pace, even If I haven't traveled in some time." Her tone switched from serious to more cheerful, she did seem to not mind Derrick and Edward's noticeable personalities when they found me.
"Now then, why don't we actually have fun in this festival?" Sarah pointed down the road, where a couple of stands stood with foods and goodies. "This is the day of eating. We should be stuffing ourselves With food."
Once we all agreed to that, Edward held onto Mary in his arms as the rest of us went and visited the stands. For a festival that had each day being specific to one thing, the food here seemed varied and ranged from breakfast to desserts. Having some sausages and fluffy cakes for breakfast meals were for those that were noble, but here they were being made for everyone. Though, I did find that most of the foods still lacked something to me. Maybe it was seasoning? Most people of this world tend to just throw in the meal without any sort of salt or any peppers to enhance the food. When it came to the drinks however…
"Bwahaha! Kota, this reptile milk is addictive!" Derrick nudged me. We found a stand that had another reptilian woman selling milk, but also some dessert from their kind known as Fleur. It was like a fluffy cake or sorts that used their milk.
"Mhm…tried it myself." I was trying to eat my fleur when he nudged me. I wanted to eat in peace. "I'd probably drink it on occasions."
Suddenly, Derrick leaned in on me. I could smell his alcohol breath all over me as he grinned. "Oy…Have you snatched the bag yet?"
Nearly choked on the fleur in my mouth when he said that. "W-what do you mean?"
"I mean, have you gotten with Lilith?"
"Why couldn't you just say that?"
"Bwahaha! It's called not being obvious! Wouldn't want Lilith to freak out, right? Even worse if her mom found out!"
I peered to my left to see Lilith and her mom conversing at another stand. The two were eating some kabobs with Edward, who awkwardly stood around with Mary in his arms. The two were talking about what Kale has been teaching her for the couple of months we've been here. They seemed to be distracted…
So I turned to Derrick, his eyes wide with anticipation. He's always been interested in mine and Lilith's relationship, it was something we'd talk about during our trip here.
"I would say…that it has greatly progressed."
"You guys had sex?!" Derrick abruptly said.
"Who the fuck says that as a response?! We are thirteen!" I felt that was a proper response to his. I always felt more comfortable swearing in front of Derrick and Edward.
"Yeah, two more years away from being an adult! Wouldn't see why you two wouldn't start doing that! Bwahaha!"
My face reddened at the sudden thought of sex. I shook my head to dismiss it, but now it was just on my head. If what Derrick was saying was correct, then…
"Bwahaha! Got you thinking now, huh! Bwahaha! You horny dog!" Derrick slapped my back hard. "What are you thinking about there, hmm?"
I bit into my fleur, trying to ignore him now. But the idea of playing around with Lilith was lingering In my mind now. Just bring into this damn cake reminds me of how much I want to bite onto Liliths b-
Ay, wait a minute! Stop! I furiously slammed on the table of the stand and stood up. Derrick laughed maniacally at my action. This guy was having a fun time with my suffering right now!
The commotion caught the attention of Lilith, whom I waved my hand at to tell her off. But to my dismay, she didn't seem to acknowledge it as she walked towards me.
"What's up? You slammed the table?" She tilted her head in a cutesy way. Wait, why am I seeing it as cutesy now?
Ok, relax. We can handle a conversation right here. Just need to avoid whatever and act normal.
"I-."
"Kota thinking about smashing you." I heard Derrick nonchalantly say as he took another sip of his reptile milk. "The boy is horny."
I let out an audible gasp, turning towards him in utter embarrassment. What diabolical man says that?!
"I-oi!" I sputtered out, I then launched an onslaught of punches at the man that did nothing to me. "Why the hell would you say that!"
"Bwahahaha!" Was his only response before he continued to chug his reptile milk. He drank himself out to avoid this!
"Your what?" Lilith asked. I turned around to notice that she had gotten closer. Her mother watched us with concerned eyes as Lilith pressed up against me. "You're thinking about what?"
With her body pressed up against me, I couldn't help but notice the pressure of her boobs against me. It felt nice, actually. But with the current situation we were in and the fact her mother was looking at us, I was certain that my dog was down. I hope so. if I checked it, it would look suspicious.
Trying to push her off, I tried to respond. "I-I was talking with Derrick about smashing you in a Fight! Yes, a fight! I would absolutely smash you in one!"
Lilith seemed confused at first, unsure of why I was pushing her off. "Really? That's what you meant?" She looked up at me with gleaming eyes. Something about her tone was seductive in some way. Or maybe I'm just hearing it like that because of my hormones. I don't know, but I'd rather avoid that.
"Uh-pfftt, yeah! Of course! No other reason!"
"Hmm…Alright." Lilith said in a silky tone before she suddenly pushed herself off me.At that moment, I felt a void in my soul as if I yearned for another physical contact. "You want to smash?"
"…Huh?"
"Yeah, tomorrow. It's going to be The Day of Drinking tomorrow, so we can't even attend it. So we'll go to the forest, and spar." Lilith then reached over to grab what was left of my fleur, biting into it. "We can have my momma watch us!…Also I'm having what's left of this!"
Sarah nodded, keeping a straight face as she spoke. "Yeah, I would love to see Lilith's progression. I also heard from your parents that you were also training as well, kota. I've seen you fight Derrick, perhaps you've gotten better as well."
I tried my best to smile. But internally, I was screaming for help and trying to figure how I even got into this situation now. "T-that's great! Wonderful!"
Edwards finally seemed to decide to join in on the conversation, Mary holding onto him like a child as he wobbled to us. "I'd like to see as well."
"You would?" Lilith asked, surprised. "you don't drink?"
Edward nodded. "…Last time I was drunk, Me and Derrick killed everyone in the tavern. That was in Ithryll, during our times as mercenaries there. I'd rather be the sober type, handling the drunks."
"O-oh…okay…" Lilith awkwardly bit into my Fleur, not sure how to respond to that. "I-I guess you could come."
"Mhm…Well, has everyone had their stomachs filled up? I think it's best for us to see Kale. Can someone wake up that bald headed man?" Sarah chimed in. She looked over to the now sleeping Derrick, his face plastered with the reptile milk. His face painted pink and sideways on the table.
I went in to shake him, but Edward immediately stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "I would advise not to do that."
"Er- why?"
"Because he'd either knock you out or grasp you in his sleeping arms." Edward then moved past me and stood next to Derrick. "You three go on. With Derrick out already, it'll be some time. We'll most likely end up at our inn until the next day."
Sarah only shrugged. "That will be fine. You three didn't come here for Kale, so we'll leave you to your vices. As for us…" she then swiftly turned around. "We'll be heading to kales. Kota, can you lead the way to his home?"
"y-yes." I turned and waved Edward goodbye. "It was nice seeing you three again, we'll hopefully see each other again during the festival, right?"
"Of course." Edward nodded.
Once that was done, Sarah began to move down the road. Seems like she wasn't wasting any time, so I hurriedly moved. That was, until Lilith tugged on my cloak. It seems something else was bothering her as she looked at Sarah walking farther and farther. It was until Sarah was enough distance that she looked at me, with flushed cheeks.
"Is-um…is there a problem?" I asked, confused.
"Your tool." She said in a somewhat quiet voice.
"My what?"
Lilith cheeks reddened even more at my response, unsure of how else to explain what she was trying to explain. "Y-your thing…"
It was then she pointed downwards, to my nether region.
Oh…ah…the dog was up and about. I found myself squatting in the ground, head in my hands as I tried to not scream out of embarrassment and shame.
"When I went close to you, I felt it…"
"Ah! You don't need to go any farther!" I looked up at her, hand waving in panic. "I-uh-It…ugh…"
My hand flopped down as I sulked. "Sorry."
There was a moment of silence before I felt Lilith pat my head. I looked up and saw she bent down to do that, looking flushed and averting her eyes.
"I-I don't mind…I mean, you at least tried to hide it. I guess it was my fault for getting close."
I couldn't believe what she was saying, is…is this a sign? Is this the go sign for what I think it is? Hold on, my brain isn't functioning right now, it seems all of my decision making Is up to my dog.
"D-does that mean you don't mind feeling it?" I asked, pouting.
But, my only response was a big slam to my head. Lilith using her closed fist to slam me into the ground. I found myself dazed on the ground as Lilith stood above me, looking more flustered.
"Don't take it like that! It's not what I meant! Grr, you're a fool with that Tool!" And with that, she stomped off, leaving me to mend my head injury.
Edward watched all of that transpire, I looked up towards him to see why he didn't do anything. But what I saw was a man snickering as he held someone.
Alright, lesson learned. Let's not let my dog talk unless it's obviously clear that it should. The brain should talk.
Shaking my head, I stood up and wobbled my way in the direction of which Sarah and Lilith moved.