Chains rattled as the collar attached to Lilith's neck shook from the movements of the wagon, she was seated at the very entrance of the tarped contraption far away from the two boys and their parents who spoke with no end.
Her eyes stared aimlessly into the distance while her expression remained void of thought, if one were to stare at her right now they wouldn't be able to discern what emotions were swelling within her.
"Will Lilith be staying with us?"
Asked Mathew, at the mention of her name Lilith's ears twitched as she begun listening in on the conversation.
"There's no where else she can go, it could've been Finral but some old memories have changed that decision"
Lilith could hear the two parents snickering but didn't understand what joke they'd made however she was more than glad that she was no longer in the hands of that 'Finral', an odd part of her told not to associate herself with that man.
"That's great!! Then I guess we're roommates"
A hand could be felt on Liliths shoulder as Mathews head appeared in front of her with a friendly smile, the sudden form of close acquantanship made her body shiver and the indistinguishable expression on her face changed to one of a frown.
She had the urge of pushing Mathew away from her but for some odd reason her body wasn't allowing it, it was as if she herself was brushing the action off but Lilith found that at that very moment she didn't have even the slightest full control over herself.
"Mathew, it's not right to suddenly get all friendly with strangers, it can sometimes be annoying to them and dangerous for you"
Said Olivia taking a glance behind her and reprimanding Mathew's actions.
"Ah! I'm sorry if that caused you trouble"
Mathew quickly pulled himself away from Lilith and politely apologised but the response from the latter was only a small snort before her face turned in the opposite direction.
After this incident Mathew didn't indulge himself with Lilith and steered clear in fear of annoying her, from there no one payed much attention to the little demoness and their conversations quickly diverged to irrelevant and uninteresting topics for her. She soon tucked her feet close to her body and hugged them as her head sunk into her arms, it wasn't long till she'd fully fallen asleep.
_________________________________________________________________________
"It's a four days journey before we get back to Grazel, we should set up camp now"
Olivia suggested as they stopped the wagon in the middle of the now pitch-black forest, the sun had long settled and Olivia wasn't fond of traveling during the night especially with Mathew and Arthur.
Paul contemplated on this for a moment but soon agreed to this as the two began to set up camp with Arthur readily helping out, while this went on Lilith had awoken and decided to switch napping areas to a tree far from where the family was making camp and began her struggle to find a good rest position. She wanted to just turn and be done with it but she found that the collar prevented her from transforming without her owner's permission, this was annoying but something she swallowed out of tolerance.
When the preparations were all said and done Paul unsheathed his sword and set it ablaze before stabbing it into the pile of wood they'd gathered, setting it on fire and bringing warmth into the otherwise cold night.
"Impressive eh?"
"I wish I had a sword that lit up like that"
Mathew commented while gazing at Paul's sword in awe.
"Haha, and what would you do with such a sword?"
"Fight a wyvern or a basilisk!!"
"Such low goals Mathew, why not a dragon?"
Mathew's eyes sparkled while Paul only laughed, soon the four were gathered around the fire with the exception of Lilith who sat with her knees hugged to her body as her head rested within them. Arthur glanced back with a guilty expression but didn't call her over, he doubted she'd want to sit next to them anyway.
"She's a mana beast, the cold doesn't bother them"
Olivia consoled after noticing Arthur's expression.
"Mn, best just leave her to her own activities"
"I still feel like this is wrong…"
Arthur stood firm in his opinion about their actions, even with both his parents against him he didn't waver on his ideal. This at first surprised the two but it quickly turned to pride as they gave Arthur a warm smile, they were more than happy to see his strong sense of justice when they'd long abandoned theirs.
"Would you look at this, little Arthur has grown his own ideals"
"Indeed, when we get home I'll cook up a feast in his honor"
"A-A feast?!"
Mathew's mouth watered at the thought as his stomach grumbled in anticipation, Olivia chuckled when she saw this and dug into the small pouch filled with the rations they'd packed for the journey but found nothing inside.
"It looks like we're empty on food"
""Huh?!""
Both Mathew and Arthur's faces paled however Paul only smiled at this.
"It's nothing to worry about, I can go and hunt-"
"Paul please don't act like you have the necessary capabilities to hunt beasts in pitch darkness, even with a flaming sword you're not catching anything"
"Wha-I'm not that bad"
"It's not about your skill it's the fact that you can't see at night"
Paul frowned in a nearly defeated tone but his eyes lit up once more as he snapped his fingers in Olivia's direction as if he'd made an epiphany, however, Olivia was well aware on what he intended to ask and made her point firm.
"I can't do that, leave it be"
Paul opened his mouth to refute but closed it right after once Olivia's cold glare bared down on him.
"I-I got ahead of myself…"
Paul coughed, hunting was a fairly easy task for him but not even the best of hunters could find food in pitch darkness. There were a special few who could do this but due to circumstances some weren't willing to be recruited. Paul was about to sigh in defeat till his eyes fell upon Lilith who was still resting in the far end of the forestry, far away from their camp.
"Well theres still hope"
Lilith's ears instinctively perked up when Paul said this as she lifted her head to glare in the direction of the family, seeing that Lilith was still awake Paul smiled with his sheathed sword in hand.
"And who's help are you talking about?"
"Our dear Lilith of course"
Olivia raised a brow but quickly caught on to Paul's train of thought and would've argued against it had the growls of Mathew's stomach not reached her ears once more, she noticed his seemingly distressed expression and felt a pang in her heart that quelled her argument.
Arthur on the other hand who had not heard Mathews stomach was firmly against his fathers thoughts.
"It's an eleven-year-old child!!"
"A beast child with an amazing sense of sight and smell, perfect for hunting"
"Dad!!"
Arthur stood up in front of Paul with his arm outstretched in Lilith's direction, the kidnapping was far enough but leeching of her like she was some child laborer was another massive problem altogether. Paul stared at this with a neutral gaze but wasn't about to put down the idea, Arthur's attitude was admirable but the ability to hunt at night posed a whole new slew of opportunity that Paul couldn't pass up.
He contemplated for a few minutes while Olivia only watched, she decided to play spectator in this event.
"She'll just be my eyes and ears, all the fighting will be done by me"
Paul eventually came to this conclusion as it posed no threat to Lilith's safety, something Paul knew Arthur was worried about.
"Fighting in the dark? You'll obviously need her help at some point"
"Have some faith in me, do I really look that unreliable"
'Yes'
Arthur and Olivia thought in unison, seeing the serious gazes on him Paul scratched the back of his head and sighed in defeat.
"Fine, we'll just eat tomorrow"
"Thank you…"
Arthur's hand slacked as he slowly returned to his seat.
"Why don't the both of you just go together? We can still hunt at night and Arthur can make sure Lilith does nothing more than navigation, it'll be a father-son excursion"
"Mom!?"
"A splendid idea!!"
Olivia smiled as Paul jumped on the idea without hesitation, truth be told she would've left the situation in the way it had ended but the thought of Mathew sleeping on an empty stomach was something she just couldn't bear. Arthur could only stare in disbelief at his mother's actions.
Lilith glared at the family's small argument with an apathetic expression as Paul made his way towards her, a warm smile was plastered across his face but she paid no mind to it. Holding his sword firmly Paul spoke in an excited tone.
"Show us the way"
Although reluctant Lilith could feel that same uncontrollable feeling coming over her once more as the collar on her neck subtly glowed, she stood from where she sat with the sound of rattling chains, her senses were now fully operative. Every smell and sound spilled onto her like a tub of water, she was searching for anything, anything to eat and it didn't take long for her to find a suitable target for this task.
Her body instinctively went into a four-legged stance despite her human form at the moment she was still more accustomed to her beastly instincts, seeing Lilith's stance Paul readied himself as he told Arthur to do the same.
In one resounding snap of the twigs below her feet, Lilith started sprinting through the dense forestry without even waiting for Paul or Arthur to catch wind. She was now fully fully aware that it was the collar influencing her body but also noticed that she still had some small control, the collar wasn't fully controlling her but merely influencing her behaviour to adhere to her 'owners' wishes.
With this in mind she wanted to test something out, vent a bit of her frustrations, if the collar only influenced her just to adhere to her owners wishes then it technically meant she was free to carry out the collar's wishes in any way she so pleased as long as the overall result matched her 'owners' wishes, and right now that was to merely find prey to hunt and kill.
She was going to use this opportunity to vent everything she felt on the poor innocent animal she'd set her eyes on.