"I win! I wiiin!" Bil shouted again and again, rubbing his victory into the faces of the children without any hesitation.
"No fair!" Jash argued, "I'm the hungriest, so I get to choose what we eat!"
Nelphy was all laughs, "That's against the rules, Jash. We wouldn't complain if you won."
"But it's not fair!" complained Jash, not giving up.
Now inside the town walls, they could no longer look back and see the broken thief stuck in a tree. With that, Bil was happy to keep the kids from knowing they had been in danger and seeing the brutality Bil had used to prevent such a situation.
Reassuming a neutral stance while leaning into his walking staff, Bil itched his short and scratchy, dark brown beard. "Fine, we'll just vote on the food. See any good stalls?"
"That one!" Jash was already running toward the nearest food stand with a powerful aroma of seasoned beef.
"I like that one too," Nelphy chuckled, reaching out to take Bil's free hand. "I'll show you the way."
"Thank you, Nelphy. I always appreciate your help." Bil gladly took the girl's hand and let her lead him to the stall. His head never swiveled and his gaze never changed from the ground just in front of him. Sniffing the air, Bil groaned in delight. "Is that… grilled beef? Is this a restaurant?"
"No, it looks like a big inn," Nelphy replied. "But they have a food stall out front. Do we have enough–"
"An inn? It would be nice to stay somewhere like this, with good food and a bath…" Bil sighed and smiled back at Nelphy.
The woman manning the food stall tilted her head in curiosity as she scanned over the odd bunch. "So we've got an excited brat, a caring girl, and an old man? What can I get you?"
Jash had been quiet as he stared up at the grill with eager eyes. After hearing Bil agree to stay there and the woman's question, Jash hastily raised his hand, holding up three fingers. "Three kabobs! Please!"
"Oh, you almost forgot your manners," chuckled the woman, "but here you go!"
Three fresh kabobs were pulled off the grill and passed to Jash, who was salivating and nearly tearing up. "Th-thank you, madam!"
"Oh, there's your manners! Sorry for calling you a brat, earlier. And what can I get the little missy?" asked the woman, whose attention was now focusing on the blind man.
"Get whatever you like, Nelphy. Don't worry about the cost this time," Bil remarked, surprising the woman.
Smiling, Nelphy nodded. "Then, can I please have two kabobs?"
"You got it, little lady!" The woman effortlessly and carefully passed the kabobs to the young girl, who blushed a little when taking them. "You folks aren't from around here. And you must've been starving, huh?"
"We've been eating, but not much," sighed Bil.
Jash shouted in reply, "But Bil's food is always burnt, so we never eat much! This is a thousand times better!"
"Ohhh…" As if taking the verbal blow to the gut, Bil held his side. "But… Nelphy, you don't think–"
"It is! This is the best!" Nelphy shouted between bites, savoring the meal.
"Aaahhhh… not you too, Nelphy…" Bil groaned in pain. "I guess… I must submit. I'll take four, please."
"You got it, old-timer." The woman reveled in the group's antics. "And consider it all on the house!"
Accepting the kabobs, Bil froze for a moment. "Huh? Why's that?"
The woman explained, "My name's Amma, and I run this inn as well as others in town. So I know very well who it was that you stopped a moment ago."
"What are you talking about?" Jash asked, only giving his attention after scarfing down his food. "And two more! Please!"
"Aye, aye, here you go." Amma didn't skip a beat as she handed out more kabobs and continued, "Take a look you two, your old man stopped that guy from snatching you up and kidnapping you."
"HUUUH?!" Both Jash and Nelphy were shocked. They anxiously followed Amma's finger and turned to see some guards dragging away an unconscious man with a broken, bloody face.
Amma continued, "That man was recently identified for running a kidnapping and thievery ring here in town. He's used fake money a few times at my establishments, and his underlings either hold people for ransom or they sell them off beyond the border as slaves."
"You know this, yet he's been roaming freely?" Bil asked.
"Sadly, yes… But not because we haven't tried," answered Amma. "Every time we've tried to stop him or have found one of their storehouses, we've had too many casualties and never caught any higher-ups. Eventually, the captain of the guard confronted him directly. But the captain almost lost his life getting away."
"In other words… that man was the strongest in town?"
Nodding to Bil's question, Amma stated, "And yet a blind wanderer like you took him out in a single blow. It goes to show you can never judge a book by its cover."
"Nah… I'm nothing but a tattered old tome missing too many pages to count, a remnant of the old wars," jested Bil, trying to ignore all importance she placed on him. "There's nothing special about me, other than these two. They're all I have now. Without them, I would've given up on life long ago."