Elf Lover... ;)

Michael tilts his head slightly as he looks at Tiffania with consternation, "Matilda? Woman with green hair and a constant scowl on her face?" he asks, surprising Tiffania that he knew her.

"Ah, well I wouldn't know about a 'constant scowl', but yes, that sounds like her... Have you met her before? Is she alright?" she quickly asks.

Michael opens his mouth to start cussing out Matilda for letting him sit in prison and await his execution, but the cute determined look on Tiffania's face manages to stop him. "Yeah, she's fine last I saw. She was doing a... Lengthy job, so that's probably why she hadn't visited you in a while." he says, knowing that Matilda had spent months spying on the academy to try and steal some artifacts from it.

"That's good to hear. But, a job? Do you actually know what she does? Whenever I asked she would always change the subject." Tiffania asks, now perking up at hearing that her one friend was doing fine.

...

Michael thinks for a moment on whether or not he should tell her, before finally deciding that if she was going to stick with him, it'd probably be better for her to know about it. "Matilda is a notorious thief Tiffania, one called Fouquet of the Crumbling Dirt who's famous for stealing many precious objects and magical artifacts." he explains, causing Tiffania to blink owlishly at him in shock.

"S-so the food... Everything she gave to me was stolen?" she mutters in realisation.

Michael shrugs, "Bought with stolen money you mean? Probably. But think of it this way, she primarily stole from Nobles from what I know, meaning the people like Tatiana who'd hurt you just for the sake of it." he says, attempting to calm her down. "You can get mad at her once you meet her again, for now, let's focus on reaching your cabin."

Tiffania shakes her head, "I won't get mad, Matilda was the person funding the orphanage, the money went to a good cause." she says more to herself with an affirming nod.

"She funds that orphanage? The one run by that woman who was happy that you were captured? I reckoned Matilda'll take her money elsewhere when she hears about what happened." he retorts with a chuckle.

"H-how about you, Michael? What about your friends? Family?" she tentatively asks, looking slightly worried about potentially offending him.

Michael shakes his head, "I have a sister, but she'd a long way away now. No friends, only acquaintances I guess, even then I wouldn't trust them all that much." he says, remembering Loutiel, Samara, and the other orphans of Antomiers. There was also Ronald, the farmer who taught him how to ride horses, though, he'd had to overpay with a whole carriage and two horses for even that much... "I don't really have anyone to rely on anymore, to be honest." he quietly says while feeling a bit melancholic now that he thinks about it. It'd be pretty lonely without Rhasta keeping him company...

Tiffania walks beside him and nudges him with her shoulder, slowly his stride slightly, "Don't worry Michael! I'll be your friend!" she giddily exclaims, looking ready to grab him and start skipping down the road as if her name were Dorothy...

He can't help but match her smile and nods, "Yeah, yeah... Take care of me then, Tiffania."

The duo continues to walk while Tiffania happily laughs, both of their moods drastically improving compared to yesterday's nightmare.

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Both of them eventually dip into the forest so that they can approach Tiffania's cabin from the back, hoping that there wouldn't be an ambush waiting for them. Unfortunately, it seems that the villagers had decided to take matters into their own hands, despite his previous warning to them.

Tiffania holds a hand over her mouth as she looks at her cabin which is now completely ablaze, a large group of villagers laughing and cheering as they add more fuel to the fire.

Michael, however, notices a pile of things behind the villagers, clothes, baubles, small pieces of jewellery and even jars of spices and herbs. All of these are most likely things that they'd stolen before setting the place on fire. How kind of them to do his job for him... He lays a hand on Tiffania's shoulder, causing her to jolt back to alertness, "You wouldn't have been able to come back anyway, but look, most of your stuff is over there. Let's grab it and get out of here, okay?"

She wipes her eyes and nods, drawing her wand and following Michael as they step out of the treeline.

Michael points his sabre at the villagers as they notice him, a scowl clear on his face as he confidently approaches them, "Don't you remember what happened to the last guy that fucked with me!? Do you really wanna die so badly!?" he angrily asks as some of the more cowardly villagers step back in fright.

"F-fuck you! Elf lover! That bitch is dead, so her shit is ours! Its payback for cursing our village with her presence!" one man, who Michael recognises as the brother of the guy he stabbed last time shouts, causing the other villagers to nod and raise their own makeshift weapons.

Tiffania steps forwards and lowers her hood, revealing her long ears to the group, "I never cursed your village! I never even hurt anyone! Why would you be so cruel!" she earnestly asks, not able to understand the minds of these people.

"Y-you!? How are you alive! We heard that you burned like a suckling pig!" the man exclaims in shock.

"At least the village hadn't received word of their escape yet, that means they still have time to leave without causing much of a ruckus" Michael mentally remarks while letting Tiffania deal with these people for now.