55 The travelling girl IV

The members of the vampire race were continuing to cheer and applaud as they approached the black knight.

"You did it, kid!"

"That was amazing! You really showed him who's the boss!!"

"I never thought I would see the day a human defeated a dragon! It's a miracle!"

"Thank you for saving us!"

More and more words of appreciation and gratitude kept raining over the girl's head as the white-haired individuals approached her.

"You guys are making me blush at this rate! It's really no big deal!" she commented while waving her hand.

"You are an empty armor, you can't blush..." Lian Garen whispered while staring at her being engulfed in praise like a superstar idol.

She simply ignored him and continued to enjoy the moment. She couldn't remember the last time so many people displayed so much affection towards her. To think the human race would cast her out and push her away but the vampire race would be so welcoming, was simply baffling to her.

"Guys, I'm really flattered, really! But we still need to discuss some things. Is it okay for me to enter your country now?"

At that moment, the crowd instantly went silent and began to exchange glances with each other as if having a mental discussion.

"Uuhh... Guys...?" she mumbled while noticing them going quiet out of nowhere.

Lian began to observe the situation and realized that the two of them were surrounded at that moment. One dragon and one living armor completely encircled by what appeared to be between thirty to forty warriors of the vampire kingdom.

A couple of them slowly began to raise their weapons and dropped the look of cheer for faces of intimidation.

"Lily, what's going on...?" she asked while shifting her gaze left and right worried that someone might attack her out of nowhere.

"Now that the dragon is gone, the two of us are the biggest threat to them..." he explained, "It seems your little speech wasn't enough to fully convince them."

"Really? But I even raised my voice and stuff! These people are so hard to please..."

Before they noticed, several of the black-leathered individuals had their spears and swords raised and aimed at them.

The vampire boy that helped them out from before also realized the commotion and tried to act before it was too late, "You two should go."

"But... But... We need to talk about the game!" the girl insisted.

"Please, just leave now! You two have helped us so we are allowing you to go in peace. Leave before we start any trouble."

Lian glanced at the girl. He rubbed his chin while waiting for her reaction. He was really curious about how she would respond to that situation.

"So, what now, child? We saved their home but we don't have their trust. What do you want to do?"

The girl glanced at him and then back at the boy.

On one hand, she didn't want to risk getting these people mad right after half of their kingdom got torn apart. The last thing she needed was to get them in a bad mood by disobeying their orders and making even more enemies. The last thing she needed right now was more opponents to fight. If she left now she could try again at a later time once they calmed down.

But on the other hand, she had just saved them from a dragon attack. Right now, her image towards these people is about as positive as one can be in order to follow with her goal. If time passed, another dragon could try to charge after these people again and more lives could be lost. She needed to take that risk.

"No!" she declared, "I'm not leaving until I speak with someone in charge!"

The crowd gasped and watched as she thrust her blade into the soil and took a seat on top of the grass.

"What are you doing?" the vampire boy asked.

"I know I'm not welcome here, but I don't wanna leave like this yet, and I don't wanna fight anymore! So I'm just gonna wait here until you guys get someone to talk to me or until you allow me to come in!"

Lian was intrigued by her choice, "You will just wait there until they change their mind?"

"It's not like I can die from old age... I can wait as long as I need..." she answered with her arms crossed.

Lian followed her example and just sighed while standing by her side.

"I don't suppose I'm allowed to leave while you wait, correct?"

"You try to get away from me and I'll bury you."

"That's what I thought..."

The vampires didn't know how to react and simply started to leave one after another.

The boy came closer to the two, "I'll try to ask the higher-ups to come and see you... But... I can't promise that they will come."

The girl shrugged, "Then I'll just stay here and defeat the next dragon that shows up. And the next! And the next! And will just keep doing this until I earn their trust!"

"You really won't leave?"

"Not until I get what I came here for!"

The boy simply nodded and revealed his wings before flying over the destroyed bridge and returned to his kingdom.

Lian was finally alone with her again and used this chance to find out what was on her mind, "Why are we doing this? I can fly and most of them are weakened from the dragon attack. If we tried to invade their home now, no one would be able to stop us."

"I'm not a bully, Lily. I'm not gonna force my wish on them just because I can. If we are going to do this, we are going to do this right."

"Right?" he laughed, "You have the power to take out at least half of them! Maybe all with my help! If you want them to listen to you, just go out there and make them! It's for their own good after all."

"Their own good?" she repeated, "You think that teaching them that solving things by force is gonna help anyone? All it will do is make them think using their fists instead of words is the way to go."

"Ah! I see... You're worried about the message your actions will send."

"I suppose..." she admitted.

Lilian shook his head while giggling, "You really are too young... You think a parent waits for their child to listen before imposing their rules on them? You need to earn their respect! Make them realize who's in charge and listen to reason!

These people... Be it vampires, humans, or dragons... They always take way too long to listen to those who know better! If you just keep waiting for them to decide to follow you, you will never get anywhere!"

The girl kept waiting and watching to see if any vampire would come out, but there was no commotion in sight.

"They don't know what we can do for them! The good we can accomplish! The lives we can save! They don't know how much they need us yet! They are in danger and you are their savior! Their hero!" he continued, "You shouldn't have to wait for anyone to do what's right! To do what's for the best!"

The girl lifted her helmet and gazed at the red-haired man.

"You done?" she asked.

Lian glared at her face.

"Maybe these things are very clear and simple for a God-knows how many years old dragon like you, but me? I don't know where I am, where I'm going, or what I'm doing. I'm not their mother, their boss, or their leader... I'm just someone trying to help.

I can't just go in there and start forcing them to let me help because honestly? I still don't know what's the best decision right now...

That's really all it is. I just don't know... I don't know enough.

You can go on and claim all you want that you have the solution to all their problems and that we should all just do as you say and everything will be alright... But at the end of the day, like my good old friend Lebowski used to say, that's just your opinion, and yours only."

Lian continued to stare in silence hearing her monolog.

"So, yeah... No, I'm not gonna barge my way in and force them to accept me if they don't want to accept me. I'm just gonna wait here and try to find a solution together."

"People will die because of your hesitation..." he claimed.

The girl twitched for a moment and then took a second to calm down and reply while clenching her fists, "Maybe... But I rather suffer the consequences of a decision we reached together than the ones of a decision I made by myself..."

"Ah, I see..." he mumbled, "You're just scared. Afraid of what might go wrong and afraid of taking all the blame. Guess you are not a hero after all... A true hero isn't afraid of doing what's right when the time calls for it."

"I never said I was a hero..." she argued.

"But you will have to be! You are going on a journey to convince all of the races that they can trust you to defeat the biggest threat to their lives! If they don't believe you can save them, none of this will work, and you might end up having to fight the entire dragon faction all alone!"

The girl went quiet again before replying, "I'll work something out..."

"Like what?"

"I'll find out when we reach that point..."

"Ugh... This is why I hate kids... You always think the answer will just come to you eventually."

"And this is why I hate adults... You guys always think you already have all the answers to everything" she answered while standing up, "I'm gonna do things my way, whether you like it or not."

"Your way of doing things is awful..."

"Yeah, well... That's just your opinion..."

____

____

Hours passed and the sun finally started to set.

Still no sign of the vampire boy or any of his commanders anywhere. The girl hoped that if he wasn't going to allow them to enter or bring someone to talk to them, he would at least have the decency to let them know so she wouldn't keep waiting with high hopes.

She began to have flashbacks of the times she used to stay stuck on the oak hill, just watching the days go by one after another with no idea how long she stayed there for.

Wors case scenario, she could end up maybe months sitting in front of the vampire kingdom just doing nothing.

A small glimmer of doubt began to grow inside of her mind. Should she listen to Lian Garen and simply barge into the land? Or maybe give up altogether and move on to the next kingdom? Or should she wait for another dragon to appear so she could save them again?

She spoke so many confident words before but now, many concerns began to float above her head.

If only she still had her best friend to talk to instead of having to rely on this grumpy old dragon man.

"Well, would you look at that?" Lian mumbled.

"Eh?" the girl noticed he was gazing at the sky and wondered if maybe the moon was out tonight, but later noticed he was looking at a group of shadows approaching from the heavens.

The vampire boy from before had finally returned and landed in front of her before shrinking his large bat wings and assuming a slightly more human appearance.

"You're still here!" he commented. Under the moonlight, his blood-red eyes seemed more highlighted as if they were glowing in the dark.

"I am..." she responded, "Can I talk with your people now?"

"I did the best I could..." he explained, "I told them what you told me and about the things you did... I don't think he's fully convinced yet but he's at the very least curious about you."

"He? He who?"

"Our current leader..." the lad explained, "The one currently in charge for all vampires."

Another group of shadows began to approach from above. Two men and two women, all dressed in black leather clothes with white hair, red eyes, and flying with bat wings on their backs.

"Sorry it took so long..." the lad explained while his friends all landed on the terrain, "Our race doesn't like being out under the sun too much. We have sensitive skin..."

The girl raised her arm and began to wonder if she still even remembered what it was like to have skin, "No problem... So, who am I talking to?"

She gazed at the four individuals the boy brought when suddenly a young voice began to speak but not coming from any of them, "That would be me!"

Both Lian and the girl tried to follow the source of the voice and spotted a fifth figure hiding behind their legs.

It was a young boy, somewhere around the age of six or eight judgings from his looks. He carried all the usual vampire traits, even the black leather clothes, except his height only reached to the girl's waist.

But what was really curious about him, was the small animal resting above his head, a tiny black bat no bigger than an adult fist.

"You are...?" she mumbled.

"The leader of the vampire race and the one you will be discussing your proposal with" the child responded, "My name is Allen, and I'm a guest, just like you."