Chapter 7: Exile

Exile

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Adal doesn't recall much of his time recovering.

He recalls waking up in small bouts. Sometimes seeing just the walls of the cave, sometimes seeing Riva nearby. He doesn't even know how much time passes between those bouts of wakefulness.

The first time he wakens fully, he looks at the opening leading out and finds that it is dark. He checks his body and sees he is heavily bandaged in cut up pieces of clothing which are now all dirty and dark red from the blood seeping through.

He is also absolutely famished and his throat is extremely parched. He can see he lost a lot of weight.

Moving his arms and legs experimentally, he can feel pain and stiffness. He is sure he can move with some effort, but it'll take time before he can do so with the ease he did before that fateful fight with Roccoco. He chooses to sit and wait.

A little later, Riva enters the cave and lets out a noise of surprise. "You're awake? Finally."

"Water." She nods and gives him pouch to drink from. The water tastes terrible, but it works. "How long was I unconscious?"

She sits besides him sighing. "It's been a week since we came to the wasteland."

"Damn. That long?" He coughs. "How have you been surviving?"

"I hunted. We've been feeding on whatever rodents and reptiles I could find. I sneak into the forest every now and then to catch animals, but I don't dare go too far in. All the fishing spots are regularly patrolled by Bear. Our home has been destroyed. I didn't get close but I saw the rubble from a distance."

Adal didn't care too much. The only reason why he ever wanted that home was to be close to the wasteland which soon becomes unnecessary anyway when he found the common path.

"So we have food. Where have you been finding water?"

"We've been hydrating mostly on the blood from the animals I catch. Sometimes, when I am absolutely sure there is no one around, I would run to the closest pond, grab as much of the water as I can, then run."

That wasn't the best of choices. All the fishing spots get regular traffic due to people needing food and fish to sell plus now there are Bears patrolling it too. All for water which isn't that clean and great tasting.

Adal laughs a little. "We've really fallen, haven't we, Riva?"

She looks at him curiously. "I don't remember seeing you laugh before."

"That's what caught your attention?"

"I guess so." She looks sullen. "Adal, I'm frightened."

"That doesn't sound like you."

"It normally isn't, but we're really in trouble. We can't go into the village so we're stuck in the wasteland. We have no easy access to food or water. We can be attacked by bandits at any moment. We're…we're going to die here."

Adal sighs and pushes himself up. "Trust me when I say we're very unlikely to see bandits or anyone out here in the wasteland. Food and water is tough, but we'll make do."

"And the village? Our friends, our families. The people we grew up with and spent our entire lives around are now our enemies." She backtracks. "No. No, they're not our enemies. Those damn Bears are forcing them to be."

Actually, he finds he likes the idea of Swaying Forest being full of his enemies. He devours his enemies so that would mean there is an entire village full of people for him to take.

But that's ridiculous. He still wants to spare his parents. Possibly Riva's parents too. Even if she does hate the villagers, he suspects neither of them can really go through with the idea of killing them all.

However, there are some where the idea is still palatable.

"Riva, I think I'm going to kill Roccoco."

She looks at him tiredly. "Is this madness? How will you do that?"

"I've been killing for years now. That path is littered with the corpses of bandits I attacked. This is no different."

"This is very different. Roccoco and the Bear family are not regular weak, starving bandits. They're Earth grade. As we now know, some of them are even Sky grade."

Yes, Sky grade. Adal vaguely wonders what would happen if he devours a Sky grade.

"Well, his uncle is far too much for me, but I have proven yet again that I can beat Roccoco."

"Just barely! And that was when you were at your best. You are not now and you aren't likely to reach your best again without a home, good food, and clean water."

Well, she is right there, but what she also doesn't know is that facing an opponent in an arena is very different from stalking and killing someone. They are very different skills.

"You will have to trust me, Riva."

She scowls. "Do what you wish. Just remember that should you die, you will be leaving me to die alone in the wasteland."

"Then I won't die."

Adal begins walking and exercising to regain normal use of his body. Movement remains painful and parts of his body aren't healing. There are still open wounds that won't close. They got cauterized by Roccoco's and Goro's attacks. Within a few days, though, he is able to move freely enough that he feels confident in attacking again.

One morning, he tells Riva to remain inside the cave and he'll go into the woods to get sustenance for them. She is happy to agree, though she warily asks if he intends to attack the Bears too. He replies that he does not intend to put that plan into effect yet, which is true.

He just intends to attack other people.

Adal enters Swaying Forest and heads for the nearest fishing pond which is nearly an hour of walking. In his state, it is a painful hour. Upon arriving, it is empty so he sits and waits.

It is a tense wait never knowing if the slightest sound he heard is of someone else. He can see why Riva was nervous about coming into the village. Some hours later, though, he hears footsteps. A lightly armored guard shows up and lazily walks around the lake.

He is relieved. The Bears are sending out patrols of only single guards. Better, the 'armor' the guard is wearing is light leather that wouldn't even block a knife, nonetheless any real weapon. He isn't even an Earth grade.

It makes sense. Swaying Forest is a large village and this fishing pond is far away. Bear would not bother wasting Earth grade on daily patrols this far out, especially as all Earth grade people in their ranks are their own family.

So they send these poor soldiers to do patrols of random areas. It is probably expected that they flee upon any real encounters to warn the family rather than actually try to fight.

That leaves an opening for Adal. Staying seated and leaning against a tree, he checks his appearance to ensure he still looks pathetic. Then he coughs as loudly as he can.

"Who's there?"

He keeps coughing leading the soldier to his area. The man arrives cautiously, but lowers his guard upon seeing him.

"My heavens, I actually found you, you rascal. You have the entire village looking for you." He looks Adal over. "You're in really bad shape. No surprise there considering that awful attack Lord Goro hit you with. How did you manage to evade detection all this time? You must be dying."

He sighs. "Well, lets get you back to the village. I might get a reward for this."

The guard leans in to pick up Adal. As soon as he does, Adal promptly hits him in the face with an energy ball. To his surprise, the guard merely reels in pain and anger. He lets out a shout, pulls out a short sword, and stabs Adal in the stomach.

Adal reacts with pained surprise and hits him in the face with another energy ball. That makes the soldier fall down crying about his eyes. He tries to throw another energy ball, but it fizzles as it hits the guard's chest. Panicking, Adal crawls onto the crowd and grabs ahold of him. Within seconds, he is devoured.

He immediately feels much better and more energized. He stands up and notes that it is less painful. He tries to form an energy ball and throws it at the ground. It explodes, but weakly. With alarm, he realizes it might take some time before his attacks are back to its regular strength. Until then, he has to be careful.

Curiously, he noticed he no longer feels pain in his stomach. He checks and it appears the wound has closed.

He has noticed his devouring has the ability to make him feel better but he never really got seriously injured before, so didn't realize it could heal wounds too. Goro is, by far, the strongest opponent he ever went against.

He checks his other wounds and notice they're no different. Is it because he needs to devour more or is it because they're cauterized? If the latter, he might have to – Adal winches here – cut off parts of himself to promote healing.

He dumps the body into the lake taking only his short sword and begins waiting. It didn't even occur to him until after he killed the guard, but when he doesn't return, Bear will send others out after him. So he'll sit and wait in hiding.

As he lies in wait, he grows panicked and angry.

The fight with the guard was pathetic. He couldn't knock the guard out with even two energy balls. He couldn't even properly form a third! After the fight, he tried to form an energy ball again and throws it at the ground. Again, the same weak explosion. It feels almost like he's back to the level of power he was at long ago.

That means his power has been drastically reduced. It may be due to his injuries, it may be due him having been unconscious for so long, it may be due to both.

He sees the injuries his arms sustained and he wonders what if his diminished powers is because of that? Young children who received magical damage to their arm can lose the ability to fully perform their own magic. He is 13 years old now, though. Surely that doesn't apply to him anymore...right?

Adal clenches his teeth. He will make them pay for this. They could have simply taken the loss gracefully, especially considering it was easy to see that he was badly injured too, but they just had to be petty. They will pay.

It isn't until the dead of night that someone finally comes looking for the dead guard. It's only a single person. Apparently, Bear either doesn't care about the guard or thinks he is slacking off rather than having been killed.

He goes for the same strategy. He hides the short sword he took from the other guard behind the tree and begins coughing loudly. Moments later, the guard arrives at his location.

"You! What the hell are you doing here? And where's the other guard? He should have found you if you were here."

Adal laughs mockingly. "He ran away when he heard me coughing. He wasn't even looking for me. He was walking around the lake whistling."

The man scowls. He looks Adal over carefully noting his still existing burns and his ragged bloody clothing and bandages. He seems to accept that Adal is, in fact, severely injured and that he is telling the truth about the other man running away.

"As soon as he is found, he will be punished accordingly. For now, I'm taking you in."

"I need a cart. My entire body hurts to even move."

"I am not risking going back to get a cart for you. You may be faking that you can't move or that woman of yours may come to get you. I'll have to carry you on my shoulders."

The guard comes over and maneuvers Adal onto his shoulder. As soon as he does, Adal quickly grabs the man's sword and throws in into the distance, then he puts him into a chokehold. A struggle ensues and they crash downwards where Adal is then able to reach behind the tree to grab the short sword and stabs the man in both his leg. The man shouts in pain and immediately weakens but Adal follows up with stabs to both arms too.

"Please! Spare me!"

He is devoured. Afterwards, Adal jumps up onto his feet. He doesn't feel pain anymore. Some of the cauterized wounds remain and others actually closed to some extent, but nothing hurts. He throws another energy ball as a test. The explosion is much stronger. Still not back to its original strength, but he can knock people off their feet and stun them if he hits directly on their body.

He demolishes the devoured guard's body keeping only his short sword. He thinks of remaining in wait again, but chooses to leave. If this guard also doesn't return, Bear may then send an Earth grade. In his current state, he can not take them on. He isn't sure if he could even if he is back to normal. Roccoco is no longer one of the weakest Bears, but he isn't one of the strongest either. There are many stronger than him. Yet Adal had struggled against him and almost lost.

At the cave, Riva lets out a sigh of relieve when he steps in. He looks around and scowls.

"Riva, come out. I'm making us a new cave."

They both remove the few things they kept in the cave and he gets to work.

Adal uses energy balls to go deeper into the rock face, then he turns right, goes deeper, then turn left. There he stays and uses energy balls to create a much larger area so he and Riva will be comfortable and will be able to store many things. He looks on in satisfaction. Doing this was also a test to see if he is capable of sustaining multiple energy balls in succession. He feels a little winded, but otherwise unaffected. His energy balls did not decrease in strength.

Riva comes in and looks around satisfied. "It's not quite like our home, but I'm much happier."

"Yes, the larger space will make things easier for us. We'll also be able to create a fire for warmth now."

"Then this is where I come in."

Riva is a lightning type and is as competent as most of the village. She gathers rocks from outside and circles them around a small hole Adal creates. She fills it with old pieces of bloody bandages along with some dry wood, then creates a flame simply by using her lightning magic to light a stick. It is difficult as her magic is weak as a Common grade, but in minutes, they have fire and light.

She sits against the wall and sighs delighted. "This feels so much better. Sit beside me, Adal. What happened in Swaying Forest? Why did you come back with no food?"

To be entirely truthful, he forgot he was supposed to be hunting for food. He decides to tell part of the truth.

"I found two of Bear's guards at the nearest fishing spot. I guess I should have looked for animals instead, but my energy balls weren't working well at first. It couldn't even hurt a mouse. I wanted to fish, but I didn't find a chance to."

Riva hums. "I'm just glad you're back. When night fell and you still didn't return, I was genuinely nervous they caught you."

"The Bears aren't even looking that hard. The guards I found barely had armor and weapons. They weren't even Earth grade."

"Did you kill them?"

"No."

"Did they see you?"

"No. I stayed hidden some distance away and they only circled a small area before leaving."

"Then where did you get those short swords?"

Ah, he forgot about that too.

"I stole it from them while they were off resting. They didn't see me, though." He hands her one. "One of them is for your protection."

"I get the feeling that you're lying to me, but I also think there isn't really anything to be concerned about. If nothing else, you're a survivor and you'd know if we should be running right now."

Adal grins. He loves Riva.

"Are you planning on going back tomorrow?"

"Yes, I do."

"Try to get at least some animals. The last thing I ate was a raw dirty lizard yesterday. I'm starving."

Adal looks at his hands. "I think I will be capable of catching a few things this time."

The next day, morning breaks, and Adal heads back to the exact same spot though he approaches much more carefully. It is a foolish, really. The better idea would have been to go to a different place. The problem is that Swaying Forest is large. He could spend days looking and only end up getting one or two people.

Going to the same spot where the Bears have been losing guards means he is likely to find many more.

When he arrives, it is as he thought. Even at first glance, he sees three guards in three different locations. He waits and observes. Eventually, he counts seven total guards. The most important thing, though, is that there are no Bear nobles.

Wanting to be as sure as possible, Adal continues waiting well into the mid afternoon. Even after all that time, he still only counted seven. However, he notices that they're going around in a particular pattern.

They remain patrolling in small specific areas and they always appear in the open every so often and wait until all the other members appear in the open too. Then they all give each other hand signals.

This is most likely a tactic to ensure everything is going well. They see and confirm each other's existence. If someone doesn't show up for too long, then they all go investigate.

Seeing this gives him a large advantage, but it was hours before he noticed it. Adal realizes this may be a tricky situation, so keeps observing. Shortly before nightfall, he sees the guards appear in the open again, but this time, one of them makes a strange hand signal. The other signals back then they all head in the same direction.

Adal decides to follow behind the guard nearest his location making sure he is far away enough that he only ever just barely sees the guard.

They come to a location where five other guards are already waiting in front of a woman. A servant. When the other guards are assembled – once again proving that there really is only seven guards – she begins speaking. He couldn't hear what she is saying from his distance, but it might not be welcomed news seeing that the guards are reacting poorly. Their faces show displeasure and some are clearly yelling at her.

At last, she walks away and the guards disperse looking like they're grumbling.

This is when Adal decides to make his move. He goes for the servant woman first knowing that the guards won't leave the area for now. He circles around the area and manages to see her walking a few minutes later. He slowly closes the distance while following her.

When he is some feet away, he decides it's time to attack and throws a rock far away. She stops instantly alerted and looks around. Adal slowly crawls towards her trying to avoid making any sound.

He hardly moved a feet few when she bursts into a run. He abandons all attempts at stealth and gives chase. He is much faster and she is poorly dressed for running. She lets out several sharp screams before he is able to tackle her.

"Shut up! I'll kill you if you don't!"

She quiets down staring at him in fright. He listens closely. The forest is very quiet and she screamed several times. There is a very good chance that someone heard her yell. He has to be quick.

He rips off two strips of his clothing. He balls one and stuffs it into her mouth and uses the other to tie it in. Then he rips off two more strips and uses them to tie her hands and feet. Shouldering her, he runs a short distance taking cover inside some bushes with her. He pulls the short sword and displays it to her.

"I killed two guards yesterday. I will kill you if you make the slightest noise. Those guards out there will not save you in time."

He says that as menacingly as possible and she gets the idea nodding with teary eyes. Then he focuses. As he suspect, the servant's screams reached the guards and, minutes later, there is the sound of footsteps everywhere and angry whispering.

Hearing footsteps a short distance away, he glances at the woman in uncertainty, but makes the decision to leave hiding and go after the guard. He spots him a short distance away. Luckily, the man isn't well armored.

Adal holster the short sword and aims an energy ball at the man's back. It hits dead on knocking him face forward into a tree. He lets out a yell but it is covered up by the much louder explosion from his energy ball. He has to be quick.

Running over, he quickly devours the man then leaves the corpse there and goes to a new hiding spot. Two guards arrive and stare in horror at their mummified comrade.

"What the hell is this? Why does he look like that?"

"Is this the work of Adal? What kind of demonic trick is this?

Another comes, but the final three didn't appear. They must have been too far away. No matter. The lower amount of guards increases Adal's confidence considerably.

It also does his captive's confidence apparently. She makes a lot of noises getting their attention. One guard walks over, looks into the bush, and shouts out to his comrades. "Hey, I found Sko! That bastard tried to kidnap her!"

He plainly leaves hiding and approaches the two guards. "I suggest you leave her and focus on me."

The two guards look at him in surprise and immediately draw their swords. They shout to their third comrade who hastily returns with his own sword drawn. One of them steps forward menacingly.

"I suggest you give up, Adal, and make it easy for yourself."

Adal stares at him blandly. "I beat Roccoco. What makes you think you can beat me?"

He shifts uncomfortably. "You're injured. If you weren't, you would have just taken all of us head-on, wouldn't you? You wouldn't need to hide. You even attacked Sko, a woman, first."

Scowling, Adal nods. "You're right. I am injured and weakened from when I fought Roccoco and Goro." Here, he glares at them. "But think about it. I just left hiding. I'm taking you all head-on now. Apparently, I feel confident enough to take three of you."

That causes them to back up a little, but it is useless. Adal rapid fires three energy balls hitting them all dead-on. One ball caught a guard in the head and blows a chunk out killing him. Adal cusses realizing he needs to be more careful.

The two other guards lie on the ground stunned and severely injured. They are gurgling blood from the mouth. He almost devoured them instantly, but realizes this is an opportunity.

He hesitantly takes out his short sword and hisses in pain as he cuts out a small cauterized open wound making it fresh again. The dying guard looks at this with wide eyes.

"You demon…"

"Be silent. I'm not doing a blood ritual or anything. I'm just hoping I heal.'

He devours the man causing the still remaining guard to cry out. When Adal looks at the wound he cut, he is delighted to see the method worked in making him heal faster. In a minute, it is closed. While still riding high on the energy from devouring the man, he cuts out another blackened open wound. A larger one. Then he rushes over and devours the other man healing himself again.

Adal feels a great sense of relief. He feels better and looks better.

He spends a few minutes cutting out the other open wounds around his body and face. By the end, he is covered in his own blood and his face is full of holes. Grinning, he piles up the guard's corpses and throws an energy ball. They are easily demolished.

The sound is loud in the quiet forest, but he doesn't go anywhere. A few minutes later, the remaining three guards arrive and surround him. This time, he is wise enough to aim only at the ground near their feet. The force injures them anyway, but doesn't kill them.

Three devoured men later, Adal's wounds are all gone and he feels like he is back to full strength.

He destroys the corpses then returns to the bush with the servant woman. Her eyes widen in fear upon seeing him. She shakes her head making some kind of pleading noise.

"You disobeyed me. You will be punished."

So he says and so he wanted, but an idea comes to him that, as a servant of Bear, she might be able to provide some useful information. However, he can't interrogate her here. Bear might be expecting her quick return and will send more guards, possibly Earth grade, when she doesn't get back.

He grabs the soldier's weapons and throws them into the fishing pond. At the moment, he also remembers he was supposed to get food, so he blasted an energy ball where he sees a gathering of fish. The explosion sends fish flying onto the land. He grabs four and returns to his captive.

Tearing off a piece of her clothes earning a muffled scream, he wraps the fish, then shoulders her and makes his exit.

Riva greets his entrance later that night without much fanfare. She looks curiously at the woman he has with him.

"I asked you to bring back food and you bring back a woman. Should I have been more specific in what I meant by 'food'?"

"She is a captive. I wanted to interrogate her. She's a servant of Bear."

Riva nods. "Yes, I remember her from years back. She is named Sko. She was only a young woman when I saw her. She can't be more than a few years older than me, but she looks middle age already." She chuckles. "Serving Bear is hard. Trust me, I know. Take off her gag."

Adal removes her gag. She immediately snaps at Riva. "Don't talk about my appearance. You are younger than me yet look at the wrinkles on you! Look at your skin! You also dress like a beggar and have no make-up on."

"I am a beggar, Sko. Even worse than one. At least beggars get to live in villages instead of the wasteland."

"Hmph. A well deserved fate for an immoral woman like you."

That riles Riva. "You were a servant at the time I was with Roccoco. You know what happened to me."

"Do I? All I heard is that you seduced one of the noblemen and he could no longer resist resulting in your attack. The other servants said he was so consumed with lust that he was hardly himself."

"You wretch!" Riva throws a rock at her eliciting a yelp. "You're defending that man? You think the rest of us haven't heard of other incidences with him? And what of you? You serve one of the senior members of Bear, right? I heard you are also his mistress whenever he leaves for other villages."

Sko blushes furiously and tries to maintain her composure. "I am a servant. I go wherever my master orders me to go and I serve the best I can. I can't afford not to. I have to scrap a little however I can. A man succeeds by his strength. A woman by her wiles. If you had been able to defend yourself better, you would be the same as me now."

"Idiot. I still want position regardless of where I am."

"Hard to do that from the wasteland."

"Which is why you're going to help me. Tell me what is happening in the village."

"And why should I?"

"Because a woman succeeds by her wiles. Use your wiles now and realize that you are my prisoner."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I am." Riva nods. "I also have wiles, though. I know I don't have to do much to cause you a lot of harm. A few scars on your face and breasts will greatly diminish your appeal." The woman's eyes widen. "Now Sko, tell me about the village."

Sko hesitates thinking it over, then she talks.

They learn that in the short time the two of them have been gone, much has changed. Mostly for the worse.

Goro's attack not only harmed Adal but many other villagers too and caused much property damage. Despite this, it was never fully resolved. For the wealthier families, the Bears paid some compensation of half a dozen golds which still isn't enough to cover their losses. For everyone else, they blame them saying they should have cleared out quicker or are faking in order to steal from them.

No one was happy, but there is nothing the villagers could do. After all, the Bears are the most powerful family in the village. It created a great deal of bitterness and resentment in the village, though. Moreso than normal. Many people have trouble working now due to injuries. Others can't afford to repair damaged homes. Others lost valuable supplies and equipment that they were planning to sell in the market leaving them poor or destitute.

It is left unsaid, but even the Bears feel the pressure. They no longer show up in the village much choosing to exclusively use servants to perform tasks. The Bears' servants move quickly and quietly in tense environments.

Riva hums. "Under normal circumstances, the Bears would blame everything on Adal. They couldn't this time, could they? Too many witnesses saw Lord Goro being the instigator and the attacker. I don't get it, though. Why not simply pay off the damages and save themselves the trouble?"

Sko doesn't respond.

"Still loyal, are we? Did you forget what I can do to you?"

She scowls and relents. "It's a matter of money and appearance. It's shameful to be paying off the entire village. It makes you seem culpable."

Adal has forced Bear into a precarious situation. They're sensitive about it. They're punishing everyone they can.

Of course, they're punishing Adal's family. Roko was forced to pay compensation for Roccoco's injuries despite the fact that it happened in a sanctioned match. They demanded an extremely high price. Roko's entire money reserve was taken as well as many household items of value, including the horses, cows, and chickens the family built up over the years with help from Adal. The Bears even forced Roko into signing over his land and now they're forced to pay rent to continue living where they've always lived.

Nobody dare to associate with Adal's family, but it hardly matter as they stopped showing up in town much. There is word that Roko is bedridden.

Adal listens to all this in silence.

Sko says that Riva's family is being punished too. The Bears claim that Adal must have plotted all this with Riva's assistance so Toro the Fish Merchant had to pay compensation too. Their valuables were confiscated. Their land was left alone, but the Bears said they have to patrol all the fishing spots for Adal and it's costing them. They said Toro has to help pay the cost since his daughter shares the blame. As a result, he's being charged a silver a month.

"My family normally makes only two." Riva comments idly. "This cuts their income in half."

"Indeed. Toro has frequently been heard saying that your birth is an endless curse to him."

Riva merely cackles in glee.

As for Roccoco and Goro, the first had recovered in a day and was on his feet in another. The servants in the households are whispering that Roccoco's loss caused his parents enormous shame and the troubles with the village angered the seniors. His position is precarious and several members who he is normally closed with are keeping their distance. Next year's competition may see him being forced to lose to other family members.

Goro is relatively untouched. He had to apologize to the family seniors, but received no punishment. They couldn't punish him. The entire Bear family has only two Sky grades so his value to them is unmatchable. They dare not risk offending him. As a result, he still acts unperturbed. He even has his children and servants walking with Roccoco a few times as a show of support.

So all in all, the Bears have lost more than they gained. Significantly more. This angers them. As a result, they have set out a manhunt for Adal and Riva.

The first three days, they mobilized all the guards and spare servants to do a wide search of the entire village and the surrounding forest. Some family members took part too, including even Goro. After that point, they concluded Adal and Riva must have went into the wasteland meaning it would be near impossible to find them, so they drastically reduced the manhunt.

By the end of the week, patrols were mostly done only by guards that had nothing to do. Bear isn't willing to completely given up searching just yet, but they're close.

"Or they were close-" Sko says. "-until they suddenly started missing guards making them realize you came back. They haven't done a full mobilization yet, but after what you did today, it could happen. They may even go into the wasteland to find you."

"I'm not concerned." Adal says. "We're far from the edge of the forest. If they wanted to look, they have a large area to cover."

Riva smiles at their captive. "You have proven yourself useful, Sko. I won't cut up your face just yet. I need a servant, though, so I'll put you to work."

Adal is dismayed to hear that. He wanted to devour her.

"First thing is that perhaps I'll have you help me search for food. I am starving."

"Food? In the wasteland? What have you been eating out here?"

"Rodents and lizards." Riva smirks at Sko's expression. "Don't act so high. I know you came from poor family that had to eat such things too. Just be happy you don't have to eat it raw like I did before."

"Raw? You were eating raw? You fool. Do you have any idea the number of diseases and parasites animals have?"

"Medicine exists that can cure that. I just need to survive until I can take them."

"Riva." Adal calls. "I remembered. I brought back fish too."

He hands the fish over to her delight. She was so famished that she immediately impales them over a stick to fry over the fire without even cleaning them or removing the internals. Meanwhile, Adal turns to Sko.

"Have the Bears been staying inside all this time?"

"Some still leave the village for business and others take walks to freshen up, but yes, they've mostly stayed inside to avoid the village's hostility. Lord Roccoco regularly takes walks, sometimes with Lord Goro's daughter, as a show of strength, but most of us sees that he takes the out of the way path and he does so late in the day when most villagers are at home."

"Is he afraid?"

"Don't be a fool. As an Earth grade, no one would try to harm him. However, his position is precarious so he's avoiding any risk of tension. He only continues taking walks to avoid looking like he's in trouble. It's for appearances. Other members of the family, including Lord Goro, keep up appearances too. Lord Goro even blatantly walks through the center of town during the afternoon daring anyone to even look at him disrespectfully."

Sko looks suspicious. "Why do you care? Do you intend to embarrass the family somehow? To embarrass Lord Roccoco?"

"I intend to kill him."

The servant reels in horror while Riva looks at him in displeasure.

"I am still very much against that. You are still-" Her eyes widen. "I just realize. Your injuries…they're gone. Even the open wounds are gone. How did you heal yourself so quickly?"

Sko looks more closely at him and her eyes widen too. "I haven't noticed but it's true. I remember being frightened by your dreadful face but all those burns you had are gone. How?"

He thinks it over. "Ladies, I'm going to tell you a secret." Their attention is completely on him. "One of my powers, which I've never revealed, is that I can heal myself. It takes a lot of energy so I can't do it easily, but give me time and I will be completely healed."

Riva hums. "Is this how you always return from the wasteland uninjured?"

He nods. Sko is thoughtful. "I remember some of my lords used to express frustration at your curious success. They would wonder how a young boy could go out for so long into the dangerous wasteland and keep coming back with treasures unharmed. They were convinced you were an incredible thief. Able to steal without anyone noticing thus your lack of injuries."

"I have been wondering something too. That fireball Roccoco created. How did he learn it? Before, he only knew to create fire fists. I was confident against him because of it, but he surprised me. How? How did he learn it? And can I learn too?"

"I am merely a servant. Those things are far beyond my knowledge. I too didn't even know Lord Roccoco could do it until servants came back that day retelling the events to me. As for how he learned it, I could only assume with the help of tutors or his family."

Adal looks to the sky. There is so much power out there. In ways he didn't even realize was possible. He wants it all. The energy balls came naturally to him and he doesn't even have to think about using them, but it isn't enough. He wants to do more.

"The sky is high and the ocean is endless."

Riva glances at him. "Is that poetry?"

"I don't know poetry. I can barely read. It was just a thought. A thought that there is so much I want out there."

"I think you should focus more on just finding a way to get us back into the village before talking about high skies and endless oceans."

Adal smiles. Sko glares at both of them in disgust.