Chapter 5

Suddenly, a strange creature jumps out of the cave, a small girl with curved horns on her head, horns similar to those of a sheep. Yellow feline eyes with the pupil slanted vertically, short reddish hair and small teeth and fangs like those of a lion cub. The little girl launched herself vigorously against the stone and began to bite it with her small fangs.

"Nom nom nom pfff! This tastes very bad!" - Said the creature as she put the stone in her mouth and chewed it, then spit it out on the ground.

"Hey, she doesn't look that dangerous, she even looks like a pet!" - Alfred said, slowly lowering the sword and looking at the small creature that caused him tenderness.

"Hey, I'm not a pet! Rwaaar!" - exclaimed the little creature who proceeded to put the stone in her mouth and ran through the forest, getting into the bushes.

"She took the stone, let's go after her!" - Alfred said and together with Merydia they started to run after her, running after the high grasslands of the valley, which despite being high, they were able to see the creature moving through the leaves. They ran with all their strength until they saw her go up a stone path which led to a cabin isolated from all civilization.

They both followed the same path as the creature until they arrived, panting, in front of the door of the cabin and began to check to see who lived there. They knocked on the door but no one came out to greet them.

"How strange, what is a cabin doing in the middle of nature?" - Alfred asked himself, looking at the tall and wide cabin from top to bottom, it seemed like some kind of giant lived there.

It was a triangular-shaped cabin, with a thatched roof, and a construction of thick giant oak trunks, adorned with three windows which emitted a dim orange light and a chimney from which no smoke came out, which made Alfred think that nobody was there.

"Hello?" - said Merydia knocking on the door and looking through the windows. However, they began to hear footsteps inside the house.

"Alfred, I think there is someone!" - said Merydia.

"Yes, I hear steps!" - Alfred replied.

The door was slammed open, almost hitting Alfred in the face, and a giant came out of the house, yawning and covering his mouth with his hand, then raised his arms to stretch, as if he were just waking up in the morning.

"Aaaaaggggg! Who visits me so early? Heh? Who are you? Do I even know you?" - asked the giant who was about twice the size of an average adult human. He wore a blue robe that reached his ankles, a blue pointed wizard's hat with a belt in the middle, a large brown beard that reached his waist, and hair that was just as long and disheveled.

"Emmm... my name is Merydia and this is Alfred, sorry for the inconvenience sir, but we are looking for a small creature that took something that is ours, hid inside this cabin. Have you seen her in there?"

"A creature? Oh yeah. Tammy! Come here, what did you do this time?" - Said the giant.

The little creature comes down the stairs of the house and spits out the red stone they were looking for.

"Is that what you were looking for?" - Asked the giant.

"Yes, glad we found it, thank you sir!"

"Well, come in, don't be shy. Would you like a cup of coffee? Something to eat?"

"Emm, Merydia..." Alfred said, whispering in her ear. - "I think we should go, I don't trust this guy much."

"Don't worry Alfred, he's a Basaun, we can trust him, everything is fine."- Merydia responded.

"That's right!" - Said the giant - "I am a Basaun, we are a race of semi-giants who practice magic constantly. And well, excuse my manners for not introducing myself. My name is Balrod. Now, come in, this is your house."

"Come on sit down, feel comfortable."- Balrod said as they both sat in a large chair in the living room of the house.

"Here, I'll bring you some coffee."

"Thank you very much sir." - Said Merydia, taking the tray with the coffee cups.

"Well, what brings you here? You do know that there is an extremely dangerous land nearby, right? It is the land of Doriam."

"Of course sir, we are going to enter those lands. We need to go to Roderick's coffin."

"Roderick?" - Asked a boy who had just arrived at the scene. He was a young guy with dark hair and wearing a green suit with a large black belt around his waist and brown boots.

"Yes, the same." - Merydia responded.

"Forgive me" - said Balrod - "I forgot to introduce you to Prince Alaric, the future king of Dalia. And you will ask yourself, what is a prince doing in my humble enclosure? right?"

"That's right, I'm a prince." Alaric said as he sat in an armchair and subtly drank a cup of coffee. - "I came here with Balrod to escape my death, after discovering that the magicians of my court were plotting against me. I'm only here temporarily, while I find another place to stay so I can fulfill my goal. Balrod has been very good to me and has given me refuge in his abode."

"What goal?" - Alfred asked.

"Finding the stone of Elendor hahahaha, the boy has a great imagination, he is quite ambitious!" - Said Balrod as he burst out laughing, even spilling some coffee on his beard which he proceeded to clean with a rag.

Alfred and Merydia turned to look at each other in surprise.

"Lord Balrod, we carry the stone of Elendor, it is the same stone that we have been looking for and that your creature took from us." - Alfred said as he stretched out his arm to show the stone in the palm of his hand.

Balrod was shocked to see the stone, his eyes were shining with excitement.

"I can't believe it." - said Balrod - "It really is the stone, I'm sure, how come I didn't notice it before, how foolish of me. No magic stone is so radiant and so beautiful."

"Alaric, are you looking for this stone?" - Alfred asked.

"Sure, wow, I can't believe I found it so easy. How did they find it?"

"It's a long story, it doesn't matter." - Alfred replied.

"Well, then you can join your missions, eh?" - Said Balrod, showing a big smile and taking Alfred and Alaric by the shoulders with a light hug. - "You must no longer be so lost in your mission, Alaric, look how easily your problem was solved."

"Yes, of course, but now I have another problem. The magicians of my court who work for Molech. We have to get rid of them. If you would help me do it."