A Trip To The Market…

[Lilith]

"Lilith, taste this." Synthia held a spoon towards me, it held what was to become a beef stew she was making for the morning. The brown liquid held a rich scent to it that made my mouth water.

I went downstairs as Kota's dad said, and saw that Kota's mom, Synthia was already cooking. Kale was lounging on the couch alongside Chris, who was sitting idly with a pen in hand. Alongside Synthia was Claire, who was helping with cooking. Strangely, I couldn't find Amelia around…

Synthia wanted me to help with tasting, so here I was with a spoonful of stew waving in front of me.

At first, I thought this would be more scary…Kota's mom gives off a very strong aura that shouldn't be messed with. But…She's been more welcoming this morning.

The scent coming from the spoon led me to quickly take a gulp from it. I must've misjudged the scent of it as when it came to swallowing it…I found it a little on the bland side. Something about it was missing, but I couldn't pinpoint.

"How is it? Needs more flavoring?" Synthia drew back the spoon. "I always wanted to see your input with my food. Usually you hog down my food, but you have a dissatisfied look on your face…"

"Oh! Erm…It's just that it's missing something." I tapped my finger to my mouth, Remembering something that Kota usually did when he cooked. Wasn't it like a spice or something? "Kota usually puts salt into his food, and that makes it better."

"Hm, Salt?" Synthia brought the spoon up to herself and lapped at the leftover broth. "Hmm…Well I suppose I could try that. I rarely use salt in the kitchen…"

"Food tastes good, still!" I cheerfully said. "N matter how you make it, I'd still eat it!"

"Hah, Lilith you cutesty. You have the appetite of a warrior, Reminds me of Gerald…And kale." Synthia peered over to the couch, where Kale sat idly.

Kale hasn't said much to me since I got downstairs. In fact, he hasn't even looked in this direction until now. This whole trip, he's been avoiding me in a capacity. And I'm not sure why? It kinda hurts me when I see him do that…

Kale looked at us with an annoyed look, his gaze wandered to Synthia. "Hey, I've balanced my diet ever since Tera started to help me maintain it! That's how I keep my body in shape!"

"Wow, you did what? Eat one healthy item and that's it? You look exactly the same as when we last met." Synthia pulled the spoon away from her mouth and simply tapped it at the palm of her open hand. "Have you even looked at Lilith's diet? How she eats and drinks?"

"The girl is fine, You see how fit she is? She probably more toned than yo-" kale paused, realizing his mistake. "Ah well, when you…Aren't…Pregnant." Kale chose his words carefully as Synthia slowly squinted her eyes and gripped the spoon harder.

"A good kid needs a diet that'll help them sustain themselves, not be a brute like you." Synthia said turning to me "Lilith, have you eaten any greens while at his place?"

I thought about that for a moment. For all I can recall, I just remember…Kota cooking fancier meats and Kale cooking rice sometimes…I don't think I've eaten greens.

"…No, I don't recall."

"Oh, shame on Kale. Tsk,Tsk…" Synthia then proceeded to walk to the kitchen, grabbing a miniature green looking tree from a pot. The pot that she had grabbed from was from the one that was steaming, something I assume Claire or Synthia were already working on. Synthia then walked back to me and presented the greenery. "Broccoli."

"Broccoli?"

"It's good! C'mon, have a taste. It's soft right now, usually it's a bit harder to chew."

I looked at the broccoli with curiosity before grabbing it from her hand. As she said, it was soft to the touch now, almost like I could smother it in my palm. Without further thought, I began to eat it. The broccoli chewed quite nice and had a taste that at first, I didn't like. However as I kept chewing, I began to quite enjoy the flavor of this small green tree…

"Mm…Ish good!" I said as I chewed.

"Haha! See, the Girl loves her greens!" Synthia then turned her gaze towards kale. "You should've asked her when she came to your place if she wanted them!"

"Quit trying to make me out like the bad guy! She was fine when she was with me." Kale said with annoyance.

"Hmph, as her teacher, you aren't really teaching her much."

"I-Agh…" Kale tried to say something else, but couldn't think of anything to say back. He only frowned as he slowly slumped back on the couch.

As their argument began to die down, I heard footsteps coming from upstairs. Kota's dad, Gerald, came down stairs with a smile on his face. As The brown haired man took his lady's teo down the stairs, he noticed the mood of the room had changed. He looked at Kale and then Synthia with a questionable look.

"…Arguing?" He simply asked. He must've been somewhat used to this. "Can't you guys just talk normally without it being hostile?

"Never." Synthia frowned. But instead of continuing that conversation, she switched the topic. "Where's Kota?"

"In the bathroom. Boy couldn't hold it in." Gerald chuckled, there was a quick glance that he gave me before he continued. "I think we should think about what you guys should do today before you leave tomorrow." He looked at Kale. "You want to practice with Lilith? Or something else?"

Kale thought for a moment. As he did, Chris lifted his head from his papers and spoke.

"I want to visit the market."

There was an awkward silence.

"…Don't treat me like I'm some sort of animal! Didn't you guys hear what I said?!" Chris raised his fist in the air. "I am the Prince of Prusha, and I will not be ig-ack!" Kale's foot booped him on his head before he could finish his sentence.

"Settle down…" Kale said. "Why do you even want to go to the market? I thought you went yesterday?"

Chris played with the pen in his hand, fiddling with it as he replied. "I want pastels…" He then gripped his pen and firmly said it louder. "Writing makes me hungry! I need some sweets!"

"Ugh…" Kale groaned.

"I can take Chris to get him his Pastel." Claire offered, walking till she was beside Synthia. It seemed like had finished with her kitchen duties, she held a towel in her hand as she wiped herself dry.

Chris nodded with urgency. "Yes! Have her take me!" He said happily.

Kale held his hand to his chin. "Hmm…" he seemed to be thinking of something, his gaze lifted to me. "Lilith, Would you mind going with them?"

"Eh? Why?" I asked, confused.

I didn't want any sweets right now. Nor did I really want to go out at the moment. I've somewhat expected this day to be a more relaxed one. Hmm…Maybe Kale wants me to still act on my duties as the prince's guard. We are still technically supposed to be doing our duties…

"It'll be fine." Gerald chirped in. "Get some fresh air, without killing anything for once. Or practicing. Or maybe hurting things. Just…Be a kid for once."

Kale nodded in agreement with Gerald. Maybe kale was thinking that, but he just couldn't say it to me…

I slowly nodded my head. "Ok…What about Kota? Can he come?"

"Ah…I think he'll be busy here for some time." Gerald said. "Me and Kale can keep him busy while you do your thing."

"Us?" Kale cut in. He raised a brow at Gerald, with Gerald looking at him back with a shrug. There must've been an understanding between the two as Kale rolled his eyes and simply nodded. "I guess we can…"

The two awkwardly stared for a bit. What was wrong with Kota?

Hm, thinking about it now…This morning he seemed quite agitated. All I did was Sit on him, that was all. Maybe he doesn't like that I do that…But he didn't seem to mind when I did it in Prusha? He seemed a bit flustered as well. It's not usual that he is, he's quite good at keeping a straight face about it. Actually, it seemed like he was hurt or something when he walked out with the way he ran out. I wonder if he had hurt something in his sleep…Or maybe it was because I tapped him on his side. Wait…Actually something was weird with him. When I sat on him, there was a lump.

"Well, if you two can stop staring at each other like lovers, why not grab a drink?" Synthia said, walking back into the kitchen and grabbing a large jar. "I think it's fine if Claire takes these two out to the market, she's been quite helpful!"

"Has she?" Gerald stood as Synthia handed him the jar. "Good to see that there's some kids here who are good at cleaning up."

Chris hasn't done a single thing with helping since we got here besides shopping and writing.

But I found myself focusing on Kota's issues rather than that. Why did Kota have a lump? Was it from something? Hmm…Maybe in Yesterday's bounty, he got wounded by the wolves.

"Mm? Lilith, what's up?" Gerald said before he took a swig from the jar.

Did it get infected? Why wouldn't he heal it with his magic? Hmm…Maybe since he can't reach down there, or maybe he just didn't want me to know…

"Hmm…"I hummed to myself. Gerald was still looking at me, looking for an answer. "…Does Kota have a lump?"

Gerald spat out his water, luckily it didn't hit anyone. Claire moved away from him as he wiped his mouth and shakily held the hat towards Synthia, who quickly grabbed it.

"H-he's got a what?!"

"A lump, like down where his legs are. I'm wondering if maybe he got infected…"

Gerald gave me a quizzical look before looking at Kale. The older blonde man simply pondered what I said, there was almost a disappointed look on his face as he rubbed his hand against his face.

"Ah…W-Yes! Yes, Kota has a lump down there! You should get some medication for it from the market! Another reason why you should go!" Gerald said in an almost panicked manner. "Claire, quickly! Get these two out, Have them in the market!"

Claire gave him a surprised look. "Eh? W-well, ok…"

"Right! We'll keep Kota company as you three run errands then!" Gerald proposed. Eh turned back to me. "You wouldn't want Kota to have more issues with his…Ah-lump, Right!" He gave me a smile that seemed to fake even for me. Was he trying to cover for Kota?

Well if Kota really does have a lump down there…Guess I should help him! He's probably having a lot of trouble right now, especially this morning! Though I wish he would have told me…Maybe getting him his medication would help him feel better.

"Ok, I'll go!" I said, nodding to Gerald.

****

The Market for Shanford sat right in the center of town. It comprised mostly of the general store and the medicinal shop, The Bounty hall was here as well. I wouldn't really consider this place a marketplace compared to Prusha's, which had a whole district dedicated to it. The General shop looks much like a large home in the like of Kota's house, two stories and the bottom half of it being used as the store itself. Its sign hung loosely in the wind with the imprint 'GENERAL STOR' written on it, it seems like one side of the wooden sign was broken off with how it was spelt.

But who am I to really judge on spelling? I can't even properly write a sentence…I should probably ask Kota for some more writing and reading sessions…

With the well being in the middle of all of this, all the buildings seemingly surrounded it. I stood in front of the medicinal store, which sat right next to the Bounty hall and General store.

Behind me, there were three other stores. The clothing store, the blacksmith, and a somewhat small Inn. All of these stores surrounded the well, looking like a circle cut down in the middle with the trails.

Most of these buildings were rather small, especially the Inn. Either just being a one floor building or looking as if they've been here for quite some time with how much moss and dirtiness they had on their walls.

"Lilith, do you know what you need to get?" Claire asked me. The blue haired woman stood idly, holding hands with Chris along with holding a small pouch of Rubees. Chris looked around, seemingly bored out of his mind. The prince made it his idea to come out here, why's he so bored?

"Er…Medicinal ointment?" I guessed. To be completely honest, I had no idea what I was really getting for Kota. This type of stuff is more of his thing than mine. There was one time I was told to buy a slice of meat from the Prusha district…I ended up buying a whole leg of a Cow.

"Healing ointments. You know, for someone like Kota, I find it odd that he has trouble with healing magic." Claire said. "Healing ointments aren't as fast as magic, but they do get the job done in its own time."

"You know a lot about this stuff?" I asked. I was a little bit curious about her knowledge. If I recall from Kale, she was part of a family that owned a trading company. She must know some of the things she trades.

"When our trading partners show up and offer their wares, usually they are medicinal or sometimes things of General like food or water. I often found myself looking at these products and learning about them with my father." Claire explained. "Knowing what you are selling to others is essential."

I simply nodded. But to be honest, that all somewhat went through one ear out the other…

"Can we head into the General store now? I don't need to hear what the two of you have going on!" Chris said, shaking Claire's hand fiercely. "You sell and buy things to sell to others! Big whoop!"

"Don't…be rude!" Claire tried to sound more assertive but it failed. "We'll…Fine, we'll head in there now, I suppose."

"Victory for Me!" Chris raised his free hand in a victorious manner. "Let's get some Pastels and supplies for my Writing!"

Claire gave me a concerned look. One that asked for help, but Chris briskly guided her to the general store door. I watched the two enter the store with the door ringing as it opened.

Hmm…Shouldn't I be watching over those two? Although thinking about it now, I didn't even properly put on an outfit for this.

I walked my way towards the well and looked down into it. The water within it was pretty high, almost a few feet down, I was able to see a reflection of myself in it. Still, I wore that plain white shirt that hung loosely around me, alongside my bed hair that made it stick out slightly. Underneath my shirt were the shorts I wore, inside their pockets were just 10 rubees. My amber eyes oddly glowed within the reflection, something that I've noticed Every Time I headed to the bathroom at night. Must be something to do with my Dragon side.

Hmph, My dragon side. The reason why my eyes are this color…The reason why I was made fun of in this town. Any kid that was near me would notice and point it out, better yet they'd throw stones at me for it…

Wait, don't get angry about this…This isn't your fault, Lilith. This is your dad's…In fact, This is all of his fault. For staying with mom, leaving her, leaving her I'll, Almost killing Kota. Don't be mad at yourself for this.

I noticed my clench on the edge of the well tightened so much that I felt the rocks that held it cracking from my pressure. Instantly, I let go.

Maybe Kale might've been right…I should keep checking my Anger a bit more. But how?

Taking a deep breath, I took a glance back down into the well, looking deep into it and into the reflection within it.

Another woman stood in my place, For the briefest moment. She stared back at me, her Brown hair muddied in a darker texture of some sort…Blood? Her brown eyes stared with hatred and anger. Her mouth formed into a snarl that showed something dripping.

Was That…that wasn't me?!

Immediately, I pulled back from the well once more. Heavily breathing and feeling that same sensation in my head as I felt before. The headache rushed back in as it brought me to my knees.

I struggled to get back to my feet, the pain increasing in my head as I tried to see if what I saw was real.

There was nothing in the well.

A voice echoed in me, eerily like mine. But too different at the same time, there was a sadistic tone to it.

[Go ahead, let that anger out. Kill me! It's the least you can do for me!]

Is that…Me talking to me?

"W-what? W-who's in my head?" I asked, it must've seemed like I was talking to this well as I said it aloud.

Another voice rang, a man's voice. It was hoarse and deep, it slurred and ran rampant in my mind.

The voice grunted as if it was struggling.

[Hah…After all we've done for you?! You end up…y-you end up doing this?! What kind of a fucking daughter did I raise?!]

The voices began to layer on each other, becoming disconnected and jointed as it all led to one unmistakable sound.

The sound of someone fist colliding with something. All of it seemingly vanished, the pain slowly ebbed away as my mind began to collect what had transpired. I found myself crouching with my head against the well's wall.

What was that? It happened again. Just like when I was in Prusha, this time it felt more violent. Like it was memory trying to get out.

"You alright, miss?" A calming female voice spoke to me. It came from behind me, so I weakly struggled to turn around and see who it was, My breath heavy as I looked.

An older looking woman stood at the entrance of the Medicinal Store. A blue apron wrapped around her waist and her white clothing. Her black hair was put into a bun. She held what seemed to be a vial of sorts in her left hand.

"Miss? Are you well?" She asked once more.

I almost found it hard to speak, but I managed to say something. "I-I'm well, just a headache, that's all…"

"Nonsense, you've been crouched by that well looking like you need to puke!" The older lady said to me, she quickly walked her way to me and knelt. "Come into the medicinal Store, I'll patch you up with something for that headache!"

She quickly grabbed my hand with her free one and pulled me close to her, I weakly slumped against her as we walked to the medicinal store.

The headache seemed to only slowly fade, the pain still rang all over my head as we entered the medicinal store.

Inside the store, the smell of herbs and bitterness lingered in the air. It was a small shop, with shelves holding flasks and vials of all sorts. There were wooden barrels that held boxes atop of them with even more potions and herbs within them. On the backend of the shop, there was a table, one that seemed to be able to fit a person onto it. Beside it seemed to be a small fireplace, over it was a cauldron that bubbled with a clearish liquid.

"What's a young lady like you doing out by the well, especially one who's just dressed in a white shirt!" The older lady put the vial in her hand beside the table, grabbing a hold of me and lifting me onto the table.

"Now let's see…" The older woman held out her hand against my head. "Let life breathe into itself, invigorate and warmly accept health, heal…" A Yellow light emanated from her hands as she chanted the healing spell. A warmth enveloped me as the yellow light formed around the top of my head. "Is the pain reseeding?"

However, it seemed to do little to nothing to improve the progress of my fading pain. I shook my head in an effort to answer. The older lady removed her hands, The yellow light diminishing from her hands. She contemplated my answer and watched as I laid on the table.

"Hmm…Strange, Even with issues like Headaches or concussions, Healing magic should've had some sort of effect on you. If what you said is true, that headache should've reseeded and faded…" Then the older lady pulled a handmade book that laid beside the table, it looked like it had a lot of usage in its life with how mangled it looked. It's brown cover stained or either bleached to have splotches of white and green, the paper for it had a brown look on the edges.

"Hmm…Let's see…" The lady said as she skimmed through the book. "Mental health is something of a mystery for Healing spells." She looked up from her book and looked at me apologetically. "That's what I'm assuming is what is wrong with you…Sorry if that came out wrong."

As she continued to skim through her book, I laid looking at the ceiling.

The question lingered in my mind: What was wrong with me? Why am I having these voices and headaches? They happen at such random moments, it's been a month or so since the last one. All of them varied from headache to mood changes…

Let's think for a moment, besides the pain…What caused all of this?

I rubbed the temple of my forehead as I thought, thinking of something that would explain these voices. If only Kota was here to figure it out…The last time we had this sort of talk was when we fought that Owl demon…

Wait…That figure I kept seeing in Prusha, during the festival. She was there for two of my incidents, looking around before I got a chance to interact.

Is…Is she the reason?

The pain in my head finally seemed to be manageable, I was able to lift myself from the table and look at the Medicinal lady. She was still skimming through her book when I spoke. "Um…miss?"

She looked up at me with surprise. Closing the book in her hand, she placed the book beside me and ran her hands along my face. "Has it reseeded? The pain has weakened?"

"Y-yes…It's still there though."

"Goodness, to think I was planning on cracking that head open to see what was wrong." The lady said in a rather grim way. I stared at her for a moment before she smiled and patted my head. "I'm only kidding. I've never had to do that, no one here in Shanford has been that beaten up before!"

"Haha…" I meekly laughed.

"The name is Buttel, Buttel Delow." She introduced herself. "And you…You seem rather familiar? I've met an older woman who lived here that had almost the same look as you."

She was mentioning my mother. Mother would've always traveled here to get food and whatnot when we lived here, most likely met with Buttel at some point…I was never brought out here much due to my bullying.

"I think you've met my mother then." I told her. "My name is Lilith."

Buttel hummed to herself. "Hmm…Fascinating! It's been some time though, where has your mother gone?"

"Er…um…" I looked down as I said that, unsure if I should even answer that one.

It seemed like Buttel knew what the answer was as she brushed it aside quickly. "Personal matters, I see! Well, besides that…Why are you here?"

"I came to get…Medicinal Ointment?" I tried to remember what Gerald said. "For a lump."

"Medicinal ointment for…a lump?

"Yeah, like…In between the legs?" I awkwardly gestured between my legs that lay on the table still. "I think Wolves might've scratched him or something, he ran out of the room pretty quick to deal with it."

Buttel stared at me with concern, I wasn't quite sure what she was thinking. I mean, I was saying what was right, right? Kota has a lump, Gerald even said it.

"Ah…I get it." Buttel seemingly figured it out. "I know what you need!" The older woman quickly moved to one of the shelves that held potions and other things, she scrounged through them until she found a specific bottle in it. Once she made her way back to me, she held a glass bottle that seemed to hold a white liquid in it.

"This should help your friend." Buttel presented it to me. "It should help them deal with that lump quite easier."

I turned my whole body so that my legs hung down from the table, I reached for the glass bottle and held it close to my face.

"…What is it?" I asked. Seemed like it was milk, but it had a gel look to it. Seemed like it'd be somewhat slick or oily if used…

Buttel cleared her throat. "Ahem…uh, Perhaps I shouldn't let you know. Just know that It will relieve them perfectly fine."

"I see…"

"Just don't…have the boy use it by himself."

"Why?"

"Don't question a healing mage!" The older lady snapped at me. She let out a sigh before she continued. "Any who, It'll cost 5 rubees. I'm not counting the healing I've done just now as…Well it was no use, but also an oddity."

Digging through my shorts, I managed to grab 5 of the rubees from one of the pockets and handed it to her. Buttel seemed quite surprised that I even had Rubees on it, perhaps more surprised by the fact I wore shorts…

As we finished our payment, Buttel placed the rubees right next to the table. "Alright then, you can hop yourself off that table."

I hopped off the table and began to walk my way towards the door, Buttel watched on as I did. I rolled the glass bottle in my hand, curious about this ointment.

"Come back when you start to have those headaches again! I'll try my best to figure it out!" Buttel said her farewells. As I opened the door to the outside, I looked back and waved at her as my farewell.

Making my way outside, I noticed that the headache had seemingly vanished now at this point. No trace of pain or voices. I rubbed my forehead with confusion before I noticed that Claire and Chris were waiting for me in front of the medicinal store. Chris held a basket of pastel assortments that also held an ink pen and a couple sheets of paper.

"Lilith, took a bit in there, didn't you?" Claire said, looking worried. "Had some trouble with paying?"

"Um…"

Should I even explain to Claire about my headaches? Would she even be able to understand them? No…I'll need to keep this from them, I don't want to worry even more about me.

"It just took a bit for the healing lady to find what I needed." I held out the glass bottle. "I guess this'll help Kota with his issue?"

Claire studied the bottle for a moment. "Huh…I suppose so." The worried look on her face vanished. "Chris, let us head back."

"You got it! Back to the castle!" Chris announced before he munched on a pastel that was covered in nuts. "Onward!"

As the two began to walk back to Kota's house. I lingered.

Was it…Still there?

I walked to the well and stood for a moment. Bracing myself for what I would see. Taking a deep breath, I leaned into the well once more and looked in.

The reflection was myself, staring back at me. The same look and clothing. It was me once more. I let out a sigh of relief, pulling myself back from the well.

Maybe it won't happen like this again, I thought to myself. But there was a lingering feeling that maybe…maybe it would.

I quickly brushed it aside, not wanting to be left behind by Claire and Chris. And I was off back home to Kota's for his ointment…

Author note: When I started writing this Chapter, I realized that I haven't really given Lilith much Showtime. Really in my eyes, Lilith is the 2nd MC of this story with how much is going on with her. So decided to make this chapter to focus on her solely. It also helped convey the issues she was having even more as the things that are happening to her are part of the main story, something I'll explain even further in the upcoming volume that takes place in Ozoth. Otherwise, I did enjoy writing this as I wanted to write something scary for some time. Hope you enjoy this chapter and the upcoming Final chapter for this Volume!