Lucky Days [3]

"Alright, what do you say when someone gives you your food?"

"...Nothing?"

I slumped my head onto the table in frustration. Who knew he could lack common sense and human decency at the same time? Being a mentor is hard, give me my compensation already little prince!

I sucked in a breath and scooted my chair in growing back my stamina with the thought of wealth brewing in my imagination. Looking out the window I saw that it was late and the shop should have already been closed for a few hours ago, but this prince demanded I teach him how to be a decent human being now. I peeked over at the boy, he was thinking very hard his little brows squished together confused as to why I had responded negatively to his answer.

"What's your name anyway?" I asked completely going off topic while standing up and tidying the shop for tomorrow.

"You don't know the name of the first prince? Hmph, have you been living under a rock commoner?" He sassed swaying back in forth in his chair.

"Whatever, I have a name too you know and it doesn't start with C.O.M.M.O.N.E.R although depending on how you act I might just call you by your real name and not by 'brat' the rest of your life!" My response was a little immature but every time he spoke I wanted to disobey and give the best retaliation.

"My name is Lucky and you will call me as such!" Lucky huffed standing up and holding the hilt of his sword in threat which had no effect on me. I just stuck my tongue at his antics which made him charge at me, I laughed before running around the shop before the chase for my head somehow ended up in an innocent game of tag.

He was the fastest which annoyed me to no end as his nose grew sharper with each victory he won. I was feeding his ego so I had to win this match! I effectively jumped onto the counter surprising him as I flopped back down on his form.

"K.O" I yelled laughing as he frowned at my first victory.

"Whats k.o!? And you cheated!" Lucky pouted easily pulling me off as my giggling never ceased. I had never had so much action before, it felt nice.

"It's not in the rules of tag so I didn't cheat."

"Just because something isn't a rule doesn't mean it's not mutually agreed upon in the game of tag."

"Okay Sherlock, say that to the blind boy! If you hadn't noticed I still got a blindfold on and that's you taking advantage of me! So you also cheated." I remarked panting from the exertion of the game and wiping some sweat.

"Whatever you make no sense..." Lucky mumbled his eyes shifting to the dark skies outside.

"It's late brat maybe you can come tomorrow and I'll teach you how to be nice like you asked."

"Don't say it like that!" He yelled and ran out of the shop leaving me a little dumbstruck. I just scratched my ear before leaving the mess we made for tomorrow me to pick up and packed up and leaving for home. My mother and I lived close to the edge of the village which wasn't far from the shop and soon I was walking the dirt roads listening to the chatter of drunks.

"-banished to this village because of his behavior, I don't understand why our village has to take such a rebellious demon in."

"The chief got paid a lot of gold for it apparently"

"So the royal family doesn't care about our wellbeing!? We have kids what if that child hurts them and steals!"

"SHH if he heard you calling him a demon he'll kill you like the mad dog prince he is!"

What a load of bullcrap, the kid that cried in my arms is a mad dog? That's like saying a butterfly is actually a bloodsucking vampire. Honestly, people never change no matter where you go.

I wonder if the brat is okay...

"How much did you earn today?" My mother greeted me as she stirred some soup the scent of watered down broth floating in the air.

"Enough to buy two bags of potatoes, I-I also met a boy," shyness slipped out of my tongue at the end but I wanted to tell my mother of my fun experience of tag.

"Oh, don't get too close I don't want to die because of your carelessness."

Oh.

I was a bit careless, wasn't I?

That night I ate some of the soup my mother made and went to bathe in the river shrouded by trees. My mother said I always had to wash at night when no one can see my hair or eyes as clearly even if monsters attack me.

The cold water sunk into my bones and chilled my skin to the point I was rushing to get all the grime off quickly afraid I may get sick if I stayed longer. On my way back from the bath I could see the stars clearly with no blindfold and began relishing in the moment of complete peace. The night is usually the only time I could get a little freedom without the worry of being caught. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night when the village is fast asleep and sit in the grass above the biggest hill and stargaze, it a nice feeling although a very lonely one.

I closed the back door silently behind me after checking on the hens my mother kept in her small farm and went to bed for the night.

But even with the exhaustion weighing on me, excitement for tomorrow kept me up longer than it should have. I shouldn't be excited to see the blue eyes yet I would be lying if I said he was the closest thing to a friend I had since my birth here.

-

"What do you do when someone hands you your food?"

"You say...t-thank you."

I smiled brilliantly as I clapped my hands in praise, it took practically all day for him to even say those words. I told him many times they can't hurt him and are only nice things to say but his stupid head kept saying 'only weak willed commoners say such things.'

"Now that you are in the lowest stage of 'thank you' let's practice in real life. Tell me you want flowers and then when I give them to you bow slightly and say 'thank you' understood?" I went to the counter and acted as the employee as he whinily protested.

"But it'll ruin my reputation as the prince! Do you want me to stoop to commoner level?" He snidely complained as his feet dragged to the counter. His looks definitely didn't match his personality.

"I'm pretty sure your reputation is as good as dead so far, if you haven't heard you're the talk of the village," I smiled crossing my arms as his face reddened. "So to get your reputation point back up you have to do as I say!" Lucky lightly gulped before playing with his sleeve as I waited patiently for him to speak.

"Can I have some flowers?"

"Coming right up," I carefully took a pot off a shelf and slid it Lucky's way on the counter.

"T-....thank you." Geez, he sounded like I kicked his puppy. I sighed before leaning on the counter and giving him a thumbs-up, he visibly beamed at my approval.

"Now time to learn the word 'please'" I laughed my socks off as his face turned sullen just as fast as it had lit up and I knew this was going to be a long ride to get this prince on track.

As much as I hated being a mentor, Lucky was quite fun to be around and the most tolerable person in the village.