Alisia.

Ryuu took some steps toward Zoro, which prompted the man to open his eyes and look at the nearing boy with a serious and slightly dissatisfied face.

Watching Zoro make such a face while looking at him, Ryuu waved his hands with a wry smile.

"It's alright, I'm not going to give you a lecture or blame you for what you did. Those demons deserved it, and in fact, they should've been tortured more before killing them right off the bat for what they've done."

Zoro raised his brows in surprise as Ryuu had earlier reminded him to not act out of his plans and do anything unnecessary, but his words made him nod his head internally as he came to know Ryuu wasn't some heartless person who only did things according to the strict plan.

Giving a glance at the two heads that were growing cold, Ryuu held back the disgust and muttered.

"Now that we've killed these two instead of just subduing them and removing their memories, the other demons who visit this shop will come to know of this incident and they'll report this to the higher up."

"Which means we'll have to quickly leave this place and lay low for some while."

Zoro didn't seem to like that idea as he gave one of his own.

"It's cowardly to hide after killing these demons, so why don't we just stay in this place and kill whoever comes into this shop."

His words brought cold sweat to Ryuu who almost fell off, but while rubbing his forehead, he refused the idea.

"We can't do that Zoro. Do you even know how many people visit this shop regularly, and how strong they may be? Or what if some higher-up was passing by, and he smelled the blood before walking inside the shop? What will happen then?"

Giving a shrug, Ryuu continued convincing Zoro.

"Even if we take them out one by one, at one point the surrounding demons may come to know about it and they may report it back to the leaders of the city, which would mean the whole city will be attacking us with everything they got. You wouldn't want us and that little girl to become slaves of those demons right?"

Zoro had a frown on his face as he pondered on the consequences of doing what he intended to do.

There was also the matter of the little girl getting enslaved again by the demons which made him feel angry at thinking of putting her in danger.

With a sigh, he muttured in defeat.

"Alright, I understand. We'll have it your way from now onwards."

Getting the man agree, Ryuu had a smile on his face.

"Umm, guys...?"

Hearing a soft and confused voice calling them, Zoro and Ryuu turned around to look at their other partner.

Akeno was standing near the door with a little girl holding her thighs in a scared manner, but her eyes peeked slightly at Zoro.

They could see that the girl was still afraid and terrified from the past things that had happened to her, and could only get a bit close to Akeno who was a woman.

Ryuu and Zoro looked at each other, before they both nodded and walked over to the girl.

The girl took a step back seeing them coming towards her, but their next action confused her.

Both of them, one tall and the other short, kneeled down on their knees and gave.....tried to give a gentle smile at her.

"Hey there little girl, what's your name?", Ryuu called out softly in a friendly manner.

"Ahem, h-hey I'm Zoro. I'm sorry if I scared you back there, I just wanted to remove those hand cuffs.", Zoro who was a bit awkward at dealing with kids tried his best not to scare her, as he used soft tone that was completely unlike him.

Ryuu widened his eyes at the act and thought out loud.

'Is that even the same person who slashes around his swords for no reason.'

But it seemed that the act was not actually wasteful, as the little girl stared directly in Zoro's eyes and muttered in a low voice.

"....thank you.", her cute face had a hopeful and scared expression as she said so.

On the other hand, Akeno was surprised that the girl finally replied back.

Earlier, she had tried to talk to the girl in hopes of taking care of her current situation, but the girl seemed to not reply at all, expect for nodding and shaking her head.

Zoro gave a small smile receiving the girl's gratitude, and moved a bit forward before patting her head softly.

"There's no need for a thank you. I just did what anyone would've done."

Akeno and Ryuu turned to look at each other and also had bright smiles on their faces, which made Zoro's cheeks a bit red from embarrassment.

He tried to ignore them, and instead talked quietly with the little girl.

"What's your name, little girl? And where are your parents?"

The girl with short black hair that reached her shoulders and blue eyes, bit her lips in pain and muttered out.

"M-My name is Alisia.", her eyes turned teary as she continued.

"A-As for my p-parents...I dont know where they are...."

She looked down at the floor while clenching her dirty clothes tightly, and holding back her tears which had been already dried from all the crying.

Zoro sighed as he had guessed it already, the girl was too young, about just 8 years old.

There was no way she would know where her parents would be in this big cruel world.

Ryuu looked deeply at their interaction as he contemplated on what do to from now.

They had already raided one shop, and there were two other shops left before he could feel a bit safe from the threat of the missions.

The duration of the mission was 2 days, which meant today and tomorrow, and if he failed to complete it, then he would die.

'Only two more shops left to raid. I can convince them with the matter of food, but what about the little girl? What do we do with her.....'

He wasn't much used to kids and never knew how to deal with them, but he knew that taking her along with them to raid the shops would put her, and themselves in danger.

Looking at Zoro happily talking with the little girl, Ryuu turned to Akeno.

"Hey, do you have any idea what we should do with her? We've yet to raid- I mean locate any food rations, and bringing her with us would be quite dangerous."

Akeno too frowned as they had yet to find any food, which was their sole reason to ransack this shop, and with the addition of the little girl, it would prove to be much harder for them to proceed in finding at the other shops.

"You're right. It's already evening, and if we don't find any food from somewhere, then we'll have to stay hungry for the whole night, which would weaken us in case of an emergency."

She had already started to calculate all the things that woudd happen with their actions, while narrowing her eyes to think for a better plan.

As Zoro heared them discuss on the matter of the little girl, he raised his head and voiced out confidentially.

"You guys don't have to worry, It'll be my responsibility to look after Alisia in the next raids. I'll protect her while also doing my part in the operations."

Alisia looked at Zoro with her dull blue eyes, she didn't understand why the green haired man was willing to protect her, but her heart warmed up as she felt a comforting feeling in her chest while staring at his strong and serious face.

Ryuu frowned pondering about the situation, he stared at Alisia and Zoro a few times, and in the end, he couldn't come up with a better plan.

He sighed with an exhausted face and decided.

"Sigh....that will be the plan then."

Zoro gave a small smile and turned to look at Alisia with a determined face.

Alisia, who didn't understand much of what they were about to do tilted her with a confused face and asked in her childish voice.

"...what is the plan?"

Zoro gave a large cheshire smile at her question, that made the girl take a step back as he responded.

"We're gonna take a big bite out of those demons..."

Ryuu turned to Akeno as they both facepalmed, wondering what more trouble the green haired man would be causing next.