Chapter 019: Fears Without Reassurance

"Burp! I think I'm pregnant." Shelly rubbed her stuffed stomach.

After eight pieces of meat, she couldn't fit anything else in her, but Arthur and Maou were still gorging, going strong and tearing away at the mountain range of meat in front of them.

Seeing them eat more food, made the pregnant-like Shelly disgusted.

"Guys…. I'm full… so I'm going for a walk." Shelly held her food baby while slowly getting off the stool.

"We'll just be here." Arthur waved two slabs of meat in his hands.

"Stay… *chew*… safe… *chew*." Maou tried to spit out words while his hands stuffed his face. "I'll… *chew* … meet… *gulp* … you at the Inn."

"Wait! Shelly!" Arthur stopped Shelly. "Where should we meet for our journey tomorrow?" 

"Maou will show you to our Inn. Right, Maou?" 

"Will do." Maou grabbed another piece of meat. "Don't let your bad luck get you in trouble!"

"I won't." 

Shelly kissed her teeth, annoyed by the reminder of her bad luck.

Leaving the bar, Shelly penguin walked, massaging her food baby. 

The men and women who saw her walking along the road felt their hearts drop from her pained expression. 

"Such a poor thing. Is she okay?" 

"She shouldn't be walking around at that stage. She'll hurt herself and the baby."

"How dare that deadbeat dad let her outside by herself."

"I'll beat him if I ever get the chance!"

To them, Shelly looked to be in pain from carrying her 8-month-old pregnant belly around.

Shelly wobbled from street to street, the difference in wealth becoming more evident. 

Houses were packed terribly close to one another and patched up by rotting wood planks. 

The roads were not made out of brick, but the dirt that became hard over the many years that people stepped on it. 

Men passed out on the ground with a beer bottle in hand.

Women, with their scrawny and disease-ridden children in their arms, had their hands stretched out begging. 

In some of the shadow covered alleys, there were "used women" passed out flat on the ground. The sound of other women "currently being use" was muffled but apparent.

"Ha! So this is the poor side of town." Shelly sighed. "The smell and feel are all too familiar. Just like back home." 

Two small children were walking with heavy loads on their backs, dirtied clothes and face. They wore no shoes and their hair seemed to have never been cared for before.

"Sis, my tummy hurts."

The little boy in tattered clothing pulled his sister's arms sobbing.

"Stop thinking about it… we'll eat tomorrow." The sister rubbed her brother's head, comforting him.

"Hey, you two! Mind if I ask what's your name?" Shelly crouched down closer to them.

The two, reminded Shelly of Lin and Len, back at the orphanage. 

"What do you want?!" The sister pulled her brother behind her, protecting him.

"No need to be scared." Shelly raised her hands in the air, showing her lack of hostility. "I just want to show you both a magic trick." 

"Leave us alone!" The sister was still defensive. "We're not interested in your tricks."

"You can keep this if you participate." Shelly pulled out a silver coin and gave it to the sister.

"I'm listening." The children became at ease.

Shelly placed out both of her hands clenched, and said. "There is a silver coin in one hand. Pick correctly and you get the money." 

The sister thought intensely as if her life depended on it. 

"Right hand... I think." She hesitantly spoke.

Shelly slowly opened her hand, building the suspense. 

"Lucky you!" Shelly exclaimed, showing her the silver coin.

"You did it, sis!" The brother hugged her sister as she received the silver coin. "Thank you, lady!"

"You're welcome... Wait!... There's something behind your ear." 

Shelly reached her hand to the little boy's ear.

"What's this? … Another silver coin!" 

"What! No way?!" The boy and girl were surprised. 

Shelly handed the coin to the boy. 

"Magician Shelly, at your service." She gave a bow.

"Thank you, kind lady." They both hugged her leg tightly. 

"Farewell kiddos and stay safe." Shelly patted them on the back and walked away.

Both the children, with smiles on their face, ran off excitedly.

"Stop crying, you softy." Tears crept into the corners of Shelly's eyes. "That's barely gonna help them."

Cutting her leisure walk short, Shelly went back to the Inn, ready to start repairing Maou's clothes.

To start her work, the two pairs of shoes were stuffed with paper bags to stretch them out.

The grey shirt was a bit difficult because there wasn't anything to remove the stains but an idea came to her mind. 

"Why not just make cute designs?" She thought to herself.

The first stain had a slightly circular look, she made a nice sunflower with yellow and green thread. 

The second stain looked like two fingerprints. Using her imagination and brown thread, she sewed a peace sign with small stars around it, using yellow thread. 

The last set of stains were liquid splashes of some kind. Using the stain as a base, she sewed blue thread to make raindrops.

The second piece of clothing was the large brown pants with a huge tear in the crotch. The first step in fixing this was cutting the pants in two, along the seams to adjust the size. 

Using the scissors, she trimmed both of the half pieces of the pants to fit Maou. After getting all the measurements right, Shelly began sewing the two pieces back together and fixing the torn crotch.

The third piece of clothing was a white shirt with a tear under the right arm and dirt marks. Since the dirt marks could be washed out later, she left it out and focused on the torn armpit. It was a simple fix using white thread.

The fourth piece of clothing, a beige shorts that had a pocket torn halfway through. Using simple beige thread Shelly repaired the torn pocket.

The fifth piece of clothing, a black button-up shirt with 3 out of 5 buttons gone. This was also a simple fix as every sewing professional carried many different buttons. 

While Shelly couldn't find three of the same colour buttons, she fixed them with some cool looking ones. A black and red, sky blue and rosy red buttons.

For the sixth clothing, the red shorts. Although the colour of the shorts was terribly fading away in some spots, Shelly had a genius idea. 

Simply, make lines along the edges of the faded parts, making it look as though it was an intentional new design or new fashion.

Lastly, were the underwear that had tears here and there and the waistband loose. 

This was another simple fix, Shelly just had to fix the holes and tears and tighten the waistband.

It was one hour past sunset, by the time Shelly was finished repairing and adjusting Maou's clothes.

"Shelly! I'm back from eating with Arthur." Maou burst through the door, looking like a 200lbs balloon. "What are you doing?"

"I just finished fixing your new clothes." Shelly showed him the final products.

"Wow! It's so much better than the cheap garbage you brought that day." Maou spoke in a nonchalant voice.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Shelly clenched her fist, a little hurt by Maou's words.

"Can I try them on now?" Maou asked.

Shelly got up and stretched before answering Maou. 

"Sure! Right after you bathe." 

"No! Not again!" Maou tried running away but his increased weight slowed him down.

"You're going to bathe since it might be a while before we have a proper bath again." Shelly knocked Maou to his side and rolled him to the bathhouse

"But I don't want to." Maou tried begging, but it was to no avail.

In the bathhouse, once again, Shelly dragged Maou into the female section. 

He reluctantly cooperated, rather, he had no will to resist, and we went back to our room. 

While Maou was trying on the different outfits, he had a strange question to ask. 

"What is this world like? Is it full of good people?"

Shelly sat on the bed edge, struggling to explain the harshness of life to the innocent Maou.

"Well…. Let's just say… Um…  everywhere has it's… good and bad at times." 

"I wish the world was full of good people." 

Maou's face became saddened and he suddenly hid his face in her lap. 

"Then, we wouldn't have to fight or be sad… or lose… friends."

"Maou… I…" 

Shelly was unsure of what to say to Maou. He seemed to be seriously troubled by something.

Maou looked at Shelly, the moonlight directly on his face. A tremble in his voice and tears running down his face. 

Shelly felt a wave of sorrow and sadness hit her unexpectedly. Why was Maou crying? Did she do something to him? 

"Shelly… I'm scared…" Maou tried wiping away the endless tears, sobbing. "I'm scared… I'm going to lose you."

"Lose me? Maou, I'm not gonna leave you." Shelly began crying along with Maou, for a reason she knew nothing of. "Remember. I promised that I'd never abandon you." 

Maou shook his head. 

"It's not just you… it's everyone I love. I'm gonna lose them again." Maou began crying more. 

"I'm scared, Shelly! I'm really scared! I don't know where this feeling is coming from, but please help me. I don't want to lose anyone… not again." 

"Maou… you won't lose anyone." Shelly rubbed his head to comfort him.

"Don't say that to me!" Maou's squeezed his hands tightly, holding in his anger from Shelly's words. "You don't know that! You're just saying that to make me feel better!"

"Maou… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to-." 

"I'll protect you!" Maou tightly gripped Shelly's legs. "I'll protect everyone. No matter what it takes! I won't lose anyone. EVER! AGAIN!"

Shelly sat there, with zero words coming to her mind. Hearing Maou's plea for help and seeing his internal conflict. 

What was she to say? Maybe her words would just offend him further. 

"Hey… Shelly." Maou spoke with his face still planted in her lap. "I'm feeling sleepy."

"Oh…. Um… let's get some sleep then…. With all that fun you had today, of course, you'd be tired."

Shelly tried to lighten the mood, but Maou just crawled onto the bed in silence. 

"Goodnight, Shelly." Maou wrapped himself under the covers.

"Goodnight…. Maou." Shelly answered in a soft tone. 

It was at this moment, that something cold and ruthless grew within the innocent heart of Maou. Or was it already there? I sincerely pray that it's our imagination. 

"Hope for the best, but expect the worse." 

A motto ingrained in the hearts of many but integrated into the minds of few.