Chapter 4: Deal With A Demon

Deal With A Demon

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Making money secretly in a village like Swaying Forest is impossible, so Adal doesn't even try.

Instead, a few days after his promise with Riva, he approaches his father. "Dad, I want you to give me half my earnings as a personal allowance."

His mother looks at him. His brothers look at him. His sister looks at him. His father turns his eyes slowly and deliberately as if unable to believe his own ears.

"Excuse me?"

"I want half the money you make from what I bring home."

"You bring home about 20 coppers a month. You're saying you want me to split 10 coppers for you to personally use."

"Yes, I think it's fair."

Roko turns to his eyes to the heavens. "My eight year old son – the young master Adal – who lives in my house and eats my food is telling me he thinks it's fair that I split the household income with him. Why have you cursed me like this, heaven?"

For the first time in months, his father had the energy to take out the strap and beat him with a great deal of viciousness.

That was Adal's first and only idea. It's a hard question. How do you make money when your family takes all the money you make and it's impossible to make money in secret since the market is small and the town gossips too much? He has no idea.

He and Riva brainstormed about it several times with no real solutions.

The only plausible idea came from her. That the only way is that he must make the two silvers and hand it to her right after she declares independence. Thus it's legally hers and only hers.

"Can't you just declare independence now and start earning money?"

"Who would hire me? And where would I live?"

Riva declaring independence immediately would be helpful, but they run into the problem that no one would hire her even if she asks for a low wage and no one would let her live with them even if she had money. Her being a 'loose girl' is a problem. Her being targeted by Bear is an even bigger problem. This why the house is so crucial.

So Adal has to make money without anyone knowing or make it in an instant. Two impossible scenarios.

Months pass since they formed their plans and Riva is feeling pressured from the villagers and her family. That makes her turn her ire onto Adal saying that her problems are also his as he promised to marry her. He needed some relief and the wasteland soon provides.

Long after he devoured the merchant, he finally sees another wagon coming in the horizon. Excitement instantly fills him and he nearly jumps out of his shaded hiding spot.

This wagon has a lot of people. The wagon itself has two older men, an older woman and a younger one, and three very young children. The wagon is being pulled by two horses. Alongside this wagon, though, are two men and a woman riding their own horses. All of them are armed.

One of the older men sitting in the wagon checks a map and they begin heading in another direction. Adal isn't going to let them go, though. Seeing the direction they're heading in, he runs ahead and jumps into a bush ignoring the thorns that pricks him. He prepares an arrow.

Perhaps 20 or 30 minutes later, he hears them arriving. They're still far away but he can better make out their features now. The two armed men have a long sword and leather armor. The woman covers the back of the wagon and she has a bow slinging around her chest. She is also armored.

He already decided his target. The woman. Fighting the merchant who can rapid fire arrows months back proved to be extremely scary. If he has to fight anyone, he wants to fight the people who can't fight him from a distance.

Adal begins aiming. It's difficult, though. The woman is well armored. Her chest and stomach are both entirely covered. The armor even extends a little downward to cover her butt, crotch, and thighs. She's wearing a helmet, but her face and neck are uncovered as are her arms and lower legs.

He can't aim for her face or neck. The aim is not only difficult to pull off, but he also can't risk killing her. Not seeing much option, he figures the lower leg it is. He aims and let loose an arrow.

It whizzes past her head and lodges into the side of the wagon.

"Damn it."

She lets out a yell of alarm and the entire wagon is alerted. Adal quickly nocks another arrow and lets it loose. It hits the woman in the side unable to pierce the armor she's wearing. She lets out a grunt but is uninjured. Worse, she now knows his exact location and announces it. The men pull out swords and she takes out her own bow.

Adal abandons the bow and launches an energy ball at the woman's horse. It hits its neck causing it to squeal and rear back falling over with the woman. She lets out a scream as the horse lands right on her legs. It kicks out as it gets back up injuring her even further.

One of the men cries out as the other one race towards Adal's location. With the woman out of the way, though, his confidence quickly raises. He jumps out of the bush throwing an energy ball causing the man's frightened horse to stop.

Jumping behind a dead tree for cover, Adal begins lobbing multiple energy balls. One of the wagon's horses gets hit dead on and starts kicking smashing the wagon. This causes a domino effect where the other horse panics too and also kicks. The wagon is broken and they end up fleeing.

The armed men realize the danger and gets off their horses intending to head for Adal on foot. That is a mistake. He starts lobbing energy balls at them and their proximity makes aiming easier.

They try to power through, but the closer they get, the more force the balls hits them with. Adal is beginning to feel drained too but he could keep this going for a few minutes longer.

Finally, a lucky ball gets the man in the head and, this time, it is close enough that it hits hard. His helmet goes flying off and he drops onto his back unconscious. The last man stops and calls out.

"Stop! Stop attacking! We surrender!"

This is a surprise. This is the first time anyone ever surrendered to Adal. Not that he fought many to begin with, but he still never expected it.

"Uh, drop your weapons and back away!" The man does as ordered. He backs up until he is near the wagon. "Now everyone in the wagon, get out."

Again, all does as demanded. The young children are crying and the older woman is terrified. She is hysterical.

"Give up! You can't give up! What is going to happen to me and my daughter-in-law? What is going to happen to my husband and son! You have to keep fighting!"

"Ma'am." The armored man tries to calm her. "This is the best chance we have. Please just stay calm."

That makes her angrier. "You useless fool! Do you think you'll be getting paid for this?"

"Ma'am, I'll be satisfied just to make it out of here alive." He clears his throat. "We have done as you have demanded. We only ask that you take the money and spare the people here."

Adal steps out from cover and walks up to them. The eyes of everyone widen.

"A…little boy?" The armored man says in disbelief.

The armored woman whose horse fell on her struggles to look up. She lets out a gurgling laugh. "We got beaten by a little brat? Damn it, just kill me now."

The older woman is also in disbelief. "You? A baby boy did this? How…how dare you? How dare you!"

She makes a move in his direction but Adal forms an energy ball which has her scurrying back in fear.

"You're a strong magic user. An Earth grade?" The armed man asks. "That is how you defeated us."

Earth grade? No, not yet. One day, he will be. These people will help him get there. First, though, did he say there is money in the wagon?

"How much money do you people have?"

"120 coppers. You are welcomed to it all."

"That's…pretty good." Adal says realizing his money problem may be closed to being solved. "What else?"

"Take the inventory and sell it. You'll earn two silvers easily. Maybe even three."

Months' worth of money. Adal's excitement grows internally, though he keeps it inside knowing the situation is not quite done yet. He stares at all of the people. He knows what he wants to do with them.

"I need all of you to be tied up. You first, armored man."

They are forced to do so. Adal has all the men, except for the unconscious one, tied up leaving only the women and children alone. Once done, he walks over to the unconscious one and checks his breathing.

"He's still alive. Good."

"I didn't realize you cared." The older man says sarcastically. "Very compassionate."

Adal grins. "No, I'm not."

He places his hands on the man's head. The next few minutes involves a lot of horrified looks and screaming. He drains the unconscious man, then promptly attacks the tied up men despite their pleas for mercy.

The injured guard woman tries to grab him as he approaches but he stomps hard on her head, then drains her. The women and their children are frozen in fear and aren't even moving unable to comprehend their disaster. He takes them all.

By the end, the area is littered with mummified corpses and Adal is very satisfied.

Once again, he tests his newfound increase in power. He forms an energy ball and throws it towards the tree he was taking cover behind. The force tears apart its midsection and topples it. Out of curiosity, he forms another ball and just throws it into the distance. It moves extremely far before finally dissipating.

So the power and range of his abilities has increased dramatically. No wonder considering he just devoured ten people in one go. Months of nothing then he gets ahold of this feast. He is lucky, indeed.

Perhaps more lucky than he thinks.

Searching the wagon, he discovers a small pouch containing the 120 copper the armed man spoke of. The family also appears to be moderately wealthy as the wagon was filled with jewelry, gems, medicinal herbs, and more. Much of this would sell for a great amount in the market place. He would have to stash this along with the other wagon he hid months back.

He is about to move the bodies to be disposed of when he gets a great idea. He piles them all atop each other, then throws several energy balls. The bodies are demolished into hard to identify pieces which are likely to be blown away over the course of time. That means body disposal will be much easier from now on.

Adal strenuously moves all the materials from the wagon to where he had hid the other wagon. He blows a small hole into the side of a rockface and stuffs everything inside, including the coppers. These will all be important later on. Riva will be happy.

He meets up with Riva later that day – they agreed to meet up three times a week on the same day and at the same time – in order to discuss things.

Nothing has changed with their plans, but Riva updated him on the going ons around town. It's useful since his father is quiet these days. Plus when Riva's vengefulness takes over, she reminds him of his father sometimes. He finds it amusing.

She tells him how there is a ruckus involving Goll the merchant.

He had been spending months and much silver trying to woo Bluska Bear for his son. For a while, it seems it was working. Bluska could sometimes be seen around the village with Goll's son Clod. Goll's family was also invited to parties and dinners with the Bear family and they were receiving favorable treatment.

However, Bluska Bear recently returned from an inter-village competition many of her family participated in and, shortly after, it is announced that there is a planned marriage between her and the son of a powerful family in another village. Soon, rumors emerged that Bluska had courted the other boy and had been doing so for months.

This greatly displeased Goll the merchant. Goll had spent an enormous sum on her in the hope of forming a relationship between their two families and it turns out she had been courting another family the whole time. In fact, while Goll was spending silver on her, she had been spending silver on the other boy.

Of course, the Bear family claims she did this without their knowledge and they won't stop her if she has fallen in love with someone else. Who can believe that, though? For a young girl to spend such enormous sums without her family noticing? And for her to actively court another boy without Bear being aware? Impossible.

However, Goll the merchant was publicly forced to accept it lest he offends the more powerful Bear family. There is noticeably much bitterness on his part, though. The Bear family even offered another potential marriage for his son, but he says he will ask if his son feels affection for her. That, of course, means no. Goll took a great risk in doing that, but human nature is hard to overcome.

"I guess I'm not the only one who Bear commits wrong against." She says with grim satisfaction. "They will get theirs one day."

She falls quiet. "Adal, do you think it's possible to overcome the Bear family?"

"I don't know."

"The only way to become powerful is with money. The best way to get money to have the right members in your family who can then earn a lot of money. From there, you expand. You create businesses, control markets, make sure that you get a cut of everything, and form alliances to increase or cement your own power. Roccoco actually taught me all of this. I didn't know before."

She continues. "To overwhelm Bear, you need to have more Earth grade members than them and make more money in the market than them. However, they naturally get any Earth grades because they're the most powerful family here and their wealth and influence means they control the market. Sometimes, you can't even open a business if they disapprove."

Riva looks at him. "Adal, do you know who leads Bear?"

"Uh, some patriarch?"

"Bear hasn't had a patriarch for years. The last one died in an attack during a trip. Rather than choosing a new patriarch, Bear has been led by the senior elders of the family since then. Its oldest and most powerful members."

"Okay…"

Riva sighs impatiently. "To fight against an enemy, you must know them. It's important to know Bear."

But he doesn't want to fight Bear…

"The point is that because of how power works, it basically means it's impossible to overcome the Bear family, doesn't it? After all, they control all the ways to gain money in Swaying Forest and money is the only way for people like us to gain power."

Adal disagrees with that.

"Why is life unfair?" She continues. "Why does my family struggle to earn even a silver a month, but Bear can afford to just give two silvers to anyone who lasts ten seconds against them in a fight and five for winning? It wouldn't even make a dent in their pockets."

There is a pause in Adal, then his eyes slowly widen in realization. That's the answer to their house problem.

He already has 160 coppers and the stuff he stole can more than make up the rest…but the problem is getting it into Riva's hands and also explaining where it came from. It would be a lot simpler if he could just win the amount and do so publicly.

"Riva, that's it. Two silvers to last ten seconds. Isn't that our ticket to the house?"

"Don't be a fool. You know as well as I do that the offer is so good because you'll be facing an Earth grade. A trained one at that. No one can last that long against them."

"What if I am able to?"

"Don't you dare." She hisses. "We had a deal. You will marry me. You can't do that if you're dead."

"How can I prove to you I'm strong enough?"

She purses her lips, then asks him to follow her. They go to the outskirts of the village where the power stone sits. It is completely empty and isolated. After all, who wants to be here when there is no test? No one wants the stone as it's too heavy to steal and isn't worth anything anyway.

"You get the idea already, right? The stone is the best way to gauge strength. I don't know what you originally measured at, but I know it isn't much otherwise word would have been all around the village. Beside, Bear gets all Earth grade villagers, and you aren't a part of Bear. You want to prove to me that you're strong enough? Do the test right now."

Adal glances at her and swallows, then he places the hand on the stone. She begins counting out loud.

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Thirty. Adal's eyes light up, but Riva is unimpressed. She doesn't know his original time was only 20 seconds.

Forty seconds.

At 52 seconds, Adal is repelled. Riva whistles a little.

"How did I not hear about you? You actually came pretty close to Earth grade." She scowls. "Not that it makes any real difference. The difference between 59 seconds and 60 is an entire chasm. 53 seconds might as well be five for all the good it does."

On a level, he understands what she means. It is universally known that being Earth grade, even just barely so, means a tremendous increase in power. It is a day and night difference.

However, he can't agree that there is no difference below that. He knows that at 53 seconds, he is vastly stronger than he was at only 20 seconds.

"I can become stronger."

"Don't be a fool. The difference between a child and an adult is only a few seconds. Roccoco told me that with a lot of training and tutoring, there might be a difference of up to ten seconds. That's if someone is particularly talented. You don't have access to the training and tutoring without money. Breaking that seven second barrier is unthinkable."

"You wanted a house, Riva. You wanted to be my wife. I'm offering you all of that. I can cross that barrier and I can last ten seconds against one of the Bears. They will give me two silvers and I will give it to you for our house. Then we'll be free, Riva. Free!"

Her eyes are uncertain. "But how?"

"I can't really explain. I just need you to trust me. It might take a few months, but I can do it."

At that, Riva bursts into tears. "I might not make it that long. My family is becoming more threatening to me. Winter is coming, I can't make any money. I think my father might try to throw me out. I'll be on the streets."

Adal pauses. "Is money the whole problem? If I can get you a steady income, will it help you?"

"I think so."

"I…think I can find some items which you can make some money on."

The next time they met up, he places a fine looking chalice into her hands. Riva nearly falls over in shock.

"What is this? How did you find this?"

"In the wasteland."

She looks even more shocked. "You go out into that dangerous place?"

"Don't you think it's worth it?" He says gesturing to the chalice.

"Oh yes. Yes! If others knew, they'll be out there too. We must keep it hidden." She examines the chalice more carefully. "This is a fine chalice. It's well made and there are some fine gems studded into it. I'm pretty sure I can fetch at least 15 coppers for it. Likely more."

Her face shows trouble. "It'll be hell to explain this, though."

"Just tell them you found it in the wasteland."

"Don't be ridiculous. The wasteland is extremely dangerous. Who's going to believe I went out there myself? Besides, even if they do believe me, some might decide to go out there themselves." She thinks. "I will say I found it in the woods. I will get questions about it, but I'll ignore them. I will probably be followed too, so be prepared to act normal around me. Only when we are clear will you give me more treasures."

"Alright, I'll give you something every week."

"No. Perhaps every two or three weeks instead. I don't want to give the impression that I'm easily finding these. I also don't want to raise my family's expectations. I need just enough that they decide I'm worth keeping around. Once winter blows over and selling in the market becomes easy again, they'll be less likely to throw me out."

Adal nods. "Then everything is settled?"

She looks at him. "After we get our home, will you be able to get me more of these?"

"I think so, yes. If not, my hunting ability is pretty good. We'll make do either way."

"Yes. The most important thing is that we get our own home. We can make it after that." She takes a breath. "You say that, in a few months, you can gain enough strength to last against a Bear family member?"

"I'm sure I can."

"I want to help. What can I do?"

He pauses hesitating to ask her this. "Do you know of any nearby traveling groups?"

"Hm? Why? How will they help?"

"I, uh, want to start building connections. It will help us make money in the future."

"Huh. Good idea. I don't know of any, but I'll try to find out."

"Tell me as soon as you do. I especially need to know when they come close enough for me to go out and talk to them."

And thus things evolve.

Adal later discovers Riva sold the chalice even before she tells him herself. His father comes home with a disbelieving look on his face.

"Why are some so fortunate?"

"What do you mean?" Wida asks.

"That loose girl. The daughter of Toro the fish merchant. She found an amazing treasure in the forest. A beautiful chalice with gems. Everyone wanted to know where she got it, but she's keeping her lips sealed."

"There were Bear servants in the market and they rushed home to get their mistress who wanted it. The girl haggled hard and managed to wrangle 50 coppers from her. Half a silver in one single day!"

The idea makes Roko mad with envy. He turns to his sons with renewed show of rage.

"You worthless boys! You go hunting in the forest every day! And you, Adal, are there from daybreak to moonlight! Yet not one of you ever found anything like this! From now on, I want all three of you to search carefully. If you see even the tiniest glint, you are to go look for it immediately. Just one find like this is worth half an entire month of work!"

During their next meeting, Riva arrives and doesn't talk much. She just says hello, pats his head, and then sits to enjoy the view.

That is a signal. They formed a hand signal. If she arrives and pats him on the head, that means there are people nearby. If she arrives and pats a tree, that means all is clear. He gets the idea and says nothing to her.

A week later, when the whole buzz with Riva's find dies down, she finally arrives one day and pats a tree.

"These idiots. They can't even follow correctly. They peak their heads from the walls and I would catch them simply by turning around quickly. In the forest, they can't hide the sound of their footsteps."

"Did it work, though? Is your family happy?"

"They have to be. My father pressed me on where I found it. I bluntly told him in the forest but I'm not saying where exactly. Instead, I will continue searching for more." She smirks. "You should have seen the rage on his face."

She licks her lips. "It feels good, Adal. You know how long I held my tongue? Afraid to talk back too much? Always having to explain myself? Defend myself? It feels good. It feels good to have something everyone else wants."

"I can see why Bear enjoys their arrogance. It's addictive." Riva turns away. "I used to have that too, you know. I was called the town flower. Everyone loved me. That was why Roccoco wanted me. Now look at me. Cast out and despised. Mistreated. Abused. The funniest thing is that my face hasn't changed. Yet no one loves me anymore."

She clenches her teeth. "I hate them, Adal. I hate them with every fiber of my being. I will make them regret their treatment of me."

"But that time is far away." She lets out a sigh. "For now, I have something you might enjoy. I caught some talk about Goll taking a trip outside of Swaying Forest. This happens all the time, but I never listened before. This time, I did. It seems he's taking a trip for business purposes and to form new families."

"Okay…"

Riva knocks his head gently. "Part of it is due to what happened with Bluska. He's looking for a marriage alliance again for his son, Clod. He's a third generation merchant and his family has been very rich for as long. However, what they've never had is real power. The kind that comes from being nobility. He wants to be a nobleman."

"So he's only looking for noble marriage alliances?"

"Right. He wanted that for a long time and came close with Bluska. I'm not sure if he'll ever succeed, though. Nobles don't like marrying commoners. I heard he is frustrated enough to think of forming his own family. Word is that he's thinking of calling his family Fox. Because they're wily and clever. Goll Fox. How funny."

She clears her throat. "But enough of that. The important thing is that I hear Goll has been more active in the closest major village to Swaying Forest. It is half a day of travel away and there is a common path leading to the village. I hear many merchants and warriors use this path to travel to that village. It is called Many Lakes."

Adal flinches. 'Half a day's travel' most likely means by horse, not foot. If it takes a horse half a day to get there, it would likely take him several days on foot. Assuming he doesn't get lost.

"Many Lakes is a large, prosperous village where many traveling merchants and warriors go to. If you head to the common path, you will get to meet many people there. It is a great opportunity to form connections." She looks at him skeptically. "Though I still don't see how you plan to do so as a poor boy from a small village."

"I told you. We can sell things to them. If we become too much of a target here, the market will be closed off to us. We will need a new source of income and supplies. Besides, we might get better prices for our stuff."

"So you plan to travel that far in the hopes that you can sell and buy something?"

"It's better than starving." He changes the subject. "That means I should also get started."

"Huh? You plan to see them now? But we don't even know if there are any merchants there right this moment. Even if there is, how can you reach them in time? I heard you found a horse, but your family is using it, right?"

"I intend to walk there."

"Walk?" Riva nearly shouts. "Are you mad?"

"No, I'm desperate. For this reason, we may not see each other for a while."

"What? But…"

"Do not worry. I found a few other items I can give you. Just hide them in a secured place and sell them if you feel the need to. Do you have a map I can use?"

"No, but I can show you how to get there."

The directions are simple. He just has to move with sun on his left during the evening and right side during the day. Eventually, he'll reach a well treaded path and that is the common path. Considering the immense distance and the likelihood that he'd have to wait there for a long while, he'll need to be gone for a long time. He'll also need a lot of supplies.

When he inform his family that he plans to be gone for 'a few weeks' as he puts it and that he'll need a portion of the household game and water for sustenance, he receives incredulous stares from everyone.

His father stares at the heavens in anguish before turning to him.

"Would you like to explain why I should allow this or should I just go right to beating you?"

He planned for this. "I can bring home three silvers' worth of stuff."

Roko stares at him. "You're saying from this one trip, you can earn three whole silvers?" Adal nods. "How?"

"There are valuable supplies out there. I can find it."

"How? How do you even know it's out there?"

"There are lots of stuff out there. That's how adventurers make money."

"Most adventurers die poor. The ones that don't were rich before they became adventurers."

"But they still find stuff out there. Do you want me to keep looking for chalices out here or go back to making 20 coppers a month, maybe less, hunting game? There's a real opportunity here, dad, if you'd just take a chance on me. You have to trust me sometimes."

"No, I don't have to trust you…but I guess I can take a gamble every now and then. I'll give you a few pounds of meat and few liters of water. Make it last."

"What? You're actually letting him do this? Go out in that dangerous wasteland?" His wife protests.

"Shut up! He wants to be a man, so let him." Roko continues. "If you come back with three silvers as promised, I'll let you do it from now on without question."

"I can do this even quicker if you just let me use the horse."

"I'm not betting the horse on this. Just feel lucky I'm willing to bet food and water."

"And our son." His wife says bitterly.

As he leaves home packed with food and water, he can hear his sister asking their father if 'big brother has gone mad'. His father replied 'yeah, probably'. Adal would agree with them, though he'd say he gone mad a long time ago.

He stops at a hiding place in the forest to get some jewelry to give to Riva. She takes it gratefully, then hesitates for some reason. To his surprise, she closes her eyes and begins leaning down. Just as she nears him, she suddenly stops and pulls away.

She mutters that he should initiate and bid him good-bye telling him to be safe then leaves. Adal mouths good-bye to her and heads into the wasteland. He makes sure to walk with the sun always on his left and right.

It is a brutal journey. If he sees any animals, he instantly attacks with an energy ball. This saves his supplies. He also makes sure to only eat when he is maddeningly famished. As it turns out, managing rations isn't the worst part of the journey, it's the exhaustion.

It is the cold season. The days are frigid and the nights are worse. His energy balls allows him to blow out holes for him to sleep in and protect against the environment and even help keep him warm, but during the day when he must walk, it provides little protection. Often, his face and his hands feel numb. Even the slightest wind is painful.

Plus he finds he isn't sleeping well. When he sleeps, he sleeps for only an hour at a time then wakes up feeling just as exhausted as when he went to sleep. His mind is disoriented and pained. It's as if he wants to sleep more than anything, but can't actually sleep. He is going mad.

He eventually finds that devouring gives him relief, but then he is forced to make a choice. When he finds an animal, he stuns it with an energy ball then has to make a decision to whether devour it or eat it. It's a constant battle between his hunger and his body. His legs are becoming soft and his progress is slowing.

By the morning of the fourth day – longer than it should have taken him – he finally reaches a place that looks like it has a clear path towards and away from where the sun rises. More importantly, there are unmarked signs pointing somewhere and horse wastes littering the path. Adal realizes he has reached the right area. The common path.

And there isn't a single soul there.

He isn't that disappointed. He is used to the wasteland being mostly empty of life. Beside, right now, all he really wants to do is lie down and try to make his head ache less. He eats some dried meat, blows a hole in a large nearby boulder and climbs in.

Some time later – he doesn't know when – Adal wakes to the sound of a horse's clopping feet. He looks outside to see what is going on. The area is still well lit meaning that not that much time passed and, in the distance, he sees two men. An older man riding atop a horse heavily hung with bags and a younger armed man walking beside him.

The armed man isn't well armored and his sword is shabby. In other words, an easy meal.

He is about to head out when he heads the sound of multiple clopping horses comes up. The two men are instantly alerted, but moments later, they are surrounded by two hourses. Each horse containing two men on it.

Adal couldn't hear too well, but he gets the gist that the four men are bandits and are robbing the two other men. The two men are pleading that they'd be allowed to keep some of their stuff otherwise they'd starve.

He didn't care about any of that. All he knows is that the two men aren't well armed and the four bandits have one sword and three clubs between them. In short, all easy meals. They will also make his head hurt less.

He climbs out of hiding hole and begin walking towards them. The bandits spot him first and shout at him getting the two men's attention. One pair maneuvers over, though they didn't seem very concerned seeing that Adal is a kid and doesn't have a weapon on him. Big mistake.

An energy ball thrown at the feet of their horse creates a small crater that trips the horse sending them all to the ground. The horse struggles on its side pathetically while the men groan in pain. The other two bandits let out a shout and look as if they were going to flee. An energy ball thrown at their horse has it reeling back and falling over before it gets back up and runs away without its riders. One of the bandits isn't too injured and pushes himself up. Another energy ball hits him in the back and he stays down this time.

The two men being robbed stands still in shock. Adal devours the bandits and the one horse that couldn't get back up. The younger man lets out a cry of horror and pulls out his weapon. A few energy balls take him down. The older man is scared too much to do anything. They are both devoured.

Afterwards, Adal feels greatly better and he ate some dried meat which, for the first time in days, taste really good.

He looks around smiling. Not even a day passes and six people fall into his grasp already. He thinks he's going to like the common path.