Chapter 012: Lamdon Town

"Tweet! Tweet! Chirp!"

The sound of the birds singing in the trees near the outside of the cottage woke me up.

Opening my half-asleep eyes, my vision was blurry and my body still refused to move. 

"Toot! Pfft!" 

An awful smell flooded my precious nostrils and I fanned it away

"Purp! Toot!" The horrendous smell came back.

"Blegh! Gack!" 

I almost vomited at the awful stench that assaulted me again.

"What is that smell?! I jumped up, squeezing my nose shut. 

To my side, I saw Maou stretched out, sleeping peacefully and drooling. His sleeping face was so delightful.

"Pfft! Toot! Purp!" Maou farted.

"SO IT WAS YOU!" The few happy thoughts I just had, immediately faded away. "Can you be any less disgusting?

I shook Maou to wake him. "Maou! Get up, we need to get ready to leave."

"Five... more... minutes," Maou mumbled half asleep. 

"No, we can't stay any longer." I tugged on his arm.

"Stop. Let me sleep." Maou slapped away my hand.

I glared at Maou and an evil thought came to my mind. To tickle his feet. 

With an evil grin, I grabbed both of Maou's legs, locking them under my arms and began mercilessly tickling his feet. 

"Wait! Stop! Hahahaha! Stop I'm awake! Shelly, I'm awake. Please, I give up!" Maou slapped at the bed laughing and wiggling to escape.

I stopped tickling Maou's feet.

"Do you surrender to me?"

"Yes! I surrender to you, Shelly. Please let me go."

"Good! Will you get up out of bed now?" I smirked with an expression of superiority.

"Yes! I will."

"Well done." I loosened my grip on Maou's small legs. "You're a free boy now."

"You're so mean Shelly." Maou crawled out of the bed.

"I'm sorry." I apologized feeling a little bit terrible.

Maou looked away from me, pouting.

"Hehe! I'm really sorry Maou." I chuckled a little at Moau's cute pouting face.

"You aren't actually sorry." 

I smiled at Maou. "How about I make it up to you as my apology?"

Maou folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "You're not going to buy my forgiveness." 

"Is that so?" I pulled the sheet from over my legs.

"Yes Really!" Maou turned his back to me.

"And here I was thinking I would buy you lots of food when we get to the next town, but if it won't work I guess I can try something else." I subtly tried to bribe Maou, grinning sinisterly, as I knew his weakness was food.

"Grr! Gurgle! Growl! 

Maou flinched a bit, surprised at the bad timing for the loud sounds to come from his stomach.

"Well, there was a saying that went 'It is good to forgive, for your own heart's sake'. So you're lucky that I want to stay healthy." Maou rubbed his belly.

"Thank you for your forgiveness, oh great Maou." 

"What are we waiting for? Let's get moving already. I'm hella starving." Maou ran past the curtains, into the dining area then, outside of the old lady's cottage.

"I wish I could be as carefree as you are Maou." I got up out of bed, stretched my arms in the air and took a deep breath of fresh air. The forest air I inhaled was refreshing and healing to the lungs.

Out of proper teachings as a child in the orphanage. I fixed the bedsheets, cover sheets and pillows of both beds. Everything was beautifully and neatly placed back to how it was before we lay to sleep.               

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" Stepping into the dining area, I called out to the old lady but there was no response. "I wonder if she left already. But I wanted to say thanks for all she did."

Catching sight of the second curtain, I guessed it was her room. I didn't want to disturb her if she was sleeping, but I had to at least say "goodbye" before I left for good. 

"Maam, are you sleeping?" I stood directly in front of the curtains. "I just wanted to say thank you before I left. You were so kind enough to let us sleep here. You even went as far as to feed us and I really appreciate that." 

For some reason, this old lady, whom I didn't even know her name, was so welcoming and kind to a bunch of strangers like us. 

"I would love to stay and chat with you some more but I have to go." 

I stood there at the thick brown curtain, smiling to myself. This old lady was precious to me now. As much as I hated to admit it, I really did have a soft spot for the elderly and children. The nice talk and laughs we had were so enjoyable. If I had never left the orphanage, I would never have met this amazing person. 

She was one of the few good things to happen to me so far in this unlucky adventure. 

"I know this may be asking the universe too much, but I really hope I meet more people like you in the future."

I heard no response. I didn't want to invade her privacy but I just wanted to at least see her face once more before I departed.

Pulling the curtains aside, I saw that the old lady wasn't there. 

"That's weird! This entire room is empty, but where did she sleep then?" I was stunned and full of questions about what I saw. 

The entire room was desolate. Not even a bed to be seen or a pillow to be seen anywhere. There were spider webs all over the room, dead insects in corners and layers of dust everywhere. It looked like no one ever used this room before.

"What's taking so long Shelly!? Let's go now, I'm starving. Please!" Maou poked his head through the front door.

"I'm coming. Give me a second."

Pulling back the curtains, I lifted my travel bag onto my back and exited the old lady's house, closing the door behind me tightly. We followed the trail we took to come to the cottage and not long after came up onto the lesser road again. It was early morning, around three hours after dawn. The morning sunlight was warm and gentle. The cool morning wind blew-by gently. 

After walking with no stops till almost one past noon, we finally came up to a town called Lamdon Town. The entrance of the town was crowded with people. Farmers stood next to their carts of fruits and vegetables yelling at the top of their lungs the prices of what they were selling. There were people selling jewellery and clothing, which they laid out on sheets by the roadside. 

Wild children, big and small, laughed and ran around the streets playing tag. Mothers carried their helpless babies on their back while those who could stand walked close behind. Horses drew carts with items in them. The crowds and noise of Lamdon reminded me of Divali. Divali was the name of the town where the orphanage I grew up in was located which made me feel a little at ease. Turning to see Maou's reaction to all this, to my alarm I didn't see him. He was lost somewhere among the crowds, nowhere to be seen. My stress and worry increased tenfold.

"Maou! Maou! Where are you?! Maou! Can you hear me?!"

I was shouting Maou's name in hopes of a response and pushing through the crowds of people haphazardly in every direction searching for him but I couldn't find him. After almost an hour of hopelessly trying to find Maou, I gave up. I was tired of fighting through crowds, crying out his name and questioning random people just to still not find him.

"Hey, kid! You can't just eat that apple. You have to pay for it first." Shouted an angry-sounding man. "Where are your parents!?"

"I'm starving! What do you expect me to do? Die?!" A familiar voice shouted. "And put me down already, you potato looking oaf!"

"What! No way! When did you eat so many, you little vermin?! I'll kill you!" The same man shouted louder.

"Hey! Potato oaf! Are you stupid?! Stop shaking me like that or I'm gonna vomit! Hurk! Hurk!" 

"Shut up, you little stealing rat! I'll get every coin from your dead body if I have to." 

"Shelly! Shelly! Help me, Shelly!" 

That familiar tone of voice and attitude. Without a doubt in my mind, it had to be Maou.

"Maou! Maou! Answer me! Maou!" I forced myself through the crowd, shouting Maou's name one more time.

Finally bursting through the crowd, I saw a hefty, hairy, shirtless, potato looking man with a straw hat on his head dangling Maou's small body in the air by an arm.