For the next couple of days, we tried to find any landmarks that could give us a hint at our exact location. As we traveled, there seemed to be far more holy knights out and about than normal. So when we could, we hid. When we couldn’t, we fought. Hopefully, the holy knight general of this region won’t come investigating all the deaths.

Thankfully, we ran into a small village and from the signpost on the crossroad, we were able to distinguish our exact location. And I didn’t like it one bit.

We were pretty damn close to the capital.

“We should probably head in this direction to avoid the capital,” I said pointing to the north-northeast. “It’d be best for all of us if we could avoid it entirely. I don’t want to end up in the crosshairs of the Paladin. Though with our luck, the knights on that warship have sent messengers to the capital about Aldric’s escape”.

“Yeah, our only saving grace is that the knights didn’t realize we were half-demons too,” Oda added with worry laced in his voice.

Aldric seemed nonplussed about our situation, “If the holy knights send anyone after us, we should be more than strong enough to beat them”.

“Even if they send a general after us?” I asked pointedly.

“We should be able to outrun them”.

“I’d rather not have to,” Oda said with fear in his voice.

“For once Oda, I agree with you,” I concurred.

With that, our conversation ended as we all focused on walking over the rough terrain. I could hear Oda swearing underneath his breath about the hazardous bumps and ditches and I saw him almost fall a few times. Aldric, on the other hand, moved with the quiet grace of a leopard as he easily rested his weapon against his shoulder as he walked.

Every now and then, I would throw worried glances in the direction of the capital. The looming threat of the Paladin was weighing heavily on my mind. Traveling with Aldric brought about its own risks since he was being sought after by the holy knights. Hopefully, we’d be able to stay underneath their radar and avoid any unnecessary attention.

A few days went by and the waning moon was shedding some light for our nightly travel. From the looks of our map, we should be nearing an outpost of a medium-sized rural village. The night was quiet and Oda was silent for once. During our travels, I could tell that Aldric was also growing annoyed at Oda’s senseless chitchat.

Ahead of us, I noticed the light of torches and they were on the move. With a rushed hand motion to the bushes, I urged everyone to hide. Without complaint, everyone followed me and we crouched stock still as we stared at the torchlight that was moving towards us.

“I can’t believe that General Velox has ordered us to patrol these stupid dingy villages!” one holy knight complained while twirling a dagger in his hand.

“Hey, at least we’re getting paid well for this! You shouldn’t complain too much,” his companion replied as she pulled a flask from her breastplate to take a swig before offering it to the other two.

“Don’t you know, Richard over here wants to achieve fame and fortune and become a general!” another heavily bearded soldier laughed while slapping the first man on the back then taking a quick swig of the offered flask.

“Yeah and that means I need to get more experience fighting demons! I thought we were supposed to be hunting the half-demon that got away from the imperial force? Why the hell are we out doing stupid patrols in the middle of nowhere?” Richard complained while gesturing wildly with his torch. As he was doing this, the fire came very close to the bushes we were hiding in and I had to hold Oda’s mouth closed as he gasped in surprise.

“Did you hear something?” the woman asked as she stopped and listened.

“It’s probably a night monster hunting for prey, you’re just being paranoid,” a soldier said smugly.

He then was promptly punched in the face by the female soldier.

That led to them bickering with each other and soon enough they were far away from us.

With a glare at Oda, I carefully observed the surroundings and deemed it safe. We continued to walk towards the village since we were running low on supplies.

“Seems like we’ll have trouble with restocking on food at the next town,” Oda said as he glanced back in the direction of the holy knights.

I pressed on confidently, “If we’re careful we should be able to grab what we need in one night and then scram”. With a scathing look at Oda, I added, “You will be on lookout duty regardless. You’re too clumsy to be covert”.

With that, we continued while being on alert for any other holy knight patrol units. Thankfully, we only ran into one and we were currently hiding in the trees that overlooked the town. It was unusually busy since the holy knights were making a loud ruckus as they went about their duties.

While in the trees, we quietly discussed our plans. We didn’t know how long the holy knights planned on staying in this town and we couldn’t risk staying for too long. Aldric mused that there had to be a time when the holy knights were all taking a break and we should try and figure out the number of knights in the vicinity. Once we had a good count, we could figure out where they were and raid the safe houses.

We decided that we would try to resupply tonight since we didn’t want to risk being found by the patrol units. Oda and Aldric would be lookouts and/or distractions if needed while I would sneak in and grab food. If things went sour, we would flee in the direction of the Lunaris Mountains and meet up there. Aldric had been there before and he told us of a secret underground tunnel network that runs throughout the mountain range. He gave us clear and concise directions about how to get there and once we were back together, we’d continue on our journey.

The plan finished, we spent a couple of boring hours just watching the village. Then we counted around fifty soldiers of varying ranks moving around the town. Some were coming back from patrol while others were heading out. When they came back from patrol, they all seemed to be heading to the same location to rest. That was good for us since that meant there was less of a chance to run into pesky soldiers in the town.

Judging that we observed the town long enough, I quietly jumped from tree to tree until I found a good location to jump down. The branch was hanging near the back of a house so I was able to jump down and hide behind it.

This house was clear of soldiers as far as I knew so I might as well start here. Thankfully there were a few windows near where I was and I peeked through to see that one of them led directly to the kitchen.

The window wasn’t locked so I was able to easily and quietly open the window, the smell of incense wafted out of the room. Slipping in, I immediately went to the wooden cupboards and searched for any nonperishable foods. I grabbed bags of rice, pasta, and some various fruits.

Sticking them into my bag, I went to quickly leave but I could hear a loud commotion from the town center. Not only that, I could hear the sounds of footsteps from upstairs and I immediately fled from the house through the window. Crouching next to the house, I closed the window while leaving a small enough crack that I could easily eavesdrop on the occupant’s conversation.

A man’s voice groggily said, “What’s the ruckus about? These holy knights have been a real pain”.

A woman’s voice comforted him, “They should be leaving this place in a few days. We just have to comply with everything they demand and they’ll be gone soon enough”. She yawned.

“It pisses me off that they just came here and took over and demanded lodging and free food. They aren’t even grateful for anything we’ve had to provide to them!” the man said furiously.

The woman had nothing to say to that and only sighed. I could hear them walking around their house and then I heard them opening and closing a door. The house was then silent. 

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