We sold all the remaining bread. We earned a total of 75 bronze coins. It's currently 4:31 PM, and we have a serious problem.

"Hurry up! They say he already arrived!" Ashie shouted as he ran.

That’s right — apparently, the Coperville family member already arrived, and we missed his arrival. That's bad.

We really wanted to see him. We were super excited and looking forward to it, but now it’s a missed opportunity.

Still, we kept running. It was pointless — even if we showed up now, our presence wouldn’t change anything.

And just as we rushed faster, Ashie bumped into someone while running.

"Ugh..." Ashie rubbed his knee.

"Ashie! Are you okay?" I crouched down to check on him.

"You’re asking her!? I’m the one who got run into!" said a loud voice.

When I looked at the person, it was a girl with short red hair and golden eyes.

She was wearing rags, so she was probably a commoner. But then…

"Is that… a dragon tail!?" I said, pointing at her tail.

Ashie stood up immediately and stared, surprised.

"Woah, it’s true!"

"Hmph! That’s right, you observed well, you fools. I am a mighty dragon girl, kukukuku," said the girl with a smug smile.

"Hey, but where are your wings?"

"Oh, right… Aren’t dragons supposed to have wings?"

I said that, but come to think of it — aren’t dragons reptiles?

"We, of the Draco race, are born without wings, you irritating brats."

"Draco?"

"Race?"

She rubbed her forehead and sighed.

"You can really tell you're still little kids. You don’t know anything."

"But you look our age too!"

"Yeah! You also look like you’re six!" I said, frowning.

"Kukukuku, don’t be mistaken, you rude little things. I’m seven. But don’t worry, I used to be like you — once you grow up, maybe the two of you together can make up one brain."

"I turn seven in three months!" said Ashie with a childish pout.

"And I do in two!"

She bonked us on the head with a closed fist and shook her head.

"Don’t talk to your elders with that tone!"

What the heck is wrong with her!? If she keeps this up, she’s gonna get gray hairs!

"Tsk... You didn’t even answer about what the Draco race is!"

"First, sit on the ground like polite children. Hmph," she said in a commanding tone.

If we tried to reason with someone like her, we’d be stuck all day arguing that she’s more immature than us, so it’s better to just obey and get the information we wanted.

Ashie and I glanced at each other and nodded. We knew arguing was a waste of time. We sat down and listened.

"That’s better. Ahem… First of all, Dracos are the result of a union between two races: dragons and apophis. Since apophis have… uh… what smart people call… I think it was… DNA! That’s it." She sighed, relieved to remember it.

"Cough cough As I was saying, apophis have a small portion of DNA similar to humans, and so do dragons. Therefore, when both have a child, we Dracos are born. We may look human, but we aren’t, and we’re not half-human either. We look this way because of... um… Digimon?"

"You mean 'evolution'?" said Ashie.

"You think you’re so smart, huh brat? Fine then, tell me — what’s the sun?"

What does that have to do with anything?

"A fire planet."

"Hahaha! I knew you’d get it wrong. Nope! It’s a ball of fire," she said smugly.

"Wasn’t it a plasma star? That’s what my grandpa Lui told me."

"You…! How dare you contradict someone older than you!" she shouted, clenching her fists and approaching us, fury in her eyes.

Uh oh, I think I know what’s coming.

I looked at Ashie — he knew what to do.

We both got up and started running.

She chased us, enraged, while we ran with no direction, hoping to lose her.

"Faster, Finn! That girl’s crazy!"

"I don’t wanna die, Ashie!" I picked up the pace.

"Stop right there, you brats!"

If we want to survive, we better hide somewhere.

Going back to the tavern would be bad — she’d see us go in and maybe come back to get revenge later.

We should hide in the monastery and tell a nun — maybe they can purify that wicked demon.

"Ashie, this way!" I changed direction toward the monastery, with Ashie following me and the girl trying to grab us.

"Tsk... Don’t think you can escape!"

"As long as we’re in a holy place, we’ll believe whatever we want!" Ashie stuck his tongue out at her.

We entered the monastery and ran in search of a monk.

"Ashie, this way!"

We ran up the stairs to the second floor.

"Once I catch you, I’ll kill you both!"

She also climbed up, and we kept running faster and faster.

Behind me, I could hear Ashie’s breathing getting heavier. It was only a matter of time before he couldn’t keep running.

I looked around and saw an open door.

I slowed down and grabbed Ashie’s hand.

We ran toward the door and went inside.

"Stop, you brats!"

"Never, old girl!"

Wait… something’s off.

That voice clearly wasn’t hers. In fact…

It was a man’s voice.

Ashie suddenly stopped, and I immediately looked at him and saw his frightened face.

"Ashie?"

I looked ahead again, and in front of us stood a big, tall man who looked angry.

Oh… so this is how we die, huh?

"How dare you enter a sacred place without permission — and during Lord Julius Coperville’s meeting no less!?"

Did he say Julius Coperville? Did I hear that right? That can’t be, right?

"It’s alright, Rufus. No need to speak so harshly to two lost children."

Said the man with an angelic and soothing voice — a man with black hair, violet eyes, and a face too beautiful to be real.

He’s tall — I can’t estimate how tall since I don’t know how to count.

He’s wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a black jacket.

He also has a cross tattoo on his neck and another on his hand, paired with a rose.

That man… is Julius.

Julius looked at us and smiled.

"Are you lost, little ones?"

"N-No sir... I-it’s just... a gi—"

"Sir! There was a girl snooping at the door!" said one of Julius’s guards, entering with the girl being held by the neck.

Julius turned his gaze to them.

"Let her go. Now." His face showed anger.

Judging by his tone, it was probably because the guard was handling her too roughly.

"Y-Yes sir!" The guard let her go, and she started breathing heavily.

Julius walked up to her and knelt, placing a hand on her back and patting gently.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

She looked at Julius and turned red as a tomato.

"N-n-n-no sir... 'Waaaah, he’s so dreamy.'"

Julius smiled and sighed in relief.

"Good… Can you tell me your names, little ones?"

"I-I’m Eve!"

"A-Ashie, Ashie Van Hasselof!"

"Finn Harvest!"

So her name is Eve… By the way, does she not have a last name or just didn’t say it?

"I see. I guess you three were playing and got lost, huh?"

"No! She was—!" Ashie started, but Eve rushed over and covered his mouth.

"Y-Yes, hahaha… w-we were playing tag and ended up here..."

"I see, so that’s what it was." He smiled.

We all looked at each other and crossed our arms.

"Little ones, as you can see, we’re in an important meeting right now… So unfortunately, I can’t chat with you any longer..."

"Y-Yes sir, we’re sorry!" Eve bowed her head.

I guess I should do the same?

So I did, and Ashie followed suit when he noticed.

"Hahaha, come on! No need to be that formal. Just be careful where you go next time. It’d be unfortunate if you entered the home of someone bad and got hurt."

We all nodded.

"Promise me you’ll be careful when you play?"

"We promise!" we said eagerly.

"That’s the spirit! Now, little ones, if you’ll excuse us..."

We nodded and left the room. A guard escorted us to the monastery’s exit, and we left.

"It seems like he’s a good person," said Ashie.

"That’s because he liked me," Eve replied arrogantly.

"Oh, come on, you’ve got no charm at all."

"You jerk...!" Ashie clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Now that I think about it… weren’t we in the middle of something?" she said, then suddenly clenched her fists and punched both Ashie and me on the head.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," Ashie rubbed his forehead.

"Damn it..."

"Anyway, I’m heading home. I’m exhausted."

"Hey, didn’t you say your parents were both reptiles?"

I mean, where would she even live? A cave? Underground?

"I live with my adoptive parents, what about it?"

"And what’s your last name?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well, I mean, everyone has one, right?"

She sighed.

"Rianni. Eve Rianni."

"Oh! Are you related to Miss Amanda Rianni?" Ashie asked with a smile.

"How do you know my mom!?"

"Miss Rianni bought three loaves of homemade bread from us three days ago. She’s a really kind lady."

"S-So the homemade bread was made by you two..." she muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Anyway, I don’t want to be on bad terms with the daughter of our best customer so far. Let’s get along, Eve," I said with a smile, extending my hand.

"F-Fine! B-But I’m only doing you a favor, okay!?" she replied, blushing deeply as she shook my hand.

"Huh." Ashie tilted his head to the side, clearly annoyed.

Still, in the end, he extended his hand too and shook Eve’s.

"A-Anyway... I’m out of here..." she said and ran off.

We also noticed the sky was starting to turn orange.

"We should head home too, Ashie."

"Yeah, let’s go."

And so, the two of us made our way home.

What a day...

But I honestly had a lot of fun.

I hope we can get along with Eve, and maybe this way... I can understand other kids like me a little better.

Meanwhile...

"You bastard!"

A boot slammed down on the guard’s head in the monastery courtyard.

"If you’re scum, then act like it! Why are you pretending to be more than the trash you are!?"

The man kept stomping on the guard’s head.

The guard’s skull was soaked in blood — the parietal area clearly cracked open.

"Just stepping on your filthy, repulsive head stains my soul!" he spat in the man’s face.

"'Julius, the child-beating noble,' is that what you wanted them to say, you piece of trash!?"

"N-No..."

"But no matter, I don’t resent you. Scum like you can be replaced."

He extended his hand, palm open.

"P-Please, no sir!"

"Don’t worry. My abyss doesn’t discriminate. Not even against garbage like you."

From the void, a mouth like that of a shark opened — filled with dark fangs, made of shadow itself.

The maw devoured the man, crunching flesh and bone, as blood stained the monastery’s grass.

"Tsk... Disgusting."

"You two, clean this up!" he ordered his subordinates.

"Yes sir!" they both answered, immediately starting to scrub away the blood.

"Karl," he called.

An elderly man dressed formally, with combed-back hair and a beard, stepped forward.

"Yes, young master?"

"He’s not in this city. Make the vanguard move in."

"At once, my lord."

Karl quickly left the courtyard, heading toward a specific destination.

What could be approaching? Who knows.