[AN: Bonus Chapter 2/7]
Hearing the guard's question, Kiliffia became nervous. Her mind spun, trying to come up with an answer when Kiliffia remembered a certain plant her father told her about that could ward off bugs. "We-We used a special plant that wards off bugs. The grafoil plant."
The guard married his eyes once again and was about to say something when a voice came from behind him. "Wesly, why are you scaring two young girls. Let them through."
The guard, Wesly, turned to see an older man with black hair and a mustache walk over. "Captain Mel. But I find their presence strange..."
"No buts. What can two little girls do? All you are doing is scaring them. This is why you are still single." Captain Mel replied jokingly. He then stepped forward and flashed a smile: "Go on ahead, welcome to Triefil. We do not have much, but we have enough to keep you entertained."
"Ahem… Thank you." Kiliffia bowed her head and grabbed Tia's hand. "Let's go, sister."
Watching Kiliffia and Tia run off into the two, Wesly frowned and turned to Captain Mel. "Captain, what if they are spies? The direction they came from was the wall."
"Don't worry. Like I said, what can two little girls do. If they cause trouble and get caught, our men can have some fun. Until then, let them be. If you play your cards right, you may even get to marry one of them. Bahahaha!" Captain Mel still tossed in a joke at the end as he walked away.
Wesly still had some misgivings. He could understand where his captain was coming from. They have had an influx of men coming to this town, and if those girls did do something, they would be dragged away and sold off to the highest bidder. But he still felt something was off. First, the girls were outside early in the morning and seemed to have walked a great distance to get to this town. Wouldn't that make it so they would need to walk half the night? As he was on the night watch, he was very much aware of how bad the bugs were last night. Even if they used the grafoil plant to try to ward them off, they would still have been bitten in many places. But not only were they not bitten, they were perfectly fine. On top of that, it was the direction they were coming from. They were walking along the lakeshore, which means the bugs were even worse, and at the same time, they were coming from the direction of the wall.
All these things added up and made Wesly very suspicious. "Once shifts change, I will go and keep an eye on them.."
"That made me nervous… Kili, how did you know about that plant?" Tia asked.
"My father told me about it once. But I have a feeling we should stay sharp. I do not think that guard will leave us alone. Also… Do not get caught in an enclosed place with no one around. We are prime targets for kidnappers." Kiliffia warned. She had personal experience on how easy it was to be kidnapped. If it was not for her goddess at that time, she would not be where she is today.
"Mmm… I will stay close to you." Tia nodded her head. She was even more nervous than Kiliffia. She felt her heart drop once the guard began asking them questions. If Kiliffia was not there to give such a quick answer, she knew for sure she would probably have been taken in for questioning. What would happen to her after that, she did not know...
"At any rate, we need to find an inn to make our base camp. Then we will begin poking around. But to start off, we will only listen in to what others are…." Kiliffia paused as she saw a young rabbit girl around her age wearing rags and a metal collar around her neck. She was dragging a heavy wooden box while a human man was yelling at her.
"Hurry it up, you piece of trash! You need to make yourself useful. I do not need a slave who can only spread her legs." The man yelled as he took the whip off his side and lashed out at her. The rabbit girl cried out in pain. Her lifeless eyes that seemed to have given up on life began to well up with tears. "Oh? You can feel pain, huh? Then hurry the fuck up!"
Seeing such a scene in front of her for the first time made Kiliffia want to rush forward and help the girl, but she didn't. It took every ounce of restraint she had to not rush in. She knew if she did, then she would end up blowing her cover. She gripped Tia's hand tightly and pulled her away. She had to leave this area as quickly as possible, or she might end up killing the man where he stands. Tia felt the same as Kiliffia. If she was not so concentrated on the pain in her hand from Kiliffia crushing it, she would have run forward herself.
The two girls quickly found an inn and settled in. "We had to settle for a single bed. But at least this door comes with a lock."
"Yes, but we will still need to sleep in shifts." Kiliffia was not going to take any chances. They were inhuman territory. An unknown place where their kind was used as slaves. She did not want to risk any mishaps.
"We should at least get some rest for now, though, right?" Tia asked.
"Yeah, we will wait until later to try to hear anything." Kiliffia stretched her arm and walked over to the bed, and sat down to remove her boots. Tia went to the other side and was a bit more unreserved as she quickly kicked off her boots and crawled under the thin blanket. Seeing this, Kiliffia smiled before pushing herself up on the bed, slipped under the blanket, and leaned her head against the wall. Tia took this chance to snuggle up next to her and used her stomach as a pillow. This wasn't the first time they slept like this. With Kana gone, Kiliffia would seek refuge in Tia's room at night when she felt too lonely. They would then share the bed, and this was Tia's normal sleeping position. "Get some good rest. I will take the first watch."
"Thanks, Kili..." Tia responded. Her voice was already drifting off as she fell fast asleep.