The day started with an enormous confusion in the house. I woke up with several vines spreading all around. Some ended up on the top of the bed where I was sleeping. Looking at my right, Soleil’s bed was also filled with vines.

  “How long are you planning on sleeping?”

  “Good morning to you too, vine-lady.”

  SLAP

  “Behave.”

  “What have I done?”

  SLAP

  “Can you stop hitting me for 5 seconds and explain what is happening?”

  “The trial is in a couple of hours. And you three need to leave by the time the trial starts or Thalia is obligated to stay. So get a move on.”

  Hearing that, Soleil and I jump out of bed and promptly get dressed. The drud who stuck with us apparently left without giving any notice. For some reason, I don’t like that. And I truly believe it’s coming back to bite us later.

  Most of my clothes were pretty much restored. I learned that Rita ordered some of the dryads to restore them for us at no cost. Which is quite amazing. The clothes looked brand new. Rita also requested for Soleil’s swords to get fixed and reinforced with some sort of special wood they have here so they should be even sturdier. Since I lost all of the blades I had, she got me some gauntlets with iron spikes on the knuckles and the boots also had them. I don’t know how to use them but we are going by trial and error.

  Thalia was simply gathering as many arrows as she could. I offered myself to carry the excess luggage on the bag Harlow gave me but she promptly refused. This is going to be a long journey. I don’t care if she doesn’t trust me or Soleil but I don’t need to be held back. She appeared to be good with the bow and arrow according to Sol but I only trust what my eyes can see.

  “Is everything good? All set?”

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Think so. Thalia?”

  “Hm?”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Oh… uh. Yeah.”

  I understand that you are sad because you are leaving your house but you need to perk up. I can’t travel with someone who’s going to spend all of her time thinking about this place.

  “Are you three all good?”

  “Yeah. How shall we proceed now? Jump out of the window?”

  “You’re quick with the jokes, aren’t you, criminal?”

  “It was a legitimate question, old bag of sticks.”

  SLAP

  “Show some respect.”

  This time I was ready to grab the vines but it was Soleil the one who slapped me on the back of the head. So I guess women do group up together against a common enemy.

  BANG. BANG. BANG

  Three loud knocks on the door made the four of us present stare at the door and do as little noise as possible. I signal Soleil to grab Thalia and head towards the balcony and hide. If anything goes bad, they can only come for me since I am the one trespassing.

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  “We need to bring Lady Rita and Thalia to the court immediately. Don’t make us break-in.”

  I look at Rita and she is calm. She nods at me. The priority is to get those two out of here. I look at Soleil and I point down so Thalia can get them out of here. She signals to know what am I going to do. I simply tell her that I will figure something out as usual.

  When they start climbing down from the balcony, I head towards the door, to Rita’s surprise, and open it.

  “Hello there, fine gentleman. Quite a beautiful day, is it not?”

  “Stand still human or you will be killed right here and now.”

  With the two druds pointing their spears at me, I simply raise my hands and give them a smile.

  “My, my, is that a proper way to enter the house of Lady Rita? Is she not an elder of this village?”

  “Quiet, human. Or your head shall fall.”

  “I don’t think it will. Put the spear down, immediately. This is my house and he is my guest. And you shall behave as such. I will not be disrespected in my own house.”

  “We apologize, Lady Rita but you and Thalia must come with us right away. The council is waiting.”

  “Hm. Pardon, Lady Rita but who is this Thalia that they speak of?”

  I made my best to provide this question with the most straight face I could muster. It was hard enough that the face I made allowed Rita to burst into laughter.

  “Ah, this is amazing. You sure are an interesting fella. But yes, who is this Thalia you two speak of? As you can see, I am only in the company of Yurem Truesdale. One of the heroes.”

  “Where is your daughter? Lady Rita, why are you making this so hard?”

  “I am not making this hard at all. You are simply stuck on the mindset that whatever creature that doesn’t belong inside this forest is considered a threat. Look at this idiot? Do you think he is a threat?”

  “You are aware that I am here, right?”

  “Your point?”

  “I have feelings?”

  “Shut up.”

  Since when am I a victim of bullying in this world? Is this what it means to reap what you sow? I was being a nice guy, everything considered.

  “Thalia needs to be in court to decide what her future shall be. We are having in consideration that she is indeed your daughter. And this man shall accompany us as well. No humans are allowed in the forest.”

  “Sorry, my guy. I have places to go. So. Lady Rita, I assume you need me no longer.”

  “You assume well.”

  As I slowly start backing away from the two men, a couple of vines touch my back and hand me a note. I grab it and hid it under my right sleeve.

  “Get back here!”

  And one of the druds tries and gets a hold of me, Rita places vines blocking his path.

  “I’ll be back. Make sure you are okay.”

  She simply smiles and nods as I jump off the balcony.

  As I was falling faster than I was expecting, vines grabbed me and slowly placed me down. And once again, Rita helps me. I still don’t get what crossed my mind when I decided to do this but it’s done. I scan the area and quickly hid behind a tree.

  Where the hell are they?

  I keep looking and looking and I can’t find them. And I haven’t been out of the room unlike Soleil so I am really lost. Since I was unconscious when I was brought here.

  I am not a hunter, I don’t know how to follow trails or anything like that. I always counted on Soleil to do stuff like that so I am really in a dangerous situation. Who knows what letting me go might bring to Rita? I can’t let myself get caught and waste her efforts. That was when I heard it. Someone is whistling.

  I look around to finally see blonde hair right next to a tree. It’s them. Several dryads and druds are walking around. They are searching for us. But I don’t know if it’s really us or simply Thalia. Either way, we have to get out of here immediately.

  When the coast got clear I ran as fast as I could towards the trees where they were.

  “Are you two okay?”

  “Yeah. We are fine. Are you okay?”

  “What happened there? How is my mother?”

  “I’m alright. She is fine. Two druds showed up and tried to take me and you in but we claimed we didn’t know where you were. And your mother gave me time to escape. So, if you two don’t mind, I don’t feel like wasting the time that she gave us. So, how do we leave?”

  “We can either go through here and take our chances in the forest or simply try to leave to the main road. But that implies we need to walk around the village.”

  “What would be the best course of action?”

  “Depends. We can take our chances through the forest. It would be better in the long term.”

  “Then let’s. We just need a little strategy since we don’t know anything about you when it comes to combat.”

  “I’m quite efficient with the bow. So you don’t need to worry about me. Focus on yourself. Since she is practically babysitting you through everything.”

  “Excuse me?”

  So I take my chances and save this girl and the girl has the audacity to say that?

  If looks could kill, this girl would be dead right now. But there was no time to argue or contest anything as I heard a noise and as I turn my head, monsters show up.