The next day, Kyran got up and sat at the side. Like the previous, he did nothing but just lowering his head and quietly stared at the ground.

Suddenly Kyran felt a sharp pain on his head. He lifted his head and noticed there were a small group of goblins and beastmen tribe, each was equipped with various swords and clubs, throwing small, sharp rocks at him.

"Get lost, bitch!" they yelled as they barraging him.

"You little shit!" The other joined the fray.

It was questionable why they chose such a childish way to deal with Kyran although they were not kids. Maybe they were afraid of Kyran's unbeknown strength, or they were just felt disgusted to approach a curse being like Kyran. If only he could choose, he would rather had the former remark. Kyran kept silent and glued at his seat. He averted his gaze back to the ground, still lifeless and empty. He actually could retaliate, but after giving a second thought, he chose not to.

Kyran's indifferent remark provoked one of the larger goblin. The goblin darted with a gigantic club, ready to smash Kyran to a pulp.

"You little scum!" a roaring voice coming from a small settlement next to Kyran's position alarmed the group. At the same time the voice was sounded, a thin, gray creature dashed to where their position as he swung his old, rustic sword and blocked the goblin's gigantic club.

The newcomer was a ghoul. His face feature still held some resemblance to human and full of wrinkled. Wide, pale grey iris and sharp teeth remarked his demonic trait. Sparse, white hair adorned his head and down onto his chin, marking his long-live. He wore a plain cotton long robe and baggy pants. A sheathe with no sword hung at his waist.

Despite his small build and frail appearance, the old man held considerable strength. The goblin's club was thrown away. The old man stance himself before Kyran, with the tip of his sword pointed at the goblin.

"You old bitch, you dare to betray your demon kin and sided with the cursed demi-human instead?" The goblin bellowed.

"Hmph, All I care was my own pocket. How am I suppose to do business with you brats making a ruckus?" The old man retorted.

The large goblin glared at the old man. Realizing the disparity in strength, he snorted and retreating with the others. The place once again regained its peace.

"You okay, brat?" The old man asked Kyran.

"...Thank you sir" Kyran lifted his head, standing up and said softly.

He was quite touched by the old man's kindness. Since becoming a demi-human, this was the first time he was greeted and treated well by others.

The old man observed Kyran closely. He noticed the lifeless eyes. Such empty little things were nothing new to him. Back on his younger days he had been to many places and experiencing life too much.

"My name is Razuli. I am a peddler. That's my temporary store." He pointed at a small building where he just came out from.

"Where are you from? what's your plan?"

Kyran stayed silent, unknowing how to answer. Razuli noticed his uneasiness, thus decided to pursue the matter no further.

"Nevermind. If you don't have anywhere to go, why don't you stay at my place?" Razuli offered.

"But..." Kyran hesitated

"Don't worry. I need some companion to listen to my good old days anyway. And a wine companion" Razuli grinned

"Then, thank you, sir!" Kyran took the offer.

"Gramps. The kid around here called me gramps." Razuli said

"Gramps..." Kyran muttered

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"Let's enter and eat before we chat. I'll show where you could sleep later."

Kyran did not reply and silently followed Razuli inside.

.....................

It had been one week since Kyran lived with Razuli. He finally could opened up a little bit, but his eyes was still lacking luster. Early at the morning that day, Razuli was preparing the goods. He did his daily habit, checking each items' condition and did some necessary maintenance to certain equipment. The items available in his store were just basic items such as iron swords, iron shields, bronze helmets, basic potion herb and some amenities he brought from another town.

"Gramps, why do you open a store in such a desolate place? There's even no other store in Labuma." Kyran asked as he helped Razuli to set the items in place. Labuma was the name of this village Razuli told him about.

"You fool! That's called a business theory. Don't you know it's better to be a king in a small pond than becoming a small fish in the vast ocean? The most ideal place to open a business is the place where there's no competitor yet!"

Kyran was startled, "So you can also look at things this way..."

"Of course, it's just a matter of perspective. Life was kinda the same!"

"Even if it's just a pitiful king of such desolate place" Kyran mumbled, turning melancholic again.

A vein popped out on Razuli's forehead. "This gloomy brat! How long does he want to keep acting annoying like that!" he grumbled in a low voice.

"Brat, can you do me a favor?" Razuli asked

"Sure, what's it?" Kyran replied

"Currently we're out of Lychan tree's trunk. Can you fetch some from the forest behind the village? The special resin from it was good to dip the sword in to prolong its quality, preventing it from rusting, and even the bark can be used to sharpen swords. As you know, I'm old enough to do such chores. Not to mention my health was deteriorating due to my old age. You see, cough, cough" Razuli elaborated convincingly, except the cough part did look so....fake. But Kyran did not care at all, he knew the old man would mean no harm to him. He did not have anything valuable though. Even his life was not worth that much.

"On my way!" Kyran nodded.

Razuli watched Kyran's back as he vanished through the door, pondering something on his mind and then smiled meaningfully.

.......................

Although it was called a forest, in fact it was just a forest filled with mostly dead tree. There were still some live vegetation though like bushes and trees, but most of them had never been seen by Kyran before. It must be special vegetation endemic to the demon territory which could grow on such a harsh condition. The forest was not dense, and there were demon-made pathway as wide as a normal road. It was mainly used to transport goods to neighboring village. The forest was relatively safe from dangerous beast, even low level sacred beasts were rarely found there. Maybe even for those sacred beasts it was harshed to live in such resourceless place.

Sometimes bandits ambushed merchant carts, but they were not quite a common sight. The wealthier merchants usually hire mercenaries to guard the goods. Kyran carefully look for what he needed. Many Lychan trees grow unorderly in the deeper part of the forest. Kyran was fetching a tree when he heard a commotion from the pathway. He stopped his work, sneaked towards the pathway and peeked.

A group of orcs was confronting the other party of various size of goblins and kobolds. A carriage surrounded by the orcs had been turned upside down. The orcs seemed to be the carriage guards, perceivable from their leather armor uniform and insignias hung on their left leather chest plate. The other goblin group must be thugs, but it was a different from the one assaulting Kyran in Labuma before.

The goblins and kobolds he saw at the forest had the same pattern tattooed at their left arm. It seemed like it was their group's mark. They fought intensely with the orcs, showing no fear at all. Despite their smaller build, the bandits were quite strong and agile. Both side took casualties, but gradually the bandits gained the upper hand. The orcs could not keep up any longer and completely wiped out in the next instant. The bandit group was also left with just two goblins with similar build to the large goblin Kyran confronted the previous week.

The goblins approached the flipped carriage. Squeaking sound was suddenly heard from inside the carriage. The goblin proceeded with more caution. Ten second later, a petite girl around ten years old, embelished with silver hair and pearl-like red iris crawled her way out from the carriage. The most noticeable feature was her long ears resembling of those elves. Kyran was astonished. As she finally reached the outside, the little elf looked terrified by the bloody scene revealed before her. The goblin's eyes was glittering and they smirked as they saw the little girl.

Kyran hesitated, pondering whether he should butt his nose into unnecessary business. Until a moment ago he had lost care of his own life, why should he care for some random little girl's life instead? Logically speaking, he did not know what unforeseen danger he would put himself into by giving the wrong helping hand to the girl he did not know anything about.

"Mommy... I'm scared!" the little elven girl sobbed as the goblin shorten the distance and surrounded her.

The glittering tears pouring out from the tiny red iris revoked Kyran's distant memory several years ago. It was when he was scolded by his father when he refused to helped his bullied friends.

"Remember." Roan shooked his head "I did say you should not act harshly, and use your head to calculate every situation. But I don't recall teaching a son to be a coward that was too afraid to help a friend in need. Live proudly you as a man of Svenleigh household!"

Kyran clenched his fists and leapt from his hiding, charging forward.