As the words of the woman echoed in his mind, the days and nights seemed to blur together. Howard tried to ask her more questions, trying to get as much information as he could, but each time, she would shrug and offer the same dismissive response "I don't know." It was an obvious lie, but Howard never called her out. He played along, biding his time.

He began to notice the people in the village had started to become more active. It wasn't a subtle shift, it was like the entire place was preparing for something. Howard hadn't cared at first; it wasn't his concern. But curiosity gnawed at him, and one evening, during the woman's shift at the guard post, he finally asked, "Why is everyone suddenly so active?"

"Well, it's for the journey ahead," she replied, her voice steady.

"You mean the journey to Lumoria or whatever it was called? Why prepare to this extent? Why not just use your bat and fly us there?"

She looked at him, unfazed by his probing. "Because my bat can carry only a maximum of eight people, and if you factor in food, water, and supplies, things become complicated."

Howard pressed further, "Why don't you use your friend with the monster? The one who's always watching us carry supplies."

A flicker of hesitation crossed her face before she spoke. "People who control these monsters are called 'nightmare conquerors.' They're rare. A small territory like ours has maybe three. Medium-sized ones have ten to twenty. Larger territories might have hundreds. We can't afford to send them out recklessly. If they leave, we're left vulnerable."

Howard raised an eyebrow. "Nightmare conquerors, huh?" The term intrigued him. It was a thread of knowledge she hadn't let slip before. She had once shrugged off his question about how she tamed the bat, pretending not to know. Now, it was clear she held more cards than she let on.

"This seems like a good opportunity to gain more information," he thought.

"So why are these nightmare conquerors so rare?" Howard questioned, pushing his luck.

She returned to her usual evasiveness. "I don't know."

Howard felt a twinge of disappointment but wasn't surprised. She was always holding back, making sure he stayed reliant on her. As the days passed and conversations blurred, Howard's suspicions grew.

"She's plotting something," he thought. But what?"

She had said that nightmare conquerors were valuable, and it made sense that they would be closely guarded. Perhaps, Howard mused, she planned to use him as a pawn in some scheme to escape, to free herself from whatever constraints held her here. But that seemed like a stretch. Still, Howard couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

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"Nah, that theory's too far-fetched," he thought, shaking his head. "But one thing's for sure. she's not helping me out of the kindness of her heart."

His experiences had taught him that much. No one, no matter how selfless they appeared, ever acted without calculating their own gain. And the woman was no different. "No human would truly prioritize others over themselves," Howard thought. "Human nature is fundamentally always programmed to put oneself above all others when it comes to profit."

This wasn't a cynical view, it was reality. Howard had learned through hard lessons that when it came down to it, survival, power, and gain outweighed altruism. Even in seemingly noble acts, there was always a quiet calculation, a measure of what could be gained. It might be subtle, buried beneath layers of civility and decorum, but it was there.

He had seen it countless times, people appearing to help out of compassion, only to reveal their true motives when the dust settled. Self-preservation, profit, power, The instinct to put oneself first was deeply embedded in the human condition. It was an ancient drive, a survival mechanism honed over millennia.

He wasn't bitter about it. In fact, Howard had come to embrace it as a truth of the world. Understanding this simple fact had saved him more than once. He knew he would need to play the same game if he wanted to survive the trials ahead. Everyone had an angle, a motive. And it was never truly selfless.

The woman was no different. Her reluctance to share information, and her guardedness, all pointed to her leveraging him for something, just as he was trying to use her. It was the way of the world. "Trust no one fully, and always keep something for yourself," he thought.

It was this understanding that had kept Howard alive, and it would continue to guide him.

As the wind blew through the trees, Howard's resolve hardened.

But Suddenly, Howard's train of thought was interrupted

"Hey I got you some clothes, while it was hard to get ones that match you perfectly, I was able to find some for you", the woman said

Howard did not say anything and quietly just took the clothes

"Aren't you going to say thanks or anything? Have manners gone extinct in the outside world or something", the woman asked jokingly

"I might be more thankful if you didn't take my clothes at", Howard bit back with a hint of annoyance in his tone

"Aghhhh, come on you can't blame us, the material that your clothes were made of is priceless since sine things like cotton and leather are almost impossible to find here", she answered with a bit of friendliness "Well at least look at the bright side you won't have to show your *tiny friend* around to anymore and you won't also go cold at night"

"Wait how do you even know about my measurement to begin with", Howard suddenly realized the strangeness in front of him

"It is a little secret, sooo you will have to figure it out yourself", she answered

Howard a little freaked out did not question further but he also felt a little bit of comfert when he finally wore them

"Wow you look kinda good", the woman complimented

After a while, the woman prepared to leave as it was the end of her shift

"Ohhh yeah, I almost forgot we will be leaving tomorrow so you should be ready for the journey ahead", she informed Howard

Howard was startled by this information a little bit "Tomorrow? Already?" The weight of the situation hit him all at once. The vague idea of leaving had felt distant, but now the reality was staring him in the face, but he also realized this might also be their moment of being alone, so Howard tried to ask her one last question, a question that he always wanted to know but always refused the answer

"Since this might be our last time ever meeting, I just want to know something"

She turned to face him, her expression unreadable. "What is it?"

"What's your name?" Howard asked, finally voicing the question that had been on his mind for so long.

The woman paused, studying him for a moment before she finally spoke.

"My name is Aliga."