"Wow~ You two look pretty exhausted. That old man really did a number on you, huh?" Thran said to Lu and Fei as they limped towards his ter. "You twone for a few hours, what did he do to make you this exhausted?" He tinued with a mog tone.

  "We've fihe request..." Lu mumbled as he pulled the now dirty and even more crumpled paper from his pocket. His every movement caused dirt to fall from his clothes.

  "I see that."

  "That's rather shog, that old man actually gave his signature a you guys do it." Thran mumbled in slight bewilderment as he looked at the illegible signature of the old man. "Did he give you the rewards of the request?" He asked. her Fei or Lu held anything in their grasps.

  "Yes... We just dropped it off at our home."

  Before they arrived at the adventurer's guild, they stopped at their home to drop off the rewards they acquired. If they tio carry the vegetables, they wouldn't have made it to the adventurer's guild.

  "Okay, gratutions on pleting your first request!" Thran excimed. His smug expression ged into a slightly proud smile. He moved his right arm to the side of the ter, and slid a stamp he sheet of paper. "I'll get this authorized into our system."

  They thahran for his effort ahe adventurer's guild.

  The couple days were rather uful, they both stayed home aed.

  'Why... do I feel like something bad is going to happen...?' Lu grimaced as he stared at the ceiling. A cold feeling swept across his skin after he had woken up. 'Could she be having a bad dream?' Lu thought as he looked to the right. A small area around Fei felt stantly cold, it worsened whenever she was sad, or in a bad mood. However, his feeling was wrong as Fei silently slept.

  Sighing in relief, Lu ighe bad feeling and sat up. After a couple of days rest, the muscle cramping and soreness had dissipated from his body.

  'We should probably accept another request today... Hopefully there isn't any like that...'

  He stretched his body then stood up from his bed carefully as to not wake up Fei. Just after he rummaged through his clothes, he heard a small yawn from behind.

  "Oh, good m." Lu said to Fei.

  "Good m..." Fei replied as she rubbed her eyes slightly. Part of her nightgown slipped off her shoulder, revealing her pale skin.

  Lu stared at Fei for a moment while taining his internal thoughts.

  "Mm...? Is something wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong, I was just thinking about what we should do today." Lu shrugged as he replied. "We should take another request today... 20 coppers won't st -" His eyes widened as the reason for the ominous feeling he kept feeling popped inside his mind.

  'W-What's wrong?" Fei suddenly asked after seeing Lu's face turn to horror and shobsp;

  "N-Nothing!"

  'Crap I fot about that! I have to get 30 coppers to him today!' Lu internally cursed at himself. "I just remembered, before we go to the adventurer's guild I have somewhere to stop." He expio Fei.

  "O-O-Okay..." Fei responded, she tilted her head slightly as Lu grabbed his clothes in a slight panic. It arent to her that he was trying to hide something. He fumbled to grab the doorknob, ahe room in a silent panic. 'What's he even hiding...?' Fei questioned as she ged out of her nightgown.

  Moments after she ged into a blue shirt, and a knee-length skirt, the sounds of Lu ging ceased. 'What's gotten into him...?' Fei questioned yet again as his footsteps quickly scampered from the door instantly after.

  "Um... Why, Why are you in a h-hurry already...?" Fei called out to him before he could leave the house.

  "I just have something to deal with as soon as possible, I'll be back!" Lu responded before he left in a whirlwind.

  Silently, Fei stared at him from the doorway. Fear, fusion and wripped at her heart as she watched Lu's back get smaller. Befot too far, an idea popped inside her mind.

  "...nngh... ow..." Fei's voice resounded in Lu's mind. He whipped his body around as his heart skipped a beat, only to see the entrance of their home to be closed.

  'Was that Fei...? Why did it sound so muffled?' Lu wondered as he checked around the area for a minute. 'Was that just my imagination?' He scratched his head for a few seds before turning back to his inal path. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of curious eyes watched him walk away.

  'Why are more of them staring at me...?' Lu thought as he tinued along, the pairs of eyes that normally stared at him intensified; mazes looked towards him, some looked past him in fear. 'Just ighem... All they do is watch.' He focused his attention on the rocky path in front of him, ign the eyes that watched him from their homes or stores.

  "Hey kid, where did that demi-human you always had with you go? Did you finally get rid of her?" A shopkeeper hollered at him.

  "Finally took him long enough, its presence was a nuisao see." A woman hanging clothes on a line ented loudly.

  "Don't get your hopes up, he probably had her stay home."

  "She's fine, I had an errand to deal with, thank you for the though." Lu loudly responded, he didn't stop his stride and never looked in their dire.

  "Bah!" The shopkeeper excimed.

  "I told you to not get your hopes up! Demi-human lovers like him will never be vio let them go!"

  "I don't get why the kied that w to allow demi-humans to be citizens, they're use-" The voices of the hecklers quieted down as Lu made more distaween him and them.

  As he he shop, more voices rose, but this time they didn't heckle him; screams of terror arose behind him.

  "WHAT IS THAT?! HOW DID A MONSTER GET IN HERE?!"

  "SOMEOHE GUARDS!"

  "IT'S GOING TO GET AWAY!"

  "CATCH IT BEFORE IT DO ANYTHING!"

  Looking bace again, the view of multiple people chasing after a furry creature weled him. The furry creature nimbly weaved through the clutches of its pursuers and slid into an alleyway.

  Lu shrugged, and once again, tinued his errand.

  "There we go..." Lu gulped as he stood in front of the door of the shop. Its sized multiplied, as the feeling of danger prodded at him. "It's just thirty copper, do I have that on me...?" Lu double checked the amount of s on him.

  He steeled his nerves before walking inside.

  "Wele to my shop! How I- Oh, it's you." The stout shopkeeper excimed. "I'll deal with you once I'm done here." He said to Lu before turning to the er he was inally talking with.

  A few mier, he shook hands with the er.

  "Now, did y the copper?"

  "Yes, here it is." Lu set 3 medium-sized copper s into the man's outstretched hand.

  "Good, you actually keep your word." The shopkeeper ented, he meticulously eyed the copper , after he was done he slid them into one of his pockets. "Now that's over with, how did that staff turn out? Were you able to use it?"

  "Unfortunately, we weren't able to test it out, our first request wasn't something we hoped it would be."

  "Well, you should test it out soon, it's best to see if she use it before you do any fighting."

  "Yeah, yeah. How much left do I owe you?" Lu asked, he shrugged slightly as the shopkeeper's expression turned into disbelief. Despite holding onto his and Fei's funds, Lu was terrible with topics reted to money.

  "How did you even fet the amount? We've talked about it for months!" The shopkeeper excimed. His disbelief grew as Lu's ral expression didn't waver. "Whatever... You owe me around 540 copper, don't fet t-"

  "HEY SHOPKEEP WE NEED SOME ONS! A MONSTER HAS SNEAKED INTO THE KINGDOM!"

  "How the heck did that happen?!"

  "No one knows! It suddenly appeared in this part! Everyoryna chase after it but the little bugger keeps avoiding us!"

  "Geez... Just grab a feons from that table over there, but bring them back when you're done!"

  "THANK YOU!"

  The man who burst through the shop's door rushed to the table he frorand snagged a feons a as quickly as he came.

  "Anyways, don't fet to pay what you owe in three days." The shopkeeper sternly ordered Lu while pointing at him. "If you don't I'll find where you live ahat debt paid by force." His warni shivers down Lu's spine.

  "Y-Yeah, I get it..." Lu sputtered as he took a step back, sweat began to form on his bad forehead. "30 copper in three days, I uand, I'll have it by then!"

  "Good, now get yer arse out of here."

  'We'll o do a lot more requests...' Lu thought as he rushed out. 'We only got 20 copper from one request... Fei'll have to figure out a budget for us.' Outside of the shop Lu stared at the ground with his pointer finger resting below his . What was he supposed to tell Fei? His goal was to keep his debt hidden, but it'll take most of their ine if they 't find a paying requests.

  Another chill dow down his spi long after, this time, he didn't feel in danger. Gng over to the source, Lu caught a glimpse of a white tail disappearing into another alleyway. 'Was that the monster?! Lu rushed towards the same alleyway, but he was too te as the being he saw had disappeared.

  "Where the heck?!" Lu blurted out. "Where did it even go?!" He was left in shock, the part of the kingdom they lived in was rather enclosed, many of the residents live in homes that sat directly o each other. His shock grew as he ihrough the alleyway, only to find nothing but dust and dirt.

  He searched around for a few minutes before leaving the alleyway and walked to his and Fei's home. Due to the appearance of the monster, his walk wasn't filled with gres or heg.

  Just outside of his home, a group of armed men interrogated his neighbor. Each wore ptemail armor, a longsword sat on each of their hips. Lu reized them to be the guards that roamed their kingdom.

  "Where did you st see the monster?" The guard in front of the group asked his neighbor. The authority in his voice sent his neighbor's spine upright.

  "I-I saw the monster running over this way, it hid, hid behind that house right there!" His neighbor blubbered whilst he raised his finger and poiowards the house in front of him.

  "Thank you for your time, please proceed with your day, Sir." The guard said after he took note of the location.

  Just before the guardsmen locked their attention on Lu, he slipped into his home.

  "This is going to cause a ruckus..." Lu mumbled, his front door banged a few times. A few more bangs ter, he heard the guardsmen leave.

  "Thankfully... Oh, Fei I'm back."

  heir dining table, Fei stood with her arms crossed.

  "Wait, did something happen?" Lu asked as he looked at the state of Fei's appearance. Her hair was messier than her normal bedhead, a red mark covered her forehead, the fur oail stood up and dirt covered most of it.

  "N-Nothing h-happened..."

  "Why do you look like that?" Lu followed-up, he took a step closer to Fei. "Did someone do this to you?" His tone became agitated, it grew with every sed of silence. "Fei, pleas-"

  "I F-F-Fell when trying to take a nap..."

  Her one good ear flicked when expining to Lu.

  "Please, tell me what actually happened."

  "I-I..."

  "I-I Fell... W-When watg you walk away..." She meekly expined, her cheeks became rosy.

  "Phew... You sure are clumsy, or the ground just loves you." Lu remarked, his worried frown instantly turo a teasing smile after hearing Fei. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

  "N-No..."

  "Just be careful ime."

  "Mm..."

  "We should get ready to leave." Lu mumbled. His clothes were all sweaty due to his rush, meanwhile Fei's appearance was a mess, other than her hair the clothes she is wearing were all dirty.

  "Y-Yes..."

  An hour ter, they left their home. Lu only bothered to ge into a shirt, a his u hair as is. While Fei switched into a dress, most of the time they spent came from her brushing her hair, and iail.

  "What type of request do you think we find?" Lu asked out of the blue.

  "I-I don't know..." Fei responded, her ears slightly perked up after the suddeion. She felt her stomach as she looked at the staff in her hands. 'Will we be able to pay this off?' Her lips curled into a frown.

  "Well, whatever we get, it'll be better than that st one!" Lu excimed, his smile turiffly while seeing the side eye Fei gave him. "O-Oh, why don't we go see Aiko? She might be missing us."

  "D-Do we have time to stop by, by there?"

  "Yes."

  "A-Alright..."

  With their sudden decision, they detoured off their inal path; thankfully, it was not far as they reached their goal ihan half an hour.

  "Hm? Seems like a slow day." Lu remarked, the tavern they often visited was empty, at the entraall demi-human woman leaned on the front door. Her apron swayed as she tapped her foot.

  "Wele to- It's you two! It's been a long time you cuties, I thought I'd never see you again!"