“What is going on with you, Lance? Why are we camping here?” Barak, the smaller of the Demon twins, asked as he and his brother stood behind Lance, who sat down at the edge of a cliff. The half-breed had his chin resting on the handguard of his sword which was stabbed into the earth before him.
“I don’t know.” Lance mumbled, not taking his eyes off the entrance to the cave that they had been in only minutes ago.
The twins shared a look and shook their heads. Sometimes, they did not understand this leader of theirs. His head was all screwed up.
“You must be in love.” Balak mocked with a mocking smile on his face. He expected Lance to start fuming at those words, but Lance just ignored him, which was shocking. Even Barak looked shocked and cast a strange look at Lance.
“Come on, Lance. Stop joking around.” Barak walked up to Lance and placed a hand on his shoulder, but Lance just ignored him.
“What the fuck, Lance?!” Balak suddenly exclaimed, his expression contorting. “You see some chick in distress and you’re suddenly smitten? There are lots of Demon girls that are prettier than her. So let’s leave if we aren’t robbing her! I’m already pissed enough that we are missing out on that egg.” The boy scowled.
“I’m not in love, idiots. I’m just thinking.” Lance’s expression contorted when he heard Balak’s words. His mind drifted as he thought of Elena’s features. Indeed, she was beautiful for a Beastkin, but he was not interested in her in that manner.
“Well, if that is true, then you can think as we move. We can’t dawdle around up here forever.” Barak joined his brother in voicing out his complaints.
“I want to forge a bond with her. We can work together.” Lance ignored the brothers and voiced his thoughts. “If that egg hatches, then we will be invincible in this zone.”
The two brothers fell silent when Lance told them his thoughts. At first, they thought that Lance was just lusting after Elena, but it turned out that he had something else in mind. But still, he might be lusting after her, even with that brilliant thought.
“Fine, so what do you plan on doing?” Barak sighed and sat beside Lance, with his twin taking up the other side.
“We watch her. If anyone come across her and tries to rob her, then we swoop in and save the day. That will be a good way to start.” Lance rubbed his chin.
“But will that not make it look like we have been stalking her?” Barak, the thinker of the twins asked.
“You are right. But what else do you want us to do? She will probably react in a hostile manner to us either way.” Lance asked.
“Maybe we should just steal the egg from her? That is what I personally think we should do.” Balak grumbled. He was still scowling, as he preferred the more violent solution.
“You always think of fighting. I would prefer to do things in a less aggressive manner. I do not want to be like my father. And besides, you can go ahead and fight her if you want. Do you think someone simple could have protected such an egg from the wild monsters roaming about? Not only that, but she also fended both of you off. Something tells me her background is not something simple.” Lance stated plainly.
Just as he finished speaking, the trio noticed movement in the edge of their vision. A blond man carefully made his way around the rocks, holding something in his hands. It looked like a compass, but it was made out of a red and black rock.
“He’s hunting the egg too.” Lance recognized the compass in his hands. It was a special piece of equipment that he had seen before. It was useless in most situations, but one. When it came within a certain range of rare and valuable materials or lifeforms, it would begin vibrating as it pointed its user in the right direction.
In fact, that was exactly how the trio of Demons had found Elena in the first place!
“This is a good opportunity. The Gods are smiling upon us.” Lance said as he stood up and pulled his sword out of the ground. “We will wait and see if she needs help before we strike.” He told his companions.
They patiently watched as the man stealthily made his way along the rocky plain. He hid behind rocks and boulders as he did his best to sneak up on the place where the compass pointed at. He occasionally stopped to examine his surroundings, but he failed to find anything. He even glanced up at the cliff where the boys had been hiding only moments ago, but failed to find any trace of others.
“Hehehe, it will all be mine! Treasure at last!” The man chuckled madly, but made sure to keep his tone down to avoid any unnecessary complications. After calming himself for a minute, he continued moving forward. He hoped that some miracle herb would be in this location so he could grow stronger. He had only just awakened as a mage, having come from a poor background, so he never knew he had the talent.
By the time he got to the front of the cave, the compass in his hand was buzzing like mad, making his fingers numb a little. He quickly tucked the compass into his back pocket before proceeding into the cave.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The sound of drops of water falling into puddles echoed through the cave as he moved deeper in. He had only spent a minute walking through it when he came upon a space with a lone girl and a large egg behind her. The egg glowed dimly, the light pulsing like a heart beat.
“Who are you?” Elena held up her weapons when she saw the man step out of the darkness.
“Oh, no need to behave like that, little lady. Just give me the egg and we can just go our separate ways.” The man smiled and held out his hand in a gesture.
“Fuck off…” Elena could not finish her sentence because the same demons from before suddenly appeared behind the man. Lance slammed the butt of his sword into the man’s nape, knocking him out at once.
“Hello again.” He grinned, crossing his sword over his shoulder.