DOUGH: Hi !
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RAFFY'S POV:
I'll be honest—when that fake Pokémon said this place was full of cursed junk, I thought it meant actual magical items with real curses on them. You know… spooky, dangerous, cool stuff. But nah. Of course I shouldn't have believed that weird, narcissistic, mutated Chihuahua and i shouldn't believe that easily. This house? It's just full of junk. Like human junk. From the hallway to the bathroom and now down here on the first floor—yeah, I'd say a solid two out of five of this place is straight-up trash.
"Hey! Ummm, Miss Eda—remember us? Hey, hey, you do remember us, right? Luz? Raffy?" Luz's voice cut through my thoughts as she followed behind the ivory-haired woman.
Ah, right, we have some issue right now as our current problem: the old hag didn't remember us.
I mean… can't really blame her, she old man...of course she would have memory issue.
But still luz kept trying to get her attention while we followed her into what looked like the kitchen. The moment I stepped in, I spotted that Chihuahua again—sitting on a baby chair just like...you know baby toddler, eating something that looked like mac and cheese… except i don't know what is that inside it, its look like bunch of eggs? Because its round and white.
"Hey, hey, Miss Eda?! Hallo!" Luz kept going, practically nagging at this point—
THUNK.
"Ouch!" Luz yelped as a mug suddenly bonked her right on the head.
That mug was floated. I could see this faint golden aura wrapped around it as it hovered in the air, then the old lady casually flicked her finger and bonk—right into Luz's head again. Yeah… that was definitely on purpose. Probably her way of saying "stop talking."
"Now she's gonna get dumber because of that…" I muttered under my breath, low enough so Luz wouldn't hear. Good thing too, because she just kept going like nothing happened—still rambling, trying her best to jog Eda's memory.
"We freed the oppressed! And defeated the evil warden together, remember that, ma'am?? It was yesterday!" Luz kept explaining, throwing in every detail like she was pitching a recap episode.
Meanwhile, the old hag just gave a slight bow of her head—like a lazy acknowledgment and just walked straight to the fridge, opening it like this whole situation wasn't even worth her attention.
Honestly… that part still threw me off. A fridge In a place like this? Yeah hard to believe ain't it? Earlier at bathroom my eyes goes wide seeing a damm modern toilet in this house. For a world that looks like some kind of fantasy medieval setting, stuff like this just feels out of place do you think? But then again… thinking about all those fantasy manhwas I've read, some of them mix things like this too...I guess I can accept it.
Finally, she turned to face us. Her back was slightly hunched, almost shrimp-like, as she poured some red liquid into her mug. She let out a small groan, her eyes still half-lidded and sleepy like she hadn't fully woken up yet.
"Aaagh… kid, PLEASE—lay off the details for a second, would you? I haven't even had my cup of apple blood yet, for Titan's sake," the ivory-skinned woman muttered, taking a slow sip of her drink like nothing else mattered at the moment.
'Apple blood?'
That name alone made me pause for a second seem its original drink from this demon realms? Well It sounded… weirdly intense for a morning drink that we usually have. In my head, I was already trying to make sense of it—like, was it some kind of energy drink in this world? Something with caffeine? Honestly, wouldn't be surprised at this point.
Luz, of course, said it out loud.
"Apple blood?… you mean… apple juice?" she asked, tilting her head a little.
"No," Eda replied flatly, not even looking at her.
And that was it. No explanation, she just walked past us, sat down at the table, and kept sipping her drink like the conversation was already over.
"…seems like it's this world's version of coffee, Luzy. Or something with caffeine at least. And what kind of apple juice is red like that?" I added, going off what I could observe.
"Hm? How do you know that?" Luz asked, turning to look at me. "The smell. It's got that deep bitter smell you got from black coffee to it," I said bluntly although i can smell hunt of alcohol that close to Vodka and...cranberry juice? Well that all i can tell in that drink but i wouldn't tell her that, why would? it doesn't matter. She just blinked at me, clearly not getting it at all. She just blinked at me like I'd just said something in another language entirely (i didn't even talking mix language right now). No thoughts in those big eyes and big forehead of hers. I swear sometimes this girl runs on pure imagination and nothing else."…Right," she said slowly, nodding like she understood anyway well she didn't.
I rolled my eyes a little and just stood there while Luz went right back to Eda again, still trying to get through to her. I folded my arms and started looking around the kitchen instead. There were a lot of things here, but honestly… most of it looked pretty normal. Like, stuff you'd find in a regular kitchen back in the human world. Not super modern or anything, more on the old-fashioned side—but still recognizable enough.
…until my eyes landed on him.
That Chihuahua-looking thing was still sitting on a baby chair, happily munching on his food. From far away, it looked like mac and cheese. But the closer I looked, the more my brain just went—
nope.
Because those weren't just pasta and cheese.
There were eyeballs in it.
I paused, staring for a second longer than I should've.
"… the fuck…" I muttered under my breath, watching this little furball casually eat what looked like nightmare fuel for breakfast.
"Hm! Hm! Why you—!" King grumbled, trying to stab one of the eyeballs with his fork—but it kept slipping away, wobbling around like it had a mind of its own.
Meanwhile, Luz was still going at it. Of course she was. She planted herself right in front of Eda again, talking a mile a minute like she was afraid the chance might disappear if she stopped for even a second.
"Hey, hey—teach us some spells! Oh! Oh! When do we get our own magic staff!? Should we make and bring our runes?? Or—or—gasp! Do you have a dangerous magic quest for us?!" she fired off, one after another, barely breathing in between. At some point she even grabbed Eda's arm, eyes sparkling like she'd just stepped straight into her dream life.
"Woaaah, woaaah!" Eda jerked a bit in surprise from the sudden contact, trying to steady her mug. "First of all—slow down, kid. Calm down. And second—listen. Being a witch doesn't just HAPPEN overnight, you hear me? There's a process to it…"
She took a small sip, then squinted at Luz for a second.
"…and third—why are you wrapped in a dirtybathrobe?"
Luz blinked after Heard the witch word."what?"she let out voice as she confused at that slinder ivory women word.
Eda's eyes shifted slightly."…I mean, both of you."And just like that, both of us blinked a couple times in sync. Eda didn't even bother looking impressed or anything—she just squinted at us like we were part of the mess in her house, took another slow sip of that red drink, then waved her hand lazily in our direction. "…and that's the dirtiest traffic cone I've seen you two kiddos wearing right now."
"…You gotta be kidding me."i said as i look down at this "witch outfit" that she and i wore right now, this? A bathrobe? Shit no wonder I started sweating fast, the bathrobe was so thick damm it.
Meanwhile Luz's face went through like five different emotions in one second—confusion, denial, realization, horror and then straight-up embarrassment as her cheeks turned red. She grabbed the robe like she just realized she'd been walking around in garbage this whole time. "W-WHAT?! T-THIS ISN'T A WITCH UNIFORM?!" she yelped, her voice cracking a little.
"PFFFT—HAHAHAHAHA!"King was literally wheezing in his baby chair, one hand slamming the table while the other still held his fork. The eyeball on it slipped off and rolled across the plate, but he didn't even care.
"…well shit," I muttered, rubbing my face with one hand as the realization fully settled in. "No wonder I had a bad feeling about this."i said as i grabbed the robe and yanked it off in one go, not even caring anymore."finally...."
I walked over and stopped beside Luz, hands in my pockets, glancing at her from the corner of my eye. She still looked kinda… deflated. As her shoulders goes a little slumped, cheeks still pink from earlier. Yeah… she took that one straight to the soul.
"Well… that was embarrassing, huh, Luzy?" I said, not even trying to hide the smirk creeping onto my face. She immediately shot me a look, still flushed. "Yeah, I know… don't tease me about it, Raffy," she muttered, pointing at me like she was warning me, even though her voice didn't have much bite to it right now.
Eda just watched the two of us amusedly. She shook her head slowly, raising her mug again. "Tch...tch..tch human kids…" she mumbled before taking another sip like she'd already lost interest Then she leaned back a little, eyeing us again.
"Well, kiddo—like I said, being a witch takes a Oodles
of a long time…" she started, dragging her words a bit, "…but a magic staff, huh… you kids want one that bad?"Luz instantly snapped back to life like someone flipped a switch. Her whole face lit up again, eyes practically glowing.
"Yes! YES—more than anything!" she said without even hesitating, stepping forward a little like she was about to sign a contract on the spot. Eda looked amused by that. Like, genuinely amused. Her lips curled just a little as she watched Luz practically vibrate in place.
After hearing Luz basically shout her soul out about wanting a staff, Eda's attention slowly shifted. Her golden eyes slid over—right at me this time."…Well? What about you, kid?" she asked, tilting her head a little. "You want a magic staff too?"I shrugged, not really rushing to answer like Luz did. "…I dunno," I said honestly, scratching the back of my head. "I mean… I already got my own staff."
I reached into my track pants pocket and pulled it out—a small telescopic steel rod, compact enough to fit in my hand. With a flick of my wrist—click-clack—it extended into a full-length staff. A solid clean steel. Familiar weight settling right in my grip.
"…See?" I said, holding it up casually, after seeing i pulled out that Eda's eyes widened a little not dramatically, but enough to show she wasn't expecting that.
"I got my own steel staff here," I added, tone flat as ever. "Not magic—but very useful to hit someone."i said as my eyes shifted to king who still sat down still on his baby chair he froze when he meet my gaze.
Eda let out a low hum, clearly amused, setting her mug down as she looked the staff over. "Well, I'll be honest, kiddo," she said, eyeing the staff with interest. "You've got yourself something there. Very… interesting human stuff."She straightened up, rolling her shoulder once before pointing lazily at it."But," she added, "that's not the kind of staff I'm talking about."
Before either of us could ask, she lifted her hand and snapped her fingers.
"C'mere~"
For a second—nothing happened.
Then—
CRASH.
BANG.
THUD.
Something very loud started happening somewhere deeper in the house. The notice make Luz jumped a little toward me as she got closer,meanwhile I didn't move—but my eyes shifted toward the direction of the noise.
It sounded like half the house was getting wrecked.
"…uh," Luz started.
There more crashing noise and something shattered noise that fall down and break, then something like heavy stuff crash to the floor.
And then—
WHAM.
A wooden staff with owl on it came flying out from the hallway at full speed aaaaand straight into Eda's face.
"—OW!"
She yelped as it smacked her right in the forehead before dropping into her hands. Luz gasped instantly. "Oh my gosh—are you okay, ma'am?!"
Eda stood there for a second, eyes squeezed shut, one hand rubbing her forehead where she got hit.
"…Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, waving it off like this was a regular occurrence. "Happens all the time."
The staff the old hag summoned looked exactly the same as the one she used yesterday—a long, rustic wooden staff with a small owl figure sitting right at the top. The carving was detailed too, with a sharp little beak and big round eyes. The top split slightly like a fork, holding the owl in place, and from the way it sat there… yeah, that thing didn't look like just decoration. It looked alive. Around fourteen centimeters tall, maybe. And honestly? I was pretty sure that owl was sentient.
Luz leaned in closer, her eyes lighting up all over again like someone flipped a switch. "Woah… that's the same staff you used yesterday! And that tiny thief owl who stole my book too!" she said, practically glowing—though yeah, not the best choice of words.
"Tiny thief? Ah, right… I remember," Eda said with a faint smirk. She spun the staff once in her hand, casual but clearly showing off a little. Then she tapped it lightly against the floor.
"This," she said, "is a magic staff."
"So listen, kids—normally, witches get their staffs as an award from school," she said, suddenly sounding way more professional than before. Honestly… that alone felt suspicious. She glanced between the two of us as she kept going. "But you two are in a different situation. Since you're under my wing as your teacher… you're gonna take a different approach."
That was all Luz needed as her eyes goes beaming like star"Gasp—oh my gosh! A quest! We get our first quest, Raffy!" she said, immediately grabbing my already sore shoulder and shaking me like I owed her money.
"Ey! Ey! WAA—! Stop it!" I snapped, my whole body tensing up from the pain.
She froze right away. "…oops. Sorry, sorry!"
"Ahem. Can I continue?" Eda cut in, looking at both of us.
"Ah—yes! Sorry about that, teacher! I'm just too excited! Hehehe… so what do we have to do??" Luz asked, leaning forward again.
Eda just grinned at us, somehow that look suspisious…yeah. This was definitely gonna be a pain.
———
twelve minutes later
"…yeah," I muttered under my breath as we walked, adjusting the strap of the brown bucket bag digging into my shoulder, the glass bottles inside clinking softly with every step. "Kinda figured this was coming the moment her tone started sounding all professional back there."
I glanced sideways at Luz. She was marching ahead like we were on some grand heroic quest instead of… what—delivery duty? Through a forest, no less. The trees around us stretched high and wide, those giant demon trees towering overhead like pillars, their branches weaving together so tightly they only let thin slices of light slip through. It looked like something straight out of a fantasy world—well, it is one—but the weird part?
The air smelled… normal.
Like actual woods. Fresh. A little damp. Like those early morning camping trips back in the human world. For a second, if I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend none of this was happening—that we weren't stuck in some bizarre demon realm.
…almost.
Then I heard her voice again, and yeah—there goes my happy place.
"Come on, Raffy, don't be like that!" Luz said, full energy as always. She turned around mid-step and started walking backward, grinning like she might explode if she kept all that excitement inside. The bag on her shoulder bounced with every step, the glass bottles inside clinking together again.
"This is a quest! She gave us a quest!" she repeated, like saying it twice somehow made it official. "We're delivering her—uhh… our mentor's finest home elixirs and potions!" She picked up one of the bottles a bit, squinting at the messy label like she could actually read whatever Eda scribbled on it.
"Gasp—do you think she's gonna teach us how to make them too?! I mean—she has to, right? Like, maybe after we get our staffs from this quest and learn some basic magic and get used to things here! Oh! Oh! What if this is like the beginner trial before real magic training—"
She kept going. And going.
Meanwhile, I just stared at her for a second, completely unimpressed.
"Luzy," I cut in flatly, my eyes dropping for a second to watch my step as I carefully stepped over a twisted root sticking out of the ground so I wouldn't trip. Then I looked back at her. "We're carrying a bag full of weird liquid in glass bottles for delivery. We're basically Uber Eats workers… except instead of food, it's shady potions. There's nothing 'quest-like' about this when you really look at it," I said while pointing at the heavy sling bag hanging at my side.
If you're wondering where this bag came from—well, at first Eda gave us a normal sack full of potions, but Luz accidentally dropped it and break them that why she gave us this, I'm honestly surprised that old hag Baba Yaga was kind enough to give us this sling bag instead.
Anyway, after I said that, Luz gasped like I had just insulted her entire belief system.
"GASP—how dare my own best friend say that! No, we are NOT!" she shot back, spinning around properly this time so she could walk beside me. "This is part of the process, Raffy! The process! Every hero starts somewhere! Even in books and manga they have to do small tasks first before they get stronger—"
"Yeah, and usually those tasks don't involve carrying suspicious liquids through a forest that looks like it eats people. Do you even think this little business of hers is legal here?" I replied, glancing up at one of the trees nearby. Its bark had… something carved into it—or maybe it just naturally grew like that. Either way, I didn't like it.
Luz didn't even seem bothered. Of course she didn't. She just kept smiling, hugging the strap of her bag a little tighter like she was proud of it. "Well—I… um… y-you're just being grumpy right now, Raffy," she said, nudging me lightly with her elbow. "Admit it, this is kinda cool."
"…It'd be cooler if we weren't unpaid labor," I muttered. "Because right now it feels like we're just being used as her free workers. Even American part-time jobs still pay teenagers, even if it's not much."
"I—well…" she tried to come up with something to argue back, but nothing came out.
"Let's just focus on our mission, alright!" Luz said, throwing her arms up like she was trying to reset the whole conversation.
I just shifted the strap on my shoulder again, the bag digging in as the bottles inside clinked softly. Curiosity got the better of me, so I tilted it a bit and peeked inside—glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, some glowing faintly, others looking way too normal to trust. Yeah… none of this say 'safe'.
I glanced back at Luz, raising a brow. "Well anyway… I don't know about these 'finest potions' she made," I said, tapping one of the bottles lightly through the bag. "Like that snake oil from earlier… why the heck would a snake need to be oiled up? The only snake oil I know is for massages and it Made from snake. You telling me someone snake pet's out there got sore muscles now?"
Luz didn't even hesitate. "This is a magic world, duh!" she shot back like that explained everything—which, to be fair, in her head it probably did. She pointed ahead dramatically like we were in some kind of adventure movie. "Of course things are gonna be weird and different from our world's standards. That's the whole point!"
Then her expression shifted just a bit. Still bright—but now there was a hint of focus behind it.
"Also… we gotta be extra careful, right? Eda said she has a lot of rivals that want her business to go down."I glanced at her, i remember what that ol hag said luzy you don't need to remind me,but i move my eyes back to the front again.
"Well, that already makes it súper peligroso, don't you think, Raffy?" she added, turning to me again with that same beaming look—eyes sparkling like she just said something exciting instead of something that should probably make us turn around.
"…yeah," I muttered after a second. "That's exactly why I don't like this."
She's really blind when it comes to stuff like this. Like… when it's fantasy, she only sees the bright, fun, adventure side of it. None of the ugly parts. Geez, Luzy… now I'm actually starting to wonder how she's even supposed to survive in this… her show?
Speaking of the show… I remember saying I used to know a bit about how it goes. Not from actually watching all of it or anything. Like I said before, I never finished the series—just watched a handful of episodes, maybe three or five, and knew some parts from random TikTok edits I came across back then.
But now… I…
I–…I've forgotten almost all of it after fourteen years here.
My mind's been too busy preparing for.. well ....this! and just trying to survive those early years with her. At the same time, I kept searching for anything related to magic through whatever media I could find…even trying to remember bits and pieces of magic theories from those sloppy fantasy manhwas I used to read in my previous life. Though honestly, I only remember fragments of them now.
Overall… I guess I just got distracted by my own life. Too comfortable, i guess.
The only thing I still clearly remember is what just happened yesterday—the beginning of episode one. After that? Nothing. I've got no clue what happens next… especially in that town we're heading to now and honestly, that's not a comforting thought.
Ah, right—the place we keep hearing about. Bonesborough. Pretty sure it's the same town we saw yesterday after walking through Eda's magic portal into this world. I still remember the view back then—those weird, crooked buildings that looked like they were built by someone who had zero understanding of geometry. Nothing about that place looked normal… but honestly, why would it?
And now we're supposed to go there… to deliver potions. Sounds simple, right?
And you're probably wondering—are we actually heading there like we know the way?
Hahaha… yeah, no. Don't be silly—we're new in this world, remember?
Then how we can go to that place? Well Eda gave us a guide.
A "guide dog," if you can even call it that, right now, its walking a few steps ahead of us with way too much attitude right now i mean , literally for something that size… was that Chihuahua.
And who i was reprering to? Well its king.
"Hey! What are you two humans talking about back there?! Move faster!" the little furball snapped, turning his head just enough to glare at us while still walking.
"Eheheh~ oh my, sorry sorry about that, lil cutie guide~ Raffy and i just have small conversation about this awesome quest we have now!" Luz replied instantly, switching into that overly sweet voice that somehow made it worse. She even clasped her hands together a bit, leaning forward like she was talking to an actual plush toy.
King flinched, physically flinched.
"Wuh—stay back!" he barked, pointing a tiny claw at her like that was supposed to be threatening. "Don't try anything funny, humans! Or I, King of Demons, will blast you where you stand!"
…Yeah.
"Awww...,is he adorable Raffy?"
That threat had exactly zero effect, to her buddy. That woun't work on anyone if you look like that,Especially on Luz, who looked like she was two seconds away from hugging him again, well to her, this guy walking plushie, well talking walking plushie, loud one none the less.
King seemed to realize that too, because he quickly turned back around and kept walking, grumbling to himself like an old man stuck in a tiny body. "Tch… why do I have to babysit these humans anyway… I had a perfect spot to nap and everything…"
Seeing that, I almost let out a short laugh. Watching this mutt get scared of Luz's tendency to hug anything she finds cute? Yeah… kinda funny. But I held it in and just kept walking.
"…I swear, I only agreed because Eda threatened to charge me rent…" he continued, kicking a small rock out of his way like it personally offended him.
"Heh…"
"Hm? Didn't you just chuckle, Raffy?" Luz asked, catching that tiny slip.
"Hm? What? You're hearing things, Luz," I replied immediately, not even looking at her. "Nooo~ I didn't miss that chuckle of yours, buddy. I heard you just chuckle earlier," she said, leaning closer until her cheek was practically pressed against mine while we kept walking. As usual, she had absolutely no respect for my personal space. What is it with this sunshine-type protagonist?
"Cut it out, Noceda… focus on what's in front of you or you're gonna stumble," I said, gently pushing her to the side with my palm.
She only gave me that stupidly cheerful smile before letting out another little chuckle. "Hehehe, yeah, yeah. Lo que usted diga, señor Tsund—"
"WAAAH!"
She didn't even get to finish.
Her foot caught on one of the twisted roots sticking out from the ground, and she immediately stumbled forward.
"Ouch!"
I stopped walking and looked down at her. Welp.
That made two incidents involving our precious potion delivery bag now. Thankfully, I didn't hear the sound of any glass breaking this time, so hopefully the bottles were still intact.
"Told you…" I muttered, shaking my head as I stood there looking down at her, although It looks very satisfying seeing her fall down after didn't respect my personal space.
———————————————————
Long story short, we kept walking until the damn woods finally opened up into a clearing. After spending all that time surrounded by those creepy pine-like demon trees, seeing an actual town ahead was almost a relief.
Almost.
There it was—this town i don't remember what's name was, sprawled out in front of us like someone had taken a fantasy RPG and a medieval slum, dumped them into a blender, and hit frappé.
Crooked towers leaned against each other like a bunch of drunk old men holding one another up. The rooftops looked like they were made from some weird mix of bone and shingles, and practically every building had long, curved, fang-shaped things sticking out from the eaves and doorframes.
And I mean every building.
Not one or two as decoration. Every house had them.
It was like the entire town had collectively decided that fangs were the newest architectural trend and nobody wanted to be left out.
"We're here…" King said as he walked through the entrance, casually putting his little paw behind his head.
"Well… this place is something…" I muttered, looking around as we took a few more steps through the gate.
The first thing that greeted us—besides the buildings—was the people. Or… creatures, I guess. There were demons everywhere, walking around like this was just another normal morning.
"Wooooah!" Luz said, practically lighting up as she stared at everything around us.
I looked in the direction she was staring and immediately spotted the first thing that caught my attention: a green slime creature with its brain clearly visible through its translucent head. It was pushing a little food cart with a sign that said "NOT DOG."
…What the hell is that, dawg?
Were they selling some kind of knock-off hot dog or something? Was that even edible? … was that even safe for humans to eat?
.....
Hold on.....wait, why the hell was I suddenly thinking about food?
....What the hell am I thinking about?
Was being hungry already messing with my brain? Damn it. I'd only eaten two protein bars earlier, and apparently that wasn't enough.…I should probably cook some instant ramen later and fill my stomach properly.
While I was still lost in my thoughts when another demon walked past us—a creature with the face of a baby but the body of a centipede. Yeah. I'm not even gonna pretend that made sense. Right behind it came a couple of goblin-looking creatures, followed by a bunch of other demons I couldn't even begin to identify.
Luz, meanwhile, was becoming more and more aware of her surroundings. She slowed down, looking around properly now, her eyes darting from one creature to another. The place was packed with all kinds of fantasy creatures, and judging from her reaction, she seemed to recognize a lot of them.
"Goblins?! Kobolds?! Slimes?! Chimeras?! And—GASP! More creepy, cool, weird creatures!" she shouted, pointing at basically everything she saw.
As for me? I was trying to keep my guard up. We had no idea what kind of creatures lived here, and I definitely wasn't about to lower my guard just because the town looked interesting.
King, however, casually stepped farther into the crowd like he owned the place.
And Luz?
Yeah… she looked like one of those people at a comic convention who had just walked into the biggest fantasy convention in existence.
"Raffy, look—look at that one!" Luz suddenly grabbed my sleeve and yanked me sideways so hard I nearly ate pavement. She pointed toward a hunched-over demon vendor standing behind a stall filled with jars of glowing teeth.
"Do you think those are real teeth? Whose teeth?! Are those from their bodies, or—or… Oh my gosh, what if they're TROPHY TEETH?!"
The hell, girl?!
"First of all, calm down. They're looking at us, Luzy," I whispered, glancing around at the nearby demons who were already starting to notice her.
"And second, don't even say that out loud. ¡Por amor de Dios! Please stop speculating about dental trophies, Luzy. We've got a job to do."
I carefully pried her fingers off my sleeve one by one like I was defusing a bomb.
Not that it worked.
The second I let go, she latched right back onto me, practically vibrating with the same energy she always had whenever she found some new weird thing she wanted to poke, inspect, or ask a million questions about.
Her eyes kept darting around the street, scanning every creature and every stall we passed. At one point, she even started reaching toward one of the strange creatures walking nearby.
I immediately grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back."Hey, Luz! Don't touch that!" I hissed."Seriously, don't!"
King, who had been watching the whole thing, narrowed his eyes at Luz. "What's wrong with her? Hey, don't do that! I've seen you staring at them, and that's rude! Let alone trying to touch them…"
Luz looked a little embarrassed, scratching the back of her cheek with an awkward smile. "Hehehe… sorry. I've only ever seen a place like this in my dreams and in the manga I've read, so I can't help it. It's… it's just incredible!"
So that's what I figured.
"And—and look here!" Luz suddenly added, her excitement coming back as she gestured around the street. "Me and Raffy are the only humans here?! Do you think its mean something!? Raffy!?"
She stopped again look at me for split second before I'm open my mouth, but i didn't say anything, waving her hands around as she looked from one demon to another.
King tilted his little skull head slightly, thinking about it for a moment."Wellll… I haven't seen any other humans," he said casually. "So… yeah."As soon as Luz heard that from this knockoff Pokémon, I could practically see her pupils shrink for a second before widening again. Her expression changed like someone had just injected her with a full dose of pure happiness.
Oh, hell no.
If she starts talking about destiny or fate, I swear I'm gonna swing this bag at the nearest demon and let them deal with me afterward.
"Wow! See?! That must be the reason for this, right?! Why we're here! Why I'm here!" she said, clenching her hands together before turning toward me with star-shaped eyes.
Oh shit.
"What if me and you, Raffy—Luz Noceda and Rafheal L. Scotch—"
Siapapun (somebody), please stop her!
"—just average teenagers… actually—" She suddenly gasped, practically vibrating with excitement.
"A predetermined path toward… GREATNESS?!"
Shit...She said it.
"Wahahahah! Hihihihi! GASP—just like Azura and her companion!!" Luz squealed, practically losing herself in her own excitement as her mind immediately jumped back to that damn novel.
"Yeah," I muttered, "and I have one question. Did Azura's path of GREATNESS!!? involve delivering boil cream?"
King had apparently decided to contribute to the conversation. He rummaged around in Luz's bag and pulled out one of the bottles, holding it up for her to see.
I stared at the label.
Boil Cream.
…Yeah. That was apparently the name.
Let me guess.
Either that's just the actual name of the potion… like it's some kind of brand.
Or, knowing this world, it literally does something to boils.
I really hope it's the first one. Luz quickly got her composure back, taking the bottle from King and carefully putting it back inside her bag. Then she smiled at him, almost like she had just made some grand declaration.
"Well, today I'm delivering packages," she said, her voice dropping into a strangely serious tone. "But tomorrow… tomorrow I'll be earning…the respect of everyone on the Boiling Isles with my magical powers…"
She glanced at me.
Oh, I knew that look.
That was the look she gave me whenever she wanted to drag me even deeper into whatever ridiculous rabbit hole she'd already jumped into. Like she expected me to immediately agree with her.
And honestly, I hated the fact that I couldn't really do anything about it.
"Hah! Good luck," King said, completely unfazed. "The Boiling Isles are nothing but a cesspool of despair…"
I glanced around the street again.
…Yeah.
I could kinda see what he meant. A lot of these people looked like they were having a pretty rough time. But King's words didn't seem to bring her spirit down at all. If anything, Luz just smiled even wider.
"For me, it's more like a cesspool of delight, mi lindo amiguito!" she said cheerfully.
She immediately started looking around again, watching the demons going about their daily business. Some were carrying groceries, others were talking among themselves, and a few were just minding their own business as they walked through the streets.
"Ahah! Look over there! I'm gonna make my first move!" Luz suddenly declared, turning toward us. "Come on, guys! Raffy, let's start our sto—"
She stopped.
Her eyes slowly traveled up and down my body before landing on my face.
"…Why are you wearing that?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
She pointed at my head. I was wearing a pair of fake red horns I'd found back at that Baba Yaga-looking hag's place. I'd stuffed them into my pocket earlier, figuring they might come in handy."I found these at Eda's place, so I picked them up," I explained, adjusting one of the horns. "Figured they might help us blend in a little. The locals have already been looking at us weird."yup, I feel like an Động vật ngoại lai (exotic animal) as i notice they stare at us, specially me and Luz.
She stared at the horns for another second before her expression suddenly brightened.
"Oh! Good idea, Raffy!"
She immediately pulled her hood up over her head. The hood had little cat ears sticking out from the top, which… honestly, wasn't exactly subtle either.
I stared at her.
"…That's your idea of camouflage?"
She smiled.
"Yep!" then she ran toward that half man and half horse creature."why i feel she gonna offended that thing..."i said it out loud.
....
———————
After Luz finished bothering the horse-headed guy—the one with a face on his chest, which apparently wasn't something he appreciated—the three of us continued through the town, delivering the potions from one place to another.
Luz walked ahead with her usual bright smile, her hood still pulled over her head as she happily looked around at everything. She seemed completely unfazed by the weird creatures, strange buildings, or the fact that we were basically doing unpaid delivery work for Eda.
Me? I was paying more attention to the town itself.
The more I looked around, the worse it seemed.
A lot of the stalls and shops looked like they'd barely been held together. Some of the vendors looked more like homeless people than actual shopkeepers, wearing old, torn clothes covered in patches. The streets weren't exactly clean either, and pretty much everything had this worn-down, run-down feeling to it.
I slowly glanced from one stall to another, taking in the condition of the place.
"…This place looks even worse the more I look at it…" I muttered under my breath. The thing I noticed most was that some of the shops had these strange logos or seals on their signs. I couldn't tell if they were just decorations or if they belonged to some kind of organization—like company logos or something. Maybe certain businesses here were part of the same group?
Then there were those people wearing plague-doctor-looking masks again. Guards.. Security guards? Whatever they were, they all wore matching armor, pretty similar to the ones I'd seen yesterday around that weird gulag-looking place the same one that almost kill me but keep shooting my leg. I really didn't want to think about that again. I'd rather delete that whole experience from my memory...i mean it bro.
But the thing that really caught my attention was the buildings.
I didn't know if i already mention this but, there were so many of them, packed together and stacked on top of each other. The whole town looked ridiculously overcrowded, almost like someone kept adding new buildings without ever bothering to leave any space between them. It reminded me a little of the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, from when my mother took me there years ago.
And then there were the banners.
Lots and lots of banners hanging between buildings and across the streets. I couldn't read most of them, but judging from the symbols and the way they were displayed everywhere…they looked a hell of a lot like propaganda or some community they make to help these people businesses, to make the people here have better life, But what i been see right now, these people were really struggling as i see lots creatures...that lay down seem didn't get any medical treatment in that Alley, or as i can said it in politelly possible to poor to get medical treatment, even by fantasy-world standards. The whole place was starting to remind me of North Korea—except someone had taken that whole atmosphere and dumped it into a fantasy setting.
We kept going from one house to another, delivering the potions while Luz tried her best to stay cheerful. Even she was starting to have a harder time adjusting to some of the weird stuff here. Earlier, she'd tried to ring a doorbell, only for the damn thing to grow a mouth and nearly swallow her hand. Somehow, she still managed to brush it off and keep that positive attitude of hers.
I wasn't having nearly as much luck ignoring everything around us.
My eyes kept moving from one building to another, taking in the streets, the creatures, the strange shops, and all the things that looked completely..what i should put it? Uncanny? Bizzary? Weird? Strange? Well all of them,these place sure like distance weird fantasy of those DnD world build by 12 year old. But then something in the distance caught my attention. I stopped for a second and stared past the buildings. Far away, through the terra of this place, its look clearly to me how its look even though is far away, it was a gigantic skull.
Not a normal skull. A massive monster skull, so enormous that it looked like it was part of the island itself. I narrowed my eyes at it."…What the hell is that?" I muttered.
But my attention shifted when Luz called out to me, snapping me out of my little staring contest with the giant skull."Raffy, what are you doing over there? Come on! We still have our potion quest to finish!" she said, waving me over. She was holding the piece of paper with the addresses for the next deliveries, while King stood nearby, tapping one of his little feet impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah, coming," I said, finally tearing my eyes away from that massive skull looming in the distance. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't going anywhere. I could stare at it later. Or, you know… never. I could just pretend I hadn't seen a mountain-sized skull sitting there and casting a shadow over an entire town like it was completely normal morning scenery.
"Come on, come on! Let's go!" Luz called again, already jogging ahead with King.
I sighed and followed after them.
Seriously, where did she even get all that energy in since morning? She'd only eaten the protein bar I gave her earlier, and somehow she was still running around like she'd just downed three cans of energy drink. Sometimes I wondered how she'd had this much energy since we were toddlers.
…Or maybe it was just another protagonist trait? If that so..God help me....,wait you know what? Scrap that. That bastard who put me on this first place."ok! What we have the list."Luz said as she look at paper on her hand, bro why you this full energy???
———
"HAAAAAAA!!! WHY IS THIS SO HARD?!"
Yeah… scratch that. Her endless optimism had finally taken a little damage.
After nearly getting eaten by several of the customers' doors, being chased by what I could only assume was some kind of guard dog, and almost getting burned alive by another weird-ass doorbell after the first one nearly swallowed her hand, Luz was finally starting to look exhausted.
Now the three of us were sitting on the side of the curb, taking a short break.
King, meanwhile, had apparently bought himself one of those knockoff hot dogs from the green slime vendor earlier.
And let me tell you…
My stomach immediately started trying to convince my brain to ask for a bite. I stared at the thing in King's little hands.
"Is that even food? It looked questionable man ,why it almost look like lagsana yet also shape like hog dog...and what the shit is that in that thing?? Look like those coal creatures in that one Ghibli movie They ....although it...itt smelled… surprisingly good..."
My stomach growled.
"YOU TRAITOR!"
"Yum! Ham! Yama—mmm… burp!" King rubbed his little stomach and sighed happily. "Ahhh, that hit the spot. Welp, I think I've had enough delight for one day." Meanwhile, Luz looked completely defeated. Her shoulders slumped as she stared down at the ground.
"Sigh… why is this so hhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrddd, Raffy?" she mumbled before leaning her head against my shoulder.
I winced slightly.
Ouch.
My shoulder was still sore from yesterday, dude. Having her suddenly drop her head onto it definitely didn't help.
Still, I didn't push her away, her head make my shoulder so much pain, it hurt. I can't move it or anything.
"Ack!? ...ssssssss...It's not going the way you expected, is it?" I said in my usual tone. "Heh. Told you."
"Hmmpf! You're not helping, Raffy! Come on...you should help me find solution on this or cheer me on! Hmp! Hmp!!" She puffed out her cheeks, giving me a slightly annoyed look before sitting up again. At least her head wasn't pressing against my sore shoulder anymore. Although i wanna swing this bag to her annoying face right now.""Entonces, ¿qué era lo que me quería decir, Luzy? (So, what was it you wanted to tell me, Luzy?) Hmmm?"
"Well anything?!" She say as she still look at me with pouted face."and like what exactly? Ayo (come on) give me a hint about it."I said in my sarcastic, slightly mocking tone."
"I mean aagh! Forget it.., just..… why did this turn out like this? This… this isn't… what I really had in mind." She hesitated, looking around at the strange town. "I—I thought being one of the only humans here… in this magical world… would make—"
"You special," I cut in bluntly.
She blinked at me, i already knew where this conversation was going...Of course I did.
She was Luz. She'd spent years dreaming about fantasy worlds, magic, witches, heroes, and all that stuff. And now that she was finally in one, she'd expected everything to fall into place like one of her stories.
Except this world didn't work like that.
Except this world didn't work like that.
And honestly… I couldn't blame her for feeling disappointed, its natural if the fantasy world that you were dream about was like this shit ho—
"Why are you saying it like that?" Luz asked, looking at me with a confused expression. "What do you mean by that? I was about to say us—like, being the only humans here would make us feel special. Why did you assume I meant only me?"
"...Oh," I said again, like my brain had rebooted and only managed to reload one word. She just kept staring at me, waiting for something better than that, and honestly I didn't have much better than that. I scratched the back of my neck, looking away toward King, who was very pointedly minding his own business and licking mystery sauce off his paw like he hadn't just witnessed something.
"Well—yeah, obviously us," Luz said again, poking my arm with one finger like she was trying to reboot me faster. "I mean, come on, Raffy. You think I'd get excited about some big destiny thing and not drag you into it too? That's not how this works. We've been doing everything together since we were, like, five months old. You think I'm gonna leave you out of the 'special human duo' part?"
I opened my mouth to say something sarcastic but honestly—but nothing came out. Just air. Which, for me, was basically a red alert. And this girl still managed to short-circuit me with the dumbest, most Luz thing imaginable: assuming I was automatically part of her stupid main-character fantasy, then i try changed the topic.
But thankfully after several second being short-circuit by her words,i manage to regain myself."Sigh, Well… whatever. The point is, Luzy.."i was about to say something like wake up call for her but unfortunately this fake pokemon Cái này tệ quá (This is shit) cut me off. King, Who'd just finished licking the last of that mystery sauce off his paw. "Heh, what were you two humans even talking about back there? Specially you, human, Luz!" the little fake Pokémon said, jabbing a claw first at me, then at her, clearly proud of himself for noticing something was up.
"We—we just... think," Luz started, fumbling a little, "being here should make us feel special... but..." She trailed off, looking genuinely disappointed as she pulled out her holy book — of course she brought it, Azura the Good Witch, when did she even stash that thing in her bag?? — but anyway she just clutching it like it was gonna give her some kind of answer.
"But everything here isn't what I imagined... as..." she said again, cracking the book open to some illustrated page. I sighed, already knowing where this was headed, and figured I might as well just say it outright. "Everything here either wants to burn us, kill us, scream at us, or eat us alive — especially you right now, apparently, since something's currently gnawing on your elbow."
"I what now?" she said, one eyebrow shooting up, before she actually looked down at her own arm and saw the little face-abomination thing latched onto it, jaw working away happily. "HIEK!" She flung it off into a nearby bush without a second thought.
"You didn't even notice it, huh?" I asked, unable to keep the smirk off my face. "Obviously I didn't! Why didn't you tell me sooner it was munching on my elbow the whole time?! I hope it didn't leave a mark," she said, twisting her arm around to check for bite marks, right as King cut back in, clearly annoyed at being ignored for even five seconds.
"Rude human, why are you so easily distracted? You dare look at something else when I, the King, am speaking to you," the little furball huffed, arms crossed with all the arrogance of someone twelve times his actual size. "Sorry, it's just—" Luz sighed, shoulders sagging as she glanced back down at her book. "At this point, Azura had already been sent on her enchanted quest. Where's mine and Raffy's quest-granting wizard?" And honestly, hearing her say that out loud, all I could think was — I really don't want any of that. Not one bit.
"Well, sorry to break it to you, human Luz, but there's nobody here that well-dressed. Just look at these people," King said, gesturing at the street around us, where the demons shuffled by in their patched, worn-out clothes. Nobody said anything for a second after that. I let out a quiet sigh. "Well... this has been a rough day, huh?" Luz didn't answer. She just stood up, dusted herself off, still clearly stung from earlier, and muttered, "Let's just deliver these last potions and go home," before walking on ahead without waiting for either of us to catch up.
———
We kept walking in silence after that, the three of us weaving through narrow, cramped alleyways where the buildings leaned so close together overhead that barely any of that weird violet sky peeked through, and nobody said a damn word — not me, not King, and definitely not Luz, who kept a solid five paces ahead the whole time with the delivery bag clutched tight against her side, her face still mildly disappointed, no words coming out of her mouth. Well, this is nice — some peace, its la peace, whatever you wanna call it, actually kinda nice for once. As we kept walking, the alley finally spat us out into an open plaza, and there it was.
"You must be fucking kidding me," I mumbled the second I saw it — a ridiculous, gleaming white castle-looking building with a blue conical roof spiraling up way higher than anything else around it, sparkly banners hanging off every tower, the whole thing looking like it got teleported straight out of an overpriced fairytale theme park and just dropped smack in the middle of this rundown, propaganda-choked slum of a town. "This... this is a bad sign. I can feel it," I said again, louder this time, enough for both of them to hear. "Hue?" King said, tilting his skull-head, looking completely lost as to what I was even talking about.
Meanwhile Luz, hearing my words, turned to look at me. "Hmm? Raffy, what's wrong, what do you mean a bad sig—" and then she stopped dead in her tracks the second she whipped her head back around and actually saw it, and I watched her whole posture shift — shoulders straightening, that same stupid hopeful sparkle creeping right back into her eyes like she'd already forgotten every single crappy thing that happened to us today.
"Gasp... no way," she breathed, clutching the paper with the last address on it like it was a golden ticket. "It's so pretty... Raffy, you see this?!" Before I could even open my mouth to remind her that pretty and safe were not the same damn word, she'd already grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward the front door, practically skipping."It does look like trap if you ask me."i said as i find this really suspisious.
"I don't.. let's go" she said, tugging me along while King trotted after us, grumbling something about his stomach." Wait Luz wait!"
Inside my head, though, I was already cursing that troll god straight to whatever hell they crawled out of. Of course this castle had to show up right when Luz's mood tanked. Of course it was gleaming and sparkly and exactly the kind of bait a girl who worshipped a fantasy novel would fall for face-first. It reeked of setup — the kind of thing that gets dangled in front of you right when your guard's down, wrapped in glitter and good lighting. And the worst part? I had no clue what actually happened here...but my shit ton of my danger sense tingeling as say it another trouble.
We reached the front door before I could talk her out of it, its surface carved with little stars and swirls that practically glowed under the weird violet sky. Luz let go of my hand just long enough to jab her finger against the doorbell — and for once, mercifully, miraculously, the thing didn't grow teeth, didn't burst into flame, didn't try to slice, dice, or swallow any part of us whole. It just chimed, soft and pleasant, almost mockingly normal. Then the door creaked open on its own, and a shadow spilled out across the porch — tall, thin, wrapped in robes that shimmered faintly even in the dim light — and a voice followed right behind it....
[Continue...]
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DOUGH: i hit the damm wall lol, anyway... thanks for read this new sloop chapter of my awfull TOH fanfic...
LEMON: you really bad author you know that right? You suck at this writing toooo much typo
DOUGH: huuush...i really want to kick this guy balls, but he already remove his...
LEMON:H-HEY!
DOUGH:Anyway sorry for short sloops, its take while have my Will power to see the recap eps of this show on YouTube...,well its good i guess better then lsp. Also thing ain't going smoothly here in my life hahaha...anyway The omake will follow later. See ya DOUGH out!
LEMON: You poor...poor...Asian man.
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