Chapter 2: Chapter 2: That Demoruth Girl

Shaken from what he had just witnessed, he tried to back away slowly, hoping to call a Holy Knight here once he got out. But as he tried going upstairs, he couldn’t maintain his balance as his legs were shaking from the fear, and he ended up falling down the stairs, making a huge noise. As he was getting up from the fall, he saw the blonde Demoruth girl staring at him. She had finally noticed. Fearing for his life, he picked up the kitchen knife that had fallen onto the floor and charged towards her. It was just for her to grab his hand and put him in an arm lock behind his back using her left hand. The knife fell to the ground, which she picked up using her other hand and put it up against Zeno’s neck.   

"Let go of me, you disgusting Demoruth" screamed Zeno, trying his best to escape from her hold.   

"Move or shout one more time, and this knife will go right through your neck. Don’t forget that even if I am still not fully healed from my injuries, I am still way stronger than you." said the Demoruth girl, which made Zeno stop struggling.   

"What are you doing at my house?" asked Zeno.   

"Simple! I needed a place to hide from the Holy Knights since I had a feeling that you guys wouldn’t just let me escape back that easily."    

"How did you even get in? The border is surrounded by walls, with only the giant gate as an entrance. Multiple guards should have stopped you!"    

"I don’t need to answer all your questions." said the Demoruth girl. "As I have no way of escape right now, I will make this place my hideout for now until I figure out my escape route."   

"Never!" exclaimed Zeno, "I can't imagine having to live with a disgusting Demoruth like yourself; you... you people are the reason my father is no longer in this world anymore." 

Just as Zeno said that, the Demoruth girl grew quiet for a moment. Zeno looked back at her face to see her going through a wide range of emotions. Was it anger? Sadness? But why? Zeno didn't get it. She quickly shook it off and continued talking.   

"Didn’t I say not to shout? And oh! I wasn’t asking for your permission to stay here."   

"You! What makes you think that I won’t report you to the Holy Knights?"

"The only reason I am not killing you right here is that I don’t want the Holy Knights to know that I was here. But if you report me, I don’t see any reason not to kill you. Or that woman that I saw leaving the house earlier? I assume that was your mother?"

"Don’t even lay a finger on her." Zeno said as his eyes widened with rage.

"No, you don’t have to get angry. I won’t do anything to her. That is, if you keep your mouth shut. If you even think of reporting me to the Holy Knights, your father won’t be the only parent you have lost by the hands of us Demoruths."

"I… understand, so please don't hurt my mother." Zeno pleaded. 

The rest of Zeno’s day went on as normal. At night, he showered, ate dinner with his mother, and went to sleep, hoping that what he had seen today was just a bad nightmare.   

The next day, after strength class had ended. Zeno was still processing what he had witnessed yesterday.   

"Is this really ok?" Zeno thought, "I can't report her as she threatened to attack my mother if I did, but is there really no other way? Can I really not do anything? I say that I will create a free world by getting rid of every Demoruth from this world once I am a Holy Knight, but I froze on the spot when I saw one in front of me. Am I that useless?" Many questions were going through Zeno's head at that time, when he was woken up from his thoughts by a voice calling out to him.    

"Zeno? Hey Zeno!" the voice said. 

When Zeno had fully woken up, he saw Linda in front of him, with a concerned look on her face.    

"Hey! Is everything ok? You have been acting weird all day. It looked like you weren’t even paying attention in class. You got scolded multiple times by Professor Varnet for it." said Linda, with a worried tone in her voice.    

Zeno grew silent for a moment. But after a few seconds, he smiled at Linda and said,  

"Everyone is... fine. There’s nothing for you to worry about."    

Just as they were having this chat of theirs, they saw Daniel walking towards them.  

"It’s a lovely day, isn’t it, Linda? I have had my eyes on you since yesterday when I saw how smart you are. A future leader like me would really benefit from a smart wife, after all." uttered Daniel. 

"I appreciate the offer, but no thanks." responded Linda.  

"Oh! You don’t have to be shy now. Come with me and I will show you a lovely time." Daniel insisted.  

"Hey! Leave her alone." Zeno, who was silent up until now, finally spoke.  

"Oh my! Didn’t notice you there, Zeno! You should try to be more noticeable; otherwise, the king will also miss you when he is picking the Holy Knig —" Daniel was met with a kick to his back before he was able to complete his sentence. As Daniel was picking himself back up from the floor, he turned around to be met with a familiar face.  

"Becky! You! When are you going to stop me, woman?" shouted Daniel.  

"I will stop when you stop being an annoying douchebag." stated Becky.  

"When will you learn to behave, Daniel?" remarked Tom, as he was heading their way.  

"Hello, Zeno and Linda. I came here to ask if you guys would be interested in joining me and Tom for dinner, since I thought we would get to know each other better that way. I asked around the whole class but everyone said no except Tom. So, I hope you guys accept my request." Becky asked.  

"Sure, Becky, that sounds lovely." answered Linda.  

"I won’t be able to go. Sorry, everyone. I got some things I need to take care of." Zeno expressed.

"That’s ok, but make sure that you will be able to join us next time, ok?" said Tom.  

"Fear not everyone!" Daniel yelled out of nowhere. "I, Daniel, will be kind enough to join you instead. There’s no need to thank me."  

"Well... If you don’t cause a scene, it’s fine for you to be there, I guess." Becky stated. 

Just as they were about to head out, Linda turned to Zeno.  

"I know that you said that everything is fine, but just know that I am always here for you if you need any help, ok?" Linda expressed.  

"Yeah... I know."  responded Zeno.  

When Zeno reached home, he started to get lost in his thoughts again.  

"I wanted to tell her the truth, since I know that I can trust her, but I can’t. I just can’t. I don’t want her to get involved in this mess like me. This is my responsibility now. I got myself into this mess, and I will be the one to get myself out. But, how? What should I do? I have thought many times about calling the Holy Knights when mother isn’t at the house. But if she escaped the Knights the previous time, what are the chances that she won’t do it again? And if she escapes, she will most likely come for me and my mother first. I can’t take the risk of losing a close person in my life. For now, I need to gather more information about her to know why she came here."  

Just after he had that thought of his, Zeno gathered up the courage to go down to the basement once more to confront the Demoruth girl. But when he got to the floor, he didn’t see the Demoruth girl there.  

"Where has she gone?" Zeno thought. While he was gathering his thoughts, he heard a loud bang in the room. When he looked back, he saw the Demoruth girl coming out of the closet.  

"Oh! It was just you." said the Demoruth girl.  

"Why were you in there?"   

"Well, I heard some footsteps coming this way, so I was trying to see if you had pulled some funny business on me. Lucky for you and your mother, that you didn’t." Zeno glared at her as soon as she said that. She continued,  

"I also took some fruit from the upstairs while you were gone."  

"What? I thought you people ate Decievel’s flesh and things like that."    

"Ew! No. You people really are stupid, aren’t you? If that was the case, you wouldn’t be alive right now."   

"So? What brings you here?" 

Zeno thought for a moment, then uttered, “If you are going to stay at our house for a while, it’s only fair for you to give me some information on you. So, speak now, Demoruth.” 

She chuckled after she heard what Zeno had said. "What’s so funny?" asked Zeno.  

"I find it funny the way you are speaking to me. Stop acting like I have to tell you anything. But since I have nothing to lose, I would do you the favor of telling you some basic information." Zeno was surprised that him asking her for information actually worked.  

"Where do I begin?"  

"Just tell me who you are and why you came here?"  

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"Well, my name is Clova Milres. I am 17 years old and I came to this country searching for someone."   

"Same age as me, it seems. So, who are you searching for?" asked Zeno.  

"Oh? It looks like that king of yours hasn’t relayed this information to all his people. What a great king he is."   

"Hey! Don’t say anything bad about our king."  

"Admiration for the king, huh? Well, no surprise there, seeing how you are trying your best to look like him."   

"I am and I am proud of it. The king is a great man. He is keeping us safe from Demoruths such as yourself."  

"I agree! What a great man he is. A king who keeps all of his dear people within this narrow border. A king that won’t even let you see what the outside world is truly like. Is that a great king to you?"  

"And whose fault do you think that is? If you people just quietly surrender, we will be able to live freely."  

"Surrender? And then what? Be slaves to you people for the rest of our lives? You talk about this freedom of yours. But you are so willing to take the freedom of other people for your own desires. Why is that?"  

"No matter the cost, for us to live in a free world. I am willing to sacrifice everything." 

Just as they were arguing, they heard some footsteps coming down the stairs and the voice of Anya yelling.   

"Zeno, are you in there?" shouted Anya.

"Quickly, hide!" exclaimed Zeno, as Clova went inside the closet. As Anya reached the floor, she saw Zeno standing there alone.  

"Zeno, what are you doing in the basement? I was looking for you all around the house." said Anya.  

"I... needed some tools from the basement." responded Zeno.  

"And why is there a fruit on the floor?" Zeno looked down at the floor to see the fruit that Clova was eating before.  

"She must have dropped it while she was in a hurry to hide." thought Zeno.  

"I was hungry, so I took it out from upstairs, but while I was eating it, I accidently dropped it." 

"Oh! Zeno, you shouldn’t waste food like that. Be more careful next time."  

"Yes, mother."  

It seemed like she was going back upstairs after this talk, but unexpectedly, she turned back.  

"Oh! I almost forgot! The shampoo bottle was empty this morning. I might as well grab a new bottle from the closet now that I am already here." Zeno's eyes widened as soon as he heard that.  

"Don’t!" yelled Zeno.  

"Excuse me?" Anya looked confused.  

"I mean... the closet was really messy when I was taking out the tools, it looked like some items were about to fall. So don’t open that or you might accidentally get hurt."   

"Yeah, but I need the shampoo to shower."   

"Don’t worry, I will bring the shampoo with me when I come upstairs, so you can leave now."   

"Alright, be sure to not get hurt while taking out the shampoo." said Anya as she headed upstairs, again. Zeno sighed in relief. After Anya was finally upstairs, Clova got out of the closet.   

"What was that stupid lie you told? Can’t believe that she actually believed you." uttered Clova.  

"Well, I had to make them on the spot since someone picked the most obvious spot to hide! But you couldn’t be satisfied with only hiding in a stupid place, you even had to make sure to drop a fruit on the floor to tell people that you are indeed here."  

"I panicked. That’s why I accidently dropped the fruit. And where else am I supposed to hide? The basement is small, there’s only a closet for me to hide in."  

Zeno thought for a solid minute until an idea popped into his head.  

"Come upstairs with me," said Zeno.  

"What? Are you mad?" Clova responded.  

"Trust me."  

"Why should I?"  

"Because I have no reason to do something stupid that will expose who you are. Especially with you threatening me."   

Clova was still hesitant, but after thinking for a while, she finally accepted. After that, Zeno grabbed a bottle of shampoo and they went upstairs. They could hear Anya's voice coming from the dining room.  

"Just wait here." voiced Zeno as he walked towards the dining room. 

"Mother, here’s the shampoo bottle that you asked for." said Zeno.  

"Thank you for getting it for me, Zeno!" responded Anya.  

"Oh! And there’s also something that I need to ask you."   

"Yes? What is it?"  

"You can come out now!" shouted Zeno, which made Clova come to the kitchen.  

"Who is this girl?" Anya asked.

"She is... a friend of mine. I asked her to come here at nightfall since I wanted her to meet with you." Zeno responded.

"So, why did you want her to meet with me?"

"Her family was killed by Demoruths, so I was wondering if she could stay with us." voiced Zeno.

"Oh, you poor little thing. What’s your name?" Anya questioned.

"My name is Clova Milres. I am sorry if I am asking too much out of you." said Clova.  

"It’s no big deal. You can live with us from now on. You will stay in the room next to Zeno’s, but first let us have dinner." declared Anya.  

After they ate dinner, Zeno and Clova headed to the 2nd floor, where Zeno showed Clova her room.  

"I... can’t believe that actually worked. Your mother is really nice. Maybe you people aren’t as bad as I thought." smiled Clova while entering her room.  

"Hey, that’s the first time I have seen you genuinely smile. I didn’t even know you people could smile." said Zeno.  

"Well, you were asking for information about me. So, there's another thing for you to note down." said Clova as she closed the door to her new room from the inside.  

"I never got to know who she was searching for, did I?" thought Zeno as he went to bed.

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