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Haa… haa… haa… haa… I can’t… must… run away…

Veridian Peaks, a place a traveler seldom travelled to. It was located near the so-called Veridian Road, a long road across several countries that would take travelers to the very northeastern edge of the Holy Continent. For most people, they would just follow the road, ignoring the Peaks entirely, but for some, like the two, or adventurers hired by the locals to gather herbs and slay monsters threatening their villages, they had to make the climb, sometimes going all the way up to the peak.

And there, near one of the said peaks, a certain girl was running for her life.

She was a member of the elven race, around the age of eleven, if speaking in human years, possessing shoulder-length silver hair and dull pink eyes. A part of her bangs hung in front of her face and below her eyes, curling around her left eye. The rest of her bangs rested around the shape of her face, curling outwards at the very tips. She wore a white flower with green leaves on the left side of her head.

Her outfit was a short, green and white dress that cut off at her thighs with gold trimming. She had a dark teal sash with gold trimming that she hangs loosely around the right side of her body. She also had opaque detached sleeves that fade from white to a pale green. Accompanying all that was a small, off-green bag.

The only means she had to defend herself was the long lance she held. It was a weapon taller than herself, with a bright blue gem at its end.

Alas, it wasn't sharp enough to pierce through the monster chasing after her.

*SCREECH*

It was a furry-legged tarantula, it's size easily deserving the size of the elven girl.

“Haa!”

*SLASH*

*SCREECH*

In a single swing, the girl slashed the giant tarantula into two. It fell onto the ground with a loud thump, its green blood and innards spilling out from its bisected abdomen.

The elven girl looked at her savior with a mixture of relief and surprise, for the girl’s strength defied her looks. She was just a young girl around the age of ten, with jet-black silky hair that went down over her waist, reaching all the way to the back of her knees, a contrast to her tomboyish demeanor. Her outfit was ill-fitting with that impression as well, consisting of a simple one-piece dark blue dress reaching down to her lower thighs. The hem flew upwards as she brought her sword down on the insect, displaying a flash of white that could've been avoided if she had worn shorts instead. Her eyes were sharp and focused—the eyes of someone used to wielding a sword. The elven girl had seen them before, from veteran adventurers she had met in her travels. To think that a girl her age could already have the same expression...

The sword-wielding girl grimaced looking at her sword covered in green, straight from the stomach of the unfortunate victim. She took the largest leaf from the trees near her, using it to clean the blade as best as she could. Once she finished, she sheathed her weapon back to its place, inside the plain wooden sheath hanging on the belt she wore on her waist.

"Are you alright? Any injuries? I have a balm of healing you can use if you want."

She approached the girl with a concerned look on her face. The elven girl couldn't help backing away a bit, as the presence of the black-haired girl was too much for her to bear. Was it the proud way she walked, carrying around her sword like it was nothing? Was it the fact that she just fell a Furred Tarantula in a single swing? Or was it something else? Even she herself wasn't sure.

"M-my right ankle… I-I think I've strained it…"

"Then, let me help."

The black-haired girl crouched down in front of her, taking out a small bottle from her belt pouch. Looking her up close like this, she couldn't help but notice how big her forehead was, a fact she didn't bother to hide, judging by how her hair parted in the middle.

That, and the fact that she could see her white cotton panties from the way she carelessly opened her legs. It's rude to stare at another girl's undergarments though so she averted her eyes.

"May I?"

The elf girl nodded, moving her right leg forward. The black-haired girl undid her sandal before she began massaging the swollen ankle.

"A-ah! Please be gentle."

"S-sorry, I'm not that good at controlling my own strength."

A hint of nervousness flashed on the black-haired girl's face, making the elf girl feel bad she had complained. Her grip was indeed a bit too hard for her liking though.

After she finished, the elf noticed that the pain on her ankle had vanished. Whatever salve she just used must be an effective one indeed.

She stood up, disobeying the black-haired girl’s plea for her to rest a bit more. “A-apologies, but I cannot dawdle here. Theo… he needs me. He’s my son, you see, and he has a terrible fever right now. I went all the way out here to look for some herbs I could use for a cure, but it seems I had gone too deep into the mountains.”

“Y-your son? Y-you have a son?”

The black-haired girl looked at her with her jaw wide open—her face a mixture between one of surprise and disbelief. After all, the elf looked more like a little girl than an adult woman. How could someone like that have a son already?

She covered her mouth and giggled. "Oh, it's not like what you think. I adopted him."

"A-adopted?" Now that makes more sense. But for a girl her age to already adopt a kid... w-wait, she's an elf. I shouldn't come to conclusions.

"H-how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Huh?" She tilted her head. "I'm eighteen years old. I certainly don't look like it, do I?" She giggled again. "Well, we elves have late growth spurts compared to most other races. I myself don't know when I would have mine. It's all up to the heavens."

"I-I see…" I guess that's just how elves work.

She looked down at her own small and childlike body. I wonder if an Izurd will be like that too. I don't want to go back to him still looking like this…

Secretly, she had always wished for a more mature look, similar to the one her adoptive mother and sister had. Not to mention that the boy she liked seemed to prefer that kind of a body type as well…

She took a shy glance at the elf’s chest. They were already there, two small bumps visible through her outfit. But hers, they still remained completely flat.

She sighed. Her mother said they would grow in time, but would they really ever grow as large as those bouncing monstrosities that she had?

"Is something the matter?" The elf tilted her head, asking with a concerned look.

"O-oh nothing, nothing at all!" She waved her hands, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"Oh, that's right!" The elf clapped her hands together with a smile.  "I haven't asked for your name yet, have I? My name is Tira. Tira Elfiel. It's a pleasure to meet you." She offered her right hand.

"R-right, my name is Sherry. Sherry Izurdia. T-the pleasure is all mine." She shook her hand in an awkward manner. She was never that good with introductions like this.

Releasing her hand, the elf continued. "Then, if you'll excuse me—"

"Hold on! I'll escort you back to your son. These tarantulas… There are many of them around here. It's too dangerous for you to go back on your own."

“O-oh, but you can’t!” The elf waved her hands. “I don’t wish to impose on your generosity any longer!”

“Don’t be silly. If I’m going to help you, then I’m going to do it properly. I’ll be your escort, don’t you worry about it.” The black-haired girl returned with a reassuring smile.

And so it was that the two traveled down the mountains together, making their way down back to the nearest village, which coincidentally, was the village Sherry had been staying in as well, and just as the sword-wielding girl had predicted, they were assaulted by more tarantulas on the way. Thankfully, she didn’t lose her edge and managed to dispose of every single one of them with little to no difficulty, to the awe of Tira the elf. To Sherry, it was only par for the course, since the tarantulas were only C-rank monsters, no match for the level she was currently at. But for the elf, they were still beyond her capabilities. The demon girl would not hold it against her though. On her travels, she had met a lot of adventurers who were about her level in strength.

When they arrived, they promptly made their way to the only inn around. The inn, much like the village, was old and small, a sign that the place hadn't been developing much over the years. The houses were built out of wood and straw, including the inn, which just so happened to be the biggest building in the place, which didn't say much. The building was just one story, with around ten rooms lent to the rare visitors to the village. The innkeeper was the daughter of the village elder, and the business was pretty much a family enterprise.

However, before Sherry followed Tira into the front entrance, the demoness excused herself.

“You’re not coming in? Theo would be happy to meet you, I’m sure.”

“No, I have a companion, and I wish to fetch her first before I come back here.”

“Ah, right. The Myrilla woman, right?” The elf smiled. Sherry had mentioned her when the elf asked whether she traveled alone or not when they were making their way to the village. “Of course. She would be welcome as well. Oh, do you two stay here by any chance?”

"No, we… made camp outside the town."

"Why?" She gasped, covering her hand with her mouth. "Don't tell me that you two are running out of money? D-don't worry! I'll lend some to you! That's the least I can do to repay your kindness! Even though my purse is pretty empty too…" She trailed off with a sad look, touching her index fingers together.

"N-no, it's nothing like that! It's just that… this inn… it doesn't want to accept us as it's guests."

"Eh? What do you mean they won't accept you?"

"Myrilla and I are demons. And the owner doesn't want any demons to stay in her establishment."

Sherry's face was decorated with a bitter smile. After traveling for so long with her companion, and guardian, she had seen with her own eyes how people would discriminate against their kind, especially Myrilla, whose nonhuman features were really pronounced. At first, she found it terribly unfair. She would become really angry, to the point of punching the culprit, but Myrilla told her to just ignore it, so they wouldn't get in trouble with the authorities.

"Their dislike is towards me, not you." So the demoness said. After all, her companion looked perfectly like a normal human girl.

"That's terrible!" Tira replied, anger drawn on her face. "How could they do that? Don't worry! I'm going to talk to the innkeeper!"

Before she could walk inside, however, Sherry grabbed her shoulder.

"No, there's no need for that." Sherry shook her head. "We're fine just camping outside. And I don't want you getting kicked out too. Theo needs you, remember?" She gave a reassuring smile.

"...Alright then. If you say so." She sighed, followed with her own smile. "Come back soon, alright? I would love to cook you and your companion dinner."

And with that, Sherry made her way back outside the village.

--------

Her companion, Myrilla, was away on a different part of the mountain—the more dangerous part. The two had agreed to split up to fulfill the quests they had taken. One was to slay a certain species of monster and bring back their body part while the other is to gather rare herbs from the area. Myrilla took the first while Sherry took the second, so when Sherry found her companion, she was sitting on a corpse of a massive beast, using her telekinesis to make her knife do all the work without touching a thing.

Sherry couldn't help but stop and admire her from a distance. Once again, she displayed how strong she was. She was an S-rank adventurer, far above her who was still only B-rank. She could fight large monsters like this without breaking a sweat. The creature she was sitting on was a Berserker Gorilla, an A-rank monster. They had received a quest to take down the rampaging ape, as it was getting too close to the village for comfort. If she were to fight one, it would be a difficult fight. And yet, Myrilla could take care of them with just a few spells. And some of them were nothing like Marina or Hugo's spells. When the young girl asked her about it, she only said that they were spells she created herself over the years she had become a mage.

"...Oh, you're here," she said with a deadpan tone, seemingly unsurprised by the sudden appearance of the young girl. " Which means you've gathered the herbs?"

Sherry nodded. "I have someone I want to introduce to you."

Myrilla raised her eyebrows.

--------

When the two returned back to the village, the sun was rapidly sinking under the mountain. They made their way to the inn, though not before receiving some stares from the villagers they passed in the way.

"Urgh, it's that demon again. I thought she already left."

"Look at those feelers. Is she some kind of an ant demon?"

"Ha! Maybe she's a cockroach! Look at how dark her skin is!"

Some were expressing their astonishment, while others held far less kind opinions. There was one thing that they all had, however, and that was fear—fear towards the demoness.

Sherry could only grit her teeth in response. Myrilla told her over and over not to be offended on her behalf. But, as someone who had pride in her own demon blood, she could not stand having a comrade being badmouthed like this.

If only… if only more humans can be like him…

She remembered how the boy she loved, Hugo, made her proud of her heritage. He accepted her—hugged her, even when she was bathed in the blood of the monsters she had slain in her anger. She used to despise her demon blood, and yet, he made it so she could accept who she really was.

That was just one of the many reasons why she fell for him. Sure, he might be a bit too perverted at times, like when she caught him keeping his sister's dirty panties, but it's nothing compared to his virtues. She was even willing to indulge him in it, by giving him her own panties. There's nothing wrong in doing that for a boy you like. That's what her adoptive mother told her, that she should be more forward with her son if she really liked him in that way.

He was the light to the night of this rabble. Oh, how terribly she missed him. And yet, she had to go on, for his sake too. She wanted to be stronger so she could be of use to him when they started their travels together.

"Hey, the inn's over here."

"R-right."

Blushing, she doubled back on her steps. Thinking about him had made her lose attention to her surroundings.

"So, you want me to come in as well? The innkeeper won't be pleased."

"Oh, who cares about her? We'll just go in and—"

"I told you before that I would rather not cause any commotion." Myrilla's eyes narrowed. "You know if we provoke the innkeeper, she might just kick out your friend as well. And you know that son of hers is ill. He'll need a proper bed."

"Oh fine." Sherry huffed. "I'll talk to her first. Stay here, alright?"

And so, she entered the building on her own. It didn't take long until she found the room where Tira and Theo stayed. All she needed to do was to ask the grumpy innkeeper, who responded by directing her to the room on the right, furthest to the back.

As politeness demanded, she knocked on the door first before barging in. The doors here didn't have any locks, unfortunately.

"Tira? We've returned. Myrilla isn’t coming in though since, you know.”

“A-ah, Sherry! Hold on a sec…”

Almost in an instant, the door swung open, revealing the elf standing behind it with a big grin on her face.

“Come in! Come in! Look! Theo’s all better already!”

She didn’t wait for Sherry’s permission to grab her hand and pull her inside.

The room was small and cramped, really only intended to be used by one person. Other than the bed, there were barely any other furniture in the room. It was truly a barebone room, yet the innkeeper was more than happy to charge a premium, since her inn was the only one in the village.

Monopolies, something Sherry would not understand without Myrilla explaining it to her.

Sherry’s gaze immediately locked towards the boy sitting on the bed. He wore a green shirt and brown shorts, the latter sharing the same color as his hair. If she had to guess, he was a few years younger than her.

“You're here!"

To Sherry's surprise, the boy jumped right out of his bed before running towards her, grabbing her hands and shaking it up and down with a vigor one would not expect from a sick child.

“Oh, thank you so much for saving Mother, Miss Sherry!”

“M-Miss?! Hey, I’m not that old yet!”

“O-oh, r-right…” The genuine smile on his face vanished, replaced by an awkward one.  "I… I just thought I should call you that out of respect… that’s what Mother told me to do to strangers! Especially ones who have helped you!"

He released her hands, scratching the back of his head with a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Thanks to your help, Theo here already recovered from his fever!" Tira placed her hand on his shoulder. "It was worth it going all the way up there to get those herbs! I knew my medicine would be better than the quackery that nasty old woman made!" She huffed.

"Nasty old woman?" Sherry raised her eyebrows.

"Yes! The healer of this village! Can you believe she easily said that Theo's disease was incurable and that he would die before the next morning? How stupid did she think I was to believe that?!"

The elf continued her rant. The fiery way she said it, while her son stood beside her looking awfully uncomfortable, yet too afraid to say anything, it really reminded Sherry of her own adoptive mother. She too would be like that from time to time.

A tiny smile decorated her lips. Guess mothers are the same everywhere, even when the mother is a young elf like her.

"So!" Tira clapped her hands once she finished letting out her steam. "Let's have that dinner I promised! Though I have to ask, where's your companion? I don't see her behind you."

A tinge of bitterness tainted Sherry’s smile.

"She's outside. She... doesn't want to come in."

“What?! Why n— oh, right…”

The elf’s enthusiasm deflated like a balloon that had been popped.

She quickly recovered however.

"That's right! You're camping outside the village, right? Then we'll just have our dinner there!"

"But your son—"

"Don't worry, Big Sister Sherry!" He patted his chest. "Like Mother said, I already recovered!"

And so, Sherry had no choice but to accept Tira's idea.

--------

Once they were outside, they were greeted by the sight of a dark-skinned woman nonchalantly resting her back at the nearby tree.

“Ooh, look, Mother! That lady over there has those weird things on top of her head!”

“Shush, you’re being rude! I’ve told you before, haven’t I? You can’t just say something like that to a complete stranger!”

Myrilla wasn’t the first demon they saw. Before they got here, they had met a number of demon adventurers before on the road.

“Miss Myrilla! Miss Myrilla!” The boy ran towards the lady. “Good afternoon!" He bowed. "My name is Theo! It's nice to meet you!"

Myrilla's eyebrows raised themselves. Her gaze traveled to the rest of the group until it rested on Sherry.

“I see these are the people you mentioned.”

Sherry nodded. “Over here is Tira Elfiel, and over there is Theo Elfiel, her adopted son.”

“Adopted… son?”

The demoness looked back at the young boy, raising her eyebrows even further. Her glance then moved at the elf, producing a frown on her lips.

“Greetings, Miss Myrilla.” Tira bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

------------

The group then made their way out of the village, earning more stares from the villagers whom they happened to pass. The shared tent Sherry and Myrilla stayed at was located just around fifteen minutes of walk from where the village was, on a cliff overlooking said village.

That night, they had quite the sumptuous feast. Tira offered roasted wild boar as the menu for the occasion, which Sherry readily accepted, being a big lover of meat dishes. Myrilla, on the other hand, who didn’t eat meat, had to make due with a simple vegetable soup, to the elf’s fervent apology. She might not be a strong warrior like the two of them, but if it’s hunting a simple boar, she could do it just fine.

As they sat around the campfire, Theo bombarded the two travelers with all sorts of questions, though mainly jubilant ones, like wanting to know what's the strongest monster they had fought or what's the most dangerous land they had ever been. It was all too clear that the boy was fascinated by adventurers in general.

"So, I assume you want to be an adventurer once you're older," Myrilla interrupted.

"Yes! I want to become a great adventurer like you guys! And then, I'll get rich and famous and marry Mother!"

As if they were a pair of synchronized clocks, Myrilla exchanged questioning looks with Sherry.

“Oh, don’t be silly, dear.” Tira giggled as she placed a hand on her boy’s shoulder. “You’re going to find a girl you like and then you’re going to marry her. You can’t marry me, your own mother.”

“Why not?” He turned his puppy eyes towards her. “I like you the most, Mother! I want to marry you and no one else!”

“Aww, I’m so happy to hear that! Come here and get a hug from Mommy!”

Both Myrilla and Sherry could only watch as Theo leaped into the elf’s embrace, followed by the latter squeezing his cheeks and patting his head.

The former sighed, before standing up and excusing herself for some fresh air. Sherry, however, remained there.

...It sure is nice having a mother…

Once again, her thoughts returned to home, how Renee would hug her so tightly she scarcely managed to breathe. To her shame, she tried doing the same with Myrilla in her sleep, hugging her while muttering “Mommy” into her bosom. Even though Myrilla herself said she didn't mind, Sherry hated herself for it. Why must she act like she was still a five year old girl who can't do anything without her mother?

Sherry smiled bitterly. If it were Hugo, he wouldn't act like this. Even though he's younger than me, he acts much more mature than a kid his age.

Oh Hugo, am I ever going to be good enough for you?