"You—... You can do magic?! You demon!" Startled and in fear, the religious quack jumped at her, disregarding his own safety.

"Kya—!" Surprised, Lyara yelled as she fell to the ground, together with the man, her magic casting canceled, though it was just some lighting magic. In this, her hood was pulled back, exposing her ears.

"Monster!" he screamed, wide-eyed, "You are an elf! You are one of the damned creatures!"

"If you don't want me to k—!" Capitalizing on his fear of the forsaken race, Ly started threatening him, slowly moving towards the bed, only to be interrupted by a powerful voice she had not heard yet, coming from the bed itself.

"STOP! ALL OF YOU! STOP!"

"F—father!" The girl rejoiced, jumping up from the ground and onto the bed.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm all good now..." "YOU TWO! LEAVE THIS HOUSE, AND NEVER RETURN! OR I'LL KILL YOU BOTH WITH MY OWN HANDS!"

"What are you saying, brother!? The witch got you under her spell, we need to—" the buff man from before, who was inching onto the girl, tried to "reason" with his brother. Not that it would help him much, considering he'd been caught pretty much red handed.

"Cut the crap off, I heard you earlier. You tried to kill me, together with this fraud!" The man, hugging his daughter, yelled from the bed, still too weak to move.

"Nonsense!" Threatened, and taking steps back, the quack spouted some more snake oil, "You, sir, are under the effects of witchcraft! She tampered with your memories and is selling your soul to the devil!"

"Fuck off! Leave!" having none of his shit, the man screamed as loud as he could, his voice loud enough to make even Lyara flinch.

"Ma'am! Please stop this nonsense! He's not capable of thinking right," trying to get onto a ledge and turn the tides in his favor, the quack appealed to the woman by the door.

"Yes, sister-in-law! He's clearly disturbed!" And so did the other man.

"I'll bring the surgeon to cut the demon's blood off of his heart!" Trying to make their appeals more sound, the quack intensified his discourse, now claiming he'd need a more invasive, and grossly deadly, way to "cure" the man.

"LEAVE MY HOUSE!" Yet, contrary to their expectations, the woman yelled, now with a broom and a large knife at hand. Ly was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she'd run into the kitchen and back with those stuff at hand, to protect her kid.

"What?! She got you too?! This witch is dangerous! We'll need help!" Terrified and pushed between a mad man, a magician and a woman with a knife, the quack cracked, bawling at his companion.

"Y—Yeah!" the man stuttered, the two making a run for the door and into the corridor.

"Don't ya thing you won this, Witch!" the buff man yelled while running outside.

"Yeah! We'll be back! With the holy inquisitors! Just wait, your time will come and this family will be freed from your machinations!" the quack yelled, before bashing the door closed.

From the window, they could see the two idiotic men running away in a hurry, towards the nearby town.

"Such a disgrace..." the man on the bed slowly muttered... "Thank you for helping me, I would've died if not for you." He leaned to the side of the bed, grabbing the hands of Ly who was readying herself to leave.

"It was nothing, I only did it because Luzia asked me," she responded.

"Don't be so humble. Nobody else in your place would've come this late into the night... Those two... they came to ensure I died." A shiver went down Ly's back as she heard the man's words.

"But isn't he your—"

"My brother, yes," he interrupted her. "but I never forgot the strange feeling I felt when my sister died... that he had something to do with it. Guess my hunch was right all along... Such a bastard."

"Why would he even do such an—" Ly tried to bemoan the injustice, but the man, once again, didn't let her finish.

"He wants this farm. He always wanted everything we had... And when Father left it for me instead, he felt wronged... such a spoiled brat..." He grabbed his temples. "Least stay for the night. Eat some fruit and cheese with Luzia and Martha, we have delicious products from the place. That's the least I could offer since I can't reward you like you deserve."

"But I already—" Ly tried to complain, arguing she had already defined a price with the girl earlier.

"It's fine, sweetie," this time, Martha, the mother, interrupted her, "we know for a fact healing poison is very different from healing disease. Also, we have to reward you somehow for what happened tonight... Oh, God, I didn't ask, did he hurt you?"

"No, no. I'm okay."

"Such a relief... Come, let's eat some before you wash yourself and go to bed."

"..."

"Ly, let's go." the girl called her out, leaving her father's side and pulling Ly's hand along. After all, she was also pretty happy.

Lyara went to the kitchen with the pair, though something still bothered her. Something to do with the last words of the pair.

'Did he mean it when he said he'd get the inquisition? No... It can't be. That guy has no power to pull such moves. But I'll have to prepare to move soon, since he could get some adventurers at least... such a pain. I'll brush the first group off though, before leaving.

After eating, she slept in the visitor's room of the house. It was much more comfortable than her own, at the very least, the straw mattress was way thicker and the linen was double lined, making it softer, and harder to get pricked.

DarkGodEM

Happy to say I am still, in fact, somewhat, alive!