Chapter 84 - 83: Hoperui Town.

We traveled through the Goldberg forest for approximately a week, we had horses this time so traveling was easier this time.

After a week, we had reached Hoperui. It is a small town near the foot of the Hunsti mountain range. 

After non-stop traveling, we have decided that we will take a break here. It will take at least two weeks to travel through the Hunsti mountain range, so it is the best option to take a day's rest now.

The last time I visited this town, it was a pretty rundown town. Safety was the last thing you would expect from this place.

The sight of rats was more commoner than those of humans. Well, the humans here had life worse than rats. 

Murder, Robbery, Slavery, and various other crimes were normal sight. Basically, this town was a living lawless hell hole.

The point I am trying to make is that the town that I had seen when I first came here as an eight-year-old is totally different from the town I am standing in right now.

The street that led up to the town were skillfully made stone-paved roads and the sides were flanked by footpaths and drainage ditches.

The sides were lined by the beautiful orange maple tree, the trees were not mature yet so it will probably get more beautiful. 

The houses that were lined across the street were apart from each other, giving a sense of privacy. It was a beautiful town.

But, what the hell happened to this town in five years? were they granted god's grace or something?

"Grey, I think we have entered the wrong town," said Rai as she started walking out of the town.

"Yes, we have definitely entered the wrong town." agreed Rudi as he continued to walk away with her.

"No no, see that giant sign saying Hoperui. We have definitely come to the right town,"  said Aetna stopping both of them. 

"Then what the hell happened to this town, Grey?" asked Rudi.

"Huh? why are you asking me? well, if I have to guess, probably some sort of landslide fell upon the old town and they were like "You know what, I had enough of the bad life. we will get clean.". So they built the better town." 

I was not guessing, I was just being sarcastic. There is no way, something like this would happen in real life. Probably something else happened. 

We found a local inn. First, we left our horses in the stable provided by the Inn and then entered the inn.

"Oh, we have a young customer today!! Welcome!!" said the owner greeting us.

"Thank you, sir. we would like two-room, for three people each." 

"It would be 6 silver coins, food included." replied the owner.

I handed him the coin as I leaned towards him to ask,

"By the way, last time I was here, this town didn't exactly--I mean, it was a little bit different. So, I was just wondering-- you know--- what happened to this town?"

My question was met with the loud laughter of the owner, 

"Another curious customer!!"

"Do people ask this question a lot?"

"Yes, a lot. To answer your question, actually, four years ago a landslide fell on this town. It destroyed most of the houses, people got homeless because of that. But also in the unfortunate event people thought that they had enough of their shitty old life, they decided to get better. So here we are now."

huh?

"Talking about wild guess," said Rudi as he poked his elbow in me.

No no, there is a limit to how wild a guess can be.

Later we took lounge on the inn. Among the two rooms, three boys have taken one room and the other has taken by the girls. 

Well, that arrangement is only for the night, for now, anyone can stay over in whatever room they want. 

Rudi had already gone out, apparently, he wanted to explore the town or something. Ulrich has also gone out, but not with Rudi.

He said that he is going to check out the food of this town. Rai is currently sleeping here really peacefully, so peacefully that I don't even want to disturb her.

The peace she was carrying on her sleep was like world peace to me, I would never let anyone disturb it.

Well, About the thing Annie and Aetna doing right now is, 

"Grey!! let's go!! I want to check out the town!!" said Annie as shook me.

"I want to eat something, let's go find good things to eat in the town," said Aetna.

"I am actually kind of tired, I want to stay in the room--" before I could complete the sentence, I was shook violently by both of them as they said,

"Let's go!!!"

"Annie, if you wanted to explore the city, should have gone with Rudi and Aetna, if you wanted to eat something, you should have gone with Ulrich." 

As I was speaking I found Aetna looking at my neck intently, I felt like prey that was waiting to be hunted. I am starting to feel unsafe.

"But I want to go with you!!" said Annie.

"But---Ouch!" 

As I was speaking, a silver-haired vampire had sunken her teeth into my neck. The vampire was all over me as she drew my blood.

Pushing Aetna's head away, I spoke up, "What are you doing Aetna?"

"No-- I am sorry, I didn't mean to do it. I just did it in instincts." 

I didn't say anything in reply, I sat there quietly. After a second, I grabbed her hand as I said,

"Let's go get you something to eat."

"You will come with me, yay!!" 

"Let's go, Annie," I said as I walked out of our room holding Aetna's hand. 

"By the way, your blood was kind of sweet--" 

"Let's--- Let's not talk about it."

83-2

After searching for a while, we found a good restaurant to eat at. Today I found out that, if I keep Aetna hungry for too long, she might start craving for the blood.

Well, it does makes sense, since she is a vampire. Vampires can survive very well without blood, but if they are starved for too long, they will start craving blood.

In short, It is a bad idea to keep Aetna hungry, or else she will bite into me to draw blood out of me. 

But, you know what, it actually felt good, the sensation of she bitting into me to draw my blood out. 

{Author: Grey discovers a new fetish.}

Later on, the food that we had ordered arrived. I wasn't actually hungry, so I just ordered a cup of tea. I was content with watching Aetna devour all the good.

If I hadn't fed her in her time, I would have been in the place of that food. Not exactly my body, she will drink my blood to be precise. Which is actually not a bad thing, I mean it felt good.

{Author: His fetish is growing stronger.}

As I was thinking this, a certain sight caught my attention. It was the sight of a little girl entering the restaurant.

She was a very cute kid with knee-length black hair. 

Walking up to the counter, the kid stretched her hand, trying her best to reach the counter. Finally, as her hand barely reached the counter, she placed a few coins on the counter as she called out,

"Ummm, sir--- hello, sir--- ah, sir?" she was trying her best to catch the attention of the shop owner, but he is not able to hear her due to her inaudible voice, her short being wasn't helping her either.

After trying for a while, she gave up as she started walking out of the restaurant. She seems to be pretty introverted.

I got up from my chair as I approached her,

"Hello little miss," I said before she could walk out of the restaurant, crouching down to her height I asked, "Do you need my help to order something?"

She didn't answer my question. She stood there as she hesitated to speak. Now that I look at the kid closely, this kid is skin and bones.

Has she been eating properly? no, it's pretty obvious looking at the state the kid is in. 

After a good second of silence, I spoke again,

"What is your name? where are your parents?"

My other question was again met with no reply. The kid looked kind of afraid to answer my question.

or was she just uneasy?

"Little miss, why don't you join us at our table. I will order something for you to eat," I asked to which she replied with a vigorous nod.

Luckily my this question wasn't met with silence. Well, it kind of did, but at least she nodded in agreement. The kid must have been really hungry.

I will ask question about her parents later, first i will let her eat the food.