Chapter 303: Crowds, Confrontations, and the Children Who Disappeared
Chapter 303: Crowds, Confrontations, and the Children Who Disappeared
Elyn’s POV
I wondered what could possibly be going on now.
Surely, after everything that had happened in the stall, the universe had decided we had suffered enough for one day.
Surely.
But then I blinked.
And we were no longer in the stall.
Suddenly, I was standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by demons of every shape and size. Zorathys was beside me, his shadows curling lazily around his feet, and the children were scattered around us, their eyes wide, their attention already fixed on something ahead.
I looked back at the stall.
Velvetta and the other fox demons were still inside.
Zorathys had teleported us, or perhaps transported us, but I did not have the time to dwell on that, because the commotion ahead was growing louder.
I noticed, distantly, that it was nighttime. The sky above the market district had darkened, the warm glow of lanterns replacing the soft daylight. But I did not focus on that. I focused on the crowd of demons gathered before us, their bodies pressing together, their voices rising in overlapping shouts and arguments.
Something was happening.
The children pushed forward immediately.
Velira and Azerion were at the forefront, their small bodies slipping through the gaps between demons with ease. The others followed behind.
I pushed forward too, trying to keep up.
A demon — large and broad, with skin like cracked earth — frowned and said gruffly,
"Where did the children come from?" he asked, his voice gruff.
"They’re mine," I said without thinking.
The demon huffed but said nothing more.
I reached the front of the crowd just as the argument reached its peak.
Three demons stood in the center of the circle, their voices overlapping, their hands gesturing wildly.
The first was a goblin. He was small and wiry, his green skin gleaming under the lantern light. His ears were long and pointed, and his eyes darted around like he was looking for an escape route. He wore a tunic that had seen better days, patched and stained, and his fingers were covered in what looked like soot.
The second was a fire demon.
She was tall and lean, her skin the colour of embers, her hair flickering with flames that never seemed to go out. Her eyes glowed orange, and there was a smudge of something dark on her cheek. She wore an apron stained with cooking oil, and her hands were clasped on her hips in a stance of pure authority.
The third was a stone demon.
He was massive, his body made of dark granite, moss growing along his shoulders and arms. His face was angular and unreadable, and he stood with his arms crossed, his expression defiant.
"You stole from me," the fire demon said, her voice sharp.
"I didn’t steal anything," the goblin argued. "I was just standing there."
"Standing there with your hands in my pot."
"I was inspecting the contents."
"You were tasting the contents."
"Tasting is not stealing."
"It is when you don’t pay."
The goblin opened his mouth to argue, but the fire demon cut him off.
"And you," she said, turning to the stone demon. "You were there too."
"I was invisible," the stone demon said, his voice rumbling like stones shifting underground. "You didn’t see me."
"I saw you."
"You couldn’t have. I was invisible."
"I saw the pot move. I saw the contents disappear. And then I saw you."
"You saw nothing."
"I saw everything."
The goblin threw his hands up.
"This is ridiculous. She didn’t see either of us. She just—"
"Turn around," the fire demon said, pointing at the stone demon.
The stone demon stared at her.
"Turn around," she repeated.
Slowly, he turned.
The crowd leaned forward.
There, on his back, was a mark. A splatter of something dark and viscous, still glistening under the lantern light.
"I threw my pot at you when I caught you stealing," the fire demon said triumphantly. "The remnants are still on your back."
The stone demon’s shoulders slumped.
The fire demon turned to the goblin. She grabbed his hand and raised it high, displaying a similar mark on his palm — the same dark splatter, the same glistening remnants.
"And you," she said. "You have a mark too. These are contents from my pot."
The goblin’s face fell just as the crowd erupted in cheers. Demons clapped, whistled, and shouted their approval. The fire demon stood tall, her chin raised, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
The goblin grumbled under his breath.
"I wouldn’t have been caught if you hadn’t appeared," he muttered, pointing towards the stone demon.
The stone demon shot him a look.
"I wouldn’t have been caught if you hadn’t appeared either," he rumbled.
The fire demon smiled then, wide and satisfied, like she had just won a war, which given the circumstances perhaps she had.
"Since it’s been resolved," she said, "you must pay me back for damages. Five hundred gabin each."
The goblin’s eyes went wide.
"Five hundred?" he spluttered. "That’s nighttime robbery!"
The stone demon nodded in agreement.
"It is," the fire demon said calmly. "But it’s also legal."
She quoted the law then, her voice carrying across the crowd.
"Under the Demon Realm Code, Article Seven, Section Three: daytime and nighttime robbery are permitted so long as they do not result in the death of innocent demons. Furthermore, restitution is required when the victim demands it. And the restitution may be claimed in full, up to and including the value of the goods stolen."
Why was I not surprised?
If stealing was legal until you were caught, then obviously robbery like this could be too.
The goblin and the stone demon grumbled but reached into their pockets. They produced coins — gabin, five hundred each — and handed them over to the fire demon.
She held them with a smile.
And then a bird appeared.
It swooped down from the sky, fast and silent, and snatched the coins from the fire demon’s hand before she could even react. The coins disappeared into its beak, and it soared upward, wings beating against the night air.
The fire demon cursed.
"Hey!" she shouted, shaking her fist. "Get back here!"
She ran after the bird, her flames flickering with rage, her voice echoing through the street.
And she made a mistake she would likely come to regret later.
Her stall was empty.
The crowd watched her go, then cheers went up as the majority raided her stall.
I shook my head.
What a day.
I looked down at the children, ready to tell them not to learn from what they had just witnessed — that theft and robbery were not good things, even if they were legal, even if—
Hold on a minute.
Where did they go?
I blinked and used my hands to wipe my eyes, thinking perhaps this was all a joke, but nope.
The children were gone.
And not only them.
Zorathys too.