A couple minutes later, I found myself sitting on the edge of the guest bed with Silvia comfortably settled on my lap.

At some point during our conversation, she’d apparently decided that head pats were the greatest thing ever invented.

Unfortunately, she’d also decided that stopping the head pats was a terrible crime.

Every time I stopped, her ears would droop immediately and she’d stare at me with the most miserable expression imaginable until I started again.

It was surprisingly effective.

"So you really like these, huh?"

Silvia nodded.

The moment I stopped patting her head, her expression immediately fell.

I sighed and then resumed which made her ears perk back up immediately.

"You’re spoiled already."

Silvia looked pleased with herself.

A few moments later, the door slowly creaked open.

Lillith’s head peeked inside and she glanced around the room.

Then her eyes landed on Silvia sitting comfortably on my lap while actively pushing her head upward into my hand for more head pats.

Silence.

Then—

SLAM!

The door crashed fully open.

"What exactly are you doing with my darling!?"

Both Silvia and I jumped.

Silvia practically launched herself off my lap.

A second later she had hidden herself behind my back, I could feel her trembling.

"Lillith."

"No!"

She pointed dramatically.

"Absolutely not!"

Silvia immediately buried her face against my back.

Lillith looked even more offended.

"Look at her!"

"What about her?"

"She’s touching you!"

I blinked.

"She’s sitting."

"On you!"

"She’s a child."

"That changes nothing!"

Silvia made a frightened noise.

The moment she did, she pressed herself even further behind me.

Lillith looked personally betrayed.

"I don’t like this stray cat laying its filthy paws on my darling."

The trembling behind me intensified.

I sighed.

"Silvia, calm down."

The girl nodded slightly.

Unfortunately, Lillith immediately pointed at her again.

"Dump her back into the street."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Lillith."

"I regret not leaving her in the alley."

I rubbed my forehead.

"She’s just a kid."

Lillith crossed her arms.

"And?"

"And she needs help."

"Her first interaction with you was biting you and making you bleed."

"She was scared."

"She still bit you."

"We’ve already established that."

Lillith looked ready to argue for the next six hours.

Instead she pointed toward Silvia.

"Fine."

I relaxed slightly before she continued.

"Let’s reunite her with her family immediately."

I nodded.

"That was the plan."

"Great."

She smiled.

"Where are they?"

I looked over my shoulder.

Silvia was still hiding behind me.

"Silvia?"

The girl peeked out slightly.

"Do you know where your home is?"

She hesitated.

Then slowly shook her head.

"I don’t know."

Lillith blinked.

"What do you mean you don’t know!?"

Silvia immediately hid again making Lillith click her tongue before she spoke.

"How does somebody not know where they live?"

The girl remained silent.

I sighed and repeated the question myself but a bit more gently.

"Silvia."

The girl peeked out again.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

She hesitated.

Then finally spoke.

"My tribe..."

Her voice was quiet.

"Didn’t have enough food."

I frowned as Silvia continued.

"We were hungry for a long time."

Her ears lowered.

"Everyone was."

The room became quiet.

"Then one day..."

She swallowed.

"People came."

"While I was out looking for food."

The silence afterward lasted several seconds.

Then—

"Tch."

I glanced sideways.

Lillith’s jaw was clenched as apparently

even she wasn’t pleased with that story.

Unfortunately her irritation immediately redirected itself.

Straight toward Silvia.

"This is your fault."

Silvia looked confused.

"What?"

"If you weren’t here, Leon would be paying attention to me."

Silvia immediately retreated behind me again.

Then started crying.

"The lady is mean..."

Lillith looked horrified.

"MEAN?"

I quickly intervened.

"Lillith."

"No!"

She pointed at herself.

"I am not mean!"

"You literally threatened to kill her multiple times."

"That was different."

"It wasn’t."

"It absolutely was."

Silvia continued crying.

I sighed and picked her back up.

The moment I did, she immediately wrapped both arms around me and buried her face against my chest.

Lillith’s eye twitched.

"I’ve changed my mind."

"No."

"I’m killing her."

"No."

"Immediately."

"No."

"Right now."

Lillith looked genuinely frustrated.

Then she held out both arms.

"Give her to me."

Silvia immediately grabbed my shirt tighter.

"No!"

Lillith froze.

The room suddenly became very cold.

"Excuse me?"

"The scary lady!"

Silvia pointed directly at her.

"Please don’t give me to the scary lady!"

Lillith immediately lunged forward, I sidestepped in order to doge Lillith as Silvia squeaked.

"Lillith!"

"What!?"

"She’s a child!"

"She’s stealing my spot!"

I stared.

Lillith pointed accusingly.

"She went after the wrong woman’s man."

I rubbed my forehead again and looked down on the frightened Silvia that later in my arms.

"Silvia."

The girl looked up.

"Are you hungry?"

Immediately she nodded.

"Very."

"What do you want to eat?"

She thought for several seconds.

"Meat."

"Good choice."

Lillith folded her arms.

"We don’t have cat food."

"Lillith."

"What?"

"Stop it please."

She pouted.

"I’m defending what’s mine."

A short while later, we relocated to the dining hall.

Unfortunately Silvia remained firmly attached to my lap the entire journey.

Which Lillith definitely noticed.

Several servants brought over plates after receiving Lillith’s orders.

Three large steaks soon appeared before us.

The moment they did, Silvia’s eyes widened.

Then she reached forward grabbing the steak with both of her hands, immediately she attempted to shove the entire thing into her mouth in one go.

I caught her wrist halfway there.

Silvia looked confused.

"Wait."

"Why?"

"Use the utensils."

Silvia looked down at the knife and fork.

Then picked up the knife and proceeded to repeatedly stab the steak.

After around twenty seconds of stabbing, she looked up.

"It’s dead."

For several seconds there was complete silence.

Then Lillith burst out laughing.

"Hah!"

She pointed dramatically.

"Leon, she’s completely barbaric."

"Lillith."

"Throw her outside already the streets are probably better for her."

"Lillith."

Silvia looked incredibly saddened.

I sighed.

Then picked up my own knife and fork.

"Look."

I cut off a small piece.

"Like this."

Then held it out.

"Say ahh."

Silvia immediately opened her mouth.

I fed her the piece.

Her eyes widened as she swallowed it.

A second later—

"Again."

I couldn’t help but laugh.

So I cut another piece, which was followed by another and then another.

Each one disappeared instantly.

Lillith finally slammed both hands onto the table.

"Enough!"

Both Silvia and I looked at her.

"She can feed herself."

"She’s learning."

"You fed her."

I blinked.

"What?"

"You fed her."

"Yes I did?"

Lillith leaned forward.

Then opened her mouth.

"Ahh."

I stared.

"...Seriously?"

"Ahh."

"Lillith."

"Ahh."

I sighed and fed her a piece, and while chewing it she made a satisfied expression.

"Again."

Unfortunately, before I could respond, Silvia’s stomach growled loudly.

The girl looked embarrassed.

"Sorry Lillith."

Then cut another piece for Silvia.

Lillith looked at the child with narrowed eyes.

"She definitely did that on purpose."

Silvia ignored her completely.

Instead she happily continued eating from my lap while I cut the steak into smaller pieces for her.

Across the table, Lillith watched the entire thing with the expression of a woman witnessing a grand conspiracy unfold right before her eyes.

A bit later, Silvia finally finished eating.

And by finished eating, I meant she had somehow consumed not only her own steak, but mine as well.

Then two additional steaks.

I genuinely had no idea where all that food had gone.

The small beastkin girl leaned back against me and rubbed her stomach with a satisfied expression.

Her belly was visibly sticking out slightly beneath her ragged clothing now.

"I’m full..."

She let out a content groan.

"Too full..."

I couldn’t help laughing.

Across the table, Lillith looked utterly horrified.

"Where did it all go?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Silvia blinked.

"Into my stomach."

"That’s not possible."

"It is."

"It isn’t."

Before the argument could continue, the dining hall doors opened.

Clara walked inside carrying a basket under one arm.

She waved.

"Hey guys."

Then she noticed Silvia who was sitting on my lap.

Then the expression on Lillith’s face.

Clara immediately sighed, it was a long, exhausted sigh.

"Can a single day pass without something weird happening?"

Clara walked over and sat down.

"So."

She pointed toward Silvia.

"What happened this time?"

I spent the next few minutes explaining everything.

By the time I finished, Clara was rubbing her temples.

"Leon."

"What?"

"Sometimes you’re honestly more troublesome than Lillith."

I looked offended.

Across from me, Lillith nodded enthusiastically.

"Exactly."

"How am I troublesome?"

"You found a random beastkin child in an alley and brought her home."

"She needed help."

"That’s exactly my point."

I opened my mouth before closing it again.

Lillith crossed her arms.

"Actually."

I immediately recognized that tone.

It was never a good sign.

"We were just about to throw it back into the alley."

Silvia froze and then immediately gripped my shirt.

I sighed.

"Lillith."

"What?"

"Behave."

She let out an annoyed groan and leaned back dramatically in her chair.

Meanwhile I turned toward Clara.

"Do you know anything that could help us figure out where Silvia came from?"

Clara blinked.

Then thought for a moment.

"Maybe."

"I thought you would since you’re smarter than—"

"Leon."

The way Lillith said my name immediately told me I’d made a mistake.

Clara coughed to hide her laughter.

Then spoke.

"There are several places where beastkin live."

She paused.

"But stronger and more rarer less civilised beastkin are usually concentrated in one major region."

"Where?"

"The Wild Lands."

Lillith nodded.

That got my attention.

Clara continued.

"They’re located southeast, far outside the Valenore kingdom. Huge territory. Lots of tribes. Lots of monsters and beastkin settlements."

Then she frowned.

"The problem is that it’s enormous."

I nodded.

"So we need more information."

"Exactly."

My eyes moved downward.

Toward Silvia.

The beastkin girl immediately stiffened when she noticed everyone looking at her.

"Silvia."

"Hm?"

"Can you tell us anything about where you lived?"

She thought for a few moments.

Then slowly nodded.

"There was lots of water."

Clara immediately looked interested.

"What kind of water?"

"A lot."

Helpful.

Then she continued.

"It tasted bad."

We all blinked.

"What?"

"The water."

She scrunched up her face.

"It was bitter."

Clara chuckled.

"Near the sea then."

I looked toward her.

"You got all that from bitter water?"

"Salt water, Leon."

"Oh."

Clara gestured for Silvia to continue.

The girl thought again.

"There was also the mud pit."

The room remained quiet.

"It had lots of black water."

I froze.

My hands then turned Silvia around and pulled her up so she was facing me.

"...What?"

Silvia blinked.

"The mud pit."

My eyes widened.

"You said there was black water?"

She nodded.

"Lots of it."

I immediately grabbed her shoulders which made Silvia squeak.

Lillith looked incredibly confused.

"Leon?"

I ignored them.

"Silvia."

The girl stared at me.

"Repeat that."

"There was a mud pit."

I leaned forward.

"The water was black?"

"Yes."

My heart started beating faster.

"Did anyone ever happen to light it on fire?"

Silvia blinked.

Then nodded.

"Some adults took it home."

I felt my grin growing.

"They burned it?"

"At night."

My grin widened further.

"It burned for a long time."

I suddenly stood up.

Then immediately threw Silvia into the air.

The girl yelped as I caught her.

Then threw her again.

"Silvia!"

She blinked.

"What?"

"You’re amazing!"

The confused beastkin laughed as I caught her again.

Across the table, Clara and Lillith were staring at me like I’d gone insane.

Which was admittedly possible.

"What is wrong with you?"

Lillith finally asked.

I put Silvia back onto my lap.

Then looked directly at them.

My grin refused to disappear.

"Lillith."

"What?"

"That black water."

She blinked.

"What about it?"

I leaned forward.

"That isn’t just black water."

Neither of them understood which I could see quite easily on their faces.

Meanwhile my mind was already racing.

Fractional distillation.

More refining.

Engines, fuels and lubricants.

We could get everything.

My grin somehow grew even larger.

"Lillith."

She was now visibly concerned.

"What?"

I pointed at Silvia.

"She just handed us the key to an entirely new era."

Both girls stared blankly.

I practically vibrated with excitement.

Then finally said the words.

"It’s crude oil."