Old Heroes

Annie re-entered the room carrying two new dresses and half a loaf of bread. She saw Lilin lounging impatiently on the bed, looking up as Annie shut the door.

"Took you long enough," she said, "Sun's not even out anymore. Too late to do anything."

"I know," Annie replied, "but... Well, something came up."

"Oh?" Lilin sat up, paying full attention now. She glanced at the dresses Annie was carrying. "Damn, you really found somebody who could make something that fast?"

"Not quite," Annie replied as she took off her shoes and handed Lilin the larger dress. "She's a witch and seamstress who lives at the edge of the town. She had some things sitting around. I can't be sure, Lilin, but I believe that that dress should fit you. If not, I could do some adjustments to make it fit you."

"Understood," Lilin mumbled. She started to undress, making Annie look away as she changed right there. She got herself into the dress, grunting and groaning as she did. "Tight in the chest, but I fit."

"Wonderful," Annie said with a smile. "Now, the town is... Well, it's not great."

"Yeah, what else is new?"

"It's not just the buildings, it's the children. The children are in such terrible condition. Most of them wolved down bread like they hadn't been fed enough, and the ones who didn't were too scared to eat. I went out there and bought practically 8 loaves, and do you know how much I have left?"

"How much?" Lilin asked nonchalantly.

"Half a loaf," Annie replied. "And that was less than a dozen children."

"Wow," Lilin said sarcastically. "Kids aren't eating as much as the adults do, what a surprise. Shocker, that one."

"Is that... Really that normal?" Annie could feel her anger rising.

"Yeah," Lilin replied. "They're smaller, they need less food. Makes sense, doesn't it? Plus, you're fed and paid for the work you can do. They don't do as much work as adults do, do they?"

Annie's muscles were tensed now. "That's not true! They need more food so they can grow up healthy!"

"Look, who's more important to feed? A kid who's not gonna be able to do much work, or an adult who has a job and uses a lot more energy throughout the day?"

"That's unacceptable!" Annie shouted, her blood boiling. "You can't treat a child like they're just a person capable of doing labor!"

"Why not?" Lilin asked, a bit concerned now. "Isn't that why you have children?"

Annie couldn't even begin to unpack that. She had worried the town would be drab and in poor condition, but if this was how the world treated children, she was horrified. All of these children were going to grow up malnourished and overworked. She couldn't accept that. She absolutely couldn't.

"Absolutely not," Annie replied, "but I suppose I grew up differently."

"Yeah," Lilin said. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind that kind of life. I think kids deserve better, but what do I know? I'm still one."

"P-Pardon?!" Annie asked.

"Yeah. I'm only 20 years old," she replied. "I'll be 21 soon, and then my horns'll be fully grown. That's the last part of a demon to grow."

Annie sighed. "So, you're not really a kid?"

Lilin shrugged. "Not really. Honestly, I haven't felt like a kid for a few years. I get to eat pretty good, after all, and I've been doing more work than most adults for a long time."

Annie nodded. "Where I'm from, kids start being adults at 18 years old. Though, we also call them 'teenagers' when they reach 13 or 14 years old, and teenagers act a lot differently from kids. They're still kids, but... A different kind, I guess."

Lilin nodded. "That makes sense. Anyways, what was that seamstress's name? She did a pretty good job."

Annie glanced up, glancing at Lilin. She was actually quite charming in the more modest dress, her long hair much more eye-grabbing than it was in the much more frilly uniform she normally wore. The plain dress wasn't anything to write home about, but Lilin didn't need something showy to be striking.

"Euwelyn," Annie replied. "I didn't catch a last name."

Lilin looked at Annie, smirking. "You're kidding, right?"

Annie raised an eyebrow. "No, why?"

Lilin laughed, throwing her head back. "Man, a seamstress going by a pseudonym of the Earth General? What, did she have curly silver hair and a big hat? Gimme a break."

"Uh... Yes, she did."

Lilin's laugh stopped dead in its tracks. She looked at Annie, scanning her face. There was no sarcasm, no teasing, no bullcrap. She was serious, but she was doubting herself. Internally, Annie wondered if she should stop elaborating.

"Okay, like... Do you NOT know about the Four Generals?"

"I can't say I do," Annie replied.

"Okay, take a seat. This is gonna sound... Real weird."

Annie took a seat on the bed as Lilin paced back and forth. Lilin had no idea where to start, because this was going to be quite the tale. After a while, she decided to just start with when the first general got instated.

"Okay, so... The King wasn't always in power. When he first rose to power, he did it with the help of a man with a Fire Core. His name was Hinata. He was blonde, and had a big mouth."

"Oh, kind of like you!" Annie said.

"Damn right he was like me," she said with a big smirk. "I knew him, actually. Anyways, he's the Fire General now. He lives to the north of the castle, and he's in charge of all the forging. To the east, the direction we traveled, would be the Earth General. She was the second one, and she went by a lot of names. She actually tried taking down the Demon King, but she failed. She ended up begging for her life, so he made her a General. I dunno what name she was on when she came out this way, but one of them was Euwelyn. Always kinda hated that name, honestly.... Anyways, the Earth General is in charge of all the farming, making sure that the Lifebelt is kept up and all that. If she's here specifically, then it'd be a pretty damn big problem for the town not to be paying taxes."

She paused for a moment to let the information sink in. Then, she continued.

"The Air General is Tobin. He's to the south of the castle, and he's in charge of communication and transportation and all of that. He also has a lot of control over the weather, so he works with the Earth General a lot, probably. I wouldn't know, I never met him myself.

"Then, last of all would be the Ice General. She calls herself Hrist, but I still think her name is Sam. Whatever her name is, she's supposed to be to west of the castle but she goes wherever she wants. She's in charge of managing the oceans, so she's the reason we got pearls to go around. She goes wherever the hell the tides take her or some shit, I dunno. We always have to have the King contact Tobin to get Hrist to work with us."

Annie slowly nodded. "So... You're telling me I might have met the Earth General?"

"Yeah," Lilin said. "It'd be real fucking weird if you did, but maybe you did. If you did, though, I'm gonna need to see her."

"You can't!" Annie said. "She's sick, I... I think she's used too much of her Core."

"Really?" Lilin asked, leaning to one side as she folded her arms. "One of the Four Generals, running low on Core Mana? Fat chance. Now I definitely gotta meet her, see if she needs replacing."

Annie panicked. Lilin probably wanted to kill Euwelyn. She seemed terrified of being caught by the Demon King. Annie briefly wondered why she would need to be hiding from the King if she was one of his Generals, but that wasn't a factor now, she just needed to cover for her as best she could. 

But... Annie couldn't think of a lie. How could she deflect Lilin's suspicions and keep her from visiting? Nothing she could think of would make Lilin less interested, and Annie doubted she could physically stop Lilin. Finally, Annie realized that Lilin was in a great mood right now. Maybe, just maybe, the best thing to say was the truth.

"Lilin, I... I can't let you hurt her. She's taking care of the children of this town, she's practically helpless at the moment, and she's been using her Core to help the harvest. She didn't tell me she used it for that, but... If this whole Earth General thing is real, she's trying her best to help the village. She went with me to buy bread, too."

Lilin looked at Annie, puzzled. Annie continued. "You said you wanted children to eat better, didn't you? Well, Euwelyn wanted that, too. I... I can't let you hurt her."

"I...."

Lilin looked into Annie's eyes, seeing something she'd never seen before in them. It looked like desperation, but not the kind that a person has when she's crushing the life out of them. Instead, it was like begging or pleading. Normally, it would make her furious and more eager to kill, but... Annie had proven her worth, time and time again. Not only that, Lilin couldn't disagree with her. Slowly, Lilin's bloodlust started to fade.

"Alright, fine," she said. "But I still gotta meet her. No compromises on that. And no promises it won't get violent if she swings first."