Summoned and Unwanted

“Vincent. Girls. Good luck with the judgment by combat.” *Sigh* Lucas gently shook his head out of disappointment. “It sucks. I will not be able to watch what interesting things you will do next.”

The royal mages and soldier approached Lucas. “What are your next orders?” They respectfully asked.

“Good. Good.” Lucas nodded and rubbed his chin. “Clear one of the shelters. I will need your help to speak to each of the Dullahans one on one now that Karta isn’t breathing behind my neck.”

“We accept the order.”

“One moment!” Lucas interrupted them.

“Afterwards, I want you three to find at least one Cefeye who understands most of our words. I want to interrogate them one by one too.”

The three of them became confused as to why they received this order. However, they couldn’t reject or question the order of the Duke in front of them. They nodded and went to do as they were ordered.

The evening quickly passed, and the night arrived. After the Dullahans placed a lot of standing torches on the ground, a large group of soldiers arrived.

.....

By the expressions on their faces, the soldiers were shocked to see the ground covered in ash and a large part of the forest was deforested. Watching Dullahans walking leisurely and dozens upon dozens of non-hostile Cefeye added more shock value.

In a distant part of the forest, the sound of hard materials being chewed could be heard.

*Chomp, chomp, gulp*

After the sound quieted, the ground faintly shook, and the surface of the ground covered with snow shifted.

“Build a vine wall between those trees.” Said Iris while pointing her finger at four trees.

“Zero. Obey.” It said before emerging tendrils, forming four walls to make an adequate-sized room. Zero then connected each end of the tendrils together to form a roof.

Karta waved her wand. She cut open a door and small windows in the blink of an eye. She moved her wand again, and the snow in the room was moved to the outside.

After Karta placed Vincent and Lamin inside the room and Awa and Amie went to take care of them inside, Ester, Lilith, and Plow lit a campfire. Ju Ye Rim stood beside them, slightly shivering from the cold.

Lupa and Mimi returned from scouting the area a few minutes later. In Lupa’s hand was a horned rabbit, and on her lips was drool. In Mimi’s bat feet was a much fatter horned rabbit, causing Lupa to frown as she felt it was her loss.

“Humph! This doesn’t count. I was tired after fighting my new sister today, and I gave you a big advantage.” She complained.

Mimi shapeshifted back to her vampire form. She slyly smirked and said, “I have to agree. You were tired, that’s all. Luck and skill don’t count.”

“Yes!” Lupa nodded a few times before realizing Mimi was teasing her. “Hey! I am skilled in hunting!”

“Hahaha. Sure. Sure.” Mimi teased.

“Now catch.” She added while throwing her fatter-horned rabbit to Lupa.

Lupa caught the horned rabbit. She looked at the two rabbits, and after inspecting Mimi’s rabbit, she noticed the rabbit was stuffed with snow to appear larger.

“You cheated with snow! Mine is heavier!” Lupa complained while shaking Mimi’s rabbit and water and blood dripping on the ground.

“~Ehe~” Mimi slyly smirked and walked away casually.

A few minutes ago, Mimi had seen Lupa catch a horned rabbit. She noticed another rabbit hole nearby and a horned rabbit Lupa had scared exiting from it.

Mimi swiftly captured the horned rabbit and sored to the sky while masking their presence to stay undetectable. A sly smirk appeared on her bat face when she chose to play a fun trick on Lupa.

‘I like how innocent and gullible Lupa is. This is fun, hehe.’ Mimi thought while giggling.

Mimi entered the tendril room. Awa left the room a little later after her mother, Amie, told Awa to spend some time talking with her new family.

Awa approached the Lionheart girls and conversed with them. They shared a story each before the food was cooked. While Jun Ye Rim showed signs of interest in Awa and Night, she didn’t share a story.

After everyone had fresh meat to eat, apart from Karta, they took turns sleeping. Karta needed rest as she spent half a day using wind spells and drinking mana regen potions.

Even though Zero was their night watch, Iris, Lilith, Jun Ye Rim with Plow, and Amie took turns watching over everyone.

*Day 187 – 11 December – Saturday*

The next day arrived. Awa opened her eyes and leaned upwards. She moved her gaze to one side, but Vincent was still asleep. She moved her gaze to the other side. Her parents weren’t in her view.

*Yawn* Lilith squinted her eyes open. “Good morning. Are you looking for someone?” She asked.

“Good morning... have you seen my parents before you went to sleep? They aren’t here.” Awa anxiously asked.

*Yawn* “Duchess Karta, Ester, Lupa, and Iris went outside with your parents. I don’t know what happened because I fell asleep.” Lilith responded.

Awa became more anxious than before. She quickly stood up and left the tendril room. She saw her mother and father hugging each other for some reason.

“Mother. Father. ” Awa couldn’t believe her eyes. Her father was standing with the plant leg Vincent gave him. Watching her father standing felt like a dream after what she had experienced recently.

Amie and Lamin moved their heads. On their faces was a smile. “My daughter. ” Amie said. “My sweet daughter. ” Lamin said.

Tears welled in Awa’s eyes. She ran to her parents, and they hugged each other tightly.

After all that happened to them, this was the first time they could do a big family hug. The three of them felt happy to be with each other in this life instead of meeting in Valhalla.

*Yawn* “Good morning, everyone.” Lilith said before noticing Awa hugging her parents. “Good morning, Amie and Lamin. Correct?”

Awa and her parents stopped hugging.

Lamin looked at Lilith and nodded once. “I heard you are one of the clan chieftain’s women. Please take good care of my sweet daughter.” He requested.

“Sure. I will treat Awa like a sister.” Lilith replied while smiling.

“Now that everyone told you two Dullahans how they are going to treat your daughter like their sister, do you have any thoughts about living with the humans and working for them?” Karta asked. She wanted to know if her choice to allow the Dullahans to enter the city was not a bad decision.

“I hope to see our daughter live a good life, and our people can live a better life as well.” Amie gulped and continued, “If I am not too greedy... the last request we Dullahans have is for our race to deliver new life without the mother and child losing their lives.”

“You do not need to worry about that. The healer, Hibiscus, is taking good care of the two pregnant Dullahans. I bet she will make sure there will be no complications.” Karta reassuringly responded.

“Human leader, can we live on Human property without becoming slaves? Can we really live a life without sleeping with one eye open?” Lamin questioned.

“My parents are not that kind of people. They will not betray your people. Furthermore, after pondering about it, I know the reason Vincent mentioned giving you work. My parents are looking for trustable people to work for them. Who else is more trustable than an honorable Dullahan who prides themselves in what they do?” Lilith responded.

Lamin and Amie couldn’t say they weren’t suited for such a job because they prided themselves in their training and work. Additionally, they are honorable and do not like to betray the trust of others.

“Lilith is correct. Her parents are good and loyal people. They will take good care of your people after we tell them your details.” Karta added to ease their minds.

“I understand. I will meet with your parents and learn how the future of our clan will become.” Amie said.

“I want to do that and also check the place my sweet daughter will live in,” Lamin said.

Awa looked at her parents with a sad frown on her face. “Can’t my parents live with me?” She asked Lilith.

“Yes, they can...”

“No.” Both Amie and Lamin said at the same time, interrupting Awa.

“Why?” Awa nervously asked.

“It is your new life. You can visit us any time.”

“It is your new family. It is your time to live without minding us, old parents. But I would like it if you visited us from time to time.”

Awa turned around and hugged her parents again. Tears of joy fell down her cheeks, and the resolve to win the judgment by combat and make her parent proud became fiercer.

Half an hour passed, and they were ready to depart. Zero had eaten most of the tendrils, and Karta had one less sleeping person she needed to carry with the wind.

After the wind picked up, the group flew to the sky. Hour after hour passed. The sunrise and sunset passed, the night covered the sky.

In the darkness of the night, the soldiers in one of the towers noticed a group of flying people. After focusing the scope on them, the soldiers could recognize it was Karta carrying people to the city.