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Chapter 8

The path to another settlement was rocky, and from a carriage station in the middle of their journey, Lilac bought a new fur coat for the increasing coldness. From the cave, they had been climbing on the mountain path, sometimes with inclined road. Albreich said there was a small town that needed his delivery from the mountain base, which were wheat and mountain base food. Aside from that, they needed some woods delivered, and this cause Albreich's carriage storage to be too full, forcing some of the woods to be put in the living cabin instead. The lack of any holders in the cabin made the woods sometimes fell towards them when they were trying to cross the inclined path.

After half a day of their ruthless journey they finally reached the town, called Snohand. Lilac was astonished on how the town was built in a large crater at the side of the mountain, as if god's hand made a scoop out of it. Ifrit wasn't all that cold because of his internal heat, but on Albreich's request, he used the jacket he gave and at least made his hair shaggy to conceal the horns until they found an inn to stay for the night as staying in the carriage in the middle of the snowy region wasn't a good idea for all of them.

While in the inn, Albreich wanted a private talk with Ifrit while Lilac was allowed to walk around the mead hall (as they said) before the group dinner. As they settled down, Albreich said, "If you want to take off the jacket, feel free to do so. I know you're hot in that."

After the hellhound took off the leather jacket and put his long tail out, the trader then said, "So, what do you think about the snow? Good?"

"Yes, it's kind of...dry, and cold."

"It is. This is the place where you can find the long-lasting sensation of winter. It's high on the mountaintop and it's often snowing here. The people of this place needed their fire to survive, and thus to reserve energy they always meet in mead halls like this one."

"Oh...there's nothing like that down there," said Ifrit. "It's always so hot and dry, but we endure it as (hellhounds)."

"You said your race in Hordo, right? I suggest you started to say it in English. Lilac had been quite stingy after an ordeal, so don't try to provoke her into disliking you more. Hordo is a hellish language as I read about it, but you're not in your domain. I know it will need time for you to be able to be fluent in English, but your accent poses a problem."

"What is accent?"

"It's the style on how you talk, Ifrit. If you hear Lilac's style of language and mine, you'll notice that despite of the same language, we both have a different accent. Lilac's accent is that of a Tragorian Brit accent. I have the Northern Goth accent. Get it?" (Note: Tragorian Brit accent is the equivalent to the real-life British accent. Northern Goth accent is the equivalent of any English-speaking German native, yet more fluent and akin to German-Americans).

"Oh...I understand...though I have a feeling a strange force of nature is trying to talk about what they represent in another world."

"Where do you get that suggestion? It's creeping me out."

"Nevermind, then. What is the English for (hellhound)?"

"Hmm...oh, yeah. It's hellhound. Hell-hound. They're what you say dogs, but from hell."

"It's like how you say something negative."

"Well, your race is notorious for being the main tormenters of the damned souls down there. Many books depicted you as a 6-eyed blind furless thin creature with six legs and anything that's hellish. That's the reason why I thought you're a Lycan at first before I realized no Lycans had reptilian eyes and horns, as I try to think that maybe hellhounds aren't those monstrosity after all. In fact you're just a plain, shy, sleek, and good-looking hellhound that even makes Lilac felt uneasy around you."

"Uneasy, what..."

Albreich suddenly realized that he wasn't supposed to say that, since he knew hellhounds, despite of a savage hellish being, were still canines at heart. The human trader didn't feel like it since he lacked any wolfish senses. Right at that time he also realized that despite of being a canine race both Lilac and Ifrit still had conscience to each other, with Lilac being a werewolf with human values and Ifrit being a trained hellhound.

Without anything to say to counter him, Albreich cleared his throat and said, "Why don't we go find Lilac in the mead hall? It's close to dinner so we might as well find a good place to sit."

After traversing down the corridors from their rooms (the rooms were laid out like a longhouse. The three of them had joined rooms) to the hall, Ifrit felt something weird, like an astonishment to the wooden sculptures, the dark woods, and the well-lit corridor, in particular. It was not the first time he ever felt about it. He didn't remember when, but he awakened some sort of an instinct that's conscious, yet beautiful in his mind when the one that guarded him presented him of a strangely decorated amulet. He didn't remember much, but he could hear a shrill voice when remembering it.

He tried to remember what the voice said when they were greeted by Lilac midway. She was currently wearing a white simple outing dress, not very lavish, but enough for the night dinner. Unlike what Ifrit always saw, Lilac never was seen wearing a necklace, and of course some kind of a weird sensation awoke inside the hellhound, as if her appearances made him feel a little like how dogs saw a potential mate.

"Oh, Albreich, Ifrit," addressed Lilac politely. She fixed the dress while doing so. "The dinner party is ready and I want to get back to our rooms to invite you to dinner."

"We're ready for it...."

"But I can see Ifrit is not ready yet," said Lilac. "Are you sure you are only wearing this simple clothing?"

"Ifrit, go fetch your jacket."

"Fetch?"

"Take that jacket with you and follow me. It's alright if you look like a rebel. It's not always formal in this kind of dinner. But, Lilac, I don't know you possess this kind of dress."

"The mountain's base station is so kind to sell me this simple yet elegant dress for a considerable price. I took two gold and a silver coin for this."

"It looks nice with you, Lilac. Can you help us find some seats for the three of us? I'll help Ifrit with the jacket."

As the werewolf smiled to them and left, Albreich turned his body back to the room. He just plainly said something when he pulled the pocket watch, but he then glanced at the hellhound and said, "Maybe you really need a Lycan's dinner suit."

That night, the feast was ready for some other travellers who crossed the mountain. Some were trying to find a shelter, some were traders, like Albreich, but some others just said they just wanted to stay there. Ifrit himself knew many of the traditions of the mountaineers when talking to some of the humans he encountered. Many of them didn't even mind on having a black furred dog with yellow reptilian eyes amongst them, which trouble Lilac even more since she was the only one trying to AVOID him by picking a farther seat from the men.

The central bonfire was lit that night while some of the mountaineers with bulky bodies raised their mugs high and made a great laugh before drinking them in a way Lilac thought to be inappropriate in her culture, yet she respected cultural diversity. A white Lycan beside her tried to flirt with her, but she plainly refused by saying, "Oh, I really want to, but I think you have better female Lycans than me."

Albreich drank another mug of mead when he said, "This is what folk dinner is, Ifrit. It's a nice place to know many people."

"Yes.... It is crowded."

"All dinners in mead halls are always crowded. Though sometimes maybe not very much merrier than today, but altogether you can feel how they respected their ancestors."

Now the hellhound felt something again. When he saw a man got drunk and passed out, some of the humans laughed at him, and Ifrit had a weird urge to make a laugh himself, something he never had done before. In a sudden reflex, he made a chuckle, which startled him but this also made his companion smiled.

"You really have a sense of humor for a hound," said Albreich. "Did that certain man taught you to laugh on anything funny like how normal beings should?"

"It's just something I do out of consciousness."

"Hellhounds also have feelings, but somehow suppressed in their lives. I believe you can be a better hound, not just a hellish one."

"But I..."

Because of weird circumstances, the flame doused out. The room was plunged into darkness and the merriness was replaced by silence. There was an uncomfortable silence in that hall as only the small torch lights were lit. It was then Ifrit felt the urge to rekindle the flame. He normally was content with the darkness around him, but now, with so many others that were instead uncomfortable, he knew the urge to help them. He stepped out of the table and went near the bonfire. He believed the intensity of hellish fire would hold long, but not too hot.

"(Okay, here goes)," thought Ifrit when he drew his breath. He made a small fire out from his maw. The intensity of the flame burned the woods again and the whole place became lit again. This startled his companions, and even Lilac thought he was discovered as a hellhound for sure. Yet, the hellhound was greeted by a man near the fire.

"Thank you, young wolfman," he said. "It's good to have a pyromancer in case this flame dies."

"What actually happened?"

"These days," said the old man while drinking a mug of beer. "The fires we lighted burned out faster than we can replace them. We believed that the fire went out because of accidents, but instead, the fire just vanished, leaving charred woods behind. The mage living here stated that it's a work of supernatural occurrences, and that we believed the spirits are trying to give us a message."

"So, that's why most traders coming here deliver firewood instead of foods?" said Albreich joining Ifrit.

"It's not only this bonfire. All fire around us started to vanish. The torches sometimes die, and even all of the lights with fire. We don't know what sort of devil doing this but I hope this won't make us lose visitors."

"Hmmm...."

"Don't worry, sir. Snohand survived days without fire far longer than any mountain towns. Let's resume the dinner, shall we? And, thank you again, wolfman."

"Welcome...I guess...?"

"Oh, he's not an English speaker," said Albreich with a chuckle. "C'mon, then. We won't bother ya anymore."

They feasted that night and came back to the room full. Ifrit ate the most when his nose picked on something very delicious on his opinion, and he ate them all whole. Albreich paid most of the food for the three of them, which was paid like a buffet restaurant back down. Both Ifrit and Albreich went back to their room. Since Ifrit never had any sleeping clothes he preferred to sleep with only his blue pants on and bare-chested while he pulled out his tail for comfort. Albreich himself didn't mind on the wild nature his roommate had, but of course when he went to sleep he saw that the hellhound didn't even trying to sleep. Instead, he watched the snow falling outside while waving his tail in delight. The trader just said, "Ifrit, go to sleep. You need it."

"I can't sleep much tonight."

Albreich sighed, knowing that he asked Ifrit to sleep far more than he usually did. This in turn made him knew the hellhound needed a companion. The trader then tried to find a good topic, before saying, "Ifrit, have you ever think about Lilac much?"

The hellhound shrugged, but Albreich knew his reaction was natural since he was a hellhound that didn't even understand love. The trader just made a scratch on his head before saying, "Thinking of a friend is a great way to make you closer to them, you know. While I'm in Tragoria region, I never stop thinking about my brother, my beloved mother, and my old friends from the trading company. That's the reason I can survive until today, so I can wish one day I'll go back home and meet them again."

"You have a brother?"

"Oh yes, Ifrit, yes. He's a nice man five years younger than me. I'm the third child of five. As for me, I'm 29 this year. Last I heard he works as a young sailor journeying around with a ship. To be truth, I am not all that close with my older brother and sister. Georg died when I was around your age. I received the message stating that he fell from a cliff in a carriage accident. My sister...well, you can say I really don't know her much, but as my sister, we always met when we're still kids. She lived with a family relative for better education. Last I heard about her that she had married and lived as an aristocrat. She and her husband opened a big private school. I never knew the rest of their fate since it's five years since I last contacted my young brother."

"But...who is the five?"

"I don't know my fifth youngest brother. He was born after I started this moving trading business 10 years ago. I knew his existence from my mother when she gave me a letter to announce the birth of little Otto."

"So...that's how a brother is created?"

"It's more of a negative context, Ifrit. They're born. Humans are not manufactured things."

Albreich talked more about humans' relationship before yawning and went back to bed, while Ifrit, now laying on his bed, kept thinking about all of those. He never felt so bizarre before. Something was clouding his senses and of course it made him conscious. He knew something wasn't right from his previous life, and now, with Albreich pouring everything about his life to the hellhound, he was sure to find out how humans lived.

"(They are one hell of an amazing mortal race)," thought Ifrit before closing his eyes to sleep.