"Alright, if I need anything, I'll definitely ask you for help, Talulah."
Alina smiled very proudly, clearly very happy with Talulah's arrangement.
For the next few days, Flandre Scarlet stayed very quietly in the house, learning to read and write with Alina.
By the time Talulah remembered her and came over, she found that Flandre was already barely able to carry out some simple conversations.
"She's learning that fast?" Talulah asked in surprise.
"Flandre is very smart. Except for some flaws in her rolling 'r' technique, she was already literate, so learning a new language naturally isn't that much trouble."
Alina looked at Talulah very proudly.
"By the way, tomorrow I'm going to take the little things I've been weaving lately to exchange for some grain with the people in the nearby village. Flandre hardly ever goes out except for a morning exercise. I want to take her out for a walk, is that okay?"
Talulah looked toward Flandre Scarlet.
"I've said before that Flandre is no different from anyone else. She can go anywhere she wants, as long as it's not a restricted area we've set up."
Alina happily picked up Flandre.
"Then little Flandre will accompany me on a trip tomorrow!"
Seeing the girl's happy appearance, Flandre nodded.
Early the next morning, Flandre and Alina each set out from the village carrying a bamboo basket on their backs.
Along the way, many people, especially children, were greeting her.
Among them, Flandre noticed someone looking at her with eyes full of hostility. She followed the gaze and saw a white-haired boy.
He looked as if she had stolen his favorite toy.
"Mephisto... or should I call you Eno for now?"
Flandre Scarlet recognized the other party.
A villain who was both hateful and pathetic.
Admittedly, his experience was worthy of sympathy. If not for that external malice, perhaps he could have become a somewhat famous singer.
But that was no excuse for him to inflict his own pain onto others.
Especially since the people he hurt the most were his companions, his comrades-in-arms, and the Infected who believed in him.
Moreover, after Alina's death, Talulah—possessed by the Black Snake—deliberately indulged him, magnifying his inner distortion. The development of such an extreme personality was also a reason for his tragedy.
Of course, to be fair, if she had suffered the same treatment and had no one to guide her, the outcome probably wouldn't have been any better than his.
But still, as the saying goes, the moment he inflicted his pain on others, he had already stepped onto a path of no return.
It's just that there's still some time before he completely turns bad. With Alina and the righteous version of Talulah around, the little demon in his heart has nowhere to be released.
"Who is that white-haired child?"
Only after leaving the village did Flandre deliberately ask.
"You mean Eno? He's a very pitiful child.
Oh dear, I've been helping you with your literacy lately and have neglected him a bit... After we get back, I'll take you to meet him and the other children. Even if you're only spending one winter here, I hope you can make friends.
Besides, learning is fastest when communicating with people."
Considering Flandre's situation, Alina spoke very slowly and gestured as she talked, finally making Flandre understand about seventy or eighty percent of it.
"Make friends with other children?" Flandre Scarlet thought for a moment and did not choose to refuse.
The two continued walking and teaching, not arriving at their destination—outside another village—until noon.
Flandre pointed to her wings.
"I won't go in. Be careful yourself, I'll wait for you here."
Alina also knew the reason. She nodded and took the bamboo basket Flandre handed over, hanging it in front of her chest.
"Alright, then I'll go in first. If I'm lucky, I'll buy you two pieces of candy in a bit."
After saying goodbye to Alina, Flandre lightly leaped onto a small hill not far away.
From here, she could see everything happening in that village.
Flandre kept her eyes on Alina, watching her enter the village and quickly start peddling the small woven items she had made everywhere.
The things she wove were very exquisite and highly practical, so they sold quickly. In less than an hour, everything was sold out, and then she began purchasing the food the village needed.
There was a lot of food, enough to fill two baskets. Watching her walk out with some difficulty, Flandre lightly bit her lip.
Just then, she saw several thuggish-looking people quietly following behind Alina.
"Seeking death!"
A flash of killing intent crossed Flandre Scarlet's eyes.
Not long after Alina walked out of the village, she saw Flandre jump down from a nearby tree.
"Oh my, a girl should be more ladylike; you can't climb so high."
Alina criticized gently.
"Mm-hmm, I'll be careful.
Let's go quickly!"
Flandre glanced behind her. This place was still very close to the village; shouting loudly might attract the villagers' attention, so those people were just trailing behind and hadn't made a move yet.
"Alright. By the way, Flandre, look what this is!"
As Alina answered, she pulled two pieces of candy from her pocket and held them out to Flandre.
"Candy!" Flandre tilted her head. As a Blood Demon, candy wasn't a necessity.
To be precise, the sweetness she could taste from candy wasn't much.
But seeing the happy look on the proud yet playful Alina, she still carefully tucked the candy away.
After the two continued on their way, the people behind followed again.
After walking for about ten minutes, Alina looked behind her in confusion.
"Was there some noise just now?"
Flandre shook her head indifferently.
"It might be some small animal passing by. After all, winter is coming, and animals have to eat their fill before winter, otherwise it's hard to survive the season."
"Is that so? But I clearly heard a cry!" Alina craned her neck to look back again, but there was nothing except the sound of the wind.
"Maybe it was the cry of a wild beast!
Sister Alina, we should go, or we won't get back to the village by nightfall," Flandre replied haltingly.
Considering Flandre had only just learned some Ursus language, this slight abnormality was automatically ignored by her.
"True! Let's hurry back, lest the road becomes hard to walk when it gets dark."
Alina turned and pulled Flandre toward the distance.
A few minutes ago.
Several thugs who had followed all the way from the village:
"There's a kid with that woman."
"What about the kid?"
"I mean, why didn't she take the kid into the village... Could she be..."
"Shh, do you want to die... As long as that woman isn't an Infected, it's fine.
We'll just snatch the stuff and leave. Those two backpacks of grain are enough to last us most of the winter."
The one in the lead warned.
He knew what the other person meant—wanting to follow them to find an Infected settlement, then go back and report to the Reconnaissance Squad to collect a reward.
But he had heard some rumors that there was a powerful Infected settlement nearby with military support.
Although reporting an Infected settlement could bring in a considerable income, one had to be alive to spend it.
So his idea was that since the other party often came to their side, they would just tell the Reconnaissance Squad she had ties to the Infected and let the Reconnaissance Squad find them themselves.
That way, even if there was danger, it wouldn't fall on their heads.
As for getting much less money, he wasn't worried about that.
Once the Reconnaissance Squad finished rounding up the people, they would go to the other's residence to scavenge. If there were many people, they would surely leave behind a lot of good stuff.
Anyway, no matter how you looked at it, they wouldn't lose out.
Just as they had their plan ready to strike, they suddenly saw three identical little girls appear in front of them.
"Damn, what is this!"
Facing the three Flandre Scarlets that suddenly appeared, they were so scared they backed up several steps.
"B-B-Boss... L-Look, look at her back, those are bat wings..."
One of the sharp-eyed men cried out in terror after seeing the things on Flandre's back.
"We've been discovered!"
"How unlucky!"
"Kill you!"
"Then it'll be safe!"
The three Flandre Scarlets in front of them spoke in unison.
Then, the moment they tried to run away, she pounced.
"Ah!" Someone let out a startled cry and was immediately crushed by Flandre, but the scream still caught Alina's attention.
Fortunately, the Flandre beside Alina stopped her from wanting to go back and check.
"Almost ruined everything. Such annoying fellows!"
Flandre Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief.
She led Alina further away from this spot.
As for the few men here, they were just idle loafers from the village who usually wandered around everywhere. Being gone for ten days or half a month wouldn't attract anyone's attention.
The three Flandres used their abilities to clean up the place. Since the blood had all been sucked dry, they only needed to deal with a few mummies.
The ground was so disturbed it was almost impossible to tell what had happened here.
Few people took this road anyway. If luck was on their side, all traces might vanish from the ground in a day or two.
By the time someone realized they were missing and wanted to investigate, it might already be several days later.
At that time, finding any trace of the men would be harder than reaching the heavens.
Meanwhile, Flandre returned to the gathering place with Alina, looking perfectly calm.
Before reaching the village entrance, they saw Talulah standing in the middle of the road from afar.
Seeing the two of them, she quickly ran over.
"So much!" She looked at their baskets in surprise and quickly reached out to take Alina's.
Alina lightly patted her hand away.
"Why take mine? Flandre is so young and walked so far with me; you should take hers first!"
Hearing this, Talulah looked at Flandre and found that she looked refreshed, her face ruddy without any sense of fatigue. Instead, her little face was flushed as if she had eaten and drunk her fill.
Her questioning gaze made Flandre blink at her with a smile.
"Help Sister Alina take hers. I'm strong; this little bit of stuff is no problem.
Besides, all the heavy rice and flour are in Sister's basket."
Flandre spoke brokenly. Talulah listened and then looked at Alina.
"Look at you, your complexion has changed. Just give me this basket first. Later, I'll make you a small handcart. In the future, use the cart to push things so you won't be so exhausted going back and forth."
After Talulah finished speaking, Alina turned and saw that Flandre's condition was indeed very good, whereas she herself was somewhat drained from carrying heavy items so far, so she agreed.
"Hiss, so heavy! It seems today's harvest was good!"
Talulah felt the weight of the basket. Although she felt a bit sorry, she was also very pleasantly surprised.
"Mm-hmm, it just so happened that the village was holding a market today, so there were a lot of people and things sold very well.
Moreover, the prices at the market are ten to twenty percent cheaper than usual, so we could buy even more things.
Here, have some candy!"
Alina grabbed a piece of candy from her pocket and stuffed it into Talulah's hand.
Seeing this, a smile rose at the corners of Talulah's mouth.
"Save it for the children. Winter is coming soon; one more piece of candy means one more bit of energy for everyone."
As the three walked into the village, many people looked at Alina's basket with expressions of pleasant surprise.
There were very few non-Infected in the Reunion Movement. Most of the time, everyone pooled some handicrafts and let the non-Infected go sell them, then used the money to buy grain to bring back.
And the heavy look of the basket Alina brought back, which Talulah was carrying, certainly meant there were a lot of things inside.
This way, everyone could have a full meal again.
After returning to the house, Talulah asked about today's experience.
"So, except for when you entered the village and she waited for you outside, she was within your sight the whole way there and back!"
Recalling Flandre's state, Talulah always felt something was not quite right.
The other party had already admitted that Blood Demons rely on sucking blood to sustain their lives.
And her appearance of having eaten her fill suggested she very likely had a 'meal' today.
But Alina stated very certainly that Flandre wasn't in that state when they returned from the village; rather, the further they walked, the ruddier her face became.
"Maybe the child just got hot from walking. Don't think so much. Flandre is such a good child; she shouldn't be subjected to this kind of groundless suspicion."
Alina looked at Talulah angrily.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm just too concerned about you."
Talulah pressed her hands together and apologized sincerely to Alina.
"Then I'll temporarily forgive you!" Alina showed a smile again.
On the other side, Flandre Scarlet, lying on the bed, rubbed her belly and let out a satisfied burp.
The next morning, Alina took her to another large house. Flandre looked over and saw it was full of children playing inside.
Seeing Alina arrive, the children gathered around in great surprise, chattering away to tell her about what had happened while she hadn't been there lately.
"Alright, everyone, I've come to introduce a new friend to you... This is Flandre Scarlet, our little Flandre.
Although she is a Blood Demon, she is a very good child. No one needs to be afraid of her!"
They weren't like adults who turned pale at the mention of Blood Demons.
Although stories of Blood Demons still appeared in various scary tales to frighten them into going to sleep early, newborn calves do not fear tigers; the children's curiosity about Flandre far outweighed their fear.
"What are those things hanging next to your wings? They're so pretty!"
"Fufu... Your name is so hard to say. Can we just call you Fufu?"