the lich and the moonlit escape

The moon hung low, casting silver light over the quiet forest. Maiela sat slumped against a tree, still catching her breath from the three-hour sprint to the surface.

Her boots were caked in mud, her skirt was torn, and her hair… well, it now contained an impressive number of twigs. A short distance away, Lich-sama was leaning against a boulder, staff resting at his side. His glowing green eyes studied the dark horizon, where faint torchlight flickered in the distance.

 "They’ve sent search parties." lich-sama says in a low tone as he saw maiela's guards from her kingdom are searching for her not far away from them.

Maiela groans, rubbing her sore legs "You think? I bet they heard my screaming halfway across the kingdom." Lich-sama responded with "If they find us, they’ll find me." His voice was unusually low—serious.

"And if they find me… I don’t think I need to explain what holy fire does to my kind."

Maiela looked down, guilt biting at her. She’d wanted adventure—freedom—but she hadn’t thought about what would happen to him if the guards decided he was a threat. "Then… we just have to make sure they don’t see you."

Lich-sama snorts "You? Protecting me? I must have hit my skull harder than I thought."

Maiela puffs her cheeks "Hey! I can be serious when I need to!" A torchlight flickered closer through the trees. She instinctively moved toward him, grabbing his bony arm.

Maiela "Stay close to me. If they spot us, I’ll… I’ll say you’re my… uh… court mage! Yeah!"

Lich-sama with a deadpan says "I see. And the skeletal face, missing nose, and faint smell of the graveyard won’t be suspicious at all?"

Her fingers lingered on his arm for a moment longer than she realized. Maiela softly, avoiding his eyes "Just… trust me, okay?"

For a moment, Lich-sama didn’t answer. Then he nodded once.

Somewhere behind them, a guard shouted.

They moved deeper into the shadows—her steps light and hurried, his gait calm and unhurried—as if neither wanted to admit that being this close… felt oddly comforting.

after few minutes of getting deeper into the woods they finally found a safe place though they were chased by some of her guards earlier... but atleast they're safe!

lich-sama moves away from her a bit "good... we could stay here for a while..." he snorts as he felt relief of escaping maiela's guards. maiela responded with "yeah! but... I only brought one sleeping bag with me... so—" before she could even finishing the sentence, lich-sama responded "don't worry... these bones could sleep on the ground... I'll go get some firewood" lich-sama left her for a while... making her a bit annoyed also... flustered.

few minutes later

the fire on the campfire crackles as it lit before both of them. maiela felt the warm immediately as she leaned her hand to the campfire, lich-sama opened his hood and looked at maiela as his eyes glow. "maiela... was it? why are you eager being a great adventurer? aren't you a princess?" as soon as maiela heard that... her warm smile was replaced by a deadpan as she hugged her leg before saying "I'm always separated with other kids... and when I'm at school... I'm getting bullied but my maids and guards are there to protect me... making all jealous" maiela looked at lich-sama as she tilted her head "your my first friend in my life... I escaped my kingdom so I could feel what it's like to be an ordinary elf like everyone else..." maiela let out a breath "but... looks like being an A-rank adventurer is impossible for me..." as soon as lich-sama heard that... he puts his hand on her head and begins to pat her head gently before comforting her with soft words behind his boney jaw "who says being an A rank adventurer is impossible? you will be one..." maiela upon hearing that while being headpatted felt a little... joy "b-but... it's hard... and I'm just a clumsy and stupid elf princess..." lich-sama sits closer to her before comforting her "that's the key... 'hard' it's not impossible... but hard... that means there's a chance you will be an A-rank adventurer! and Don't you worry about being clumsy and stupid... that's a beginners starter pack" maiela's face started to heat up as she swatted his hand while having her face really red "w-what are you saying!? wait what am I doing!?" lich-sama upon hearing that wheezed as if he was mocking her, maiela looks away from him and wrapped herself in her sleeping bag "don't be awake for too long, idiot" she closed her eyes after saying that.

"I'm an undead alright? undead's need no sleep" he stood up before maiela—grabs his cloak and begs him "don't leave me... please" she says it before turning around in her sleeping. lich-sama laughed softly before grabbing his staff and covers her with a barrier spell to keep her safe in the night, lich-sama kneeled down slowly behind her before asking "tomorrow... you wanna train your skills? I could teach you physical and magic training but... I think it'll not be eas-" before he could even finish his sentence, maiela's eyes lit up as he mentions training! even hard ones "TRAINING?! and uhh... I don't care how tough it is, besides... what's the worst that could happen?"

lich-sama wheezed "oh it'll be bad... trust me, elf"

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***