-- Lilith POV, Laketown, Guards-house --

  Since today would be the first time to officially report to the town guard, she had asked John to help her put on one of good dresses. Laces and claws were a terrible combination. Luckily John didn't mind helping her getting dressed, so she was out now in traditional laketown clothing and crossing the marketplace towards the guards house. A moment she felt slightly silly with the shopping basket dangling from her left elbow. But she wanted to go grocery shopping after reporting to the guards and didn't want to go back just to fetch the basket. So, dressed all townswoman with shopping basket she now was.

  The marketplace was fairly empty this time of the day, and her head spun with questions. How to introduce herself properly to the town guards? She was supposed to report every day, best every morning, that she was still in town and alive. It was not like the guards being particularly against her, it was rather they wanted to know that everything was alright. Eventually she worked for the king, well, John worked for the king and she worked for John, but without her the king wouldn't get his runeblades and so the guards wanted to be sure everything was alright.

  Thirty steps left to go towards the guards house, she estimated. There was a guardsman just standing besides the entrance, armed with a poleaxe and wearing chain mail. Probably she should talk to him first? Twenty steps, he had not noticed her yet. Maybe dozy after a long night shift, or dozy after a too short night of sleep? It wouldn't matter eventually. Ten steps and the guard noticed her. She gave him a short wave and closed the remaining distance, "Lilith is my name, I'm the new assistant of John Smith. I'm supposed to report here every day, so you know I'm still in town."

  "Ah right", the guard replied. "The demon. We've been informed. Just go inside, the first room left and you'll find the acting officer."

  She nodded, "Thank you guardsman", and proceeded to push the door open. It was quite heavy, a massive wooden door, but not too hard to open. A sturdy door was important if the guards house should ever come under attack, she assumed.

  First room left. That should be easy to find. And indeed it was. A sort of a big window like opening let her see inside the room, where a bored man sat at a desk and was sorting a game of cards.

  She stepped closer to the window, "Acting officer of the guard?"

  The man looked up, "Yes, what is it? Oh!" With surprising agility he came up from the chair fetched his helmet from the desk to put it on and approached the window, "The demon!"

  "Good morning", she nodded to him. "The name's Lilith. I'm supposed to report here that I'm still in town."

  "Yes, thank you, erm, Lilith. Everything alright? There was a note left yesterday about a protest at the smith's house, and that you were involved." He asked, voice even.

  She nodded, "Yes, some people didn't like that John has hired me as assistant. John says they will get used to it, but they said they want me out of town."

  He shook his head briefly, "John's a good man, but he's all about his forge and steel. I don't think those people will get used to you. We'll try to spread word that you are supposed to stay in town, and if they want something else, they act against the kings order. That should stifle the protests somewhat." He smirked, "But don't get your hopes up. Some always find something. Missus Hastings is here every few days to complain about her neighbor. As far as I can tell the guy has never done anything wrong, but she finds something to report again and again. So whatever we do, some will still want you gone and find reasons to report you. Anyways, if someone causes trouble, tell us. We're here to stop trouble."

  She nodded slowly, "No other troubles, the rest of the day was calm. Well, I've got a lot of stares when John took me to The Golden Cruse, but guess that's my new normal."

  He laughed, "I would stare too if the best blacksmith in town enters the inn with a demon in tow. That though is something people will get used to. You're new, you're special. Next time you're there, you're not that special anymore. The tenth time, no one will even look."

  She smiled and tilted her head lightly, "I hope John takes me there more often. It's a nice place and the food's good."

  "Quite expensive too, but you're right the food is good there. You're quite lucky if John takes you there regularly", the acting officer told her and nodded.

  "I didn't know ...", she said quietly.

  "Don't worry. You work for a rich man. Just be nice to him and you're golden. So ... if there is nothing else, I'll just take a note that you've been here and there was nothing special to report."

  She nodded, "Yes, I guess that'll do."

  He tipped his helmet with two fingers, "Alright then, see you again tomorrow, Lilith."

  "I'll be there", she smirked. As if she had much choice in that, "See you!" She gave him a brief wave and then left the building.

  Phew. That had worked. Better than expected even. It sure would get easier each time, and soon just be routine.

  Next was to buy groceries, so she could cook dinner for John and herself. John did most of the work in the forge. Until she got better with the hammer, she was only needed to carve the runes and that didn't need much time. So she wanted to make herself useful in other ways to help John. Among other things, she was decided to cook for him.

  Now, how to find a vegetable store? Of course she had forgotten to ask John, with all her thoughts focused on making a good impression to the guards on her first day.

  Two scared pedestrians later, she had gotten an answer and directions. Now she looked at a sign, "Grembart's Greeneries."

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  That sounded good.

  She opened the door carefully and a small bell rang above her head to indicate a new customer coming. The shop room was empty right now, but there were isles with vegetables on display, so she stepped in and walked to one of the isles. Leek was to be found here, carrots and beet roots, and ...

  "Good Madam, this is a vegetable store." A timid voice to her left spoke up, and her looks fell on a short and burly man, dressed in simple clothing and a stained apron which once probably had been white.

  She smiled and nodded at the man, "Yes, I want to buy some vegetables to cook dinner."

  "But .. but", the man stammered.

  "But?", she tilted her head, looking curiously at him.

  "You, you look like a demon!" Now it was out.

  "I'm working for John Smith. And yes, I am a demon. I still would like to buy some vegetables, so I can cook dinner for John." She kept the smile.

  "Sure, sure. What do you need?" He seemed to regain some composure.

  John's pantry was all empty, she had to stock up on some of the basics, "I'd like five pounds of starchy potatoes, two pounds of carrots, a pound of onions and a head of red cabbage."

  "Timothy", a female voice shouted from the back of the shop, "Run!"

  Before she could make up her mind, the man answered the shout, "It's fine Amalia, she is just buying some vegetables."

  "She is a demon!", with quick steps a woman in similar clothing like the man entered the sales room, "She will steal your soul!"

  "I'll not steal his soul. I just need some vegetables to cook dinner", she said.

  "She works for John Smith", the man tried to support her.

  "John is an idiot!" The woman declared.

  She looked at the woman, "Please, I just want to buy some vegetables so I can cook dinner for John. I'm not here to harm anyone."

  "Don't touch anything!" She woman demanded.

  She held her hands up defensively, the basket that she had brought for shopping now dangling from her elbow, "I won't."

  The man seemed to gather his wits, "Good, starchy potatoes first." He collected a basket from a stack of baskets, measured the unladen weight on a scale and began to fill it with potatoes, "Five pounds and twenty dekas. Is that alright?"

  "That's fine," she confirmed and handed her shopping basket to the man who put the potatoes into it.

  "Demon!", the woman's voice was sharp, "I'll report you to the guards!"

  "The guards know I am in town. I was at the guards house before I came here." She tried to say this matter-of-factly.

  The woman stared in disbelief. She tilted her head to look back at the woman, while Timothy weighed carrots.

  "The guards let you run free?" Now the woman's voice was trembling.

  "Kinda? I must report to them each day. See, I work for John Smith. I can't work if they put me in prison," she tried to explain.

  "That's crazy", the woman seemed incredulous.

  Now she had to smile, "The work is good and John is nice."

  "How many onions?", the man interjected.

  "One pound", she replied.

  "The smith has a demon working for him." It was more an echo than a new statement, "Demon! Stay right there! Don't move!" The woman shouted, pointed at her and rushed out the front door.

  She looked at the slowly closing door with risen eyebrows, then at the man who was weighing the onions, "What's wrong with her?"

  "I don't know", he shook his head lightly and put the onions to the other vegetables in the basket, "But probably good if you stay till she is back." He fetched a medium sized head of fresh looking red cabbage, "How about this one?"

  She nodded, "Yes, that one looks good. And that's everything I need today. How much does it cost altogether?"

  He scribbled some numbers on a small notepad, "That will be one silver and twenty coppers."

  She picked the money pouch that John had given her out of a pocket. Luckily this kingdom only had a small number of coins which were easy to distinguish. Yet once again, her claws were in the way, so she just poured the contents of the pouch into her left hand and tried to fetch the needed coins. Hopefully, no one ever would rush her to pay in a hurry.

  It worked if she tried to get a coin between her thumb and the side of her index finger, then her claws didn't interfere too badly. Still tricky to pick coins this way.

  The man watched her clumsy attempts to pick coins. She tried not to get nervous about it.

  One half silver coin. She dropped it into the mans open hand, then managed to pick another half silver, and she found two coins of ten coppers each, "Sorry, I'm a bit clumsy with the claws."

  The man seemed to be torn between fear and pity at the sight of her black claws, but before he could say anything the door burst open and the woman stumbled in, panting.

  She closed her hand that held the remaining coins.

  After a few moments the woman had caught enough breath to exclaim, "The guards know about her!"

  "Yes?" Probably is was good to have that confirmed, "I've told you I was at the guards house right before I came here."

  Another deep breath, another exclamation, "They say she is here on kings order!"

  She didn't know what to say to that.

  Some more breathing, then the woman sounded defeated, "And they can't chase her out of town."

  Well, that was good news, wasn't it?

  "Also I paid for the vegetables", she felt compelled to point out.

  The woman gave her a grim look.

  "She has paid", the man confirmed.

  She filled the remaining coins into the money pouch again, and smiled at the man. "Thank you for the service." Then she picked up the basket with the collected vegetables. It was quite heavy already, and she wasn't done shopping yet.

  "Good madam, may I leave the shop now? I need to get some things from the butcher too, and I have work to do at the forge." She tried to give her voice a calm and even sound.

  "Right", the woman stepped away from the door.

  She smiled at her and bowed lightly, "Thank you. I wish you good business. Until next time."

  The shop's door closed behind her, the small bell ringing once more. Hopefully shopping at the butcher would be quicker. She just needed some pork cutlets.