The Childish Woman (1)

"Who are you?" I asked, a shadow emerging from behind the trees. I furrowed my brows. When I looked at the sky before, I thought I glimpsed someone or something sitting atop of the tree. Was it a person? If they are, did they jump down and hide silently, without me noticing? Just how high is their cultivating base? I pondered, slightly worried.

There are no intentions or weird feelings coming from her, so what does she want? Even though I was wary of my surroundings the whole time, I only noticed them until he or she stepped on a branch.

The person walked out of the dense forest and pulled down their hood. The face of a young woman popped out with a slight grin, much to my surprise. She bowed. "Mister, sorry to scare you."

Seeing as I couldn't discern anything from her smile, but there was no malicious intent, I was polite to her. I couldn't discern her cultivation base either, so we were much better off just being on our way, rather than picking fights.

"No problem." I replied, shifting Fiona's weight to my other arm. Damn, my body is still too weak! I can't even carry Fiona without being tired... or maybe she's become too fat from my spoiling?

The eyes of the woman, seeing as the man's attention was on the girl in his arms and not her, gleamed. 'The townspeople all viewed me with lecherous gazes, even though many of them were all married. But this man only cares for the little girl in his arms. He's different from all those men.'

I felt a twitch from my shoulders and from the presence behind me, I could tell the woman from before was looking at me. No killing intent, so maybe she's just curious? Well, I am quite the handsome one, hehe!

The woman stared at the man, staring at the girl with blatant adoration in his eyes, and coughed. 'I take back what I said, all men are f*cking perverts. This one's even worse, going after little girls!'

She raised her hackles, her breath quickening. 'He has extraordinary senses and I can't determine his cultivation base, but that little girl won't suffer on his hands when I'm here!'

This... is battle intent coming from behind me? Who would want to pick a fight with me right now? Could that woman be jealous of Fiona? Well, she is quite the looker, but Fiona is still unrivalled in my heart! Speaking of which, Fiona's drooling again... what a glutton. No wonder she's getting fat. I gently wiped the drool off her chin with my shirt, ignoring the woman wanting a fight.

Eh? Much to my surprise, the battling intent in the air behind me vanished as Fiona rolled her head deeper into my chest. What's wrong with that woman? Does she want to fight or not? Why are females so complicated to understand?

"Mister, are you perhaps heading to town?" The woman asked casually, increasing her pace to catch up to the man walking steady steps.

"Mhmm." I answered, my eyes still not leaving Fiona.

"..."

The woman was speechless. 'I'm not a vain person, but spare me a glance, please! Someone is talking to you! You're way too obsessed with that girl!'

"Mister, there's a tree ahead! Watch out!"

"Mhmm." Knowing it was a test of my senses, I moved to the side, walking right in front of the woman. She ran into my back with a loud oof.

It hurts! My back ached from the pain, I swear I heard a bone crack! This woman's cultivation base is damn high, or her physical strength is ridiculous! Ah, I almost dropped Fiona just to rub my back... no, I can't do that. Fiona, oh, Fiona, don't you know the pain I have to go through so you can sleep happily?

"Mister, I'm the guard of the town. Would you like to spend the night in town with the little girl?" She asked, unaware of the suffering I had to go through. Wait, what did she say? The town guard? I turned to look at her, then shook my head.

"You, a town guard? You're so childish."

"What do you mean? I'm a grown woman! 16 years of age!" she retorted, throwing her arms to her sides in a fit of rage.

Yep, childish indeed. I chuckled. She reminds me of Fiona. She seems to have opened up to me, and I can only feel a genuine curiosity about me from her, no other intents.

"I'll trouble you then." I said, rubbing Fiona's forehead.

"Kay. Follow me," she replied, flicking her hand. Walking ahead of me, I didn't even notice she disappeared before she popped up in front of me, looking down at my arms and asked, "whose this?"

I paused for a second before answering, "my daughter."

I didn't know whether to trust this immature woman in front of me. While I can feel that she has no intentions, I'm not a god, nor a prophet. She could be well-versed in concealing their emotions and is leading us to a death-trap. Maybe a confidante under the Queen, waiting to present Fiona as a bribe?

I don't know.

Plus, I still have an awful premonition that somebody was still watching us. The 'thing' I saw in the tree was on the left side of the path, while the woman appeared on the right! A spiritual beast probably wouldn't attack a larger group of human cultivators, especially after the woman joined our group. They'll think more will come as reinforcements, and leave right away, not throwing away their lives.

With this in mind, the 'thing' on that tree is definitely a human! And one that came with bad intentions, to harm either me, Fiona or the woman!

Thus, I lowered my voice and whispered, "do you know anyone in the vicinity right now?"

The woman gave me a look in the eye and then looked away.

I hoped that telling a bit more of myself would make her more trusting of me and hopefully receive her help to detect the stalker in the trees! I knew that trifling with her cultivation base meant certain doom!