My Friendship is Stolen

Arlo looked down at his friend claim crest. Sho's symbol had changed to a white wolf from its previous lettering. He covered it back up except for just the top piece of it. Turns out just showing that much of a crest kept other demons away.

"Let's get moving Blacky." He said gently shaking the wolf awake.

Blacky yawned, "So early." And rose to his paws.

The downstairs of the inn had just two demons sitting on one end and the host of the place serving breakfast.

Arlo nodded a greeting and accepted some food going to a corner to eat. From here he could overhear the two's conversation. They were clearly slayers, the demon version of hunters. Their clothing choice told him that much. A rogue and a mage most likely.

They jabbered about what they had hunted and how much they were going to sell beast parts for. Arlo was mostly tuning them out.

"Did you hear about the chief of the Whitewolves?" asked the rogue. White wolves, were those a monster type as well? Or maybe the person was related to Sho.

"Yeah Talon Whitewolf sure had it coming though. I mean come on." The mage replied.

Another individual came down the stairs, "Morning guys." He joined them. Ranger, he had a long bow over his shoulder.

Nothing more interesting came from the conversation so Arlo went back to ignoring them. He was lucky Sho had a few books on various things in the demon world or he would have been hanging on their every word for information.

A few minutes later he and Blacky were off continuing their trip. The wall between the eastern and northern part came into view, it wasn't large. Blacky could jump it easily if he went full size like a two story building.

Instead Arlo had decided to go through the normal routes as much as possible. He rode Blacky in his horse size through the gate showing the edge of his crest and saying his owner needed a job done in the east. Way too easy. He slid through without any complications.

He looked at the next part of the map with a tad of worry. It was open plains far too easy to be spotted. Not just by monsters. Blacky bounded along keeping a steady pace. He stopped that night at a cave and took turns with Blacky keeping guard. Talking to the wolf was insanely convenient.

Next day back on the plains. It was mid morning when a demon steed appeared in the sky and descended toward them.

Arlo gulped, on its back was a certain silver haired demon.

"Sho" Arlo practically whispered as the steed landed. Sho stood there for a few seconds watching him then beckoned him closer. Arlo wasn't sure what he should expect as Blacky walked to Sho. A slap on the wrist? Would he toss him in the dungeon? Feed him to the rats?

He shivered as he looked up slowly into Sho's eyes. Sho's expression was unreadable as he looked back. After what finally felt like way too much time he asked "Human world?"

Arlo paused frowning, why did he say it like a question.

Sho continued, "Were you trying to go back?" Arlo slowly nodded his head a little looking at the ground.

"Here."

Arlo looked up in time to see a small thing thrown at him. He caught it. It was two small cases tied together. "What are…." He started.

"Humans have mostly blue and gold eyes. Your purple is a dead giveaway. You should go, you'd probably be safer there."

Arlo watched in surprise as Sho turned the steed and took back to the air flying away again without even looking back. Arlo never expected it to hurt so much. Like everything had fallen apart. He had let him go? Just like that? Well that was a good thing, wasn't it.

For some reason Arlo couldn't find it in him to smile like he had been the past little while. Everything felt cold except for Blacky. He curled up in the wolf's fur and started .... Crying? What? Why were tears leaking from his eyes? He slapped himself. Nonsense. Sho was a demon, its not like he needed him or his approval or to not let him down.

Sho's eyes hadn't had a trace of warmth earlier, why should they? Arlo was just some bought toy that he had finally gotten bored enough with to let it escape. But then why come all this way to give him contacts? Ridiculous he just felt obligated to or something.

That or he hates me because I ran away. Well that's fine it's not like I wanted to be with him. This whole time has had nothing to do with what I want. Even if he hates me, I should hate him for keeping me like a pet. Yep I definitely do not like him or anything to do with him. I am a perfectly capable human and I can look after myself just fine.

Arlo clenched the contact cases. Try as hard as he might, he couldn't drop them and instead clung to them. Well it would be stupid to toss away something valuable and helpful. He pocketed Sho's last gift muttering to himself in his head so Blacky wouldn't think he'd gone completely off the deep end.

"Are you okay." Asked Blacky.

"Fine"

"Really you don't seem it."

"I am good."

"Okay."

That wolf really did understand way too much for his own good sometimes. Another few days passed in similar fashion.

"Hey Blacky, do your kind live in the human world normally?"

"Some not as many as in the demon lands though."

"How do you even know all these random facts."

"Wolves remember the memories of their parents."

"Wait what? That's so cool!" Arlo said.

"Not really I've got three generations of knowledge, it makes my brain hurt."

"But that makes you super smart!"

"Do you want three generations of random facts in your head?" Blacky asked

"So what kinds of things do you know?" Arlo asked, ignoring the question.

"Something random?"

"Sure"

"Well I could tell you the uses for about 4,500 magical items."

"I've got time"

"Heh okay then lets see; magical contacts change the wearers eyes, holy water can seriously injure demons and monsters it's a human thing. Jinx wood or vines can suck the energy from monsters and demons it works very slowly making it a very painful way to die, although, since it can take months on higher levels your likely to be found, think of it as a painful information gathering tool or method sold on the black market. Lets see what else is very random, beads of storage work like weightless backpacks, Tiers of weapons go from rusted to golden usually with some higher levels, necklace of redefining allows you to change how others view your stats, The.."

"Wait necklace of redefining, that could make me look human?"

"Yep"

"And how can I get one of these?"

"Just look around, lots of little stores in villages have them. Probably even more so along the border." Blacky said.

"Interesting, okay feel free to keep going, you are very helpful."

Blacky was literally a walking textbook. Arlo's brain hurt but it was very useful so he tried to pay attention. He didn't have anything else to do which made it quite helpful.

Finally they arrived at the border pass through. The wall was so high there would be no way over. However turns out smart little Blacky's great grandmother knew about an underground market for moving between the sides. Apparently it was mostly for demons who wanted to find a quick human snack. But hey, take what you can get.

Now for the hard part, finding one of these people. Arlo pulled a dark hoddie over his shirt, making sure to still leave part of his claim visible.

"Blacky shrink and hang out in my hood for a bit, I don't want to get into any scuffles if I can avoid it. the wolf shrank easily and hopped into his hood like a pet rodent.

Arlo stuck half his money into a pocket and went to the town leaving the rest hidden under a tree.

He had only been in the town for a few seconds when Blacky hissed in his ear "Seller to the left see the golden chain? That's a necklace of redefining oh and the jade bead next to it, that's a storage bead, although a high class one. We could store your stuff in there. You might want to find a cheaper one though."

"Tell me again how money conversation works." Arlo muttered as he walked over to the stand. Arlo pretended to examine a few things that he had no idea what they were. All he needed at the moment was a human necklace and a storage bead.

"Name for the registration?" asked the Demon at the booth.

"A…" Arlo started but Blacky nipped his ear,

"He's below level 10 give him fake info, redefining necklaces are dangerous sometimes."

"Apologies, I am Hill." Arlo stated meanwhile his brain was going please let that be a demon name. His name Arlo back in his world meant fortified hill.

"Nice to meet you Hill." The demon sold him the necklace.

"Might I ask about that?" Arlo pointed to the jade bead that had caught Blacky's eye.

"This is a …. Green bead." Replied the demon

"Uh how much, it would look nice on y new necklace."

"5 silver?"

"Buy it, this fool knows nothing" Blacky hissed in his ear.

"I'll take it." Arlo said surprised since the pup originally told him to leave it. 50 silver seemed like a lot. He clipped the bead onto the chain and was instantly shocked to see his system display it like an actual inventory box from a game system.

Another thing near the back caught his eye.

"Is…. Is that bow for sale?" he asked. Leaning against the back wall was a dark black bow along with several arrows also colored in black.

"This" the owner almost looked relieved "Please 10 silver and it is yours."

"This stuff is probably resold stolen goods" Blacky commented in his ear.

Arlo felt like the bow was tugging at him for some reason. He claimed it as his own feeling satisfied to have a bow in his hands again. Even if it was stolen unless he was using it his new storage would be the perfect place for it. He also would have no trouble modifying the design.

He left the seller returning to store his stuff.

"Why did you want a bow?" asked Blacky confused, "You're an assassin type."

"True, let's just say awhile ago I was pretty good without needed a level for this though."

"Free handed use? That's supposed to be nearly impossible."

"Guess we will just have to see if I still have what it takes then."