“You little…!” Seeing her approach him, the man clenched his teeth as he tried to forcefully stand up, even though his head was still spinning heavily and his vision was completely blurry. But, his survival instincts were telling him that he was in huge trouble if he didn’t.
The girl flinched, then she quickly rushed toward the man and with a loud yell, she pushed him, making the man fall again on his back with a thud. His head hit the ground again as everything blacked out for a second.
‘I need to do it now!’ The girl thought to herself and jumped on the man. Then, she aimed the skewer at him. She had never thought she would find herself in such a situation, aiming a weapon at someone.
But, all that adrenaline coursing through her veins, and the pain she went through for a very long time, they made her snap. She didn’t care anymore, everything didn’t really matter. What mattered at that moment was survival… She wanted to live and to do that, she had to end another life.
“HAAAAAAH!!!” With a scream, she stabbed down without even looking at where she was aiming. The skewer stabbed through the man’s skin, making him shriek loudly. The girl then pulled the bloody skewer out and stabbed him again, then again, and again, and again.
She kept stabbing ruthlessly, without wasting a single moment. She felt the warm blood on her hands and face.
“STOP!! UGH! STOP!!”
Out of fear for his life, the man started fighting back. Smacking the girl in the face, he threw her off balance and tried to quickly yank the skewer out of her arm. Blood was gushing out of his body like a fountain. His clothes were dyed red and he was struggling to breathe.
‘Fuck! She hit me in the chest!’ Putting his hand against the stabbed spots, he felt his hand getting covered in the red liquid.
“You!!!” Then, he stretched his hand and almost caught the skewer only for the girl to quickly pull herself away and then, she stabbed with it again. The man tried to grab it again, only for the sharp spike to stab his hand.
“AGH!!” He groaned as he grabbed his hand painfully. He felt a hellish throbbing feeling that numbed his entire hand.
‘I can do it!’
Taking that opportunity, the girl lunged at him and stabbed him again. A hail of stabs fell on the man again, filling his chest and neck with holes, gushing out blood endlessly. The man started losing strength and energy as he bled profusely. His body felt way colder than before.
At the same time, the girl herself was starting to feel exhausted. Throwing her arms wildly exhausted her greatly. Not to mention the fact that she hadn’t eaten food in ages, and had been running for minutes without stopping in a freezing temperature with no clothes. Her hands and feet were blue and swollen.
Her condition was horrible if not outright life-threatening.
“Die!”
“Die!”
“DIE!!”
But, even through that pain, she continued stabbing him relentlessly. Until, one of the stabs hit one of his jugular veins. Instantly, blood exploded everywhere as the man’s eyes widened in shock. He grabbed his neck as he started struggling to breathe. He made pained sounds of suffocation.
The girl stared at his dying face with a shocked expression. She didn’t know how to react when she realized that this man… was about to die.
“You… will regret… this!… Monster…” He muttered with a difficult tone before he exhaled one last breath and his hand finally fell to the ground after struggling against her. The girl’s bloodied face filled with bruises and scratches froze. The skewer fell from her hand.
“…” She breathed. But, she didn’t know what to think. She had killed him. This was the very first time she killed someone.
‘I… Killed him…’ She mused as she dropped to the ground, barely keeping her balance with her arms. Then, she remembered that her hands were completely covered in blood. The warm liquid stuck to her skin, refusing to vanish.
“Damn, you really ruined him.”
Suddenly, she heard someone speak behind her. She flinched visibly as she turned to look at Arthur with a terrified look on her face. Quickly, she dragged herself back, hitting the wall.
“… S-Stay away!”
“Hey, don’t be scared now. I’m not going to harm you.” Arthur shrugged.
‘She’s still in shock. I can’t do anything too abrupt or she might break down. Why the hell is a child being chased by these idiots? Are they some kind of criminals? That could be the case with how terrified the merchant looked when he told me that.’
Arthur heard some bits and pieces of their conversation before he attacked and he was certain that the girl wasn’t the bad guy in the situation. So, he decided to barge in and deal with them even though they seemed a little tough to beat.
“… W-Who are you?” The girl stared at Arthur warily and asked.
“I’m the guy that you stole that skewer from,” Arthur replied.
“…”
“Now, don’t look at me like that. I was a little curious as to why those men were chasing you.” Arthur said.
“…” The girl stared at him without blinking. Arthur’s smile slowly turned into an awkward expression as the silence prolonged.
“Ehem, this is the moment where you tell me what happened.” Arthur coughed awkwardly.
‘You should know your role, little girl!’ He laughed to himself.
“… I don’t trust you.” She said.
“Oh. Well, that makes sense, we’re still basically strangers. But, there is really no reason to be afraid of me. If I wanted to harm you, I would’ve already done that. I’m really just a peaceful person who just arrived in the city and was looking for anything interesting to spend time.”
“…”
‘Damn, she really doesn’t trust me at all. She must’ve been through hell to become like this… Poor girl.’
Seeing the condition she was in, Arthur felt really bad for her. She was clearly malnourished, tortured, and injured. Even her skin was almost blue due to the cold weather. Arthur was smiling, but inside, he was feeling really bad for this innocent child.
“… How about this.” Suddenly, he received an idea. Quickly, he opened his inventory and rummaged through. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. A fur coat and a few health potions.
“Here, take these. A few potions to heal yourself a little and a coat for this cold weather.” He threw them at her to make sure she didn’t get terrified again.
The girl looked at the coat silently for a few moments before she stared at Arthur again, clearly contemplating whether she should really trust him or not. Eventually, her exhausted body beat her logic and she hesitantly wore the coat. Then, she took the potions and sniffed them.
‘These are really health potions. He isn’t lying.’ She thought to herself as she quickly started drinking them, one after the other eagerly. Slowly, her body started recovering visibly with each potion drunk.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
