The guards threw their weapons away, from which afterward, the woman in white compelled them to join the crowd and had everyone sit down. The white lady stood right before Chio, looking down at her with a stoic face. Then to the tiny child in Chio's arms. Chio did her best to calm the baby down from crying. She feared that the lady would be irritated by his loud crying.

However, to her surprise, the lady just stepped back and shook her head.

"Nira, keep watch over them. I'll see what we can get."

"Understood."

The lady walked away and approached the tents and sheets. She grabbed a bag and nodded her head. "Nira, can you carry something of this size?"

"I can."

"Excellent."

The lady grabbed one clean pan and nodded, before putting it into the bag. After that, she approached one of their stockpiles for steel plates, spoons, forks, sheets and other cloths.

"Hm." She started pulling out some sheets and spreading them out, as if to check whether they were clean. And she tried feeling the fabric, to search for something nice to feel. She cast aside the first and then pulled out another. And after checking it out, she nodded and put it into the bag.

She continued on and checked other sheets.

"She's seriously robbing us?"

"Shhh! Shut the fuck up…!"

The guards said.

But of course, the lady heard it and slowly turned a look at them, her eyes narrowing. "Oh, it's bad now that I do it?" She rose and slowly walked towards them. "Your group attempted to threaten me, and to rob me. It's only fair that I do the same thing to you."

"R-Rob?" Chio muttered. She was surprised to hear that.

"I was merely an innocent maiden resting by a tree." She dramatically closed her eyes. "Only to awaken with a blade on my face. You think that's alright?" She shook her head then headed straight back to checking the sheets. "You don't do that in this place, to a lone young lady. Not a good look."

"And you killed them…?" Chio couldn't help but ask, as if in confirmation.

"Of course. And to think you would use a kid to crawl up on me. I have to say, nice plan. Would have worked on other people." She looked at Chio from the corner of her eyes. "But not on me." Then returned to her work.

"H-How could you say that? They're not thieves!" Chio couldn't help but let out an outburst.

"Oh, is this the part where people say 'he's a good man, he would never do that' when talking about their dead family member? Well, they even said it. Wouldn't kill me, just rob me, they said."

"W-Why?"

The lady folded a sheet and put it into the bag. "It's your group, you should know."

"..."

"But I understand, it's hard in this place. Life's hard. Desperate for many things. Money, objects, and a good life."

Good life…?

She folded another sheet. "Too bad, they just have to try to rob us. How unlucky for them."

Could it be because…?

Could it be because they wanted to leave this terrible place? To find a new life out there in society? To have a good life for their child?

Why would you do that, Kinzo…?

She never thought that he would attempt to commit something like this. To rob a lone woman of her properties. And for what? As a start for their new life? Chio never condoned things like these. To be cruel to other people.

"But I guess that's just how it is in this land. They thought I was weak. The strong rules over all weaklings. And the strong can do whatever they want. So I did."

She approached one of the chests and opened it. A small smile formed on her lips as she saw the contents. It was a chest of meat, monster meat, in fact. But they were more than enough as food. The lady let out a relieved sigh. She grabbed some small cloth and began wrapping up the meat.

"Hey, that's our food!" One of the men rose up, but then Nira stepped in and pointed her claws at his neck.

"Yes, and now, what I get is mine." The lady disregarded him. "Maybe I was pretty lucky that you did what you did. I got all these." She smirked. "Been needing this stuff for a while."

"A murderer and a thief!"

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The lady paused. "... I suppose, if you look at it that way. But I'm only playing by your rules. Nothing bad about that." She continued putting more wrapped meat into her bag.

She then saw some pouches and noticed one of them had water inside. She slightly tilted her head before opening the pouch and drank some water. A look of relief formed on her face. She then proceeded to grab multiple empty pouches.

"You are powerful, why do you have to kill them all?" Chio asked out of the blue. "Have you no mercy?"

"What did they do for me to deserve my mercy?"

Chio lowered her head. "The man I love, the father of my child, is among the ones you killed."

"Oh, is that so? A shame." She didn't sound like she cared at all. "But that's just how it is. There are consequences to all our actions. And I happen to be yours." She checked the contents of her bags and looked around and grabbed some more. Once she was done, she turned to the little girl. "This should be enough for our needs. Also have some extras. Nira, come."

The little girl rushed towards her.

The lady handed out the bag to her, and the little girl received it. "Is it alright?"

"Yes, this is no problem."

"Good." The lady then approached Chio. "You have water. And looking around, there's no water source. Where did you get the water from?"

"Don't tell her anything Chio!"

The lady frowned. "Silence, I'm not talking to you."

Chio raised her hand to calm the man down, shaking her head before looking the lady directly in the eyes. "You killed men and children. Do you even feel guilt?"

"Why would you even need to ask that question? It's irrelevant."

"I just want to know what killed the one I love, and my friends. A human, or a monster."

Estelia crouched in front of her. "I don't care how you define me. You all are but insignificant people that got in my way. Look into my eyes, and guess if I feel anything about the demise of those you cared about."

Chio stared deeply into her eyes, and she saw nothing but deep pools of darkness in those crimson eyes. Indeed, there was nothing there. Nothing at all. She was indifferent to her actions. And Chio knew now what she was in truth.

"I see you have reached an answer. Now then, tell me, where did you get the water?"

And Chio answered, telling and pointing where they got the water.

"Good. And good luck with your little baby." The lady stood up and began walking away.

"You are cruel, evil." Hearing Chio's words, the lady paused and turned her head to look at her. "You will get what you deserve."

The lady formed an amused smile. "Oh, and what will that be?"

"Death."

"No, I won't. I have died before, and yet, here I am." She chuckled. With that, she continued on, leaving the cave completely, along with the little girl.

Chio looked down at her child. She was distraught at what had happened, but also furious about it all. About what that young woman had committed. She was vengeful. And she resolved to nurture her child dearly. Tell him the stories about his father.

And many years later, when her child had grown into an adult, he would become a powerful warrior. A warrior that would carry the will of his mother. The warrior that would face the evil goddess and slay her for good, all to avenge his father, and to rid the world of evil. Like a hero.

That was his destiny… if only this was a fairytale.

But this was reality. What would truly happen was that a couple of days later, they would start running out of food. And then, a couple of days after that, before they would get to leave this place, a monster found their cave. With their guards reduced, they were unable to resist the monster. And this would result in all their deaths, consumed by the beast.

Neither Chio, nor her son, survived.

***

Why would anyone just call me a monster?

Like, what the fuck? How rude. It was only fair, you know. You do me bad, I'll be sure to do something bad to you as well.

I'm quite fair, you know. Well, I may only be fair when it benefits me. But you get what I'm saying.

I am not evil! I mean, can you believe that? What am I, some kind of evil lord that threatened the world? Can anyone this beautiful be a monster? No!

Sheesh, people are weird.

This was why being antisocial was sometimes better. People just make stuff up to make themselves feel good. Asking if I was guilty, pfft. Killing kids, what's wrong with that? They tried to kill me first! They threatened me first! True that I killed a kid the moment I woke up, but in my defense, he pointed a blade at me in my sleep.

Eh, whatever, at least we got some good stuff from the cave. What were they even doing in a place like this? To make a small settlement like that. Who would even try living here? Just who were those guys? Whatever, not like I really cared.

It's kinda a jerk move to call me a monster or evil after their group just attempted to rob me and kill me.

What a tiresome day. But at least we have equipment that would make things better. Looted some pretty nice stuff! And now, we were on our way to get some fresh water. Nira was carrying the bag on her back.

'Hey Estelia, it's kinda mean to let a child carry the bags.' Hey now, let's not get carried away. I was sick, letting Nira carry the bag was the only option lest I collapse. Besides, she'd be fine, she's not exactly human. And that's not enough to label me as evil! If any of you try labeling me such, you're a jerk!

I looked around, the girl said the brooklet was around here. I was quite sure she didn't lie. If she did, I just might send Nira back to actually finish the job, and so much for sparing them.

After some walking, we heard faint sounds of water flowing. Nira and I looked at each other and smiled excitedly.

Water!

We quickly rushed towards the sound. And immediately we found it! I smiled widely at the sight. I giggled and rushed to the water and scooped some water into my palms.

"It's clean." It was clear water. I let out a long, relieved sigh. "Finally." I felt like crying in joy. I washed my hands and then doused my face. The coolness that touched my face was ecstatic. My face was so sticky and oily because of all the sweat and dust, and now I felt way better with this water.

I scooped up some water and drank. "Aaaaah." I let out a long, satisfied sigh.

Nothing like soda on a hot morning. Yeah, water was so rare, and I was so desperate, that simple water felt like soda! Poor me.

Nira also washed her face beside me and drank some water.

The stream was not as big or as deep as a river, but this was enough for washing the body. But first, we pulled out the water pouches and started filling them up. I felt so good that there was finally fresh water. What a happy day!

Once all the pouches were full, it was time to wash up! I removed my cloak and my clothes, shifting into my undergarments. I scooped up some water and began cleaning my body. The coolness of the water was amazing. I could feel the dirtiness, the stickiness wash off.

I let out a relieved sigh.

"Finally."

I washed my long hair. Then I washed my body some more. I wanted to wash my combat outfit, but we didn't exactly have all the time in the world. Nira also looked happy she was finally cleaning herself with water. Hey, we ladies have to take care of our body. We like it clean!

And being clean feels so good!

So heavenly. I had not felt this well for a while! Especially in this place.

Killing those we killed was pretty fucking worth it!

A small price to pay for salvation.

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