Through Unknowns

In an inconspicuous place, where trees stood tall, the space was torn and a figure got thrown out. This little figure rolled then regained its balance. A little girl.

She pushed back her ruffled hair then looked around.

"A forest… again," she muttered. She started walking about the towering trees, admiring their gigantic beauty. When she spotted a building far away from where she was, she slowly approached.

It was a normal day in the old wooden tavern, where it was almost empty besides the few people that visited it whenever they stopped their adventures inside the B-rank forest, Avira, to relax and have a sip of booze that burned their throat in a good way.

However, there are two people inside. In front of the bar; one was a young man, dressed in a royalty suit, sitting on a wooden stool as he sipped his juice, and a burly man, dressed in his casual clothing besides the armor around his waist, was standing just behind the young man, unmoving yet intimidating.

Yet this burly man, who was keeping quiet for the sake of his lord's peacefulness, spoke in a brash voice, "Young Lord, if I may ask, why did you not join the examination?"

"Who cares anyway? They know that I'll be the future lord of their kingdom anyway. Besides, that examination is stupid. I would never allow myself to be dirtied by such stupidity," The youth answered with a cold and monotonous tone, making the man behind him shudder.

"Understood," without further questioning from the burly man, the young lord spun his stool then rested his feet on another stool to his left. He sipped his juice as if it was a delightful wine as he exhaled a satisfied sigh, but the sudden movement of the burly man made him raise his eyebrows, "What happened?"

The burly man never answered his question and just stepped in front of his lord, standing in his fighting stance, clenching his metal gauntlets.

"Caine, what's wrong? Did someone come to get me? Well, they must've arrived here. Wow, so fast!"

"Young Lord, if I'm not mistaken, this power is not of a normal person. I never sensed such greater power than the S-ranks I met. We never had any people that powerful in the academy. This is a calamitous threat," Caine said, without leaving his gaze at the door where he can sense this incomprehensible phenomenon. He hid his groan of irritation when he heard the lord's words, "Oh! Then let's meet this person!"

"I swear on my life that I will protect you. I plead with you, do not be stubborn."

Despite his words, the young lord just cocked his head from the taller man's shoulder, curiously eyeing the door. His eyes twinkled when he saw it being slightly ajar but it revealed a small girl having a problem on her footing just to hold the knob.

The young lord eyed Caine with huge suspicions and pointed at the girl, "Seriously? Caine, your senses must be broken right now. Can we even fix you?"

"It must be, my Lord."

They were waiting for the girl to come but then, she just left the door ajar and then left. Caine leaned forward, eyes wide. He immediately ran, leaving his Lord, then slammed the door open. However, there wasn't a trace of the little girl and the threatening aura was constantly leaving from where he stood.

"Must be an illusion..."

-----

The little girl, Chang Xiuying, wandered until she caught sight of people killing unusual monsters donned in uniformed clothes. Also, they were releasing powers from their staffs while the others did their best to fight off these unusual monsters.

Chang Xiuying hid and took a different direction, but then, she encountered the same uniform. "Is this some sort of a test?" she said.

After a series of rounds and diversions, also hunting for meat, she finally arrived at the border of the forest and it was already pitch black. The moon was illuminating the night, unlike from the Central Marsh where no moon was present.

Then, she saw a tall wall equal to that of the trees in the forest she came from. She approached a large gate where people come and go. After observing for minutes, she tried going in too. However, she was stopped abruptly by a man that looked like a guard.

"Yes, sir?" She asked.

"You need to show an identification card," he said in a firm and monotonous tone.

"Eh?"

Wait… she's just five!

"Why are you surprised?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Well… I came from the mountains and haven't been in the cities..."

"If you don't have an identification---"

"This child is with me," a suspicious man suddenly butted in, grasping Chang Xiuying's small shoulders.

"Your identification, please."

And then the man showed a silver card to the guard, "Here."

The guard nodded then allowed them to pass. Chang Xiuying, who still hadn't escaped the grasps of the man, said, "Thank you, mister."

The man smiled warmly to her and tousled her hair, "It's a pleasure. Since it's your first time in a city like this, do you want me to show you around?"

"Yes, mister! Thank you so much!"

She was shown where the slums are and then was led to a certain building. It was tattered and there was a sign where a shackles and a head of a beast was drawn. Chang Xiuying tilted her head in confusion when the man looked at her.

"Where are we, mister?"

"This is where the unwanted children got sold off."

"Eh?"

'Aren't you being so straightforward about it?' she thought.

"Since you came from the mountains alone, and unscathed at that, you must be saved from the clutches of the monsters. Judging from your clothes, you must have been well fed."

'Like I said, why are you being so straightforward?'

However, they stopped where they were inches from the door. "You should've started rebelling. Why are you still calm?"

"Why are you so straightforward about it?" She finally voiced out.

"I'm sorry," he said then opened the door, throwing her in.

Chang Xiuying stumbled then regained her balance. Cages met her gaze and within, there were demi-humans and human children staring at the ceiling, lifeless.

Her gaze hardened as she eyed the door where she could hear screams and moans and the sounds of the whip. Before she knew it, she was already in front of the door, and a few bodies laying behind her. Those were the corpses of the people who tried to apprehend her. Then she burned the door into cinders, eyeing the figure of the man who stopped whipping.

"What are you doing?" Her voice carried bloodlust and her eyes turned red.

"Wha-wha---" before he could respond, Chang Xiuying already slapped the man as it clashed against the hard stone wall.

"I said, what are you doing?"

"Hiiii!!!"

"I asked you, right?"

"Ye-yes."

"Then you better answer me before my hand beheads you."

Seeing that the girl might be lying, he bravely said, "Spare---spare me! I am only punishing those that have sinned---"

And then he died. Incapacitated.

Chang Xiuying approached the girl that seemed to be older than her, but the girl could only scream and scramble to the corner of the room, shivering.

"It's alright… I won't hurt you..." she gently said.

Hearing no response, Chang Xiuying sighed then walked out of the room. First of all, she has to free all these slaves. Just as she did, she left to search for more in the higher floors and ransacked the whole building dry. She accumulated 50,000 gold coins and 100,000 silver coins. It must've come from all the selling of the children. She doesn't want to have anything to do with it.

When she killed all the people inside the building and freed the slaves, she led them into the ground floor and then announced with a loud voice, "You all are free beings now!"

All 100 slaves shivered then nodded their heads, however, they made no moves.

"What's wrong?"

"If I may impose you… ma'am… we have nowhere to go… and we're weak..." a demi-human said.

"Well then… since we're in the slums, we should meet with the leader and seek refuge."

"If we joined them… we don't have anything to give..."

Chang Xiuying scratched her head then sighed. "Alright, you," she pointed at the demi-human who talked, "show me where this leader is---"

"I apologize! I do not know where he might be… but if we asked around..."

"Okay. Regardless, come with me and you all should stay here. I will come back."

When Chang Xiuying approached the demi-human, she asked, "What's your name?"

"The likes of me have no name, ma'am..."

"Oh… do you want to be named?"

"Only the master has the rights to name us slaves."

"Hmmm… but it would be a hassle to just call you 'you'."

"Just call me however you like..."

"Well then, however you like..." she teased, but the slave just nodded its head.

"... is what I'd like to say… are you a boy or a girl?"

"I am a girl, ma'am."

"Then what do you want to call yourself?"

"Eh? But---"

"You all are free now. You should have enough free will to live through the days."

"I… have been wanting to be called Flora..."

"Then Flora, lead the way," Chang Xiuying smiled then gestured at Flora to lead the way.

"Yes!"

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