Gir village was located on the outskirts of beastkin kingdom, Kaziranga . This village was a mixed bag of different species, residing harmoniously, ranging from lizardmen to harpies, all living as a close-knit group.

The people in this village relied upon farming and hunting for a living and some even tried to export their handicrafts to nearby cities.

The life of the people living in this village was a pretty laid-back one. They believed in unity and took it upon themselves to help their neighbors as they would help their own family members.

The head of the village was Roger, he was a demihuman born out of wedlock between a human and a demoness. He was tall and had a muscular build, though contrary to his build, he was a quite friendly and warm person.

He had lost his wife in an epidemic. The only family members left were his son Mir and sister-in-law Kavita, a 16-year-old who had taken it upon herself to look after her sister's child.

Kavita was now 20 years old. She had strawberry blonde curls that reached her waist and 2 white horns protruding from her head, which was the racial feature of her Minotaur lineage.

As she was half Minotaur and half-human, this made her racial features gentler as compared to that of other women of Minotaur lineage.

She had blood red eyes which were crowned by well-defined eyelashes and had a perfect hour glass figure. To some, she might seem like a sculpture that was personally sculpted by the Gods.

There was hardly any man, who wouldn't give up everything just to marry her, and almost every man in the village had already tried their luck to ask her out. But she only cared about her late sister's child and for that sole reason, she had rejected every one of them.

She bathed him, fed him, sang him lullabies, and made sure that he stays out of trouble. She was never a person of faith but she believed that if her sister went to an afterlife, she at least shouldn't have to worry about her son.

Although the pair of father and son give her some trouble, they also deeply cared for her. To Roger, she was like a daughter and to Mir, she was more of an elder sister.

Though Roger was thankful to her for taking care of them, he was worried that she won't be able to find any suitors if she keeps on rejecting everyone. The worst part is that she doesn't care about it.

They were sitting at the dinner table, eating their dinner when the father-son duo looked at each other and nodded.

"Today's dinner tastes amazing as usual, aunt Kavita" said Mir with a beaming smile.

"Exactly, this meat is the definition of perfection. So tender and juicy, just melts like butter in your mouth" continued Roger.

Mir nodded and said "you're right father, aunt would make an amazing wife.

"Obviously she would. Who is prettier and more talented than her in our Village as well as the neighbouring ones" said Roger with a haughty smile.

"I say, no one sir," said Mir while shaking his head furiously.

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Kavita put her cutlery down and looked at both of them with a serious expression and said, "Please stop both of you! For at least a few years I don't have any plans regarding marriage. Savita's dying wish, is the only thing I care about for now, and if I couldn't take care of her last wish, what kind of sister I would be?"

She stood up from her chair and left without even finishing her dinner.

Both of them sighed. It has already been 4 years since the day Savita passed away and without even realizing it, she had left a great burden on her younger sister with her last wish.

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Kavita went to the lake near the village. This was her sister's favorite spot when she was alive. Every once in a while they use to come to this place for picnics to catch fish, cook them and have a great time.

She sat near the lake and dipped her feet in cold water, a sigh escaped her lips.

'I wish you were here, Savita. Mir has grown into an obedient child, totally opposite of his mother ' Kavita spoke to herself reminiscing about her joyful memories.

Her older sister has always been a troublemaker, but she definitely knew how to live life to its fullest.

While she was thinking about her childhood adventures with her older sister, Roger arrived and sat next to her and after a while, he said, "I never really understood why your sister loved this place so much. I mean it's beautiful and all, but there are better spots nearby than this one."

"When I was young, I always use to complain when she would drag me here. But now, when she's gone I'm grateful that we made so many memories at this place. I deeply treasure those memories "said Kavita with a faint smile.

"Well she was a rowdy one, wasn't she?" asked Roger while chuckling. "But you know kid, you have developed a completely opposite personality from hers. She was a free spirit and you...you want to be held back" said Roger while his gaze was fixed on the horizon.

"Why do you think that you and that bundle of joy are holding me back?" asked Kavita while following his gaze.

He sighed and said "are we not? You already know, that kid is already 8 years old and I can now take care of him if that's even necessary."

"And I'm pretty sure, Savita never wanted to tie you down when she asked you to take care of us."

Kavita looked at him with some hesitation. Then he continued, "don't look at me with that expression kid, you're old enough to choose your own path and you have already done enough for us."

"And it's not like we are asking you to move away to another city or something. Heck you can even become our neighbour "said Roger with a naughty smile.

"Don't even go there, Zack might be a good neighbour but he just creeps me out" said Kavita while shaking her head.

"ha ha ha" laughed Roger while clenching his stomach, he almost had tears in his eyes.

"But seriously kid, think about it. Otherwise, the guilt of holding you back would definitely eat me up from the inside" said Roger with a sigh.

She just nodded without looking at him.

Then both of them stood up and lightly patted their clothes to remove mud and started walking back to their village.

On their way back, Kavita had too many thoughts muddling in her head when she felt a hand grabbing her shoulder which brought her attention back to reality.

What lied in front of them, were dead bodies. Roger knelt before a dead body and after checking it he said, "looks like we are going to have a bandit issue on our hand."

As soon as those words left his lips, they both heard the emergency bell from the village.

"ting! ting! ting! "

They both started running towards the village with all their might. They both had unintentionally left Mir alone without even realising it.

When they both arrived near the village a horrifying scene welcomed them with walls painted with the blood of their friends. There were decapitated bodies everywhere. But all of these bodies were of men and old people.

After following the trail of the blood and dead bodies they both reached at the center of the village where they could see all the women and children being held hostage by a group of bandits.

The leader of the bandit was casually sitting on the throne of dead bodies while cleaning his sword with a piece of cloth. He had tan muscular build, full of scars. Then he eyed Kavita with delight and spoke, "look at that, the desert has arrived."

Roger stood in front of Kavita while shielding her with his body and spoke with an intimidating voice, "you are slave traders aren't you?"

The leader and his group of lackey started laughing maniacally. The leader then spoke, "well you aren't totally wrong. We are just guild workers who were assigned to help out a gentleman, we are just working hard to make a living."

"This gentleman told us that he needed some goods and told us where to find them and here we are" he continued with a smile.