The last rays of the sun stopped illuminating the city, leaving its place to a bright yet cold moon. The moonlight lightened the ill-famed city where like every night, blood and money kept spilling in oceans.
Within one of those old building whose story had been erased by the ages, a lone girl stood at a window while observing the sky. The reflection of the moon in her eyes carried a profound loneliness
In her hands laid a large bag filled with metallic objects which kept reflecting the star's’ lights as she kept toying with them.
Carrying a lonesome and absent-minded expression, the girl for the first time of her life started watching the sky. This same sky which kept alternating back and forth between day and night now seemed different.
This midnight sky which she had ignored until now was carrying a different image in her eyes which she had never seen before. The stars kept shining and dancing with each other like a group of children playing.
It was beautiful, yet somehow only made her loneliness become denser as she gazed at them enviously.
Grabbing a bunch of golden coins from her bag, a metallic sound kept echoing in the room as she slowly dropped the coins one by one with a heavy look.
Just what is wrong with me.
Various indescribable emotions kept flowing within her as she kept watching this beautiful yet saddening view that the starry sky offered her.
Eniel was thinking about the black haired girl she met as she gazed at the moon, her visage was slowly replacing this large silverish orb in the sky. A terrible sentiment of longing assailed her as she threw the bag aside and went to lie down on her bed.
Like every night ever since then, the various events of that days kept replaying in her mind again and again. While she did envy her strength, she respected even her unrestrained personality.
She kept acting like nothing could bind her actions; carrying no regard or respect for the laws, it was as if she wasn’t a part of this world. Detached to the society, putting nothing and no one in her eyes. Perhaps she truly was the incarnation of freedom.
Strangely, Eniel didn’t feel any type of jealousy within her but instead a feeling of longing. She wanted to meet her once again like the girl said but at the same time, she didn’t know how they were supposed to meet.
Within such a large city, where were they supposed to meet? How would they find each other?
This was the first time that the careful and untrusting Eniel made a friend. Within this dark city where human values were as precious as the dirt covering her shoes, trust was probably the hardest and most difficult commodity one could find. And if one was selling it, his fate generally wouldn’t be an enjoyable one.
Thinking about her situation, Eniel started laughing at herself and how stupid she was acting. It didn’t matter how many times she thought about it, her actions and feelings went against the principles she had set to protect herself.
But even so, despite knowing how irrational it was… She still wished to befriend… and trust that girl.
“She said her name was… Shina.”
It was a name that somehow made her think of the sky in its entirety, the dark and cold sky illuminated by various little lights which shone down to brighten the world. Carefree and which showed themselves whenever they wanted and took a rest behind the clouds and they felt lazy.
Both girls didn’t know how much respect they carried to each other. One envied her freedom and her unrestrained way of living while the other highly admired her determination to keep on living and fighting despite her conditions.
Maybe it was due to this mutual admiration that both girls wished to become closer and couldn’t forget about the other side.
A knocking coming from the old wooden door reverberated within the room, Eniel’s childish expression slowly vanished as she once again readied herself to fight against her reality.
“Come in.”
The girl’s young yet cold voice somehow surprised the listeners as they hesitantly opened the door.
It was a group of three men who harbored a strange expression as they entered the room.
Two of the men was giving a very rough feeling due to their strong build, something that was pretty common within the slums where everyone’s mentality and bodies were forged through fights for self-preservation.
The last man was rather skinny, but his eyes glittered with a malicious and scheming light as he cautiously watched over the room. He tried not to leave anything as he completely scanned the room with his eyes within an instant.
One of the built men grinned as he looked at the lone little girl lazily walking toward the window and leaned against it. Eniel didn’t even give them a glance as she once again gazed at the sky whose beauty had been impacted by this disturbing visitors who didn’t seem to carry any good intents.
“What are you here for?”
The skinny man smiled amicably as he took a few steps toward Eniel, his smile exposed three golden teeth which gave him a vile and untrusty look.
“Zizizi—, first I would like to welcome you to this-”
Hearing the man’s strange and disturbing fake laugh made Eniel’s cold face slightly distort as she frowned and replied with a cold voice where lied a tint of anger. Taking a silver coin from her pocket, she threw it at the man who caught it with a startled grimace.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I am sure there are more than a thousand women out there ready to listen to your bullshit all night. So why don't you pay them a visit and get the fuck out.”
The old skinny man smirked as he showed the silver coin to the two other men. He had heard rumors about a brat carrying a bag full of money living inside alone, but he hadn’t expected one of those rubbish rumors to actually be true. The bag lying just below the girl was actually revealing gold and silver coins, enough to easily live a few years without having to do any crappy job.
“Zizi—, little miss have a harsh tongue but it can’t be helped… Anyone living here can’t help but develop such habits, I wonder how such a young girl like you managed to survive until now.”
Eniel snorted as their intentions were just as clear as this moon, despite how eloquent the man tried to be or faked trying; his eyes just like the eyes of the other men… were fixed on the bag like predators eying their prey. Eniel didn’t appear in their sight, she was at most a small branch which could be cut in two with but a small effort.
“This old man is actually owning an orphanage within the main street. My heart aches, seeing all these poor children living outside and forced to steal and commit crimes to survive.”
The skinny man’s story made Eniel feel even more annoyed as she had already heard this kind of stories a few hundreds if not thousands time in the past. From being a kidnapped and abandoned daughter to a long lost sister or uncle… Every ways are good to take advantage of an innocent child.
Eniel rolled her eyes as she waited for the man to be finished with his heart-touching story filled with hypocrisy and idealism. The light coming from the window slowly diminished as a large cloud started to cover the moon.
“If you come with me, you’ll be able to eat your fill and you’ll be provided with three meals a day. Clothes and a warm bed to sleep in, if you are lucky we might even find you a new family!”
‘Family’ This word made Eniel’s ears twitch, an old memory resurfaced within her mind; a woman who told her to wait for her within an isolated alley of the slums. She didn’t even know if it was her real mother or not, but the only things she could remember about her was this hypocrite smile she wore when she said she would be back soon.
This same hypocrite smile she harbored when she met her once again from afar talking with a man, this betrayed feeling she felt when that woman said she didn’t have any child.
But what she remembered the most clearly was her begging expression when she recognized Eniel while carrying a gigantic debt left by that same man when he vanished from her life. She watched her being carried away by two men across the street, everyone knew what happened to women who owned a large debt but couldn’t pay it back.
Eniel probably had a few siblings within the city, or maybe not if the woman was already dead…
“If you are worried about your money, you can be at ease! It will be stored and kept in a secured place until you become an adult, I can assure you that no one will ever touch it.”
After noticing Eniel nod a few times, the old man shamelessly smiled as he thought she only was a dumb little brat.
“What do you say? Do you want to come live with us?
Taking on a bored expression, Eniel stretched as her limbs turned sore.
“You’re finally done? As expected this was an absolute mix of bullshit and crap.”
The smile on the man’s face vanished as he looked at her darkly.
“Zizizi— I truly dislike using such forceful methods, but since you refuse the easy way.”
The two bulky men took the lead as they walked toward Eniel with a large smirk. Despite the threat they represented, the small figure leaning against the window didn’t look seems worried at all. She overlooked them like she was watching a group of trash on the verge of being thrown into a trash bin.
“I don’t like that brat’s eyes, maybe I should tear them off.”
Hearing the man’s rough words, the old man rebuked him with an upset expression, making the rough man slightly embarrassed.
“Not again, we already lost a lot of money on the last two children because of your habits!”
“Huhuhu~”
Eniel’s cold laugh surprised the men, she wasn’t worried. She simply stared at them, waiting for them to take actions.
“You dumb brat, why are you laughing?”
“I am simply laughing at your stupidity.”
Raising his hands, the man looked very threatening as a few blood veins formed on his head. They seemed to be on the verge of exploding as his face turned reddish.
“Do you even realize what situation you’re in?”
Eniel snorted with a sarcastic grin.
“I do… And you?”
The man rose his arm and threw a punch at the small girl, but strangely the girl wasn’t even hit even though she hadn’t made any movement. Because… his arm was gone.
The arm dropped on the ground as his blood spilled down and stained the floor. A dagger revealed itself beside the girl, she wasn’t the one holding it, but a man whom presence they hadn’t even detected was.
As the second man was going to raise his voice, a second dagger directly appeared from behind him; directly piercing through his back as he fell down on the ground and slowly poured out this crimson liquid.
Before even knowing what was going on, the skinny old man ran away toward the wooden door. But before he even managed to cross it, another dagger had cut through his ankles before simply cutting his throat. As he died, his vile visage had now turned into an idiotic one as he died without even knowing why.
“W-Who are you all?!”
The bulky man who was missing an arm screamed with all his lung as he couldn’t understand the situation he was actually in. Eniel’s words actually represented the real situation. None of them had actually realized that they were walking on Hell’s path.
As the man beside Eniel was going to finish him, she stopped him with a sign of her hand and glared at him.
“Don’t kill him… Just gouge out his eyes and throw him away.”
“N-No… Please!”
The arm twitched for a moment in hesitation, it wasn’t because the man didn’t have the courage but because he didn’t know whether or not he should obey. His eyes landed toward the third man standing beside the door as if waiting for an answer.
“Who care... Just do it but outside.”
Nodding, the man dragged the rough thug outside despite his screams and begging.
Walking to Eniel, the cloud finally finished covering the moon as the room brightened up, revealing the man’s identity.
“I hope you’ll remember that we’re simply here to protect you and not to obey your commands.”
Eniel snorted at the man and wasn’t concerned at all by his words.
The man sent to protect her was Rilesta’s second… Reil.
They had seen the monster standing beside her friend and were afraid of what would happen should Eniel be injured or died. Should they be the ones carrying its anger, even running hundreds of miles away from the city wouldn’t save them. Mystel had already shown that she could effortlessly kill any of them swiftly and discreetly without even revealing herself
Remembering the scene of the black mist taking the form of a bewitching woman with bloody red eyes still made him shiver even though he wasn’t afraid of dying.
While Eniel didn’t know at all why they were protecting her, she had the impression that Shina might be linked to it. Whether it was true or not, she had learned to take advantage of what she could and so wouldn’t hesitate at all to use any of these ‘bodyguards’.
Noticing a wet feeling on her cheek, Eniel brushed it with her hand and wiped it a few times after noticing it was the blood probably belonging to the man’s whose arm still remained on the ground.
“How many has it been?... Isn’t it already the third group tonight?”
“It’s the fourth…”
“Tch, this room is starting to stink of blood…”
Wondering whether she should let the window open to freshen up the room while she goes to sleep with her hand on her dagger. Tomorrow the room will probably have been cleaned of any trace of blood like nothing had happened…
As for the three men, two of them would have to give a visit to the Oni for a long time while the third one wouldn’t have to wait long in his current state before joining them.
Eniel had, of course, no idea of this, nor did she even care...