Rueben looked at Sara doing 2 push ups before giving up. He looked at her blankly and face palmed.

He had forgotten that the little girl didn't have any sort of prior training before and he wanted to know the limits of her body so he made her do a small exercise.

The result was this.

Sara was lying down on the floor, collapsed, her whole body filled with sweat due to the small amount of exercise. He swore that he only made her do 5 sit ups, 5 squatrass, 5 high jumps, 5 curl ups and such. He didn't do anything excessive for a 14 year old child like her just a basic exercise regime that even toddlers could do back at Arkvem but seeing the state of her body, he immediately knew that she was not fit for a close combatant Hunter like him.

'I can teach her a few skills about how to fight hand to hand combat with the beasts but I should focus more on letting her develop her marksmanship first. After this, I'll have to request a pair of guns or something long ranged from Riza after this… How much will it cost?'

He wondered as he looked at Sara breathing hard on the floor, he didn't forget the possibility of her being a monster in disguise but seeing her get exhausted so quickly, he had doubts about that theory of his. Though, he didn't let his cautiousness become less due to that, he was still on guard against Sara.

He walked towards her and picked her up, the 14 year old girl had tears in her eyes as she looked at him. Rueben felt guilty about forcing her to do an exercise that even toddlers could do back in Arkvem but he steeled his heart and told himself that the more she suffers, the higher her chances of surviving in the Hunter world.

After all, its not only Beasts or Monsters that you are against off.

"That is it for this session. Let us try again later, okay?"

Sara nodded her head but her head was facing down.

Rueben could feel that she was disappointed at herself and let out a soft sigh, he knew that disappointment would only block her from truly improving so he gave her a motivation instead, "If you can last for atleast 10 repetitions every exercise, then I will reward you with something. Is that a deal?"

When Sara heard it, here eyes shone with stars and she looked at him in the eyes and nodded her head furiously before saying, "Yes! Okay! I will do my best from today onwards!!! You better remember this, pinky swear on this oath, mister!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She then shove her pinky finger infront of him as Rueben looked at her flabbergasted, he looked at the tiny finger that he could quickly break with just one snap and his mouth curled up into a gentle smile. Such innocence, it was truly a bliss to be ignorant. He gave her a pinky swear and Sara happily jumped into his arms and cheered.

Rueben was worried that her cheering would attract many beasts or monsters but he detected none so far so he just let her enjoy her moments. After all, happiness was quite hard to experience in this time of era. He need to make sure that Sara could enjoy happiness in her childhood times before she becomes an adult, which he reckons that it will only come a few hours later as she was growing far more faster than humans do.

He looked at the child in his arms and thought about their next plan of action, he was playing hide and seek, no, Sara was playing hide and seek with atleast 4 Dolls that had the souls of children.

He knows the concept of souls as it is as important as the blood.

His ancestors, no, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the first Empress and the only ruling Empress of the Victorian Continent before the Crown. She was a iron blooded ruler as well as a tyrant that could sacrifice countless citizens if it meant that she would be victorious in her battles.

It was said that she had made a deal with a god and she broke the terms of that deal and plunged the entire Victorian Continent into chaos and despair.

This era was called the Fog Era where people collected souls to become stronger or rise through the ranks and as the center of it all, Queen Victoria was the strongest existence as she managed to devour the god she made a deal with and transcended into a new plane of existence. She was capable of controlling the souls of others for her own use.

It was only after a Tainted, an exiled group of humans who went through the deepest pits of hell and came back up to the earth with blood tainted their face. Such people were naturally hunted and killed because their powers and abilities that were beyond a human made everyone fear their existence.

So it was ironic that the people that they had tried to erase in fear for their power were the same people that saved the world from certain destruction. The Tainted raised his scarred hand and marched towards the large palace of Queen Victoria by himself and slayed her, all by himself.

Though not much Is known as to what happened to the Tainted because most of the books about the past were either destroyed or erased from existence after the Pale Monster epidemic happened. Rueben didn't know much details until to that but he knew that souls were important in the past as it functioned a lot like the God's Blood that he and many others rely on today.

They were something that could be used to either strengthen oneself at the cost of their sanity.

Rueben put down Sara and patted her head before saying, "Come, let us go find your friends."

After hearing that, her eyes became sad for a moment before it turned back into the bright and bubbly eyes, she nodded her head enthusiastically. "Um!"

Rueben smiled and walked with Sara following behind them.

After they left the area, two eyes opened in the darkness and looked at where they were standing just a few moments ago before closing again.

A trace of blood appeared on the wall that looked like handprints and it slowly moved towards where Rueben and Sara was.