The children were playing happily near the pond while their mothers were washing their clothes. They climbed up a tree, jumped back down and rolled in the dirt. Anyone who saw them from afar would think they were monkeys, not children.

"Jack! How many times do I have to say not to roll on the ground? I am here washing the clothes and you are there dirtying it." A mother yelled at her son. She had enough of it. Among the three children, his clothes took the longest to wash.

Another woman also checked her daughter and found her at the top of the tree. "Karla! Get down from there. You are thirteen now. I told you to stop climbing the trees and started to behave like a lady." The woman shouted at her daughter. However, the rebellious girl climbed a step higher and stuck out her tongue. It made her mother furious.

"That's it. Marla, give me a stick. A sturdy one." She asked her elder daughter. Marla looked around and handed her a washing bat. Marla is an obedient daughter, unlike her younger sister. She is well-behaved, preserved and beautiful. She is the dream girl for all the boys in the village.

When Karla saw her mother coming with a stick, she accepted that the threat was real and quickly climbed down the tree. On her way, a branch got in her clothes and nearly tore it.

"Karla! I swear! If you tear one more clothes, I won't mend it this time. I will make you stay butt naked."

Frightened, Karla carefully took out the branch and went down the tree, then she hugged her mother's hand which was carrying the stick tightly so that she wouldn't be beaten. With the cutest voice she could sound, she apologized to her mother and said she would behave like her sister. It was her 24th time.

While the people at the pond were having fun watching the repeated drama of Karla and her mother, a young man came running urgently. The children saw him and beat him to go away since their mothers and sisters were in thin wet clothes.

"No. Stop it, idiots. I ain't here to peek. I am here to tell you that the Templers are coming. The head tells you all to come back to the village urgently." He relayed the message and quickly returned his way.

After hearing that the Templers were coming, a commotion occurred. They quickly ended their bath time and returned to the village.

Meanwhile, at the village centre, the villagers dropped their work and stood at the village square waiting to welcome the Templers. When they saw the banner flying up on the pole appearing from the horizon, they became rigid and tense.

"It is real. They are coming here." A man wailed as he watched a band of army getting closer.

"Why are they coming here, Markah? You said we would be fine as long as we paid a little more than the others." A villager said angrily to their village head. The rest also followed him and blamed Markah.

Since the day the Temple took charge of defending the realm of humans against the monsters, every town and village across the Midland was forced into devotion that they would donate a set amount to the Temple in gratitude for protecting them. When they failed in their devotion, the temple would send out a religious mission to remind their devotion. Usually, the mission would visit the town or village which donated the least amount in a year. Due to that reason, Markah was sure they would not be the target as long as they donated a little more than their neighbouring villages. He knew he was wrong when he saw an army band, twenty men strong, marching to his village.

The sound of the metal boots stomping the ground stroke a fear in their hearts. A Templer in full armour was riding a big warhorse with the same set of armours. On his chest was a triangle with an eye in the middle, the sigil of Temple. Behind the armoured Templer was a white carriage, its windows covered with red velvet curtains and gold linings. It was the kind of luxury a regular villager would never dream of in their life.

A soldier moved forward and blew the horn when the carriage reached the centre of the village. The villagers kneeled on the ground while their hands made a roof over their foreheads. Unfortunately, the women failed to reach in time. When the high Templer stepped out of the carriage, he saw only half of the village. It pissed him off.

"So, you lowly lives are openly showing disrespect to us now, huh? The other villages at least showed respect to me even though they failed in their devotion."

"We dare not your holy might. Our spouses are rushing from the pond to pay homage as we speak. They will be here soon, your holy might." Markah explained rushly. He turned in the direction where the pond, hoping he would see the women. He closed his eyes and prayed. When he opened his eyes back, his prayers had reached. He saw the women of the village rushing to the village centre. As soon as they were in the presence of Raün, they kneeled and bowed, touching their heads to the soil, asking for forgiveness. They made it, barely.

They prepared a banquet as a welcome to the religious mission. Markah requested a dish from each household to fill the banquet table. Unfortunately, there was a vacant spot on the table. Markah looked at his wife and asked what to do silently. He could not ask for more dishes from the villagers either. So, Martha decided to spread the plates to make it look like the table was filled. However, they found out the Templer in full armour was watching them from behind and he didn't look pleased. Without any choice left, Martha went back to the house and took one more dish from their table. Karla saw it and complained.

"Mother, what are you doing? That is my favourite dish."

"I will cook it for you tomorrow. So..."

"No! You can't. You said I can eat it tonight. I couldn't eat it at my birthday last week so you promised I could eat it tonight."

"Stop it, Karla. I promise I will make one for you tomorrow."

"No! I want it tonight. Why are you taking it to the banquet table? There are over twenty dishes already. It is our only dish on the table so why should we give it to them? They have more than enough on their table." Karla shouted angrily.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

However, no matter how furious Karla got or begged her mother, Martha took the only dish on the table away. "Sshh. Quiet or they will hear you."

The banquet table was full finally. Varieties of delicious dishes were spread out beautifully; only for three people to eat, Raün the high Templer, his assistant the Templer in armour and a clergy.

That night, Karla decided to stay hungry in protest even though her sister Marla tried her best to feed her. It was the same with other children. They watched the banquet from afar, drooling over the delicious dishes they could not eat. Like Karla, some of them hated the Templers for unfairness, while most of them envied and dreamed of being a Templer one day.

"So, do explain to me why you failed to meet your devotion," Raün asked Markah the next morning. The clergy took out the ledger and read it to Markah, "You are expected to donate two pigs, ten chickens, three baskets of herbs, five bags of barley and a thousand gambers. You are short a pig, two chickens, a basket, a bag and four hundred gambers."

"That's a lot," Raün commented. "We ask very little from you in a year and you can't even fulfil it? We risk our lives fighting the monsters so that your lazy asses can sleep soundly on the warm beds in your cosy homes. We devoted our lives to protecting the realm. Where is your devotion?"

"Please forgive us, your holy might. I swear we tried our hardest to fulfil our devotion. B-b-but last month, there was a monster, Redboar, appeared in our area. It killed our livestock and destroyed the fields."

"So, you are saying it is our fault. That we suck at our job and the monster destroyed your field?"

"I-I-I dare not, your holy might. A group of Templers came and eliminated the monster. We could not be thankful enough. We fed a pig that night and..."

"And you are short a pig. Because I ate it?" The Templer in armour cut in angrily and kicked Markah. He beat Markah to the pulp. Then he lifted Markah's head from the hairs and glared, "Is that what you are implying?"

While they were beating Markah, his daughter Marla happened to come into the room to give some refreshments. She saw her beloved father being beaten like an animal and it frightened her. She dropped the tray accidentally.

Raün caught on to it quickly and stopped his assistant. "I am sorry, love. You must be his daughter. We must have scared you. Don't worry about the tray. Leave it there. I will tell my men to clean it later." Said Raün.

He told Marla to come closer and sit beside him. Marla refused. She dared not sit a level above while her father was kneeling on the floor.

"You have good manners. Polite and beautiful. Markah, you have such a great daughter. Why didn't you introduce her earlier?" Said Raün while his eyes did not go away from Marla. "How old are you?" He asked.

"I am eighteen." "She is not of age."

The daughter and the father answered at the same time. It put a smile on Raün. A disgusting one.

"Father, I turned two months ago. Don't you remember?"

"No, you are wrong, you silly one. You will be of age next year." Markah insisted.

However, his lie was seen through when Raün lifted Marla's hair and touched her right earlobe. He found the ruby earring.

According to Norg's tradition, any man and woman of age must pierce their right earlobe and wear a ruby earring to signify they are now adults. When they are married, the left side must be pierced and another ruby earring to make it a pair, to signify that he or she is taken.

"You aren't lying, Marla. See, that's why I like you. I liked you the moment I saw you. I like honest people. Beautiful, honest and polite. You are an ideal woman which is rare in this corrupted realm nowadays. You are so pure." Raün complimented her. Without knowing the real intention behind his words, Marla accepted the compliment with an innocent smile.

After that moment, it became her last pure smile. Raün signalled at his assistant Templer. The Templer in armour nodded. Then, suddenly, he grabbed Marla by the arm and dragged her into a room. Frightened by the sudden violence, Marla tried to resist but she was no match in strength.

Markah hugged Raün at the feet and begged for his daughter. He begged to let his daughter go. He said she just turned of age and was far from being married.

However, Raün had no intention to listen to him. His eyes had been set on Marla the moment she came in. He smirked, "She will marry one day and have to undergo the ceremony of service. The rule does not state that it shouldn't be earlier. So, you should be honoured. Not any women have a chance to be of service to a High Templer. She is a special girl which is why a High Templer myself decided to bless her. She will be graced."

Raün kicked Markah away and went into the room. Markah, in tears and blood, desperately grabbed Raün's feet and asked to punish him instead.

"Punishment? You still don't understand, do you? This is a blessing. You failed your devotion. You lied to me. What did you even do to deserve the blessing in her stead?"

"Exactly, your holiness. I am a guilty man and she is the daughter of that impure man. She is as impure as me. She does not deserve your holy blessing. She is just a village girl who should be blessed by a village clergy while your holiness is a man matched with a woman of a higher standard. A royalty." Markah desperately tried to persuade. It made Raün think for a while, and then he told Markah, "I see. So you want her to be blessed by a mere clergy. Then, I shall acknowledge your request." He turned to his assistant and the clergy and told them, "After I have a go with her, you two may also bless her with your holy juice. Mwahahaaha! Mwahahaaha!"

The evil laugh echoed across the village.

"What's with that laugh? It sounds so disgusting. Who the hell laughs that way?" Dovos said. It was the weirdest and creepiest laugh he had ever heard.

"It came from that house," told Ethan. As soon as they reached the village, they had been scouting the layout of the village and the number of enemies from a nearby hill. They were contemplating whether to attack them stealthily by using the houses as cover or ambush them later on the road.

"It must be Raün," Answered Clara. "Only a devil like him laughs that way." When Ethan asked how she could tell, she said she had heard it before.

"So the target is confirmed. Shall we go in?" Asked Igüan. He believed it was best to strike at the village since the soldiers were spread thin across the village. They waited for Clara's command.

After a while, Clara decided it was best to ambush them on their return since a fight in the village could result many collateral damages. "There are too many villagers. Women and children too. We will wait."