The bandits looked at her confusedly and nodded after her fearless performance. She had asked them to take her to their leader as she had urgent news for him. They were doubtful in the beginning, but Guang managed to convince them. When she reached their base, she was scared. Guang had already made up a story, but she knew that the leaders were smarter. It would be challenging to dupe him.
She knew that lies were more believable when mixed with the truth, and she explained to the leader that her Aunt was a doctor and not happy with the town's leader. Therefore, she was sent here to send a message that would allow the bandits to make a lot of money by extorting the leader for herb he needed.
Guang never liked the leader of the town, he had come to harass her Aunt many times, and she also knew that bandits loved money. So this way, she would tempt the bandits and get the leader of the town in trouble. She had not realized that there was more at play. After all, if she could get the herb, would it not be possible for the town's leader to do the same.
However, the result was not something she expected after she told her half-true story. The bandit's leader asked, "Are you Mei's daughter." Seeing her reaction, he confirmed his conjecture and ordered his men, telling them, "Call Mei here, and tell her that her daughter is with us."
Then Guang was held there, and soon enough, her Aunt arrived. Seeing that Guang was fine, she let out a sigh in relief and so did the two people that escorted her here. Guang was also reassured once Mei arrived. Then Guang was taken away from the adult discussion, as they made demands of her Aunt.
The two people that took her away from said, "Boss is lucky he will get such a beautiful consort. On top of that, she is a top-level healer we no longer have to worry about getting hurt."
After an hour, her Aunt returned, followed by the grim bandit leader. Mei picked her up as the two of them returned. She and Mei walked out of the forest and to the town.
She said nothing, only opening her mouth from time to time but not being able to speak. Her Aunt's word of 'Packing up' rang in her ears as a reminder of her disobedience once again. She had ignored her warning again, leading to another mistake. Guang had her eyes teared up, thinking about what those bandits said about her Aunt being forced to become the bandit leader's consort. Not aware of what such a thing entailed, but she had seen her Aunt coldly rejecting other men. This was clearly something she did not want. Was Mei going to suffer again because of her?
They reached at their clinic as Guang's eyes were filled with tears. Heian soon cheerily arrived, she asked what happened to Guang. Mei stated casually, "She was taken by the bandits," Heian checked on her. After she was convinced Guang was ok and not hurt, she sighed in relief and told her to listen to Aunt and not leave the town again.
However, Mei told them they would leave and join the bandits and today will be their last day here. Guang knew that she had yet caused another tragedy to her family.
Guang was no longer fond of her dark elf race. Why could she not be like her sister and Aunt? If she was, they would not have to leave the forest and not meet such a situation. She did not want to lose Aunt either. What would happen to them when they joined the group of lustful men? No matter how much she hated it, the next day came.
Dreading what's to come, early morning a bandit vice leader arrived, and Mei asked to talk with him in private. After half an hour, the bandit and her Aunt finished their discussion. Guang and Heian were told that they will be under the care of this person. He was called Aurelius, and they were separated from their Aunt since then.
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Then started the very gruelling few years. After leaving the peaceful part of their life in the forest and clinic, they had entered the next chapter of their life. They saw carnage every day, dead bandits, people being betrayed, tortured women who asked for their help, and much worse.
Heian, the cheerful young girl full of energy, slept every night with tears in her eyes, drenching her pillow.
Guang was sleepless because of guilt. She had to shield, support and protect her, safeguarding her from seeing the cruelty and be the bigger sister. She had started all of this, and it was more than her responsibility to protect her. If she could not make her stop shedding tears, she could make it comfortable for her by exchanging her pillows. It might seem unnecessary, but Heian's nights consisted of being awoken by nightmares, followed by sleeping with tears. After the first two sessions of this, Guang would exchange her pillow with Heian's.
The one thing that they could be grateful for was the fact that Aurelius made sure no one comes close to them. Everyone knew not to mess with his 'daughters.' Seeing the scenes daily depicting human nature at its worst, they began to get numb to it.
Heian started to talk less, and she got a cold personality as a natural defence. News of her Aunt never reached them, but by now they understood if she was not alive, then they would not enjoy such happy treatment. Plus, the topic had become somewhat taboo. For Heian, because she did not want to imagine her Aunt in the same situation as the women bandits forced. She could not imagine such a terrible fate for her Aunt. Guang has a similar reason, along with the guilt. She could not stop thinking that everything happening was all her fault.
Guang had decided to protect her sister with everything she had. Because she was her responsibility now. With their cold personality, their heart also grew cold. They saw human's betraying each other, their loved ones, family, employers and even themselves.
They saw bandits, living lives full of debauchery and using slaves of different races for amusement. This scared them more and appreciated that they had concealing rings.
The bandits traded for other races, played with them, and kill them for entertainment.
Although laws and rules were there, they became less and less effective as one climbed the ranks, and even then most of them were for the protection of bandits from each other. One such example that brought the sisters to vomit and have multiple sleepless nights was meeting the handy work of Beshoy. Refugees that have their village destroyed usually move to a different location to seek shelter. Such a group affected one of Beshoy's and his group's mission. In turn, they slaughtered all of them and placed their head on spikes around the camp.
Beshoy's action enraged most of the bandits because although people were slaughtered by them before, it was those that fought back. The bandits rarely killed innocent wantonly. They used women, but let them go, looted the merchants, and stole everything but sent them back alive. Killing would increase fear, and no merchant would risk such journeys laced with death. The bandit paths would no longer be any different from those with beasts killing people.
The merchant would prefer beasts with lower intelligent, than bandits as their enemy, crumbling the profits of the bandits in this area. Thus Beshoy was hated, and with more authority than him, Guang diverted manpower from him, making him fight with few men in the next few fights. Hoping to restore the karmic balance, this earned them more recognition and praises. Not that Guang needed any attention, in fact, this was the opposite of what they wanted. Attention only brought misfortune. But if they were ever going to face their Aunt again, can they claim that they were a part of the group with Beshoy, a person who slaughtered innocent.
What would she, a person who had healed people most of her life, say to them?
However, to their dismay, that slimy creature got his hand on trading resources of Oxe Family and restored his prestige. With everyone's support backing him now, the rules that protected bandits once again applied to him and he no longer could be isolated.
It had been weeks since Heian talked, and the cold personality on her face became her natural look. Like her sister, Guang too could not sleep well. This was because she now could be linked to all the tragedies of her family. Her sister's emotionless face was something that kept her up the longest. The smiling-cheerful girl was of a distant memory, and she was responsible for the change.
The next morning Aurelius arrived telling the sisters that they would join Beshoy's team again. He warned them to not create problems like last time. He also told them they would leave this area very soon, as the mission in here would get more dangerous.