Little Iza has been very worried about her mother, she is just a little girl, she did not understand many things in this world, since the day she was born she, her mother and her aunt have been hiding their whole lives, for them the world was a very dangerous place, they always had precarious conditions from an early age.
Her family of three has been wandering all over the kingdom, but they always live in the worst conditions, in the darkest areas in the slums, little Iza had a strong desire to help her family, but being a little girl there wasn't much she could do.
Little Iza once said to her mother.
— Mother, why don't we ask for the protection of a lord or another figure powerful enough to protect us? Why do we have to live like this? Hiding like stinking rats.
— Mom, why are we persecuted, tortured and punished? Because I can't have friends to play with.
— Mom, aunt?
-Mother ?
—Auntie ?
As she grew up, her questions only increased. At first, her mother wouldn't answer, she would just smile and force her to change the subject. But in recent years, her mother's illness has been getting worse and worse. Her mother didn't have much time left to live. So gradually, her mother has been revealing the dark truths of the world to her in order to prepare her for the dark future of her race.
— Izabela , daughter, we are a race without a future, I don't know how many more there are, perhaps the three of us will be the last.
— Daughter, you are my most precious possession, you must be careful, always remember your mother's words, always obey your aunt.
— My daughter, forgive your mother who is not capable of giving you what you deserve, your mother is useless, fragile and sick, incapable of protecting you.
Whenever little Iza had a conversation with her mother, it was through tears, the words spoken full of sadness, regret and melancholy. One day her mother spilled the beans, she went on about how her father died to protect them and how they are persecuted wherever they go.
Once upon a time, the werewolf family, when little Iza's father was alive and little Iza had not yet been born, decided to seek refuge in the Evans territory, but an important figure was enchanted by the beauty of little Iza's mother and wanted to take her as his toy. The werewolves had lost the path to power that best suited their race, so they could not evolve to protect themselves, her father with the help of a stranger managed to escape with her mother.
His father had to sacrifice himself and choose an alternate path of evolution in order to protect his family, he was successful but his life was greatly shortened, after a few years he ended up dying, but before that he left an unborn little girl.
His mother after birth chose the same path in order to protect herself and now her life was also coming to an end, the family of three decided to travel to the Venhorst territory to protect themselves there, but they did not trust anyone.
The bones of the wolf race are a very rare and priceless ingredient. For those who use the blood and bones of the werewolf race, in the evolution ritual, their chance increases by about 30%. For those on the path of darkness, their chance increases by 40%. The value of a werewolf is very high, so they have been
persecuted wherever they went.
***
Today was a very difficult day to describe for Iza, first her sick mother had an attack of her illness that made her heart sink because there was no medicine in her cabin, against her mother's wishes she decided to do what she always did in times like this, steal money or medicine.
Iza came across two boys in the square who seemed to be middle class. She saw them being deceived by the merchants, then one of them willingly offered his fruit to an old woman and her granddaughter. She was upset when her mother was dying in bed due to lack of medicine. Two street urchins were spending money in a wasteful way.
Iza decided that she could take her share to help her mother, she used a trick that always works, she successfully stole the bag of one of the two kids and ran away, she was very happy.
Searching the bag she found some copper and silver coins, she found a strange looking ring, she kept the ring and sold the bag with the money she already took out of the bag she had a large sum of money. The ring she kept in a secret place in her cabin before leaving again.
With the large sum of money, she quickly bought a lot of medicine for her mother, had a good meal, and saved some money to buy something for her family. When she was returning home, to her misfortune, she ran into the two boys whose purse she had stolen in an alley. She was chased and later caught.
In her mind the boy in front of her was a terrible being, he seemed to be a pervert, a villain who did bad things to beautiful and cute girls like her, she remembered the things her aunt told her and she was scared.
Her aunt warned her several times, if a man calls himself in the third person, this lord, this chief, this king, this this or that, you better be careful because these people are perverts with strange tastes and they will bully even a little girl who is far from blossoming. The boy calls himself this young lord, how scary.
***
John was confused, he didn't understand why the energetic, mischievous and stupid girl until a moment ago had become like this, stopped being a wolf and became a scared and shy kitten. He wondered if he had gone too far with his childish prank.
— What do you want to do with me?
The wolf girl asked, she looked like she was going to cry at any moment, John's confusion only increased with the behavior the girl presented, now he was feeling like he was really a villain who was bullying a little girl, not knowing what to do he tried to divert attention and move away from the main subject.
— What do you have in the bag?
John asked with a smile, trying to sound as friendly as possible, when the girl heard John's question instead of calming down she became even more nervous, she squeezed her little hands tightly on the bag. She spoke with a trembling voice.
— re .. re . medicines and medicinal plants.
— Why did you steal these medicines and plants?
After asking John regretted it he realized he shouldn't have asked that question, but it seems it was effective because the girl who was crying suddenly stood firm, and proudly said.
— I didn't steal these medicinal plants, I bought them honestly.
As soon as the words came out, she lowered her head and blushed again in embarrassment, this was because the money she used to buy the plants and medicine was stolen money, so even if she bought it at the end of the day it still didn't belong to her.
— My mother needs them, I was going to take them to her. Here.
The girl threw the bag in John's direction and she was about to run away with tears streaming down her face. John caught the bag with one hand and with the other he grabbed the girl's arm, stopping her from running away. The girl looked at John angrily and said.
— What do you want now?
John didn't answer, he placed the bag in the girl's hands and spoke gently.
— Doesn't your mother need the medicine and plants? Why are you giving them to me?
The girl blinked her eyes full of confusion, John more or less understood the girl's situation, most likely the girl stole to help her sick mother.
— I'm John and this is Alex. What's your name?
John asked, his voice very gentle and calm, this girl reminded him of his younger sister back on earth.
- My name is Isabela, but my aunt calls me Iza.
— Okay Iza, you can take the plants and medicine to your sick mother, you just need to give me back the ring that was in the bag, you can keep the rest.
Little Iza was staring at John's face, it was the first time she had heard her name coming out of a stranger's mouth, only her mother and her aunt called her by her name, that is until today. She had always been called a thief, a medal and a wolf girl, that was what she had heard all the time, when she remembered the ring that was not worth a single gold, she lowered her head.
— I don't have it with me.
- All good.
John lifted his mother towards Iza, she closed her eyes fearing the imminent slap, but to her surprise John just stroked her silver hair, he felt nostalgic it had been a long time since he had done that, the ring didn't really matter to him because Fernando gave it to him casually and said use this if you get in trouble, John thought it was to prove his identity he didn't pay much attention.
— Alex , let's go.
John and Alex turned to leave, but a voice reached them before they could.
— Wait.
John turned and asked.
— What was it Iza?
She spoke softly.
— I kept the ring, I can give it to you.
—Really? John asked.
Little Iza struggled a little with her mind and then spoke.
— You guys come with me and I'll give it back as soon as we get home.
— Okay, let's go then.
Little Isa hugged the bag to her chest and led the way, she in front and John and Alex following closely behind. With slow, short steps they entered deeper and deeper into the slums along the way they noticed that the living conditions were increasingly precarious, at first there were wooden houses now all that could be seen were poorly made wooden huts.
— Do you live here? John asked.
- Yes, our cabin is right there in front. Little Isa replied as she looked around.
After they walked for another minute or two, they arrived in front of a shabby hut. The hut was only one room and its diameter was only 5 to 6 square meters.
— Wait, something is wrong.
Alex stopped John from taking another step, he looked at Iza seriously and asked.
— Iza, how many people live in your cabin?
— It's just my mom, aunt and me.
Alex frowned, John asked Alex.
— What 's wrong ?
Alex replied as he smelled the scent in the air.
— I smell 7 people, two arrived exactly like Iza, the other 5 are human.
Two voices rang out at the same time.
— Humans?
— Humans?
John and Iza smelled the air, although they weren't as accurate as Alex they could still notice the scent of humans vaguely coming from inside the cabin. Iza got nervous without thinking, she tried to run towards the cabin, but John stopped her from doing so.
— We don't know anything yet, we can't act without thinking. John spoke softly.
— But.. John stopped Iza from saying anything else.
— We need information first before we make any decisions. John looked at Alex and asked.
— Alex, can you feel anything else?
Alex shook his head and spoke.
— They look like they are waiting for something or someone, they are standing there doing nothing, each one in their own corner.
John looked around and began to make his deductions.
— It doesn't seem like they stole anything, this cabin is very poor, I don't think there's anything of value. The most likely thing is that they're here for the people and the reason they're waiting must be for transport, which is not likely.
John looked at Iza and continued speaking.
— They must be waiting for you.
When John's words came out, Iza's body began to shake, she panicked, she knew why they were here, it's not the first time this has happened, but this time her mother was very upset to be able to protect everyone again. This time they were doomed, she looked at John tremblingly and with tears in her eyes.
— dust..dust . please...
The words were hard to come out of her mouth, she opened her hands on John's robes and looked into his eyes with her blue eyes shedding tears.
— John, please save mother and aunt.
— save them .
— If you save mother and aunt, I promise to follow you and obey your orders.
— You are a young lord, aren't you? You need servants, don't you? I will be your servant, but please save my mother and aunt.
Little Iza could no longer think clearly, John looked her in the eyes and stroked her hair and with a calm air he said.
— Don't worry, we will do our best to save your mother and aunt.
What John didn't say was that he would run away if things got complicated, he would never risk his life to save strangers, little Iza reminded John of his sister, but that was all, at most he would do everything to save Iza and if possible he would also save his family.
John began to think that he knew nothing about the situation, he didn't want to take risks, his life was too precious, he wouldn't risk it, now John began to regret having come here, but then he thought that Iza's family would be doomed, at least with him and Alex they had a chance .
John thought about what his father said one day after training, now both he and Alex were ready to go through the evolution ritual, as far as he understood their bodies had already reached their peak, they were already very strong adding that and their racial traits the increase in strength and senses not to mention that they greatly increased their speed and agility it wouldn't be too difficult to take care of some silver mercenary humans, but that's based on the premise that they don't have anyone who evolved and became a primary being.
After making several mental deliberations John came to a conclusion, he came up with a simple plan but first, he wanted Alex's opinion after all if everything wrong was not only his life at stake but Alex's as well, it was better to warn before making any decision.
— Alex.