Chapter 11- Fighting the Silver Level Mercenaries.
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, 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 some other figure powerful enough to protect us? Why do we have to live like this? Hiding like stinking rats.
— Mom, why are we persecuted by torture and the right? Because I can't have friends to play with.
— Mom, aunt?
- Mother?
—Aunt ?
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. She 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, explaining 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 was unborn, decided to seek refuge in Evans territory. However, an important figure was captivated by little Iza's mother's beauty 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 cut short. 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 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 didn't 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
Chased 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 appeared to be middle class. She saw them being deceived by the merchant, after which 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 kids 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 had already withdrawn from the bag. She had a large sum of money. She kept the ring in a secret place in her cabin before leaving again.
With the large sum of money, she quickly bought plenty of medicine for her mother, had a good meal, and saved some money to buy something for her family. On her way home, unfortunately, she ran into the two boys whose purse she had stolen in an alley. She was chased and subsequently 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 that if a man calls himself in the third person—this lord, this lord, this chief, this king, this this, or that—she'd better be careful, because these people are perverts with strange tastes, and they'll intimidate even a little girl who's 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 had become like this, gone from being a wolf to a scared, timid kitten. He wondered if he'd gone too far with his childish pranks.
— 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 topic.
— What do you have in that 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, her little hands clenching tightly on the bag. She spoke with a trembling voice.
— re.ré . 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 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 stared into John's face. It was the first time she had heard her name from a stranger. Only her mother and aunt had ever called her by that name, to this day. She had always been called a thief, a medal, and a wolf boy. That was what she had heard all along. When she remembered the ring, which wasn't worth a penny, 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 actually didn't 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 with her mind for a bit and then spoke.
— You guys come with me and I'll give it back as soon as we get home.
— Alright, let's go then.
Little Isa hugged the bag to her chest and led the way, herself in front, John and Alex following closely behind. With slow, short steps, they walked deeper and deeper into the favelas. Along the way, they noticed that living conditions were increasingly precarious. At first, there were wooden houses, but now only poorly made wooden huts could be seen.
— 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, and although they weren't as precise as Alex, they could still vaguely detect the scent of humans coming from inside the cabin. Iza became nervous without thinking, and tried to run toward the cabin, but John stopped her.
— 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 look like they stole anything. This cabin is very poor, I don't think there's anything of value. It's most likely that they're here for the people, and the reason they're waiting is for transportation, which isn't likely.
John looked at Iza and continued speaking.
— They must be waiting for you.
When John's words fell, Iza's body began to tremble, panicking. She knew why they were here. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but this time her mother was desperate to protect everyone again. This time they were doomed. She looked at John with trembling eyes and tears.
— 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 started to think that he didn't know anything about the situation, he didn't want to take risks, his life was very precious, he wouldn't risk it, now John started 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 very difficult to take care of some silver mercenary humans, but this is 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 him before making any decision.
— Alex.