At noon, the blazing sun beat down mercilessly. The midsummer sun scorched the earth without restraint, as if trying to melt everything.
Outside the Green Grass Inn's main entrance, a scrawny girl hid alone in the shade of a tree, her gaze fixed stubbornly on the distant road.
Even as fine beads of sweat covered her face, her small body remained still as a statue beneath the tree, refusing to budge an inch.
She was waiting for that sunlit, kind priest to come as promised and take her to the relief house to begin a new life.
It was her brief encounter with the priest that made the girl realize just how much her previous life resembled a bottomless swamp that had already risen to her neck.
She could have endured the darkness, but now she had seen the light.
At this moment, the girl had made up her mind: if the priest had forgotten her, if that wagon bearing the soaring ice-blue hawk banner sped past the Green Grass Inn's entrance without slowing, she would use her own body to block it, even if it meant being hit and left with broken bones throughout her body, barely clinging to life.
This might be her only chance in this lifetime. She wanted to hold on tight.
Children's thoughts are often pure and heedless of consequences, filled with deadly danger. At this moment, she didn't realize this was the path of a moth flying into flame.
"Ugly freak!" A malicious shout rang out from behind the girl.
"Whoosh—"
A sharp stone shot from behind, hitting squarely on the back of the girl's head.
"Ah—"
The girl cried out in pain. Feeling intense pain at the back of her head, she instinctively reached up to touch it. In her palm was a pool of crimson blood.
"Mia, you ugly freak, you think someone's going to adopt you? Who'd want you! Just die already!" Mockery and vicious curses followed in quick succession.
"You—!" Mia whipped her head around, those eyes once filled with hope now burning with anger.
Behind Mia, three boys in tattered clothes wore vicious grins on their faces, their hands clutching plenty of stones.
Though these boys were equally malnourished and skeletal, they were older than Mia and stood a head taller.
"Ugly freak, hand over your money!" Among the three, a boy with a scabby head stepped forward and grabbed Mia by the collar.
"The town priest cured your ugly face, and now you've got new clothes.
Did you sleep with him?! Slut! Whore!" Vicious obscenities poured out like venomous snakes.
"Let go of me!" Mia struggled.
Lower-class people discussed crude topics daily; though young, she understood what the scabby boy was saying, that he was slandering both her and the priest's innocence.
This tremendous insult, combined with the pain in her head, made the flames in Mia's heart burn fiercely. She was beside herself with rage.
"Hand over the mon... Ahhh!!"
The scabby boy suddenly let out a scream. On his reflexively withdrawn hand was a bloody ring of teeth marks.
"You bit me!" The scabby boy flew into a rage, grabbed Mia's slender neck, seized a sharp stone, and viciously aimed it at her eye: "I'll gouge your eyes out!"
At this critical moment, the girl who usually swallowed her anger suddenly exploded with tremendous force, kicking with all her might straight into the scabby boy's groin!
A person's leg strength is roughly three times their arm strength. Even a weak person's full-force kick can cause serious injury!
"Ahh!" The scabby boy let out a pig-slaughtering scream, both hands clutching his crotch.
His entire body instantly curved like a cooked shrimp, his mouth forming an exaggerated "O" shape.
"Hahahahaha, you idiot!"
Beside the scabby boy, his two cronies saw his comical posture and burst into heartless laughter, nearly falling over backward, completely disregarding their companion's pain.
Seizing this opportunity, Mia didn't hesitate. She turned and ran for her life.
Behind her, the scabby boy's cursing voice suddenly rang out:
"You damn ugly freak! The relief house won't take you! You've got a father!"
"If you lied to the priest, that's a hanging offense. Wait for him to kill you!"
The scabby boy's words were obviously fabricated, but hearing them struck Mia like a thunderbolt.
Her face instantly went white as paper, her lips trembling:
"How could... this be?"
...
In the distance, Blackwater Town's towering walls were clearly visible.
Ice Hawk Company's wagon arrived at the Green Grass Inn. Greeting them was still that thick, impossible-to-dispel stench.
Having changed into fresh clothes and washed off all the soot, Ronald and Orum entered together through the familiar main entrance.
Looking around, they didn't see the stout woman who'd been sorting vegetables at the kitchen door.
They didn't see Mia either.
They'd clearly arranged to meet the little girl at the entrance, yet now she was nowhere to be seen.
"That's strange," Ronald's brow furrowed.
Just as Ronald grew puzzled, three skeletal boys sitting lazily on the ground nearby caught his attention.
Ronald approached and asked gently, "Boys, have you seen Mia? The little girl who had leprosy?"
"Give me 10 silver coins, then I'll tell you where that ugly freak ran off to." The scabby-headed boy raised his grimy face, his tone carrying lazy disdain as he spoke without courtesy.
"Boom—"
A dull, heavy sound!
A heavy fist slammed into the scabby boy's face, spinning him like a washing machine drum!
The scabby boy's body flew like a broken sack, rolling several times on the ground before stopping!
The remaining two boys stood dumbstruck, unable to believe their eyes.
Then Orum's lightning-fast fists slammed into their stomachs. The intense pain instantly bent them like shrimp, wailing as they curled up on the ground.
"You... what are you doing?!"
The scabby boy raised his head in disbelief. He couldn't care about the broken teeth in his mouth, the bloody foam, or the agonizing pain of his shattered jaw.
Terror surged through him like a tsunami, making this local thug who usually bullied the weak tremble instantly!
Ronald sneered, slowly crouching before the scabby boy and looking him straight in the eyes: "I heard from Mia that some punks called her ugly freak and often left her head bleeding with stones."
With that, Ronald pulled a bloodstained stone from the scabby boy's tattered pocket:
"Kid, can you tell me what this stone is for? And where did this blood come from?"
Ronald's tone was measured, seemingly quite gentle, but to the scabby boy it sounded like hell's gates shrieking!
"I-I-I-I-oh..." The scabby boy stammered, his eyes filled with terror and regret. He deeply regretted bothering Mia today!
The other two boys tried to escape in the chaos, but Orum cleanly kicked each one, breaking their leg bones.
"Crack, crack," the sound of shattering bones rang out like pleasant music.
Watching the boys rolling on the ground, squealing like stuck pigs, Orum felt the pressure built up inside him release completely in this moment.
At this moment, Orum had only one thought:
"Hitting people feels... amazing!"
...
In the tree shade behind the inn's building, dense branches hung down, connecting perfectly with the building's wall to form a barely noticeable hidden space.
Mia crouched on the ground, her moist eyes staring blankly at a sunflower.
In her eye sockets, large tears kept welling up. Finally unable to hold back, they stubbornly broke free and slid down her cheeks.
Mia's father was a hot-tempered drunk.
He'd once been an adventurer but later had to retire from the team due to injury and illness.
Since then, he'd completely drowned himself in alcohol's numbing embrace, getting blind drunk every day.
Under years of domestic violence and mental torment, Mia's mother finally couldn't take it anymore.
On a cold winter rainy night, she abandoned young Mia and left without a word.
Later, Mia contracted leprosy, but her father never sought treatment for her or even cared.
He continued numbing himself with alcohol daily. After getting drunk, he'd go mad, furiously cursing Mia's mother and smashing everything in the house to vent his inner rage.
Whenever this happened, Mia could only huddle in the wardrobe, spending sleepless night after sleepless night, hoping her mother would come home and take her away.
However, hope gradually turned to bubbles. A full year passed, and her mother never returned.
Father sold off their remaining home and, bringing Mia, eventually moved into this foul-smelling Green Grass Inn.
Father's years of numbness and indifference were like a slow-acting poison, gradually assimilating Mia.
She no longer cared about the outside world, no longer hoped for her mother's return.
When suffering came, she no longer resisted, accepting everything submissively because no one cared about her cries anyway.
Until a few days ago... Mia saw her father walk into the Green Grass Inn's gray house.
And never come out.
Mia numbly stared at that gray house that seemed to have swallowed her father. What rose in her heart wasn't fear, but rather an indescribable, faint joy.
"Father... might stay inside forever and never hit me again," she thought silently.
"But next... how am I supposed to survive?"
For street children this age, there were only three ways to make a living: become a beggar, become a pickpocket, or sell their body.
Mia had leprosy. Her terrifying, ugly appearance was enough to make anyone recoil.
She couldn't sell her body, and her conspicuous appearance cut off the path of theft.
Mia also didn't want to beg on the street, kneeling and kowtowing to those indifferent passersby.
Just quietly dying like this might be the true path to liberation.
However, Ronald's appearance was like a candle flame, reigniting the extinguished hope in Mia's heart.
He said he was a follower of the Dawn Lord. From that day on, Mia no longer feared the sunlight.
However, she had lied to this kind priest.
The scabby boy's words were like venomous snakes, constantly gnawing at Mia's innocent heart.
She didn't dare imagine whether, once Ronald discovered her lie, he would be like her father, punching and kicking her to vent his rage.
She'd rather die immediately than see the priest show her that kind of expression.
"Mia, where are you?"
A somewhat familiar voice, tinged with anxiety, rang out outside. Mia's body froze, instantly stunned.
It was the kind priest, searching for her!
"Can't go out..."
Mia held her breath, tightly covering her mouth. The tears in her eyes fell uncontrollably like broken strings, soaking the dirt beneath her feet.
Tens of seconds later, Ronald's voice gradually faded.
Mia waited anxiously in the tree shade for several more minutes before carefully parting the leaves to look outside.
Her intention now was to catch one last glimpse of the priest's retreating figure.
However, a rough hand suddenly grabbed Mia's shoulder from behind.
A hoarse female voice like a broken gong rang out: "Found you!"
"Jennifer..." Mia felt her entire body instantly stiffen, as if her blood had frozen.
She slowly turned her head. Standing behind her was a woman as stout as a mother bear.
The Green Grass Inn's proprietress, Jennifer.
Jennifer and her husband Virgil ran this Green Grass Inn. They had no children.
Though the place was barely profitable and filthy, they persisted in maintaining this business year after year.
This was also the woman who had led Mia's father into that ominous gray house.
Seeing Mia, Jennifer's sweat-covered face showed delight:
"Mia, what are you doing here? Quick, I'll take you to see your father!"
Without waiting for Mia's response, she forcefully grabbed Mia's arm, about to drag her away.
"Your father really misses you!" Jennifer deliberately raised her voice, emphasizing her tone.
"I won't go!" Mia screamed.
She realized that Jennifer was pulling her toward the gray house deep inside the Green Grass Inn!
Mia instinctively felt that the gray house that seemed to have swallowed her father concealed tremendous danger!
It was as if a voice in her heart was shouting that she absolutely must not go inside!
"You stubborn little mule!" Feeling Mia's violent struggle, veins bulged on Jennifer's rough face, burning with rage. She swung her arm wide and mercilessly slapped Mia across the face.
"Smack—"
A crisp, loud slap made stars explode before Mia's eyes. She felt her cheek splitting with pain, her eardrums ringing.
The struck area rapidly turned purple and blue, the corner of her mouth torn by her teeth, blood seeping out.
Despite taking this heavy slap, Mia's right eye nearly swollen shut, she still stared at Jennifer with eyes full of fury.
Those clear, light blue eyes were filled with tenacity and stubbornness!
"You looking to die?!" Seeing that Mia showed no compromise even after being hit and still refused to follow, Jennifer's rage burned even hotter, her eyes flashing with murderous light.
She raised her thick arm again, about to deliver another slap to completely break this frail girl's spirit.
At that moment—
A cold steel sword pressed against Jennifer's carotid artery like a viper.
"Let go." Ronald's icy voice came.
Feeling the bone-chilling killing intent from the blade, Jennifer's pupils instantly contracted!
Jennifer immediately released Mia, her body rigid as stone throughout the process.
The sharp killing intent transmitted through the sword left Jennifer with no doubt that the man holding it possessed the cold heart of a butcher.
If she dared not release Mia, her neck would be severed the next second!
The blade lifted, leaving Jennifer's neck. The scene was like Death lightly withdrawing his scythe.
Orum sheathed his steel sword, calmly pulled a sturdy rope from his pocket, and in moments had bound Jennifer's thick hands together, tying them in a dead knot.
In his other hand, he held another rope. At the rope's end were the scabby boy and his two lackeys who'd been taught a lesson earlier.
These three thugs were now beaten black and blue, unable to speak a word, their cheeks swollen high, puffy as pig heads.
When Orum's pace quickened even slightly, the three stumbled into each other, falling in a heap and erupting in miserable wails.
"Are you alright?" Ronald came before Mia, bending down to gently grasp her cold little hand, asking with concern.
Mia stared blankly at the priest before her. A warm current flowed from her palm into her frozen heart.
All her previous fear quietly dispersed in this moment.
She lowered her eyes and answered softly, "I'm fine."
"She hit you?" Ronald noticed the prominent purple handprint and blood on Mia's cheek, his brow immediately furrowing.
"It's not like that! Mia's father asked me to look after Mia. I was just... disciplining her." Jennifer immediately explained, then pleaded frantically:
"Priest, sir, the Dawn Lord is kind and merciful. Please forgive my rash actions."
Hearing Jennifer's distortion of the truth, Ronald's expression gradually turned cold. He shook his head and said in a low voice:
"You don't deserve the Dawn Lord's mercy!"
The words had barely left his mouth—
Under Mia's utterly shocked gaze, the kind, gentle priest swung his strong arm without mercy and delivered a fierce slap across Jennifer's face! Spinning her like a top!