Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

"No, Your Excellency the Earl, you have one thing mistaken: if you want your child to die quickly, Mr. Malin would certainly be your best choice. Knight Cohen and his friends are merely butchers with gold wandering the streets in Mr. Malin’s presence. Their hands still unwashed of blood, and if he were to do the killing, your child and his friends would be torn to shreds in an instant," Lena completed her thought, lifted the hem of her dress with both hands, and as she walked to the entrance of the alley, she tossed the small sign into the hands of the leader of the rat-girls: "Bring this to Miss Faye tomorrow; you may keep 500."

"Thank you, Miss Lena," the eldest of the rat-girls bowed deeply and then carefully tucked away the token.

"500 pieces, that should be enough for father and mother for the year."

"The little brothers could buy a new set of clothes too."

"Perhaps we could keep some and buy our youngest sister a dress, hers is torn again."

"No, the youngest brother is still growing, and the eldest has reached the age to marry."

Watching the head sister turn to embrace her siblings and then start discussing what to do with the money, Lena suddenly thought of her own comrades.

She also remembered her younger self, when her village was blood-washed by Chaos, and as a survivor, she was picked up by her mentor; one unfamiliar sister after another, just like this, she had to embrace them.

Ever since her mentor returned to his world, his apprentices had also gone their separate ways...That’s also why she wanted these little girls to stay together.

They didn’t understand, they still naively believed that their parents loved them, yet they didn’t know... Lena sighed inwardly.