Chapter One: Night Rain (Part One)
Outside the house, the sound of rain pattered. Vivian carefully placed a low stool in front of the stove and then bent down to grab two handfuls of brown rice from a nearby sack. The food in the bag was running low; her brother had only snatched a piece of silver jewelry from the dock last month, which had been exchanged for this bag of brown rice. Even though she had been budgeting carefully for the past half month, the dwindling food still filled her with a sense of panic.
There was no food left.
In just a few more days, they would be hungry!
Vivian, with red-rimmed eyes, glanced at the small bed in the shabby house, where a young man lay unconscious on the moldy bedding. Her brother still hadn’t woken up today, and that priestess sister who had once been willing to help them seemed to have given up hope, after all, Bishop Fei’er was unwilling to go to the trouble of saving a thief.
Vivian wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, resolutely climbing down from the low stool.
She was only eight years old and looked very small due to some malnutrition; tasks like making a fire and cooking were still very hard for her. She clutched a few pieces of kindling in her small hands, broke some twigs she had picked up during the day to throw into the stove. Because of the continuous rain outside for half a day, the firewood was a bit damp, and it took a long time to ignite, accompanied by thick, choking smoke. Vivian didn’t care about her aching eyes and puffed her cheeks to blow on the kindling. Once the fire finally caught, she gently rubbed her eyes. “Brother!…”
“You have to wake up!… Vivian misses you!…”
“Don’t leave me!…”
Crystal-like tears rolled down her cheeks as Vivian sat by the stove, quietly sobbing. After a while, she wiped her face with her small hands, leaving two white streaks on her blackened face from the smoke. There had originally been some salt in the house, but it had run out last week. She wanted to learn from her brother and steal some, but she had almost been caught by that fat shopkeeper. The shopkeeper’s wife had hit her on the back with a broom, and even now her back still bore a purple bruise that throbbed painfully at the slightest touch.
“Woof woof!”
An old black-and-yellow dog approached. Even though it was a bit decrepit, it was still clear it had once been an excellent hunting dog. Vivian stretched out her tiny palm, and the old dog quietly walked over to her side, looking up at the stove with a low whimper.
“Hess.”
Vivian hugged the old dog, as if noticing the desire in its eyes, she sniffled lightly and gently stroked its back, murmuring, “There’s not much food left.”
“It must be saved for brother. Vivian is also very hungry; you can go find food outside once the rain stops.” “I’m sorry!”
“Is Vivian useless?”
“I can’t steal anything, can’t save my brother, and I always like to cry…”
The old dog, with murky eyes, seemed to understand her words, silently withdrew its gaze, and licked her palm with its tongue before lying down at her feet and closing its eyes in pretend sleep.
Footsteps were heard outside, pausing at the door, with faint voices filtering through.
The once decrepit black-and-yellow dog suddenly opened its eyes, momentarily fierce like a hungry wolf, growling threateningly and barking loudly towards the outside.
“Damn it!”
“I’ll kill you, old dog, and make soup out of you!”
A man’s frustrated voice came from outside, followed by footsteps gradually fading away.
Vivian’s frightened expression calmed slightly, and she reached out to pat the old dog’s head, whispering, “Hess.”
“If he dares to come in, you bite him!”
“Brother is currently unconscious; only you can protect me now.”…
The old dog nudged her gently in her arms. Though it appeared old, a faint fierceness lingered about it.
It was a Garas hunting dog!
In its prime, it could even take on leopards. According to the legends around the Agate River, it was a descendant of the hellhounds.
Unfortunately, it was already very old.
The aroma of rice porridge wafted from the stove, and the old dog twitched its nose before lying back down.
Vivian’s stomach let out a grumbling sound, but she carefully climbed up on the low stool and used a chipped ceramic bowl to scoop up some porridge. She lightly blew on it and then used a wooden spoon to delicately feed the young man on the bed. She was just too small and not strong enough to prop up her brother, so she could only feed him slowly like this.
“Brother!”
“Hurry up and eat! You’ll get better after eating!…”
“Everything will be alright.”
As the little girl spoke, tears fell again. She wiped her tears, set the bowl down, and climbed down from the bed to close the door.
This was the slums of Amber City.
A place filled with thieves, robbers, and human traffickers; here, as an orphaned little girl, it was hard for her to survive. If she wasn’t careful enough, and if Hess wasn’t safeguarding her, she would likely be kidnapped in broad daylight. They would just need to cover her mouth and nose with a damp cloth soaked in sleeping medicine, and she would quickly lose consciousness and be stuffed into a sack to be sold to human traffickers. Many little girls had gone missing in the slums like this, and sometimes even attractive women were abducted.
“Hess!”
Vivian continued to feed, and when the man on the bed had swallowed most of the bowl, she hurriedly took a few sips herself, washed her small hands and face with clear water, and curled up her petite body into the moldy blankets. As her back touched the wound, she couldn’t help but whimper in pain before wrapping her arms around the young man’s arm, speaking to the old dog at the door, “If someone comes, you bark!”
“I know what they want.”
“They want to sell me to that woman, Sorsia, now that brother is unconscious!”
“That way, they can get some money.”
Growing up in the slums, she knew much more than other children her age. Sorsia was the biggest trafficker in the slums; she would select pretty little girls and train them to be prostitutes, sending them to the big brothels in Amber City.
An eight-year-old little girl could hardly survive in the slums.
Vivian’s eyes shone with determination as she leaned down and gently kissed the forehead of the young man on the bed, whispering, “Even if I have to sell myself, I’ll do it!”
“And then use the money to hire a real priest; maybe I can wake brother up.”
She knew what kind of fate awaited her!
That woman, Sorsia, would first keep her for a few years, then teach her how to serve men. If she was pretty enough, she would be offered to some nobles in the city, otherwise, she would only end up in low-end brothels.
But for brother.
She was willing to do anything because he was her only family.
A sudden uproar of fighting sounded outside.
Vivian instinctively curled up into the blankets, while the old dog at the door suddenly stood up, eyes gleaming with ferocity as it looked toward the distant alley.
Someone had died there!
In the slums, people dying was a common occurrence, and even the priests from the Temple of Dawn wouldn’t care about the lives of those in the slums.
Nearby, people hurriedly slammed their doors shut.
Some even grabbed door latches, securely locking the doors. Vivian climbed up, exerting herself to lift one of the latches.
From her years of living in the slums, she knew if someone died, problems would quickly escalate, and there would definitely be more fighting, potentially affecting nearby people.
Fear.
The terror in her heart made the little girl hug the old dog tightly, bringing it to the foot of the bed with her.
“Hess.”
She looked outside in fright, spotting shadows in the rain, weapons clashing as they fought.
Blood spilled throughout the alley, then was washed away by the rain.
She could vaguely smell the scent of blood!
Vivian bent down to pat the old dog’s head, trembling slightly from fear, whispering, “You will protect me, right?”
“Woof!”
The old dog suddenly barked.
The little girl jumped in surprise, but then she realized Hess wasn’t barking at the outside; it was barking at the young man on the bed.
“Brother!?”
Vivian turned in surprise to see the young man on the bed had opened his eyes, his lips moving slightly.
All the pressure and fear she had endured burst forth in an instant!
The small figure lunged into his arms, large, crystal-like tears streaming down her tender cheeks.
