9 Survival

A figure hidden in a black cloak slowly approached an old man inside the shop. The figure was carrying a large bag that appeared to be a sack. It let out a foul smell.

People would soon have crumpled faces when they passed by. It reeked the smell of blood and dung mixed together.

On the contrary the old man looked overjoyed. For him, it was a fruitful harvest. Soon he began to talk.

"What do you have this time Sir? It seems that you have a lot." he started.

There was no response from the man. He just slumped the sack to the grounds. The flies were startled and flew away. Then he opened the sack, a head of a buck peeking out. There was also a head of a wolf inside and several horns.

" Oh! What a fruitful harvest!" the old man exclaimed as he looked awkwardly at the carcasses. The tongue of buck rolled out of its mouth and flies flew here and there. Not to mention, when he opened the sack, the horridness of the smell intensified.

The old man commanded his employees to take sack and store it to some place. After the employee took the sack, he inspected it and told the old man. The old man looked overjoyed and called his servant to give him a bag of silver coins.

He then gave the small bag of coins to the cloaked man. The man took the bag and looked inside. He nodded satisfactorily and decided to depart.

"I'm looking forward for the next—" the old man did not finish his sentence because the man already left. He sighed and laughed. He was very satisfied with the hunter especially because he brought animals with high quality fur.

Upon walking outside the shop, the man put the small inside the pouch of his cloak.

Dahlia was, in fact, the cloaked man. She disguised herself as a hunter to sell the animals that she hunted. She purposely refrained from speaking so that her identity as a woman would not be discovered.

Although she had a small frame, she covered herself with a lot of fur and overlapped them so that it would appear like muscle or fat under the cloak. She also stuffed her gloves so that they would not discover her small hands.

Of course, this was because it was unbelievable for a small girl like her to carry something as heavy as what she carried minutes ago. However for Dahlia, that wasn't the case. She was, after all, inhumane.

Dahlia glanced back at the shop she entered a while ago. She was very satisfied with the pay she received. She frequently sold her yield to that shop because compared to other shops who bought pelts, that shop paid her with a fairer price.

Dahlia kept on walking, even so she could feel a lingering gaze directed towards her. 'It must be thieves' she thought.

This wasn't the first time she's encountered this. Its been three months since she started with the hunting and selling of pelts, to her this was a common incident.

She did not stop walking and eventually entered a deserted alley. The thieves who were following her also did not stop their probing.

Lured by the bait, they hastily gathered to the alley. They planned on killing and then stealing the cloaked man's money.

When they entered the alleyway, they were surprised to find no one there, even though it was dead end. They looked at each other in confusion.

"Where did he go?"

" I was sure I saw him enter this alleyway." the other said.

As if on cue, the cloaked figure appeared behind them. They felt a sense of foreboding and glanced to their backs. They were shocked to find two of their companions dead on the floor. Throat slit. Seeing this they immediately charge forward to Dahlia.

Minutes later Dahlia emerged from the alleyway. She wasn't concerned about the dead bodies she left. They were thieves anyway so the capital guards would not bother finding who killed this criminals.

This incidents often happened. This was Dahlia's way of survival. Kill or be killed. Especially that she craved for killing, it became an easy task for her.

After the incident at the Duke's House three months ago, Dahlia didn't crave for murder for quite some time. It was one and a half month later that she felt the desire rush up to her again.

It was a good thing. It meant that she could refrain from killing people frequently. And it's not like she kills anyone who passes before her, No. She only kills a group of certain people.

Criminals, to be exact. She mainly targeted criminals. She knew she didn't feel any guilt but she'd rather kill criminals than hurt innocent lives. Since she had proper control fo this so called 'hunger'.

Dahlia went back to the deepest part of the forest where she resided. She now called this place her home.

She built a small cabin good enough for lodging. She bought food with the money she earned and sometimes just make do with whatever she could find in the forest.

She could hunt anyway. She built the cabin near the lake since she like the view. It was also because of convenience.

Dahlia removed her cloak and tossed it to the floor. Then she started removing the patched up fur in her body. It made her sweaty so she planned to bathe herself in the lake. When she remembered the bag of coins in her waist, she instantly took it out and put it near a box.

She planned on staying here for two more months before migrating. Wild animals which she frequently hunted were rapidly decreasing in number and criminals near where she lived as well.

Even though the guards don't care about the frequent murder of thieves in the area, it didn't mean that they might not consider her as a threat too.

Once she saves enough money, she will leave and move down to the South.