Intermission: A Family's Dilemma

"Hahhhhh.....I don't know how we are going to make through this month."

"All done! Eh? What's wrong Kora? Does your stomach hurt?"

Kora looked down at her little brother, his innocent face full of concern. She then looked over and saw the pile of clothes and sheets he had gathered together to help cleanup the small cottage. 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

Their parents had died almost one full moon ago. The money they left Kora and her younger brother Heed was on its last leg. She had tried to become an Adventurer like her parents to make money, but her skills were lacking and no party was willing to carry her. She would have liked to get a course at the guild to train her and integrate her into their system, but she didn't have the funds. They couldn't even eat right now, the luxury of being trained by the Adventurer's Guild was a dream.

She tried to see if the tavern or shops in town were hiring help, but her youth and lack of any experience immediately made her their last choice. It wasn't that they were cruel, but if you were running a business you would obviously choose someone with experience over a young girl with no experience.

Eventually she switched to hunting and selling meat to the markets in town. While the pay was volatile and based around the game you could find, she at least was able to do it. It had started well enough, she brought a rabbit or two to the markets everyday, and it was enough for the two of them to just barely scrape by. Unfortunately, that all changed when suddenly the forest found itself home to Demonic Rabbits.

It was now extremely dangerous to go and hunt. If she could kill the Demonic Rabbits they would fetch an even higher price due to being rich in mana, but for the same reason she couldn't be an Adventurer, she was unable to kill the Demonic Rabbits.

Even after trying several times all she ended up with was multiple injuries and a fear of death. She was now terrified of going into the forest, but if they didn't do anything the two of them would starve.

"Mmmm, it is nothing, big sis is ok. Don't worry!"

She gave a big smile and a thumbs up to the small boy. He smiled back and came over to hug her. As he hugged her she heard a loud rumbling noise from the boy's stomach.

"Kora, I'm hungry, will we eat tonight?"

She didn't have the heart to tell him that the odds of that were low. Unless something drastic changes in the forest, she would most likely return empty handed again, but what else could she do? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦...𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺.

The 𝓣𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓦𝓪𝓵𝓯𝓻𝓮𝔂 did not have an official brothel, but that did not mean it didn't have those kind of services. Females of varying ages would put themselves on display in the unofficial red district of the town. It wasn't glamorous work, and the money also came with risk. A brothel at least protected their "products" from the more aggressive clientele, but the people here were on their own. If you happened to find yourself in bed with a person and they suddenly turned violent then you could only rely on yourself. However, if one had to choose between starvation and selling themselves.....most would choose the latter even with the risk. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯....𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵!

The thought of having an unknown person doing those things to her.... it sent shivers up her spine. If she could she would never do it, but fate wasn't always so kind as to let a person choose. She needed to feed her brother, she was the adult now, and she had to make the adult sacrifices.

"Mmmm, yes of course! You can rely on big sis!"

"Yayyy!!!! Kora is the best big sister!"

Holding back her urge to yell and scream at the unfairness of the world, she put on a fake smile and ruffled the boy's hair as she left towards the forest..

**********

"Strange.....the forest seems so quiet today."

Kora had made it farther in than she had in the last several days. Recently, whenever she tried to enter, she wouldn't get far before running into some sort of demonized animal. However, today she had not run into a single one. It was good but....𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Her palms were starting to get sweaty. Usually when an area full of life became so deadly quiet it was because a larger predator had come and scared everything else away. Kora wanted to run, wanted to flee back to town, but the thought of her brother kept her going.

Suddenly the wind picked up a bit, and the scent of blood wafted into her nose. Her body tensed and she became even more alert. 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵? 𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.... 𝘐'𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘪��� 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵.

After waffling back and forth several times, she decided it was worth the risk to see if she could capitalize on some leftovers. The feeling of revulsion of selling herself was so great that it had somehow subdued her better judgement.

Kora followed the scent and quietly snuck toward it. Finally, after a while she reached the source. There was no large predator. There was no living thing around. She had thought it would be lucky if she could just take back a half eaten leg, but this.....was beyond her expectations.

"What....what is this? What happened here?"

In front of Kora was a mound of dead Demonic Beasts. All of them looked like they were brutally slaughtered. Some were ripped in half, others were filled with numerous holes that went straight through their bodies, others looked like dried up meat, and a few looked like they were beheaded cleanly by a guillotine.

She looked around and saw blood trails leading out in multiple directions, as if they were all dragged here for something. It was as if they were all killed somewhere else and then all brought to this single spot. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

The creatures were not even partially eaten, it was as if there was a mass slaughter that occurred. Something came and killed them all for no particular reason. Kora stared at the pile for a second and then suddenly remembered the scene with her brother in their cottage. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵... 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.... 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨....𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴?

For some reason the thought that someone or something had not only the leeway to brutually murder all these Demonic Beasts, but actually clean up after it was done.....scared the ever living shit out of her.

"I need to get out of here."

She was about to run away when she stopped and looked back. She looked around again before heading back to the pile of bodies.

"Well.... no use in letting them go to waste. I guess I can keep my promise to Heed and my chastity."

The Demonic Beasts were worth far more than ordinary animals due to being infused with mana. After Kora went back home with one....she decided to go for another. After that success she went back again. After a few successful trips she came to realize whatever killed those Demonic Beasts did not care to come back.

Eventually she was able to gather all the bodies and sold them to the market. Not only did she and her brother now have enough money to live on, but she had enough to get a training course at the Adventurer's guild.

Kora took a deep breath and looked at the clear blue sky. For the first time in a while she felt happy and hopeful. She didn't know what had killed all those beasts, good or bad, she was grateful to it. It was as if a hero had come and saved her from her dire situation. She looked up at the sky and bowed her head.

"Thank you."