"Haahh… Haa… Haa…"
A little girl was desperately running in a certain direction without stopping, there were a few scratches on her body due to all those branches she had come across, however, she did not stop.
She continued running as fast as she can.
This little girl was Manya, the girl who lost everything today.
Her father was dead, her mother was probably dead too, and her whole village died as well.
Not only had that, but even the 'uncle' who saved her had to sacrifice his life so that she can escape. Manya has seen how cruel those people are, she was sure that they must have tortured her uncle before killing them.
She was devastated.
There were three emotions she was feeling right now.
Sorrow, the sorrow of losing everyone close to her.
Anger, anger on those humans who took everything from her.
And Determination, determination to reach the Town, get stronger and avenge everyone.
The little girl continued running as fast as her little legs could allow and 30 minutes later, a town finally appeared in front of her eyes.
It was Manya's first time here so she didn't know, however, normally, the gates of this town are open and there is a big line of people who wants to enter the town.
Today, however, the gates were closed and there were only two guards standing in the front.
No line of people could be seen.
Of course, since it was Manya's first time here, she didn't think about anything and walked towards the Town.
"Stop." The guard instructed when his eyes fell on the little girl coming toward them.
Manya stopped, and then, the guard observed her.
Scratches all over her body, face covered in tears, a cat-kin, the guard already had an inkling about who the girl was.
"Are you a survivor from the Neko Village incident?" even though he had a vague idea, he still questioned.
Manya nodded.
"Wait here."
Then, the guard turned toward the other guard and nodded.
The other guard rushed inside the town and a few minutes later, the guard returned and with him, there was a beautiful woman, who wore a blue dress and had big blue eyes. From her long ears and short, fur ball-like tail, Manya knew that she was a Rabbit-kin.
"Are you from the Neko village?" The rabbit woman questioned in a very gentle and soothing tone.
Manya nodded again.
"What is your name?" The rabbit woman questioned.
"Manya…"
"Mhm, my name is Helie Hoggart," The woman introduced herself as she crotched and patted Manya's head gently.
Manya's body trembled, seeing this, Helie smiled and ruffled her hair,
"You don't have to be scared anymore, you are safe now."
Manya then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, Helie pulled Manya into her embrace and continued patting her head.
"Don't worry, you are safe now." Her voice was extremely gentle and soothing.
Manya, who was now in her motherly embrace, felt some warmth and comfort.
Then, all her piled-up emotions burst out and,
"Uwwaaahhhhhhh…" She started crying.
Everything she saw today was too much for a little girl like her. She was already brave enough to see everything and still come back alive.
Her tears spoiled Helie's blue dress, however, the woman didn't care, she just continued patting Manya's head to show that she was there.
"Mffnn… they… Mffmm… they killed everyone… even my father and uncle…"
Manya muttered as she continued crying.
"…"
Helie stayed silent, or rather, she didn't know what to say, she just continued patting the girl's head and comforted her.
"I will be taking her to my house. Call me if you need anything." She ordered.
She then picked Manya up and entered the town.
The guards bowed and nodded, "As you say, Lady Helie."
10 minutes later, Manya finally calmed down.
Helie noticed that and then, she muttered in a soft voice,
"You can sleep now; we will talk once you wake up."
However, instead of nodding, Manya shook her head, and then, a serious look appeared on her childlike face as she muttered.
"No, I can't sleep right now. You have to listen to me, send some strong people inside the village, those humans are still there."
A frown appeared on Helie's face as she questioned.
"You know what is happening in the town?"
Manya was not the first survivor they had taken in, there were others as well, however, all of them were the people who didn't fight and were the first ones to leave the village when the humans attacked.
Therefore, they didn't know much about the situation.
That is the reason why the town doesn't have much information about what happened.
However, Manya was someone who had watched everything that had happened.
Manya nodded and then, she started telling everything she saw.
From how her father sent her to get some flowers, how she returned and saw humans inside the village, how they treated and forced the women, how they forced their husbands to watch everything, how they beheaded her father and how escaped with the help of her uncle.
Of course, her 'uncle' saved her life by sacrificing his own, therefore, she didn't say that she didn't know her uncle before.
She could never say that. Her uncle was her uncle, that's it.
Helie didn't question that either, the uncle sacrificed his life for this girl, if she questioned it, the girl would be sad.
Therefore, the two of them didn't talk much about her uncle, other than Manya saying how much of a good person her uncle was.
"Don't worry, we have already sent our strong warriors to the village, if those humans are still there, we will capture them all."
Helie muttered with a smile on her face, then, she placed Manya on the bed and patted her head.
"Now you should not think too much about it, I know how tired you are, go sleep."
Helie had already cleaned her wounds and bandaged them, Manya nodded and then, she closed her eyes.
Helie then stood up, she turned towards her maid and ordered,
"Take care of her, call me if you need anything,"
"Yes, Lady Helie."
Then, Helie left the room and as soon as she walked out, the gentleness in her eyes disappeared and was replaced by a cold look.
"Lady Helie!"
Suddenly, a man rushed towards her and called.
"What is it?" Helie questioned.
"Sir Cyneric is back and is waiting for you inside the Town Hall." He reported.
"Alright," Helie nodded and then she walked towards the Town Hall.
…
"Helie."
As Helie entered the Town Hall, a man, who had Lion like ears, a tail, brown hair and beard and a large build called.
"Did you find anyone in the Village, Cyneric?" Helie questioned.
"Nothing, there were only dead bodies and…
And naked women…"
Cyneric answered as he clenched his fist in fury.
"What about Lionaa? What happened to her?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
The hall turned silent and no one dared to speak anything.
Helie knew Lionaa was a sensitive topic, she was Cyneric's daughter after all, however, she had to ask it.
She needs to know the complete situation.
And Cyneric knew about it as well, therefore, he answered,
"She used the Transformation…"
"And she was defeated even after that?" Helie frowned.
"She must have abused her transformation and have lost her senses. Dealing with a Beast who has no intelligence is easy for those cunning humans. From what I could see, they used lethal poison to kill her.
Lionaa's whole body was black when I reached there…"
Right now, Cyneric was taking deep breaths, trying hard to control his anger.
There was a frown on Helie's face as well, however, that was not because she was worried about Cyneric or was sad about something, she doesn't have time for something like that, she was one of the four leaders of the Town, Cyneric, the other leader was emotionally unstable right now, so she has to think logically.
And that was what she was doing, and that was why she had a frown on her face.
'According to Manya's words, those humans should still be there in the town, then why didn't Cyneric find anything?'
This question popped into her mind, while she was thinking about it, another bulky man with a build that was even larger than Cyneric questioned. He was Kamdem, an Elephantkin.
"This doesn't make sense…
Why didn't the humans hide the bodies?"
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