“This was all we could find.”  Shizuku and the girls waited a while before returning to the village with the bloodied dress. They also found a small cave and used it as the boblins den. They even killed a few monsters and set them on fire while only leaving small traces of small bones here and there to make it look like a boblin. Now, she was standing in Gweneth’s house, handing over the bloodied dress. “I could not find any bones. The boblin nest also had no other women. Or bones. These boblins were quite skinny, so my guess is….” 

“I see….. My Mari…. She was…..” Gweneth fell to her knees and began crying. Shizuku decided it was best to leave and made her way to the village elder’s house. 

The old man sat down and lowered his head. “Maybe this was the for the best.”

“What do you mean?” Shizuku asked in confusion. She did not know why Mari dying was for the best.

“Gweneth, while outside is quite nice to others, Mari suffered under her. She was quite violent to the girl. Mari has been of marriageable age for a while, but Gweneth would not allow her to get married, or else she would be left to do everyone on her own. Not that she did anything to start with. That girl slaved every day for her mother and only got scolded in return.” The village elder let out a long sigh. “Maybe this was for the best….”

Shizuku did not ask about Mari’s mother, but seeing how quickly the girl was willing to leave, that pretty much showed she had no love for her. “I am done here. Feel free to tell those who come later that if they wish to cause a scene, the scary Fallen vampire will come and make their heads explode.” 

“Haha! I will. Thank you. You helped me and my village. It is sad to say that not even humans would have gone this far for a small village like ours. I hope you have safe travels.”  The village elder saw Shizuku and the girls out. He tried to give them some food for the road, but Shizuku refused. She did not plan to take anything from a village that was already struggling.

What she liked about this place was there was no prejudice. These people all smiled and gave her friendly nods as she walked by. There was no hate in their eyes, which proved that not all humans saw her as an enemy. They did not hate her just because she was a Fallen. 

It did make her wonder if Mari had to be worried about what the others thought of a hobgoblin, but then again, they might be being nice to her because she looked more human. Either way, the path of these people and the future of Mari and Graho were their own. They had to walk their path in life on their own. 

“Shizu. You did a good thing.” Miyumi grabbed Shizuku’s hand and squeezed it.

    “Yeah. But I know not all people would accept such help. But from what I can see, the poor are less likely to look down on a Fallen because they, too, are at the bottom of the totem pole. Only those who have a decent life would fall for the teachings of a church. After all the church here seems to be very much about only caring for those who have money. As long as they donate, the church will help you. But the poor are left to rot. It seems to be a trend that happens on any world. It sickens me.” Shizuku hated how higher powers always seemed to forget their path. They always seemed to forget what makes a kingdom or country. 

“But there is nothing we can do. We can only worry about ourselves at this time.” Miyumi replied. 

“That is true. But that does not mean I will just ignore things. I hate injustice. I will do what I can if I can. If it is over my head, then I will have no choice but to be a bystander and wait until I have enough power to deal with such situations in the future. We just need to focus on leveling up. And making our way to Dracluna. Once we get there, I will be able to learn more about my race and this world. I really wish to go to a library and learn more.” Shizuku wanted to learn what she could since knowledge was something she lacked the most. 

Only by learning everything she could would she be able to truly understand this world and herself. Nora gave her hints, but something in what she said made no sense. Especially the whole rank system. She was currently a pawn. But to become a knight, she had to defeat four knights. But this made no sense. How could a pawn become a knight if, from what Nora said, all vampires started off as pawns? How did the first vampire become a knight? Or were they born a higher rank? There was so much she did not know that it weighed on her mind. And until she got answers, it would bother her.

“Let’s keep going until we reach the dungeon. I want to avoid any towns for now.” Shizuku decided. Until they reached the fallen territory, they would not stop in any towns to keep from having to deal with any issues that might arise.