Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 301: Section 211: Details (3)_2

Chapter 301: Section 211: Details (3)_2

"No, Your Excellency the Earl, you have one thing mistaken: if you want your child to die quickly, Mr. Malin would certainly be your best choice. Knight Cohen and his friends are merely butchers with gold wandering the streets in Mr. Malin’s presence. Their hands still unwashed of blood, and if he were to do the killing, your child and his friends would be torn to shreds in an instant," Lena completed her thought, lifted the hem of her dress with both hands, and as she walked to the entrance of the alley, she tossed the small sign into the hands of the leader of the rat-girls: "Bring this to Miss Faye tomorrow; you may keep 500."

"Thank you, Miss Lena," the eldest of the rat-girls bowed deeply and then carefully tucked away the token.

"500 pieces, that should be enough for father and mother for the year."

"The little brothers could buy a new set of clothes too."

"Perhaps we could keep some and buy our youngest sister a dress, hers is torn again."

"No, the youngest brother is still growing, and the eldest has reached the age to marry."

Watching the head sister turn to embrace her siblings and then start discussing what to do with the money, Lena suddenly thought of her own comrades.

She also remembered her younger self, when her village was blood-washed by Chaos, and as a survivor, she was picked up by her mentor; one unfamiliar sister after another, just like this, she had to embrace them.

Ever since her mentor returned to his world, his apprentices had also gone their separate ways...That’s also why she wanted these little girls to stay together.

They didn’t understand, they still naively believed that their parents loved them, yet they didn’t know... Lena sighed inwardly.

The misfortunes of this world, each with their own sorrows.

At that thought, Lena snapped her fingers, and her rat-maid servants immediately stopped their chatter and fell into a line behind her.

"Miss Lena, you seem a bit... unhappy."

After covering some distance, the piercing voice of the eldest rat-girl reached her from behind.

Lena didn’t turn around, simply nodded silently.

"Think of something happy; it makes things easier to bear."

The teenager spoke, and her words tempted Lena to laugh, yet she could not.

In silence, she returned to the palace, ready to retire to her room, when she saw the rat-girls scurrying up to the second floor, apparently eager to return to their own rooms; the eldest was tidying their tools. Out of curiosity, she approached the youngster: "Julie, speaking of which, do you have any happy memories worth recalling?"

"Um... there are plenty, and having everyone alive at home is the happiest thing I can think of," the eldest rat-girl said with a smile.

Lena was taken aback, then shook her head with a laugh: "You’re too easily satisfied, Julie."

"No, Miss Lena, ever since I can remember, we’ve never had enough to eat at home. Our parents sold us sisters to Lady Anna, and that’s what saved our family. If not for the benevolence of the lady back then, we sisters... might have been exchanged for meat at the butcher’s by our parents," Julie said.

Lena was about to leave, but those words made her turn back to look at the eldest sister, as if seeing her for the first time.

"What I’ve seen in the history books of humans is the fate of the rat-people: without their deity of worship, they became like wild beasts. If the Lord of Justice hadn’t finally accepted us, the rat-people would probably have become even more miserable than goblins," said the rat-girl sitting on the carpet, tidying the toolbox without looking up. "My sisters and I were too little back then, the younger ones didn’t even remember, only I recall what our parents said. Mother mentioned that there was no food at home, selling the daughters to the butcher would be profitable. Father disagreed, saying selling the daughters was fine but not to the butcher."

Imitating the adults’ tone, she continued while searching for tools: "They argued. Mother said, the daughters still had flesh and could fetch some money."

Lena frowned, not knowing how to comfort the girl.

"I know, Mother was really starving, I still remember her skull wrapped in skin with no flesh on her face, her lifeless eyes, and how desperately my brothers were crying from hunger... I can’t imagine how my mother agreed to my father’s pleas, but she eventually agreed to sell us, though the buyer wasn’t the butcher..." The Rat-girl placed the last tool appropriately, closed the lid, and looked up at Lena: "I don’t know who would become our master on that day, but I do know who the butcher is. I... I’ve seen other Rat-people struggle under his knife, just because we’ve lost the Deity, the Goddess of Fate doesn’t favor us Rat-people, without the Deity, we became thieves and robbers."

"I begged every Deity I could think of, the Goddess of Benevolent, the Goddess of Harvest, any god I could plead with, but no one came to buy us, until I begged the God of Justice... At least, at least let my sisters survive." Julie stood up as she reached this point, placing the toolbox in the storage cubby in the corner of the wall.

"I remember that day, Lady said that a great one was guiding her to find you all..." Lena recalled the events of that day.

"Yes, the God of Justice answered my pleas, he said that our master would appear..." Julie turned to Lena: "Then I saw you and Lady."

Lena smiled, she suddenly realized that what seemed like a trivial thing she had done, in the eyes of others, was an event that changed the entire course of their lives.

"Sleep well, from tomorrow on, you are all maids to Miss Faye, and you will be her Head Maid. Perform well, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma’am, good night, ma’am." The Rat-girl curtsied, lifting the hem of her skirt, then turned and ran up the stairs.

She trotted through the corridor and entered the area assigned to the servants, pushing open the door to the large room belonging to her and her sisters. They had already changed into their nightgowns and were frolicking on the big bed, while the youngest sister held a stack of gold: "Sister!" she called out.

"It’s from Lady Lena, isn’t it." Her sister asked.

"Yes, Sister, this gold can buy food for our brother." The youngest sister said, as she hopped off the bed and ran to her older sister, placing the gold in her hands: "Big sister Lena said, Lady Anna will also prepare an offering for our oldest brother! YES! YES!"

Julie nodded and secured the money: "My sisters, from tomorrow on, we will become official maids, Miss Faye will be our master, and we must remember the teachings of Lady Anna!"

"Miss Faye is the best!"

"YES! YES!"

"That Malin, isn’t he the criminal who kidnapped Miss Faye?"

"How could that be, you idiot!"

The sisters continued to tease and laugh on the bed, while Julie shook her head at her sisters’ antics, then cleared her throat: "Sisters, remember our oath."

"Remember our oath!" The Rat-girls got themselves seated properly, and then the youngest sister was nudged by the eighth one because she wasn’t sitting well, which made her fall onto the bed.

Then the two little girls started to wrestle, and the sisters rolled together again.

As the older sister, Julie sighed deeply.

Sisters... never mind, maybe it was too difficult for them to remember the oath, but Julie, you must remember the oath you made on that day.

Whoever can provide a full meal for the sisters, that person would become Julie Red Scarf’s master.

She still remembered pleading to the Deity in that manner.

But the honorable Lord of Justice didn’t see it that way, and Julie would always remember the great guidance he provided to her, she would follow the righteous person he spoke of.

Only the righteous person who vowed to feed all the children in the world... would be the true master of Julie Red Scarf.

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