the great corruption system

Chapter 90: The past.

Footsteps drag along the grass as a young girl

Walks alone, in slight confusion and discomfort and a grand lack of purpose. Her master had kicked her out of his home after his wife managed to give birth, claiming that he no longer had time to train her as he had a family to maintain.

She had been walking for a few hours, still in disbelief. She had been walking with the events playing back in her mind. Her head focused on the grassy ground, and putting one foot ahead of another.

At the moment she was still making the same blank expression she had when she walked out the door. He had given her a few coins and sent her away. That was it, she was hardly even a substitute.

Had he ever truly cared for her? How was she just expected to survive now? Amanda was still trying to process this terrible feeling welling up in her chest, when she smelled something burning.

Looking upwards, She saw that she was nearing a village, and one that was burning.

She wasn’t able to see much from where she was, but she saw a black ploom of smoke.

Now that she was actually focusing, she could hear a mix of battle cries and screams of desperation from afar, but just barely.

Any nearby village that wasn’t inside of hawkthorne territory was vulnerable to this kind of attack.

Without the right protection, any strong individual could just walk up and declare the place their own, killing anyone who disagrees.

Amanda walked up close, in her mind she was both apathetic angry and as much as she hated it...a bit sad.

Perhaps someone down there is having a much worse time. Something in her, she didn’t know what it was, decided to walk towards the area.

Before she could even get a clear view, the sound of stabbing and weapons clashing came to her ears, the smell of smoke got more and more intense, Amanda brought a rag to her mouth.

Getting closer, She hid behind a nearby tree.

As she looked on, she saw humble homes getting burned. Men dragging families from their homes, probably to either kill or put into forced labor.

A certain home was kicked open and the family was dragged out. Or at least that was the plan. The moment the door was kicked open, the man that wanted to enter was quickly stabbed, before the sword was pushed further into him, its wielder kicked the bandit downward.

Just then, a man burst through, Screaming something that had pissed of a few more of the raiders. they had Surrounded him with their weapons drawn.

He impressively cut down a few more, but they were not untrained children. A few cuts appeared for each man he fought, and after he plunged his sword into the third, more backup had come, overwhelming him stabbing him from all directions.

Once the man died, His wife fought for her life, managing to choke a man out with his own cloak, before dying after she could no longer use him as a hostage.

Amanda remembered her training on her brutal the world could be, but seeing it firsthand was something different.

That was scary, this was brutal, this was the real world.

As as her eyes were glued to the horrid scene, She had noticed that men came out of the house with something else, someone else.

A kid. Amanda was snapped from her stupor.

Ashamed she had been so frozen The kid had dark skin and brown hair, violently shaking, trying to throw them off and failing miserably.

Yet as she shook, her hair came off, revealing a head full of white hair. Amanda had gotten closer as she listen to what the men were saying.

"What the hell? What kinda person has white hair?"

A bandit who was next to him examined her face, noticing her pointed ears. "Hey guys, you aren’t gonna believe this...we might have a type of elf."

The young girl didn’t appreciate being treated like this in front of her dead parents, trying to bite at the men with tears in her eyes.

As they restrained her arms, some of the men had an idea. "What will we sell her for? You know how expensive elves are?"

"We could get a bunch of nights at any inn or tavern and it wouldn’t put a dent in our cash!!"

"Exactly, we could even buy higher grade weapons or potions."

Another voice came in. "You could also be good men, and release her."

One of the raiders was in a great mood, genuinely chuckling when he heard that.

"Man, I do love jokes like this. Who are you?

The shock of a lifetime came when it sunk into his head that a 14 year old girl had somehow gotten behind them without being noticed.

Amanda saw their mocking gazes and an impatient look formed on her face.

"Release her or all of you will regret setting foot in this place."

The men all stopped what they were doing and turned to her. They were about seven in number at just this one house, with plenty nearby, just out of earshot purely because of the chaos happening.

They all cocked their heads back, laughing.

One of them pointed at her. "Sure you will."

Amanda wasn’t shocked or even angry. She was instead focused on another detail.

"Isn’t it kind of funny how all of you are of similar heights?"

One of the men stopped chuckling for a moment, and took notice of the sword on her hip, as well as the bag of coins she was carrying.

"Yeah, if I were you I’d change the topic as well. Hand over your things, and we won’t kill ya, scouts honor." He said, pointing a blade at her neck.

The young elf was crushed. She had just seen her parents die, and now she too was going to die. Why didn’t she just ask to buy her off.m their hands?

The young girl didn’t factor in how slimy these people were. If they felt they could beat her they would take her things.

Amanda let out a disgusted sigh before the blade left its sheath, cutting through the necks of all the men present, fountains of blood spilling over both Amanda and the young elf

Before their bodies fell over.

Amanda had a blank expression on her face, yet inwardly, her heard was racing. She had just killed multiple people for the first time.

She was on the verge of puking, yet she had never felt so powerful.

as they fell, the young elf girl watched all this in a mix of horror, and a sick little bit of satisfaction. The men who had killed her parents had met their demise soon after.

Yet as Amanda walked towards her, she stepped back, horrified.

"Wait." Amanda said aloud as her blade went back into its sheath.

As The young elf stepped back, eerily afraid of her, it seemed Amanda would have to calm her down.