CHAPTER 269: HER TRIAL [4]

Her brother felt the strange change in his sister, a change that was now more pronounced than ever; he could tell that she did not like being hugged by him in that way, a gesture she would never make. With a sad sigh, he dismissed all those doubtful thoughts; it was true, he did not know what was going on with her, but perhaps she also did not know what was happening with herself.

Her brother took her to a more private place, then he asked her the question that could no longer be avoided. "What’s happening to you? Tell me the truth, please?"

A pang of guilt swept through the eyes of Sophia, looking at her brother like that. Still, it was now much more controlled; she did not answer immediately and went towards the lake. She glanced at her reflection intently and noticed the change in herself. She had become much taller and more beautiful, in a subtle way. It was as if she had grown up years’ worth of time in just one night.

The brother asked her again, "Why have your eyes changed to a reddish color like that? You’ve become taller, more beautiful in just one night. They are calling you a witch? How did you kill all those men? Please answer me, Sophia?"

She sighed to herself and spoke, "I don’t know, brother, I truly don’t, but I will tell you the differences I feel. The changes. And I don’t think I can stay here anymore."

Her brother wanted to shout at her again, but Sophia gestured for him to stop with her hands. She continued in a calm tone, "I think for some reason, or somehow, I grow stronger with each person I kill. The more I kill, the colder I get, and I feel estranged from my original self. A change, too big a change."

"And that is the reason I cannot stay here, because I might kill you all, it’s a vague feeling I have, that if I stay here any longer, I will regret it. So, I would rather not do that. But where should I go, I don’t know, how would I go? I don’t know. But I do know what I will look for."

"I will look for answers to why this is happening, and what is the reason behind this? How to stop it, before I lose myself completely."

"Then I will come with you," the brother declared, disregarding all those dangerous notions revealed by his own little sister. In the end, he only wanted to protect her, to save her, even if she was a monster underneath.

Sophia blinked her large eyes in surprise, a trace of genuine familial love overflowing into her eyes, "Thank you, brother, for saving me, for protecting me, always, for choosing to save me, instead of losing your mind in rage for what had just happened at that time. I know it was not easy for you, so thank you for choosing me."

There was a deep stretch of silence between the siblings as they stared at each other. The brother spoke in a choked voice, "I’m your brother, you fool, of course, I will protect you. But alas, it seems I can no longer protect you. You have become something that I don’t understand, something I cannot comprehend."

The little girl showed a genuine smile towards her older brother as she walked towards a specific direction and said one last thing, "Goodbye, brother, and you should work harder to seduce that miracle worker, though she’s too beautiful to be seduced by you."

The brother instantly became embarrassed and rebuked, "That’s none of your business, damn brat."

But a trickle of tear fell down from the eyes of the brother, he knew she just said that to lighten his mood a bit, but how could that overcome the enormous sadness within him, he felt alone, utterly alone now, his mother was gone, father was gone, now that little sister he had protected with his all, had something strange happening to her, the villagers looked at his sister like a monster despite having survived just because of Sophia. He fell to his knees, not knowing what to do, as despair took over him.

Sophia left the mountain, picked up a sharp knife that was in the ground of the village, a place where their homes were just yesterday, now nothing but pure devastation remained, and the proof of their tragedy. She picked up a small amount of food and some additional essentials to survive and then headed out. It felt strange, incredibly strange. She was only a 10-year-old girl, yet what happened to her in just one night was transforming her mind too abruptly, almost as if she had done this many times before.

A strange type of instinct that was leading her to an unknown path, a path she did not know at the surface level of her mind, but knew of deep in her heart. For now, she had one mission in her mind: to find her mother, save her, hopefully, and kill that one bandit who violated her, and everything related to those pillagers. To destroy all of the groups of pillagers within the entire kingdom she lived in.

The little girl traveled on foot for an uncountable number of days. She faced many dangers on her path: there were strange animals, her own hunger, a proper sleeping place, and people with bad intentions. But none was able to harm her, cheat her in any way. Those who wanted to take advantage of her were mainly killed. Thankfully, she found a good group of mercenaries who recognized her skills. After some convincing from their part, she joined them on the journey.

They were indeed a bunch of good and hardworking people. They earned an honest living, leading a simple, ordinary life, but it was a good life they had; however, it was not meant to be. Another mercenary group was after them. They sent hired killers after them to kill them off, but Sophia secretly saved them, killing those who were after the mercenary group she was in. With each kill, her strength and power continued to grow slightly; it felt as if she were slowly approaching a locked doorway in her mind. Something that would make many things clear, but it was still far away, quite far away.

A year passed, during which she spent her time with the group of mercenaries, but she felt that they were too weak; they could not keep up with her growth in strength. And it felt like she might become more attached to them than she already was. So, she left the group, disregarding her emotions, which wanted her to tie to something that she knew would eventually cause her more harm than good in the long run. She was meant to be a lone wolf.

A few more years passed, and she grew up even more; she became even more gorgeous. By the age of 14, she no longer resembled a teenager; she appeared to be a mature 18- or 20-year-old young woman. She had become so beautiful that she had to hide her appearance, or it would invite unwanted attention. And any contact with any men, she hated it extremely badly. This sensation of disgust for any man seems to grow stronger alongside her own strength as she kills more and more.

Of course, just because she grew stronger with killing others, she did not become a mindless killer, a psychopath; instead, she now worked as a hired killer in a big town filled with a lot of people. She did not just kill anyone; instead, she had created a fierce reputation, as she only killed those who had committed crimes worthy of death. She never harmed an innocent person, even if she was hired with a hefty sum to do so. But she was no warrior of justice either; she did not go out of her own way to clean up the scums of society, but only did so when she was paid well, nothing more and nothing less.

Strangely enough, even after all of these years, she did not find a trace of those particular bandits that had robbed their village. But it also made sense in a way, the famous bandit group of pillagers had more than 100-200 members, they did not target such disconnected rural villages like theirs. The village she lived in was situated in a remote area that was largely unknown to most of the world.

But that was fine as well; she was going to find out about them one way or the other, even if she had to search the whole world itself. She was nothing if not patient. But as the news of her deeds spread, news about the killer going around, killing powerful and influential people. The regular denizens became terrified. After all, most of the general people naturally had no idea that their various leaders were such worthless pieces of scum, who commit such heinous deeds that it could make the stomachs of grown men churn in revulsion.

Therefore, the various authorities were motivated to locate and apprehend the killer. The situation became troublesome for her, as she was forced to hide herself extensively. Around that time, she met with the old mercenary group again. An involuntary smile donned on her lips. Seeing them after so long. The small mercenary group consisted of six people, three men and three women. But there were five now, she could not help but ask after their initial greetings with each other as they sat at a large table in the tavern, "By the way, why is she not here?"