Nicky did not understand why they were doing this. It made no sense to her for a multitude of reasons.

  She pursed her lips as she eyed the group of men gathered right ahead of her, waving their weapons around and shouting. And what was their target?

  An orphanage.

  That was right. They were up in arms before a building full of children. Nicky just clenched a fist as she tried to understand this scene.

  They were the Blood Swords— at one point, they were a well-respected gang that started with valiant intentions. Because Velmond was an underfunded city without sufficient protection like enough guards or even a city wall, they were often at risk of monster attacks.

  Since Velmond was not located in a particularly dangerous region of the Sanctus Empire, there wasn’t a real threat of any monster horde wandering by and destroying the city. That was why very little resources were allocated here— that was why there wasn’t even a wall surrounding the city.

  However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t the stray lone monster— or even pack of monsters— that sometimes dared attack one or two of the houses in the city.

  And the Blood Swords had originally been formed by a group of former soldiers and adventurers to fend off the monster attacks. Of course, there had been a little bit of… extortion going on back then.

  Households that couldn’t afford to pay a monthly sum to the Blood Swords were ignored if they were ever attacked. And while Nicky didn’t fully agree with that, she still agreed with the principle of protecting Velmond from monsters.

  That was the original reason why she had even joined the Blood Swords. But now, things have changed since she joined three years ago. The previous leader of the Blood Swords passed away a year ago, and a new leader rose to take charge of the gang.

  Her brother: Nicholas the Bloodied Blade.

  And he made significant changes to the way the gang functioned. Now, they practically ran all of Velmond by sheer force. They did whatever they wanted. Not even the guards of the city dared to interfere when the Blood Swords. After all, the Lord of Velmond was now in the pockets of the Blood Swords.

  So even if the Blood Swords were harassing an orphanage in broad daylight, nobody would do anything…

  Even still, Nicky didn’t approve of this. This was not how the Blood Swords was supposed to be run.

  Yes, Roy and Jacob were missing. They had disappeared the day before after chasing one of the orphan boys into the forest, according to Nicholas.

  And while Nicky wasn’t exactly sure she trusted her brother’s words, even if it were true, they didn’t need to send ten men to harass an orphanage to figure out what happened. The only reason Nicky was tagging along was to make sure that they didn’t go too far.

  “Get out here already!”

  “Bring us that damn boy!”

  “We know you’re in there!”

  She looked at the group of… men as they continued yelling profanities at the orphanage. While she wanted to shut them up, she knew that interfering with this would get her in trouble with her brother. And she didn’t want to deal with that, unless it was for the sake of something that was actually substantive.

  So she held herself back for now, watching as the doors to the orphanage swung open.

  A middle-aged woman stepped out of the building, accompanied by a young man. He followed her up to the front porch, but she nodded at him. He hesitated, then paused by the porch as she left him to confront the group of thugs. And behind them, waiting at the front door, a few heads poked out to watch the scene unfold.

  As soon as the middle-aged woman came to a halt before the group of thugs, the biggest of the group— a Silver Rank named Justin— stepped forward as he pointed his dagger at her.

  “Oi, are you Mary?” he asked as Nicky just watched with pursed lips.

  “I am,” Mary said, eyeing the group nervously. “And who are you?”

  “Don’t play daft with me,” Justin snarled and took a step forward dangerously. “You know exactly who we are— we’re the Blood Swords.”

  Behind him, the other thugs snickered and grinned. Nicky just wanted to groan in embarrassment at that.

  But Justin continued as he looked past Mary, towards the faces poking out of the front door of the orphanage. “And we’re here for that brat of yours who’s been messing with us. And don’t pretend like you don’t know who I’m talking about.”

  Mary hesitated for a moment. She glanced back towards the crowd of waiting faces at the doorway, before she closed her eyes. Then she straightened and faced Justin.

  “...Eli’s not here. He’s been missing for the last day. We don’t know what happened to him.”

  Justin furrowed his brows at that. He looked between Mary and her children huddled by the front door. And then—

  Smack!

  “Bullshit!” Justin yelled as he struck Mary across the cheek with the back of his free hand.

  Mary dropped to the ground, her cheeks glowing red from the slap. Nicky clicked her tongue at that. But she didn’t intervene just yet.

  “Ms Mary—”

  The watching children cried out as they almost poured out of the doorway. However, the young man standing on the porch stopped them. Even though it looked like he wanted to interfere as well, he shook his head at them.

  Justin stepped over Mary’s fallen body as he dug his sword on the ground next to her face, making her wince.

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  “If you’re going to keep hiding that brat,” Justin said as he looked towards the orphanage, “we’re going to be left with no choice but to search your little home until we find him.”

  “You can’t—” Mary started as she raised her head.

  And Justin stomped down on her stomach, making her wheeze out in pain. “Who’s going to stop us, huh? The guards won’t stop us, and neither will that scrawny boy of yours.”

  Justin eyed the young man by the porch with a mocking look. The young man just clenched a fist, but didn’t move.

  Justin shook his head as his band of thugs laughed behind him. “And you most certainly can’t stop us either. So we’ll do what we want.”

  Nicky’s eyes flickered, and she decided it was enough. She was just about to stop him when a voice cut her off.

  “Don’t hurt her!”

  A little girl dashed out of the orphanage, running past the distracted young man standing on the porch. He raised a hand out to stop her, but she was too fast.

  “Hannah, no—”

  And Justin looked up as the little girl reached him. She tried to tackle his leg to knock him off Mary. But he just snatched her up with a smirk plastered on his face.

  “Oh, what do we have here? A little girl trying to play the hero, huh?” Justin laughed as he held her up to his face.

  She struggled to break free, trying to kick and punch him. However, he just held her out, and she missed, unable to hit him.

  “Gracious Goddess— don’t hurt her, please,” Mary pleaded as she grabbed Justin by the legs. “She’s just a child!”

  And Justin sneered down at her. “Oh, I won’t hurt her. The boss doesn’t like it when we harm little girls. But it would be a shame if… your other children got hurt…”

  He shot a dangerous look towards the other orphans gathered by the doorway. They backed away nervously— except the young man who stepped before the rest of them protectively.

  Justin continued as he looked back down at Mary. “So unless you hand over that brat—”

  But Nicky had enough. She wasn’t going to remain silent any longer. Even if she got into trouble with her brother, she wasn’t going to let this go on.

  “Justin!” she called out as she glared at him.

  And the burly man paused, glancing back at her with narrowed eyes. “Nicky? What in damnation do you want?”

  “That’s enough,” Nicky said. “We’re leaving.”

  “But we haven’t even—” Justin tried to protest.

  And Nicky glared daggers his way. “I said: we’re leaving.”

  Justin clicked his tongue. For a moment, he didn’t move. He didn’t listen to her. He looked towards the rest of his goons— and they shuffled their feet, not sure what to do. A few of them however seemingly deferred to him.

  “Just because you’re the boss’s sister, do you really think that means we have to listen to you?” he said as he squinted at her.

  “Yes,” she said simply.

  And Nicky reached for the crossbow she had sheathed at her side. If they’re not going to listen to me, then I’ll make them… she thought, readying herself for anything.

  Most of the thugs here were Bronze, some were even Iron. Only Justin was Silver, the same Rank as Nicky. However, that didn’t mean they were equal in strength. Nicky knew she was a few levels above Justin, despite the two sharing the same Rank.

  How many exactly? Nicky didn’t know. But those levels made a significant difference. After all, before her brother had become the new boss of the Blood Swords, he had been a high-leveled Silver, and he had been able to beat Nicky in all their sparring sessions in under a minute.

  And now that he was Gold, she wouldn’t even last ten seconds against him.

  So Nicky knew she’d be able to deal with most of the rest of the Bronze and Iron thugs with ease. Only Justin posed a problem if a fight actually broke out between them. Although, it would be a bit more difficult than a battle to the death since she’d just be fighting to subdue them.

  And then I’ll have to deal with my brother too… she thought as she gritted her teeth. If anything, that was the only real problem she dreaded.

  He was definitely going to punish her for stepping out of line. While she was his sister, that only bought her a few favors with him. And his patience with her was already running thing from her past so-called ‘insubordinations’.

  However, it was seeming more like this outcome was going to become a reality with each passing moment.

  But after a long and tense stare-off, Justin sighed as he took his feet off Mary. “Fine. We’re leaving.”

  He drew back as he walked towards Nicky. His thugs followed after him, and Nicky relaxed her grip over her crossbow. She stepped back, about to leave the scene.

  However, Justin suddenly came to a halt. He glanced back at Mary one last time. “Whenever that brat of yours returns, you better take him straight to us. Until then—”

  He threw Hannah over his shoulders as she squirmed to break free. And he pointed at her as both Nicky and Mary’s eyes grew wide.

  “We’ll be keeping this girl hostage. Is that understood?” Justin said in a low voice.

  Nicky opened her mouth, wanting to argue against it. However, she saw the look on Justin’s face— a dark shadow was cast over his eyes. It didn’t look like he would back down from this.

  So Nicky just bit back her tongue, remaining silent as Mary slowly nodded.

  “I… I understand.”

  ***

  And then the Blood Swords were gone.

  I watched them go, taking Hannah with them as they left Mary behind, bruised and on the ground. I had been watching the scene unfold from the corner of a window.

  I hadn’t been with the rest of the children, gathered and looking on from the front door. If I had been there, the Blood Swords would have seen me, and they’d have probably stormed the house. So that was why I had hidden myself.

  And that was also why I didn’t interfere. After all, if I did, I would have exposed myself as the reincarnation of the Death God. Then I’d have bigger problems to deal with than just a small gang of weaklings coming after me.

  However, while I abstained from acting so far, that didn’t mean I was going to do nothing. I had already planned on dealing with the Blood Swords, but now they have taken Hannah. And I was very fond of Hannah— more so than I should from the single day of interacting we have had.

  Something must’ve happened because of my interference with the reincarnation process, I postulated as I placed a hand on my chest. Even though Eli is dead, some part of his soul remains…

  Stopping myself from interfering had been difficult— it was like my body was compelled to move when I knew logically that hadn’t been the correct decision. And I had to force myself to stand back and watch. But now, I knew I had to get Hannah back before the Blood Swords could hurt her.

  I had wanted to deal with them later on anyway, so this only served to fulfill my goal here.

  So I straightened as I looked out the window in the direction the Blood Swords had gone. And then I looked back towards Mary who was still lying on the ground before the front porch.

  “Martyr’s guide us… Ms Mary, are you ok?” Ethen asked as he helped the middle-aged woman to her feet.

  “I-I’m fine…” she mustered up the reply. The other children huddled around her as she tried to reassure them. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just worried about what they’ll do to Hannah…”

  “But why did they do this? Why did they come after us?” the twins began to sob in unison.

  “What did Eli do?” Jay asked.

  And Ethen pursed his lips and looked my way for a moment. Maybe he blamed me for what happened here. Which was reasonable, even though it technically wasn’t really my fault. Then he shook his head and asked Mary a question. I could barely overhear their conversation. It was all muffled through the other side of the window. But it was evident they were distracted right now.

  So I took this opportunity to take my leave. I stepped away from the window and headed towards the backdoor exit of the orphanage, all the while hatching up a plan to deal with the Blood Swords.