In a small village, far away from large civilizations. In fact, due to it being so isolated, it was unclear on which nation it belongs to. It was in the middle of the mountains and forests, rarely anyone comes to visit the village. So no common individuals knew of its existence.

The villagers live through agriculture. Because of a vast available land which they could use, farms of various crops were established on a large scale, more than enough to sustain the entire village. In addition, with the thick and large forest around them comes animals that can be hunted for food. They would capture some of these animals and make them multiply to have a stable production of meat.

Citizens of this small village lived a decent life. Most could eat three times a day, most could eat delicious food, most have a decent amount of wealth. Well, most of them. There will always be an exception. Not all could live a decent life, not all could taste delicious cuisine at least once a day, and not all can have wealth enough to buy anything they want.

One of them was a little girl whose mother died six months ago. She walked down the streets of the village. As it was just a simple village, the road she walked upon was unpaved. This little girl wore raggedy clothing, her long black hair was a mess, but she tried her best to fix it to look appropriate. Her pair of eyes was dark yellow, the closer you look, the prettier the pair were. Her complexion was light brown like everyone else in the village. On her back, held by her small hands, was a bag full of berries.

Carriages pulled by horses walked past beside her. She did not look up but kept her head down. Away from her sight, scornful gazes pointed at her, as always. Not only that, some looked at her disgustingly. This child endured all the way even though she could feel it all too clearly. For months this happened, and yet, a child like her could do nothing but accept all the glares.

She walked for several minutes, her steps were small, thus even though adults could get to her destination more quickly, this child couldn’t. 

She had finally reached the market. She occasionally comes here to sell berries, most of the time once a week, sometimes once every two weeks.

About late in the morning, the market already has quite a crowd. She walked carefully within the crowd. She was so small and weak, she would stand no chance if she bumped into an adult. With this many people, only a few could see her walk by.

In her best to avoid anyone, a bulk adult bumped into her. It was sudden, so she fell on her bottom and used her other hand as a support. She held the bag firmly so as not to damage the fruit inside. Thankfully, the contents were unharmed.

The little girl looked up to the man as she was about to stand up.

“The demon witch’s spawn? How dare you touch me?!”

The little girl trembled in fear as she bowed her head.

“I’m so sorry sir!”

She closed her eyes in utter fear of getting hurt. The adult was big and scary, therefore, all she could do was brace for it.

“Now I have to get purified just in case I got a curse! Damn you!”

The man’s loud shout attracted the attention of every passerby around. Some looked at her with scornful gazes, after all, they loathed the innocent little girl. But that said, some stared pitifully. Some may have disliked the little girl, but there were a few that did not. That was because some of them believe that the little girl was innocent and had nothing to do with what happened several months ago.

“I am really sorry sir.”

She apologized again, what else can she say? She was baffled by what the man said. She could not understand why she would bring a curse to the adult. She wanted to ask the adult but her fear forced her not to.

“Damn child. How did you even survive until now?”

The man quietly said before moving away from her. Seeing him move, the child sighed in relief.

Many times she had asked why the people hated her so much. However, the answer she got was vague. They said she was still too young to understand fully. Yet, she really wanted to know. In the end, she learned it had something to do with her mother.

Now safe, she moved forward to the store she was going for. However, after she reached her destination, she fell into puzzlement. She looked around. The store stand she was going for was empty, the owner wasn’t there, nor was there any product.

She went to this place the other day to buy something to eat, at the time she saw that there was nobody here, the same as now.

After realizing there was truly no one there, she took a deep breath. She worried about where to sell the berries now that the store she usually sells it to was close. She couldn’t just wait for anything to come, the fruits would deteriorate. She needed to sell them as soon as possible.

She looked around then stopped at a fruit stand a little bit of distance from where she was standing. She walked to it while avoiding bumping to anyone.

Then she approached the clerk.

“Um excuse me mister. I sell berries only for six copper coins, this entire bag. Will you buy it mister?”

After seeing the little girl, the clerk scoffed.

“We want nothing from you. Get lost. You’ll only bring bad luck.”

The clerk waved his hand as though to shoo away an animal. The girl backed away and walked slowly.

No good. If she couldn’t find a store willing to buy her berries, the berries will come to waste. Not only that, she will have no money to buy everything essential. She could just eat her berries, after all she has several berry plants. But she won’t have any money for emergencies. Plus, sometimes no berries would grow. She would starve.

In addition, she should save up some money. What if the season turns for the worst? What if winter comes? Berries won’t grow. If she has no money, then she can't buy anything. She must support herself without relying on anyone else.

She walked around again, trying to find someone to buy her berries. She tried to a store which appeared to not disdain her by judging the looks on the clerk.However, It was futile. They shoved her away. Several minutes passed, and she stood beside the street, contemplating on what to do.

She didn’t know what to do. She began to wonder what happened to the person she usually sold berries to. As she stood quietly, a group of children was approaching her. Of course, the little girl didn’t give them any attention, they were strangers anyways. However, when the group noticed the little girl, they stopped.

The little girl noticed them, it was the first she saw those kids, except for the oldest one. Probably he was about fifteen years old. A younger child — about six or seven years old — approached the older, confused on why he stopped.

“What’s wrong? Who’s she?”

“That right there is the daughter of the demonic witch.”

The little girl twitched. She always hears that term all the time. She couldn’t understand why they called her that. They call her mother a demonic witch, but she couldn’t fully understand why.

“Hey demonic girl! Why are you here?! Get the hell out of here! Watch out guys, she might cast a curse on you.”

“What? W-What do you mean by a curse? I c-can’t do that!” The little girl retorted to defend herself while sensing it was getting dangerous for her.

The old kid grabbed a rock, or rather a pebble for it was the largest rock around. He threw it towards the little girl.

“Egh!” The girl exclaimed while trying to evade it. Unfortunately, the pebble hit her shoulder. Fragile as she was, it was painful, especially when it was thrown by a teenager.

“Please stop!” The little girl begged.

However, it was useless as the other children each grabbed the nearest stone. The little girl covered her head, leaving the bag of berries on the ground to protect herself. The arm protecting her head had become painful from all sorts of points. At any moment, a pebble might cause her to bleed.

“Woah woah woah! Now what’s going on here?”

A voice of a woman reached the little girl’s ear as she covered herself. She took a peek and saw a young woman, probably about the age of eighteen. She wore a dark red robe, her long scarlet hair reached above her waist, and she wore a long pointy hat on her head.

The woman stood between her and the group of kids.

“Throwing rocks at a little girl, are we now? So much for being the oldest one among your friends, kid.”

“Who are you? Never seen you before?”

“I’m just a cute passerby. Now then, if you please stop bullying this little girl?”

“No way! She’s a spawn of a demon! A curse bringer!”

“A curse bringer, huh?”

The woman turned to look at the little girl, and their eyes met. The woman was beautiful, from her light brown skin, to her green eyes. Furthermore, under the robe, she wore a maroon blouse, and a black and red skirt reaching above her knees.

The woman stared at the little girl for a couple seconds before frowning.

“I sense no kind of magic from her. That's a false accusation, kid.”

The woman turned to look at the group of children with an intense gaze.

“Seriously, stop listening to rumors so easily.”

“You know nothing!”

The woman looked around after that remark. Several eyes were directed at her, but she merely shrugged it off.

“Perhaps, but do you know what I know?”

She walked closer to the oldest kid.

“I know a kid bullying a little girl. I see it with my own two beautiful eyes... Ooh, that kid better be careful before scary monsters come to hunt him. Beasts and monsters love people that think they’re so special, did you know that?”

The woman whispered as only the group could hear her.

“Oh, not just beasts and monsters, but also demons. Especially demons, wew. Oh, how much would they give just to have that kind of child? Such kids are their favorite, hmmm I wonder. Eating such a kid would totally fill their stomach. While there is still a chance, kids like that should back off as soon as possible.”

The woman said so while giving them an intimidating look.

The children stepped back, shaken by what the woman said.

“L-Let’s get out of here!”

The children ran fast as they could.

“Hahaha! I love it when they run like that.”

The woman turned around and approached the little girl with a delighted smile on her face.

“It’s okay now little girl, they’re gone, you can relax now.”

Hearing that, the little girl slowly stood up with a little fear remaining in her eyes.

“Uh, um, thank you, Miss.”

“You’re welcome. You don’t have to call me that, my name is Lein.”

“Lein?”

“That’s right. What’s your name?”

“Rume...”

The little girl, Rume, said quietly while taking her bag of berries.

“What a cute name. What’s that?” Lein pointed at the bag Rume holding.

“... Berries... “

“Something for you to eat? Good, it seems it wasn’t damaged or anything during all that.”

“... It’s not for me to eat. I... I’m selling it.”

“Really? How old are you anyway?”

“I’m seven.”

“Seven… you’re already working hard I see. Judging from what I heard, I suppose it’s hard to sell those.”

Rume held the bag with both her tiny hands as she lowered her head. She nodded, confirming that was the case.

“I see.”

Lein smiled quietly for a second before patting Rume’s head with a broad smile.

“Aaagh, I’m hungry, I want to eat something juicy! I think berries would be nice. I’m so hungry that I could eat a ton of it. How much for the entire bag Rume?”

Rume looked up at Lein in surprise.

“Uh, six copper coins...”

“Only six with that many? How lucky I am, I get to save some coins.”

Lein produced six copper coins from a pouch and presented it to Rume.

“I’ll buy the whole bag please.”

“— Thank you very much Miss Lein!”

Rume smiled brightly as she received the coins and gave the bag.

“Thanks for the fruits, little Rume.”

Rume nodded happily. Finally, she could be at ease. Just then, Rume remembered to ask something to the beautiful lady. It bothered her a little and she couldn't get it off her mind. Perhaps that was because she was also shaken by it.

“Um, may I ask something Miss Lein?”

“What is it?”

Rume held both her hands before asking.

“Uh, do demons really love to eat children?”

“Uuuh?” Lein thought of a response, a bit surprised by the question. “Oh yeah, I shouldn’t have said something like that with a child like this nearby…” She whispered to herself.

Lein kneeled down to Rume’s level.

“Of course not, I just said that so those kids would go away. Demons are like any other species. They wouldn’t just eat humans like nothing, they have…uh...you could say preferences.”

Rume listened closely.

“Well, except for monsters, and some beasts… But it seems you already know that. That’s why, don’t go to the forest carelessly, okay?”

Rume nodded showing that she understood.

“But it seems you don’t have to worry about aggressive beasts. The one standing as guardian here is doing a good job.”

“Guardian?” Rume displayed a confused look. She never heard of something like that. Maybe other adults would know.

“You don’t know? Well, no need to think about it. Just know there is a guardian dwelling around here.”

Lein patted Rume’s head as though trying to cheer her up.

“Alright then, little Rume. I should get going. Take care, okay?”

Lein said with a bright and beautiful smile.

“Yes!”

Rume gave a vigorous nod.