Minutes later.

Under the heavy pestering of the little girl, her grandfather was left with no choice but to let Alex and his Companions in.

"Don't think that just because I let you in that you will be entitled to make us do anything…" The old man said as he gave a glare to Alex and Alina. "We may be poor, but we won't be some kind of people that will just roll over for you!"

"Grandpa! Don't be rude to them! They're giving us free food!" The little girl said as she suddenly pinched the old man's waist. "What if they leave now?"

"Pfft…" Alex could barely hold his laughter as he watched the old man getting manhandled by his own granddaughter.

He only stopped giggling when Alina gave him a death glare.

"….."

***********

As they entered the old man's hut, Alina started to access the fried chicken inside her Storage.

While Alina was retrieving the fried chicken, Alex distracted the old man and the little girl, allowing Alina to place the fried chicken inside the pouch slung on her back.

The trick seemed to have worked, as it seemed like the little girl and the old man did not notice anything weird from happening.

"Forgive us if our house was just like this." The old man said as he and his granddaughter sat in front of a small table located at the center of the hut.

The table itself was worn out, although it seemed like it was large enough to accommodate 5 people.

As Alex saw this table, he started to look around him, observing the objects inside the hut.

"…" As far as what Alex can see, there were only minimal number of objects inside the hut, probably only the enough number to accommodate the needs of the old man and the little girl.

"Don't worry old man, I had actually seen worse." Alex replied as he deliberately sat beside the old man.

As for Alina and Queen Mother, they sat on the left and right sides of the little girl, which seemed to have been too much for the little girl herself.

"Big Sisters! You both smell good! Do you have fragrant sweat? The little girl suddenly asked as she tilted her head. "Grandpa tells me that the pretty women that he sometimes visit all smell good because they have fragrant sweat..."

"What the?" Alex almost choked out as he heard what the little girl said. "Your grandpa said that he visits pretty women sometimes?"

"Yes!" The little girl replied quickly as she nodded her head. "Grandpa says that sometimes, he had to relieve his stress, and it's those pretty women that removes his stress... They're pretty cool, right?"

"Nope, nope, nope." Alex repeatedly said as he shook his head. "They're not cool at all."

"???" The little girl could only give Alex an inquisitive look, as she seemed to not understand what Alex was implying.

"…"

Needless to say, the sudden turn of the conversation made everyone in the hut feel extremely uncomfortable, especially Alex.

"Ugh, this is so awkward…" Alex muttered to himself as he glared at the old man, who looked like he was butchered by the words the little girl just said.

"…"

The old man did not say anything to Alex, although the pleading look in his eyes was understood by Alex already.

After glaring at the old man, Alex stared back at the little girl, with him realizing that the little girl was still waiting for Alex to give his answer.

"…"

"Well, how should I explain this…" Alex stuttered as he tried to think of a way to explain what he was thinking about.

Obviously, he cannot just say to the little girl that her grandpa has been 'getting it on' with those pretty women.

She's 4 years old, for god's sake!

Nobody ever tells a 4-year old girl about a brothel! That's just extremely immoral!

"So, how should I go with this?" Alex thought to himself sourly as he scratched his head.

Its either tell the truth to the girl or not tell the truth to the girl.

Telling the truth to the girl will be extremely wrong, obviously.

But not telling the truth to the girl will be just bad too, since it's highly likely that the little girl will pester Alex for answers until he caves in.

That in itself was also bad!

As he was thinking of these conflicting things, Alex let out a tired sigh as he looked once more to the old man.

"…" As a fellow man, Alex can somehow understand the old man's dilemma. However, Alex had no freedom to console the old man now, as he could feel the cold stares of both Alina and Queen Mother drilling on his back.

Just the cold stares from these two were enough to make Alex lose his sympathy to the old man.

"Hmm, what to do…"

After some few seconds of thinking, Alex let out a sigh, as he realized what he should do.

He must find a balance between the two sides.

He gave Alina a pleading look before he looked back at the little girl, who was still waiting for his answer.

Alex smacked his lips a few times before he started to talk to the little girl.

"Well, you see, every time your grandpa visits those women, he pays them some money." Alex said, as he decided to not tell anything inappropriate to the little girl. "He pays them with a lot of money! That's bad right? He spends money for something that he can use to feed you both!"

"…"

By saying that her grandpa was wasting money, Alex can make the little girl get angry with her grandpa, without necessarily telling anything shameless to the little girl.

This is the idea that Alex used, and he gave himself a satisfied smirk as he finished saying his words.

"But my grandpa looks healthier after he visits those women!" The little girl protested as she stared at Alex. "If my grandpa needs to pay with money to make his body healthier, then I won't be complaining! I love grandpa after all, and I want him to always stay healthy!"

"Oh great, now that option has been shot down …" Alex thought to himself wearily as he kneaded his forehead. "How could I expect that this little girl could this be pure and loyal?"

Since that explanation was shot down, Alex decided to use his alternative explanation.

"Every time your grandpa visits those women, he leaves you alone, right?" Alex said as he decided to use the sense of isolation to make the little girl angry. "Leaving you alone here in the mountain is not good, right?"

"I don't have a problem with that, since this mountain is safe!" The little girl proudly said as she raised her fists. "No monsters can enter this mountain, and all the people below are scared of grandpa! So even if grandpa leaves me alone, I will still be safe! Oh, and if grandpa does not come back on time, I will be angry to him! Hmph, even grandpa has to beg if he wants my forgiveness!"

"Oh god, this is just hopeless…" That was all that Alex could say as he resisted the urge to facepalm.

In front of him, he could see Alina giving him a sympathetic look, while Queen Mother was giving him a faintly amused one.

At his side, he could sense the old man letting out a sigh of relief, as if he just averted a disaster.

"Well, how about we start eating now?" The old man said as he patted the little girl's head fondly. "My little girl is hungry already. Or do you want her to stay like this?"

Right on cue, the little girl gave Alina puppy eyes, making the swordswoman unable to refuse.

"Clank, clank." Clanking sounds could be heard as Alina emptied out her pocket, filling the plate on the table with a pile of fried chickens.

"Yay! It's so many!" The little girl was unable to stop herself anymore as she immediately leapt forward, grabbing two fried chickens, with one on each of her hand.

The little girl wasted no time as she started munching on the food with relish.

"Chump, chump, chump."

As the little girl started to eat with relish, Alex and the other started to eat too.

The old man also started to eat, only with more manners compared to the little girl.

*************

"…"

Alex was silent as he observed the current emotions of his two new acquaintances.

Even with the satisfaction brought by them eating fried chicken, the little girl and the old man still had some traces of fear inside them.

This fear, as far as Alex knew, was the one that surfaced when the Red Moon suddenly appeared earlier.

And with his emotion sensing, Alex could still feel that the people living at the base of the mountain were still full of fear even until now.

Analyze these facts together, and its result made something quite obvious to Alex.

And that was the fact that the appearance of the Red Moon could represent something so frightening and so hellish that it was enough to incite fear to anyone who resides in this world.

"But what does the Red Moon represent?" Alex thought to himself as he gave a sideways glance to the old man. "Could there be a prophecy saying that the world will end once 4 moons appear? Or that the Red Moon will lead to the death of many?"

With this raging curiosity inside him, Alex decided to do everything that he can to make the old man spill out information without Alex accidentally outing his lack of knowledge of this world.

"I can ask the old man to tell me some stories of his life… Those kind of stores can give me some insights on how this world works. Yeah, that will definitely work!"

After reaching this conclusion, Alex already set out to make the old man start talking.

But before Alex could open his mouth, something suddenly happened with the little girl.

"Ah!" Out of nowhere, the little girl suddenly started to glow red, with her body fervently releasing bright rays of red light.

After leaving the little girl's body, these rays of red light started to bounce all around the hut, creating a scene that was too bright and painful to look at.

All in all, what happened to the little girl was something that was hard to understand.

To make the matters weirder, Alex also saw that the little girl's body was being affected by the red glow around her.

It was only minute, but Alex could see some slight shifting on the little girl's posture, appearance, and even bearing,

"Tsk, what is this?" Alex thought to himself as he watched what was happening to the little girl with wariness. "Is this the effect of the Red Moon already?"

Knowing that just thinking won't help him out here, Alex immediately swung his head towards the old man, who was watching what was happening to the little girl with a mixture of numerous emotions.

"Old man, what the hell is happening with the little girl?" Alex asked the old man as he approached him. "Is she in danger?"

"She's not in danger, but after this night, Kiera will be in a lot of danger." This was the old man's reply to Alex's question.

Needless to say, Alex was confused by that answer.

"Huh?"