"That's it. I will back off from this alliance. Rather than killing Sur village, I am afraid my people will be the ones that die first." replied Datun.
"Then, pay for the compensation and begone." said Estar.
"Compensation??" asked Datun confusedly.
"When you join this alliance, you are also signed to the contract like all of us. The one that wants to back off the alliance needs to pay compensation to others." said Farkas.
"What?? This is the first time I hear something like that??" said Datun.
"That means you are truly a dumbass. How could you sign a contract without carefully looking at it?" said Mirva.
"Y-You… Fine, then are you fine to let your people suffer under this weather? Although I hate Sur village, I will never let my people suffer like this. It's better for them to die." asked Datun.
"Of course not. I will also not let my people suffer, but who expects that the Sur village will do something despicable like this." said Mirva.
"Alright, that's enough. It seems none of us want to pay compensation to break the alliance. So, let's focus on the current situation. We can't let the Sur village get the upper hand." said Farkas.
"But, what are we going to do? From my spy, they seem to be holed up inside the Ancestral Ruin. There is around a week before the Ancestral Ruin closes. By that time, I believe our injured forces will not hold up." said Datun.
"Let's not forget about the monster. We also need to send men to fend off the monster from our camp." added Estar.
"Hm… How about this…" as Farkas begins to tell his plan.
After a lengthy discussion between the village leaders, they decide to arrange the men first. While they start brewing their plan, Angus rests with the monster-minded girl inside the tent.
After inquiring about the girl, Angus finds her name is Anna. She comes from a small village in the nearby mountains. However, her village is raided by slave traders and mercenaries.
Most of her family and the other villagers do not survive the attack, and only a few lucky people like her survive the attack. Then, she is forced to be a slave by the slave trader.
Most of the slaves couldn't survive under the harsh treatment, and some of them also died fighting in the battlefield arena.
By coincidence, Anna is only ten years old and still too young to fight in the battlefield arena, making her the only survivor from her village. Later, she is being bought by the four big village forces as cannon fodder or meat shield.
However, she somehow managed to survive and escape the battlefield. Finally, she meets with Angus, who is currently taking care of her.
Now, Angus has a headache because of Anna. During his inquiry, he realizes that the little girl is completely broken in mind. Although she is broken, she is still obedient to Angus.
Angus didn't know why the girl was still obedient to him, but her crazy behavior always stopped when Angus told her to stop it.
She often asks why for a long time before releasing a miasma nearby. According to Draven's knowledge, Angus found that her mental instability is the side effect of the miasma.
At first, Angus didn't truly care about this, but Anna sometimes annoys him with this side effect and often acts like a baby.
'Damn.. If I know taking care of her will be this troublesome, I should just leave her alone. But, abandoning a miserable child in front of me leaves me with a bad taste. I guess I could only be patient.' thought Angus.
Currently, Angus is cleaning Anna using the bathing tool he bought before. Like a child, Anna immediately played with all the soap bubbles while Angus cleaned her body.
He could clean Anna's body using a spell, but he wants to test her mentality if exposed to excellent care and hospitality.
Angus also wanted to check her body during this time. Like the rumor he heard, Anna has two cores inside her heart. One is to control mana, and the other is to control miasma.
Because of these two cores, her body is more resilient than ordinary people. This is also the main reason she could stay alive all this long and escape from the battlefield that is far away from here.
Unfortunately, Angus didn't manage to identify her race. Although she is similar to the human race, her skin color is too pale for an average human. He also found her skinny body is recovering at a fast rate after properly eating and drinking.
Angus didn't know if this was the characteristic of a monster-minded person or her race. He also found that her physical body is almost as strong as a third-grade combatant.
Although both of her cores are still in the first grade, the effect is not like one plus one. Having two cores inside her body is changing her body in qualitative and makes her significantly stronger.
After cleaning Anna, Angus decided to rest while waiting for the other news. Since the bombing attack, Angus guesses the other camp will think of an excellent countermeasure against some infiltrator.
Because of this, he has a few days to rest while waiting for the other village leader to move. He hopes that they decide to retreat and leave the Sur village alone for now.
While waiting for any news through a communication device, "Name? What's your name?" asked Anna to Angus while looking with her pitch-black eye.
"Angus.. Angus Victory." replied Angus shortly.
"A-ngus Vic-to-ry." said Anna before staying silent.
After a while, "Are you going to leave me?" asked Anna.
Hearing this, Angus frowns. "Why are you asking? Do you want me to leave you?" asked Angus back.
Anna shook her head, "No, Angus is kind to me. I also like bubbles. It's soft, fluffy, and bursts easily." said Anna.
"Kind?? I am not kind. I just don't want to kill you yet. However, if a situation arrives, I may be forced to kill you. Besides, I already have someone I need to protect and take care of." said Angus.
"Is this someone your lover? Mommy said everyone has their own lover." as Anna ignores the first part of Angus's sentence.
"Yes, she is my love. If you dare to harm her, It will be the last thing you want to do." said Angus coldly.
"Then, If I don't hurt Angus's lover, I can stay with you, and you will not kill me, right? I also could play with bubbles." said Anna innocently.
Hearing this, Angus frowned a little bit, 'Although sometimes she is crazy, she is also quite intelligent like any other ten years old kid.' thought Angus.
"Why do you like bubbles?" asked Angus.
"Hmm.. they are fluffy, cute, and easy to burst like life. Hehehe.. Why? Do Angus care about bubbles?" said Anna in a crazed tone.
"No, I don't care about them." said Angus.
"Then, I can destroy them. Destroy all of them. Hehe.. hehe.. " said Anna.
"Why do you want to destroy them?" asked Angus back.
"I.. Just.. Feel it." replied Anna.
"Then, are you also going to destroy my lover and me if you feel it?" asked Angus coldly.
"NO!! Angus and his lover are off-limits. I will never harm them." replied Anna.
"Then, what about the others? Do you also want to destroy or harm them?" asked Angus.
"Were they important people to Angus?" asked Anna back.
"Not really. There are some people that I care about. But, are you going to harm people based on your feelings?" asked Angus again.
Anna didn't reply but only nodded her small head.
"Hmm.. if you say that way, then I should kill you by now." said Angus coldly,
"Ehh.. Why?? Did I do something wrong?" asked Anna frantically.
"You said you just trust your feeling, in other words, your instinct. Then, I should also trust my instinct. Ever since I met you, my instinct kept telling me to kill you. So, did you know why I am still not killing you?" asked Angus.
Anna shook her head in confusion.
"It's because I fight against this instinct. Although sometimes instinct and feeling are great things, you are the real decision-maker. You can't just be led by instinct. Otherwise, you are no different than a mindless beast." explained Angus.
"So, Are you going to let your feelings dictate you like a mindless beast, or are you the one that is going to decide what you are going to do?" asked Angus coldly.
Anna fell silent hearing this.
Then, Angus added, "Anna, tell me why do you choose to stay with me? You know I hurt you. I was even going to kill you before. Your feelings must tell you that you need to escape from me. So, why did you choose to stay with me?" asked Angus.
"I.. I don't know. I thought at that time. You are the only one that could save me. Angus is scary, but you also could help me. Did I choose wrong?" Asked Anna.
"No, there is no right and wrong answer when you are making a decision. But, I am glad you could fight your instinct. If you are going to stay with me, you need to be like that." said Angus.
"Fighting my instinct??" asked Anna.