Kapitel 3: Chapter 1: "Love" Part 3

In the slums just outside of the royal capital where the Martins lived, there were many children who were just like Henry and his little sister that had to fend for themselves, they were vulnerable.

They would sometimes get beaten to death by merchants and some of them weren't even thieves, just merely asking for bread even if it had mould was enough to earn them beatings.

It was truly a dog-eat-dog world, it was a lawless area where drugs and humans were sold on a daily basis, the orphans of this area had absolutely no escape, no future.

Or at least that used to be the case until the children started banding together.

Together they formed a gang, an extremely violent and ruthless group of children. Within their gang there was a strict hierarchy, the strongest ate first and the younger weaker ones were only left to make do with the scraps left behind.

This might sound horrible but it was much better than what they got outside this gang.

The truth is most of the children here had run away from the orphanage after realizing that it was secretly selling children to slave traders under the false pretense that they were being adopted, they had nowhere to go and this gang was the closest thing to paradise that these children had ever experienced.

They had a leader of course, he was the one that banded them together two years ago with brute force, he was tyrant and his name was Cain, a 17-year-old boy who sent shivers to any merchant in the royal capital who heard his name.

It was rumored that he had combat ability comparable to a high D-rank warrior and unlike Henry who had no idea that he was a prodigy, Cain knew his capabilities quite well to the extent that it even made him arrogant.

Then why is it that he remained in the slums rather than enlisting in a guild? Was it because he felt obligated to look after the other kids in the slums simply because he had talent?

No, not even close, Cain knew how big the world was and that there were other people who were more talented than himself in the royal capital.

But here he was a King.

He had once tried to recruit Henry into his fold after witnessing him successfully steal from a merchant's cargo which had two armed guards, what puzzled him the most is that he only took what he needed and he didn't even harm the guards, well he did not care about his intentions all.

What he cared about was Henry's skill and how he could further spread his influence with Henry by his side.

He sent his close associate Marcel (15), to try and convince him to join. Marcel had a personality completely opposite to that of Cain, but he was brutal when he needed to be, especially when one of the kids in their gang was in danger.

Henry quickly declined the invitation for him and his little sister to join the gang even with the sweet promise of shelter and safety Henry decided that they were far too violent and it was not the environment that he wanted his little sister to grow up in.

In fact he would often steal books on some of his raids so his little sister could read. He wanted to shield his little sister from all the atrocities of the world as much as possible.

//////

Marcel was approaching the shack that the Martins lived in, they heard from one of the kids that they sent to keep an eye on Henry of the tragedy that transpired two days ago, Cain thought that this was their opportunity to bring Henry into their fold, and naturally Marcel was against the idea and thought it would be best to wait and give Henry a chance to heal both physically and emotionally.

But Cain's greed got the better of him and he insisted.

Marcel was once again sent by Cain to personally persuade Henry to join them.

Not too far besides the shack that the Martins lived in was a figure standing on top of a mount, He had brown chocolate skin and bandages around his abdomen and forehead, and his dreadlocks were being gently caressed by the wind, his eyes pitch black with long eyelashes.

If it weren't for him urinating at that exact moment you would think he was a girl based on his facial features.

It was Henry, standing atop where he had buried his father and relieving himself on that very spot, Marcel caught a whiff of the stench around the grave and could tell that this was where Henry often came to relieve himself as if it was an attempt to ensure that his hatred for his father reached him in the afterlife.

Henry looked back at Marcel with a cold look in his eyes.

"Oh, it's you Marcel what is it that you want?"

Marcel swallowed a large amount of his saliva as if he were trying to swallow his fear.

[I'm a year older than him yet I find him almost as intimidating as Cain. It feels like I'll get killed if I speak out of hand]

"I apologize for my rudeness Henry, but I heard about the tragedies that you experienced, I would like to extend my condolences."

"Ah, I was wondering where that rat Cain had sent to keep an eye on me went. I have no interest in hearing your words Marcel, Cain did not send you all the way here to tell me that did he? Why did he send you to me?"

"We would like to once again send our invitation for you to join us, we feel you would make a great addition and—"

"Fine. I'll join your gang I can't possibly live here alone forever, can I?"

Henry said this with a gentle smile on his face that seemed to almost fluster a usually calm Marcel, but he thought to himself how it was much better than the cold Henry that he had seen earlier.

But wait something was wrong.

[That was too quick! He even knew that we had someone watch him this whole time, did he respond quickly because he knew how we would act or is he planning something? No, it's pointless now all that matters is that we finally have him.]

"Great, pack all your necessities I have orders to take you to our base as soon as you accept."

Their base was situated in the western part of the slums near the dumping site, it was made up of a circular cluster of all kinds of material, wood, steel, bricks, rocks etc...

It may have looked quite shabby but it served as a wall. It was 8m tall and had a diameter of 600m.

On top you could see kids of both genders carrying bow and arrows with spears and bricks standing beside them, and the entrance to this fortress was made of steel and it seemed like it required a lot of force to be open, it would take at least 15 full grown men to push it simultaneously to open it from the outside.

But from the inside the kids had set up a pulley and lever system apparently designed by Marcel.

With a loud creak the gate opened, Marcel entered followed by Henry and the gate closed as soon as they entered inside Henry could see multiple tents and shacks and a lot of kids.

Some were older than him and some were younger than even his 9-year-old little sister, there were 125 of them in total and Cain was the oldest of them.

On an elevated platform at the center of the base sat a well-built young man with brunette hair and a scar on his right eye

It was Cain looking at Henry like how a lion would its prey, Henry glared back at Cain except his was far too cold to be compared to that of a lion's.

A Serpent's would be more suitable.

Cain stood up and spread his arms.

"Yo kiddo welcome, this here's gon be ya new family from now on. Bend ya knee and swear fealty and subservience to me."

Henry grinned and clenched the tilt of his dagger.

"Ah well you see; I can only do that if you're as strong as a certain giant of a man. And I don't think you're much anyway."

He lunged! He was a step faster than he was when fighting David.

With veins pulsating on his forehead Cain lunged in response and the sound of their metal blades clashing was deafening and echoed throughout the entire base.

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