1 Little Girl and The Centipede

The little girl of 12 stared at him with caution while her body was wet from head to toe. She had most likely surfaced from the river flowing through the mountain area.

Alex didn't think she was from the village because of her clothes and power. She was wearing form fitting combat garb of gray colour and a jacket of silver colour.

Her feet were covered by the black knee high boots while there were two sharp daggers by her side.

None of these items were of low quality. He could tell because it was something common for him after being in the market for so long along with the basic information from Minerva.

"Sorry to disturb you sir, please do not eat me. I can serve you better alive and am willing to submit to your will."

The little girl with long light blue hair tied in a pony tail said in a calm tone as she looked at him without any fear.

Alex was impressed by the child and could tell that she was intelligent from just this simple interaction.

He could sense that her energy was higher than him but it was in disarray at the moment, which was why she didn't try to run from him.

She was probably stronger than him if he had been another monster and would most likely have killed him.

Alex's demeanour and words showed intelligence which had stopped the girl from acting as the result would be unknown.

She was no simple child that was apparent from those words.

It didn't matter if the world had changed, little children couldn't be so smart normally. Just from her words and actions, Alex concluded that she was from a good background.

Only a child brought up in a harsh environment could act as resourceful as they had to adapt or suffer. The other option would be, being born in a strong family that pushed their children to grow faster.

From her clothes, weapon and words, Alex concluded that she was a rich kid.

Even though she was smart and resourceful, Alex could see the anxiety that she was trying to hide behind a poker face.

She was slightly fidgety and her eyes were trying to look for an escape or backwards.

'Someone was after her.'

Alex felt bad for the child, seeing her in this dangerous situation and decided to help her out.

"Relax child, I do not wish to harm you. My name is Alexander and your name is."

Alex this time controlled the wind to change his voice to his original tone as he had realized that he had been speaking in a monstrous voice.

Listening to his words the girl was wary as nobody in their right mind would trust a monster. She wasn't some hillbilly with the stupid dreams of coming across a helpful monster.

'What is it trying to pull? I need to get out of here quickly.'

The thought of her pursuers were on her mind and she gripped the blades on her back, the blades that represented the dignity of her family.

"My name is Rose."

Alex couldn't tell if she was lying or not but it didn't matter, a name was just a name to him.

"A fitting name for cute little child but what is this child doing here. Are there some bad men after you? Are you in danger that involves life and death?

If running alone is sufficient then you can leave now."

Alex sadly had no reputation in this world to rely on. He was in an awkward situation where even he would not have chosen to trust some random monster.

There was simply no way to earn the trust with words in this situation as it was a matter of emergency unless Alex could defeat her enemies.

It was pretty much impossible for him at the moment since the enemy most likely consisted of level two cultivators.

Alex was level 1 and so was Rose.

Cultivation had ten levels that became increasing difficult as you climbed the ladder.

Different regions gave each stage different names but Alex preferred going with the levels, it was simple and the names were just embellishments.

With the words out his mouth, Alex moved to the side and put more distance between them.

The situation confused Rose as she had been taught that all monsters were enemies and needed to be eradicated.

'It could be a trap but...' Rose gulped and looked at Alex while her boots dug into the soil

She looked back and used a telepathic skill with some difficult as her body was damaged slightly.

The skill allowed her to connect her vision to a bird in flight and Rose found her targets with moments. They were slowly moving towards this location as her stealth skill was masking her energy signature.

'Do or die now' Rose didn't even consider getting help from the monster and just ran while holding her daggers in case the beast attacked

"There are enemies moving towards this direction, Mister Alexander." Rose warned as she disappeared into the woods

Alex could tell that she wanted him to fight against the pursuers to give her a chance to slip away safely but that would be suicide.

In the end Rose was still a child and unless she had some support this was going to end in a tragedy.

If they were here than they must have people around this region to kill her and Alex thought they must have some way to locate her general location.

'Or they put people along the river. They must have a deep grudge to do this.'

Taking in the different possibilities within seconds, Alex operated the energy that had returned back in small amounts after the feast.

Becoming invisible and silent, Alex moved like a ghost towards Rose.

The girl was in a hurry but she moved without leaving any clues, not even smell.

'Some kind of assassin or thief family.' Alex wondered as such thoughts moved around his mind and he overtook Rose before coiling his body around the desperate child.

"Relax Rose I am trying to keep you safe. The pursuers will end up finding you, if you continue to run around blindly. You can stay at my place for some time until they have left. I will try to make them think you have been eaten by using some of your blood and boots. Speak quietly and carefully."

Alex spoke calmly trying to make her understand the situation while Rose's body was cringing from being in such close contact with an abomination.

Her mind had frozen and filled with fear, disgust and hopelessness.

Even the relief of unconsciousness was not in her fate as the monster pricked her with his metallic limbs.

Tears fell from her beautiful green eyes and she bit her lips to stammer her cry.

Her heart beat with intensity, like it was about to explode before she remembered her father's words.

'Always stay calm and analyze the situation. There is always an answer so never give up hope.'

'There is nothing impossible in this world. Just because we haven't seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen so always expect the unexpected.'

'You are my beautiful warrior princess and the hope of the clan. Live and bring justice to the clan.'

With those words Rose felt some measure of calmness as it was normal for her clan members to stay calm in all situations.

It was the basic foundation of her clan.

Calm didn't mean she could see the picture that Alex saw but agreed that if the monster would do his part properly than her safety was mostly guaranteed.

"Why are you doing this?"

Rose asked this question to establish the reasoning of this monster.

"I like helping good people and children. It is the right thing to do and I would regret never extended a helping hand towards a hapless child."

Alex answered honestly and truly this was not his first time since he had done much to help poor children.

He had established orphanages, given free education to these children and even training so that adult life wasn't too difficult for them.

He had gone out of his way to establish projects to help children with the help of his connections. People had money to spare in his circle of friends and they knew if they gave some wrong reason than this relationship between them would become business only.

You don't have to give too much but you need to at least give something since it wouldn't really affect you at all.

Alex didn't like giving out his money to unknown people or to poor people directly, he liked to see results so it had be his projects or someone he knew personally.

So he wasn't speaking some words that held no meaning but obviously no one in this world except the other chosen and Minerva would believe them at the moment.

Just like he expected Rose didn't believe his words but she had no choice and went along with his play while thinking about his actual objective.

'Did he notice something about me? Does he want to try raising a human child? Does he want to play around with food? Does he want to use me in some demonic ritual?'

There were many possible answers and none were good but Rose could only take the gamble while trying to quickly heal up the damage so the beast could be taken down when necessary.

At the moment a battle between them would attract the enemies and leave her tired with more injuries.

"I will trust your words." Rose answered and felt Alex loosen his body

Taking off her boots, Rose felt Alexander's sickle cut her delicate arm and caused blood to fall to the floor.

Alex chewed the boots and threw them to the side in disgust.

'Really, I wish I can purge this memory from my mind later.'

With the blood on the ground and the boots taken care of, Rose healed her wound and Alex carried her under his body towards a cave that he had marked while looking around the area.

In the place where there was blood, Alex had also carved the ground with his sickles so that it looked an attack had happened by surprise.

Before long men wearing blank masks appeared with no insignia unlike Rose, who carried daggers with the Raven insignia.

One of them men went down on his knees and checked the blood with a crystal that had been bathed in the blood of the slaughtered clan.

It would glow if it came close to a blood kin and just like that it shown with blood red colour.

"Sir, it seems the prey has been eaten by the Iron Centipede."

The team leader stayed silent as he took in the clues and found nothing suspicious as none would suspect the monster working together with the child.

"Keep a look out for three days to make sure nothing unexpected took place." The leader commanded as he gave one last look and followed the direction of the beast

Alex had put signs on the ground and trees to act like the local tyrant so that the enemies could check up on him and see that he was still alive.

The leader arrived few meters from the cave and could see inside clearly with the usage of his energy flowing through his eyes.

It was one of the basic skills for a professional but was difficult to learn as a mistake could mean losing an eye.

Seeing the large centipede sleeping inside, the leader turned around and left the area to report the success of the mission.

Being in such a precarious situation was definitely nerve racking as he felt the responsibility of the delicate life under his care.

It was a good thing he had gotten used to being under pressure or he might have shown difficult expressions on his face and voice.

Even living in this dark forest away from any civilization, away from family and within an area filled with monsters and barbarians, Alex would have definitely declined as a young man.

He was a strange man that learned and overcome his weaknesses by facing them directly while burning bridges from behind when possible to force himself to adapt.

To counter his communication problems, he had given his friends full freedom to drag him into terrible situations. He had gone ahead and tried to converse with strangers that had nothing in common with him, on the streets.

He had forced himself to go and talk to girls, get their numbers and if he failed there was a beating waiting for him at the Dojo where he was taking Judo classes with one of his friends.

He had forced himself to camp inside the forest alone. It was one of the worst times of his life, where he couldn't sleep the first night.

Alex was full of confidence and had a carefree attitude when he had his bros but alone in the night, his overactive imagination could get the best of him.

So he had countered this problem by facing it all alone in the worst kind of location. He still wouldn't dare stay a night in those ancient places or haunted mansions.

These forced actions had built up his resistance to pressure and fear, meaning he remained calm in all situations.

But the fragile life within his grasp was another case, Rose wasn't used to such dangerous situations and she had seen her family members die.

She was living with the knowledge that her parents had been murdered and she was now in the hands of a monster while pursuers were looking to end her life.

Her body was tense and her heart beat felt so loud that Rose thought the enemy might hear it. Her hands were sweaty and she felt the urge to stab the daggers into the weaker side of this monster.

She was waiting for the surprise.

She was waiting for the monster to attack when it felt that Rose might have relaxed from the relief brought by the safety from the enemies.

Her eyes were locked on to the target and her hands tightened around the dagger, she would attack the moment it showed its fangs.

Alex didn't know what she was thinking but he didn't believe that Rose believed him completely, he was just that optimistic about people.

He didn't trust people at all after his experiences throughout his working life, not even his relatives.

"They might stay around for a few days to make sure that your death happened so you will have to stay for a few days. After that, do you have anywhere to go or do you need my help?"

Rose agreed to his words as she expected such a thing.

"I will leave for Makuria where the remaining members of family are living."

Alex didn't comment on the fact that she was about to leave for an enemy Kingdom since this Kingdom wasn't safe for her at all.

"Do you need help getting to the border?"

"Thank you for the offer but I will be fine. This is more than enough and I don't know how to repay you."

"That's very easy....Grow up to become a strong and virtuous woman. Live with a kindness in your heart and actions. Live with humility and compassion. Never push down the weak and help people when possible. Kill only those that have gone too far and can't be reasoned with. Finally, I want to tell you that I might not understand what you are going through but please try to stay positive or these negative emotions will destroy your life. Your family would never want you to drown in sorrow. I might not have been a parent but I have taken care of children so I know the feeling."

Rose had almost attacked him but stopped when she heard his words and felt her eyes get wet from tears. The body loosened up a little and she actually ended up crying.

"Mister, sniff... you are a human, aren't you?" Rose asked through her tears

"Yes, I am human."

"Are you using transformation or did you take over this monster?"

"It's my new body while my real body is taking a rest."

Rose's eyes widened, "Mister, are you super powerful?"

Looking at those shining eyes, Alex wanted to say the truth but sometimes lies are better in specific situations.

"Yes but I can't return to my body for now so I am living the life as a bug so keep it a secret, okay."

"Yes yes, I will keep it a secret." Rose nodded and Alex could see the fatigue on her body

"Good child, sleep for now and I will keep watch."

Rose felt some positive emotions for Alex now after his words but even then it wasn't enough. Regardless of her desire, the body was too tired and she fell asleep after few minutes.

Alex also felt fatigue build up inside his body after going through such a hectic day but luckily he was used to staying awake for the whole day when the situation required.

'Sad that such a young child has to go through this. I don't know if she can safely arrive at her destination or the ethics of those people. The world was too dangerous so I can offer her the option to stay by my side for now but I doubt she would accept this offer.'

'The men are still in the area so we can't cook anything so she would have to do with the fruits for now. Hopefully the leave soon or it could become dangerous.'

Alex thought while cultivating his energy and body by absorbing the energy from the world while his body covered up Rose from view.

With his face towards the entrance, Alexander was ready for any danger that might attack them and with an escape plan available just in case.