6 Chapter 6: The Locket

Chapter 6: The Locket

"His name is Shiro!!" Those exclaimed words entered the doctor's ears. He sighed while massaging his head, simultaneously looking around.

His clinic was basically a house made of wood, with barely any advanced equipment present, highlighting just how shabby this place was. Well, this was to be expected. In fact, this clinic was better than other commoners' houses within this land. Most of these people barely survived. More than 50% of 6-year-olds didn't wake up to see their next birthday.

To make matters worse, this land was always under the constant threat of flood and high tides. Despite that, these people lived here, facing the hard times. They didn't have any other choice. They couldn't even afford a satisfying meal, much less dream of traveling to a better place and settling there.

There was also the need to evacuate to higher land during the rainy season. No one wanted to drown, did they?

But the recent storm that took place could only be described as unexpected. It could be described as a bittersweet event. This was the hottest month of the year, called the month of Solaris or the month of summer. Rain occurring in this month, especially followed by a heavy storm, was really unexpected. Though to these people inhabiting the land, Rainwater was necessary and useful in many ways, if the intensity of the rain was too much to bear, it'd do more harm than good.

Back at the clinic, the doctor raised one of his eyebrows in amusement.

"Shiro?"

"How did you stumble upon that name?"

"Well, I took it from the tales of the Sea Hero..." The lady replied, while worriedly looking at the child.

"Huh? Tales of the Sea Hero? That childish story?" the doctor laughed after hearing that. He started doing his final analysis.

Shiro was quiet all this time, but when the doctor started checking him, tears flooded his eyes, most probably because he felt irritated.

"Seems like the young man is hungry... feed him, he will be alright," the doctor said casually after doing a few final analyses. He then handed the child back to her. As soon as Shiro returned to her arms, he seemed to calm down a bit.

"Oh... he is hungry...", she sighed with relief after hearing that.

"Thanks, Mornil...", she thanked the doctor, Mornil Swagger.

"Ah, that's fine Loyola... you can visit me anytime..." he said. Loyola and Mornil seemed to be on friendly terms.

Mornil seemed like a kind and warm person since he was ready to help anyone anytime, but he was strict at times.

After talking with Mornil for a few more minutes, she finally left.

"Haha, the tales of the sea hero she says..." He couldn't help but laugh even louder. Indeed, in ancient literature, this word pronounced would be understood as a Sea Traveller or a Sea Hero.

Probably that was also what Ria thought while naming Shiro!

On the other hand, Loyola rushed to her house. She had a firm will in her eyes. The others in this village will sell this baby for a few measly coins when they'd know that he didn't have a guardian.

Time passed as she finally reached her so-called house. It looked even more lousy and shabby compared to the doctor's clinic. With a swift movement of her hand, she unlocked the door and entered.

Sluggishly she walked towards the concrete hard bed and then sat on it.

"Eh? Mom... who is he?" This voice naturally brought a smile to her face. In her blurry line of vision, a small girl around the age of 7 to 8 popped out of nowhere with a curious expression on her face.

The urge to pat her was instinctive. No one could deny this. Moreover, one would also feel sorry when one's eyes would notice what condition she was in. Malnourished and skinny...

However, harboring such feelings and actually helping the kid were two different matters. Such privileges only belonged to the nobles.

Malnourishment in such an area was nothing to fret over. It was quite common. Food was scarce. Being so close to the sea, they could've easily hunted fish. Unfortunately, the Sea Federation with its greedy nature had to stick in.

An outrageous amount of tax was implemented on a single fish. So much so that it was completely 69%. Moreover, they did not accept the tax on fish; instead, they wanted money. There was also this looming danger of the sea monsters and the pirates.

They were monopolizing the profitable business of fishing. A single rare fish could fetch them a fortune. Illegal fishing without paying Tax or obtaining permission was a crime publishable by a life sentence. Many sea guards were present to monitor the fishers and catch the illegal fishermen. So it was a wonder why he wasn't detected by those guards.

"Sera, he is Shiro, from today onwards he is your little brother..." Loyola said this with a smile on her face.

"L-little Brother...?" She tilted her face in confusion, but then her eyes widened. No, they started sparkling!

She looked at Loyola, then slowly moved Shiro and brought him close to her bosom and fed him with milk, as per what Mornil said.

Sera kept staring at Shiro, who was being fed, with a lot of curiosity. It was obvious that she wanted to touch him.

After the feeding session was over, it seemed like Shiro was sound asleep.

Seeing this, she gently placed Shiro on the bed and then walked towards the corner, trying to find leaves or something similar that could make the bed softer.

"You are my little brother... hehe..." Sera laughed while saying that as her fingers stretched forward touching the baby's soft cheeks.

Meanwhile, Loyola had brought the leaves and placed them properly upon which she laid another piece of clothing. Finally, she lifted Shiro and placed him on that.

"Good... now there won't be any problem..." she sighed.

Sera kept looking at Shiro even now and lay down just beside him.

"Good night... Shiro," while saying this, she too fell asleep while holding his right hand.

Shiro slept on the other side of the bed where he wouldn't fall since there was a wall in the room.

The side where Sera was sleeping didn't have any wall so she could have fallen, but Loyola decided to sleep on that side, this time making sure two of her kids didn't fall.

At that moment, she remembered something.

Slowly taking out a locket, she glanced at it. The light radiated by the locket for some reason had long vanished, but she could easily tell that this was made of precious material.

"It's good that I removed this from his body... otherwise if someone had seen it then they could have harmed him..."