The Last of Her Kind

"What is wrong with you, huh?" Vir felt annoyed with the little girl and put on his pants in a hurry. "You idiot! I'm a grown man and you're too young to see a grown man's naked body. Got it?"

The little girl briefly glanced at the unique tattoo on Vir's right waist. "If you really didn't want to be seen, why did you get out of the pool? And you said I was the stupid one. Yikes!"

Vir widened his eyes in disbelief at the little girl, then growled loudly in exasperation.

"You want to watch me freeze to death, is that it?"

The little girl shrugged her shoulders, then approached the edge of the pool.

"What a little brat!" Vir snorted, then stepped closer to his cart shirtless.

And just like before, the little girl didn't care at all, she took off the bundle on her back, and placed the bundle on a dry spot, then took off her clothes so that she was completely naked, and placed her clothes near her bundle.

"What are you doing?" Vir exclaimed at the little girl. "Damn it!"

"Can't you see?" the little girl replied indifferently as she descended the wide steps. "I'm going to take a bath as well."

Vir could only shake his head. "What a weird little girl! What if I did something to you, huh?"

The little girl grinned. "I don't think that's going to happen. You're not that bad!"

"Whatever!" Vir snorted. "What a freak!"

From inside his cart, he took out a fistful of dried meat and a fairly wide fistful of dried bread. After that, Vir built a bonfire near his cart.

While Vir was grilling the food, the little girl splashed into the pond. She swam around very leisurely without feeling the slightest concern about her naked condition.

The little girl soaked in the pool for only a short while as the smell of grilled meat lured her to finish her bath.

Vir grinned with a shake of his head. Well, looks like the little girl is very hungry indeed, he thought.

"Sit down!" said Vir after the little girl had put her clothes back on. "Here, take it. And don't rush, it's still hot."

Vir handed the little girl a slice of cooked bacon.

"So, you are a Vulcher, huh?"

Vir gasped, then looked with dilated eyes at the little girl who was biting into the grilled meat in her hand.

He looked more intently at the nine-year-old girl. At her blue eyes that looked even more beautiful at night, as well as her reddish and still-wet hair.

Who is she? Vir asked silently.

"Hey!" he said with a serious look. "Don't you ever mention this to anyone! Do you understand?"

"Yeah, for sure," said the little girl. "Or those people will capture, torture, or even kill you. The same thing that happened to all the races in the Northeast."

Vir stared intently at the little girl. How could she know all this? he asked himself. After all, she was still a child. Unless it was an adult, then Vir would not be surprised by it.

"Well, all the races in this Southeast Land are the same," the little girl continued.

"There's no point in you bringing up the past," Vir said. "You'll only be bullied by people who lick the emperor's ass!"

"Uh-Huh..." The little girl nodded as she chewed her food. "I know that."

"Damn little brat!" Vir snorted. "You talk like an adult. How annoying!"

"My name is Aira."

"I didn't ask!" snapped Vir, handing the little girl a water bag. "Anyway, how did you follow me all the way here, huh? Are you so lucky that the beasts and dragons didn't eat you?"

"I'm just like you."

"Don't be funny!" said Vir. "I am the last Vulcher. And you, you don't have the same markings as me. How can you say that you're just like me?"

"I'm the last Asurry."

Vir widened his eyes. "Y-You!" he paused and was stunned, looking at the little girl from head to toe. "How is that possible?" He gulped with difficulty.

Vir approached the little girl, cupped her cheeks, pushed aside the hair that covered part of her face, and then was stunned to find that the little girl's bright blue eyes were slightly different from the blue eyes of the people in the South.

In all honestly, Vir had previously thought that the nine-year-old girl was one of the Southerners.

"Oh, God..." Vir was speechless. "Blue eyes, red hair... Of course!"

"Now you understand, don't you?" said the little girl. "Why don't the beasts and dragons include me in their diet?"

Vir returned to his previous sitting position. "Don't tell me that those Ghost Wolves from earlier-"

"I pity those wolves."

"Damn you!" Vir snorted in annoyance. "You're pitying those damned creatures. What about me, huh? I almost died in their jaws. Crazy girl!"

But this also answered Vir's curiosity about the unusual behavior of the wolves who had previously tried to pounce on him while in the dead forest area. In fact, at that time, he was in a besieged state with nowhere to go.

It all makes sense now, he thought.

The Asurry tribe is a small race that once lived in this now-dead Southeast Land. They were also known as the whisperers who could speak to all kinds of creatures including dragons and had unusual knowledge compared to other races in the world.

"Who would have guessed, huh?" said Vir. "You survived the massacre twenty-four years ago. Someone must have fought tooth and nail for you to be born into this miserable world."

And it must be her mother, Vir thought.

The abilities possessed by the Asurry people have always been passed down from their mothers. Because of this, they are known as the only tribe in the world that still adheres to the matrilineal family system at that time.

"My mother," Aira said, as Vir had expected. "She survived the massacre when she was six or seven. I don't know."

"Just like me," Vir sighed deeply. "Watching my mother, my father, and everyone in my village get slaughtered by the empire's men."

"Someone from the Southern Lands was kind enough to hide my mother and raise her. I don't know what happened, but that someone also became my father."

Vir looked at Aira with a frown. He could guess that from the little girl's figure alone.

Well, Aira had a sweet face that indicated she would be a very beautiful girl later. And with the kinship of the Asurries being passed down from the maternal line, it was no wonder that the little girl's mother was a very beautiful woman.

"You don't have to be upset about this," Vir said. "After all, legend has it that you Asurry women are the most beautiful of all women in this world."

True, Vir muttered to himself. After his mother came of age, the man who saved her probably married the girl himself. Or worst scenario... something despicable happened there.

"Where is your mother now?" Vir deliberately asked like that to provoke something to confirm his assumption. "Or, your Southern father?"

Aira didn't answer Vir's question right away. She finished her dinner, then moved closer to the cart, took out a thick book from her bundle, and sat down leaning against the cart as she opened the pages of the book on her lap.

"My mom died a long time ago," Aira said evenly, her gaze not moving from the open pages of the book.

"I see, huh?" Vir gave a long sigh. "Sorry about that."

"My mother was badly injured after a fight with my father," Aira continued. "And in the end, she managed to kill him."

"Oh God..." Exactly what I expected, Vir thought. "Yeah, those who support the rule of the Central Empire are not trustworthy people. There's always an ulterior motive in everything they do."

The man could only surmise what had happened between Aira's mother and father.

Because of her beauty, Aira's mother was raped by the man who had saved, nurtured and raised her.

Perhaps the man wasn't satisfied with just enjoying Aira's mother's body, he wanted to capitalize on her beauty by selling her into brothels or selling her body to men to enrich himself.

And perhaps, it all started with Aira's mother's own identity. Since the two of them were the only ones left of the people of the Southeast Country, surely the little girl's mother would do anything to keep their bloodline intact and not become extinct.