High Priest Josh was so foolish. If no one helped him, he would die.
Writer Sister was so weak. If no one helped her, she would suffer terribly.
The street children following her were so lonely. If no one helped them, they would have no home.
Gwen walked forward alone as one transparent figure after another gradually appeared around her. They crowded around her, and the little girl slowly began to smile.
She was a solitary child, and had been since she was young. She had always longed for friends, yet could never make any.
Being nice to others out of one-sided wishful thinking would not earn her friends. It would only make everything worse.
She had known that since childhood.
So she learned to stay farther away from the people she liked.
The farther away she was, the better their relationship became. Without contact, there could be no rejection.
Besides, she had many friends by her side whom only she could see.
Strange. Cats, dogs, and other little animals clearly liked her so much.
Why think so much? What did it matter how they saw you? You considered them friends—what did that have to do with them? Little Gwen leaned on her longsword, her face stern.
Exactly, exactly. You only needed to protect them in secret. Didn't that sound cool? All alone, walking through the darkness—
Uh, why did that sound a little embarrassing?
Her friends began chattering again. Gwen pulled her tattered cloak tighter around herself, deftly avoided the Mystic Society believers' patrols, and slipped out in secret.
Order had largely returned to Blood Port. In the Lower City, that showed in the greater number of people hurrying along the streets, while gang members and cultists had become far fewer than before.
Though that prince had not done