Shiro smiled, glad that his mom would no longer be taken advantage of ever again.
Since he had entered through the backdoors as well, he didn't realize that there were other men that were waiting to be entertained by Loyola's screams in front of the entrance.
Since Loyola was a beauty, there were plenty of men from the Anti-Pirate Federation who wanted to sleep with her, at least 5 of them.
When they heard the loud scream, all of them rushed into Loyola's house.
They were shocked to see a small boy with a bloodied knife in his hands, and one of the men from the Anti-Pirate Federation lying unconscious on the floor.
"Who are you?", one of the men roared in anger.
Loyola immediately stood in front of Shiro. "He's my son. He's only 8, he does not know what he's doing."
Shiro frowned. He knew clearly what he was doing. Why was Loyola saying otherwise?
"Your son eh? How do you normally teach your son, Loyola? Like how we teach you?", The man smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, anger still seen on his face.
Loyola seemed flustered as she looked down onto the floor. Shiro realized Loyola was feeling uncomfortable and he felt anger once again.
"I'm going to kill you!", Shiro yelled as he tried to charge toward the man. However, he didn't get far as Loyola held him back. "Shiro, run!", she whispered.
The man got agitated at Shiro's response and reached for the gun placed in his waistband.
*BAM*
He shot the vase that was behind Loyola and Shiro. Screams ensued in the house.
"You want to kill me? How about I shoot your little head first?", The man said again as he reloaded his gun.
Loyola immediately pushed Shiro out of the house through the back door. Sera was walking back home from the market at the same time. Just when she was going to reach the home, she heard a loud bam. She was shocked to see the scene in the house as she rushed inside, but realized that it wasn't a good time to question what had happened.
"Sera, take him away!"
Shots were fired once again. This time, it wasn't pointed toward any furniture or accessory in the house.
It was directed at Shiro's head.
Loyola saw it and immediately jumped in front of Shiro, before the man had pulled the trigger, making herself a human shield for her son.
Alas, the bullet went straight towards her chest.
Sera gasped as she grabbed Shiro's hand and ran as fast as she could, tears running down her eyes, drenching her face completely.
Shiro, who didn't know why he went forward to spill blood of the men, suddenly snapped out of it when Loyola's blood splashed all over his face.
Shiro was still traumatized by what he had seen. Blood was pouring out of Loyola's chest once the bullet struck her. He witnessed the pain Loyola had to endure while mouthing 'Go!' to them. "FOLLOW THEM!" The man yelled as all of the officers behind him ran out of the house.
A chase ensued between Sera, Shiro, and the officers. The villagers who were watching them were confused. Some of them wanted to help Sera and Shiro, but they were frightened by the sight of the guns the officer had.
"Is- is that Shiro and Sera?"
No doubt, they could easily identify Sera and Shiro.
That was because Shiro had a distinct red hair, which no one in the entire village had. As for Sera, her white hair, blue gem-like eyes, and curvy body stood out.
"Oh my goodness, they're being chased by those officers!"
"We should help them. They're such good children, those officers must be extorting them."
"Yeah- wait, are those-"
"Guns?", while some did try to help, the moment they saw the guns in the hands of the officers, they backed down.
In the end, they couldn't do anything to help those poor children. They couldn't risk their lives after all
The officer kept chasing Shiro and Sera, while the both of them kept running.
Eventually, they reached the seashore. Sera spotted huge rocks up ahead and decided to seek shelter there for a while.
Shiro and Sera ran behind the rocks and collapsed instantly. They were breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath after running for so long.
"Shiro, what-what happened?", Sera asked as she leaned back onto the rock, thinking the officers of the Anti-Pirate Federation won't be able to find them.
"Sister, I…"
"I killed a man…", Shiro said as his hands trembled.
"You WHAT?", Sera whispered-yelled towards Shiro.
She was about to enter the house when she was forced to run out after seeing blood spill from Loyola's chest. She barely even had the time to cry or resent. She was so confused that not even a single thing made sense to her right now.
'This must be a dream…' – even this sentence, that could have eased her stinging pain, seemed too distant right now.
"The man who had robbed Mom's dignity, I killed him…", Shiro explained slowly, surprised by Sera's reaction.
Sera widened her eyes in shock. She was not expecting Shiro to confess such a big news.
"Shiro- do you realize what you have done? You're a murderer now…", Sera said as her voice trembled.
"What's a murderer?"
"A murderer is a person who killed people, Shiro. A murderer goes to jail!"
"What you did was totally wrong!"
Shiro was stunned. He had not realized his actions were bad. He had only wanted to avenge his mom, why was he a murderer now?
"But sister, mom was suffering because of them. If anything, they should die!", Shiro firmly said.
"Yes, I totally agree with you. But now, you would be labeled as a murderer for the rest of your life.", Sera sulked.
"And you're only 8 years old, Shiro."
'How can a child this young, wield a knife and kill an officer? Just where did our teachings go wrong?', Sera asked herself, not knowing what she could do right now.
"It's okay if I'm called a murderer, as long as mom doesn't suffer any more grievances."
"But mom's dead!", Sera said as tears poured down her cheeks, anger, and sadness in her eyes.
"Was it worth it? Your lousy revenge ended up killing mom…"
"At least we could see her and be with her every day…"
"Now…"
"Where should I find her? Answer me, Shiro, where is mom?"