[Gwen's Pov]
When was it?
The day everything was ruined.
And my world changed.
I was nothing but a normal village girl. My parents got along very well, even though we weren't rich. We were a happy family.
Every morning, I would wake up from my bed along with my brother and help my mother with preparations. We would see off my father as he went to his job as a village guard.
Then, we would leave our home with my mother and brother, heading towards our small farm where my mother grew small crops that barely sustained us.
Due to our appearance, many people in the village looked down on us, and kids my age would always bully me. But my brother was fierce and would always fight back against those kids.
They even called my brother a monster because of his fierceness and appearance. However, I knew how kind my brother was to me.
And one day, after helping my mother tend to her farm, we returned home, but our father didn't come back until late at night. He was covered in injuries, with his head bleeding and one of his arms limping, leaving a trail of blood. Everyone grew worried and hurriedly helped him to the makeshift bed made of straw that my mother had sewn together and placed on a small wooden frame.
Tears welled up in my mother's eyes as she saw the state my father was in, but he simply smiled and reassured her, saying, "Don't worry, dear. This kind of injury isn't enough to take my life. Just let me rest for a while."
"J-just what happened, dear?" my mother asked, her voice trembling.
My father began to explain how he got injured. It turned out that the village chief had suddenly ordered the hunters and guards, including my father, to go and hunt down the dire wolves in the nearby forest for their fur, as winter was approaching.
"But it's weird. Usually, hunting is the job of the hunters. Why do the village guards need to leave too?" my father questioned, his skepticism evident.
It seemed like the village chief suddenly had a high demand for dire wolf fur, but the reason behind it was unclear.
"But, dear, we don't really lack fur to keep us warm for the upcoming winter," Mother replied, mentioning that a single dire wolf fur is enough to keep an entire family warm, given the size and abundance of fur on a dire wolf.
"Yes, that's what I thought too, but everyone else seems to know something they didn't tell me," Father spoke in a tone of dejection.
After talking for a while, Mother cleaned up Father's body and allowed him to rest. My brother and I slept on our own straw beds in the corner after tidying up the dishes.
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Morning came, and the entire family woke up to a sudden knock on the door.
KNOCK
KNOCK
"Oii!! The village chief has ordered every guard to get ready for another hunt! Get your lazy ass up!"
My mother hurriedly went to the door and greeted the two men standing outside.
The faces of the two men suddenly contorted in disguise, and they spoke in an annoying tone.
"Where is your husband? If we make the village chief wait too long, forget about your pay."
Upon hearing that my father needed to go out and hunt again, my mother jumped in fright and explained to them that my father was currently injured and it didn't seem to be a minor injury.
The expressions of the two men twisted, and they pushed my mother aside as they entered the house.
Upon seeing my injured father lying on the bed, they frowned, their minds seemingly preoccupied.
But just as one of them was about to say something, the other person stopped him with a look and gestured for him to go outside.
They suddenly left without saying anything.
One of them asked the other, "Big bro, why did you stop me? Without that guy, who's going to be on the front line?"
The younger-looking one spoke in frustration.
"Haha, you might not know this, but the dire wolf fur is currently in high demand by a merchant group that will arrive in a week," the older man explained, shedding light on the reason why the village chief was trying to obtain a large quantity of fur.
"No wonder the chief is hunting the dire wolves more than usual, but what does that have to do with us?" the younger man still questioned, perplexed by his brother's sudden revelation.
"And you might not know this either, but the village chief plans to hoard most of the profits from selling the fur to the merchant and intends to leave this village with his newfound fortune for the nearby city."
"Eh? How do you know that? Didn't the village chief promise to share the profits with us?" the younger man recalled the agreement everyone had with the village chief, except for the one lying on the bed, unaware of everything.
"I sneaked around last night and happened to be near the village chief's house while he was talking to his son. It turns out he struck a deal with that merchant, who is willing to pay ten times the regular price for the fur."
"Ten times!? Damn that greedy old man. He never mentioned that; he planned to share only the normal price with us while pretending to be kind," the younger man complained, but suddenly a realization struck him as he looked at his older brother.
"Don't tell me you want to..."
"Haha, it seems like you understand me quite well. Yes, I plan to steal some of that fur and secretly sell it to the merchant after they leave, all while framing that worthless trash. There won't be any other suspects since every capable man has left for the hunt."
"But won't we also have to leave? There's no way we can steal it once we're back."
"Don't worry. I will cover for you, and while you're sneaking back into the village, you can create fake tracks leading to that trash's home."