Mira took heavy puffs and pants, as she stared at the passed out woman with nothing but disdain. However, the disgruntled expression she wore quickly contorted, as the woman squinted her eyes and bit her lower lip, hard.
"Fuck! That hurts like hell!" She cursed raising her fist over her head, her false facade of being a liberator didn't last for any longer than half a minute.
Her loud shout jolted Philly, he looked over his shoulder, to see his cold hearted elder sister hoping around, muttering all sorts of profanities with her hand tucked in-between her thighs.
For a second, he wondered if this was truly Mira, or some other person who had taken over her body. But then, that was impossible, and not even worth a single second of his time.
"Mi…Mira, Tilly is…" he stopped himself from speaking, suddenly recalling how his sister once tied them both to each other and locked them out of the house, for waking her up from her nap.
He gathered his sister in his arms and tried to carry her inside all by himself. She didn't weigh much, so lifting her off the dirt wasn't hard. However, he hadn't eaten a single morsel of food since last night and could barely stand on his own two feet.
Expectedly, he lost his balance and fell with full force, his head aimed to land on a large stone just lying around.
"Whoops! Be careful, you nearly tripped." A pair of hands held onto his shoulder and nearly broke his fall.
"I'll carry her back with me." Mira announced, taking Tilly off her brother's hands. She carried the girl over her shoulder and frowned at how light she was.
It wasn't healthy.
She turned to a stunned Philly, who was still recovering from the shock of having his spiteful sister bid him be careful. Her eyes scanned his body and took notice of his wounds, they were pretty serious and needed to be looked at.
Inside, Philly helped to push aside the rags he gathered a while back to stitch Tilly a new dress, seeing as her old one was getting far too worn out. Mira placed the child on the elevated mat, resting over sealed bags of what she assumed was scraps?
She checked the child's pulse and shook her head, the situation was definitely dire. "Where are her medicines?" Mira asked with her palm flattened open.
Philly knelt next to his sister and held her hand, "We ran out four days ago."
"What?" She gasped but quickly recovered, "Is there a doctor close by that can look at her? I'll pay any amount." Said the broke player on impulse, ready to sacrifice anything to make sure the character Tilly did not die.
Philly was confused over whether or not to trust his sister, and wondered just what sort of new trick she was trying to spin on him. He didn't want to overthink it, so he decided to flat out ask her.
"Hey," he slapped her hand away from Tilly's, "Don't pretend to be concerned about us, if there's something you came back for, then just take it and leave." In a quiet murmur he added, "At least, mother takes from us directly and doesn't steal behind our backs."
Mira didn't quite understand where Philly's anger was coming from. As far as she knew, this host was on the verge of becoming a sex slave, and nearly almost died. But, the anger in Philly's eyes didn't do well to mask the hurt that lingered in his gaze.
She could sense that, and decided not to argue with him.
She sighed and tried again. "I apologize for all wrongs I've done to you in the past. But for now, can we put those behind us and try to help Tilly together? Please, if there is anyway she can get treated, then tell me. And I promise she will survive."
Philly who had only ever seen his sister angry and his abusive mother in a drunken state, truly didn't know how to react. However, even if there were the slightest chance that her words held truth and it could save Mira, then he was willing to take that shot.
"The…there's a dealer at Crossroads Haven." He told her and returned to tending to his sister. He took a nearby rag and used it to wipe off the beads of sweat formed across her neck and forehead.
Taking one look at how calmly he acted, Mira could guess that Philly was all too used to this. 'He's so young and yet so mistrusting, even for a non-Playable characters this is just too much.'
"Alright," Mira got off her knees and dusted her clothes, "I'm going to get her the medicine."
Philly blinked twice, "You are?" It was the first time that she had even made the offer, talk less of actually completing the task. Aside him, no one in their family of four bought Tilly's pills.
"Yes," she looked out the window, "If I leave now, I might make it back before sunset." Mira said, right before realizing that she had no idea where this place was.
Fortunately, the guide displayed a window before her eyes.
{New place unlocked: Crossroads Haven.} The map before her eyes zoomed in on a place not shaded in darker tones, but not as vibrant looking as the center areas.
{Crossroads Haven: The only existing travel route that links the badlands to the other existing parts of the country. Due to this factor, it also serves as a temporary settlement, established for traders and travelers alike. And it is the only medium by which the residents of the badlands gain access to food, water and medical supplies.}
Right as Mira wanted to ask for directions, the window disappeared and in it's place, it relayed the same irritable message.
{Price to summon map: 50xp}
'Oh well, I can just ask for directions, it's already a popular place so it shouldn't be too hard to find.' she thought marching over to where the door to their home should've been.
But before she left, she rushed over to Philly and without warning, she enveloped him in a tight hug, taking the child by storm.
Was his bitter sister now capable of hugging people?
"What are you—" his interrogation was cut short by a light pat on the head.
"You were so brave today, thank you for taking care of everyone while I wasn't around." Mira whispered softly into his ears. Philly gasped and slightly widened his eyes, he parted his lips to rebuke her for it, but the words never came out.
Not when, it was the first time in ten years, that he had received praise. As the youngest in the family but also the only male, he forced himself into believing that he had no alternative than to clean up after everyone's messes without a word of thanks. Nor had he ever expected one, and not from the cruel sister who abandoned them without thinking twice.
Yet, hearing such words weren't so bad every now and then, Philly couldn't help but think as he watched Mira disengage from the hug and dash out of the house to get Tilly's medicine.
Unfortunately, that string of thought didn't last long. "Wait, is she going today?" He shook his head in disbelief, his little feet scurried over to the open area of the house, the area without a roof covering.
The kitchen.
He opened a pot and took out a piece of cloth with something written in ink. He held the cloth over his head and stared at it critically.
Considering the inhabitants of the badlands were dirt poor and had no education, the traders at Crossroads Haven introduced some idiotic symbols which they used to communicate important messages in written form.
"Just as I thought, today is the day." He said to himself, staring at the awkwardly drawn symbol.
He ran over to the window and tried to call out to her, but his stomach growled and sucked up all his strength in an instant. It took all of his self control not to fall over and faint.
"I have to warn her…" he groaned with a hand rested on his abdomen, his feet took small steps towards the door, a pained expression painted on his face.
"Today…no one's supposed to go there…today the nobleman is coming…he'll…he'll kill her!" Philly tried to warn her, but he fell to his knees and began to cough out blood, reacting to the contaminated air filtering through his lungs.
The cloth he held fell miserably beside him, withholding the information that one of the nobles from the nine noble houses, would be visiting Crossroads Haven. And him, just like any other nobleman hated one thing and one thing only.
The mere sight of a commoner!
And, to retain that fear a penalty was issued to the 'filthy things' who dared defy his absolute order.
An instant execution.