"What we're going to tell you now is big sis Renee and ours's stories!!"
Finger pointed at Kasper, the younger twin declares strongly.
"So you better listen well okay!"
The male twin says, biting into his bread as his sister smiles embarrassedly at her brothers declaration!!!
"..."
As dusk arrives for the group currently camped at one of highest points in the front office, Kasper smirks calmly out the window...
"..."
-A Short While Later-
"Here's our and Big sis Renee's stories."
Tay shouts, chewing on an absurdly large piece of bread!!
...Unlike most humans in the Land of Per Sempre, Renee and her brother, Noah. Where actually born and raised in the demon realm governed city of Fernworth.
Perched on a near boarder between the demon realm and the realm of humanity, Fernworth was once a bustling city much like Hatchett that belonged to the humans until a couple centuries ago when the stronghold was taken over by the demon realm.
And even though times changed and many a Demon-Lord were slain it somehow remained in the hands of the demons.
Being built up over years until it was formally accepted as part of the realm despite it not being geographically located in the demon realm.
This city which was governed by demons is where Renee spent her early life.
And despite it being a mixed population like Hatchett's city, and her having to go through the trials and tribulations that came with being treated like an inferior race, Renee actually had it well off compared to other humans in the city.
This is because, over the years as wars with humanity became common practice, Fernworth turned into something of an early neutral ground.
A trade spot where humans and demons could share technologies in the hope of advancing their peoples without hostilities.
In this new hub for all, a single family stood and took advantage of the chaos to become, well, more established.
This family was the house of Pendleton.
Building upon their marketing skills and keen eyes for details, this 'human' family was able to build themselves up to a near noble status.
Securing the safety of their family for generations upon end due to their astute understanding of trends and management.
Renee's ancestors formed the foundation for which even humans located in the actual geography of the demon realm, Hatchett's city, could build on to allow them prosper in the foreign land.
So, take the mild abuse away and what you had was a hugely successful human family that thrived even in the midst of demon rule.
...An integral part of Fernworth now, Renee and her brother had an upbringing that even some in the Land of Per Sempre's capital, Everdale, could only ever dream about...
So, what went wrong?
What disturbed the peace so much that she found herself here in the slums?
Well, believe it or not succeeding in a foreign land won't get you loved and accepted only the opposite.
Renee's family had been at the top of the city for a long time... Too long some might argue...
So three years ago, a plan was secretly hatched by one of the new big wigs of the demon realm.
A plan that would uproot the Pendleton family as Fernworth's go to merchants and replace it with his own organization, an organization primarily filled with demons.
The plan in and of itself was not a brilliant one but one that played on human sympathies.
On the trust that the Pendleton's believed they had built with the demon realm.
A broker deal involving enormous amounts of aetherealm gone wrong...
And what followed had was the incompetent head of the Pendleton's, Renee's father, not only being shamed in the highest echelons of society for messing up the most lucrative deal in the history of the continent. But also being trapped in a debt deal with a burly demon who claimed what they owed to him and Demon-realm went beyond any monetary values.
It all happened so fast...
And in the space of a mere forty eight hours everything the Pendleton's had established in the city had been uprooted, and now, the family were about to become slaves and change the generational fate of their bloodline forever.
The demon that had locked their family into the aetherealm debt was simple but particular about his, 'desires'... so when he attempted to broker a deal with Renee's father he sought but one answer from the family head.
"The futures of your offspring."
He wagered...
His deal was centred upon the absolution of the Pendleton debt and reinstatement of their family in exchange for the futures of Renee and Noah.
An absurd deal by any metric of human logic but one, that to a demon atleast, was too good to pass up.
A deal that weighed so heavily on one sides benefit that, in the realm of demons, it was a no brainer.
What he intended for Renee and Noah would not be known until later on...
But at the time, there was no reason for the Pendleton head not to take this deal, thought the burly demon.
He would preserve his family's legacy as well as control the narrative around his mishap to properly establish his family for future generations.
It was a once in a lifetime deal, so one can only imagine the disrespect the demon felt when his deal was thrown back into his face.
Rejected outright, the burly demon failed to come to terms with the logic of the Pendleton head, and despite what he offered... it seemed nothing was ever going to appease him.
"He's already getting the better of this deal so why should I badge even more?"
The demon thought as offer after offer surrounding the futures of Renee and Noah were turned down...
As the deals broke down one after another the demon was ready to move on from the family when the Pendleton head suddenly approached him with a new deal.
A deal that after consulting with his wife, instead offered up both his and his wife's futures.
This displeased the demon... and not only because the deal now swung out of his favour, because of their 'shorter' lifespans, but also because the head of the household had seemed to take a higher road.
To condemn the demon's deal as nothing but barbaric.
...Before accepting, in an attempt to dissuade him, the burly demon made sure to inform the family head that his and his wife's futures would be short. Making it clear to them that the work he had planned for them was beyond human capabilities...
But faced with their lives or their children's, Renee's father and mother insisted and locked themselves into grunt work for the rest of their lives.
What came after was typical for any bitter individual, forget demons...
Renee's father was employed into the demons envoy thereafter. Becoming a bargaining chip for the weight his name still carried and working around the clock for the burly demon. The head of the Pendleton household was sometimes even tasked with work in the burly demon's mines that even giants and high blood demons couldn't do.
Becoming a jack of all trades assistant for the demon, he was forever locked to a life of hard labour.
Meanwhile his wife, Renee's mother, didn't get a treatment any better either...
Because he saw no use for the lady of Fernworth, the burly demon sold her to another demon.
An up and coming female demon of the red-light district who turned the noble lady into a plaything for the lowest class of demons and grunts of Fernworth.
"Promising a taste of nobility..."
The demon was able to catapult herself into one of the most powerful demons in the area at the expense of Renee's mother.
And despite her children being spared, and their lives still being far better than most humans on the entire continent.
Renee's mother was the first to lose heart.
Forgetting herself day by day and unable to come to terms with her new reality, with what she had become, her state of mind deteriorated to the point where she eventually even forgot why she was holding on in the first place...
...She took her own life only a month into her new job...
Recuperation was of course requested by the burly demon.
Who told Renee's father he knew this would happen of course and gave him one more chance to set things right. Offering him his initial deal once more.
Their futures for the future of your generation.
Despite how disheartened he was with his wife's passing, Renee's father remarkably still declined the offer.
Not even considering it when his first counter offer to the demon was for him to instead take up his dead wife's duties on top of his current jobs.
It was a noble decision... one that unfortunately only increased the ire of the demon that owned him...
...Barely a month after his wife's passing, the Pendleton head died of overwork and followed in behind his wife.
His body physically incapable of all that was demanded of him...
"..."
...In the space of two months the house of Pendleton had been brought to its knees, completely felled. And in its place rose a new leader in the burly demon's faction and the 'districts' run by the female demon.
It was over, they were ruined now.
But this wasn't enough for the burly demon, a debt still had to be paid.
Renee's father had still played a role his kind should never have had in the first.
He had insulted the demons due to that role and had even acted above him and like a true disciple of the Goddess the demons worshipped.
His legacy could not be allowed such flourish in its end.
So the demon came once more... this time to the orphaned Noah and Renee.
Fully ready to end them and their wretched bloodline that tainted the history of Fernworth.
He was ready to help the children follow their parents when he suddenly received an offer.
An offer that would take them off his hands and promised him enough riches for two lifetimes over.
The futures of both Noah and Renee.
It was the offer he had given the Pendleton's.
Asked to turn over the futures of the kids for a fortune the burly man was all but happy to accept.
I mean he had nothing to lose.
So with the kids turned over to another demon, the female demon of the red light district who drove their mother to insanity and was now relocating her booming business to Hatchett's City.
"..."
Renee and her brother Noah were now en route to the imperial dome of the Hatchett's bustling city.
"..."
"..."
-To Be Continued-