Iron Empress - Chapter 3 An Escapee

Mei wandered around after descending, she was surrounded by a forest and had no idea which direction would lead to civilization.

She walked calmly north, hoping to see a thinning in the trees. Mei had walked for more than 3 hours and still could not find a way out; deciding to rest, she stopped by a river to drink water and refill her bamboo canteen but what she saw surprised her. Just as she was about to drink, she saw blood drifting near her.

Mei immediately pulled back with a surprised look. Calming herself, she turned to the source of the blood and saw a girl about the age of 15.

The little girl had tattered clothes lying on top of a rock in the middle of the river lifeless. Mei approached and examined the body, her face was covered in blood while her black hair was in mess. The girl’s body was full of scars starting from her shoulders to her feet.

After a few moments of observing, Mei pulled the girl to land and ripped a part of her clothing to wipe the girl’s body.

–5 hours later–

The sun has long set, under the moonlit river a fire could be seen burning with a figure roasting a fish while another figure layed down on a pile of leaves.

” Ugh Where am I?” – the little girl said as she held her left hand to her head, she opened her eyes to meet a pair of purple eyes.

“Who are you?” – The girl immediately flinched and took a defensive stance against the random person.

“Is this how you thank your saviour?” – Mei just nonchalantly stared at the girl before proceeding to grill the fish on her hand.

She extended her hands and gave one of the fish to the little girl before asking her name.

The little girl didn’t take the fish immediately due to fear of poison, but her stomach has betrayed her with a growl and she could only politely accept it.

“My name is Wei Ren, you can call me Ren for short.” – Ren said before gnashing on the fish on her hand. Mei who saw this couldn’t help but chuckle before eating her fish as well.

“You seem to carry many scars, mind if I ask you where you got it from and why were you covered in blood?” – Mei

Ren trembled at the question before calming herself thinking that since Mei saved her then she could probably trust her story.

“I was escaping from the slave traders, my village was pillaged and the king sent his people to collect the females to become slaves” – Ren said while her eyes bulged and reddened.

Hearing this, Mei clutched her palms and with anger in her eyes, she remembered her past and questioned whether the same people were responsible for Ren’s village as well as hers.

“Don’t be scared, I also escaped from my destroyed village. You can follow me and we can train to become stronger to protect other children from other villages from experiencing what we’ve experienced.” – Mei

Mei and Ren chatted for hours before deciding to sleep, they decided to find a way out of this thick forest when the sun is on the rise.