"Our village is small, but we have the necessary tools and materials to preserve food for weeks," Nori explained. "But I doubt there's even a beast around. Voraxa hunted them all down to the point where even the creatures went into hiding."
Nori bit her lip, holding back tears. "This land . . . is dying, and the sad part is . . . we can't even do anything about it."
"You can't rise up and overthrow this Voraxa?" Evie asked.
"It's not that simple. When Obsidian X died, his seven generals became the new warlords in this realm. They're terrifyingly powerful, and facing them means facing death.
"Unlike you guys, our souls don't undergo the process of reincarnation. Only the souls that reach the Heaven Realm have that privilege. So, death here is permanent and all the more terrifying."
"What's more, any uprising is easily extinguished with sheer force. Besides, it's hard to even rise up when you don't have weapons and food.
"There's also the fact that when you're caught storing weapons or wielding them, you'll be killed on the spot. It's not just your family that gets burned at the stakes but your whole generation to make a statement."
"How terrible," Elena muttered.
"But you didn't even try?" Princess Lorelai urged.
"There have been some resistance movements in the past, but they got wiped out the moment they waged war on the warlords. They're simply too strong."
Nori bit her lips and clenched her fists. "Most of us have already given up and are waiting for death."
Princess Lorelai clicked her tongue and stared down at Nori. "If you're waiting for death, you should at least die while fighting for your freedom. There's no honor and pride in just accepting oppression. I'd rather die in a fight than cower in some hole waiting to die."
"Hoi, Lorelai," Elena reprimanded.
Nori's face contorted in anger and desperation, tears welling in her eyes. "What do you know?! This is Voraxa we're up against! She's one of the seven warlords, one of the most powerful demons in this realm! How can you possibly stand up to something like that?! You only talk like that because you don't know what she could do!"
Princess Lorelai crossed her arms and faced the little girl's anger. "Even so, I will fight. Even if it's a god or demon lord, I will fight. I will die with a smile on my face, knowing that I've fought with all my might for what I believe in."
Nori gritted her teeth. "You––!"
"It must be frustrating, right?" Princess Lorelai asked suddenly, in a calm voice. "To not be able to do anything and just be waiting for death? It must be frustrating for you."
Nori stared into Lorelai's eyes, which sparkled with unwavering light. She looked like a Goddess to her, and she burst into tears while shouting, "I want to be strong! I want to fight too! I want to eat good food! I want to be able to run around without fearing for my life. I want to protect everybody! I want to . . . Aaagh!"
The depth of Nori's emotions spilled out, revealing her innermost desires and frustrations.
Ren and the others observed the scene in silence. Despite Nori being a hundred years old, the childlike vulnerability in her demeanor stirred something in their emotions.
On the sidelines, Azazel, thought to be asleep, had his eyes open. He listened to Nori's wails and cried with a serious expression. Something stirred in his eyes, but no one could decipher what he was thinking inside.
"Yosh!" Princess Lorelai seized Nori's shoulders and grinned broadly. "All you have to do is ask this big sister, and I will defeat that Vova or whatever her name is for you and bring peace back to this village."
"Hoi . . . stop making promises that you can't keep. We have our own mission here, and saving this realm is none of that," Ren said.
"It's fine. It's fine," Princess Lorelai simply dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I'm strong, so we can save this village while searching for Salister at the same time. Ahahaha!"
"Such confidence," Elena remarked, shaking her head.
Evie could only applaud while watching Princess Lorelai, her expression lethargic.
Ren took a deep breath and decided to let it go. "Is your village still far?" he changed the topic.
Nori wiped her tears and pointed onward. "Don't worry, we'll reach it soon."
Elena pulled out a telescope from her inventory and zoomed in on the desert. "I don't see anything," she commented.
"That's because our village is underground," Nori replied.
"Underground within an underground," Princess Lorelai chimed in. "I'm perplexed as to how you live like that."
"You'll see when we get there. Speaking of which, there it is," Nori pointed at a rock, and the others exchanged a skeptical look.
"Are you still hungry and hallucinating?" Lorelai asked with pity in her eyes. "I'll share you a piece of meat, but only a piece, alright?"
"I'm not!" Nori growled defensively. "Ever since the warlords took over, most villages chose to live underground to avoid the soldiers who are harassing everyone to pay taxes, food, and water."
"Taxes?" Ren asked, a bit surprised. He hadn't expected taxes in this realm. He guessed that there were taxes wherever you went.
Evie's head tilted to the side. "There are taxes here too?"
"That's right." Nori nodded. "But the currency here is different from the surface." She slipped her hand from her pocket and showed them a dark crystal fragment. "This is a soul fragment. This is the currency here."
Princess Lorelai grabbed the piece of crystal and examined it. "This thing is a soul?"
"Part of a crystallized soul," Nori explained. "You know that souls are more important here than anything else because, through them, we get stronger. The more souls you consume, the stronger you get. And the stronger you are, the more revered you are in this realm."
"Let me take a look at it," Elena said, attempting to grab the crystal, but Princess Lorelai quickly hid it.
"Wait your turn; I'm still inspecting it."
"You've been inspecting it for a minute. Now it's my turn."
The two then argued and wrestled over it until it accidentally slipped from Princess Lorelai's fingers and got lost in the desert.
"Ah," both of them said at the same time.
"My soul fragment!" Nori shouted, her eyes watering. "And that's the last remaining of my money," she choked.
Ren and Evie stared at Princess Lorelai and Elena with judgmental eyes.
"Sorry, don't cry. Here, have some meat," the two princesses said simultaneously and offered meat, which Nori accepted while sniffing and crying.
What else could she do?
