Prologue.

A village ruined by famine, its population made of women, children, and elderly. Its people barely pass by with what little agriculture they are able to procure. Water, an essential to life, too being a rare luxury to its people. Its well has long dried up, and its land has long become a wasteland. The shedding of hundreds of monsters had ruined the village's once arable land and turned it desolate.

With the majority of fertile men having retreated to the central dominance, what's left of the villagers work together barely passing each day, the women and the capable elderly work what little they can. Children find themselves prohibited from enjoying themselves, as they would merely end up wasting energy.

Some would question how could such a cruel person exist who could bring a child into such a situation, but the sense to continue one's legacy is fit into every human and cannot be easily disposed of.

But, even in such a community, only one person is left alone. Without contributing to its community, without knowing any of its people, and without owning anything to her name, a single girl is allowed the privilege to exist among them.

Alongside the many wrecked homes, one stands different. While all looked as if they had gone through quick and dirty maintenance, that home stood its test of time without any help. The walls were filled with potholes the house was almost transparent, the wooden roof filled with openings turning the ground full of puddles of water, and the door stood no chance to resist even a child. A single girl lived in that 'shelter'.

Always hugging her knees at the further right corner of the square-shaped building, she would hide her face and try to sleep her day off. Why the corner? it was the only place safe from the rain, but that was merely a current situation, who knows when she would have to succumb to the roof's aging.

The girl knew nothing. Not love, not care, not enjoyment, not fun, not fulfillment, or even loneliness. To her it wasn't weird, it wasn't different. To her that is how she should be, that is how a "human" should act.

From time to time she would wake up in tears wondering 'Why?', all she could recall was the silhouette of a person. Had they existed once in their life? Were they the one to teach the girl to read and write in a village where none could even spell their name? Every once in a while, the girl would get up from the corner and sit on the desk existing amid her home.

Inside the desk's drawer were 4 papers each filled, both front and back, with text. With no purpose, as if it was merely a routine, she would read them to not lose what little knowledge she had. The contents of the papers weren't of any importance, but rather a randomized string of words so as to not miss any word.

Had the person she dreams of been the one to leave her with such papers? Then, why couldn't she remember anything?

Lena lived, as she believed a person should live, and that was it.

As she sat mindlessly reading the papers a knock came to her door, it was one of the villagers delivering what little food they could spare for her. Lena never questioned them, nor did she try to.

She weakly drags herself to the broken-down wooden door. Stretching a fragile hand, she quivers as the outside breeze attacks her weak body.

A woman with tattered clothes stood with a child hiding behind her long worn-out dress. In her outstretched hands a piece of bread and a minimal portion of rice porridge in a wooden bowl. Lena indifferently stretched out her weak hands and took hold of what the women had pointed at her.

With no exchange of words Lena turned around and, with her left elbow, tried to close the door behind her, but to her surprise, a sudden call by the woman was given.

"Wait," the woman said.

Lena turned facing the woman for the first time since answering her knock. She held a difficult expression.

"Could I ask... How old are you?" The woman's frail face spoke out.

Lena stared at her, unable to process the sudden question.

"..." The woman ruffled the back of her head, "I'm gonna assume you're old enough." The woman said as she pulled out an envelope from her pocket, "A... Friend of mine... Asked me to deliver this, I'm supposed to deliver it once you're 13, but..." The woman looked at Lena confused. "I'm sorry..." The woman apologized sadly as she pointed the envelope towards Lena.

Lena's eyes gazed at the envelope, a dead look covering them. Both of her hands were already filled so she opened her mouth to hold it with her teeth, but, before she could take hold of it, the woman immediately pulled it away.

"..." The frail weak woman pitied the girl. "Go put them down, I can wait."

Lena nodded and moved, she placed the bread and the bowl on the desk next to the 4 papers and walked back to the woman lifelessly. Without any other word spoken, Lena took the envelope from the woman and ended their interaction.

As she turned around, the woman's kid spoke.

"I hope you disappear, then we can have more food."

The kid didn't harbor any malice. He only expressed his wish.

The mother gasped at her child's sudden outburst, but as she was about to start scolding him she immediately swallowed her words. Instead, a sense of pity took over her as she understood her failings as a parent.

Lena simply closed the door without acknowledging the kid.

Lena digested the food she was given and directed her attention to the envelope. Nothing was written on it. Neither a sender nor a receiver. merely a a paper probably holding more paper.

It looked as if it was already opened, probably by the woman, but Lena paid it no mind.

With what little strength she had, Lena opened it. Inside was as she had expected, more paper.

It was a letter, and from the first sentence, she could tell it was directed to her.

The letter read...

'Good morning, Lena. Or evening, whatever time it is for you at the moment of reading... haha... You're old now huh? 13 years? or that is how old you should be... if you aren't then blame Natasha, she's the one who's responsible for that! anyway... How have you been? Have you been eating well? You better be! I had to get on my knees and begged asked for the villagers to agree to share with you, you know?! So... please be healthy.'

'The reason I'm writing you this letter is to tell you about yourself, Lena. About how you ended up without anyone, and how it's my fault... problem.'

All the words here I know, Lena quickly noted as she read. They are all in the 4 sheets I read.

 'Firstly, let me make something certain, I'm not your mom! ...or your dad! I'm merely a caretaker. Me and your dad used to adventure back in the day before he stayed with your mom in the village. Your parents were very happy and looked forward with nothing but joy for when you would come to join them, but... As your mother was entering a dangerous part of her pregnancy, a monster raid was going to happen in the village.

'The families able to escape quickly did, while those who couldn't were left to wait for what little help the kingdom would provide to their pitiful people. Your parents were able to run away, but the danger to your mother was too visible to ignore. If she were to give birth along the journey, with no one to help her through it, she would most likely die... pass with or without you. It was something your father wasn't ready to bet on.

'Instead, he decided to put what little hope he had on the capital's support. He had sent out a trace-letter out for us (his old adventuring party) (oh yeah you wouldn't know this, a trace-letter is a letter carried by a pigeon following a certain person's trace of magic.) if we could come to his aid and we couldn't say no.

'We had visited your parents many times, and to see them smiling and laughing together would always leave us excited to see them again. We would always be welcomed by your father's joyful nature and your mother's country cooking.

'... I'm getting off course... Anyway, once his letter had reached us, we immediately came to his aid, appearing 2 days before the predicted day of the raid.

'with what time we had, we immediately started preparing, whether it be cheap traps or weak walls. We believed anything was better than nothing. The elderly and the poor left behind were more than happy to support those who were going to risk their lives for them.

'But, even when the 2 days had passed, there was no sign of the kingdom's help. With every monster raid, a party of adventurers hired from the guild should be sent out help to the village on the kingdom's behalf, but yet they were nowhere to be seen. Thankfully neither was the raid. We had thought it to be a fake alarm, that maybe they were mistaken.

'But, on the next day, woken by the sound of rumbling from within the forest, We understood what was going to take place.

'Even without the support, with us 5, we tried our best... He tried his best, Lena.

'Lena... A monster raid isn't a simple thing you see... usually, it's a request with at least 5-7 gold-ranked members required, otherwise, it's nothing short of a suicide no-return mission.

'Yet... Yet we won.'

The simple letter turned almost rubbish here forth. Words but gibberish, letters but scribbling.

'Sorry... I won Lena...'

Lena studied the worn 'I'. Her eyes tired, her brown hair bangs covering her right eye.

'They died passed... all 4 of them... Including your father. I remember. As the sun dawned over the dead,' a word Lena hadn't read before appeared, ' monsters, I could barely stand on my feet, while a man roared in triumph.' Another. 'Turning my attention to him, his body pierced,' Another. 'By a thousand weapons. The man's cry didn't calm down for nothing. He stood victorious in a battle he was meant to lose.

'His friends' corpses bodies surrounded him, his body given a last breath with all the strength he could muster. Your father roared with victory.

'And finally, fell to the ground.

'I had fallen unconscious asleep then as well. The next day, the kingdom's help had arrived, and camps were all over the village helping those who were hurt. Asking about their late arrival I later understood that the reason we as 4 even stood a chance was because the help had already battled the raid before its arrival to the village. It was the reason for the raid's late arrival as well.

'They had lost all their adventurers and were left with only the medical and disposal removing team. As they had arrived a day late the removing team was too late to do anything and instead helped the villagers with what they could.

'They had only stayed for a single day before leaving. I asked one of the doctors with the medical team if they could stay behind to help with your mother's pregnancy and they agreed.

'It was supposed to be my final act of gratitude to your late father, but... I then saw your mother.

'She was dead...' The word that has been so avoided, was left. 'A husk of her former self. Even though she breathed, even though her heart beat, her eyes were lifeless begging for an end.

'Having lost her parents, and seen the grotesque corpse of her former dear. She had lost all sense of herself.

'She sat quietly in the home they once lived in together as if starving herself to death.

'I couldn't abandon her... So I stayed.

'A week later, you were delivered without any problem, but even then. Even as you cried, your mother heartlessly stared at you. Without the hint of a mother's love, it was... Terrifying.' Another.

'Your mother would spend her days staring at the wall lifelessly, as I would work for our share of food around the village. Thanks to the monster's blood seeping into the village's land it had turned but desolate. We would barely manage, growing what seemed a handful compared to the village's prior glory. The healthy men had retreated to the capital in search of work, leaving their wives and children behind. While the elderly pushed their weak bodies and shared what knowledge they had with the people of the village.

'... I'm talking on too much aren't I? Sorry...

'One day, I had returned to the sound of you crying. Running inside I saw your mother, holding you by the neck as a grim sad smile covered her face. That was when I knew, She had simply lost it... She was no longer the woman I once knew, neither was she your mother.

'Pushing her away, she fell to the ground laughing and then broke down.

'I turned away and ignored her... allowing the law of causality to take place.

'2 days later... I opened the door, while you innocently slept on the old bed, at the other end of the house... she hun-

'I pulled her down and buried her outside, next to your father.

'She left a letter behind it said: Lena, my de-, but... out of selfishness,' another. 'I won't reveal its contents.

'Life passed. You started to grow up, and you believed I was your mother... and I acted as such.

'by the time you were 4, I had taught you how to read and write! you sure were a smart kid.

'Even though we had so little, I really couldn't ask for more... we were simply happy.

'So, why? you would ask. Why did I leave you?

'I got offered a job. Someone I knew back from my adventuring days had found themselves a request with quite the hefty prize... but it was risky, extremely so.

'At first, I thought of saying no, but I couldn't... thinking of you... I couldn't raise you like that, I didn't want to! I wanted you to become a proper lady, to live a proper life, to eat the food you enjoy, to wear the clothes you like, and to marry the person you love!

'But if it were to stay like this, you would end up missing out on so much... and I couldn't put it on anyone but myself.

'Reluctantly I agreed.

'So... yeah...

'Sorry...

'If you are reading this... Then it must've been the wrong choice...

'I really am sorry Lena... please... find it in your heart to forgive me...' Words crossed, Lena passed them.

'I wonder... I wonder if you will remember me at least... you are about to hit 5 at the moment of writing this, so I wonder if you are even old enough to remember so clearly... So I won't say anything... If you were to forget me. Then that's it.

'That's all I amounted for... Sorry, Lena.

'Let me leave you with this. You are Lena, blessed with your mother's chestnut brown hair, and your father's hazelnut eyes, You are Lena! 

'P.S. I gave you the name Lena, it was a name I wished I had myself.' The final words said, lettered in dried aged ink.

...

Lena gazed, indifferent.

The simple written letter was over. Her past was etched, and her questions were answered.

Yet.

Her face spoke nothing, her hands twitched as she had raised her frail hands for too long.

She couldn't remember the sender.

She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember.She couldn't remember.She couldn't remember.She couldn't remember.She couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't rememberShe couldn't remember.

She couldn't remember.

This letter. It meant nothing. She thought.

Lena lowered her head, she brought her palms to her face and rubbed her teary eyes.

"Sorry," Lena said.