In Loki's Honor Life 29 - Chapter 5 - Child

But if there was one thing that could betray my dwarven heritage was my mood.

Dwarves were known for their rugged skin and resistance to heat. Their proteins could function at temperatures up to fifty degrees Celsius (122F). They also could thrive with less oxygen than other species, the reason they fared so well underground or high up in mountains. Their eyes could see a bit into the infrared spectrum, giving them a bit of heat vision but not as much as the Perk Lakerta had. Finally, their low oxygen requirent ant that when in a normal atmosphere, dwarves had more stamina because they had more oxygen to play with. Their sturdy proteins also ant that a dwarf's body reaction to infection and toxins was to fever it up to extre levels. Most biological compounds denatured at such temperatures, giving them great resistance to diseases and poisons.

During my ti at the orphanage, I behaved exemplarily. I always sought opportunities to learn, train, move my body, and ask about the System. The priestesses thought I was just a curious energetic child. My noble upbringing was kept a secret from but Nenandil spied them for and overheard them speculating who I was several tis. None bet on dwarf for the reasons already explained. The closest they got was that I was a quarter Eleon, a quarter human, and half fox-kin.

My curiosity paid off. I learned about the recent changes in the System. They tweaked the Exp tables, greatly lowering the amount of Exp required to level up. Ten quadrillions Exp was all that one needed to hit the level cap. That was sixteen tis less than before. One sixteenth... yes, that. Not only that, but they also adjusted the base Exp values! Now the 3.05175781 (AKA 1.25^5) multiplier from {Exp Boost V} was available for everyone free of charge. Those that had this Perk got the five Perks they invested in it refunded.

I couldn't wait to get my System and flip the tables at the obnoxious child-trafficking clergy. But I needed to play my part until then. Be the energetic, slightly mischievous, and oblivious fox-kin girl.

I was sitting in front of a modest vanity with a bent mirror. A priestess was grooming for a very important day.

"You are seven years old today, Haru!" Sister Wisteria cooed. "You get a new dress, isn't that wonderful?"

The year count was one-off. I was eight years and sothing old now. The equivalent of eleven Earth years. They were counting as if I was a newborn at the ti they found and it was convenient to .

Wisteria was the priestess that found . She was a quarter elf, half-human, and a quarter orc. A dark past where her grandmother was assaulted and left for dead but survived to give birth. She was hands down one of the best priestesses in this orphanage if not the best. She never stole from the church and always tried to get good placents for the children. That made her a saintess in my book.

"You are a beastkin, Haru. Are you aware of the traditions of your people?" She asked in a low voice as she brushed my red hair.

"Uh-hum," I affird. "But the head nun..."

"Yes. She believes worshipping the Matriarch is heresy," Wisteria whispered.

I replied looking at the reflection of her eyes on the mirror. "She's not entirely wrong. The Beast-Kin matriarch is not a deity but no less real because of that."

"But that would an she's long dead. The kin says she'll co back, and that is impo--"

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"Wisteria," I said letting so of my regal voice escape. I didn't have my Perks but I could play Queen any ti of the day. "It's all true. Just because you can't fully understand it doesn't an it is false. It just ans you need more information. The Matriarch is real, she is a mortal, and she cos back to life all the ti."

"But how?" She whimpered. "How can soone give birth to entire species if she's not a goddess?"

Soone cleared her throat behind us and I shifted to look at the door in the mirror. The head nun was there, scowling as she always did. "Wisteria, are you done spouting heresy?" She sternly accused. It was formulated as a question, although it was anything but that.

I jumped off the chair and straightened my petticoats, "I'm done, sister Wisteria. Thanks. My hair never tangles anyway."

"Yes, it's always so silky..."

"Wisteria! Co with , NOW."

I wouldn't see Wisteria again for a week after that.

I had my birthday pastry, so puff pastry from an Eleon bakery. It wasn't at the level of a Temus Honorcoin but it was honest like all Eleon products. I liked it. I shared the pastry with the other kids in the orphanage even if it ant we all just got a tiny square of it. There was a small scuffle for the crumbs but I claid my right to them as the birthday girl.

I played with the kids and studied what was within reach in the orphanage library. I had over the years asked about the letters and glyphs used so by this ti nobody was astonished at my ability to read anymore. The history books dismayed . It was all filled with lies and worse, the "specialists" that wrote them always spun what tale was the most convenient to them, citing the "lack of evidence" as the reason for that. Hugh Laurie's world-famous physician character was right. People are compulsive liars.

When Wisteria ca back to us, she was quiet and lancholic. Worse, she was avoiding . After a few days, I was fed up with her behavior. I approached an older orphaned girl I usually avoided, Marisol.

"Hey, Haru. What's troubling you? Your face is uglier than normal today," she greeted .

And that's why. "Marisol, do you know what happened to Wisteria?"

The blonde half-Eleon girl leaned to whisper in my ear. "She was caught stealing from the temple."

I knew that was bullshit. But whoever had more clout was telling the truth, that's what this fucked-up dark ages society worked.

I tried to talk to her again but anything short of a straight-up ambush didn't work. She fled every single ti.

"Apprentice day" ca around. The boys and girls of age dressed up to et their prospective buy... I an, masters. They would go out of the orphanage to be... another brick in the wall? All in all, it was just that. Another brick in the wall. A few of them would actually learn a trade, the lucky or shrewd ones. The average would beco pets for the wealthy, the slightly unlucky would beco unpaid servants or be used as stress relief toys. The really unlucky would be sexually abused and murdered.

Rosebush had grown during these last centuries. No longer an Eleon city, there were all kinds of people living here, and a lot of them talked with a Lonid accent. Probably people from Perenneth that decided to live here to be closer to their relatives. Among the people window shopping people, only two were Eleons and they weren't pure Eleon either.

Nobody gave a shit about us orphans. The temple of Zacheia was in it just for the bleeping money.

The other children watched from the second floor. For the curious bunch, it was a mont to daydream about getting out of the orphanage and becoming soone else and gaining a good Class. But the reason the priests allowed us to watch from between the railings was a sinister one.

The pricks were showcasing their future products.

The masters inspected the prospective pupils like a pack of horny lions waiting to bang the sexy gazelles. The teenage kids shuffled around. They asked questions, got nervous answers. A guy decided on a girl, he was ogling her curves so hard I almost threw up. From up there I saw how much he paid. One gold and twenty silver coins. A fortune. I wish I had the System already.

But I saw the head nun writing on a ledger. The amount she put down next to the girl's na was shorty by thirty-five silver coins.

One by one, the kids were taken away. It was heartbreaking to see the glimr of hope in their eyes. If soone told this was all a ploy by vampires to get good endorphins in the kids' bloodstream, I would believe without blinking my eyes. So of the prospective masters went away but a few left a tip... donation... a fucking bribe with the head nun. There were more people interested in an "apprentice" than available pupils. The head nun pocketed the bribes and shortchanged the temple on all transactions. She got several gold coins richer.

I went away, swearing to myself to keep a freaking hormone cocktail in the item box to trigger my puberty earlier next ti.