"No!"
Kaelin’s head snapped up. Anger and grievance burned in her emerald eyes. "She was a hero! I didn’t kill her!"
"Hmph, stop making excuses," another child chimed in. He bent down, scooped up a handful of snow, and packed it into a hard ball. "My mother says only disobedient, troublemaking children drag adults down with them! You’re a jinx! A curse!"
"I’m not!!" Kaelin’s voice carried an uncontrollable sob. She looked around, her eyes filled with a trace of pleading and hope as she gazed at the passing adults of her clan, praying someone would step forward and speak a word of justice for her.
But all she saw were averted gazes, silent sighs, and even pointing and whispering.
Right then, the first hard snowball struck. It hit her squarely in the shoulder. The sudden pain made her shrink back.
Then came the second, the third... They pelted her back and legs. One even grazed her cheek, leaving behind a biting, wet trail and a burning sting.
Looking at Kaelin’s small, isolated, and helpless figure, Raine felt a jolt in his heart. He realized he had entered Kaelin’s deepest nightmare. He also understood why, during their first meeting, Kaelin had stood up for him when everyone else was accusing him, saying, "Did any of you see with your own eyes what that kid went through?"
So, she had also experienced the agony of being pointed at and judged. And the accusation of "killing her mother" was far heavier than being called a "coward."
Filled with empathy, Raine had no time to overthink. He subconsciously rushed forward, wanting to use his own body to shield the young girl in the snow from those malicious snowballs.
The moment he moved, the scene abruptly changed.
The snowy street vanished, replaced by a room with a warm, roaring fireplace. Young Kaelin stood in the doorway. Unmelted snowflakes still clung to her hair and shoulders, making her look drenched. A burly middle-aged man with an incredibly lonely silhouette sat with his back to her by the hearth. Without a word, he held up a wolf-head goblet and drank in silence.
"Father..." Kaelin’s voice trembled slightly. She spoke with extreme caution, as if terrified of disturbing something.
The man neither turned around nor answered. The only sound left in the room was the CRACKLE of burning firewood, accompanied by a suffocating silence.
Kaelin’s heart sank bit by bit. She walked up to her father and saw his unshaven face, his red, bloodshot eyes, and the wet tear tracks on his cheeks. Raine also saw that unbelievably haggard face. This middle-aged man—Kaelin’s father—was clearly still drowning in the agony of losing his true love.
Mustering the last of her courage, Kaelin asked in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible, "Father, about mother... do you... do you also believe that I killed her?"
The man finally moved. He lifted his heavy eyelids, his sorrowful gaze incomparably complex. He didn’t say "yes," but his seconds-long silence and the way he eventually, slowly averted his eyes were, in themselves, the cruelest answer.
Kaelin’s tiny body began to tremble violently, as if she would shatter at any moment under the immense pain and fear. "No one believes me... I really didn’t... I didn’t kill mother!"
Just as she was about to be completely swallowed by this endless darkness, a warm hand reached over and gently grasped her icy fingers. Kaelin jolted, looking up in disbelief. She saw Raine.
He stood right in front of her. Without a single trace of doubt or blame, his eyes were filled with firmness and trust.
"I believe you."
Three simple words, yet they contained boundless Power. Like a warm ray of sunlight, they clearly illuminated the depths of her frozen soul.
"Kaelin, look at me." Raine looked into her eyes as if wanting to brand his conviction directly onto her heart. "Sodden, Winnie, and I—we all trust you.
"Come back. The battle is still waiting for us. We need you. We need your unyielding courage."
Following Raine’s words, the freezing snowballs, her father’s silence, and the Shadows of her childhood began to dissipate like a receding tide. The confusion and pain in Kaelin’s emerald eyes were instantly banished. She was no longer that tiny Kaelin, but had once again transformed into that tough, brave Female Swordsman.
She gripped Raine’s hand tightly, as if it were the lifeline pulling her back from the Abyss.
"Raine..." she murmured, her eyes finally regaining their full brightness. "I’m back.
"Wait for me. I’ll go wake up Sodden and Winnie."
Raine gave Kaelin a slight nod. He then turned around and placed his hand on the short, stout figure who was still maintaining a shield-bearing stance.
The moment he touched Sodden’s trembling body, Raine’s surroundings distorted once again. A scent mixing soot, ale, and grease hit his face. Raine found himself standing in the corner of an underground hall. Ahead of him was a dense, dark crowd of Dwarves.
He wondered, "Is this a Dwarf city? An underground Dwarf hall? What are they all doing crowded in here?"
Even though he had never seen the spectacular sight of so many Dwarves gathered together, he was in no mood to count the decorative rings in their braided beards. Instead, he anxiously scanned the area. He had only one goal: to find Sodden.
Looking around, massive stone pillars supported a towering vaulted ceiling. The walls were carved with giant reliefs depicting the glorious history and magnificent Forging feats of the Dwarf Race. It was breathtakingly grand, more awe-inspiring than any relief Raine had ever seen.
Illuminated by countless blazing torches, the atmosphere in the entire hall felt solemn and oppressive. A suffocating silence permeated the air; only the CRACKLE of burning torches could be heard clearly.
Raine quickly located Sodden. He stood right in the center of the hall, still wearing that familiar Chain Armor Shirt, but his Giant Shield and War Axe—weapons that usually never left his hands—had been stripped away.
"Sodden!" Raine tried to call out to him, but perhaps because the distance was too great, Sodden showed no reaction at all.
However, Raine could vaguely sense that the Dwarf’s rugged face, hidden beneath his thick Redbeard, was trembling slightly and uncontrollably. He tried to push his way through the dense crowd, even attempting to step on the heads of the Dwarf phantoms to get across, but he was blocked by an invisible barrier. He didn’t know if this was because the Dwarf’s mental defenses were too resolute, or if it was the doing of the Black Tide Embers.
As Raine anxiously searched for a way through, he noticed something else: Sodden was clearly the center of attention. From the old Dwarves with white beards reaching their belts and faces etched with the ravages of time, to the young Dwarves whose eyes still held a naive innocence—the gazes of every single Dwarf fell mercilessly upon him.
These looks were remarkably uniform, bearing only a cold scrutiny and... undisguised contempt.
Upon a stone platform elevated above the crowd sat a group of elder Dwarves who appeared to hold high status. Each of their braided beards was majestic and imposing—visibly thicker, more exquisite, and far more intricate than those of the Dwarves below. In the center sat an elderly Dwarf with an exceptionally dense braided beard, adorned with a multitude of decorative rings, making him more eye-catching than anyone else. His face was like weathered granite—hard, cold, and entirely unreadable. This had to be the current patriarch of this Dwarf Clan.
"According to the ancestral laws, an oathbreaker tarnishes not only his own honor but the very soul of the entire Clan!"
The elderly Dwarf patriarch suddenly spoke. His voice boomed like rolling thunder, shattering the suffocating silence. His solemn gaze swept across the hall, eventually pressing down on Sodden like two massive mountains.
"To cleanse this stain, the Solid Stone Clan hereby announces the stripping of all Clan rights and identity from Sodden Stoneheart!"
Hearing this, Raine immediately understood, a solemn look flashing across his eyes. He knew what these Dwarves were gathered here for.
This was the final moment of Sodden’s "social execution" by the entire Clan.