Her name was Minamoto Sakura, a girl born into an unfortunate life. She was born with a frail body, afflicted with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), a condition that made her bones so brittle that she was confined to a wheelchair and unable to move normally.
Living with this disease was incredibly difficult. Being confined to her wheelchair, watching her peers run and play freely, she felt deeply saddened and cried, but she realized that crying wouldn't change anything.
One day, Sakura made a terrible mistake. She left her house and stopped on the road in front of it. A truck sped towards her, and because the driver couldn't see her from the high seat, the truck ran over her, ending the life of this poor girl.
But...
The Goddess of Life, out of pity for the poor girl's tragic life, allowed Sakura's soul to be reincarnated into another world.
The Goddess of Life allowed her to be reborn into a spirit village, as the daughter of the village chief. Sounds quite privileged, doesn't it?
Her life there was very good, much better than her previous life in her own world. She could walk on her own two feet, run, and play happily with her friends.
The villagers also cherished her; she always helped them in need. Not only that, she also learned many different types of magic to heal those suffering from illnesses beyond the knowledge of the village doctors.
She lived a peaceful life like this until she turned 18... when the Imperial army arrived and attacked her village. The imperial soldiers captured all the villagers. She and some warriors tried to fight back, but one of them, taking advantage of her inattention, cast a slave curse on her, causing her to collapse. The entire village was gone… nothing…
Her father was captured and used as the main energy source for their walking castle. Her mother's fate remains unknown. And she herself was enslaved by that very same man… Every day she despairs and longs to escape this fate…
<♤♤♤>
In the deep green forest, shouts echoed, shattering the silence of nature. Ten men, weapons in hand, their armor stained with mud, were relentlessly pursuing a single person.
"Stop right there!!"
"How can this girl run so fast!"
The small figure of a girl darted through the trees, her light pink hair flying wildly with each step. Her breath was ragged, her eyes filled with panic.
The pursuers shouted incessantly, their weapons clanging against her frantic pace.
After a few minutes, they caught her. She struggled and fought back, throwing punches and kicks, but a woman's strength was no match for the strength of ten men.
"My God, what did this girl eat to be so strong?"
The first man grumbled as he hoisted her onto his shoulder.
"Quick, take her back to the lord, or I'm afraid if she runs away again, it'll be a real hassle."
The second man chimed in.
The girl struggled, but the first man slapped her on the butt. The third man yelled,
"Hey, why did you slap her like that?!"
"Because she was being too naughty..."
They threw her into the carriage and drove away.
A familiar face was sitting in the carriage—it was Sakura. Well, she couldn't do anything about it, though, as she was just a slave now, sold to these bounty hunters by her former master.
The carriage began to move, speeding through the forest.
But none of them knew that someone was watching them from a high slope, 40 meters away from the bounty hunters.
The man stared intently at the carriage, then looked up at the sky and disappeared.
Inside the carriage, Sakura looked at the girl and began to feel a pang of guilt.
She saw the three bandits sitting around guarding the girl, but somehow they were all dozing off.
Taking advantage of the situation, Sakura quietly bent down and tried to untie the girl.
However, the carriage hit a rock, causing it to shake violently. The third bandit immediately woke up, his eyes slightly open, but they widened when he saw Sakura trying to untie the girl.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
He jumped up and kicked Sakura in the stomach, sending her crashing into a corner of the carriage.
The other two bandits woke up at the third bandit's shout.
The fourth man, who was controlling his horse, heard the commotion and spoke up.
"Hey, what's going on?"
The third man pointed at Sakura and exclaimed angrily.
"Your slave girl just tried to untie this pink-haired girl!"
The other man frowned in anger.
"Hmph, that girl, why don't you punch her a few times!"
The third man smirked maliciously.
"Nice, just in time for me to get my hands on her."
All three men slowly advanced towards Sakura. She wanted to use magic to fight back, but her master wouldn't allow it.
But just before the second man could punch her, the pink-haired girl suddenly stood up. Sakura had loosened her ropes, and the girl had untied herself.
The girl with pink hair kicked the second man in the back. The third man, surprised, turned around and was punched in the nose, blood gushing onto the carriage floor.
"You little brat!"
The first man pulled out a knife and lunged at her, but at that moment...
BOOM!!!
Someone had set a magic trap that exploded in the carriage's path. The carriage lost control and crashed into a nearby tree, the ropes snapped, and the two horses ran deep into the forest.
The fourth man slowly got up, staggering to the back of the carriage. He opened the door.
Inside was a chaotic mess: the three men were sprawled on the ground, and the two girls were at the bottom of the carriage.
"Damn, who set this trap here?"
He got into the carriage and tapped the three men on the head.
"Get up!"
Because their heads were still a little dizzy, it took the other three a while to regain their senses.
"Damn it, thankfully that girl is still unharmed, otherwise the lord would have killed us all."
He said this and then kicked Sakura aside.
"Damn you, it's because of you we almost died, it's all your fault!"
He repeatedly kicked Sakura.
She was in so much pain she almost fainted.
"Boss."
The second man called out to the fourth.
"What?"
"Someone's approaching."
"Huh?"
The fourth man looked in the direction the second man pointed and saw someone approaching.
"Who is it?"
That was the man who had been observing the carriage earlier. He was quite tall, about 1.90 meters, with red hair. His eyes were covered by a cloth bearing the symbol of a sun with a cross in the center. He wore a dark brown suit jacket over a black shirt and a red tie. He carried a rather large sword on his back.
The fourth man observed the man for a moment, then jumped down from the carriage and approached him.
"Who are you?"
"Could it be... you're a member of the Liberation Army?"
The other man chuckled.
"The Liberation Army? To be honest, this is the first time I've heard of them."
"Then who are you?"
He tilted his head, his expression calm.
"I'll keep it simple."
His voice was low and soft, but each word carried a sharp edge.
"Leave that girl behind, and get out of here."
They froze for a moment, then the third man burst into laughter.
"Haha! Are you kidding, kid? You think you can stop us all by yourself?"
He walked towards him, standing before him with his arms crossed, his eyes full of defiance.
"Do you know who we work for? If you mess with us, the whole kingdom will hunt you down."
He was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Oh my god, that sounds scary."
The guy noticed his mockery and cracked his knuckles.
"You, we didn't want to beat you up for bombing us."
"But now you've gone too far!"
He threw a punch at him.
*Crack*
But when the punch hit his face, his hand shattered.
The guy's eyes widened in surprise, because the broken arm had exposed electrical circuits.
"Is it a robot?"
"Damn you!"
That was his last word.
The guy slapped him, sending him flying, his body parts scattering everywhere.
The three accomplices stood there, their mouths agape. But then their faces turned cold, and all four transformed into rather large robots.
"You bastard, who the hell are you?!"
The man simply took a camera from his jacket pocket and said, "Just a passing photographer, remember that."
One by one, they charged towards him, easily deflecting their attacks.
"Is that all? I thought a 3 million horsepower engine would be incredibly powerful."
They immediately retreated and activated their flamethrowers, firing streams of fire hundreds of thousands of degrees straight at him.
But the man remained calm. For an ordinary person, that temperature would have turned them into a burning ember, but not the red-haired man.
"Phew!"
He took a deep breath and blew on the flames surrounding him, instantly extinguishing them.
"What?!"
By the time they reacted, he had already torn them to shreds.
Blood splattered on Sakura's face; she couldn't think straight anymore, her mind completely blank.
She watched how he treated those men. She was terrified; was her life going to end here?
He looked over at her.
But instead of killing her, he simply ripped off the slave collar from her neck.
Sakura was shocked.
She touched her neck and found the collar was gone.
"Why..."
She looked at the man.
"Yo, nice to meet you."
The man gave a thumbs-up and said his name.
"My name is Akazuha Shashiki."
"Nice to meet you."
End of Chapter 1