Death... and me

Rean then looked back at Falangia and told her, "Your daughter isn't the only kid who has already lost their virginity. At least 20 to 25% of the kids I can see with my Divine Sense that are also below ten years old experienced the same thing. I can't say much about the boys, but there's a good chance they aren't that much well off. Just how the hell did things turn out like this? There should be a limit as to how terrible things can become."

Falangia shook her head as she replied, "The limit is within everyone's minds. I told you, didn't I? I'm not any more innocent than this trash I just killed. Without a doubt, I killed plenty of innocents just so I could earn something. Of course, I believe I killed even more trash as well."

Rean sighed in response after hearing that. "At the very least, you do that for your family."

"And can you say that these people we just killed, including this Gustin, aren't in this business for their family as well?" Falangia asked in response.

Rean had to admit she was right. "Maybe. However, chances aren't very big."

Falangia was confused. "Why?"

Rean then explained, "Your Divine Sense is very small. You can't see more than a couple of meters with it. However, my Divine Sense can reach up to eight kilometers. The majority of the Anti-Divine Sense Formations here are quite bad, so I can pierce through most of them. Tell me, how many of the living kids in this city do you believe have a mother or a father to rely on? I'll tell you. For every one hundred kids moving around, just twenty or thirty have someone to take care of them."

However, Falangia immediately shook her head as she corrected him. "I indeed don't have a large Divine Sense. However, the numbers are definitely a lot higher than what you can see with your Divine Sense."

Rean's interest was instantly piqued. "Oh! Is that so?"

Falangia nodded before explaining, "It's very common for fathers to abandon the women they impregnated. After all, it mostly happens through force. The reason you can only see around 10% of them with a parent is that most of these kids' parents are also out, trying to earn a living somehow. Their parents, obviously mothers, for the most part, can't leave them to be taken care of by someone else as no one really wants to do that. Just wait until nighttime arrives. You'll see that more than half of the kids alone in the streets will meet up with their mothers, while the very lucky ones will perhaps meet up with their very rare fathers."

She continued, "If you stay here for an entire week, you'll also see the mothers and the few fathers who went out of the city come back as well. Do you remember me? I went out to earn some profit and was expecting to stay out for two weeks. I basically left enough food for Rafatia and told her not to go out if possible. That's the only thing I could do. The same goes for the others. If I were to guess, I believe that around 70% of the kids you can see with your Divine Sense do at least have a mother."

Rean wasn't disappointed to hear that, of course. "That's great! It seems I jumped to conclusions way too fast. Now that I think about it... if so many kids had been abandoned, how did they grow up to those ages where they could move around? They should have starved to death a long time ago."

But then he noticed something. "Wait, following this logic, how come around 30% of them are parentless?"

However, Rean only had to look at Falangia's helpless expression to understand. "They did have parents, most likely the mothers. However, in the middle of their growth, their parents died, leaving them alone. It's just that since they're old enough, they can at least struggle to survive on their own."

Falangia nodded, saying, "You have to understand one thing, Rean. Most of the women who are mothers in this place chose to give birth. They wanted to have those children, even if it was a fruit of an assault. Try to pay attention to this huge Divine Sense of yours. If a woman doesn't want to have a child, she'll terminate her pregnancy once the kid inside gets big enough for her to notice their presence."

Rean couldn't help but smile a bit after hearing that. "It seems like this place isn't completely helpless yet. At least there are a few people who understand the importance of life and want to give it a chance, just like you."

Falangia couldn't help but become somewhat red after hearing that. It was the first time someone praised her for her choice to give birth to Rafatia in the end. Especially since she made that decision when she was still eleven. Being complimented like that was quite embarrassing. Though, at the same time, something like that deeply improved her mood. "Th-Thank you..."

Rean nodded before he patted Falangia's head. Rean was already over sixty, so he really saw Falangia as nothing more than a child. As for Falangia... she didn't dislike it. Nevertheless, she quickly recovered and jumped back, saying, "Do-Don't treat me like a kid."

"Hahaha!" Rean couldn't help but laugh in response. "In my eyes, you're just a kid. Do you know how old I am? I'm 64 years old already. It's just that my cultivation makes me look like I'm in my teens."

"64?!" Falangia was shocked to hear that. When she heard that Rean could possibly be as strong as the City Lord, she thought he was at least a few hundred years old! Were there really such geniuses in the world? "You're kidding, right?"

Rean shook his head, saying once more, "I'm really 64." He then thought, 'Well, 64 in the Realm of Gods' time. If I was on Earth, I would probably be close to my 90s...'

"You and your brother are monsters..." Falangia blurted without holding back.

"Hey, that hurts, you know?" Rean didn't really take it to heart, though.