Before the fine, they used to eat twice a day or sometimes once a day, but eating once a day was a rare occurrence.
But after the fine?
They ate only once a day, until it became that he ate only once a day.
At age ten, when their tribe was at its lowest point, Simon’s mother ate only once a week. Every food she obtained, she gave to him so that he could eat at least once a day, and this singular act was what touched Simon and made him treat Blackstar’s mother like a mother figure as well.
’The love of a mother toward her child is prevalent even amongst demons.’
These were Simon’s thoughts on a particular night when his mother slept almost like she was dead.
He took note of her sunken cheeks, her skinny arms that were more bone than flesh, her hair losing its color due to stress, and the horrible, tattered clothes she wore.
His mother, Lyssa, was a tailor in their tribe. She had no talent in fighting, and although being a tailor in the Duskfang Tribe was not a luxurious job, it had been able to put food on her table... before the fine.
However, with the state of their tribe, business had been extremely terrible for his mother, and Simon knew this.
For his sake, and for that of his mother, he knew that he had to get a job despite his young age.
If he didn’t, it wouldn’t be for long until he and his mother died of hunger. He needed to support his mother in whatever little way possible. So, from the age of ten, he began working.
Or... at least, he tried.
And that was when he realized just how absurd, brutal, and difficult the demonic realm, or, to be more precise, his tribe... was.
There were several jobs one could do in the Duskfang Tribe:
Gatherer, tailor, hunter, cook, guard, bonecrafter, blacksmith, and so many other jobs.
Simon knew that the most lucrative amongst them in their tribe was the bonecrafter job.
When Simon got this information from his mother, he was stunned because he never expected that a job that involved crafting using bones would be the most lucrative job in their tribe. He thought a blacksmith would be the most lucrative job, but he was wrong.
In the Duskfang Tribe, and especially during their period of decline, a bonecrafter made a lot of money.
And for a good reason too.
Blacksmiths used to be richer than bonecrafters since their equipment was superior and stronger. However, when metals used in blacksmithing became exceedingly scarce, blacksmiths had nothing to smith with.
Meanwhile, bonecrafters could use the bones that were available in their tribe. Getting bones was easier than getting metals, and at some point, when bones were too expensive to buy and too difficult to get, they began using the bones of the dead in their tribe.
They dug up the dead, and those whose bones had not turned to dust were used in the creation of weapons to arm the guards of the tribe.
This was why bonecrafters became one of the most valuable people in their tribe.
Simon tried to learn bonecrafting from one of the bonecrafters, and when he told his mother, she advised him not to do so.
She told him that it would be better to wait till he was sixteen, when his bloodline and demonic heart would awaken. It was also the time he would learn the grade of his bloodline and his magical talents.
Simon knew that his mother did not hold high hopes for him to have immense talent or, least of all, a powerful bloodline, since the likelihood of such a thing was extremely low.
She did not have a powerful bloodline, and his father only had a slightly more powerful one.
Simon knew that his mother wanted him to wait till he was sixteen, and when he finally awakened both his bloodline and his demonic heart, he could then apply to be a guard of the tribe, or both of them could leave the tribe and go to one of the six main tribes.
However, Simon was ten years old when he had this conversation with his mother, and he knew that there was no way he and his mother would last for six long years if there was no positive change in their lives.
So, he ignored his mother’s advice and tried to find a way to learn bonecrafting.
However, he was ruthlessly denied by the bonecrafters in the tribe. Some even threatened to kill him and rip out his tongue for breakfast.
One of the bonecrafters agreed to take him as his apprentice, but Simon was treated worse than a slave.
He was asked to do tasks many would not do. For example, he was asked to always clean his house and workspace, to massage the bonecrafter, to go on errands in the tribe that would tire him out for the entire day, to dig holes in the ground where he could relieve himself, and to do every single task one could possibly imagine.
Simon might not have minded doing all of these degrading jobs, but the bonecrafter was so cruel to the point that he sometimes only paid Simon once or twice a week.
He would claim that business had not been good, and Simon’s pay was nothing more than five low-grade bone coins. Meanwhile, his mother’s pay before the decline of the tribe was one mid-grade bone coin per month.
A single mid-grade bone coin was equivalent to a hundred low-grade bone coins, and Simon only earned five or ten low-grade bone coins per week of servitude.
Simon persevered for a whole six months until he decided that he could not take it anymore. The bonecrafter always made sure he learned nothing or even got a glimpse of his work whenever he had a job, and Simon knew that the bonecrafter had no intention of teaching him.
Maybe if he persevered for another six months, his ’master’ would grow a heart and choose to teach him. But Simon had no intention of waiting till that time.
His life on Earth had been a life of fame, glory, and riches. And there was no way he was going to keep on living a life that had no future.
The main reason why every bonecrafter sent him out and refused him was because resources were scarce, and trying to waste them on an apprentice who would definitely waste the resources was a waste of money for them... something they could not afford with the economic state of their tribe.
It was the same for the blacksmiths.
Tailors only accepted women. Men could not be tailors, and Simon knew that his mother would not even allow it because of the shame it would bring to her.
He could not become a guard or a hunter because he was too weak.
As for being a gatherer?
Kids were not allowed to become gatherers, and he also knew that becoming a gatherer meant he would be risking his life.
He had no means of protecting himself, and Fearless could definitely not protect him against demonic beasts.
So what could he do?
How could he survive?
He did something he never thought he would do. He became something a hero should never become.
He became a thief.