Toriel was making her way back to the city after she had collected the flowers that the quest had asked for also picking one to unlock a new shield

[Blue orchid shield LV 1]

equip bonus 2 plant resistance

[Ability: soothing smell: creates a nice smell around you that can attracts small insects]

It wasn't going to be much compared to the monster killing missions but it didn't require brutal violence against others which is was her preference, as she was walking to the adventurers guild to receive her payment for completing the quest, she saw a small boy running away from a large man in a apron, with the kid tripping over and when the man caught up to him, he started to hit the kid over and over again

"You demi human scum! Stealing my pastries! You going to pay for that!" He screamed while hitting the now bloody kid

"It's *cough* was just *cough* bread" the kid said while coughing up blood

At the sight of this, Toriel's blood began to boil, she rushed over and broke the two apart, she stopped the man's hands and looked at him directly in the eyes with a firely glare

"What do you think your doing!!!" Her hands began to tighten up as the man tried to break free "that's a child!!! You're going to kill him if you keep this up!!!" She screamed at the man, she would not let a child die if she could do something, not again

"Y-you!! Let go of me!!! Your filthy Demi's don't know your place!!! That disgusting animal stole from me, the laws permit I can punish him however I want!!!" the man responded as he desperately tried to break free, either to run away from the large woman or to try and hit her as well

"What type of law allows you to kill a kid on the street for stealing bread!?!?!?" She screamed in outrage, this whole commotion was causing the people walking around to just watch, some agreed with the man, others felt that Toriel was in the right but keep themselves quiet in fear and the rest didn't care, not really wanting to choose a side, wanting to stay out of the morality of it all

"Why are doing this!? Go back to your master you stupid slave or I promise you I will punish you instead of him!!!" The man said while still trying to break free to no avail, even if Toriel didn't have any attack, that only applies to damaging the other, but her grip strength and how hard it was to break free from it was all determined by her natural force and her defense, and with how high it was right now, it would be impossible for a average person to escape

His comment however, sparked interested in Toriel, as she was confused by being called such a thing

"Slave? What in tarnation are you talking about?" She asked, slightly loosening her grip, but not enough for the man to escape

"Huh?! What are you retrarded?! Only way for you damn animals to even be allowed to live is if you're a slave!!! You monsters don't have any rights!!!" The man loudly ploclame, face red of anger

"But this child...!" As Toriel looked at the kid she saw something that surprised her, the kid she assumed was human had a tail and animal ears, it was almost surreal to Toriel, the kid seemed like a perfect mix between a human and a monster, but the surprised clearly went away when the sight of the beat up kid struggling to breathe hit her eyes, as she began to piece together why some people seen to hate her guts for no reason, but in her case she had almost no resemblance to a human, but this looked exactly like one, despite the ears and tail, which only made her anger grow

"...and?" Toriel asked, now in a cold and dead tone as she faced back to the man

"What do you mean 'and'?!" The man asked as he began to feel a sudden heat form in his hands

"Do you see this kid? Excluding his ears and tail, he resembles any other human child, even if his not human, his still a child like any other and you were hitting him like nothing for what? Because the law says you can? does this mean you would hit any other child if the law permitted? That if you would be allowed to do awful things you would do them?" She said while staring down the man, who was paralyzed by her cold death stare, hiding a burning anger

"Even if the law permits, you don't have to do such a thing, do you have a conscience? If you do, then you would know that this you're doing is far too cruel a punishment for stealing bread" she Toriel continued explaining as the man began to feel the heat on his hand get hotter, the people in the crowd were whispering, seemly starting to see the points the goat lady said

"Now that I look at the kid...it does feel extremely brutal"

"that kid looks the same age as my girl..."

"Didn't that baker got into a bar fight just because they said he had enough?"

"A grown man hitting a defenseless child feels bad to watch..."

"I think the kid is drowning in his own blood..."

"The law says you can do that? I'm unsure now..."

Toriel let go of the man, with him hitting the ground, he looked at his hand and noticed that they had burn marks where the goat woman was holding, he looked at her, now with fear rather than anger

"Leave now, or else I may not be able to hold off my wrath at you" she said in a dead expression, as her eyes seemed like burning flames staring down his soul, the man gulped before running away screaming

Toriel went over to the child, but as she goes to see if he was fine, her eyes began to tear up, she checked his pulse but she already knew, the kid was dead, seemly succumbing to the injuries dealt to him, as she laid crying over the dead child body, the crowd of people all bummed down with the whole ordeal began to dispense and go on with their days, not wanting to keep looking at sad display, only one stayed to look at the scene, a young man wielding a bow who Toriel knew but didn't notice while she was mourning the child death

Itsuki just looked at the scene silently, with horror filling his eyes, he was just buying some gear when he saw a crowd and loud screaming, he went to look at what was happening when he saw Toriel in anger, something he didn't think possible, stopping and utterly destroy a man with her words, he was confused at first but when he heard what Toriel was saying and looked at the child in the floor, he almost snapped mentally, he not only wanted to kill the man for doing that to a child but also for trying to justify his action with some bullcrap lies! There's was no away the laws of this kingdom would allow such a thing and even if somehow they did, the man still need to pay for doing that, pay for the murder of child, pay for his prejudice, pay for whatever other injustice he had committed

He gripped his bow with all his strength and went off to the same direction the man went, not even saying anything to Toriel as he went after the criminal that did this! That man might avoid justice by this kingdoms law, but not him!

[Blessed series and Cursed series unlocked]

[First condition for the Bow of Justice (Blessed) met]

[First condition for the Bow of Justice (Cursed) met]

--

Toriel walked out of the city gates carrying the dead child in her hands, while crying over her failure to save this kid going to at least give him a proper burial, she received some weird looks from the people, but as soon as they saw what she was carrying and the tears in her face they all quiet out, as she made her way out in the fields she came close to a tree and began digging with her bare hands, after 45 minutes she made a rectangle hole with some rocks and flowers decorating it, she gently put the body down and began praying for half a hour wishing the kid a good rest in the afterlife, after it she filled the hole back with dirt and stood there for a bit while shedding a few tears, as she was leaving the area, she felt a soft and warm wind go through her, hearing a happy voice say "thank you" she looked around but found no one there, she shook her head, thinking she was hearing things again, that happened from time to time, probably because she failed to protect a child again.

[Blessed series unlocked]

[First condition of the Shield of Empathy met]

She went back to the capital and tried to sleep away her sadness as she did many times in the past.

After the events of the previous day, Toriel was studying with Erhard the language of Melromarc, she has been doing this in the past two days and she was learning very fast since she was a good student, getting to understand the alphabet and the basic structure of frases, but today she was not really paying attention to it and Erhard knew something was wrong

"Did something happen Toriel?" Erhard asked, a bit worried of what could made the usually cheerful woman he met in this past few days be in such a state

"..." Toriel thought for a bit before sighing, she knew that Erhard was trust worthy, he would probably understand

"...I saw a man brutality murder a child for stealing bread, and he said it was fine by the law because he had animal features" she said while looking off in the distance

"God damnit!" Erhard screamed while hitting the table, putting his hand on his face trying to calm down, he focused on Toriel knowing that she was taking this the worst

"Some times I feel ashamed of living here..." He said as he came close to toriel

"How...are you doing?" He said as he put his hand in her shoulder

"...even after you told me that people here didn't like this demi humans fellows, I thought it was because they would look more like me, you know? Less human... but the kid I saw...he looked identical to a human child, the only difference was a tail and ears..." She said, almost dead inside as she recalled the events of last day

"And I couldn't save him..." She begins to cry as the memories of all the now nine childs she failed to protect began to follow in "it's all my fault! I can't protect nobody!" She puts her hands in her face to try to stop the incoming tears

"Wow wow come down, it's not your fault!" Erhard tried his best to calm her down, but he was a blacksmith, not a emotional support expert

"Yes it is! I failed him! Like all the others! I don't-"

SLAP!

"Hey stop that! Blaming yourself will not help you with nothing!" Erhard said, he would have to do this in the way he knew, firm and strong like a hammer

"But-"

"No buts! Yeah the world is a awful place, but you can't let it just eat your heart like that!" Erhard said in a loud voice, before taking a deep breath and continuing in a more calm voice, as he now had her attention

"It's okay if you don't get over it, but don't let that stop you from being the kind soul you showed to be, this place really needs people like you, now more than ever" he said as he looked at her crying eyes, as he seemed to have taken her out of her trance

"I...y-you... you're right mister Erhard, crying about it won't bring them back, it never does..." Toriel said as she wiped out the tears in her eyes and standing up from her chair

"Please forgive my behavior" she apologized as she bowed down

"Don't, you were just reacting as any person with a good heart would" Erhard said, as much as he hated to admit, he had gotten used to the cruelty of Melromarc to Demi humans, he really could use a vacation from all of this

"Is it okay if we stop our lesson for the day?" Toriel said as she packed her books and notes in a bag

"Sure, just... take care of this" he said while pointing at her heart

"I will do" Toriel said as she exited his shop

'I swear, if I end up having a alone moment with the king, I have a few choices words about the whole slavery business' he thought as he hit away a blade against a anvil with his hammer

[Author's notes]

No, Itsuki won't use the cursed or blessed series this early on, this is just a plot 'seed' for later. If guys want to know why the bow of justice is both a cursed and blessed series, it's because justice can be just as much a force of evil as it is a force of good, think like Kale and Morgana from league of legends or Judge Dread, and it's basically like a morality system like Infamous, depending on if he does more evil or heroic stuff, it will unlock more of the cursed or blessed series version of the bow

And No, Toriel and Erhard aren't going to be a thing