I must say that throwing a tantrum, before faking a mental breakdown was really amusing. I've never seen anyone so confused before. Well, I should feel bad for playing on guard's emotions, but I'm not planning to exploit him for long. After I get into the city, he'll probably never see me again. At least not in this form.
He brought me to a small room with wooden table and two chairs on the opposite sides of the table. Probably an interrogation room, but I don't think they would interrogate a child, right? Did they manage to see through my disguise? No that's impossible. Maybe I wasn't convincing enough?
"Just wait here for a minute. I promise I'll be back soon, so don't worry, I just have to go get my friend." The "average" guard spoke with a reassuring tone.
So they didn't find out, after all, maybe he's not allowed to bring me with him.
"Uhm," I replied quietly and just sat in the corner, while also hiding my head between my knees.
Pretending to be a girl who is confused about the loss of her father is really troublesome. I just hope I won't waste much time here.
"I'll be back in a minute, so please don't leave the room until I'm back" He added, before finally slipping out of the chamber.
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Ehh I guess it's another one of these boring days. Standing for hours in front of the city gate checking documents of merchants, adventurers, and many other travelers. I hate this job. When I signed up, I thought I would be helping civilian, defending them. Just cause, I thought. But it turns out that it's just child's dream. All we do is provide a security theater, we're just making people feel safe. Every major crime organization had connections in the higher-ups, preventing us from taking real action against them.
If not for the fact that I have a family to support I'd have quit this job long ago, but I must hang on.
"Hey! Dave look over there! What is that girl doing here?" My companion Carl has interrupted my thoughts.
After looking at the place, my colleague has pointed at I've noticed an 8 or maybe 9 years old girl looking around as if she was searching for something or someone. Everybody else seemed to ignore her, after all, what's the kid Was she lost?
"Maybe she's lost," I answered.
"Yeah, that's possible. You should go and ask the girl yourself, you always liked young girls." He said jokingly
"Are you implying something!?" I barked at him while caressing pommel of my sword.
"Nothing at all." He replied while pretending to be scared.
Nevertheless, I still decided to approach the girl, better me than this idiot. She noticed me as I approached her. Her curious eyes scanned me from head to toe.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here alone? Are you lost maybe?" I asked her, but since I was never good at talking to children, this is what came out of my mouth.
"Umm... I went with my father to the nearby village, b-but then a wolf pack attacked us..." She replied.
Ugh... It was excruciating to look at the young girl in the state like this, and most of all this tragedy could easily be avoided if only they could let us kill those demonic wolves. But no, some greedy bastard decided that killing them is too much of a hassle and not worth the money. After all, someone from the Venator Guild takes care of them eventually.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Those damn wolves! We should've killed them long ago." I whispered to myself.
"I'm sorry about what's happened, but tell me is your mother still in the town?" I asked. Her accent and clothing suggested that she was certainly not from our country, or at least her parents weren't, so I had to make sure that she had a family behind the walls.
"M-mum? Yes, but I'm not going until my father comes back. He told me he will be back!" She replied barely holding her tears.
Somehow I felt that there was something wrong with her answer it felt as if she was afraid of her mother? Anyways I have to report this to our commander, she'll decide what to do with that girl.
"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll come back, but in the meantime could you come with me?" I tried coercing her into going with me.
"No, I'm not going anywhere without my daddy!" She shouted.
Countless eyes turned towards us. Oh God, this is going to be hard. I can even hear the laugh of that stupid Carl.
"I'm not telling you to abandon him. I just want you to follow me so you can meet some of my friends." I pleaded again.
"He promised, he told to wait for him at the gate!" She screamed through tears.
"But what if he won't return today? Will you stay here for the whole night?" I tried reasoning with her.
"B-but dad told me to wait. Dad told me. He said he'll be back." She started crying.
"Don't cry, everything is going to be fine." I hugged the girl to comfort her. "My name is Dave. What's yours miss?" I swear I could hear Carl calling me a lolicon in the background. I'll deal with him later, he can't even understand that's not the time for such jokes.
"R-Rachel" She replied timidly.
"Rachel then. Will you please come with me? I show you, my friends, as I promised, maybe even our commander will meet you." I offered my hand to her.
She just nodded and grabbed my hand. I could see from her expression that she still wasn't alright. I doubt anyone would be after such short period of time. At least she's cooperative now. I brought her to an interrogation room with me. Yeah I know, but these are the rules, we can't let anyone further into our headquarters without superior approval.
I just had to find my boss, she'll probably rush to the girl as soon as she hears about it. My boss always had a sweet spot for kids, especially girls. I won't judge her, as a father I always wanted to have a daughter, but the gods have only blessed us with two sons before my wife has become unable to bear a child.
I told Rachel to wait for me and not to leave the room. Fortunately, she didn't object, she just sat in the corner and curled herself up. Poor girl, I'll make sure that I'll make sure that you won't experience anything like this ever again.
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To my surprise, Dave actually did come back after the minute. He brought an armored woman with him. She was probably this commander he was talking about. Her expressionless face was betraying years of experience in the battlefield. Her lifeless eyes and a cold gaze told a story of a woman who killed countless people. Her red hair felt like a testament to the blood she has probably spilled over numerous battles.
But everything changed when the fire natio... I mean when she looked at me. Her face took on an elated expression, the fire begun to burn in her eyes. She looked more like a predator now.
I readied myself to pounce at her with everything I've got, but something unexpected happened she just walked to me and hugged me really hard. I think I went a little overboard with my performance.
"It's okay, everything will be fine. I'll take care of you." She said while stroking my hair.
Ugh... Now I feel awful for tricking them, but it's too late to turn back now. The only option left is to push forward, down into the rabbit hole. Well not really, but I don't want to kill people without reason.
"..." I really didn't know how should I behave, so I decided to keep my interactions with them to the bare minimum. I believe that at least this way things won't get any worse.
"Rachel, could you tell us your mother's name?" The woman asked me.
I think that for two reasons I shouldn't give them the name of my mother. Firstly it's because last time I checked my mother was still on Earth, and secondly, they probably want to use it so they can search for her, and since she isn't in the town, they won't find anyone.
"It's okay. We won't bring you to her if you don't want" The commander interrupted my thoughts.
That's unexpected, did they jump to some sort of weird conclusions?
"It's Phase." After hesitating for a bit, I told them my "mother's name." Using my nickname as a name of my fake mother may backfire at me later, but I think connecting me to myself might also yield some benefits.
There is only this one thing that keeps bothering me. Why did her face turn ugly for a split second after hearing my nickname? Is something wrong with that name?