“Cupcake please!” a Jaid clone placed their order at her favorite bakery in Bisomote. She was handed the sweet dessert and then stepped aside, cramming into what little space remained on the bakery’s floor since all the seats had already been taken by other clones.
“Cookie please!” the next of the wee knights politely placed their order, already the thirtieth so far at least with the line literally out the door and down the block. And just like with every other transaction, the astonished-yet-accepting cashier processed the purchase using the Common Card that the clones had left sitting on the payment terminal.
The hive-mind of Jaids giggled to themselves each time the purchase went through, believing that Nachi whom they’d defeated and robbed was now paying for their fiendish delights. But most likely due to their diminished mentalities, they’d forgotten how Common Cards actually worked. Perhaps it was due to their relative age, since it was in fact how old credit cards would have behaved back when Jaid was still a child.
In the present day, however, there were far more securities. To actually use someone else's money, it required a transfer using biometric approval. While it was merely a few simple pushes of a button, the person gifting the money had to be holding the card at the time. Since the knights had simply nicked the card, it immediately swapped to Jaid’s purchasing account since she was the last person to touch it.
This meant every treat currently being bought was going straight out of the pockets of the starved mob without them even knowing it. While the amount was nothing that would put a significant dent into their savings, the original Jaid would likely be very confused as to why she had countless charges if she audited it in the future.
In actuality, the bakers likely would have given the desserts and pastries to the ‘children’ for free. Jaid was one of their best customers after all, and had already purchased enough from them to warrant a few gifts of good graces. But the staff were also fine taking her money, too confused yet endeared by what was happening to raise a fuss.
And the small army nearly cleared out everything the bakery already had prepared, with some of the clones even lining up wanting seconds after everyone else had eaten their first treat. But when the group realized that eating the rest meant that no one else could have any, their deep-rooted chivalry rose to the surface, overpowering their childish whims and selfishness. So they all at once thanked the bakers for the deliciousness and left the store.
But what to do next? The fight with Nachi and all their playing had initially tired them out a bit. Now, though, they were hyped up on sugar. If they didn’t go somewhere quick, their patience would run out, and the clones felt like they’d explode with all the energy welling up inside of them.
“Back to the gym, get high score?” One of the girls trod on old ground because they couldn’t think of anything new.
“Too much fighting is boring,” another complained about the idea. “Yeah, too much like old CP days.” “All fighting no fun.” “Bad days.” “Tiring Days.”
“Not all bad, though,” a clone conceded. “Good food and had Breach.” “Yeah, Breach nice. Not like others.” “Miss General Breach.” “Want to hug him…”
“...go see Breach?” the crazy consideration was floated suddenly to the rest. “Go see Breach!” “Invade CP and see Breach.” “Make Breach take us to lunch!” “Hug Breach!” And just like that, their goal was set and minds were locked—not a chance of changing it at that point. But it brought up a bigger matter of just how they were going to get there.
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“So you want me to send all of you to the Central Peace?” Valen recapped once she finally understood after dozens of toddlers had yelled at her. They then all nodded in unison. “Well, sorry, we don’t have a blood font there,” the woman immediately crushed the battalion’s hopes. “Best I could do is a safehouse relatively nearby, but that’d be quite the hike, and would you even be able to get inside then?”
“You can get us there!” one of the clones refuted. “Yeah, your power’s amazing!” “So strong!” “Can do it!” “We believe in you.”
While it was obvious that the micro-Jaids were buttering the woman up, it still worked to some degree. “Well, Phon did stash a vial of her blood in their headquarters just in case we ever needed to break in while she wasn’t around. But that was for emergencies only. What were you planning to do there anyways?”
“Miss Breach, want to hug him!” the clones didn’t even try to hide their intentions, and their faces all shifted to ones of lonely longing, bordering breaking down in tears.
“Ah, I can understand that,” the woman nodded along. “And I do believe I’ve read about him in a few stories centering around you. Or well, your older self. But is that really all you’d do there?”
“Would get food too!” a small Jaid happily reported. “Steal back belongings too!” “Yeah, bad place doesn’t deserve them.” “Bad place indeed.” “No one should be there.” “Tear it down.” “Burn it down!” “Burn down the CP!”
Somehow the innocent trip to visit a missed loved one had rapidly escalated to full arson and terrorism, which Valen did find amusing and relatable, but still… “Sorry but your request is rejected. That doesn’t qualify as an emergency, and is in fact, something I shouldn’t allow. So, guess I have to be the adult and refuse any teleportation requests from you until your normal self is around.”
“Boo!” most of the single-minded crowd jeered at the outcome. One instigator, though, proposed, “Get her?” while raising their fists in action.
“No no no,” another Jaid mediated and calmed down the crowd. “We can get her to do it. Just have to pay her, and know what she wants!” The puny clone went over to another and hugged them. Both girls then began roughly rubbing each other's backs and sides while making exaggerated noises and kissing each other on the cheeks—how children would often mock adults in love.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The clones then curved their eyes, peeking to see if their efforts were causing the onlooking woman’s passions to spur. But alas, they were only being stared at with a mildly amused gaze. “Sorry kids, but it’s entirely against my writing circle’s rules to write about anyone your age, in a romantic context at least. Either come back when you’re older or bring back a couple who will pretend to be your parents. This current act does nothing for me.”
There was more booing, more pleading, more threats, but Valen never caved. Eventually, the young girls got bored with the idea anyways—their loneliness suppressed, and their passion for destruction waned. So they went parading down the tunnel in search of another activity to occupy their time, back on the hype train of wanting to only have more fun.
They originally tried to get into the secret workshop to try and play around with Nathym’s gadgets, but had forgotten how to activate the hidden panel. It didn’t take long before they gave up and kept going, stopping at the member cubes. That alone left a ton of possibilities for amusement, but which one would bring the most fun?
It was difficult to remember what each cube contained off the top of their heads, so a clone began fiddling with the keypad and began cycling through them. Quite a few were boring office-type spaces that barely got more than a glance. The first one they properly stopped to consider was Mazie and Bray’s ‘clubhouse’. While it could certainly be fun, they’d already spent a lot of similar time on the playground, and wouldn’t want to disturb the safe haven of their fellow children.
Next up for consideration was Niloy’s makeup studio, where the woman tested new concoctions and applied cosmetics for any filming that needed to be done at the compound. The herd of miscreants could easily amuse themselves for quite some time by giving each other makeovers and messing with the ingredients to see what they could come up with. While it sounded fun, they first needed to take into consideration if anything else would be more fun with their remaining time, so they tossed it onto the maybe pile.
What immediately piqued their interest though was Rishaki’s shop. Jaid never really had any interest in antiques or rarities—her visor and sword excluded—so there was never really a reason for her to visit. Rishaki was a known spoiler of children, though, so that alone should have given the kid clones an inclination. But it wasn’t why they were suddenly so enchanted by the shop.
It was empty. And that never happened. There were times, very seldom times, when The Peddler would actually close down her shop for the day or even a few hours. But it was never left wide-open and abandoned. The shopkeep was very stringent about making sure her goods were secure.
But right there in front of them—in front of possibly the worst group imaginable—her shop was completely open and exposed. That alone drew the clones inside the enchanting room, unable to resist the call of the mysterious and the unknown …only for them to be immediately bored.
The trinkets that Rishaki had left on display were practically worthless junk in the eyes of children. Sure they were pretty and shiny, which had some appeal, but not anything that’d be fun to play around with. They could use the items to roleplay as royalty, but even as an aged-down version, Jaid had experienced royals enough in her life.
But before hope was abandoned, they found what any adventurer would crave: an unlocked chest behind Rishaki’s counter. It was one of the many chests that connected to the woman’s Curse, allowing her to store all of her worldly possessions in an infinite pocket dimension. Only she would have the power to unlock them, which begged the question why it was even unlocked in the first place.
Maybe it was a trap to catch thieves. Maybe the merchant had been suddenly teleported by Phon. Maybe she just really had to use the bathroom. The tiny knights did not care why. All they cared about was that wondrous treasure was within their grasp.
The clones piled up on top of each other, all wanting to get a glimpse when the chest was opened. And after the lid was flipped up, all of their eyes sparkled in unison. But it wasn’t any specific antiquity that caused the glimmer, rather it was the new world with its entryway unveiled.
They peered down further into the chest, their amazement only growing. The clones had been expecting a big pile of treasure, not an actual literal mountain of it. As far as their eyes could see, there were sprawling peaks and hills of shining trinkets and outdated coins. They couldn’t see the edge on any side, appearing to be an infinite void.
But that didn’t deter their adventurous spirit, and one brave clone readied herself for the journey of a lifetime. Living beings had been put inside of Rishaki’s chest before, such as Senli when she made her very first trip to the compound. But they were always sedated beforehand, so that their mind wouldn’t be mawhged by the insane domain of riches, similar to how Chorus wardrobe would cause nightmares about clothing if someone remained inside of it for too long.
For children, though, it wasn’t really an issue. Their minds weren’t yet restricted by cruel reality, free to let their fantasies run wild. Hell, right at that moment, the young group of clones had at least thirty imaginary friends shared among them. So seeing such absurdities barely even phased them, the impossibilities presented as nothing more than dreams come to life.
The Jaids made a ladder with their bodies, each one holding onto the previous clone’s ankles, lowering the frontmost adventurer down headfirst. It took almost all of the currently summoned knights to reach the peak of the tallest mountain, but they made it without needing to create any more.
Once her hands touched the pile of treasures, the dangling Paladin began digging. She tossed aside priceless artifacts, treating them like junk—Chucked vases that had been around for thousands of years, discarded coins that were worth entire salaries in the hands of collectors. While it was all worth taking, it was nothing that would satisfy treasure hunters.
While the rummaging girl didn’t have any particular idea in mind on what she wanted to find, she knew it’d be obvious when she found it. And the prize didn’t keep her waiting long. As soon as she unveiled it, she knew nothing could beat it: an orb.
While the small Jaid had no idea what it was, or if it did anything special, or even how much it was worth, the orb called to her. Its very existence felt mystical, as if it was the key to everything, to unlocking a greater treasure, for unlimited power, maybe even life's burning questions. And it swirled with green and blue, matching her hair and eyes, so it felt like fate.
The line of clones then reeled her up, and once her feet were back on solid ground, they all celebrated their successful treasure hunt. Each one got a chance to hold the orb and awe at its splendor. But now that their grand adventure was complete, they had no further reason to stick around, and departed as the first and only thieves to successfully steal from the Merchant Queen Rishaki.
Yet the moment they left, that was when the orb suddenly became a problem. The munchkin robbers didn’t have a real use for it, especially because they wouldn’t be able to directly trade it for treats. And they also didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of their remaining time. Even if they did keep it, having the orb would only cause trouble for their original self.
So they ultimately chose to bowl the orb back into the shop and close the door, acting like their act of larceny had never occurred. Then they regrouped at the member cube controls and resumed cycling through them, looking for their next source of fun.