I walked into Old Mo’s bakery, and I was surprised to see that there weren’t many customers there. Old Mo’s bakery usually started to get more business around dinnertime, since that was when the red light district started to get more customers. However, even though it was approaching the evening, there wasn’t a single customer in sight when I walked in.
I frowned, and used my spatial sight to look at everything nearby. The first reason I could think of for why Old Mo’s bakery might be deserted was the government. If the government had found us, they might have kicked out Old Mo and all the customers, before filling the place up with soldiers.
Alternately, one of the local gangs might have decided to mess with the bakery. Even though the gangs usually tried to keep violence down in the red light district, a little bit of violence still bubbled to the surface from time to time. It was bad for business, but that didn’t mean it never happened.
But when I looked at our surroundings using spatial sight, I couldn’t see anyone unusual. Old Mo was clearly present in the building, and was currently fumbling around with some items at the back of the shop. He didn’t seem to be injured or in danger. Apart from Old Mo, nobody else was in the shop at all.
I blinked in confusion.
“Old Mo?” I called out.
“Miria? Good timing! I didn’t see you this morning, so I didn’t think you were coming in today!” yelled Old Mo. “Come back here! Yelling across the shop makes it harder to talk!”
I nodded, and started making my way towards the back. After I pushed through a few doors, I stopped and took a closer look at Old Mo. He looked different than usual. His old face had a few more wrinkles than before, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked a bit haggard and stressed out.
“Old Mo? What’s wrong?” I asked. Old Mo had done a lot for me this life, and I was absolutely willing to step in if he needed help. I might not have much money, but I was several times more scary than the trained soldiers of this world.
“Have you not heard, Miria?” he asked. He seemed a bit concerned as he looked at me. “Look, kid… you… I haven’t asked too much about your home situation before, but this is important. I believe you’ve mentioned your mom is addicted to fizz, and your father isn’t around, right?”
I nodded. I tried not to feel a wave of anxiety and depression when I thought of my mother.
“My mother is an addict, yeah.” I hadn’t told Old Mo everything about my home life, but he knew enough to put the picture together on his own.
“Miria… you might want to leave the city soon,” said Old Mo. “And you should think really hard about if you want to bring your mother with you. Or if it’s even possible to bring your mother with you. This… isn’t really something I would normally talk about with a child. You’re… what, Eight? Seven?”
“Six,” I said.
“Even younger than I thought. The point is, this isn’t a nice topic, but as a kid from the slums, I’m sure you’ve already seen much more than some adults have. So you have choices to make. And you need to make them soon.”
I blinked, and felt my anxiety start to skyrocket again. Had the government found me and threatened Old Mo or something? The way he was talking made it sound like danger was about to fall out of the sky and onto my lap. That meant that Old Mo was worried. My first two guesses were the government or gangs.
“Old Mo, is something wrong? You still haven’t actually told me why I should be worried,” I said. “Do you have some sort of trouble with the local gangs? If so, I know a contact who might be able to help you out.”
That ‘friend’ was me, of course. But since Old Mo wouldn’t believe a six year old could save him from the local gangs, it was probably best to pretend someone else would act and not me. I was already starting think about the best way to beat down the local gangs and scare them a little bit.
Old Mo’s next words silenced my thoughts about gang fights and slum politics.
“The front lines are collapsing,” said Old Mo. “Not completely, but the country might lose this city.”
I blinked.
“What?” That was not what I had expected. I had been thinking about the government coming after us, or gangs trying to hurt us, but as time passed, my awareness of the war had started to fade to the background. After all, the front lines hadn’t budged much for the past year and a half. I wasn’t wealthy enough to buy the newspaper and read it, but from what news trickled into the slums, it sounded a lot like the front lines had been deadlocked for a long time. Both sides would gain minor victories from time to time, but nothing really changed.
“The armies of Verne have mostly held up the coalition army at fort Brenzo for the past two years while our nation has tried to dominate the sea,” said Old Mo. “And as far as I know, that was actually working out, for the most part. All countries on the continent are a bit dependent on their overseas colonies now, so cutting off their access to the colonies has been causing a material shortage for Verne’s enemies.”
I blinked. That was… a lot more information than I had ever expected Old Mo to have. Old Mo knowing about the war strategy of our nation was… surprising, to say the least. I had always known that Old Mo had some shady contacts - after all, he seemed rather okay with the idea of kidnapping or killing people, and he hadn’t even batted an eye when I asked him to help me sell the potions I had stolen.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
But I had always assumed Old Mo had some kind of past with the gangs. I had never asked about it, because I figured it was his business whether he wanted to tell me or not, but I had always imagined that Old Mo had been part of a gang and then managed to work his way out of the slums afterwards.
But a random former gang member wouldn’t know about the front lines of the war in anywhere near the detail Old Mo seemed to.
Unaware of my newfound suspicion, Old Mo continued speaking.
“But that changed a few days ago. Ennallia gave their own ironclads their first field test, and managed to squeak out a victory against Verne’s navy. They used their naval advantage to secure a decisive victory against Verne at fort Branzo. The most important fort in the war just fell,” said Old Mo.
I blinked again. Old Mo knew… way too much about the inner workings of other countries. He definitely wasn’t an ordinary baker, and he definitely hadn’t been an ordinary gang member in the past, either.
Why had he been so nice to me?
I thought about it for a few moments, trying to go over every interaction with Old Mo and figure out if he had been tricking me somehow. But I couldn’t think of any times where he had done something to hurt me. I might not be that good at lying to people, but I did think I was decent at figuring out if other people were acting in bad faith towards me. And so far, Old Mo had seemed genuinely worried about me and happy to help me out.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. I wasn’t just asking Old Mo why he was talking about the collapse of the front lines. I was asking him why he was telling me all of this information about the war, when this kind of information from the front lines should be impossible for a regular baker to have access to. I wasn’t entirely sure what Old Mo’s background was, but now that I knew something was wrong with it, I would be much more alert to future mistakes he made.
Old Mo sighed.
“Miria… how do you feel about this country? Do you want to stay in it?”
I didn’t need to think very hard before I answered.
“I don’t really care much about it either way,” I said. If anything, I was understating things a little bit. The country of Verne was responsible for locking Felix up in a facility and studying him like a lab rat, and the soldiers of Verne had tried very hard to kill us when we were escaping with Felix. I didn’t really like this country much.
“Then do you want me to take you out of the city? I’ve heard that the advancing army has treated the town that supplied Fort Branzo pretty badly. I doubt this city will fare any better if Verne loses it. This city is the industrial heartland of the country, and supplies the rest of Verne with copper, iron, and industrial products. The other countries will probably raze this city to the ground, before fighting over pieces of it.” Old Mo frowned. “There are maybe two weeks before the coalition army arrives. It could be a few days faster though, depending on how many of their cannons they leave to safeguard fort Branzo and how many they bring with them. I intend to be out of here within the week, just in case” he said.
I blinked.
Given my new suspicions about Old Mo’s background, he could have bad intentions for me if I joined him. But I also didn’t really want to think that poorly of Old Mo. Despite the fact that his background now seemed very suspicious. he had still taken me in, taught me to read and write, and fed me when he had no reason to. And I was strong enough to escape if it was some sort of trap.
As for an invading army… I didn’t need to think for long before I decided I wanted nothing to do with that. Being in the middle of a city that was being invaded sounded like a terrible idea. I was confident that the four of us could fight off smaller groups of soldiers, but I had no interest in seeing how many soldiers we could down before someone got a lucky shot or we just ran out of essence. Fighting an army on our own was just suicide.
I immediately concentrated on my friendship bracelet.
“I’d really like help getting out,” I said, after I received a positive response from the others. “Would it be okay if I brought some friends?” I asked.
Old Mo hesitated. “How many people are you planning on bringing?”
“My mother, my little brother, and two friends and their families, if possible,” I said.
Old Mo hesitated, and I could see him warring with himself. Then, he sighed.
“All right, fine, kid.” he laughed bitterly. “I really am getting too soft-hearted in my twilight years.” He sighed. “But I’m leaving in a week. Make sure that you’re here before sunset in seven days, or I’m leaving without you.” He paused. “And make sure to bring supplies, too. We’ll be moving through the wilderness for a while, so we need food, water, and camping supplies. And I know our group won’t be the only one fleeing from the oncoming army. We might need to fight or scavenge for food, so if you have any tools that would help with that, bring those too. Do you have any weapons?”
I nodded. “We have a gun.”
“Then make sure to bring it along. But hide it well. Owning a firearm is illegal if you aren’t part of the military,” said Old Mo. “Though the hats will probably have better things to focus on right now. But make sure it’s hard to find, just in case.”
I nodded. “Will do. Thank you for bringing us along, Old Mo.”
He sighed. “Don’t mention it, kid. I’m already having second thoughts. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I quickly nodded, and left the shop.
I had preparations to make.