“You can not hide, I am going to get you!”
Manic laughing is being heard by a rat girl while she is walking the room with children. They scurry all away like scared bugs while she menacingly holds out her fingers and searches for her prey.
One girl is hiding and stopping her bleeding while trying to not make a single sound. She holds it in, as she understands how it was her fault being so foolish.
While giggling Snow slowly walks forward and corners one of the children.
“Don’t go that way! She will catch you, you can not hide there!”
One of the boys calls out to the little girl, but it is already too late. She is cornered and can not escape as Snow is way to agile for that. Her last try to escape made too much sound and she was caught right in Snows hands.
“Now I got you! You know what that means…”
“Aw… I am ‘it’…”
Taking off the blindfold Snow gives it to the little girl. The other children all aw too, as it is rare for a visitor to play with them. Mostly the grown ups come, smile a fake smile, give some donation and bathe in the thank yous before leaving again.
Snow is different. She does not care about them being a bit dirty or unkempt. She plays with all of them even if her dress out of rather valuable materials get dusty.
The Caretakers were at first a bit worried, but as she does not say anything and seems to genuinely love to play with them, they do not bare her from it. After all she made another great donation of another large Gold coin.
The Money is not only enough to repair all beds and clothing, it makes it even possible to give the children a slice of meat once a week. This makes them rather happy. The reason I know it is, I heard all of it while Snow was talking to them.
It is nice to help, as the children helped me too. Some experiments are still ongoing, but the burrower are a great help right now, as they help with mixing the nutrients in the fields every night. I have a bit too many of them right now, but can thin them out later. No, I will not grill one of them, as they seem to secrete a rather potent rock melting slime.
The girl hiding was extremely naughty. She thought of stealing from Snow while she put her pouch in the corner. Thinking she might have more Money, the hand reaching inside was bitten by me, hard. The scar will be there definitely forever, as I reached bone.
I only did not bite her whole finger off, as she is a child and might not know better. Still taking from me and my family is a no go.
…
“So you are an acquaintance of Sir Ava! Madam Snow has great friends, as he also gave us a great deal of Money that one time. How is he? Has his friend found out what he wanted to know about those critters?”
“His friend?”
‘Oh, yeah. I told them I collected the animals for a Friend of mine to study.’
“His Zoologist friend. That was the reason he collected those Insects and Animals, was it not?”
“He seemed to be a bit shy about his needs. Ava collected them for himself, he is his own weird friend who studies Animals.”
‘Hey! That is embarrassing!’
“Ava might be embarrassed, that I told you this, but studying is one of his favorite hobbies.”
‘Stop telling them everything Snow!’
With a giggle Snow stops spilling the beans. Darn, can’t she not just lie and be less honest?
“Ah, is that so. Well it is a bit odd, so I can understand his embarrassment a bit, but he does not need to worry, we have seen… worse people with extremely weirder ‘Hobbies’ trying to ask for something of the kids.”
That sounds not ominous at all. Well their integrity seems to be steadfast as long as no one forces them to give up some child for reasons of labor, human experimentation or ‘playing’. Maybe I can scour the Cities of those degenerates and cleanse the Gene pool a bit…
“Ah, no Ava might be scary at some times, but has a heart of Gold as long as no one touches his bottom line. So you do not have to worry.”
“Of course, we understand. Might you still think about our proposal?”
“There might be a time in the future, when the House is build, where we live to maybe recruit some of the grown Orphans to be helpers, but right now our Domain is… not really suitable for others to live in.”
“We understand, but when the time comes we hope you would bring our children sometimes back to ask if they really live well. We worry about them often and hope they find their luck in the World later, as all of them had bad luck at the beginning.”
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“This will definitely be no problem. Still it is not the time yet.”
Well, the asking of Labor started way earlier, as Snow had given already the Money. Older children have grown out of the Orphanage and are in a kind of limbo right now. Not everyone can get work right away, and being able to work at some rich persons domicile, especially one who does not care about being silly and still playing with the little children would be a great boon.
Becoming Mercenary or a hauler for them is never a good life choice as the death rate is way too high. Even Bandits have it sometimes easier, as long as they know how to lay low. Well not the ones Snow has in her shadow though…
…
‘Snow, can you buy something for me to eat?’
While going back to the Inn I ask Snow for a Snack.
“Hungry? Sure, what do you want?”
‘Not really hungry, as Monsters do not need to eat for a long time, just seeing you always eat made the stomach of Surge rumble. It would be nice to eat something. Cheese might be good… Oh, and a sweet fruit if possible!’
“Right away. It is nice to tend to you sometimes Null. It is also nice to scratch you sometimes behind the ears.”
While petting me I get somewhat embarrassed, but to be honest it feels nice and if she can indulge in it, I can too. I am a Mouse right now, so whatever.
…
“Is everything alright Miss?!”
“I… I don’t know! There was that scream, and I do not know where it came from! Is this Inn haunted?”
“I assure you, it is not. We will look into the screams. Please lock your door and be safe.”
That was a lie from Snow. Wow, she can lie if she wants to. Then why did she embarrass me so much?
What happened right now was changing the air inside her shadow to not suffocate those bastards. While it was open it was a little too wide open as they still had the strength to scream bloody murder after hours of being inside.
By the way three bodies were ‘disposed’ of earlier. The one from the roof was dead on impact, one hyperventilated and just had a heart attack and the third killed himself before Snow had the chance to remove all weapons from their bodies.
Six is still a sizable amount of working materials, so no sweat. Five men, one woman is a great haul.
Phew “So, that is dealt with. Now finally off with the clothing. I still am not comfortable with them. Can I cuddle you while I sleep?”
‘Sure, just don’t squeeze Surge like last night. If he dies, I have no connection to here anymore.’
“That was an accident. Won’t happen again.”
Pulling her tongue out she seems less apologetic as she sounds. I do not think she made it with ill intention, so I just let it slide.
‘Tomorrow you need to go very early and vanish quickly, remember?’
“Yes, Belk and the others are all ready. We just go out while it is dark, so no one can follow us. Besides I can’t carry any more bodies anyways.”
Lying in bed she throws the blanket over herself and starts dozing off. Wait, Snow too tight, too tight…!
…
“Are you ready? We will need to hurry.”
“Of course, Lady Snow.”
“Ah, stop it! When we are alone just call me Snow. I am still who I am, it gives me goosebumps.”
A slight laugh is heard from the Farmers. Belk pats her head.
“Of course Snow. We are just still shocked of your change and have to work on being formal.”
“I hate it. Sounds like I lose my playmates later, if this high and mighty goes on.”
She lets her ears flop down. Well I understand her. She plays with all the kids in the Village. Since they are living with us, she can finally play as much as she wants even if I am working on something. Nearly all of the Children call her their friend, except for Anna, as she calls her her best friend.
As work is not that hard and school is kept slow and simple, everyone has some free time for themselves. Right now I have created some wooden and metal blunt swords, as many older youths want to train for never again lose someone important. It is nice to see them working hard for a goal. With Avas old Memories, I can explain them the standard move set and let them train them to give muscle memory a chance.
“Everything packed?”
“Yes Snow.”
“Then lets go!”
Ah, departure already. I really need to stop my random thoughts while traveling. But as I always multitask this is somehow become a strong habit of mine.
…
After moving out of the doorway near the Gate, Snow unfurls her tail tucked behind the cloth sash on her hip. Pulling it long behind her she orders the Farmers.
“Hold on tight, but not too tight, I am sensitive.”
That is a bold lie… The tail is like a steel whip and can smash rock to dust. It might not be long enough to be able to be used as a direct weapon, but everyone who tries to go behind her will be pulverized.
The Farmers grab hold and while still moving south we all get slowly swallowed by the thicker and thicker darkness and afterwards Snow hopefully makes a wide U-turn right back to the north.
“Six followers. Heavily armed and form the City. Ah, there are four more. Might be another group. They already lost us, I am better in hide and seek. Ha ha.”
Yep, I knew that would happen. Sadly it would be a bad idea to catch them on our way back, as Belk and company should not see what Snow can do. So whatever.
After a long while we start to come out of the darkness and I can finally see again out of the top of the pouch. I need to make new clothes for our Farmers, possibly give them weapons and armor for looking more like Mercenaries next month. Would also better hide their bandages and give them a more professional vibe.
“Some in the tree. Hard to see, but when they hide in the shadows, I can see them clearly.”
Ah, Snow has shadow sight it seems. Everything in stronger dark spots than the ambient seem to look more prominent than when they are out in the open. Such a strange way to see the world… look who is talking, with sight working on the principle of Magic garbage…
‘Just Roots. They always look around for intruders. As long as you wear the Amulet, they should behave.’
Snow nods and goes deeper into the Forest while the Farmer follow. I should really call them just Villagers, as they do more than farming and are now part of our little Village. Maybe I should start thinking about bringing a Merchant and his guards to come to us willingly instead walking the whole way to them. Rendlar will definitely squeeze the prices, when I suggest that, but would be nice to not always risk people I care for.