"But isn’t that illegal? I thought only Besha allowed that."
"Everything we’re doing is illegal, you dimwit. Did that weird bird man hit you that hard on the head yesterday?"
"He’s the Plague Doctor.”
And no, I told you, he didn’t touch me."
"Because you ran away like a coward."
"I think you’re being very rude to me right now—"
...aaaand investigation done. There was no reason for me to listen any longer. They said it outright: they were selling slaves.
And other illegal activities, I presumed. But I had no evidence for any of that; not like evidence mattered, since I was not some sort of detective.
I was just going to go in, grab Hannah, and get out. That was Plan A, at least. The
ideal plan where I did not have to get my hands dirty, letting the guards take care of this gang after I report it to them.
Of course, a lot of things could go wrong with that plan— from the guards not wanting to arrest them, or from me getting killed— which was why I had a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D…
Each plan was tailored to the different possible scenarios where something went wrong; not that I hoped anything would go wrong, I just had to be cautious. I had backup plans for those too, but it was not as
detailed as my first set of contingencies. Not that any of these plans were more than vague outlines of what I was going to do.
My final plan— Plan Z— was my last resort. And that involved me running away and pretending to forget everything that happened here. Maybe even knocking myself in the head a few times to get amnesia so I would have a clear conscience.
But as of right now, the plan was to just sneak in. So I stealthily made my way around the trees, to the side of the building, trying to keep out of view of the two lookouts out front.
The warehouse was not as massive as anything like Fort Conon— which was almost a mini castle. But it was still a large building that could easily hold a hundred people in it without crowding over.
Not that I expected there to be that
many people inside; I assumed some of the rooms were for sleeping, others for storage, a kitchen, and things like that. So its size only played into my favor, since it would make sneaking in easier—
"Hey, what was that?"
Well, fu— I mean frick.
I remained as still as I could, hoping not to rustle the bushes anymore than I already did. I was not extremely
bad at sneaking, but I was not good at it either. Very few situations warranted it, although I still remembered some of the lessons Karna had given me about it.
I hoped the two men would go away, thinking it was the wind or something. But as my luck would have it, they did not.
They edged closer slowly, drawing their weapons as they did. One of them had a pistol, while the other only had a sword at his side; I could not care less about the former, but the gun actually posed a problem if he fired a shot right now before I even did anything.
Time for Plan D.
I stood up, and raised both hands. I lowered my hood— I was wearing my previous outfit which was suited for sneaking and not my bright purple day clothes— and called out.
"Stop! Don’t shoot!"
The two men tensed, raising their weapons. I was prepared to dodge out of the way in case he still shot anyways. But the man with the sword breathed a sigh of relief.
"What? It’s just a little girl. You got me all worried for nothing." He sheathed his sword, and made a shooing gesture. "Go away, girl. Play somewhere else."
"Why would a child be out here in the middle of night to play?
You’re an idiot," the other man retorted, still keeping his pistol out, but no longer tense at the situation.
"I dunno, maybe she got lost?"
"Why would she be—" The man with the gun’s eyes lit up, and he lowered his weapon. He turned to me and put a hand out. "Ah, are you lost, little girl? My companion here seems to think so. But it’s dangerous out there. We can bring you inside to stay for the night."
"What are you doing?" The first man asked, confused.
"Be quiet. I’m just trying not to scare her off and bring her to safety,"the other man explained, not-so-subtly.
"Wh—"
A flash of recognition finally came across the man with the sword’s face. He then nodded hurriedly, and approached me too.
"Come on, little girl. It’s dark out, and there are animals and Monsters that are super scary in this woods. If you come with us, we can protect you."
I took a step back. "What if I don’t want to?"
"What? Why wouldn’t you want to— listen, we’re trying to help you. Just come with us and—" The man with the gun tried grabbing my arm, but I backed up more. His brows snapped together, and he reached for me with both hands. "
I said come here—"
I sliced his arm off.
Or at least, I tried to. The dark gray dagger was sharp, but not enough to easily sever a moving limb. Instead a huge gash appeared on his gun arm, causing him to drop the weapon.
"What…?" The man with the sword stared on in utter confusion as his partner clutched his arm, screaming.
"Ahhhh—"
That was all he got out before I plunged my blade onto his chest. He doubled over, opening his mouth to scream some more, but I quickly silenced with a final swing.
It was only at that moment, did the man with
