Chapter 14: Twelve

The high sun settled over the slums and a girl walked between masses of people, twisting roads, and alleyways. She was dressed in a dirty, blue, jacket over a dark sweater of the same color, leggings of black, white socks that had already lost their allure, and high-sandals. Rose didn't mind being dirty, though, and moved quickly for her destination.

She glanced at the pad on her wrist, specifically the translucent screen that hovered above, checking the map before stopping before a particular house.

It couldn't be called a house, actually, at-least she wouldn't call it that. It was a shabby sort of thing that looked sketchy in all aspects. Akin to a box of wood smack dab in the middle of others just like it. She watched a red-headed man leave the place with the slamming of a door, there was anger on his face, and she nodded to herself.

She walked closer and knocked.

"Hmm!" There was a yelp of surprise, but a feminine voice composed itself and asked, "What is it?"

"The king doesn't eat his own shorts."

Rose struggled to maintain a straight face as she said the coded words. Hazel eyes peeked from behind the door and looked her up and down.

"Come in."

The voice finally dropped and Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the place. 'She hadn't changed it yet, thankfully,' she thought.

The first thing she noticed was the simplicity. There was a bed to her direct left and a black-haired woman laid there in a gown of green, her cheeks were rosy, her skin pale, and she breathed heavily. She looked to be in her thirties and her body looked much too thin for that age. To her front was a table and a bowl, a young girl grabbed that bowl, a spoon, and was gingerly feeding the woman chunks of meat and vegetables.

The girl turned her head towards her. She was tanned, a dark skin tone, and her eyes were hazel-nut. She had a youthful face, looked no older than 13 really, and a head of brown hair tied into a ponytail above her twitching, pointy, ears that were two to three inches longer than a normal human.

What was most prominent about her, however, was the image of a brown circle on her neck. It was as if she were advertising the fact that she was a homunculus. That was also the reason Rose came to this info-broker specifically. Amongst the slew of them in Maria's memory, supposedly, this homunculus girl could not be ordered by a human—not for lack of Lux having tried, however. In essence, curiosity made her choose this individual.

"Sorry," The girl said as she fed the woman, "Could you wait a bit?"

Rose nodded a 'mhmm' and stood by, watching. Her movements were careful and ginger, her expression was soft with a light smile, and she looked like she truly enjoyed the short time it took to feed the woman.

When all was set and done, a hoarse voice drifted out.

"Thank you. . .Mare. . ."

"Not at all!" The girl jumped, peaking and standing as she quickly denied the sincere gratitude of the woman, her face elated with a wide smile only a child could have, "I'm just doing as I should, mother!"

'Mother?'

The woman smiled and closed her eyes as if merely moving her lips had exhausted her. In a short few seconds, the sound of her low breathing rang and she was fast asleep.

Rose stood there until Mare turned to her. She noticed her attire, what appeared to be black bike shorts below an overcoat of murky yellow and black, with a satchel attached to her side. Parts of her tanned thighs were exposed.

"How do you know about me? And the code?" She looked her up and down, sunburn eyes staring her over with curiosity, losing the earlier innocence she had shown the woman.

"Lux told me," Rose replied, cold laced with the excuse she had prepared.

"Ah! No wonder!"

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The girl smiled, "Come, come then!"

They moved deeper into the house to a circular table with a set of chairs.

"So, what are you looking for? Information on a person? Putting out a job request? Or could it be a way to get into Alos?—that's getting quite popular lately," Mare said, crashing into one of the chairs and watching as Rose sat down in front of her.

All of those sounded interesting, but with 9 days left on the clock and only 1200 lixels, there was only one choice.

She shook her head. "Just a job."

"Oh!" The girl appeared surprised and her ears perked. "What kind of job?"

"For now, something. . .that can make me a lot of lixels at once."

She had changed quickly from the idea of a steady job to something that could give her a lot of funds at once. One of the reasons for this was the man named Paul and the 'protection fee' he wanted, she could lose the current shack otherwise, and she was sure it wasn't just a one-time thing. The other reason was simply the fact that after she had created her Core Barrier, she only had two low-grade mana orbs left in her possession, was currently at about 78% charge, and so would last for only 9 days now with both the upkeep to stay alive and keep the barrier functioning. She didn't feel safe in the least, and certainly wanted to get out of such a tight time schedule with a quick monetary gain.

'For now, bigger is better. . .' She thought.

Mare nodded and tapped her bracelet, twice. Rose watched as the girl tapped here, tapped there, and had soon opened up some sort of program that stored information—at least she assumed so.

"Hmm," The girl scrolled through her screen, leaning back slightly on the chair then looking up. "The only one I have right now that fits that bill is raiding and smuggling goods headed for Alos, you wouldn't happen to be able to fight, would you?"

There was doubt in the homunculus's voice. Rose saw a good reason for that, she looked shabby herself and no one would think she could fight. In fact, even she didn't think she could fight, but she already planned to become familiar with her Gear.

"I'm sure I can manage. But, could you also give me information for a swordsman instructor, perhaps?"

The girl arched her brow, it was an odd question. "Alright, I'll add that to the fee too. Three hundred lixels for the Job search, a hundred for the instructor, send them over and I'll reciprocate the data."

The two clicked their pads together and Rose sent the lixels over to the girl. In return, a file popped up upon the surface of her pad.

"That's business then—unless you have something else you're looking for?"

"Could you teach me how to fully use this thing?" She asked, waving her arm to show off the bracelet. It was going to be a hassle one day or another if she didn't get used to it. Everyone, and everything, seemed to use it. Being as she was, Rose saw no reason why she couldn't simply fully learn it in one sitting.

Mare smiled. "That will cost you another 50 lixels."

". . .I'll pay."

"Then we've got another deal, Miss!"

And just like that, her lixels declined by 450 in one sitting, bringing her to only 750 left. Rose felt like she was quickly depleting her funds while the person in front of her smiled with glee. It was oddly like a child's proudness at her effort.

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