“Davis! No drinking on the job!”

“Yes, sir!” said Davis, standing up straight.

“Give me that,” said his superior, gesturing to the bottle.

“Sir, I won’t drink anymore.”

“Right, because I’ll have the bottle,” replied the other man. “Hand it over. I’ll give you a new one when you get off.”

Reluctantly, Davis handed the bottle over, then flipped off his superior as he walked away with it.

“Told you so,” said Davis’ partner.

“Shut up, Todd.”

The two waited in the shade, Davis muttering under his breath while Todd whistled a tone-deaf tune.

“I don’t see why I can’t have a few little sips here and there,” said Davis after a few minutes.

“Well, we’re on duty,” said Todd.

“But we’re not supposed to be. Surely they can compensate us for that.”

“They are paying overtime.”

“Fuck overtime. I’d rather be drinking.”

Todd shrugged. “Well, you’ll probably get an extra day or two off once this is all over. Just gotta put in the time now.”

“From what I heard, it wasn’t even a big deal,” said Davis. “Just some stupid bird.”

“Maybe,” said Todd. “But it got away from half a dozen watch pairs, and was prodding at our defenses for over an hour. It’s either smart enough to be dangerous, or it’s being controlled by someone smart enough to be dangerous.”

“Or, it smashed its head on a window and the wards didn’t work properly on it.”

“And learned a movement skill at the same time?” asked Todd. “I don’t think so. I do think it’s a false alarm though. Boss doesn’t have any enemies dumb enough to scout us out that way. Most likely just some tamer playing around while on vacation. I can’t imagine it’s actually anything to worry about. They’ve probably given up already.”

“Yeah…”

The conversation lagged, and the two fell silent. Over the next half hour, Davis nodded off four times, each time woken by Todd before he could properly get to sleep, which only soured his mood further. With so many watch pairs out, none of the other local thugs dared make any big moves, meaning that the day was very peaceful, and with the weather as pleasant as it ever was, it would have been the perfect day for a nap if not for the fact he had to work overtime.

He was about to doze off for the fifth time when Todd nudged him with an elbow and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“10 o clock,” he said. “Maggie alert.”

Davis perked up and looked where Todd indicated to see that it was indeed Maggie. She was a relatively famous local who believed herself to be a prophetess. Everyone else believed her to be a Euphoria addict. No one knew her background or where she had come from. Davis thought she was a fun drinking partner.

She was dressed in some particularly colorful rags this morning, and was doing an odd, jittery dance through the street. Anyone else doing this would likely have been shoved aside or told to piss off, but not Maggie. All the locals had long since learned that despite her appearance, her physical stats were on par with a tier 6 at the very least, and though it was difficult to anger her, when she did get angry, someone got hurt, and it was never her.

She was humming a strange tune. It was one that Davis didn’t recognized, but compared to Todd’s incomprehensible whistling, it sounded heavenly.

“Hey, Maggie!” called Davis.

“What are you doing?” hissed Todd. Todd didn’t like Maggie.

“Shit ain’t happening today. Might as well spice things up with a little Maggie. Hey, Maggie!”

She hadn’t heard him the first time, but she did this time, and her face brightened when she saw him, and started jitter-dancing in their direction, still humming. Todd sighed, and cursed under his breath before regaining his smile as she approached.

“Heeeey, Davis!” said Maggie, still dancing even as she stood in front of them.

“Maggie!” said Davis with a smile. “What’s up with the dance?”

“It’s for the rain.”

“The rain?”

“I want it to rain,” she explained. “Gotta make it rain somehow.”

“I see,” said Davis, smirking. “Can you teach me?”

“Davis!” said Todd, smacking him in the shoulder. “Sorry, Maggie, we’re on duty.”

“You’re the sentry,” said Davis with a shrug. “I’m just the guy who throws the fireballs. You point, I shoot. As long as you stay alert, it’s fine, right? Now, Maggie, that looks fun, how do I do it?”

“It’s easy!” said Maggie, coming to a stop and shuffling her feet into an offset stance. “Stand like this, hold your hands like this, and then you just feeeeel it!”

She started shaking again as Davis tried to copy her without breaking out into laughter. A minute later, they were dancing together in a circle in the street as Todd tried his best not to pay attention to them. Soon, another local joined in, thinking it looked fun, and another two minutes later, they had a full five people forming a jittery conga line going. Maggie hummed her little tune, and the others joined in. Feeling left out, Todd tried to whistle along, but was quickly told to shut up.

The fun didn’t last long though, because without Maggie’s unique disposition, dancing in circles tended to lose its fun after a few minutes, and the crowd dispersed. Though he was the last to, even Davis stopped, heading back to his post with a bead of sweat on his forehead. He was a mage, not a knight, so a few minutes of dancing was about as much exercise as he ever got. As he tried to walk away though, he suddenly felt an iron grip on his wrist squeezing so tight it threatened to fracture his bones.

“Maggie?” he said, turning around.

The odd woman was perfectly still with her hand locked onto his arm, and there was a clarity in her eyes that Davis had never seen before. She was still humming, but the tune had changed, now sounding almost sinister. After a few seconds, she started singing.

“Seven years. Seven souls. Seven gods. Seven more.

“Two in the south in the lands of yore

“Two in the east on opposite shores

“Two in the center; the last is no more

“Five years have passed. The sixth stretches on.

“When the seventh arrives, there shall come a new dawn.

“Like the wrath of the gods, descending upon

“An unsuspecting world.”

She held the last note until her voice cracked, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back to their normal unfocused state. She resumed her rain dance tune and her grip on Davis’ wrist loosened enough he was able to pull himself away.

“Oh, I need to get going,” she said. “Got moooooore places to dance!”

“Oh…” said Davis. “Well, have fun, Maggie.”

She jitter-danced away, still humming, and both Davis and Todd watched until she disappeared around a corner.

“The hell was that?” asked Todd.

“Oh, she does that sometimes,” said Davis, rubbing his wrist, which was already bruising. “Been going on about the seven years for… yeah, more than five years now. At least she keeps it consistent. ‘Five years have passed. The sixth stretches on.’ and all, y’know?”

“...Right.”

“Almost seems like an actual prophecy, huh.”

“Almost…”

Neither said a word for the next few minutes before Davis spoke again.

“So. Maggie. Smash or pass?”

“What?!”

“Smash or pass?”

“...Pass.”

“Really?”

“Too old. Maybe if she was a decade or two younger.”

“I think it’s just all the grime making her look older. Remember, she only came here back in-”

“Wait!” said Todd, shushing him. “Unauthorized entry a block ahead.”

“Oh, damn. What is it?”

“Human… I think…”

They walked forward, Davis holding his hand at the ready in case they were attacked. However, rather than an enemy, what they found when they rounded the corner was a scared-looking little girl. She was albino, with pale skin, white hair, and red eyes, and she was dressed in rags and look extremely malnourished. She couldn’t have been older than eight, and she was holding a bundle of wooden matches wrapped in a dirty rag.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing here?” asked Davis in his most comforting voice.

The girl shrank away from him in fright. He crouched down to put his eyes at her level and smiled his best smile.

“Careful, Davis,” said Todd.

“C’mon, Todd, she’s just a kid,” said Davis. “It’s okay, kid, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

“Something weird about her, Davis,” said Todd. “She shouldn’t have gotten past the ward.”

Davis frowned. That was strange. She didn’t look old enough to have fully awakened the System, so she was stuck with base stats, meaning the ward should have turned her away. His suspicions were about to grow deeper when she spoke.

“W-would you like to buy a match?”

She held up the bundle of matches with a look in her eyes that melted something in Davis’ heart.

“How much?” he asked.

“One copper for ten matches,” she said.

Davis looked more closely at the bundle. There couldn’t have been more than fifty there. What did she plan on doing with five copper? That would be gone in a day if she was eating enough. He thought about it for a few seconds, then sighed and fished in his pocket and pulled out a silver. It was going to be his alcohol money after he got off-duty, but he couldn’t turn away a kid like that.

“I’ll buy them all,” he said.

The girl’s eyes widened.

“Davis,” said Todd in a warning tone.

“But you can’t be over here, kid,” Davis continued. “You shouldn’t be in this part of town. You should head to the nicer areas. Find a nice rich family to adopt you.”

“I- I tried selling matches over there,” said the little girl. “They threw rocks at me.”

“Damn,” muttered Todd.

Even as suspicious as he was, he still didn’t like the idea of people throwing rocks at her.

“We should take her in,” said Davis.

“Davis, no.”

“Yes,” he insisted. “Boss will treat her well.”

“She’s still suspicious,” said Todd.

“We’ll have Jim take a look at her,” said Davis.

Todd was still suspicious, but a voice in the back of his head reasoned with him.

What if there’s nothing suspicious about her? She looks like she’s about to starve. What if we turn her away, and she dies?

“We don’t need any more kids right now…” said Todd, but his resolve was wavering.

“But Boss is always keeping an eye out for more.”

Todd hesitated a moment longer, then sighed.

“Alright,” he said. “But we’ll have Jim check her out first.”

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll send word back,” said Todd before turning to the girl. “Well, we can’t promise you’ll be treated like a noble, but we can at least make sure you have a roof and three meals a day.”

“Really?” asked the girl, her eyes almost sparkling.

“Of course,” said Davis, smiling. “And there are other kids there to play with. Most of them are right around your age. How old are you?”

“I’m nine,” said the girl. Then she frowned. “No, ten!”

She’s so small for a ten year old, thought Davis.

“You’ll fit right in!” he said. “And I’ll still buy those matches. I was running low.”

He handed her the silver coin and gently took the matches from her. She stared at the silver like it was a gift from the gods. Then, Davis scooped her up in his arms. She squeaked in surprise, but didn’t fight back.

How long has it been since she’s had a proper meal? thought Davis when he felt how light she was.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said. “Let’s get some food in that belly.”

----------------------------------------

Elise was confused. Something was wrong. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Actually, it was exactly how it was supposed to, which was something she had never expected.

She had chosen the Little Match Girl disguise because even if they remained suspicious of her, she figured that a frail little girl would at least be enough to keep them from attacking on sight. In the worst case scenario, they would try to traffic her, in which case she would reveal herself as the Bunny of Justice, but something didn’t feel right. She was taken back to their “Boss,” but she didn’t feel like she had been kidnapped. She wasn’t adept at {Sense Emotions} yet, but she was getting better, and she was fairly certain that the two men were genuinely concerned for her. That was a stark contrast from yesterday when the exact same two men were trying to kill her.

The situation was still all very strange. These men were clearly guarding something, and they had a secretive Boss, and they were in the slums, so she doubted whatever they were doing was legal. At the same time, they didn’t seem malicious. She was conflicted on what to do, so she decided to just go with the flow and see what happened. Hopefully this Jim character wouldn’t have any way to out her as a changeling. That would complicate things.

The man called Davis carried her back to where she assumed he and his partner were posted, and then just held her for a few minutes until someone else arrived. Davis smiled and nodded at him, then walked back in the direction the other man had gone, taking Elise toward the center of the area that the wards surrounded. He brought her to a building that looked just as dilapidated as all the other ones around it on the outside, but on the inside, it was quite warm and cozy. It seemed to be an ordinary house, but Elise could sense mana coursing through the walls and ground as intense as any other defensive formations as she had sensed.

Davis brought her from the entryway to a sitting room with a couple couches where a grizzled man with a pipe and a newspaper was lounging.

“I brought her,” said Davis.

“Right,” said the older man, setting the newspaper down. “Let’s have a look. Hand her over.”

Despite his appearance, the old man’s touch was surprisingly gentle as he held her in his arms and peered into her eyes. Elise did nothing to hide her nervousness, but peered back into the man’s eyes. She refrained from using {Inspect}, because she had a gut feeling that it would be a bad idea. She had yet to meet a human who could detect it, but of all the people who could detect it, the man in charge of security at whatever this place was would be one of the more likely suspects.

That makes my current position just as dangerous though… she thought.

Fortunately, after a few seconds, the old man smiled and patted her head.

“Seems clean to me,” he said to Davis. “Something odd about her, but I don’t sense anything malicious.”

Elise was now even more confused. She knew that {Lesser Transformation} hid her status as a changeling from most lower-level analysis skills, and she knew that her absurd aether levels amplified that effect, but she had half expected to need to {Move} away from the old man and escape after he detected something strange. The fact that he hadn’t though meant that his skills were not strong, and it also meant he definitely could not sense aether, and if he couldn’t sense aether, he probably couldn’t sense her using {Inspect} on him either, so she decided to take the risk.

[ Wary Sentinel, lvl ??? ]

A perfectly ordinary class. Elise was starting to feel a little bad. While they had tried to kill her when she was a bird, now that she was a little girl, they all seemed like they were actually pretty good people. She couldn’t imagine she was being trafficked, unless these people weren’t fully aware of where they were taking her.

“Then let’s get her some food,” said Davis.

“Kitchen’s always open,” said the old man. “You got my permission.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Davis picked Elise back up and carried her outside and then to a new building which was much bigger. There were two guards with the [Sentinel] class standing guard outside, but they let him in after a quick passphrase. They were greeted inside by a matronly woman with a kindly smile and an [Experienced Nanny] class holding her arms out.

“Welcome to your new home!”