As I went up the old and creaky stairs that lead to the floor my room was in, I started to fear that the stairs just might cave in. They were making so much noise that I had genuine fear while going up. Luckily, I reached the end without incident and I breathed a sigh of relief. From there, finding my room was only a matter of time. And it took way less time than I had expected.

I unlocked the door and was greeted by a small but comfortable room. There was a painting above the bed, which stood next to a window facing the main street. There were yellow curtains which gave some privacy, although their partial transparency was of concern. I threw my bag on the bed and unpacked my pajamas.

Although I had been walking for hours by now, I did not feel tired. Quite the opposite, I was feeling very energetic. In order to tire myself out, I decided to go into the city and walk around. I went out into the corridor once again and started going those dreaded stairs which I feared. I practically ran down them and found myself at the exit of the hotel. I stepped out into the streets and noticed it was considerably more chilly than I had anticipated. However, not wanting to go up those stairs again, I refrained from going inside to get something warmer to wear.

Unlike my town, which closed off at night, the city was brimming with lights even at this hour. Advertisers standing on crates to sell their products, citizens who have nothing better to do gathering in front of stores and checking out products.. I had no interest in either of those things, as such I elected to go to a more secluded area of the city.

I noticed that unlike in front of the hotel, this area was much more quiet and had way less people. It still was quite bright, however had much less people to witness said light. There were soldiers smoking cigarettes lined up on the walls, beggars sitting down, asking passerbyers for money.. The scene made me immensely uncomfortable. It was as if my instincts were telling me to get the hell out of there and to never look back. Yet, due to some reason, I persisted and kept walking down.

Until, while I was walking in front of an alley, I heard a blood curdling scream. It was very quiet, as if it was coming from deep within the alley, and I was sure nobody else heard it. I decided to ask the soldiers lined up at the walls for help, but when I turned back I noticed that all of them had disappeared.

Damn these unreliable soldiers..

I cursed at every one of them. I had not brought my dagger with me, as such I really could not defend myself against an attacker. Yet, for some reason, I once again persisted. I started running down the alley to the source of the scream, while I was periodically hearing yells and cries for help to signify I was getting closer. Until finally, I turned a corner and saw something I wish I never had seen.

There were two soldiers, judging by their uniforms I believed that one of them was a corporal while the other was a sergeant. Their uniforms were a pure white trench coat, like the snow that often covered the country periodically. One of the soldiers was taller while the other was rather short - the same height as me, a 12 year old child - they both had rifles on their backs, which they seemed to not even need at the current situation.

They had cornered a girl, the same age as me perhaps, and were trying to threaten her to do something, which I was not able to understand from this distance. I got in closer to have a listen, and luckily neither of them noticed me. The shorter soldier spoke first.

"Come on you damned brat, give us your pocket money. We are all aware that you are a noble from that fancy dress of yours."

The girl, in tears, was shaking her head violently. The men were right though - there was no way she was not a noble. She dressed in an elegant puffed up red dress, which complemented her blonde hair well. The taller man spoke next.

"Look kid, we all know you've got some cash on you. Do you really think a lord would let their child out without a penny?"

"I don't-" the girl tried to speak between her sobs, before being interrupted by the tall man.

"Cut the bullshit. We don't have the time." said the man, clearly wary of attention being brought to whatever they were doing.

The shorter man picked up the threats. "Do you really think soldiers will come to your assistance? We are the so-"

"Oh, they're coming." Unable to bear it, I finally interrupted their threats to the girl.

Both of the men immediately turned to me with immense fury, which I felt down to my bones. I saw a faint glimmer of hope in the girl's eyes, which only lasted for a second as she watched in horror at the scene unfolding.

"We are interrogating a suspect, and you should get the hell out of here, you brat." said the short man.

"'Brat?' Isn't that the same word you used against her a second ago?" I responded, trying to appear as if I did not fear them. The men, realising that I had been listening to their conversation, shifted their expressions from anger to panic.

The taller man walked up towards me. He bent down to my height, and stared at me directly in the eyes, as if to challenge me and ask 'so what?'. Accepting his challenge, I continued to speak.

"I recognise that they are more willing to take the word of soldiers over a child's any time, and I am willing to bet you are not willing to risk the investigation that is sure to follow afterwards. After all, attacking a noble family's child is bound to have some consequences, am I right?" I said, feeling victorious at my snide remark. 

The taller man stood straight once more, and spoke. "What are you proposing?"

I took out twenty shills from my bag. I hated giving men like these what they wanted, but I was out of options. "I'll pay you twenty shills if you just screw off." 

The shorter man approached me and snatched the money and spat at the ground. "Fine, we'll accept your offer this time, but do not think you just got off scott-free."

I nodded with a slight grin as I watched the men disappear into the alleyway. My attention finally shifted towards the girl, who had now stopped crying, and I walked towards her. I lent her a hand, which she grabbed with little hesitation. Pulling her up from the ground, I gave her a smile. "Are you okay?" I asked.

She still seemed very unhappy, which I definitely couldn't understand why. She gave a slight nod, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She had a few bruises, but didn't appear to be bleeding, which was a relief. But more than that, I was interested in if she actually was a noble. "What's your name?" I asked, my impatience winning over.

The girl hesitated, then responded. "Charlie." 

Hm, so she doesn't want to give away her family name? How unlike a noble. I thought to myself.

"Do you know where you live?" I asked her, wondering if she was actually lost. To this, she simply shook her head. And I lightly facepalmed, which she luckily didn't seem to notice. Deciding to take her out to the main street, where she could perhaps find her home, we left the alleys. It didn't take us long to find her hom, which happened to be near the entrance of the city. We stopped infront of the gates of a large mansion, which Charlie said was her home. A gardener who was tending to some bushes looked over to the gate and saw us, which caused his face to turn into one of shock. He quickly dashed inside, and a few minutes of waiting later, a burly man with a white hair and beared opened the door with such force that I thought it had genuinely popped off its joints. Although, looking more closely I realised who this man was. Although he had aged, I could not forget the face of the man who won us the last war and defeated the Varsans single-handedly, although I had only seen him in pictures.

This was Hayya Asbur.

Note: Hello every one of my five readers! I am glad you have been reading my series so far, and I definitely intend on continuing this. I've been working on these previous three episodes for a while, as such I intend on moving to weekly episodes instead. Although I don't like it either, it's surprisingly a lot of work to do these episodes lol. Either way, if you have any opinions on how this series is going, please let me know! I'm super interested in hearing about them.

-Unex :)