—–
“You remember?!” We asked in unison, as we all looked at the old grandpa drinking the last bit of tea.
“Hmm, yes, I remember it now. You guys asked for a pink girl? Yes, she came yesterday! She bought tons of tools.” Said the grandpa. “I couldn’t ask her name sadly, but it seems she was in a hurry.”
“In a hurry?” I wondered. “Do you know where she went?”
“Hmmm…” The grandpa caressed his beard again, walking outside of his shop and looking around.
“She said she was going to the walls to meet some friends, I think.” He said, pointing his hand at the walls where the golems were before.
“So she really went there… But there’s nobody there, I doubt there was someone that saw her, right?” Wondered Achlys.
“No, there are guards in the walls guarding the golems, maybe someone saw her get there.” He said. “Go take a look, it still early.”
“Alright, thanks for your help.” Said Nieve.
“Oh, no, no, the opposite. I am very grateful for what you did. All this Kachi Herb will last me a long time. I am indebted with all of you. If you need something please come see me, maybe I can provide you with a tool or a discount.” He said.
“Thanks a lot!” I said, as we quickly jumped over our giant beetle and ran into the walls.
We quickly found that guards were indeed there, wandering around cleaning the walls which were destroyed in various places. Debris spread out across the walls, and some were repairing the holes left behind as well.
“There’s a lot of work to do here.” Said Achlys.
“Well, let’s go ask around.” Said Titan.
“MEN!”
Nieve quickly startled us as usual with her loud voice, her command immediately made all the soldiers and knights here freeze in time, leaving aside everything they were doing and immediately organizing together, running towards us, and greeting Nieve.
“Lady Nieve, we greet you!”
“Men! We are looking for clues about a pink girl, she got hair and wings that are pink-colored, we presume she came here just yesterday before the snakes showed up.” Nieve said. “Have any of you seen her? Be honest!”
The soldiers looked at one another in confusion, discussing about if they saw someone like that, trying their best to rack their heads about the whole situation. But it was rather hard, nobody remember any of that, maybe nobody was there to begin with, as they were busy yesterday.
“A-Actually…”
Suddenly, a young blonde boy lifted his arm.
“Yes?”
Nieve asked the boy, as he slowly began to talk.
“I-I saw a girl yesterday, she had pink hair and pink wings. Nobody was around but I saw her. S-She was going around the golems, looking at them with sharp eyes… they didn’t fit in her little and cute appearance.” The boy said. “I spoke to her but she quickly ran away when she saw me appear… After that, I kind of forgot about it and went to have lunch with everybody else, I thought it was just a kid interested in the golems. Children that live nearby sometimes come to see them.”
“So she was here…” Sighed Nieve. “Do you have any clues about her, what did she do or how she looked like? Any details?”
“Err… She seemed to have been with the golems for a while, she was touching one and had her hands covered in black oil… I never gave it too much thought but… Could she had sabotaged the golems?” The boy said timidly.
He was fearful of speaking because he knew that due to his irresponsibility, all the soldiers would reprimand him and he might even get demoted for letting that happen without doing anything. “I-I am sorry! I am really sorry for not reporting it, I really thought it was just a child playing around…”
“So she was there! And her hands were black with oil? Maybe she already sabotaged everything!” Said Titan.
“Elvin, you fool, why didn’t you speak?!”
“Idiot!”
“Newbie, you should had said that earlier!”
“We could had prevented a disaster…!”
“Men! Calm down.” Nieve said. “Elvin, thanks for your help. Because you were honest, I will not punish you for what you’ve done… But bear in mind that as a soldier, you must always be cautious even of children…” Sighed Nieve.
She quickly flew away as we followed her, the soldiers seemed angered at the fairy boy, but he seemed to have barely evaded a bullet. When we reached the city again, Nieve’s face was growing darker, conflicted, even.
“Nieve? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I… I think I know who it was.” Said Nieve.
“Eh? You know?!” I asked in shock.
“Yeah… I didn’t wanted to believe it at first. I was trying to find more clues just to find out it wasn’t her… I… I can’t believe it, but still, all the clues just point out to her…” Nieve said, her face quickly growing paler.
“Who is it then?” Rita asked, looking at Nieve’s face which was slowly growing darker with an immense amount of grief and also disbelief.
“Please talk about it.” Said Titan. “Is it someone you know?”
“It is… It is someone I know.” Said Nieve.
“Who is it, Nieve?” I asked, growing worried.
“Isn’t it obvious? I even remember seeing her hands with black oil the other day. I was wondering what that was about but she played it off so innocently… I don’t even know who she truly is then…” Nieve said.
“Wait… y-you don’t mean… her?” I asked.
“Yeah… It is Florie.” Nieve said. ｂ𝚍ｎｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏｍ
“Florie?! Your little sister?!” Rita asked.
“A little girl did all of this?!” Asked Titan.
“…We need to confirm this, Nieve. Let’s go.” I said.
“But… I don’t want to. I am afraid… I… I don’t want to know the truth if it will mean I will have to… take her life. Or if I will be forced to do so.” Nieve cried.
“…”
“…”
“…”
We ended remaining in silence after her words, as she seemed to be slowly growing more concerned.
“I don’t think Florie is really evil. There must be something happening to her! We’ll find out together, and then we’ll save her, Nieve. Have faith.” I said, patting her shoulders.
“Planta…” She muttered.
“I won’t let her die, nor I will let anybody kill her either… But for now, we need to interrogate her and capture her… Can you help us do this?” I asked.
Nieve looked at me as her eyes shone brightly, tears flowed through her face, but she quickly wiped them out with her hand.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
—–