Chapter 36: Watch Me
Lucien felt much better with food in his belly. His body felt lighter, his mood more flowery, and he found that he said the word ’shit’ less often.
Needless to say, breakfast was way too underrated.
He currently stood at the entrance of a bustling place that reminded him of Shaw, with the numerous tents stretched around here and there, catching the lights of the morning sun.
Gazing at the floating map in his vision, Lucien smiled.
This was Sector 3’s main market.
That was funny. Sector 5 never had a place like this, and maybe Sector 4 did, but Lucien hadn’t stayed at that place long enough to explore or discover it.
"So..." Mikky’s voice rolled into Lucien’s ears. "Where exactly are we?"
Blink.
Right.
Lucien shook his head, gazing at the kids.
One hand tightly grasped Mikky’s palm, and the other hand gently held onto Amira. And so, he was standing at the entrance of the market with two kids.
"Market," Lucien said.
Mikky nodded, saying:
"Looks like Shaw."
’I also got that feeling.’
"What’s a Shaw?" Amira asked, innocent.
"Ah, Shaw was this crowded place Lucien and I were, where we met a big, beefy-armed man that definitely loved dramatics as much as I do and always gave me snacks." Mikky smirked. "Really good man."
"Oh," Amira exclaimed. "Sounds like it was a fun place."
’Fun?’
"Yeah. Yeah, it was." Mikky’s smile turned somber as he regarded the rolls of tents near the market entrance. "Now I’m waiting for a second Lector to walk out of the market, yelling, ’welcome travelers!’ while holding a sack full of snacks."
Lucien smiled. The model-like man was a bit stupid for a Prowler.
Amira blinked.
"Who’s Lector?"
"It’s the beefy-armed man. That’s his name. He had yellow hair too–"
"Alright, that’s enough idling about. Let’s go in," Lucien said, sighing and shaking his head.
He still couldn’t believe Mikky had called Shaw fun.
That shocked him a bit. Almost as much as the fact that he hadn’t gotten any returns from Mikky eating breakfast. Only an E grade return from Amira eating bread and sauce. And it was just one [Song] skill he got. A skill that made his singing voice better.
Pathetic, yes. But on the bright side, at least now he could sing his favorite song without croaking like a frog mid-singing. That ought to count for something.
And as for why he didn’t get returns from Mikky, he figured that maybe something that became commonplace to a target was no longer recognized as a Nurturing Action to the system. Mikky’s health was better now, and so normal food wouldn’t yield any returns.
Amira, on the other side, hadn’t even eaten normal food for what seemed like months. Or years? How long had she even been there?
Anyway, if Lucien really wanted to gain rewards from feeding Mikky — not that he intended to — he would need to do all the cooking himself. With top-notch healthy ingredients.
A certain thought crossed his mind. Magical ingredients would become rampant following the arrival of Eden, right?
Those would help raise the kids, catapult their health to the highest form.
Lucien smirked. Good idea.
Shrugging, he walked into the market with a backpack filled with clothes, Units, and two kids.
***
Truly, the person who’d invented the phrase, ’everything is possible with money’ wasn’t wrong.
A few minutes after Lucien had haggled his way around the relatively safe market with two kids, getting all the clothes and ingredients he wanted at low prices, he had instantly found a place for the three of them to stay and freshen up.
It was something like a hotel back on Earth. Or a motel?
Nevertheless, it was a poor building, like all the other buildings here. Half-painted, small rooms... the full zerozone package.
Well, Lucien didn’t care much. He just needed about three hours in this place, for which he paid a whopping 150 Units. It was worth it, though. He needed to bathe, dress up properly, eat, and maybe steal a stove.
Okay, maybe the stove part was just a joke. But he had bought an actual stove at the market earlier. A small one that he could carry around with him as they traveled.
"This feels good," Amira said as she lay on the soft bed in the small room, gazing at the ceiling. "I don’t even remember the last time I slept on a bed."
Amira, lying on the small bed, was dressed in a casual outfit. A small, yellow t-shirt with frills around the edges, black pants... and she looked less unkempt and untidy. Even her hair was now untangled, her eyes shining brighter, and her teeth were whiter now, beautifully complementing that brilliant smile of hers.
That was a good thing. It made Lucien feel a strange warmth swirl in his heart, which he identified as satisfaction.
The girl had regained her youthful glow. Now all she needed was to eat better and to become healthier.
And although Lucien knew she was currently not in her best physical health, he didn’t know just how low her health was.
He was tempted to use Nurturing Gaze...
Lucien glanced around the tight, shoddy room as he adjusted the fit of his white shirt on his body.
There was only one bathroom in the small room, so they’d all taken turns to use the bathroom.
Amira had gone in first, Lucien had gone in second, and now, they were waiting on Mikky, who seemed to be taking his sweet tim–
"Boo."
Lucien didn’t flinch.
Amira didn’t even open her eyes.
Mikky was standing behind Luci, touching his back.
"Tsk tsk. You’re supposed to be surprised..."
Lucien stood properly, turning to regard Mikky with a smug smile on his lips.
"You can’t scare a sergeant easily, kiddo."
Mikky, fully dressed in a brown spacious outfit, glared at Lucien.
"Oh, yeah?"
Lucien nodded softly.
And then, Mikky smiled.
"You told Mira the orphanage story the other night. So now I’m gonna tell her that story."
Lucien’s smug smile faded.
"You wouldn’t."
The kid jumped immediately, running toward Amira.
"Watch me."
"Michael!!!!"