Amari thought out loud.
"Ahn? Is that Clown? Oh yeah, we need him for that box-... Wait it's a female voice."
As soon as the two turned back, they saw simply the green-haired girl with the Raccoon mask.
She was intact, just tired from running and with some cuts on her clothes.
Amari and Sayuri looked at disbelief at her, then Sayuri yelled.
"AHHHH! WE TIED THEM UP IN THE HALLWAYS, AND THEN IT ALL FELL APART!!"
Amari noticed that and got extremely worried.
"OH NO!! FUCK WE-... Wait she's here."
The green-haired girl calmly said pointing at me.
"He saved us. He went there and rescued us both."
The two girls looked in amazement at my sleepy body on Amari's back.
Sayuri:
"AH?! HE DID WHAT?!
Amari:
"Oh so that was what he was doing..."
The green-haired girl crossed her arms.
"The brown-haired one was already passed out and he just put him there at the entrance, but I'm fine. So, I'm going to join your crew."
Amari and Sayuri didn't react for a while, just blinking their eyes, then both screamed.
"EHHHHH!? WHAT-"
"YOU'RE WELCOME!!"
I said that, raising an arm and with a smile on my face.
The girls looked in shock at me.
"Y-YOU'RE AWAKE?! A-AND YOU SHOULDN'T JUST SAY YES TO A COMPLETE STRANGER!"
"Oh please, stop being so picky."
I jumped off Amari's back, keeping myself standing with some difficulty.
I approached the girl.
"She was actually the first person I met on this worl-"
Amari made a "humpf"
"P-Place... And I ate all the sweets in front of her, BUT THAT WON'T HURT ME AND LET YOU IN!!"
She simply said.
"The candies? Uh, I don't care about it."
I opened a wide grin.
"See? She is totally good!"
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!"
Sayuri screamed that.
Amari said.
"She was literally trying to kill us ON THIS SAME DAY!! YOU CAN'T"
But before she could finish, the green-haired girl calmly interrupted her.
"Calm down, I am not actually affiliated with the Raccoon'sKillers or anything, I was an infiltrator."
She took off her black hood of the hoodie and her Raccoon mask.
What was revealed were green eyes and long, straight green hair tied up.
And what definitely caught the most attention were large, pointy ears.
She said with an emotionless calm face.
"My name is Lotte, and I'm an elf."
...
"W-WHAT?!?!?"
Amari and I started running like crazy, not believing what we were witnessing.
I said.
"A-AN ELF!? A REALLY ELF!? GOOD! I ALWAYS KNEW THEY WERE REAL!!"
Amari put her hands on her head in shock, screaming.
"A-AN ELF!? A FUCKING ELF?! T-THIS CAN'T BE REAL, Do dwarves also exist?-"
Sayuri, the only one calm said.
"Yeah she's an elf... Yeah they are very rare, I thought there were literally 0 in Beatitudo, but their existence is known..."
Amari quickly approached me and whispered on my ear.
"Hey Kai, It seems they are well known in this world, so we shouldn't act surprised... Act normal."
I nodded, and she realeased me.
The three of us stared at the elf.
"AN ELF!!"
Amari quickly gave me a "friendly punch".
Some time passed and the girls decided to do an interview with her, because they are still suspicious.
I already told them she was! goddammit..
I'm sitting on the floor, with her in front of me also sitting, the other 2 behind me with their arms crossed.
I scratched my chin, activate intelligence and analyze mode!
"Hm hm, so you're an elf..."
She said with a small smile.
"Indeed. My name is Lotte, I'm 185 years old."
"1-185!?-"
Oh wait, she's an elf right? So I think she lives more than us... But damn, she is even shorter than Sayuri!
I tried not to act surprised, that was what Amari told me to do!
"A-Alright, alright..."
Sayuri said.
"This is equivalent to 18 human years and 6 months."
I slowly looked at Lotte.
"BUAHAHAHHA! 18?! ARE YOU TELLING ME SHE IS 18!? AHAHAHAH!"
Lotte frowned, getting a little irritated and embarrassed, while I was laughing out loud.
"E-ELVES DON'T GROW AS MUCH AS HUMANS!... But well, it's not like I care about that."
Amari simply said.
"You're acting very tough and cold now, but before you were crying like a bitch!"
Lotte got extremely embarrassed.
"N-NO I WASN'T!! T-THAT NEVER HAPPENED!"
"It did."
"NO!"
"It did."
"AHHHHHH!"
...
A little time has passed, and here we are back to the interview.
"Hm hm, you're an infiltrator?"
"Yes, I don't like them or anything, I have no interest in them. I only stayed with them because I had no one else to stay with, because I recently became an orphan and ended up in this city. Things come and go, I ended up joining the group kind of out of necessity."
"Hm hm, I see..."
I opened a wide smile.
"Well then, WELCOME TO THE CREW-"
Amari gave me a friendly punch.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!!... Jeez, who thought appointing you to do the interview would be a good idea."
Sayuri said.
"It was you."
Amari ignored her.
"Well, Elf... W-"
Lotte interrupted with her friendly yet apathetic smile.
"I prefer to be referred to as Lotte, or my full name Charlotte-"
"Elf... What you learned about them then?"
"A lot... Firstly, they only accept members who are of the 'Harbinger' class, that's why there are so few members."
Amari and I looked confused at Sayuri.
Sayuri:
"It's a class that basically allows the user to use Sankalpa in their surroundings, as well as at great distances. They can't imbue their body, or a weapon with Sankalpa, but rather things like the ground and even the air."
Amari was pissed.
"Goddammit SAYURI, WHY DIDN'T YOU TOLD US THAT BEFORE?!"
"Because you never asked to."
"Tsk.."
The Elf continued.
"And so, since they were basically the first ones I met in this city, as soon as I learned Sisu I chose theirs, Raccoon's Secret."
I think Amari took over my interviewing position...
"Yeah we know how it works. But still explain better."
"Okay. There are several skills that the user can learn, for now I only have a few: Select, which teleports what I touch to a place I want, as long as I've already been there, Gurandosefuto, which steals the target's most precious thing..."
She glared at Sayuri.
"I'm sure... You know this well. And Healkalpo, which simply restores the Sankalpa of the target I touch in a few minutes."
...
"YOU TOLD ME IT HEALED PEOPLE!!"
"Uh, it's basically the same right?"
Amari simply sighed, calming down herself.
"Anyways... What's your goal here?"
"What's your goal? I mean, the crew's goal?"
I quickly replied excitedly.
"Ah! Our crew's goal is to help me find the Crown and make me the Emperor of this World! So that Amari and I can return to-"
Amari herself gave me a friendly punch.
She's right now...
Sayuri said.
"But I have a goal besides that! A personal one! Because I, Sayuri, I'm the one who will become the-"
"I see. Then, I think if I join your crew my goal would be the same as yours."
"D-DON'T INTERRUPT ME-"
Amari tilted her head, a bit suspicious.
"That's... Weird. You don't have any personal goal?"
"Survive I guess. I'm in an unknown city, surviving would be enough for me, wouldn't it?"
"Ok..."
...
"ALRIGHT THEN, WELCOME TO THE CREW!!"
Amari stopped me.
"Hold on, I'm not against her coming in, but everyone should be in favor right?"
Nobody said a word.
"Well... Welcome to Kai's crew- HOLD ON! THAT'S NOT THE NAME-"
"YEAHHHH!!"
I quickly jumped into Lotte, hugging her while smiling and laughing a lot.
"A NEW MEMBER, A NEW MEMBER!! AND IT'S AN ELF!! HAHAHA, THIS IS SO COOL!!"
She was left speechless, falling backwards as I hugged her, her face apathetic and expressionless.
"That's your leader?... He's always like... this?"
Amari said as a soft sigh.
"Get used to..."
Sayuri shouted.
"AND THIS IDIOT IS NOT OUR LEADER!!!"
Well, then we decided to continue our journey together. There are several free rooms in the house so she can stay in any of them.
On the way, we introduced ourselves to her and explained everything about ourselves, including me telling them about my Sisu.
Amari had to carry me on her back...
When we got home, we went straight to bed to sleep
What a crazy day.
Somewhere quite far from Beatitudo, perhaps even outside Pseudo, a man entered a tavern.
That man is me, Roger, an undercover middle-aged cop.
I became a police officer for the simple reason that I wanted to fight all injustices in the world.
I hate any kind of injustice, my dream is to create a free and equal world for everyone. I know it's impossible, but I always try to help.
I have a very specific mission that I need to find a certain man and investigate him.
This man is suspected of having committed several crimes, and I was sent to have a little chat with him.
Well, it's already dawn, I just entered the tavern and opened the door.
It's a very calm place with just a few people drinking, a welcoming silence with background music.
Okay, I can already identify him right away, sitting at the counter, face down on the table. He's wearing a dark brown overcoat, dark brown pants, a black turtleneck, and black boots. It's him.
I walk over and sit next to him.
"Good night, you are Ende Baumgartner right?"
Ende quickly lifts his head from the table, somewhat surprised.
"O-Oh, hm sorry hm... Yes, That's me."
He took a sip from a glass of alcohol.
"Well, how could I help?"
He is very calm and relaxed, although he was probably asleep a few seconds ago, he seems to be in perfect condition, without showing any signs of tiredness or anything like that.
His face is so young, I would say he is at most 25 years old, at least 18. He has medium curly hair, a bit of an afro, he is tall, thin and in shape.
"Would you like a drink?"
He made a small smile while saying that. His face is so calm and quiet, just looking at him makes me consider him less suspicious.
"No, thank you. I don't intend to waste much time on this."
"I see..."
He turned around and took another goal, always smiling.
"Why are you looking for me, police officer?"
W-What? H-How did he-
"Oh, you didn't expect me to know? Well sir, all undercover cops talk the same way, something only someone who has been around many of them can tell."
"T-That's t-that... That means you admitted to being a criminal-"
"I invoke the 5th."
He took another calm sip, seeming to have everything under control.
"I-I... I need to talk to you in a more private place."
He answered right away.
"No problem, we can go to the terrace, I believe it is empty."
A few minutes later, we are on the terrace in the darkness of night.
The strong wind makes our clothes and hair sway, he further back by the railings, I near the entrance at a considerable distance from him.
For some reason, I don't think it's safe to approach him.
The problem isn't physical, I'm armed, but I just can't... Am I scared? Nervous?... Anyway, I just need to do my job.
"Let me make this clear. Ende Baumgartner, you are suspected of having committed several crimes, mainly for leading a large criminal organization, a group responsible for committing robberies, trafficking, murders and much more. Do you have anything to say in your defense? Or do you admit it?"
He was simply smirking, with his eyes almost closed, and said very calmly as he looked into my soul.
"Roger, a man who has worked in the police for over 10 years. He has 1 daughter, is divorced, lives alone and has serious family problems related to his parents. He has a strange habit of waking up at 4 am every day to brush his teeth, and then he simply goes back to sleep."
W-W-What... W-What's g-going on, h-how does he-... I-I...
I got extremely nervous, I didn't understand anything that was happening, everything he said was correct. Drops of sweat started falling from my forehead, while I could only open my mouth without being able to say a word.
"Before becoming a police officer, he was a soldier who fought in a great war in defense of our country."
He tooo 1 step in my direction.
"His role was simply to watch the enemy position, and see if they made any advances during the night, and if so, to sound a horn so that his comrades would know of the attack and prepare themselves. His role was simply to stay awake during the night, keeping an eye on the enemy position to prevent surprise attacks."
A-Another step...
"However, one night he ended up falling asleep, and it turned out that that night was the night of a surprise enemy attack. When he woke up, he only saw his camp in flames, the enemy soldiers had already destroyed everything and everyone in a sudden attack."
S-Stop... J-Just stop.
"Luckily for Roger, the enemies did not see him or mistake him for a dead soldier, leaving him alive. As soon as he realized everything that had happened because of him, an allied soldier came to him, desperate, crying and weeping, completely furious with Roger."
N-No... NO!! S-STOP!! STOP STOP STOP!!
"The two, with no other option, decided to join forces and flee from there and regroup at a more distant battalion. They managed to go unnoticed, and even managed to reach the other battalion further inside our country. They really did it."
N-Not this part... S-Shut up S-STOP!...
"During the crossing, the comrade agreed not to tell anyone that it was Roger's mistake, because then Roger would be executed. His colleague decided to save Roger's life and not notify the battalion about his mistake. However, when they got there..."
I-I... I-I didn't want to...
H-He came really close to me.
"Roger was the first to open his mouth, and out of fear or some other reason, Roger accused his colleague of being responsible for all of this. Roger lied, accusing those who protected him, just because-"
"S-STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"
I-I pointed my gun to him.
I'm very breathless, sweaty and nervous, b-but- b-but-
"Are you going to kill me, Roger? Just like what they did to your honest colleague? Roger, you are a huge sinner, you are far worse than me and any other criminal. That's pretty unfair, isn't it Roger?"
U-Unfair... I-Injustice... N-No...
"SIR!!!"
A man appeared desperately opening the terrace door.
"S-SIR, is everything alright?! S-Sorry, I fell asleep and when I noticed you weren't there-"
Ende replied calmly.
"Ah don't worry, everything is alright. Our friend Roger won't last much longer."
Roger, in disbelief, with tears in his eyes, and unable to think or say a word, slowly walked into the tavern again.
Ende's henchman approached him and whispered something in his ear.
Then Ende raised his eyebrows for a brief moment, still smiling.
"Oh really? My son died?... Well, I didn't expect that, to be honest. You can go."
The henchman simply went back to the tavern.
Ende turned his back and walked towards the railings of that place, placing his hands on them and enjoying the breeze as he looked at the city.
"Am I smart or is it just my power? Or is it both? What makes me so powerful?... I'm sorry, I still haven't been able to fulfill my promise, Mate..."
He turned his back, and began walking back to the tavern, hands in his pockets with a smirk.
"Finally, the apocalypse is closer to happening."