After healing the girl's wounds, the first officer immediately left, fearing he would be cursed. The second officer stayed to ask questions.
"What happened here?"
"..."
"Did you do it?"
"...N-No," Elizabeth replied sheepishly.
"I see. Could you tell me how you survived? Your story in this matter would be much appreciated," the officer continued.
"A tsunami came and killed everyone."
"How did you survive?"
"The priest was protecting me."
"I see..."
After that, the officer started jotting something down on a paper in his hand.
"Looks like this is it. Where are your parents?"
"T-They aren't in this world."
"...I...see."
"Let me just tell another church to adopt you," the officer continued, trying to offer a hand.
'Another church? Will they be the same as this church? T-They killed my parents, and they're all a bunch of lunatics. I-I can't go back there,' Elizabeth thought.
"NO... no, it's alright," Elizabeth quickly replied.
Alarmed, the officer continued digging, "Why? Did the church do anything to you?"
"N-No, they didn't. I just don't want to go to a church. I'll be fine by myself."
"Sorry, what? You're a minor, and as a law-abiding citizen, I can't leave you here."
"Please, just leave me be."
'It can't be worse than the church,' Elizabeth thought.
"No, I can't leave you be."
"O-Okay, I can go to the church."
"Good. Just stay here, and I'll call my colleagues."
The moment the officer left, Elizabeth saw a nearby window that the tsunami had destroyed. She jumped out of it and ran with all her might, not caring about her surroundings. The church was on the outskirts of town, so she had escaped Beckton, the place that had destroyed her within a day.
'I don't want to know anything,' the girl thought, crying. 'I didn't do it... I didn't...'
thump The girl fell on the ground in a city center full of shops.
---
"MOM!" After some time, Elizabeth finally woke up. But unlike the feeling of the ground, it almost felt like home. Almost.
"Shhh, you almost gave this old lady a heart attack," said an old woman near her.
"W-Who are you?" the girl questioned, fearing the grandma in front of her might be like those church lunatics.
"Landa. Call me Landa," the woman replied with a smiling face full of purity.
"Why am I here?" After looking at the smiling face, the tense feeling within Elizabeth had relaxed significantly.
"I saw you fall down in the middle of the road. You didn't seem like you were from anywhere around here, and you were visibly bruised, so I decided to take you here," Landa answered, continuing to smile.
'She has a smile similar to Mother's,' the girl thought after actually observing Landa's facial features when she was smiling.
"Isn't it bad to bring strangers into your house?"
"Haha! How can a small, innocent girl like you be dangerous?" After having a hearty laugh, Landa continued speaking while squishing Elizabeth's cheeks. "Okay, now my turn. What's your name, and where are your parents?"
"It's Elizabeth, and they are not here."
"They aren't in Sila?"
"What's Sila?"
"It's the city you're in right now."
"They died yesterday."
"Oh." Shocked by the answer, Landa couldn't really express much emotion other than pity.
"Why did you run away?" Landa continued after thinking for a minute.
"I didn't want to go to the church," Elizabeth replied.
"Are you from Beckton?"
"How did you know?"
"Around here we usually don't have any religion or have temples instead. Beckton was the only one with churches." Landa looked at the pitiful girl with pity in her eyes. Such glances are usually hurtful, but for Elizabeth, it felt comforting.
"If you work for me, I'll get you food and shelter."
With such a statement, Elizabeth looked at Landa with a gaze asking, 'Why?'
"You see, I have reached an age where my fingers shake quite a bit. I need help with various jobs," Landa replied.
'But didn't you do it all yourself even yesterday?' Elizabeth thought.
"O-Okay."
"Good. We'll start tomorrow. For now, you should sleep well; your eyes still look tired."
With that, Landa left the room and went towards her own bed.
'Did I make a mistake? What if she's the daughter of a high noble?' Such thoughts crept into the old woman's mind. With a shake of her head, she stopped thinking such degrading thoughts. Instead, she sat on the bed and took her medications.
The next day, Elizabeth started learning how to manage the store with the help of Landa. Though clumsily, she was able to quickly learn her way through the shop. Soon, night fell and another day started, and so on for two years.
"Grandma, how will we pay the debt? Although we needed the extension for the store, I think it would've been much better to have held it off and used the savings instead."
"Eliz, don't worry. A friend recommended the service, and look at how many customers are coming; it will be finished in no time."
"Haaa, I understand, but still, I feel like something was wrong with the debt agency. It gave me the chills."
"Nothing will happen; that's just your anxiousness like always. Anyways, give me the salt bag from the other room; it's finished inside the container."
"I-It's not my anxiousness."
Elizabeth then went to the other room to get the salt bag and refilled the container.
"Okay, thanks, Eliz. Now sleep, and don't be up reading those novels. I don't want you to be lazy around tomorrow as well."
Throughout the years, many things had changed within Elizabeth's body, the main one being that she felt incredibly tired and hot under the sun. Although it seemed abnormal for such things to happen to a young girl, Grandma said that it might be because of some type of 'trauma'. The shop was doing great as always, especially after having the extra pair of hands.
knock The door was knocked on at the start of the night, but it was still a pretty odd occurrence. Landa opened the door to be welcomed by unfamiliar faces.
"Who are you people?" Landa asked politely.
"The debt collectors."
With a confused look, Landa said, "Sorry, but I think you came to the wrong place. My debt is due in a month."
The man then looked at the papers in his hands and replied, "No, it is today."
"You people don't have good management at all. Let me get my copy of the debt paper."
Landa then walked into the house, leaving the door open and the people unsupervised. She then went to a safe and opened it to find the debt paper and went back to the door.
"See, it says that it should be given in the next m-" While talking, she stopped after reading the contents of the paper. She had been fooled. The paper had said that she was supposed to pay it last month, and today with interest. That didn't even make sense; she had taken the loan two weeks ago. But the paper said that she had signed the paper two months ago.
Landa was elderly; she tended to trust people a lot. Although it can be noted as a good thing at times, this was indeed not even close to one. Trust leads people toward untrustworthy people. She had listened to what the person had said, and since she wasn't able to read because of her being from the lower class, she trusted the person.
"Sir, I have been fooled. I had just signed this two weeks ago," Landa continued after looking at the date.
"Ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about. It clearly states here that you signed it two whole months ago," said the person, smiling and as calmly as before, to Landa.
"Y-You scammed me," Landa accused.
"Sorry, but I don't follow. The only thing I care about right now is the money," the person continued, smiling.
Hearing the noise, Elizabeth stood up and went toward Landa to investigate what was going on.
"Grandma, what's going on?" Elizabeth asked sleepily.
"Oh, you also have a granddaughter. Isn't she a looker, guys?" he continued, smiling.
A bunch of affirmations were given out by the accomplices of the debt collector. After looking at the person talking, Elizabeth got a shiver down her spine.
'T-that smile,' she thought.
The smile was an ordinary, calm smile. A calm smile hiding the demon. A person being polite is not always a polite person; he is just a calm person, and the calmest person is a dangerous person.
"They're debt collectors. I-I got fooled. The documents were a fraud. I-I am sorry," the already aged woman started becoming emotional, realizing she had accidentally brought a little girl into her own mistakes.
"Hmm, let's see. The debt should be around 2,000 gold coins with interest, and if you were to give that girl, I might make it into... hmmm... 0 gold coins. A good idea, ri-"
"NO! I am not giving her! You guys came here for money; then take the money!"
"This granny is being a bitch, bro," said a random guy from the group.
"Shh, let me take care of it."
"Hmm, little girl, how old are you?"
"Shut your filthy mouth! Don't talk to her!" Landa took Elizabeth and placed her behind her.
"Miss, I don't think I am giving any pressure as a bad person, then why? Why are you fearing me?" Finally, the mask was coming off the face, and the real side of the devil was showing. His calm face was slowly being tainted by a creepy, sinister smile.
"Little girl, if you let us take you, you will be loved by many people and will make lots and lots of money, unlike this granny," the guy now started talking to Elizabeth, completely ignoring Landa.
"I like Granny and don't want to leave her," Elizabeth replied in a confident manner.
Now, after the declination, the guy looked at Landa and made his statement, "Hmm, okay, so, Granny, you give us our 2,000 gold coins right now, or we will forcibly take the girl."
"2,000 gold coins is way too much. Could you accept installments?" the granny replied, visibly disturbed by the second part of the sentence.
"No, we. want. all." the man replied, but with a tough tone on every word he said.
"O-Okay, I will get you the money. Just stay here."
"No, you can't go with the girl. I am afraid you and this girl might run away."
With an okay, Landa went toward Elizabeth's ear and whispered, "Go to my room, inside the closet. There should be a safe. Use your birthday as the passcode and bring me 2,000 gold coins. Each stack in there should be around a hundred coins."
Soon, Elizabeth ran and brought twenty stacks of coins but was also visibly confused as to how Granny got so much money.
"Take this money and never come back," said Granny after almost throwing the money at them, but was stopped by Elizabeth.
"First, sign the papers that you got the money," said Elizabeth, looking at them with her ocean-blue eyes.
"Smart girl." After saying that, the man took the paper from Landa and signed it, completing the debt.
After throwing the money at the debt collectors, Landa closed the door and fell down. She was tired.
"Grandma, h-how do you have so much money?"
"That was my inheritance. I was thinking of getting you to school with that money, b-but I did this foolish thing and ruined everything." Visibly stressed, she started to blame herself for everything.
"Grandma, I-I don't need to go to school. I like being with you and handling the shop."
"But I wanted you to go to school! All the children in the neighborhood went to it, and you're very smart. I-I really wanted to..." Then, finally breaking through, Grandma started tearing up from all the stress she had received.
Confused on what to do, Elizabeth tried comforting her by hugging Landa and rubbing her back. The two of them then slept through another night, and soon, seven more years had passed.
Throughout that time, Elizabeth had experienced many phenomena, all of them connected with the existence of a water source and the sun. She was able to do something with the water and cause it to move on its own. It was a very weird thing but understandable when she thought about what happened nine years ago. She wanted to continue researching her powers, but sadly, due to the lack of money, she wasn't able to.
"Are you Miss Elizabeth?" A group of knights had come to the shop. It was already an annoyance that there was a big line in front of the shop, but now these people had come to annoy us even more.
"Yes, so?"
After replying to the guard in a rather impolite manner, the guard didn't mind, far from Elizabeth's expectations. Instead, the guard took out a scroll and read a letter in front of her.
"BY DECREE OF THE KING AND THE HIGH COURT!
HEAR YE! A summons from the Crown!
To the one known as ELIZABETH.
You are hereby and forthwith SUMMONED to appear before the Magistrates of the High Court. Your presence is required by royal command.
You are to make no delay. You shall be escorted from this place at once by the King's Guard, who are charged with your safe passage to the Hall of Justice. You will leave with them now.
The nature of this summons is a matter for the court alone. Be prepared to speak truthfully.
BE WARNED: This summons is not a request. It is a command under the King's own authority. Cooperation is expected.
This decree is absolute.
Given under the hand of the High Magistrate and sealed by His Majesty, the King.
May the Gods preserve the King!"
'What the hell?' was the first thing that surfaced in her mind.
"And why would I go with you?"
"If not, we will have to resort to a rather uncivilized manner to drag you to the capital."
With that, the guard took one step toward Elizabeth, and she took one step back.
"Woah, wait, okay. Why am I being summoned?" After fumbling over her words, she was finally able to make out a sentence.
"I am merely a messenger, my lady."
"Can I at least tell my grandma?"
"You are not to be unsupervised."
'So you're telling me that you're here on my doorstep and are going to take me to a place I don't know, forcefully? Isn't that just kidnapping?'
"Grandma!" Elizabeth screamed.
After a minute, an old lady walked out of the backway of the shop while wiping her hands. After looking at the guards, she froze and was startled.
"What's going on?"
"We will need to take Miss Elizabeth to the high court for some reasons."
"I don't allow it as her guardian. Elizabeth, let's go. These people don't seem to be in their right minds."
"Mother Landa? Am I correct?" With a nod, the knight continued, "I have been ordered by His Majesty to take her away. I think it would be unwise of you to continue wasting our time." After saying that, they bowed and came to me slowly.
"It seriously looks like a kidnapping," I blurted out.
"Ma'am, please stay quiet and let us do our job."
After hearing that, my limbs suddenly felt limp, unable to resist the order. 'Is this magic?'
"Oh yeah, I don't think you would be able to come here again," the knight said casually.
Looking back towards Grandma, I blurted out my last words, "Take care."
Why?
Why did they have to ruin my peaceful life?
Why does it sometimes make me regret it and also not?