Capítulo 4: Where Do We Go From Here?
Hesitantly and with trembling hands, the girl accepted the doll; I released it, pulling my hand away slowly. The girl held the doll with extreme care, as if the rag toy would fall apart in her hands.
The girl crawled out of the cage and stood in front of me, her eyes focused on the toy. She held the doll in front of her face with both hands and analyzed the toy's features, carefully; the girl dragged her fingers through the doll's hair and face. Then she hugged the toy to her chest, lifted her head and stared at me in silence.
Okay, that was a little scary, despite knowing the girl's history; she still looked like a kid from a horror movie. The girl made an uncomfortable face; I must have been staring for some time.
Composing myself, I tried to break the awkwardness of the situation, leaned towards the girl as I smiled and held out my hand "Nice to meet you!"
My smile faded when, instead of accepting my hand, the girl gave me a confused look.
"Do you know what a handshake is?" I asked.
The girl cocked her head to the side.
"Can you even understand what I'm saying?" Please say yes. I don't want to have to communicate through gestures.
The girl nodded slowly.
"Perfect! Where I come from, a handshake is a formal greeting between people, especially when they're meeting for the first time. We firmly hold each other's hands and shake them up and down. Do you think you can do it? I'm embarrassed to be holding my hand in the air."
The girl was silent, several expressions passed over her face, and she frowned, looked away, opened and closed her mouth. Slowly, she extended her hand. I gave myself a mental pat on the back; it looked like my attempt was a success.
Or so I thought, as the girl wrapped her right hand around my left index finger and weakly wiggled my finger up and down, kind of cute, but she did it for a long time as she stared into my eyes. God, this girl is weird, but I can't judge, because I am even more, being a little introverted and with a certain degree of anxiety doesn't help much.
"You can stop now." I said with a nervous smile and sweat trickling down my forehead.
With slow steps, the girl let go of my finger, walked away from me and turned back to face me as she hugged the doll. Damn it! This is unnecessarily weird; I have no experience caring for children, much less a traumatized possible future goddess.
What should I do? Hm... I need to choose my priorities first, get the girl out of this room and get her some food, she must be starving. Second, scout this place for items and equipment. There are several important items in the area and two places where there is a chance for me to get armor and weapons without having to spend coins.
Thirdly? Go deeper into the dungeon? I think I'll only do that after I'm sure I'm ready. I might as well wait for Le'garde to die or for someone to save him, that way the fog around the dungeon dissipates and we can escape.
Calm down and let's start slowly. "Hm… Listen, I know we just met and you don't trust me, but I want you to know that I'm here to help. You must be hungry, so how about I fix you something to eat? There's a kitchen nearby."
As soon as I finished speaking, a loud noise echoed through the room, it was the girl's stomach; she grabbed her stomach with a pained face. Damn it! I've seen the images of starving children in war zones or in poor countries, whether on TV or the internet, but seeing this in person is a completely different story, it makes my heart sink.
"Come." I held my hand out to the girl, but perhaps I was too impulsive as she backed up a few steps. "You know what, just stay close to me." I said as I put on my mask and hood and walked towards the entrance.
I heard the girl's slow, careful steps right behind me, I poked my head out of the room and scanned the area, and there was no one there, perfect! Looking back, I saw that the girl was close, I motioned for her to follow me, but as soon as I took a step outside, I felt a tug on my shirt.
Looking back, I saw the girl holding the back of my shirt and looking at the floor "It's okay to stay like this, just don't let go of me and don't wander around, okay?"
The girl nodded. With that resolved, we left the room, book and dagger in hand. Slowly we made our way to the right, our footsteps the only source of noise in the decrepit stone corridors, reaching the end of the corridor, there were two paths one to the left and one to the right.
We approached the corner of the hall, our bodies pressed against the wall; I felt the girl's grip on my shirt tightening. I poked part of my head out of hiding and looked both ways, there was no one.
"The path is clear, we can continue." Said as I gave the girl a quick look, she gave me a quick wave and we continued right again. We walked past the dungeon entrance, looking around; I saw the grass and the wall of fog outside.
No sign of the dogs and Isayah, good news. I noticed that the girl was also looking outside curiously. "This is the outside, where I came from. Have you ever been there?"
The girl nodded negatively, keeping her eyes on the landscape outside.
"Unfortunately we can't leave right now, I don't know if it's safe. Maybe later I can show you around the outside."
The girl gave me a sad look and lowered her head, nodding in understanding, I felt bad for making her sad, but we can't risk running into the dogs.
We reached the end of this corridor and stopped in front of a wooden door, this was where I expected to get more equipment. "Could you let go of me for a minute."
The girl fixed me with a hesitant look, but with a trembling hand, she released me.
"Don't worry, this won't take long, but stay where I can see you."
Understanding what I said, the girl leaned against the wall to the left side of the wooden door, with that done, I approached the old, rotten wooden door and grabbed the metal handle with one hand, forcing it inside as I lunged at the door.
It took a few tries, but with each impact, the lock gave way. Eventually the door creaked open, revealing a dusty storage room, when the dust settled, I entered the room with the girl following me.
Moreover, to my delight, I found one of the things I was looking for, the leather vest, similar to the ones Cahara wore, but instead of their brownish red hue, these were black in color.
I wore them over my shirt like a jacket, covering my torso but leaving my arms exposed, I need some armbands right away, the second item I found was a blue vial, and I put it in my backpack. Good, but I was hoping to get an iron mace.
"I got everything I wanted here. Thanks for waiting, let's move on." I smiled at the girl, then we went back to what we were doing, the girl holding my shirt and me leading the way until we finally reached the place I was looking for.
The kitchen.
It was a simple medieval kitchen, with wooden tables and chairs, a few boxes and barrels lying around, and a stone woodstove. I closed the kitchen door behind us.
"You can sit down; I'll make you something to eat." I said to the girl as I pulled out a chair for her to sit on. The girl looked surprised by what I said. Staring at me as if I was lying.
"What? I'm telling the truth." I shrugged.
Still surprised, the girl sat down and I pushed the chair closer to the table, she stayed there, swinging her legs and watching what I was doing.
"Kitab, would you be able to release my hand? I find it difficult to cook with only one hand free." I spoke to the book.
"No problem." The book responded.
The tentacle that wrapped around my arm returned inside the book and it lay loose in the palm of my hand. I placed it open on a wooden counter next to the stove.
I searched the shelves for kitchen utensils; I think a sandwich will do. After a while, I found a knife that wasn't covered in blood, so I placed the items on the counter and started preparing the food.
"A sandwich? I expected more." Kitab spoke.
"I don't have anything to light the fire and even if I did, I'd rather save it for something really important." I answered while using the knife to remove the moldy parts of the bread and then split it in half.
"Like getting the armor you've been looking for?"
"Hm… It's a possibility, but there's the problem that once put on, the penitent armor can't be removed, so I have second thoughts about getting it. Maybe I can use it as a bargaining chip?" I cut up some cheese, lettuce and tomato and put them on the bread.
"Not a bad plan."
"Moreover, I'm a skinny college student, not a warrior, there's a chance the armor is too heavy for me." I searched the rest of the kitchen and found other interesting things, a cloth bag where I kept the leftover food, and I found some dried meat.
I put some meat on the sandwich too.
"Pathetic."
"Better shut up before I use you as fuel for the fire." I closed the sandwich and placed it on a wooden plate.
"I am your source of magic! You wouldn't dare!"
"You think? Because there are other gods in the dungeon willing to teach me some spells and I know exactly how to increase my affinity with them." I took a metal mug and opened my water bottle, pouring a third of the water into the mug, filling it up. I closed the bottle and put it back in my bag.
"You got me there." Kitab "sighed".
I held the plate with the sandwich and mug in each hand. So I headed towards the table, but as soon as I turned around, I saw the girl giving me a strange look. A mixture of surprise and fear?
"You saw me talking to a book, didn't you?" I asked embarrassed
The girl nodded positively.
"And now you think I'm crazy?"
The girl held out her hand and shook it a little to the sides. A little bit. It's not so bad.
I put the plate with the sandwich and the mug in front of the girl. I took Kitab from the counter and placed it on top of the table, sitting down in a chair shortly after.
"Girl, say hello to Kitab."
"Greetings!"
The girl looked surprised that letters suddenly appeared on the pages of the book, but then she cocked her head in confusion.
"You know how to read?"
The girl's face turned red and she shook her head.
"You don't need to be embarrassed. You are not to blame for it. Nevertheless, to sum up, this is Kitab, my magic book that helps me to cast spells, and you could say I'm an amateur sorcerer. Kitab does not communicate with a voice, but with words on its pages, it said hello to you."
The girl understood what I said and waved her hand at Kitab.
"Hump! At least she's polite."
"I wouldn't say its education, but caution born of fear."
"For me it works the same way."
I preferred not to respond to the book, I think it's better not to say a few colorful words next to a child. Looking at the girl, I noticed that she still did not eat. Was she expecting something?
"This food is for you. You can eat now, I won't mind that."
My words seemed to be everything she'd hoped for, as the girl placed the doll on the table and began to eat her sandwich. She took a few small bites, probably testing the taste, after chewing a bit her eyes widened and she started to eat faster.
"It is good?" I asked.
The girl nodded quickly.
"I'm glad for that. I pride myself on my culinary skills."
Then the girl went back to eating, alternating between the sandwich and the water. That brought a smile to my face, but halfway through the sandwich, the girl stopped eating and looked at me, her eyes flickering between the sandwich, and me until she held the food out in my direction.
I held up my hand in denial: "No thanks. You can continue eating; I brought my food with me."
I removed the snack from my backpack, with a little bit of strength; I opened the package, and started eating. Know what. For a moment, I considered giving the girl the snacks, but stopped when I thought of the effects the chemistry of 21st century food would have on the body of a medieval person, let alone a malnourished child.
The girl stared at me for a few seconds before shrugging and going back to eating while I enjoyed my snack.
"So what do you plan to do now that you've freed the girl?"
"Get the penitent armor and hide it somewhere until I decide whether to wear it or not."
"And then?"
"Free Cahara."
"And then?"
"Hm… Find Enki or a book that teaches me necromancy, get better equipment, scavenge items, and find Rag in the hidden courtyard."
"And then?"
"And then? Good question..."
"You know you'll only have the option of leaving the dungeon after the prisoner everyone came looking for dies or is saved. What will you do?"
"That's a problem, if he dies D'arce will try to revive him and he will become the Kaiser in the future, if he lives he will try to become a New God."
"So what do you plan to do?"
"There are some options; I could prevent him from becoming a new god, but without killing him. Like, foiling his plans."
"He might try to kill you for that."
"That's why it would be nice to have Rag on our team. He could face him and stop him if necessary."
"But the knight will not like it at all."
That's a problem, one of the biggest obstacles is D'arce, her passion and loyalty to Le'garde has left her blind to what's going on around her. She has completely ignored all the horrible things Le'garde has done and will do anything to save him.
"Another question. Now that you've freed the girl, what do you intend to do with her? Let her become a goddess? Escape the dungeon together?"
"A difficult choice, if she doesn't becomes a goddess, humanity will continue to suffer without making progress, and after all it was the Cruel Age created with the birth of the Goddess of Fear and Hunger and Enki's Skin Bibles that caused history to continue until the second game.
Maybe I can help her become a goddess, but in a different way? A positive and less painful transformation, at least outside of the dungeon environments.
"I need more information, Kitab, maybe Enki can help us, finding him might be our best option at the moment."
"Well, choose what you think is best, after all I can't go walking around. Whichever you choose, I will have to follow."
"Thanks. However, I think it's better clear something up. Girl."
Upon being called, the girl stopped eating her nearly finished sandwich and looked at me.
"I don't know how to say this lightly, so I'll be quick. I know who your parents are."
Hearing that, the girl's eyes widened, but she looked away soon after, embarrassed.
"The new goddess and Le'garde. Am I right?"
The girl nodded.
"Do you know what your father did to be here and what his plan is?"
The girl shook her head negatively. I could see fear on her face, she must be wondering where I'm going with this.
"I won't lie to you, your father did horrible things, and he hurt a lot of people to try to carry out a plan that has every chance of going wrong. He obviously didn't think this through and improvised much of the plan. The chances of him dying from something beyond his control are high."
The girl lowered her head and stared at the table, I heard her sniffing her nose, and she looked like she was going to cry. She must think I'm accusing her of something because she's Le'garde's daughter.
"Please don't cry, I'm not accusing you of anything and I don't blame you for your father's actions, but we can't ignore what's going on around us. Now we have two options, we can go deeper into the dungeon and try to save your father, there are other people here trying to find him, we can join them. The other option would be to try to escape the dungeon, ignore Le'garde and just focus on escaping."
Wiping her runny nose with her hand, the girl nodded, still not looking at me.
"I won't lie, if we decide to save him, we will have to go through many dangers, monsters, traps and much more, the chance of dying is extremely high, but on the other hand, if we decide to ignore Le'garde, we can wander around the dungeon picking up items and equipment to survive until things calm down."
I couldn't see the girl's face, her hair covered her face, but I noticed that her hands were shaking in her lap.
"I will get you out of here girl, I promise you, but we need to decide what to do here."
The girl stiffened; slowly she lifted her head and stared me in the eyes, scary.
"You doubt me? I don't blame you, but I'm serious. A child shouldn't be trapped in this place. Wouldn't you like to see the world? What lies beyond these walls?"
We stared at each other for a long time, the girl's piercing eyes focusing on mine. Nevertheless, I didn't flinch, I returned the stare firmly. Then the girl got up from her seat, took her doll and stood next to me, then again she held my shirt, still staring at me.
"Do you believe me?"
The girl nodded.
"Thank you very much, I promise I won't let you down." I said with a smile, I tried to pet the girl's head, but she backed away. Okay, no unnecessary contact, I understand.
"But we still haven't decided what we should do." I said to the girl.
"Then how about I decide for you?" A female voice sounded through the kitchen as the door simultaneously opened.
I got up immediately, Kitab wrapping its tentacles around my arm, I drew my dagger and the girl hid behind me. Looking at the source of the voice, I was surprised who I found.
D'arce, there was the knight, wearing her full armor, carrying a sword and shield, but she was not in good condition, her armor, sword and face were stained with blood, she had cuts on her body and armor, her hair is disheveled and she was shacking vigorously, her eyes frantically scanning the kitchen for something that wasn't there.
"What are you talking about?" I asked pretending to be ignorant.
This pissed off de D'arce as she took a step towards us, her sword raised and her face a mixture of fear and anger, "D-don't treat me like I'm a fool! I heard your conversation with the girl! Y-you will take me to Le'garde!"
"Well, this just got interesting; D'arce puts herself in your way. What will you do? Fight? Talk? Escape? Or die?"
END OF CHAPTER
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