Chapter 193 – Changing faces

Sitting on the floor in front of wooden pieces of different sizes placed in the form of a city Alice was playing with plush toys in her hands, tapping them on the floor as if they were jumping around.

“Oh nooo! Mr.SmartySmarty you were late and FumiFumi went away to Munchkin Kingdom without you.” She said, giggling as she talked to a toy resembling a rabbit, but her merry laughter stopped abruptly the next second. She paused her game, a smile ceasing from her face entirely, her expression turning serious. In a moment her demeanor changed from silly girl-like into a mature woman.

“Not now.” She said seemingly to no one as she sat alone in the room.

Silence spread in the room as no one answered her.

“Alice? Did you say something?” Came a voice from the other room a few seconds later.

“I said, I saw Bobby through the window.” Answered Alice, her girly demeanor returning to her face.

“Bobby is back?” Came the happy voice from the other room again.

The next moment the door to the outside opened with racket. Alice turned her head toward it with a brilliant smile on her face as her brother entered the house.

“Bobby!” She squealed happily as a little girl, running to hug her brother. “You punched a lot of monsters today?” She asked, looking at him with a delighted grin.

“Heey.” Said Bobby, hugging her in return. “Yeah, I did. The forest will be a lot quieter for some time, so I will stay home for a few days. What have you been about while I was away?”

“Oh let me show you.” Said Alice pulling him toward a place on the floor where she sat playing when he came in.

“Hello, Bobby Hungry?” Asked a woman walking into the room from the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready.”

“Yes, Aunty. Thank you. And thank you for looking after Alice.” Answered Bobbyy as he was tugged along by the giggling girl.

“Look! This is Mr.SmartySmarty and this is FumiFumi.” Said Alice presenting him with two silly-looking toys.

“Oh. Wow. Are these your new friends? Did Aunty make them for you?” Said Bobby.

“No! I did it myself. Aunty taught me.” Answered Alice with a proud face.

“Yourself? Wow. I am so proud of you. So what are they, some small monsters?” Asked Bobby.

“No! Don’t you see? This is a rabbit and this is a squirrel. Mr.SmartySmarty is a dream rabbit. I told you about him before. He jumps from dream to dream.” Said Alice, shocked that her brother did not recognize a rabbit in her masterpiece creation.

“Riiight.” Said Bobby looking at the ugly-looking dolls. “How could I not recognize a…rabbit.”

“And this is FumiFumi she is a hyperactive otaku squirrel that was summoned to this world to run in the squirrel wheel like all her predecessors.”

“Hype…what?” Asked Bobby, scratching his cheek with a smile. He was used to his sister making up new words that no one knew and did not expect them to mean anything. “And what did you play with your new friend?”

“Oh, it was fun. FumiFumi was sent adventuring just like you. She may have even been adventuring near you. Did you not see her in the forest?”

“No sorry. We did not meet.” Said Bobby shaking his head with a gentle smile.

“Oh well. Too bad. But you see, FumiFumi had a pre-scheduled meeting with Mr.SmartySmarty right here at the gates of the town. But silly FumiFumi mixed up the time and came to the place a whole day earlier. So she and Mr.Smartyarty missed a chance to meet. Now she is going to the Munchkin Kingdom to search for him. But Mr.SmartySmart was right there where he should have been right in time on the next day after FumiFumi left.”

“Wow. What a bad luck.” Said Bobby shaking head at Alice’s silly stories.

“Or another silly trick of Goddesses of fate.” Said Alice, her smile disappearing from her face, surprising Bobby at the sudden change of her demeanor.

“But. Having an adventure just because they missed a chance to see each other, seems like a fun story.” Said Bobby trying to cheer up his sister, not quite understanding what made her sulk.

“You think so?” Asked Alice smile returning to her face.

“Yes. Definitely. A meeting after an adventure would be a lot more fun.” Said Bobby, nodding.

“Bobby. Go wash. Dinner is ready.” Came Aunt's voice from the kitchen.

“Let’s go eat, Alice.” Said Bobby standing up from the hunches and turning to walk but was surprised by Alice’s sudden hug from behind.

“Bobby. Will you miss me if I live somewhere far away?” Asked Alice.

Bobby turned around and looked at a young woman with the mind of a silly young girl, his eyes trembling as he hugged her tightly.

“Oh, Alice. I always miss you. I am sorry I have to leave for many days every time. But I think about you every day and miss you very much.” Said Bobby.

“I know, Bobby. That’s not what I mean. If I…If I go live with a new friend, far away. Would you be sad?”

“Of course, I would be. Why would you want to leave Alice?” Asked Bobby, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“Maybe it is better for me to go?” Whispered Alice. “You would not need to take care of me all the time. You can have a girlfriend if I am away. You can’t find any because of me.” Said Alice bowing her head.

“Alice, that’s not true. I just did not find any good girl. But listen, Alice. You are the most important thing to me. You are my only family. If a girl I find thinks you are a bother or doesn't like you, then she doesn’t deserve me. She is not a good one. Alright? You would never be a hindrance to me. I love you.” Said Bobby raising his sister's head gently by the chin.

“I love you too.” Whispered Alice.

“But who is this friend you want to live with?” Asked Bobby squinted, his eyes gazing into Alice’s eyes.

“My new friend, Lyra. We had a sea battle together. She is a very good lightsaber fencer. Master Yoda might not be her match. How else could she defeat me so easily? But she is still no match for my kung fu. I scadooshed her silly. But it was very fun. I like her. I think she is nice, but she and Mr.SmartySmarty are at odds right now. But I hope that FumiFumi will make them friends again when she and Mr.SmartySmarty meet after the adventure.”

“Ummm. Ouukey.” Said Bobby scratching his cheek, not understanding a word. It seemed to him that she was lost in her imaginary world again.

“Listen, Alice, promise me you would not go anywhere with someone before I approve of them. Ok?” Said Bobby just in case she decides to do something silly while playing her games.

“Alright. I promise.” Said Alice, nodding her head.

“OK now run to the kitchen. I will wash up and come too. If we don’t hurry now Aunty will scold us.

“Um” nodded Alice standing on the spot as Bobby went to his room to change out of his adventurer's gear.

“Be quick with it. My dinner is getting cold.” Said Alice in a chill voice, a silly girl's expression exchanged with the thoughtful expression of a mature woman once again.

“What price would you wish for this service?” Asked the voice from some invisible speaker.

“I have not yet decided, Lady Today. I will hold on to this debt for now until the time when I need it.” Answered Alice to the voice

“You don’t want to know why we asked to disrupt their meeting?” Asked another voice.

“No, Lady Yesterday. You already answered it last time. You allowed for his fate to be changed. Now you have to witness his fate to change. This is your way of taking responsibility.” Said Alice.

“You disapprove of these actions, Child?” Asked a third voice.

“No, Lady Tomorrow. Why would I? After all, you three would turn to me for this kind of service a lot from now on.” Answered Alice and walked to the kitchen. “I will make sure you pay a good price for my services.”

“Very well, child. We shall wait for the time to pay this debt.” Said Three voices.

*****

Noah understood that it was Dahlia’s first time in the city and everything seemed new and interesting, so they walked through the streets of Greenville town leisurely, stopping from time to time gawking around like tourists as Noah explained many things about the human dwellings.

“Amazing.” Whispered Dahlia looking at the different houses with a happy smile. “But you are saying people share baths in those Bathhouses?” She asked surprised.

“Yeah. Having a personal bath with water taps in every house is very costly in danger areas. Well, in safe areas too but especially so here. Here even having a private toilet is very costly. It’s hard to handle wastes. The waste system may become a weak point in town defense if it is too big to let monsters from outside slip in. So towns build these public bath houses where everyone goes to wash themselves and public toilets too to make the town’s waste system easier.”

“After all, stenches and smells attract monsters and have to be cleaned and maintained using adventurers, either as protection for the cleaning team or occasional monster swiping.” Explained Noah.

“Besides, building too many underground tunnels takes time. And time is essential when towns are being built in danger areas infested with monsters.”

“Once the area becomes safe and free of monsters it is possible to rebuild the system, but having water inside the house is a luxury only merchants may allow themselves. In danger areas, even merchants go to public baths and toilets, although they have separate ones from common people.”

“Separate? Why?”

“The wealthier you are the more you eat, so you can’t stand a long line to take a dump. They would shit their pants apparently.” Laughed Noah. “So they have special places for wealthy people with less waiting lines.” Said Noah the usual common people joke about the wealthy people's toilets.

“I see.” Said Dahlia smirking. Ever since they had a forthright talk, Noah noticed that she was expressing a lot more feelings in his presence than before, which made him smile with delight.

“Alright. I think this is the place.” Said Noah bringing Dahlia’s attention to the building barely looking like a merchant shop in the corner of an alley.

It was getting dark by the time they reached their destination and the streets seemed deserted. Yet there were still groups of people with intent gazes all over the neighborhood.

They walked up to the door, looking around, noticing several pairs of eyes stalking them with intent gazes from different sides of the street. In bad areas of town, you were always measured as a potential target for mugging, so you had to be on constant watch for danger.

Noah rapped on the door a few times and a few seconds later the door opened to a small crack, just enough to look through with one eye. A strong chain visible through the crack did not let the door open any wider. Once the person inside was sure that it was safe to open, the door closed again and the sound of jingling chains came from inside the house, before the door swung fully open.

The old man with vicious-looking eyes and unnaturally for this kind of area, wealthy-looking clothes, gazed at Noah and Dahlia for a second before nodding and stepping aside to let them through.

As the pair entered the dark room, the old man looked outside gazing at the people in the street before slamming the door shut and locking it, putting chains back on the door.

“Master Noah?” Said the old man gazing at the newcomers with his vicious eyes. “You are a lot earlier. I did not expect you for a few weeks more.”

“Sorry. Something came up, so I need your help, Nu. But before that, can you take another appearance? This old man’s face does not suit you.” Said Noah.

The face of the old man shuddered as if waves spread through his wrinkly skin and slowly the face and the body of the old man changed into a slimy feminine-looking half-transparent creature. The true form of a doppelganger.

“Sure. How can I help you?” Asked a female voice as the creature changed into a beautiful young lady dressed in similar wealthy-looking merchant clothes. This woman seemed to be very similar to the man before. As if she was a close relative.

“Woah.” Voiced Noah his eyes going wide. “I told you to find the body of a person closely connected to the underworld. Why do you have his daughter's body too?”

“Oh. They both were neck deep in underworld dealings, Master. Don’t worry. The world is a better place without both of them.” Said the woman with a smirk.

“I see. Both of them, father and daughter, were trash. But do they retain enough memories for our plans?”

“Yes. The memories I assimilated from their brains are almost perfect.” Answered Nu. "All the contacts they had with the underworld are clear in my memory."

Noah squinted his eyes looking at her intently.

“Both of their memories are perfect?  How is it possible? Nu! You did not eat them alive, didn’t you? I told you to find corpses.” Said Noah staring at her with a raised eyebrow, anger seeping into his voice.

*Caw. Sounded the voice of a raven from above Noah’s head. “She would be dead if she dared.” *Caw.

“Yeah. The bastard bird is still shadowing my every step. So of course I would not do that. What am I an idiot? If I do that without specific approval from the government, this fucker over there would sell me out instantly and I would be sentenced to death immediately as a dangerous monster.” Said doppelganger pointing at the black bird hunched on the lamp above their heads.

“Alright. Sorry for assuming things.” Said Noah.

*Caw.

“But you stretched the rule as much as you could with their assassination. You may not have eaten them alive, but you were the cause of their death!”

“Huuh? What are you spouting here you fucking bird brain? How am I involved with their deaths? They were murdered by some vicious people, I just happened to be nearby and lucked out on their fresh corpses. Where is your proof that I had something to do with it? Huh? You better fucking have it if you accuse me of such a thing. I am a law-abiding monster of a well-respected noble family, you fucker. Don’t think you can accuse me without proof!” Said Nu crossing her hands as she stared daggers at the bird.

*Tsk. Voiced his disapproval, the observer. “One day I will make your ass pay for crimes. Caw.”

Noah and Dahlia gazed at Nu with squinted eyes in silence.

“What? There is no proof I am involved with their deaths somehow. They died of natural causes according to Monster Laws governing us monsters siding with humans. So I had all the rights to eat their bodies. I just happened to be nearby when they died, that's it.”

Noah shook his head with exasperation. She was right. Lately, Noah learned a lot regarding the monsters hiding amongst humans and the rules that they had to follow. They could not hunt humans to feed. But if they found the corpse it was another story.

Doppelgangers were a special case of monsters. Even though monsters were forbidden to feed on humans, Doppelgangers could get approval if that was needed for missions ordered by the government.

This, however, was not such an occasion. Nu was by herself and did not serve any big Doppelganger family and this was surely not any government-approved mission. She worked for Noah as a mercenary and could be held accountable for crimes if there was any proof of her breaking the laws as any other human would be. Which in her case would automatically mean a death sentence as there was no prison for monsters. Before her cover as a monster would be blown, she would be disposed of. That’s why there was an observer following her at all times. It was her Damocles sword hanging above her head at all times, reminding her of the consequences of her actions.

“There was no need to risk this way.” Said Noah.

“Don’t worry. I know my stuff. I am in this world for a lot longer than you, Master.” Said Nu. “So what brought you here today?”