"Hmmm?" She leaned closer, crouching down with the bag resting on top of her legs, close to her chest. Her breath tickled my face as her golden hair brushed against my cheek.
Her nose crinkled the closer she got; maybe it was because I was sitting on a pile of trash. But that didn't stop her from reaching a hand out and grabbing the eyepatch on my eye.
"Ouch!" I yelped as the adhesive gave way with a single pull. "The hell are you doing?"
She didn't respond to me yelling; she kept her attention on the eye itself. Her green eyes looked around, from spot to spot, occasionally looking at my other eye. She had a gentle touch as she circled the burn around my eye.
The woman placed her palm over my good eye; her figure now becoming nothing more than a blur. She pressed her finger onto my eye; with a movement I could only assume was a nod, she pulled back her hands.
"A creepy-looking stare…and a wounded eye…could he be…?"
"You know I can hear you, right?" It was hard to tell what she was thinking with the hollow look in her eyes, but she smiled as she slapped the eyepatch back onto my face.
She stood up and took a few steps back. "Sir, could you follow me?" She smiled softly. "That eye of yours, could I get the opportunity to look at it?"
"Um…sure…?"
This woman…she was a strange one with a cute face, like many others in my life. Could she be a victim or just one of the city's foolish residents?
Creepy stare and wounded eye. Those were the words she said after she examined me. Was she looking for me? Back when she was getting that bag of goods, she was looking around. Could it have been because of me?
If so, why?
The only thing that came to mind was how Kelly behaved. She sought a fixer to save her. Told to offer anything to them for protection. Then she immediately bought the second artifact that belonged to the one who controlled her.
I'll admit that the second part was mostly mine to blame, but it doesn't change the fact that this Ritair fellow isn't an idiot; in fact, he was far from being one.
All the information I know about him is from Rinne and Muller. He uses a strange artifact to inhibit one's perception, and he's most likely from the Upper Layer.
If anything, he's educated, and that alone differs vastly from fighting a mere void spawn or crook off the street.
"Are you coming?" The woman looked back, already a few paces ahead as she looked over her shoulder.
I got off the pile of trash. I plucked a few pieces of trash that clung to me before catching up to the woman. She continued to move, and I silently followed, resting my hand on my hidden pistol.
She'd occasionally glance back at me, a mischievous grin spreading across her face as we ventured further into the alley. Steam pipes, once concealed, were now in plain sight. Gears turned without a sound, the lulling sound of grinding nowhere to be heard. Truthfully, it felt a little lonely. Having lived my entire life in the Middle Core, the constant presence of pipes and gears was just a normal part of life. But here in the Outer Ring, these hidden mechanisms shielded the residents from the unsightly reality of the city's inner workings that powered their everyday lives.
"You know," the woman said, looking back once again. Her green eyes locked with mine, and she spoke with an awkward yet confident tone. "I've been wondering about something." She kept a steady pace, though she didn't look forward; she avoided every bit of trash and pipe in the middle of the path.
Unlike the inner areas of the city, the metal out here was highly susceptible to rusting. But even with the reddish-orange stains that clung so deeply to the pavement of the ground, I could still distinguish that from the dried blood.
Who was this woman?
"Wondering about what?" I said. I tightened the grip around my pistol, ready to pull it out of its holster. This was the Outer Ring; going missing in a back alley was as common as it was in the inner sections of the city.
"Did it hurt?" She asked in a cute tone. "Your fall from heaven." She stuck out her tongue with a playful wink.
The grip around my pistol softened as I looked at her, dumbfounded.
"…no dice?" She said awkwardly.
"Yeah…"
"Oh well," she let a sigh leave her lips as she turned forward, hiding her face from me. "I thought it could work, seeing that you did fall from the sky and all."
She sounded genuinely hurt by my reply. She wasn't bad-looking; had we met under different circumstances, maybe I would have looked at her differently.
That's assuming I could ever get over my love for Rinara.
"You had a scary look in your eye for a while now." She spoke, not letting the awkwardness get to her. Was she doing this on purpose, or did she just lack the ability to read the room?
"You mentioned that while you were looking at my eye, were you looking for me?"
"Yes and no," she said, her tone a mixture of confusion and confidence. "I am not the one looking for you; Master is."
Before I knew it, the grip around my pistol tightened once more.
"Master wants to look for you, but is busy looking into something. So, I thought I'd help Master out by looking for you myself."
"Right…"
This was too convenient. The first woman we found the moment we reached the Outer Ring was someone tied directly to Ritair? Something about this felt wrong. But I could not figure out why that was.
Was it the alley?
Was it the woman?
Was this a trap that I was about to walk right into?
I looked towards the sky, where the tops of the buildings were visible. I closed my eyes and focused my ears. But there was no sound from either Lilas or Sara. Where were they?
"We are here."
We stopped in front of a completely suspicious back door. The edges of the doorframe were engraved with a deliberate mark, and parts were stained with blood. There was a single light above the top of the door, flickering as several bugs flew under it. As the woman approached the door, I drew my pistol.
She gave the door several knocks in a coded pattern before slamming the door open with a metallic ringing that echoed loudly in my ears.
"MASTER!!!" the woman shouted with an energetic tone. Her cute words added to the echoing sound that rattled my ears.
I followed her into the dark building, and upon entering, I could hear the sound of a chamber being pulled back. There was a set of eyes fixed on me from within the darkness. I couldn't see where they were, but they watched me carefully.
"Ah, Hanna." A woman's voice rang out from within the building. "Welcome back. Did you bring the goodies?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Hanna pressed something on the wall, and the entire room lit up.
A blinding light filled my eye. Once I'd adjusted to the light of the room, the first thing I was met with was the polished white tile flooring. That must be why the light seemed brighter than it really was.
A quick scan of the room was all I needed to find a second woman, one with silver hair and a black 'X' shaped hair ornament holding back her bangs. She looked down the sights of a pistol, her golden eyes trained on me.
Hanna looked at the woman and said, "Master, why are you threatening our guest?" She then looked around and saw the pistol in my hands. "Oh…I didn't realize…" Hanna looked down at the ground, her lips curling into a frown.
"It's fine." The woman put her gun away, and so did I. "This man isn't gonna harm us." There was a bitterness in her voice that felt hostile. But Hanna seemed oblivious to it.
Hanna's smile grew back onto her face, and she ran up to the woman with silver hair, giving her a loving embrace. "Hehe!" The silver-haired woman's eyes lit up as she made a face of pure ecstasy. She rubbed her face between Hanna's chest.
Trying not to stare at…whatever that was about, I looked around the room, one that was distinctly divided into two sides. To my left was a clean, tightly sectioned part of the room. A single small bed lined with a paper liner sat in the center of that half. Several medical instruments surrounded the bed, each cleaned and polished. A few…strange instruments sat there that I wouldn't associate with medical use, but at a glance, this place looked like a legitimate clinic.
However, the second half of the room, to my right, well, let's say it was something. A larger bed sat on this side, with two distinct sections. One side was pink, filled with cute plushies and a large body pillow of a nude woman with silver hair and yellow eyes. The other side was black…just black—no pillow, nothing extra, just black bedding and covers.
"…" At some point, the woman's gaze was trained back on me, her gaze harsher than it was prior to hugging Hanna.
They both were at a large desk that seemed to have been repaired time and time again. The top of the desk was covered with papers, books, and a large amount of trash, mostly instant noodle cups and empty water bottles.
At the corner of the desk was a large bag…on the floor was a pile of trash that was still settling down after Hanna shoved everything off the table.
Hanna tossed off her oversized coat, revealing a well-endowed body that left very little to the imagination. Her bare skin, uncovered by her pink crop top, glistened with sweat. The light reflected gently, showing the tones of her body. A white bandage poked from under her top, wrapping around her entire chest. In the center, just above her breasts, was a large crimson stain.
I was right…this woman was brainwashed. I turned towards the woman with silver hair.
Unlike Hanna, she wore more clothing. It wasn't much more, but her style complemented her attractiveness. She wore a mesh top, her bare skin just visible beneath the tight-fitting black crop top. Unlike her buddy, there was no bandage covering her chest. I was able to see the cleavage of her chest with ease.
She was not affected by the artifact.
The silver-haired woman's expression shifted a little after I locked eyes with hers. She looked at me curiously, with a devilish smile lining her lips. She leaned forward, pulling her shirt up just a bit, giving me a better look at what was underneath.
I looked away towards Hanna, whose eyes caught mine, and she blushed as she held her hands behind her back. She looked away.
"How typical," the woman said as she adjusted her posture. She stood up, walking past Hanna. She approached me and wrapped her arms around me as she looked towards Hanna. "Hanna, dear. Could you go buy some ointment for this man's eye?"
"Huh!?" Hanna looked at the woman, her eyes widening. "But I want to practice on him."
"And you will, dear, but we need the supplies to treat this…cutie properly," the woman said, with a forced voice.
"OKAY!" That was all that was needed to convince Hanna as she threw her overcoat back on. She marched out of the door and slammed it shut behind her.
"Good heavens." The woman pushed herself off me and took a few paces back. Her yellow eyes glared harshly at me as she reached for the pistol at her side. She didn't draw it, but her hand was resting on the handle. She covered her nose with her other hand. "Hanna wasn't lying about finding you in the trash, was she?"
"Unfortunately, no," I placed my hand on my own pistol.
"Fitting for a man." She scowled. "Always undressing us with those eyes."
"What? I'm afraid that there is a major misunderstanding here—"
"How so?" she pointed towards the bed on the messier side of the room. "You glanced at the body pillow, then at me, did you not?"
"That's—"
"Since you've already got everything you needed about me, your lustful gaze fell onto Hanna. Don't think I didn't realize how long you were undressing her with those filthy eyes of yours, tracing over her pale, sweaty skin and well-defined body. Those soft breasts covered with that wound inflicted by that disgusting filth from the Upper Layer. Her defiled pink flower, plucked into womanhood."
She spoke in a single rapid breath. In the midst of her anger, she started to drool. The grip on her pistol loosened. Frankly, I was confused. But I could tell that she didn't mean harm to me…as long as I did nothing to Hanna.
I relaxed my posture. The woman's eyes snapped back onto me. "Err…Ahem!" She cleared her throat. She reached into her clothes and produced something strangely familiar to me.
A brooch, one that's given only by one man in the church. One I created as a way to network when communication wasn't available.
The woman studied my expression before tucking the brooch away. "So you must be the one he was talking about. A man with a creepy stare and a wounded eye. Though it looks like someone has beaten me to the punch for patching up that eye of yours."
"You know who M—Father Muller is?"
"Yes, he came to me a few nights ago, reeking of alcohol." She sat down at her desk. She crossed her legs and, with her elbow on the table, rested her head in her palm. Her yellow eyes remained fixed on me. "Told me that he had a buddy who would soon visit. He learned of me only through some…unsavory means. I don't like being watched." She sighed. "So, that is all to say, I know who you are, Golden Steam, and I know you will be able to help me. But look at Hanna with those sinful eyes once again. I'll make sure your every waking moment in life is riddled with nothing but pain."
Once again, I find myself surrounded by nothing but weirdos.