Spoiled Bread

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"An astute answer from a morality standpoint." Meredy clapped at the butler's answer, yet the mischievous grin didn't vanish from her face.

"However, Timothé, you just doomed yourself for no particular gain to anyone. If the God is in bad mood you might get the [Murder] label, which would make your life difficult until you atone. Moreover, you are now prone to be named as the culprit of the incident should the officials need a scapegoat." She explained as her grin turned into a giggle, then her expression suddenly became more serious.

"If you're going to serve me then you need to understand that the most moral answer isn't necessarily the best one. Look for a way for you to benefit of the situation, and be wary of what other people might do in response. Opportunity and survival should be the priority. Well, we're just shopping here but once you met some of my noble born acquaintances you might understand."

After a few minutes of walking they arrived at a lavish building with countless glittering neon light decorating the entrance. A couple of large bouncers stood in front of it, preventing random people from entering. Meredy waved a document towards the bouncer and after verifying it, they let both Meredy and Timothé to enter the building.

The inside of the auction house almost looked like a museum with the vast hall filled with numerous novelties. Vintage machine prototype made by dead artisan, now simply exist as collector items. Taxidermy of exotic creature in a glass tube waiting for someone to claim it and display it on their living room. A living horned horse, chained and restrained with a strange magical device on its neck. There's many more items being displayed here so the visitors would know what they can get today.

"Ohh, first time I see a unicorn. I might try bidding for that." Meredy nodded in excitement as she watched the horse from afar.

"Do you have something you fancy, Timothé? I can get it for you if you want. One of the perk of working under me is that I splurge for my servants too so no need to be shy."

[Feend's Scrapyard] Hay in a Needlestack

Widersia was a heaven for crafters. Freed from the strict religious tenets of The See, or the patriotic warmongering of The Empire. However, behind all those technological advancements lies one of the region's looming problem: waste management. It used to be much more manageable, but once the tinkerer developed various ways to boost productivity. The amount of waste produced exploded exponentially. Several sites dedicated to holding such waste were built. Ideally, the existence of such a place should only be temporary until a more permanent solution is found, but sometimes, it's just cheaper to let it be, regardless of the consequence.

Most of the scraps thrown into Feend's Scrapyard came from countless construct's body parts. Some were still usable or recyclable, but the majority of them contained too much dangerous material or simply too expensive to recycle to be worth the effort. After years, the place became a huge mountain made of broken construct parts. A literal pile of graveyard in the eyes of the construct race.

The group gathered in front of the entrance, which was just poorly erected wire fences with a fading sign that read 'FEEND's SCRAPYARD'. A strong combination of oily and rusty odor could be smelled miles away from the place. Almost as bad as the smell of a regular dump site. The man who gathered the group was a stout male gnome in a tuxedo. His bloated belly peeked out under his suit as he twirled his seemingly fake mustache. Next to him was a clean white robot with a black screen as their face. The construct was also wearing a formal suit and was holding several documents in their hands.

"Greetings. People. I'm Feendz, the owner of this fine establishment." The gnome started the briefing the group and walked onto several stacked wooden crates. He struggled to climb some of the box but the robot gave him the nexessary boost. Once the gnome managed to reach the top of the box, he continued his speech with newfound confidence as he looked down at the gathered people.

"I'm looking for a very important memory disc. It accidentally fell into the pile and now I can't find it. Regardless of the result, I will pay as stated in the contract, but anyone who manages to find the disc will receive a HUGE reward." The base payment was already pretty decent for a one day job that didn't need a specialized skill. So the mention of even more rewards would be promising to most people.

"Don't waste time. I'll waiting here." The gnome shooed the people away while his robot assistant prepared a lazing chair and a set of fresh lemonade for him to enjoy. Then it stuck a picture of said disc on the nearest wall. Apparently the memory disc was a palm-sized thick round device with glass-like blue orb in the middld. Seeing the picture, most of the gathered immediately rushed into the scrapyard, eager to get the bonus.

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

Charms, charms everywhere. Scattered throughout the hut like overgrown vines. Most people might found it messy and a little freaky, but Marrion actually found the insanity and the passion... inspiring. Maybe, once she got her own lair she would hang hundreds of small puppets to decorate it.

The pale woman invite them inside. The wrapped figure carried behind Marrion's back brushed carelessly against some of the hanging charms, threatening to snag them from their anchored spot. Marrion's middle eye frantically scanned every corners of the room to make sure there's no ambush nearby, while her two normal eyes stared at the pale woman. A thought started to emerge from her fractured mind as a black chitin hand emerged from her ragged cloak and pointed at the charms the woman was making.

"We want a charm to find people."

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"Fine. I will call you Timothé, but you will also not call me ma'am. That makes me sounds old." Meredy huffed. "I guess you can call me young miss if you want to be formal."

"The chocolate man is the man that owns the chocolate factory. Last time I met him he wanted to acquire the tavern to expand his cafe franchise or something. Unfortunately the owner rejected his offers. Now that the tavern is put in an auction I have no doubt he would make an appearance."

The wizard who tinkered with the magic circle nodded. Meredy urged Timothé to follow her into the middle of the room. A bright light engulfed both of them as the crystal room teleported them miles away. Once the light subsided, they officially arrived at Clockhaven - the capital city of Widersia.

If Prahuel had a more somber vibe due to its mountainous isolated location and high nocturnal population, Clockhaven felts much more crowded and industrious. Its steam-powered technologies gave it a particular feel that couldn't be achieved anywhere else. The street was much larger due to the huge influx of vehicles and the sight of constructs doing various menial works were very common, splitting the road in two lanes was the tram rail that hums loudly as the box-shaped vehicle dragged itself across the city.

"Welcome to Clockhaven." Meredy welcomed Timothé into the city as if she was a tour guide, clearly enjoying herself here.

"Since its your first time here I have a little personality quiz for you. People here call it the trolley dilemma. See the rail there?" She pointed at the rail in the middle of the road.

"Now imagine you are standing next to the rail. The rail branched out into two rails and the lever that can switches the rail path is right in front of you. The first lane has 10 people tied right next to the rail, on the rail itself are barrels of boiling hot oil stacked on top of each other. On the other lane are another 10 people tied right on the track itself. A tram is coming at high speed. Left alone it will knock over the oil barrel on the first lane, spilling the hot oil on the 10 people next to it and kill them in a slow agonizing death. However, if you pull the lever then the tram will be diverted to the other lane and quickly kill the 10 people tied there." Satisfied with her set-up, Meredy had a wide grin on her face as she looked at the butler and stated the quiz.

"Would you pull the lever?"

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

Marrion had already made a small camp at the edge of the town before coming here so she didn't rent a room at the inn. Although half way to her camp she wished she had just got the room there as the storm pelted her and her puppets. She would need to spent some time to dry Horatius once the rain's over.

Marrion returned to the inn rather early. The storm last night made it hard to hunt for breakfast so she figured she would have another stew, and maybe popped some of her honey crystals. She silently walked into the inn, sitting near the bubbling pot waiting for it to be finished. While waiting a thought suddenly struck her head.

"Must show Horatius to bird woman." She said she was looking forward so Marrion figured she could show her right now. She tried to recall the name of Miiya's room, two-oh-four. Thankfully it's less than fifty so she should be able to find it. Yet the moment she stepped into the second floor the opened door immediately draw her attention. The curious Marrion peeked inside, and once she was sure there's no one, she stepped in.

"Something happened." She muttered. She picked a few of Miiya's feathers.

"A fight happened." Replied a much deeper voice coming from Marrion. "No blood, but a lot of mess. We should tell the guards, or at least the innkeeper."

"You're correct, Horatius." Marrion replied herself with her usual voice. There's no urgency on Marrion's voice as she stepped down to the common hall and approached the innkeeper.

"A fight happened there." She pointed at the direction of Miiya's room.

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"I'm not one to involve myself in physical conflict, Timmy." Meredy didn't shy away at looking straight back at Timothé, confidence and defiance could be seen gleaming in her eyes.

"But if there's a bigger fish blocking me from my goal, then I will use an even bigger fish, or maybe a bigger spear, to remove it."

It didn't take long for the carriage to arrive at their destination. A heavily-guarded building isolated from everywhere else. It's a teleportation spot, an old one. Said to be built before the great war. Meredy waved her family badge in front of the guard holding a black orb and they immediately let them in.

"Have you ever go to Clockhaven, Timmy? I like to do my shopping there so you better start familiarizing yourself with that city." Meredy asked as she stepped out of the carriage. In front of them was a large chamber with red crystals lining up the ceiling, the light that reflected by the crystals filled the room with ominous yet beautiful red tint. An old man in wizard attire seemed to be inscribing their actual destination into the large magic circle carved into the floor.

While they're waiting for the teleportation preparation, Meredy handed Timothé a piece of paper with several to-do lists written neatly on it:
- Obtain tavern from the auction (beware of Chocolate Man)
- Buy furnitures
- Buy clothes lots of clothes, all size

"A small list of what we'll do."

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"Please, no need to mind about that." Madame Helena nodded at the maid that guided Timothé into the room. The older maid silently picked the used utensils and exited the room.

"Be safe, Sir Timothé. I will wait for my daughter's and your safe return."

Once Timothé arrived at the front door, he would saw a carriage was ready. Meredy was already inside the carriage, she had her head peeking out of the window while leaning on her folded arms. The girl noticed Timothé before glancing at the watch hidden underneath her sleeve on her left wrist.

"You passed. Come in." She ordered. Once he get in, Meredy signaled at the driver to start moving.

"I personally don't think I need another one under me, but I will trust my mother's judgement for now. Can you fight Timmy? And more importantly, can you drive a car?"

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

"We are us. Marrion, Horatius and Liluth." Marrion tried to explain to Miiya, but as she said the words she realized that it might not be a sufficient explanation. She must think of what other people see her as. Yes, she's a lone figure now. They didn't know the three of them were constantly talking inside her head, yes.

"You will meet them later." She added, giving up on the explanation for now.

Marrion wasn't a stranger to things such as talisman. Some of the bugs from the nest started practicing occult stuffs after they discovered a mysterious temple deep underground, they're courting favor with a forgotten deity, they said. She knew her captain was one of those but she couldn't care less. They already have The Queen to serve and devote themself, why add a god to the mix?

"Should check the place of disappearance. Might be some clue there." She said. Though looking at the current weather, now might not be the best time to go out.

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"True, she already has several maids and servants to handle the chores. So most of your task will be managing and security." The noblewoman answered. A moment later, several knocking could be heard from the room's door and another figure entered. This time it was a young girl with dark red hair and sharp blue eyes.

"Welcome home, Meredy. Look, I found a suitable butler for you." The woman enthusiastically greeted the girl. Meredy glanced briefly at Timothé before looking back at her mother.

"I thought I said I want an older buff one, with visible scars." The girl said as she picked up a document from the table, from the brief peek Timothé can get the paper had his profile in it.

"Timothé is much easier to the eyes though. Also he looks like the actor Zen Zhi Hao." Madame Helen had a sheepish smile as she said that, which invited a sigh from Meredy.

"Timothé... Timmy, meet me at the front door in five minutes. We're going to Widersia today." The girl said to the butler before she exited the room, presumably doing her preparation for the so called shopping session. In the room, the noblewoman looked at Timothé apologetically.

"She's a bit feisty. Hope you don't mind that."

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

Marrion finished the rest of the stew and immediately paid for it with an amount that's several times more than the supposed price. Seemed like she either didn't care, or didn't know about the price of regular stuffs. Her attention had shifted towards the small group that had gathered to tackle the missing case.

She tilted her head trying to understand Miiya's semaphores. While she can understand the simpler things like threat status, she couldn't really understand the clock-based orientation and she couldn't imagine any number larger than 50. She really should polish up her math, couldn't keep relying on counting her fingers for this.

"Name's Marrion." She introduced herself following after the avian girl. "We can climb walls and see in the dark. Should be good at searching people."