A child called Lucy

Act I

The Gunslinger vs the Snake Twins

The carriage was driven like any other one that worked as usual. The horse, directing the transport, was unbothered by the amount of weight inside the Unit. The way it worked, the inside was made of negative space and allowed the users to put as much as they wanted on their mobile homes without bothering whatever was making it move.

"Quite handy, don't you think?" Marika asked, sitting beside Warren.

They both were sitting outside in the front, guiding the horse between the ruins. There was enough space for it to pass.

"Seems like it," Warren said, low in energy.

"I am not sure if it is your personality or you are just hungry," Marika said, looking at him with squinted eyes.

Not so long after they reached the edge of town. As they were getting closer, Marika stood up and stood besides the door, and made sure to open it like she was ready to get inside.

The city was still in a sorry state after the Great War. The ruins surrounding it were a testament to what structures and machines used to exist, and now the town itself is a reminder of the damage caused by the conflict a few generations back. The battle that took place back then was a long-distance echo from the perspective of both, Warren and Marika, who could only see the atrocities that came before them through the now small town that did not recover its glory.

Now it was turned into a poor frontier town that could not develop further. Tourists barely pass because of fear of getting assaulted and resources were hard to come by. The Bounty Hunter's Guild was still operating, but they were under constant war with the criminal groups that fought for control of the town.

The streets were badly taken care of. Motorized cars were not rare, but clearly, none were using the streets and they were unusable anyway. The carriage was creaking behind the by the disrepair.

"Law of the strongest" Warren said for the confusion of Marika.

Is true, towns where law barely had any strong arms were usually controlled by the strongest group, whoever was capable of scaring the rest into submission. Why Warren would mention that it was a mystery for her.

Maybe he was referencing the state of the crumbling buildings, or that people were looking at them as they were passing by the first few concrete constructions that were used as houses, storage, or stores. Or maybe were the groups brandishing all types of weapons, guns, and older, signaling that they were going to put up a fight if messed with.

"To your right" Marika signaled at one point as they were going down the road. Warren follows her directions.

With the System, it was possible to become strong enough to fight them. But who would risk fighting against someone if you don't know their level or current stats? Marike knew that, so she kept herself away from such conflicts. She needed to be extra careful as she was not part of any gang or group. Going alone meant fighting for yourself without any support in case you ran into danger. Even with her Class Stone, it was hard for her to be a threat to anyone in a group.

"I see it," Warren said.

Not so far from them, just half an apple of travel was the sign of the Bounty Hunter's guild. Hard to miss, a big showcase of status, hanging right from the building, with lights that made it excel over any other. Warren stopped right outside.

The whole travel was mostly silent. Warren barely talked unless Marika did it first like he did want to avoid saying too much, mostly saying what she directly asked for, and that was if he didn't go around in circles or outright avoided the question.

Besides, when they entered the town, it seemed that she was attempting to keep a low profile, and always on the edge of escaping inside of the carriage.

Inside of the Guild was a simple waiting room. It was small, with a few chairs to one side, and a single potted plant decorating the whole room. A male fox demi-human was serving the reception. A man was asleep in the middle of the rows of waiting chairs, snoring.

"G-good afternoon!… H-here for business?" He asked with an extremely shaky voice. His hands seemed to tremble a lot and his whole demeanor made it appear that he was about to duck for cover in any second.

"Yeah, I come to get some bounties" Warren answered, unbothered by the receptionist's reaction.

Marika had seen him before, jumpy, and nervous all the time. Working for a Guild that captured criminals in a town that was basically run by them was not necessarily good for your mental health.

"Maybe I should have stayed in the cart" she muttered to herself. She was looking around holding a hand against her chest, her ears scanning the surrounding area.

The process was simple. The System recorded the kills made that had a bounty on them, and the Bounty Hunter's Guild was capable of checking them and then crediting the corresponding Mulars to the Hunter.

Warren showed the receptionist a list of kills. There were only the three people he killed during the combat on the outskirts of the town, between them Darel. It showed the name, class, level, and bounty amount with the crimes committed.

Darel was level 10 when Warred took him out. This made her doubt even more that the gunslinger was just level 1 when he confronted him. Not especially after having caused him more than 2000 points of damage with just one skill. It was impossible, no one was capable of having that much power at such a low point of their leveling career. And that is not counting the way he fought, moving with precision and capacity, with a spare room to even flaunt and make unnecessary moves.

"Ehem!" Marika cleared her throat when she saw Warren was finishing the papers. He looked back and she just extended her arms to the sides, signaling that he was forgetting something.

"What?" He asked.

"20%," she said, squinting her eyes at him. It was the deal.

Warren sighs. "Ok, can you give 20% of the bounty to her? She helped me with it" He said, although annoyed to share.

[+520 Mullars] appeared on her screen. Darel must have had a fortune of a bounty for his head and she was glad to take a part of it. She could eat for weeks with that and even afford a nice bedroom in the meantime. That is if it was she alone. The food would suffice. And that was not the only prize she was waiting for, anyway.

"Thank you!" She smiled and wagged her tail, and went to give Warren a hug and a kiss on the cheek, as a playful way to thank him.

Warren only grunted, to which she giggled.

As they were leaving, she felt a suspicious sensation surrounding her. And she was used to it by now. They were being watched, someone was paying attention to them. She stopped but Warren continued to the exit. She looked around. Was it the sleeping man? No, he was out completely, drooling with his mouth open, was it the receptionist? He went to the back to store some papers.

"Okay, come out now!" Warren said and stopped halfway to the exit.

Who? He noticed someone. She was ready to pull out her gun to defend herself and make a run for the cart. Inside was safe, as only owners and trusted people could go in, and were hard to destroy.

Then Warren looked towards the only potted plant in the room. She followed his sight.

"Eh?" she muttered when she saw, right behind the potted plant, a little girl, not older than 8 years old, crouching behind it, spying on them. She was looking at them with an angry expression and then hid herself back.

"I can see you, Lucy," Warren said.

"Y-you know that girl?" Asked Marika.

"No you don't!" said the girl.

"Come out here now!" he ordered, his voice more authoritative this time, surprising Marika. It was like a father scolding his daughter "Do it now or I will tell Mama Linnie to not bake you any more cookies!"

That is cruel Marika thought to herself.

In the end, the little girl came out. Marika found her adorable, cute pink hair in twin pigtails on the sides. She had a pink dress and gloves, boots even, dressed like a proper little lady. And she had a belt with a few tools, like a wrench and screwdrivers… why did she have those? She was holding her arms over her skirt, looking at the ground and pouting.

"I don't want her to not bake me cookies" 

"Out, now," He ordered. The little girl grunted and followed him with the same expression and demeanor.

Was this girl his daughter or something?

"Okay, explain to me why are you here, Lucy?" Warren asked, crossing his arms and looking at Lucy with the anger of a father who was about to lecture his daughter.

She murmured something low, impossible to hear. "Louder," he said.

She scowled and frowned at him, "I came looking for you, you dummy!" she said out loud, angry and pouting, eyes closed and her fist clenched by her sides. "You left without saying a thing and all I had to find you was your stupid diary!"

"He is a deadbeat dad!" Marika said in surprise, her mouth gaping at the choking revelation.

"S-she is not my daughter!" Warren responded, with his face red as he just now noticed what was happening.

"He is not recognizing her?!" She took a step back.

"Ugh! No, dummy!" Lucy answered, "He is my big brother!"

That is when Lucy took a good look at Marika. Her tiny face seemed genuinely surprised at her. Her big brown eyes were inspecting her from top to bottom.

Marika was confused at what was happening, why was this girl inspecting her like that?

"Big bro…" Lucy then looked at Warren angrily "You already got a prepaid woman?!"

"I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE!" Marika said, covering herself at the accusation, her face extremely red and her tail erect like a baseball bat. What kind of accusation was that?!

"Where did you learn that term?!" Warren scolded her. His face was also red.

"She is too pretty and I find you going around with her on a carriage I have never seen you before!" she said.

Marika could take being called pretty, but "What kind of reason is that to accuse me of being a… THAT?!" she asked, confused and embarrased, not wanting to say the actual word, especially since she was a child.

"I heard some of the people here say it when speaking to some pretty ladies that then followed them," she said, with a most innocent expression on her face.

Warren rubbed his hand on his face, frustrated. Marika felt like she wanted to get buried somewhere so no one would see her so embarrassed.

"Okay, you are not allowed to say that anymore, you hear me?" Warren said, "And you still haven't told me why and how did you get here"

"I came here to go with you!" Lucy answered, "You cannot do this alone! And Lhana is also my-!"

"She doesn't need to know about it, Lucy" Warren cuts her right off. "And no, is too dangerous, you ran a high risk just by coming here by yourself. You should have stayed home with grandma where is safe"

Who is Lhana? Marika questioned inside of her.

"Is true, Lucy. This town is no safe place for a little lady like you" Marika said, trying to support Warren. "Where is her house?"

"I am not a little lady!" Lucy said, huffing and placing her hands on her hips "I am going to become 10 in 3 more months!" Then she pointed at her "AND, my house is in Minari Town!"

You are too young!

"Wait, Minari town is a week in horse," Marika said.

"And twelve days on foot" Warren added. Of course that is the distance he traveled on foot.

"How did you get here?" Marika added, wanting to know the answer.

"Simple, I flew here!" She joined her hands on her back, smiling proud of herself.

"Of course you did" Warren tipped his hat with his fingers, closing his eyes.

"H-how?" Marika was questioning it, not sure how could a small child manage to fly.

"If you go to the outskirts, you will see my plane crashed" Lucy answered, like it was the most normal thing.

What kind of family did Warren have?