Earth's Doom

Elias (7)

"Dmitri! What is this? This is so good!" I exclaimed while stuffing my face with this newly-found food.

"Those are chicken skewers, Chae! The best in town! Haha!" Dmitri said proudly.

"I'm so glad I came here." I munched my third skewer.

Dmitri and I had gone to Owen earlier, and not only did he permit us, but Owen also lent me some money for me to use. It was around 500 chroma, which is apparently quite a lot here. I plan to use some for food, then keep the rest of it just in case I need to buy something in the future.

"Do they accept take-outs, Dmitri?" I asked him.

"They do, actually! Let me tell Brutus for you!" Dmitri answered me happily.

"Who's Brutus?"

"Oh, he's the owner of this stand. I often talk to him when I patrol."

Dmitri then went in and talked with the middle-aged guy behind the counter while I stood there. We had just walked around for a short while, but in that amount of time, countless people had greeted Dmitri. And he answered all of them by name. I guess he's well-known here.

"Here, Chae! One portion of chicken skewers, to-go!" Dmitri grinned as he handed me a warm paper bag. Ooh, I guess plastic is less common here. Nice.

"Thank you, Dmitri." I smiled at him.

"Oh hey, Dmitri! Good day to you! Are you on patrol duty today?" Another middle-aged man suddenly called out for Dmitri.

"Ah, good day, Mister Brian! How are your kids doing?" Dmitri replied, giving the man a bright, huge smile.

"Same old, same old, they're at that rebellious age, y'know?" Said the old man.

"Ah, big brother Dmitri! Have you come to play with us again?" This time the voice came from a young kid, who was walking with her mom.

"Momo! You're bigger than the last time I saw you! I'll play with you next time, okay? I have to accompany this big sis today!" Dmitri rubbed the back of his head.

"Aww, can't the big sis play with us, too?" The girl looked at me with puppy eyes.

"I'm sorry, Momo, but big sis and I have somewhere to go. Next time, okay? I promise!" Dmitri replied.

"Okay then... Will big sis play with me, too, the next time we meet?" She pouted.

I bent down and smiled while saying, "sure, Momo. Big sis will play with you next time."

"Okay! It's a promise then!" The girl giggled and left with her mother.

"Sorry about that, Chae. I often talk to the townsfolk here. They're a bunch of nice people, right? Haha!" Dmitri said to me.

"Yep. They're nice people," I replied, "I understand why you'd want to protect this kind of town..."

I looked down, feeling a bit jealous. The nation that I once defended didn't even treat me as nice as this unfamiliar town. Did I just get the short end of the stick? I mean, I know that every nation has its fair share of both good and bad people, but...

"What's wrong, Chae?" Dmitri looked at me with a worried expression, "you don't look so good."

"Oh, it's okay, I was just thinking a bit, haha," I answered him, "c'mon, let's go! We're done filling our stomachs, let's go to your mom's place now."

I tugged at his sleeve and smiled at him. He seemed hesitant, but he let go of the topic and we walked towards our next destination.

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