When the transmigrated man woke up again from his unintended slumber, Sigurd felt like his whole body was scorching, as if he had slept on top of a burning bonfire.
It only took him a moment before he dismissed this thought process, since he realized the main reason why his body was burning hot was because of the white haired loli who tightly hugged his body.
Sigurd opened his eyes with great reluctance, and was greeted with the sight of a drooling face of the white haired girl.
Upon closer inspection, the sleeping posture of the two of them are now tightly attached to each other. The white haired girl was only wearing a rather thin white colored underwear, and the state of the two of them could be described as sleeping with a lot of skin-to-skin contact.
Outside of their makeshift bed, both of the kids were being covered with the clothes that the little white haired girl had taken off, and then Sigurd's own dirty quilt.
And the source of warmth that enveloped his body was coming from the body temperature of this little dumpling.
"She saved my life."
That's the conclusion that Sigurd ended up with, since there is no way he would be able to open up his eyes again should he faint amid the cold wind.
Realizing that, Sigurd's impressions toward the girl can't help but to rise up a little, he tried to move out of their makeshift bed, but the grip that the little girl had on him was too great, so in the end he can only squirm helplessly beside the sleeping girl.
"Ah! You're awake! Great!"
The little white haired girl also woke up soon due to the movement that she felt coming from her arms, and upon seeing that Sigurd was awake, and noticeably having a better complexion than before, a happy smile bloomed on her face.
"Don't you think my body stinks?"
Seeing her bright smile, Sigurd asked with confusion, frown marred his face.
This new body of his has not been cleaned for an unknown amount of time. When Sigurd just crossed over to this cold land, he almost died due to the smell that came out from his own body, and the little girl beside him hugged Sigurd with all of her might all night.
The little girl wrinkled her nose in distaste and said with a look of disgust clear on her face:
"Of course it smells really stinks! But there is no way, I can't just watch you freeze to death, after all, you gave me your bread"
"Okay, thank you, because of you, I'm still alive." Began Sigurd. "But! don't do this kind of thing with boys next time. In theory, only your future husband is eligible to sleep with you."
He would continue on his rebuke, but a sad knowledge made itself known to the man. 'Wait, no, that's not right either. It seems that in the modern world, both man and woman are feasting at each other flesh every now and then, and those who pay attention to their purity and innocence are the minority'
'Should this girl be an adult, I would have no right to tell her off, but since we are both children now, it is better not to learn bad things so early in life.'
While Sigurd was busy thinking deeply about the topic of morality and childhood innocence, the little white haired ball beside him tilted her head cutely and asked. "Husband? What is a husband? Can you eat it?"
"Yes and no, you will understand about it in the future. If there is a chance, I will help you find the most suitable one for you in the future."
The kind of husband Sigurd had in mind for this little girl was someone who is bright in both their heart and mind, something that while quite rare in the world, it's plenty enough to be easy to find.
One of the reasons why a husband with a bright mind is a must was because this little girl doesn't seem to be very smart.
"Hey! What do you mean not very smart? I'm very smart!"
Huh, did he just say it out loud?
"Yes!"
". . . .Okay then, I believe you."
After having such a conversation, the two then packed up their clothes. Although, on Sigurd's side, there is nothing to clean up since the only 'cloth' that he has since his arrival was the dirty rags that are hanging around his body.
After wrapping up everything, the transmigrated young man opened the paper bag, and there were two loaves of black bread in it.
There were three pieces of bread left in total. Before falling asleep last night, Sigurd secretly hid one piece of the black bread in the corner of the bridge, and that one piece of bread something that he had reserved for himself as his breakfast, while the rest, the two which are still in the bag, are something that he intentionally placed near the sleeping bag of the white haired girl.
Had the girl secretly ate the bread, Sigurd would pretend to be stupid and didn't say anything, never in a million years would he expect the white haired loli to be able to hold back her hunger.
It's both touching and worrying at the same time, her kind and honest nature make Sigurd wonder how she is even able to survive in the street for so long.
With such thought clouding his mind, Sigurd handed the paper bag to the little girl and said:
"These two black breads are for you, eat it while it's still edible."
"Eh? You are giving it to me? What about you?"
"I have more food hidden, and my body is still weak. So eating only a few in the morning is more than enough for me."
"Oh, thank you then. I will repay you later."
The white haired girl happily stuffed the hard frozen bread into her mouth, seeing that. Sigurd quickly stopped her movement and said:
"Wait, the bread is still cold, i can start a fire, it's better to eat the bread after warming it up, it's more healthy and safer for your stomach that way."
"You are right! it tastes better when it's hot, so hurry up!" Hearing his word, the girl quickly urges Sigurd the way she talks and shakes his arms make her seem as if she had become close friends with Sigurd all of a sudden, without the politeness and awkwardness that a stranger usually would have.
Sigurd sighed inwardly, squatted down, and made a fire.
More than half an hour later, with the hot water boiled in the broken earthen pot placed neatly on top of the fire, Sigurd and the white haired girl were eating the warmed black breads.
Thanks to the arrival of the girl, the cold and wet hole that he resided in right now start to have a sense of being resembling a real home, no matter how unreal and weird it sounds and look.
After finishing up the food, Sigurd patted his hand and began to talk.
"My name is Sigurd, what's yours?"
"Kiana! This lady's name is Kiana Kaslana! This is a name I'm proud of. Doesn't it sound nice?"
"So it's Kiana huh? Your name is similar to that tuna-like girl. . .. . . Hold on, Kaslana? Your full name is Kiana Kaslana?"
"Yes!" The white haired loli, or more correctly, Kiana, nodded her head complacently, and asked again with confusion: "What is a tuna?"
". . . . . . You'll find out later."
Sigurd replied lightly, swallowed and chewed the warm black bread in his hand silently, and after a while, he continued to ask calmly:
"I'm an orphan without a father or a mother. What about you? Is your parents still alive? Or are you looking for your missing father?"
"Huh? How did you know I was looking for my stinky dad?"
"What's his name? What does he look like? Does your dad have any special features? Tell me, I might have heard or seen him."
"My dad's name is Siegfried Kaslana. He is very tall and strong. He has white hair and blue eyes like me. He is a little handsome, and also, he should have a pair of pistols on him, have you ever seen him?"
Hearing the matching description, Sigurd looked up at the ceiling of the bridge, closed his eyes shut, and sighed melancholy.
It took him a while, but the next word that came out of Sigurd's mouth made the Kaslana girl in front of him let out a disappointed sigh.
"I haven't seen him."
". . . Oh . . . "
Seeing the dejected look on Kiana, Sigurd placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and said. "But if you look for him slowly, you will definitely find him sooner or later."
Hearing his word, Kiana instantly perked up, she clenched her fist and said excitedly. "That's right! People from Kaslana's family won't give up easily!"
After being lost for only a moment, Kiana immediately became full of fighting spirit and made a movement of inflating her biceps. But it didn't really work due to how her arms were thin and limp, it didn't look strong at all.
'I don't know whether to call her stupid or optimistic.'
Sigurd bit the black bread, started to think about whether it would be better to stay away from the main protagonist or not.
The Herrscher of Void that is residing inside Kiana body was strong enough that even should it only use a very minimal amount of its strength, it's already big enough to turn his thin and malnourished body into ashes.
But after thinking about it again, this silly girl didn't think he was dirty or smelly last night, and regardless of her status as a girl, the Kiana household member still chose to use her body to warm and saved his life from the cold.
"Do you have any money with you now?"
"No, I lost them."
The fact that the stupid tuna was able to say such a word with a happy and silly smile on her face, albeit with a slight sheepish look, is enough to make Sigurd cover his face, feeling a headache incoming.
*Sigh*
"Then, do you have any specific destination you want to go after this?"
"No, I just followed my intuition."
Sigurd took a deep breath, and then continued his question with a twitching eyebrow. "I'm going to be straightforward, do you have any plan for what you are going to eat next?"
"Huh? Well, the snow outside looks delicious."
Seeing her smile, Sigurd could only let out a defeated sigh, he scrunched his face, silently calculating the risk that he would gain from his next action, before deciding that it's worth it.
"Okay, I have decided, Kiana, you just follow me for the next few days. I'll take you out and teach you how to make some money."
"If you are going into the world with the intention to find someone, you must first have the means to support yourself."
"And just because i haven't met your dad, it doesn't mean that other people haven't seen him, you can also try to inquire about him in the next few days. Of course, the premise is that you have to listen to me while we are doing all of that."
As of right now, Kiana is still a little kid, so the chance of Sirin waking up was quite small, and since it's still very early in her life, Otto's gaze should not have reached Kiana yet. At least at the moment, there shouldn't be too much danger that could happen to him should he hang around Kiana.
However, Kiana seemed to have other opinions. She blinked cutely with an expression of hearing some joke, looked at Sigurd and said:
"You want to teach me how to make money? When you are living like this?"
"Shut up, listen to me! Otherwise, I would take back the bread you just ate. And I'm talking about the kind that grabs your throat and forces you to spit it out."
Sigurd's face was sullen, and he glared at Kiana with the eyes that are so cold that it could freeze hell 7 times over, something that frighten the tuna so much that she clamped her mouth shut, shrank her neck, and dared not to look at him in the eye.
------------------------------
After a while, Sigurd comes to the conclusion that the little girl named Kiana Kaslana is something that's really easy to use.
Of course, he was referring to her supernatural strength rather than anything improper.
From her movement, jumping skill, and her ability to quickly run around to do errands, she can do all of it without much hassle, her efficiency allows her to do many types of job.
To get money, Sigurd is responsible for finding business opportunities and negotiating, and Kiana is responsible for contributing, by doing so, when the day ends, not only will he earn enough money for the both of them to eat delicious meals, he will also have enough left over money to be able to purchase some necessary supplies such as tableware, sleeping bags, and clear water.
After that, Sigurd will still have a small stack of banknotes left in his hand just in case when they are in an emergency and the cash in hand was not enough, the only rubble on the road is when they met a group gangsters, but that's less of a problem and more of a chore for Kiana.
As of right now, Sigurd was walking back toward their temporary abode, which is still the bridge hole, while looking at the cash he had just pulled out of some gangster wallet. The locals called it the Singapore dollar, a currency Sigurd hadn't seen before.
But it's a currency from another world, so it's normal if he doesn't know it, as long as it's a currency that can be circulated, then even if it's in the form of a poo, it's still valuable.
"Sigurd, you are amazing! you actually made so much money!"
Kiana was walking right beside the transmigrated man, holding a few cash that Sigurd had distributed to her in her hand, bouncing around with joy, Sigurd would have some words for her, mostly about the danger of not paying attention when walking, but he let it be, since this is most likely the first time she has made money by herself, she most likely felt that it's very novel and has a sense of accomplishment.
Sigurd glanced at her for a moment, but didn't say anything.
In fact, without Kiana's monstrous physique, the money that they gain wouldn't be around half as much as what they have right now, and even if they do gain the same amount as of now, all of it it would most likely be robbed from their hand by the gangster that they met previously.
Not long after that, they finally arrived at their temporary abode, Sigurd unloaded all of the things that they had brought back, and with skillful hands, he quickly built a simple shower room and a shelter that was strong enough to keep out the cold wind, just so that they can sleep without worrying about freezing to death.
After that, he quickly prepares the warm water, so that when they take a bath, they won't freeze to death.
When the water is already warm, Sigurd disrobe his clothing and start to wash himself using some of the things that he had previously bought with Kiana, and that's exactly when he heard the excited sound of the tuna.
"Woohoo! Sigurd! I'm coming in!"
"It's not your turn yet!"
Facing the little white tuna in front of him who tried to take a shower together, the corners of Sigurd's eyes twitched.
In his heart, Sigurd silently let out a long list of deadly curses to Siegfried, making a girl think it's okay to squeeze in without a piece of clothing while boys are taking a shower. What kind of thing did he teach her for the girl to end up like that?
"It doesn't matter, we would be able to save up more water if we wash together, and it would also take less time! so don't dawdle, if you don't wash quickly, the warm water will run out."
"..."
"You- *Sigh*. . . . fine, come here."
After getting his consent, the little tuna immediately leaped into the shower with a giggle.
"Ah! Be gentle, Sigurd, it's felt itchy~"
"So what if it's itchy? So long as it doesn't hurt, just bear with it, also, stop moving around."
"Hn~ it felt so good~"
"...It's just washing your hair, don't say such misleading lines! Doesn't it feel uncomfortable to have someone else washing your hair?"
"Not at all! is this the first time Sigurd has washed someone's hair?"
"Yeah. . It's my first time helping someone wash their hair."
"No wonder, it doesn't feel very comfortable."
"Stop rambling, I'm going to flush the shampoo out of your hair, don't open your eyes, the water will get into your eyes."
"Ah!"
The hot water that is being showered to her from the top till the bottom rinsed off the white foam on Kiana's head, and at the same time Sigurd's hands were still scrubbing and rubbing between the Kaslana girl hair to make sure there is no more shampoo ingredients left in it.
After washing the troublesome long hair of Kiana, their bath is almost finished, since it only took him a moment to clean himself up.
Soon, two clean, wet white hair balls put on clean new clothes that were just recently bought. After that, one of the white balls sat on the bed while the other one sat on a small wooden chair.
The howling sound from the cold wind and snow were completely blocked out, and an oil lamp radiated a soft and warm light.
Sigurd sat behind Kiana, holding a still pristine towel and drying her wet hair, while Kiana's short legs were placed outside the bed, swinging around leisurely.
"Kiana, didn't your father teach you not to be naked in front of boys?" Sigurd said suddenly as he rubbed Kiana's hair with the dry towel.
Kiana paused on swinging her legs when she heard that, with a roll of her eyes, she said. "I think he does! I'll try to remember about it next time, hehe!"
"Do you still want to have a next time?"
Sigurd's face sank, he covered Kiana's small head with the dry towel, his hands formed into fists, each protruding knuckles, aimed his knuckles on the both side of Kiana's temples and drilled it, he didn't use much force, just so there would be no real wound left behind.
"Ouch! It hurts!"
"This! Will! Engrave! It! To! Your! Brain!!!"
Sigurd spoke word by word, trying to do his part to protect the stupid Tuna's future boudoir and chastity.
"I know! Let go, I was wrong, didn't I already say I was wrong!?"
"If you know you're wrong, you have to remember it!"
"Yes! Yes! I listen to you, I listen!!"
Sigurd kept drilling the silly tuna temple for a few moments, and after that, he lifted the towel from her head and let go of the Kaslana girl.
After making sure there were no bruise on her, Sigurd dried his hair using the towel and then said:
"I'm done drying your hair, since we didn't have a hair drier, you would need to let your hair dry naturally."
"M'Kay. . . ."
Kiana responded weakly.
In fact, Sigurd is very careful with his 'punishment', so Kiana didn't really feel any pain when he drill her temple, at most it's just a feeling of discomfort, However, Kiana still puffed up her face like a pufferfish unhappily, and then, seeing Sigurd's dead fish eyes that shining fiercely are intently staring at her, the protagonist of the world immediately lost her confidence.
It's so weird! Sigurd is obviously way weaker than the Honkai Beast that she beat up some times ago, Kiana is also 100% confident of her chance on bullying Sigurd to the ground using nothing but a finger so hard that he can do nothing but simply lay down on the ground.
However, the moment Sigurd got angry, the Kaslana girl lost all of her confidence. Seeing someone that is usually quiet become angry was so scary!
Then again, despite being a scary person, she would admit that the white haired young kid is a really reliable person.
At the end of the day, Kiana felt that Sigurd seemed to know everything, he could find opportunities to make money casually, and he could communicate with anyone -even the adults!- with ease. The same goes for those complicated tasks that she has never been in contact with, as long as she obeys Sigurd's instructions, she will be able to complete them perfectly without knowing it.
If her daddy could be at least a tenth as reliable as Sigurd, no, one-twentieth, she wouldn't have to worry about him so much.
"Achoo!!"
A dozen kilometers away, a white-haired man suddenly sneezed.
Siegfried, who was wearing thin clothes, thin enough that it leave his bare-chest open, stood in the middle of a forest seemingly made from ice and snow, while slowly eating frozen water and snow that he got from the trees near him while rubbing his nose suspiciously:
"Strange? Did I catch a cold?"
"Hold on, can i even catch a cold?"
Siegfried scratched his head in doubt, after a while, he shook his head and continued to eat the snowflake.
----------------------
"Woohoo! Big soft bed! here I come!"
When her hair was almost dry, Kiana immediately jumped out of the bed, took a few steps back, then started running toward their bed. When she was near it, she started to swoop, intending to experience the feeling of falling and being bounced up on top of the bed.
The speed that she does all of this was too fast for a normal kid to react to, but Sigurd was not a normal kid by any mean, because of that, Sigurd, who was still sitting on the bed, sharpened his eyes, using nothing but his hand to support his body, the transmigrated young man swept his leg using all of his strength.
*Boom!*
"Ugh!"
A second later, Kiana hugged her severely injured abdomen, curled up on the bed like a shrimp, and let out gasps of pain as she turned her body left and right.
Then, a foot lightly stepped on her waist.
"The bed is not that firm, it would break if you jumped on it, if that happens, I won't be able to sleep peacefully, understand?"
Sigurd leaned over, lowered his head to look directly into the little loli eyes, and a cold light flashed in his eyes—like a dictator who would pull out a machine gun should the subject dared to say no.
Kiana shuddered and nodded tearfully.
After that, Sigurd turned off the lights and got inside the bed, it took her a while, but Kiana also got to the bed, laying down right beside the transmigrated man.
It's not very decent to have boy and girl take a bath together while being naked, but when it comes to two children sleeping in the same bed to protect themself from the cold, Sigurd is not so prude as to call it indecent
It's definitely not because he felt cold and wanted to rely on Kiana's heat to ensure the quality of his sleep.
Not at all
--------------
When the light started to shine on the next morning, Sigurd woke up with the feeling of suffocation pressing on him.
When he looked around to see the source of his pain, he noticed that the little loli had put him on a standard, back-to-front hook-arm chokehold.
It only took him a short moment to regain his bearing, Sigurd quickly grabbed Kiana's wrist, backhanded the little loli, folded her arms behind her back and quickly suppressed the protagonist of the story.
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
The little loli tragic cry of pain was loud enough that it knocked off some snow from the tree outside the bridge hole.
Twenty minutes later, Kiana was crouching in a corner, chewing some recently heated bread and glaring at Sigurd with tears of condemnation. In her heart, she secretly vowed to always remember this grudge for the rest of her life.
"Do you want some soup?"
"I want to!!"
Kiana took the hot broth from Sigurd's hand and drank it with a happy smile blooming on her face, her lifetime grudge gone forgotten in front of the delicious soup.
"So, how do you want to make money today?"
Kiana, who was no longer angry and holding a grudge, took the initiative to sit close to Sigurd and asked with a smile.
Sigurd drank the soup leisurely, glanced at her, and said:
"Selling charcoal."
"Charcoal?"
"This is just a poor small town. It is impossible to have so many temporary entrustments to make us make money. When we came down yesterday, we had already harvested all that could be harvested. If we continue, there will not be much that could be harvested. We need a stable demand. According to the result of the secret observation that I conducted yesterday, charcoal is a high in demand commodity that most civilians of this town are highly in need of, either due to warm their house, make their food, or other etcetera reason, and this town ability to obtain external supply of charcoal has been cut off due to unforeseen reason for an unknown period of time, hence, i can come to a conclusion that selling charcoal to this town civilians, and it is unfortunately also the only viable processed product we can produce at our current capability."
". . . Oh."
Hearing his long words full of detailed explanation, the only thing that kiana can said was 'oh', so what if she can only understand the first part of his sentence, she knew that as long as she listen and obey Sigurd word, she could make so much more money and able to eat until her belly are full.
Not long after that, while carrying a huge package on her back, she followed Sigurd into the forest one step at a time.
"Hah...Hah...Hah..."
Kiana gradually panted heavily, and wisps of white steam emerged from the top of her head.
"Sigurd, help me carry it a little bit, it's so heavy!"
Sigurd, who was walking ahead, stopped, waited for Kiana to come to him, and then took two water bottles from the pouch of the bag.
Sigurd popped open of the battle, and then put a straw into the bottle and waved the bottle to Kiana.
"Here, take a sip."
Kiana looked at Sigurd blankly, opened her mouth, and let Sigurd pass the straw in.
"Mmm... It's sweet, delicious."
"This is a sports drink, it's sweetened, high-energy, just take a sip of this when you feel tired."
After saying that, Sigurd started to turn his body away, intending to continue walking in the front.
Kiana suddenly became anxious and grasped the edge of Sigurd clothing with her tiny hand and said:
"Hey! Wait, did you really just take a single water bottle? Look at the bag behind my back, it's almost triple my height!"
"I will give you the bigger share of the money that we got from today's charcoal sell."
"It's not about the money!"
"I'll make you something delicious tonight."
"Leave all of the physical work to me!"
Kiana cheered up, passed Sigurd by a few steps, and walked to the front with some hop in her step.
"Sigurd! Hurry up! Let's quickly sell all of this and go back! I can't wait to see what food you would cook for me!"
"..."
------------------------
Being able to turn wood into charcoal in the middle of a land filled to the brim with snow requires not so small amounts of skill.
When someone burns charcoal in that kind of situation, the topography, the shading, the moisture insulation, and what kind of woods that are being used to turn into the charcoal is something that needs the skills and expertise of a professional.
Sigurd is a professional.
It's not that he had any experience in making charcoal in his previous life, but his inhuman understanding and learning ability allowed him to integrate a complete set of theoretical methods through some basic information gathering and thinking.
Along the way, both of them are fortunate enough to found a small shallow cave.
For the matter of how to gather the woods, just by relying on some chainsaws he had previously bought, combined with some sled boards and Kiana's enhanced strength, the wood gathering can be done in only half a day.
Everything went well, exactly as Sigurd had predicted, except for...
"Uaa~, It's so warm here, Sigurd! let's sleep here tonight!"
The thick soil layer buries the burning wood underground and isolates the air, but it still can't stop the heat from penetrating upwards.
Therefore, on the fresh soil, there is an endless stream of heat coming upward, heating everything that is on top of it.
Kiana put her hands on the warm soil, her cat-like face showed a fascinated look.
Just like what she had said, feeling the heat coming from the soil, the Kaslana girl was reluctant to leave, and even planned to spend the night in this warm place.
"Sure."
After saying so, Sigurd then raised the shovel in his hand high, the dull part of the shovel aimed at the back of the little girl's head.
Kiana: Σ(っ°Д°)っ "Wait a minute! What are you doing?"
Sigurd stopped his arm from swinging the shovel, with a smile on his face, he said: "Don't you want to sleep here? Here, let me help."
The gloomy tone, the cold and horrifying dead eyes, and the strange arc of Sigurd's mouth raised, this scene is like a scene coming straight up from a horror movie that Kiana once saw when she passed by a cinema.
'No! This is no way to help! This is to make the lovely Miss Kiana unable to sleep for a long time on the spot!'
"No need! let's go back home now!"
"Don't you want to sleep here?"
"Not at all! I feel refreshed now! And the bed at home is more comfortable than this thick ground!"
Kiana nodded her head vigorously to show her sincerity, her eyes were sincere.
Sigurd kept the shovel high in the air for a few more second, after seeing her sincere eyes that are definitely not filled with fear, Sigurd put the shovel down, and the air around them suddenly became alive, and the atmosphere suddenly changed, just like an ominous black and white posthumous photo suddenly became brighter and turned into a selfie filled with a photo of a smiling best friends.
Feeling the danger has come to pass, Kiana patted her undeveloped chest and muttered. "If you don't want to sleep here, just say it, why are you trying to send me to another world."
When he heard the whisper of the little loli, Sigurd rolled his eyes unobtrusively.
Just like what most would know, Kiana Kaslana is often, almost always restless, like to jump around, and is a too energetic little kid—essentially, this little girl's body is filled with a soul similar to that of a husky.
If he didn't stop Kiana using a strong deterrent, the chance of him being able to hold back such a lively soul from doing something dangerous or stupid would be really slim.
In addition, the appearance of the stupid tuna tearing up from fright was surprisingly cute.
Hence, Sigurd couldn't help stretching out his hand and rubbing the top of Kiana's head, receiving a silly and cute looking glare from the Kaslana girl.
"Let's go back."
"We are going now?"
"We need to wait around 4 more days before we can take out the charcoal, furthermore, to be able to gain more charcoal, in the next few days, we will make a new charcoal pit every day."
"Then, what shall we do this afternoon?"
Under Kiana's expectant eyes, Sigurd thought for a while and said:
"Go and find out about your father yourself. For me, I'm going to make some preparations for the charcoal market and collect some more in-depth news by the way."
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about my stinky dad, hehe!"
'How could you forget! That's your real dad... Wait, he's not your real dad in a way, I guess it's okay then.'
Thinking of Kiana's complicated background, Sigurd sighed, secretly thinking about treating her less harshly in the future, since he already has a hunch that her life in the far future would be far from easy.
-----------------------
After doing some information gathering from the locals, Sigurd knew that the name of the town they are in is Mond, It is located in the border area between Europe and the Country of Mols. During the wars in the early years, its ownership was once reduced and switched among the surrounding countries, one country per day.
Because of the lack of capable personnel in the city management, the complex terrain of the city, the closed traffic, and the lack of valuable resources that are available, the city of Mond has always been poor.
In recent years, capable locals have continued to migrate to outside of the city, taking away a lot of manpower which are mainly responsible for making some local food and beverage, and due to that, the livelihood of the people in Mond has gotten even worse.
However, due to how it's a closed, backward, and chaotic city, the city of Mond have become the perfect venue for some shady transactions.
"Where's the money?"
"What about the goods?"
"When the money arrives, we will show the goods!"
"When we see the goods, the money will arrive!"
Next door, in the attic. Sigurd, who heard the conversation clearly with the thin wire microphone made of earth, rolled his eyes.
'There is really no need to go wilds at each other when trading some drugs right?''
Yesterday, just right after letting Kiana loose to the group of gangsters that are trying to rob them, Sigurd wondered, how can such a poor and backwater place like Mond support a bunch of bums like them?
Then through some investigation, the transmigrated young man was somehow able to find the headquarter of the gang that the gangster he met yesterday were a part of.
He was just wandering around the town, looking for people that had their machines broken, offering the service to fix them in exchange for some money. Who would have thought that he would gain some unexpected benefit?
Of course, he didn't really plan to go fighting against them, he is not the type of person who voluntarily searches for trouble, he is there just to see if the gangster had any bad ideas against him and Kiana thanks to what they had done to them yesterday.
And should they plan to attack them, Sigurd needs to gather some more data and information about their combat capability, things such as the number of people and what kind of weapon they have and are willing to use, so that he can make some decent counter attack plan or escape plan.
Moreover, Sigurd also wanted to see what the financial situation behind this group of gangsters was, and then, if he got the chance, he might be able to make a lot of money by either stealing their money under their nose or taking over the organization all together.
It's both illegal and dangerous, but just as everyone knows, ever since ancient times, the first pot of gold of those who achieve great things is tainted by the dark side of the world.
Despite possessing enhanced comprehension ability and intellect, and having the ability to quickly obtain a large amount of money as long as he has some amount of fund to start with, Sigurd has no backer in this world, hence, to be able to start to live well in this world, he would need to find a way to obtain a large amount of capital, and due to still being a kid -a homeless bum kid at that- looking for investor and the likes are impossible.
If his original body also got crossed over with him, he would make sure to stay away from illegal stuff like this, since not only is gaining money from illegal things like this a bad thing to do, it's also near impossible and more likely than not to cause him death.
-------------------
"Oho! So this is the goods eh? To think you would hide it like that!"
"It's easier to carry around, it's also stealthy enough that no police got the slightest suspicion about it."
"Now, are you satisfied with the goods?"
"We have cooperated so many times before so i know i can trust you about the quality of this thing, by the way, what's the matter with your men? Why are you all alone?"
"It's because they drank too much a few days ago, they went out yesterday and got into some trouble with a local whom I heard is a rather pretty girl, one reason and another, they were hurt pretty badly, so they were resting right now."
"Do you need some help?"
"No, I have arranged everything. There's a rich old lady in Siberia who likes to play around with that feisty girl type, and we are planning to make another collaboration with her, so we are planning to hand her over as a gift."
"Haha, so be it then, you better be careful though. The population of this town is not large, and should there be unexplained disappearances, it would be very conspicuous."
"I had looked deeper into them, they are merely two homeless orphans, even if they got kidnapped in broad daylight, no one will care."
"As long as you know what you are doing."
-----------------
"Um!?"
Sigurd was in awe, and stepped back from the place where he watched their interaction tactically.
'Dear lord, I didn't even have any plan against you nor your gang, and yet you already have started to prepare to package Kiana as a gift for some lady. If I let all of you be, I won't be human anymore!'
He kept listening to all of their conversation, up till they start to part ways when they finished eating their meals, after making sure no one is nearby, Sigurd quickly recalled the conversation that he had just heard, and analyzed all of them calmly and in the end, he gained some useful conclusions:
There are two groups of people, both of them are not from the same organizations, rather, they are merely doing drugs trading business, with a total of eleven people, each one of them combat ready, inside the building.
There are at least seven people who got counter robbed by him and Kiana yesterday, and from the sound of it, all of them are locals, while the rest are members of another group who had just arrived in Mond, they can be called outsiders.
As it was getting late and the snowy roads were a road that's really difficult to walk in, the local gangsters had to stay inside the building and entertain the outsiders as from the look of it, they were planning to spend the night at that building.
Based on all of that information, Sigurd can safely assume that the local gangster would at least need to wait until tomorrow to start their search for him and Kiana's whereabouts.
Considering that the content of the transaction is some kind of addictive drug, it's safer to assume that all members of the gangs carry some kind of firearms with them to protect their goods from the hands of other gangs.
The firearms that the local gangsters use should have a small chance of being enhanced and manufactured with Honkai Energy, otherwise Kiana wouldn't have easily knocked their ass down yesterday.
'Guess this leave me with no choice, killing them tonight is the only option'
Sigurd thought this to himself, after making sure there are no gangsters near where he is, the transmigrated young man climbed down from the attic, and left the house quietly.
From the very beginning to the end, even the gang leader who owns the building not even once notice the presence of Sigurd.
After leaving the building, the first thing that Sigurd does is to clean up the place where he had watched and heard the gangster conversation, to make sure there would be no trace left of his existence in that place.
When he is completely sure that everything is clean, Sigurd then runs head straight to the hardware store on the west side of the town.
Not to buy anything, rather, after some information gathering, he is aware that the owner of the hardware store also does some hunting to fulfill his family's belly, hence, the owner's house is filled with weapons such as hunting rifles, crossbow bolts, slingshots and hunting pliers.
Due to the factors of confidentiality and insufficient money, Sigurd reluctantly decided to steal the owner's weapon rather than buy them from him, of course, after making sure that the immediate threat to both him and Kiana are gone, he would pay back the owner of the hardware store triple the amount of money that is needed to buy the weapon.
After arriving at the owner's house, Sigurd waited patiently, and when he saw the boss leave his house, he directly went inside the owner's house. After a few minutes of rummaging through the house, the figure of Sigurd carrying a small bag quietly leaves the owner's house.
------------------
"Well, Uncle, have you met my dad? He is tall, has white hair and blue eyes like me, and his name is Siegfried Kas... Kasl, um, Kaslana! Yes! Siegfried Kaslana!"
Kiana was lying on the counter of a grocery store, asking the owner of the grocery store about whatever he knew any information about her missing father, but her eyes were attracted by the seductive snacks under the glass counter, to the point where she almost forgot the name of her old man.
Fortunately, Siegfried's weight in her heart was a little bit higher than that of ordinary delicious food, so she was still able to remember her old man name.
Even so, before the owner of the grocery store was able to reply, Kiana had already slapped some cash into the counter.
The boss looked at the cash on the table and replied:
"I haven't seen him, nor heard of him. There are not many people who live in this town. If I haven't even heard of him, he most likely has never been in this town... So, which flavor do you want?"
"This, this, and this and this, Oh, this one too, alongside that one."
Kiana pointed to each of the delicious looking snacks that she wanted to eat through the glass, and gulped heavily.
The boss picked every snack that the little lady chose and put them in the bag, after packaging it nicely, he then said.
"I take it you lost your dad? Then I suggest you go to the police. See that light pole? Go that way, turn right at the second intersection, and you will reach the police station at the end."
Although, considering how many crimes are happening at the dark side of the town, those policemens were useless, nothing more than a display.
Thinking of this, the grocery store owner shook his head and said:
"Forget what I just said, I suggest you leave this city as soon as possible and go out of town to your other relatives to find more help. Also, in any case, stay away from that house over there, because the people living in it are the bad kind of people."
While saying so, the boss pointed to the house that Sigurd had monitored before, and sighed helplessly.
Kiana blinked, took the bag of snacks from the hand of the grocery store owner, and then thanked the man and then left.
"What's the use of the police? They'll always try to send me to an orphanage. Really, I told them that my stinky dad is not dead, but just lost! Stinky dad, where are you.."
Kiana muttered, the more she thought about her current circumstance, the angrier she became, and she couldn't help but shove the snacks into her mouth, immediately after that, her good mood immediately returned.
The Kaslana girl was happily munching on the snacks that she bought when at this time, a hand suddenly grabbed onto Kiana's shoulder from behind.
"I remember once telling you that those money are your future travel expenses right?"
Sigurd's faint voice came from behind, the way his voice was super calm made chills travel through Kiana's spine.
"Yes! Eeehh.. But- but so what! I will earn more money in the future!"
Kiana pretended to be calm and whistled innocently, her little head turned to the side, not daring to meet the chilling gaze of the transmigrated man at all.
Sigurd kept staring at Kiana for a few seconds, making the little girls start to sweat bullets, when she started to think about apologizing to the other boy, Sigurd let out a deep sigh, he then said.
"Forget it. Come with me, I'm going to do some serious business."
"Eh?"
Kiana turned her head to her friend, only to see Sigurd carrying a bulging package with a serious expression on his face.
"What serious business? Have you found a way to make money again?"
When she thought about the amount of money that they made yesterday, Kiana's eyes already started to glow in anticipation.
Sigurd didn't turn his head toward Kiana, instead, he started to walk in a certain direction without looking back, making the little girl follow right behind him.
After a while, Sigurd tilted his head to the side, his mind start to calculate the gain and loss on what he is about to do, Kiana kept her mouth shut, despite being only living with him for a single day, she already start to notice the tick that Sigurd tend to show when he is thinking something deeply.
"A way to make money? You are not wrong. If we are able to do it properly, we should at least gain around 20 times the amount of money from yesterday. By the way, Kiana, let me ask you first, can you physically resist bullets?"
"Of course not! How can humans block bullets?"
After saying so, Kiana didn't forget to send Sigurd a look that screamed 'are you an idiot?' on her face.
Sigurd glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, his mouth is shut, but his mind is processing all kinds of new information and is thinking about their situation very carefully.
The fact that the white haired loli beside him is secretly the Herrscher of Void made him doubt her statement of being unable to block bullets, but after some thinking, the possibility of that being true was not that small, since despite her true nature, she is still at most 12 years old right now, so it's quite normal to be weak.
"Then listen up, I'm going to make a plan, you need to follow all of my orders to the letter, and no matter what happens, you need to stay calm."
"What kind of business is this? It's the first time I see you being this serious."
"No need to think too much, but you need to remember to follow my order to the letter, otherwise, while you might be fine, my life would be in danger."
"Ha?"
"I'm going to simplify it for you, if you don't want to see me hurt, or possibly, dead, just be obedient and listen to me. Kiana Kaslana, daughter of Siegfried Kaslana, my safety is now entrusted to you."
Under Sigurd's serious eyes, Kiana's entire body froze for a moment, her brain tried to understand his word, after a moment, Kiana then nodded slowly.
"Although I don't know what's going on, but I understand, I swear in Kaslana's name, as long as I am here, no one will lay their hands on you!"
Kiana patted her chest while saying so, her standing figure is looking firm and her face is confident.
Although their time of acquaintance was very short, and although Sigurd always made her feel very scared when he became angry, and even if the kid in front of her dared to withhold her part of the money they make, Sigurd was undeniably a good person.
Kiana doesn't know much yet about the outside world, and since she is still a kid as of right now, now she doesn't even have the experience of traveling through Europe alone like how most fanfiction tend to give her, so it can be said that the current her right now is the version of Kiana who are the most innocent and trusting.
Moreover, despite not knowing why, Kiana can instinctively know that Sigurd really cared about her, possibly more than her own stinky dad.
And apart from her stinky daddy, Sigurd is the only person in the world that Kiana knows who treats her well.
Hence, she felt that no matter what he said or did, she could simply leave the thinking to Sigurd and do all of his orders.
After night fell, Sigurd and Kiana lay down on a slope, and in front of them were the houses of those dangerous gangsters. The snow-covered soil slope became a natural shelter for them against both the cold wind and the vigilant stares of the watching gangster who are guarding the front door, saving Sigurd from the trouble of piling up sandbags.
"Sigurd, what are we doing here?"
"Killing everyone inside that building."
"Huh? Are you going to kill someone? Are you crazy?"
"Inside that building are the little gangsters who were robbed by you yesterday, no, it should be said that they are all a group of desperadoes. And we are being targeted by them. My first idea was to run away, but they have a car, but we don't have a suitable means of transportation, combined without lack of information about the nearest shelter, and the lack of information on how big the influence of those gang are, so our chance of being caught by them are higher, since we can't escape, our only chance of making it through the night is by sending them off first."
Sigurd explained the reasoning behind his soon-to-be manslaughter briefly, and at the same time checked whether the bullets for the shotgun in his hand were enough, he also made sure to check whatever the crossbow and other weapons were fully loaded.
"This..." Kiana, the kind hearted soul she is, still hesitated even when faced with the cold truth, she fell silent for a short moment before speaking up: "How about we steal their car? I still think it's too dangerous."
In fact, Kiana is not afraid of danger, being brave and reckless is occupying a large part of her nature, what Kiana uncomfortable the most about what Sigurd said was the killing part, especially the part where Sigurd was able to say all of his plan with an overly calm expression.
Sigurd was obviously a child who was only eleven or twelve years old, the same as her, and he didn't even dare to eat more bread, for fear of breaking his stomach. He can't see anything when his surroundings get dark, and his body would always shiver in cold when he's asleep ——Sigurd, who is obviously like this, is fiddling with a shotgun and saying that he is going to kill a lot of people.
She always felt that this is not right, the Sigurd that she knew shouldn't be like this, but, she didn't know what kind of life that Sigurd has experienced to make him become like this, so she can't say anything.
"Crack!"
That's the sound of the shotgun fully loaded.
Sigurd straightened his collar, let out a breath of hot air, and said:
"Kiana, I think you should know that you are not an ordinary person. And your future is far more difficult than you could ever have imagined, it would be better for you to learn to be ruthless from now on. I think this will help you."
"Sigurd, I don't want to learn, let's leave quietly, and call the police later!"
Kiana couldn't understand Sigurd's meaningful words, she just used the word "call the police" despite not trusting them at all herself, just so she can try to persuade Sigurd.
Sigurd turned his head away from Kiana and just looked up, looked at the sky that was close to midnight, and said:
"Of course I can escape, and if I want, I can make sure they can't find me, but I refuse."
"Why?"
"Because like you, in order to survive in this cruel world, I also have to adapt to some things. You don't need to participate in the killing, but my eyesight will become extremely poor after dark. Without you backing me up in there, the danger would be greater, so, choose, do you help me or leave?"
"I. . . "
Kiana stammered for a long time, then chose to compromise in frustration, she seemed to have no other choice, how could she let Sigurd face a dangerous thing alone!
She was still only twelve or thirteen years old when her only relative, her stinky dad, left her behind. At this time, Kiana was in a period when her Three Views were not yet stable. As long as he forced something through her stupid head, there was still time to make some change in her personality.
If in a few more years, when she has gone through some journeys and Siegfried's influence of abandoning her alone is completely fixed in her mind, Kiana will inevitably become the original tuna who are naughty, kind, and innocent —and then after going through many victory and lost, she became the hero of the story with so many tragic plot happening around her to the point where it made many people want to kill the screenwriter.
Compared with that kind of future, Sigurd would rather she was not so pure and kind.
To live without the pain of losing someone dear to you, even if you end up becoming the opposite of what you originally are, this is Sigurd's only expectation and hope for Kiana at the present.
<+>
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Honkai: Strijder (Honkai Impact 3 Male MC)
FanfictionWhat can a single man do in the world of Honkai? Save it, that's what. =================== Update once every two days
