Lilia's Tale

Chapter 11: Inn

As I left the building, I thought it would be important that I looked around town to know where I was, even with my very limited knowledge. I could still remember roughly what the buildings were like, and the place where I was looked quite similar. I wandered around in order to try and find that central hub that the town I was in before had, but had no success. As I was searching, a couple stopped before me.

"Are you lost, little girl?"

"I mean. Can't say I'm not, but it's fine, I'll find my way, thank you."

I dodged them and continued my path. Having been called little girl irritated me, but I didn't want to think too much about it. Such event happened multiple times, until it was night. I didn't find the central hub yet, and I didn't want to be taken for a homeless person, so I decided to look for it another way. I climbed up on the rooftops to check my surroundings. From what it seemed, I wasn't in the same town, as there was no central hub. Instead, there was a very large dock with a large array of boats, filled with boxes.

As I was inspecting the place, I heard voices coming from below. I checked what was happening, and saw a large group of people looking at me. From what I could understand, they were talking about making me go down. Some of the women were also calling the boys pervert for reasons I could not understand. I thought about it for a short moment, and realized that a short girl being on rooftops is probably not a good idea. I decided to go down, but at that moment multiple armed people were arriving onto the scene. I simply jumped off the roof onto the street, not having any trouble landing.

My arrival produced a characteristic harsh landing sound, despite me not having any problems with the landing. The crowd had stayed a bit further ahead, and the guard made their way through.

"What is happening here?" one of them shouted.

"This girl was on the roof and just jumped down!" replied one of the women in the audience.

The guards looked at me, confused.

"Is what the person said true?"

"I don't know where I am, so I wanted to look around, that is all."

They looked at me even more confused than ever.

"Could you perhaps be the small girl that people have reported being lost?"

"Don't know. Probably," I replied, irritated.

"You are in Terra, the merchant capital of the Glaucia kingdom. Who are you?"

"Merchant capital? That explains the large dock. I am Lilia, and I was in some kind of hospital in here."

"Hospital? What is that."

"Eh...Health-care facility, I think is how it was called."

"Oh, do you mean the Recovery Institute?"

"I don't know its name, sorry. I was there for a couple months and never bothered to ask for the name of the place."

"It's whatever," said one of the guards. "Do you have any family here that can take you in?"

"I don't. He is on trial."

"On trial?"

The guards looked at each other and whispered to each other.

"Could you be the daughter of Master Kouji?"

Upon hearing this name, the entirety of the crowd started whispering to each other. I could for the most part make out what they were saying, but I didn't pay it much attention.

"Yes. Did he say anything about it?"

"No, but he did mention his adoptive daughter in the trial."