Osian felt the texture of the pouch in his hand. It was so natural that he unconsciously accepted it. He wasn't unaware of what kind of misunderstanding this scene might cause to others.
"This bastard!"
"You were the pimp!"
As expected, this kind of misunderstanding was inevitable. Osian opened his mouth to say it was a misunderstanding, then decided against it.
He had seen this child for the first time today, and though he didn't know how she had figured it out, she knew he was a fixer and had handed him a request. He didn't have the leisure to make these words stick in the ears of opponents heated with anger, nor did he want to.
"Come at me."
What came out in the end was a provocation that was even bland. They rushed at Osian as soon as they heard those words. Though it seemed like they would have rushed at him even if he hadn't said it anyway.
Osian moved.
Thwack!
"There won't be any major aftereffects."
Osian said this while staring at the child who had thrown him the money pouch. She wore a hat pressed down on her head and was dressed in clothes convenient for moving around. There were coal stains here and there.
He thought she might run away, but the kid had waited quietly with her back against the wall until Osian subdued those men.
"I'll acknowledge your courage at least, kid."
"I'm not a kid. I have a name called Gray."
"A fake name then. Who in the world would give their child such a name?"
At those words, the child's eyes widened.
"Wow. You're really smart. I thought I said it quite naturally."
"You knew I was a fixer. How did you know?"
"Well, you can tell by looking at someone's gait."
"Gait?"
"Anyone could see there was no wavering. At first I thought you might be a guard. If not that, then someone sent from the city. But when I made eye contact up close, I got a feeling. How should I put it, you fit well with the surroundings. Most fixers were like that."
Osian was about to ask if she had figured it out from just that, then stopped. Whatever it was, this child had chosen the correct answer and made an excellent choice that would allow her to escape safely on the spot.
"Take it."
Osian threw the pouch back to the child. Just as her reaction speed had seemed unusual from their first meeting, even though he threw it suddenly, the child caught it well.
"What? You're giving it back?"
"You probably pocketed the contents while running away anyway. What's inside would be petty cash."
"Wow. You figured that out too? I didn't realize it, but you must be a really tremendously skilled person."
"You'd better not think about picking my pocket."
At Osian's warning, the child raised both hands.
"Don't worry. I have an eye for people too. I know well enough that someone like you should absolutely never be touched."
"You have good instincts for a pickpocket."
"Rather, you need good instincts to be able to do this work. And while I do petty thievery, I'm not that bad a person. Those guys lying over there are originally bad thugs who rob money from people around here."
Osian looked at the men he had knocked down. Well, from their first meeting their appearance was unusual and the way they rushed to hit him looked familiar, as if they had done this kind of thing more than once or twice.
"So because you robbed thugs' money, you're saying you're virtuous?"
"Does the world divide so easily into good and evil? I'm just saying I have things to say for myself too. Though I may look like this, I'm old enough to know what I need to know."
"No matter how I look at you, you only look 10 years old."
"That's rude. Though I may look like this, I'm 13 years old."
At the sight of the child speaking confidently with her chest puffed out, Osian let out an exclamation of admiration. Normally he would feel annoyed at being dragged into an incident like this, but perhaps because this spirited appearance suited her, he didn't feel particularly bad about it.
Moreover, what she said about not easily dividing good and evil was also like that. Words you couldn't hear from children her age. Was this maturity due to the environment she had lived in?
"Are you from District 44?"
"I didn't want to live in this shithole either."
What a pretty way of speaking.
"Then you must know well about the geography and atmosphere of this place."
"Of course I know well. It's a dog-like place, but it's also where I live. I'm confident that no one knows as much as I do."
"Then have you perhaps heard about the Liberation Army?"
Wariness immediately appeared in the kid's eyes.
"What? Mister, you're not from the city government, are you? No, that can't be."
"I told you. I'm a fixer. And there must be many people here who came looking for the Liberation Army."
"The feeling is different. I can tell just by looking, you could say. If other people came because they wanted something, you're... how should I put it... hunting?"
Hunting. That might not be entirely wrong. Depending on the situation, it could be something even worse than that. More than that, "mister." Osian frowned at hearing this title for the first time.
Regardless, the kid seemed to see this as an opportunity and wore a strange smile.
"Well, I do know about it."
As soon as those words ended, Osian took out a money pouch and threw it to the kid. True to being an excellent pickpocket, she quickly caught it and glanced at the contents, then her eyes widened.
"I haven't even finished talking yet."
"I know well enough what you want."
"Seeing how quick you are, you really must be a fixer. And the amount is more than I expected too."
"If you do your job properly, I can give you even more."
Fixers solve problems that others cannot handle. But being a fixer doesn't mean you can accomplish everything. There are often times when you need help from locals, like now. Humans aren't omnipotent after all. That's why it's common to hire people with money. It's like subcontracting, so to speak.
"...It's not some dangerous job, is it?"
"If you don't want to, you don't have to take it."
When Osian tried to retrieve the money pouch, the kid startled and hid the pouch behind her back.
"Hey. When did I say I wouldn't do it? I was just asking out of curiosity."
"There won't be any danger to you. It's just to obtain information in the first place."
"That puts my mind at ease. But is it okay? What if I just run off with this like this?"
At the rather provocative question, Osian chuckled.
"If you really intended to run away, you wouldn't have asked that."
"I have an eye for people too. I know how to choose my targets."
"Hmm. Really, if you might run off with that money."
Osian shrugged his shoulders lightly.
"Try it once."
"......"
The kid stared intently at Osian who spoke so nonchalantly.
"...Ahaha. As if I would."
Osian's eyes narrowed. This brat. If he had looked even slightly easy, she was planning to take advantage and run.
"My name is Greta. That's my real name."
The kid—no, Greta—introduced herself like that while leading Osian.
"What about you, mister?"
"Call me Osian."
"I see. Ah, come this way. It's faster here."
Greta moved through the narrow alleyways like they were her own room. Her movements had no hesitation. This was possible because she knew the surrounding geography thoroughly.
"Recently, people have been flocking here from outside. Going this way is less crowded and more comfortable."
"So are you taking me to where the Liberation Army is now?"
"As if. Even I don't know exactly where the Liberation Army is. They have to hide very carefully. The people moving around here and there now just came blindly after hearing rumors."
Osian tried to determine whether this was truth or lies, but stopped midway.
"So where are we going now?"
"Since I earned today's wages, let's go to where I stay. Ah, this is also a sign of trust. Normally I wouldn't let strangers in."
"For that kind of thing, you don't seem to hesitate much about bringing me along."
"You, mister, um, just seem like you'll be okay. That kind of feeling? My eye for people isn't wrong, so it's fine."
Osian found it too bothersome to point this out and followed behind Greta. Even if she was leading him into a trap, it didn't matter. If he smashed the guys trying to trap him, he could get information there too.
Meanwhile, after escaping the maze-like complex paths, they reached an abandoned area where people's footsteps didn't reach. It was an abandoned train station.
"There was a place like this?"
"Originally every district had at least one station. This place is the same. Though no one uses it since the district itself was abandoned."
On the railroad tracks were rusty, neglected train cars lined up. Greta approached one of them and knocked on the door with her hand.
"It's me. Open the door."
After a moment, the locking mechanism was released with clicking sounds from inside. Creeak. Despite being rusty, the iron door opened smoothly, probably because it was well-maintained.
"Why are you only coming now...!"
What welcomed Greta were children much younger than her. There seemed to be about 10 of them. They couldn't eat or wash properly, giving off the particular desolation characteristic of District 40s. The children looked at Greta, then discovered Osian standing behind her and froze in shock.
"Don't worry, everyone. He's not a bad person."
"...Really?"
"Yes. He even gave me money like this."
Greta smiled while shaking the money pouch. The children still didn't let down their guard, but they didn't strongly resist either. This meant they trusted and followed Greta that much.
"Come in."
At Greta's words, Osian silently climbed onto the train. Inside were all sorts of miscellaneous things piled up. From toys for the children to play with, to discarded scrap metal and objects picked up from somewhere.
Even with some organization, the contents were so messy that it looked like a garbage dump at first glance. But Osian followed Greta in without complaint.
The children gathered here were clearly children without parents. Their parents had either abandoned them or died—one of the two. This was a common sight in this district.
"Phew."
Greta took off her hat in front of a coat hanger roughly made by sticking scrap metal together. Hair that had been hidden under the pressed-down hat flowed down to below her shoulders. The hair covered by dust was a clear, clean lemon color.
"You're a girl?"
"What? You didn't know?"
Of course he didn't know. Usually children this age don't show pronounced development, making it difficult to distinguish between boys and girls. In Greta's case, she hadn't washed properly and her speech and behavior were like a tough guy, so it was understandable to mistake her.
Greta pouted her lips.
"My name is Greta. Anyone can see it's a girl's name. How could you mistake that?"
"I don't have prejudices in that direction."
"What's that supposed to mean? Really, this is absurd."
Osian shook his head, pulled back the hood on his head, and untied the bandana covering his mouth.
"Ah, if you're thirsty, would you like some water..."
Greta, who had been about to offer water in a glass bottle, looked at Osian and briefly opened her mouth. The children who had cautiously followed Greta and Osian inside also looked at Osian and shouted.
"He's handsome!"
"Like a prince!"
Osian looked at the children whose eyes were sparkling and wondered what this was about. Just by revealing his face, the wariness that had been rippling until then disappeared as if washed away.
"...Are you really a fixer?"
Greta asked in a slightly trembling voice.
"I am. Didn't you recognize me yourself?"
"No, well, that's true. But suddenly seeing your face made me less certain."
"So I'll praise you for bringing me this far. If it was to evoke sympathy, the intention itself wasn't bad."
Osian sat down in a reasonably empty spot. Dust rose because it hadn't been cleaned, but he didn't mind. When you can sleep well on bare ground with the sky as your roof, how could a place like this matter?
"...How did you know?"
"You're quite clever, but it was bound to show. You thought I was a good person."
"Well, that's right, isn't it? Even though we'd just met and I arbitrarily dumped an incident on you, you handled it without complaint."
And when he gave her money under the pretext of requesting information, Greta was able to be certain that Osian was a good person.
"What if I was actually wearing a mask to deceive people?"
"Then, well, there's nothing I could do. Since I was wrong, I'd have to pay the price."
It was quite a calm tone. Despite her young age, she seemed to have mastered life. That was probably due to the harsh environment of District 44.
"And the fact that you asked that question was proof that you had no such intention, wasn't it?"
Seeing her return his own words to him intact, Osian smiled faintly.
"You really are bold. And your head works well too. You brought me this far because you want something from me."
Greta tried to hide her emotions, but it wasn't easy. No matter how smart she was, she still had short life experience.
"You want to escape from District 44."