The smooth ride of the car came to a halt, when Esme hit the brakes suddenly.
The instant halt jolted Rio and Myra who were silently resting on the backseat.
"What happened?" Myra asked, looking at Esme.
"Someone's blocking the road?" Esme said, pointing forward, while meeting Myra's gaze in the rearview mirror.
Myra looked through the front glass and saw a young girl bent down and crawled into a ball, sitting there in the middle of the road.
"Do I ?" Esme asked, looking back at her.
Myra nodded her head, giving her permission to go out and check.
"Be careful." She added.
The roads were empty and the surroundings deserted. At this time when all of Haven was celebrating free food and drinks, someone stopping their way could be a coincidence, or an ambush.
Though the chances of an attack were low, but it's always better to be careful and brave, then to be dumb and in a grave.
Esme opened the door slowly, her senses heightened with the use of mana, as she scanned the surroundings for any other movement. Her eyes darted from one corner to another, looking for anything suspicious.
After ensuring there was no one else present in near range, or no immediate threat, she stepped out.
Her hand resting near the concealed dagger on her belt, as she started approaching the child slowly.
Rio, who had been resting in the back seat, sensed the change in the atmosphere and opened his eyes.
A smile lit up his face when he saw the girl, confirming his thoughts about where he'd find her.
It was just a wild guess as she was supposed to live around here and had an accident today.
That's all he knew, he didn't know the exact time or place, he was even planning to tell Esme to come back to palace instantly, if he didn't come across her this time.
'Well it would've been doubtful if I kept coming and going through this road, but guess there's no need for that now.' Rio thought.
Without waiting for Myra's permission or response, he opened the door and stepped out.
Esme turned to look back at the sound, as her hand pulled out her dagger, but Rio shook his head and kept walking towards the girl, who was still crying while keeping her head low.
Her slow sobbing was a stark contrast to the silence of the night, or beauty of the celebration he's just been to.
She was the same height as Amelia, but skinny. It was like someone just laminated a skeleton with a plastic skin. Her messy brunette (dark brown) hair were hanging over her head, covering her face, adding an eerie touch to the scene.
'She's like those ghost kids from movies, with her looks and that sobbing noise.' Rio thought.
If he didn't know any better, he might have just turned back and ran away.
'Looks like the author forgot to mention that huh' he said to himself, trying to cheer himself up.
"master" Esme whispered to him, calling him to stay back. But since he didn't hear, she shouted a little.
"Master"
–Ahhhhhh–
Rio shouted, as he felt someone pulling his shoulders slowly. Feeling like it really is some damn ghost out to haunt him. His scream echoing through the empty streets. Without looking back he started running.
He only took 2 steps further, when he felt a firm grip on his hand. He was about to scream again, but then he heard Esme's voice, "Master, it's me."
Slowly, Rio turned around, his eyes still showing signs of some fear and confusion.
"It's just me, why are you running away?" Esme said, trying to hide the amusement in her voice. His reaction really was funny.
"Why are you acting like some ghost?" Rio asked, glaring at her, while trying to regain his composure back.
He would've laughed at pranks like these on earth, saying ghosts aren't real.
But in Arcadia, they were as real as him. After all, ghosts are just wandering souls of the remnant dead.
That's why he was scared, since he had no way to deal with ghosts, yupp, definitely, that's the only reason.
Though his glaring eyes and angry words did little to scare his shadow, who just chuckled and said, "I didn't mean to scare you. I called you, but you didn't respond. You were just walking lost in thoughts, so I thought I'd bring you back to reality."
"It's not her fault, who knew, the genius young master can't even handle a little pat on his shoulders." Myra came near them and said. Unlike Esme she didn't even try to hide her smiles.
Her words, making Esme laugh at him too.
'These two. They don't even take me seriously.'
'Just wait until I grow up. I'll have my revenge for all the beatings I got in the name of training, and kicks in the name of waking up.'
He thought remembering how these two are just always doing what they want.
'Especially Myra. She's taking advantage of the freedom Artemis gave her.'
Knowing telling them anything, won't change a thing, he ignored them and turned his attention back towards the little girl, who had stopped crying and was now looking at them curiously.
He walked up to her "Hey there, Are you okay?" he asked in a kind tone, as he held out his hand with a warm smile.
The girl looked back down at the ground, seemingly unsure of how to answer
"I'm Rio," he introduced himself, crouching down to be at eye level with her. "What's your name?"
The girl sniffled, wiping away her tears with her free hand. "A_Ayla" she whispered softly with a stammering tone.
"Ayla, that's a nice name," Rio said warmly. "Why are you out here all alone? Did you get lost?" He asked, as he brought out a water bottle from his ring.
Ayla glanced at the empty surroundings nearby, struggling to find the words to explain her distress. While seeing if she should trust these strangers or not.
"It's okay, Ayla," Esme said gently, as she knelt down beside them. "You don't have to be scared. We're just here to help you."
She took the bottle from Rio's hands and drank the water to show her that it was fine. And then passed it towards her. "Here, it's fine."
Ayla's teary eyes met Esme's, and she hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take the water bottle. Esme's warm smile and genuine concern seemed to ease her fears, as she started drinking water in big gulps.
Myra glanced at the girl and all the surroundings but there was nothing that could identify her, or why she was crying. Her clothes were simple and her expression didn't seem to be lying. So she waited to see what the girl would say.
"Would you tell me, what happened now? Why were you crying?"Esme asked kindly.
Ayla nodded, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "I-I was looking for my father" she stuttered. "I don't know where he went?"
Esme looked at Rio, her eyes clearly saying they should help her. Maybe it was because she had a little sister too, or maybe it was due to her guilt that she still felt for killing Noah, another innocent kid. But she wanted to help her.
And that's exactly why Rio let her take the lead completely.
He nodded his head, and turned to look at Ayla -"We'll find your father. Maybe he went to the celebration of the princess's birthday?" He said.
"N_no. He didn't come home since yesterday." Ayla said, while shaking her head. Her eyes started getting teary again, as she started talking about her father.
"Hey, don't cry. We'll find your father. Why don't you come with us?" Esme said, as she started wiping her tears and caressing her cheeks. "It's already midnight, we'll look for your father tomorrow okay. Is that okay with you."
Her gentle words and actions were working like a charm as little Ayla held her hands and was about to nod his head, when Rio's spoke, distracting her.
"You can tell us where you live. She's Myra. And she's really good at finding people. Maybe we'll find your father early." Rio said, pointing towards Myra, who was standing like a statue with folded hands.
Looking at Rio's action, Myra was about to say something, when Ayla stood up from the ground, running towards her, and pulled her jacket, "Can you really find my father?" She asked excitedly, her eyes shining with hope.
"I_ eh …" Myra didn't know how to react, at once she was just about to refuse this girl and bring Rio back home.
His safety was her responsibility after all. If anything happened to him, she didn't know how she could face her master again.
"It's fine. Seeing how she looks, she couldn't walk far anyway." Rio said to Myra, while pointing at Ayla's thin body. "She's probably living nearby, so let's just go and take a look.
If you don't find anything, then we can just take her back with us to the mansion." Rio said.
His words felt a little tiny bit hurtful to Ayla, but then she took a look at him. How he looked, and how he was dressed, she never even seen someone so handsome or rich.
Her anger disappeared, as her mind registered the thought that if they're that rich, then maybe they can find her father.
After all, her father always said -"It's only the rich people who hold the power in this world."
Ayla looked at them, her eyes shining with stars in them, as she started shaking Myra's hands. "Please find my father." She begged Myra, since she looked the oldest, and how everyone listened to her.
"Don't worry about her, she'll help. Right Myra." Rio said reassuringly, while smiling at Myra, who was looking around, probably thinking of ways to go around this girl, without wasting time.
If she was driving, she'd probably just skip past her or even if she stopped, she'd just hand the girl to some other guards and give them the job to find her parents.
She wasn't heartless, she just had her priorities straight. In her eyes, some random kid's safety wasn't more important to her than her master's comfort.
"Fine. But I won't promise anything." She said, finally giving up on resisting. There was no point in arguing when Rio already made up his mind. She couldn't change it anyway.
Hearing her agree, Ayla had the brightest smile, as she thanked the Gods who brought these guys here to help her.
"Can you tell us where you live then?"
Myra asked, as Esme went back to the car.
With Ayla coming together, they all returned to the car. Esme drove slowly through the streets, asking Ayla directions, and some other questions to try to figure out where her father might be.
While Esme and Ayla were busy talking to themselves, Myra had probably reported this event to guards at the mansion, or the team of Alphas stationed in the capital, so they might join them for back up. In case something happened.
Rio gave this smart girl a pat in his mind, cause he knew, shit was just about to start and get messy.
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A/N - moving on to the first recruit.
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