District 42-Chapter 227: Reckless
Vick was solving a case when Casper messaged her. The Princess got glad that he would be waiting for her outside, but also a bit pissed off that he didn’t call her previously to settle a better schedule for them to meet.
These days she was so busy that she needed to plan things several days before they happened, so she could clear her schedule and let some free time available to do what she needed to do.
However, as Casper was an exception to her, she was going to leave the General Court earlier that day, even though there were too many cases to solve yet.
’My father will probably get very angry at me, but once I say to him that I was taking care of the White warrior, then I am sure he will go easy on me.’ She rubbed her mask quickly, feeling a bit dizzy all of a sudden. She did ’t like to remember her father since he was unbearable recently.
Vick was working 19 hours per day, sometimes even more when she opted to stay all night awake as well and skip her sleep.
’This new Organization raising is making me throw my sleep schedule in the trash. And now that they could get new information and the investigations are going at full throttle, there is no way that I can keep awake without helping on something!’
She was aware of how serious that situation was. Enemies were sneaking among them, causing a fuss, harming her Aesirs and Ridires, and even causing troubles to the Sgails. The Jarls could not be trusted anymore, and the Frelsi were still doing their things outside there, which made her get completely confused.
It was overwhelming. A lot of information to process at once.
"So, princess, what do you plan to do about it?" The Jarl that was hopefully waiting for her answer asked a third time since Vick didn’t seem to pay attention to him.
"Erm... what?" She got embarrassed to say so, but her head was on another planet.
"I was talking about the taxes..."
Vick got pensive for a while, reviewing all the papers that the man gave to her and analyzing the graphics and numbers.
"You don’t have enough commercial value to get reduced taxes, but we can see what we can do with the transportation taxes since you are an investor in the area."
Her real job there wasn’t just to say yes or no for everything and let the Jarls stressed because of the commercial rules of the Castle. She needed to get into a decision that could still benefit them and don’t be harmful to the economy.
The Jarl still wanted that some other taxes got reduced, but the decision to reduce the one for the transportation was reasonable enough for him, and so the case ended.
Vick stood from the throne and called one of the advisors.
"Please, say to the rest that I will be busy today and that they can come back tomorrow at the same hour as always, ok?"
The advisor seemed to be dumbfounded by that decision.
In the past, Princess Vick would do it a lot. She would run away from her duties and do absolutely nothing all day. Nowadays was different.
’Some habits will never be completely gone, it seems.’ He thought, then went to the entrance of the General Court to inform all those people about the abrupt leaving of the Princess.
Vick left that place by the backdoor, taking care to not be seen by anyone.
Casper was waiting for her, silently leaning his back in the wall with his eyes closed. He seemed to be very tired.
"Hey, Casper." She finally could let her usual cold tone behind and called him with a cheerful voice.
’I think that today will be good to forget about some things and be prepared for whatever will come in the future. I need a break some times as well, after all.’
Vick walked beside him, the White warrior opened his eyes slowly.
"It’s good to see you, Princess. How are you doing?"
Just like this, casually, they started to talk and walk off from that place. For some minutes, they just strolled through that city without too many worries, talking about silly and aleatory things.
In the way, Casper explained to her about what he wanted exactly by texting her all of a sudden.
The soldier felt more comfortable when talking about it with her since he could express in a better way his new worries and his restless pursuit for more power into the district. Of course, there were ulterior reasons for this pursue that he couldn’t say to her, but, at least, he was free to talk about the Sgails and his past experiences inside the district.
"Hmm... Are you looking for me just because you want to visit a blacksmith? You are such a bothering idiot..." She was very upset that she left one of her duties all of a sudden to go out with that guy and end up discovering that he just wanted to meet her because of weapons.
"I said already that I wanted to meet you, didn’t I? Although it wasn’t the main reason, it’s still there."
"It doesn’t make me happier, anyway, but, whatever..."
Vick avoided her eyes from him, putting her hands together behind her back while walking and looking around. They were passing for some interesting and well-structured buildings on that floor, so it was easy to get distracted, at times.
"I just wanted to gather a bit more of power..." Casper explained, rubbing his neck and lowering his head slightly. "I am entering in a dangerous zone while in the Sgails... you know it by now, right?"
Vick had a realization once he confessed what was passing on his mind.
"Yes... they discovered new shreds of evidence and possible settling zones of that Organization. I know very well."
"After the performance, I displayed in the last mission, Leonel gained more trust in me. I still couldn’t give my full report, but they have a good idea of what happened... And I will use this in my favor to get a place on the troops that are mainly acting against this Organization."
The Princess widened her eyes, grabbing him by the arm. She was exasperated by hearing those words, concern and anger raised in her heart.
"What the heck is going on your mind, Casper!?" With her pleading and furious eyes, she shouted that quote, shaking him by the arm.
Thankfully, nobody was passing there at the time, so she could yell as much as she wanted. However, it was still a city, and people soon would appear again. It was near the rush hour, after all, so it got to be quite busy in no time. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Casper looked at her with serious eyes.
"We agreed that you would show the Forger to me once I caught Rat, right? If I am on the active troops then I can keep in touch with everything that happens with the new Organization and can keep track of him."
"Just... Just how far you can go just to pursue what you want? What is it, that is so important to you to talk with the Forger, someone you never saw before!? And why are you risking your life again for nonsense?"
Casper shook his head. That was something he couldn’t talk about with her. The reason why he wanted to see the Forger needed to be well hidden.
"It’s not nonsense. If it was, I would not be risking my life like this. It has something to do with the only reason why I am still in District 42, and also about what brought me here. I won’t be saying too much about it though."
Trying to soothe her mind, he took her by the hand, looking into her eyes.
"I have my reasons to do everything I am doing by now, ok? I am taking risks because they will have good consequences if I surpass them. It’s not something I brought out of nowhere. I am not intending to die here before doing what I need to do. But, if I don’t want to die, then I need to be more powerful to prevent any future mistakes. That’s why I need your help again." Casper was nearly begging her.
The Princess seemed to be still hesitating. She wasn’t sure how to react. Casper was trying to hide something from her and going to face a dangerous situation again.
’What do I do? Am I able to take this decision? Let him go now would be the same as affording him to get enjailed in Halden and pass for everything again...’ Vick wasn’t willing to let Casper be so reckless again, but she was contradicting herself as well. After all, she was the one asking Casper to turn into a Sgail.
As she looked at Casper’s face, Vick didn’t know what she should do.
