[Quest Completed: End the Grey Dog Gang's criminal activites]

{Skill points awarded: 2}

Scarlett glanced at the window of text before her as the buildings of Freybrook passed by outside the carriage window. She wasn't quite sure what the criteria were for a quest to be considered complete. The two previous quests had announced their completion at clear and relevant occasions, but this one didn't appear until a while after she'd met with the count. It was odd that it worked differently, but perhaps it was just because something she was unaware of had not happened until now. Some delayed response to her actions or something like that.

She pushed the matter out of her mind and turned back to observing the passing buildings and crowds. The streets of downtown Freybrook were as lively as they came, it appeared. She lifted her gaze towards the count's mansion situated on the hill overlooking this part of the city. The structure was visible even outside Freybrook. It had a central tower whose red tiles created a stark contrast with the clear blue sky. If she was correct, that was where the count's office was.

She was still finding it hard to believe that she was now a person who would visit important places like that. That she was important. Despite how easy—how natural—it was for her to act the part due to the original Scarlett's remaining influence, the part of her that was still Amy Bernal couldn't completely shake off the strangeness of the whole situation. And annoyingly enough she found herself at odds with that part of herself.

Up till now, all her actions had been working from the assumption that she had to act fast. She had to establish control and a base for herself to safely operate from because that is what she had told herself was the best method of staying safe in this new world. But in the process of doing that she had probably leaned further into the Scarlett part of her than she originally wished. Honestly, at times she wasn't even certain what part of her a certain thought came from. She knew she was Amy Bernal, but adhering too much to such a mindset was also likely to set her back. She couldn't gawp at every other sight, hesitate in every other interaction, hold back against thieves and murderers. Those were all things the original part of her wanted to do, but that she had denied herself.

But she had also promised not to lose herself. The first thing she'd done in this world, after she realized that her thoughts and mind weren't completely her own, was to promise she wouldn't forget who Amy Bernal was. And yet she felt she'd already gone far too close to doing so on more than one occasion.

But then what was she supposed to do? She wasn't the original Amy Bernal. Amy would never have been able to subject a man to second-degree burns just because she wanted information. Amy would never have been able to watch a man be tortured in cold blood. So hadn't she already lost herself, in a manner? She'd considered it necessary actions at the time, but now that she had time to reflect on it she wasn't sure what to think. Was her wish even realistic? Was it even possible to hold on to your past self after having such a large part of your core personality forcefully changed? Was it too late to try and change the way she approached this world?

"What are you frowning about?" a voice asked from the other side of the carriage. Scarlett spun her head to look at the blonde-haired woman that sat in the seat opposite her. Kat had her hair loose today, with some of it covering part of her blue eyes. "I thought you said it went well."

Scarlett wordlessly looked at the Shielder for a moment before turning back to the window. "It did," she answered curtly. She didn't feel like elaborating on her complicated thoughts at the moment.

"...If you say so," Kat muttered and went silent.

Scarlett ignored the slight tinge of annoyance that always came when she heard the woman talk casually with her. It was a small victory, but she felt a tiny amount of satisfaction from fighting back against those traits of hers at least this much.

She glanced back at Kat to make sure the woman didn't take too much offense from her reply, but it didn't seem to have affected the woman much. Kat was just looking out the other window while humming some tune that Scarlett wasn't familiar with.

She was honestly glad that the Shielder had chosen to stay with her. A B-ranked senior member of the Shields Guild wasn't something one could look down on. Frankly, Kat was probably one of the stronger people in this city. When Scarlett had visited the Shields Guild once again the day before to look into extending the escort request she'd made to them for an indefinite amount of time she hadn't been expecting either Kat or the Guild to agree to it. But she was lucky that they did, despite what it might cost. She was gonna need it.

It hadn't been part of her plan, but she had aroused the interest of The Angler Man. It was only a question of time before the Hallowed Cabal sent people out to investigate her. Or worse — kidnap her. Encountering that [Mirror of Communion] was probably one of the worst things that could have happened to her this early. Dealing with the Hallowed Cabal wasn't something that the player started doing until late mid-game or late-game so handling them now was far out of her capabilities. That was why she needed someone of Kat's caliber as her guard for the time being.

She had been hesitant to reveal the Hallowed Cabal's involvement with the Grey Dog Gang—god that name was a handful—to the count. She was well aware that several powerful figures worked for them in the game, and if Count Knottley was one of them she would have been putting herself in even more danger. But in the end, it looked to be her best excuse for the original Scarlett's actions. And while it didn't guarantee anything, she couldn't remember the count being mentioned as a member of the Cabal in the game.

And it seemed to have worked out. The count had accepted her proposal—though it probably wasn't much different from extortion—and it looked like she was safe for now. She even got the quest completion as a confirmation of that. She had feared that the count wouldn't have cared for the evidence she'd gathered or perhaps already had enough evidence by himself and just thrown her into a cell so there had been a degree of risk to her plan. But it genuinely was the best she could come up with as a solution for her situation.

She tapped her finger against the carriage's windowsill in rhythm to Kat's tune as she thought about what she should do next. There were still some dungeons in the area surrounding Freybrook that she could probably locate and loot. None of them were Zuverian ruins or held especially strong items if she recalled correctly, but they should still be worth exploring. She still didn't know how much money she actually had, so gathering more valuable items wouldn't hurt. And if there were quests for clearing the dungeons as there had been with the Zuver ruins then she would get some more skill points. While her Aqua Mines had turned out to be surprisingly efficient and effective, they were still relatively weak. As was her mana supply. Upgrading her current skills was one of her top priorities.

Perhaps she should set aside more time for practicing magic. She had essentially given up on learning how to cast real spells for now. She'd been too busy with handling the mess that was her situation the first three days she'd been in this world, and yesterday she'd spent almost all her time reading through the ledgers and books she'd taken from the traffickers. Understanding what meant what and which mentions referred to who in those texts had been difficult when she had no real experience with antiquated trading systems and log keeping. It had taken her over seven hours just to ascertain that the earliest signs of Scarlett starting to back the Grey Dog Gang were about eight months ago. And that was about the limit of what she'd learned. There were a bunch of other names and organizations mentioned, but none she recognized.

Scarlett was taken out of her thoughts when the carriage finally drove up and stopped in front of the gates to the Hartford estate. She heard the coach driver exchange words with the guards and soon after the carriage began moving again.

"I don't think I can ever get used to how large this place is," Kat mumbled from the side. Scarlett turned to the woman who was looking out the window at the hedge garden that surrounded the gravel road that led up to the mansion and its courtyard.

"I do not believe it is especially large, compared to others," Scarlett said. The garden at the back was larger—and more beautiful—than the one in the front of the mansion, but the estate as a whole wasn't as large as some of the ones she'd visited or seen before. It was smaller than a football field, at least. Still way more space than she'd ever want—or need—but probably closer to the low or middle end when it came to these types of properties. But maybe she shouldn't compare with the castles and royal palaces of her world that were more like very large museum pieces than places where people actually lived. But the count's estate had definitely been larger than this, and that was visible from most parts of the city, so it was an odd thing to remark upon nonetheless.

"Not to be rude, but I don't think you're the right person to say something like that," Kat laughed and looked out as the carriage stopped on a large graveled area right in front of the arch that led to the main courtyard. Scarlett chose to not respond and waited for the driver to open the carriage door before she stepped out of the vehicle. Kat followed close behind.

A couple of women in servants' clothing stood before them as the reception and bowed towards Scarlett. She looked them over. She recognized both but didn't know their names.

One of the servants, a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair in a bun at the back of her head, turned up her eyes at Scarlett. "My Lady, welcome back. Has your outing gone well?"

"It has," Scarlett said as she gestured to the carriage driver that it was okay for him to leave. "Is there any news?" she asked the servant.

The woman inclined her head with a still face. "Yes, my Lady. Master Garside wishes to inform you that he has been in contact with several orphanages in the city regarding the kidnapped children, as well as having sent a message to the Voneian delegation here in Freybrook. He personally went out to meet with them this afternoon."

Scarlett nodded at the report. It would be good if they could simply send all the children back to their homes. Freybrook was situated in the southwestern part of the Graenal Empire not far away from the western border to the Voneia Kingdom which was why they had a delegation in the city. She had been hoping they could lend some aid in the matter. She couldn't have over thirty kids in the mansion forever. However, it was also likely that not all of the children had homes to return to, which is why she had asked Garside to contact some of the orphanages in the city to look into that. She hadn't really had to do too much herself yet in the matter. Being the one in charge had its perks.

"Also, my Lady..." The servant looked hesitant to say what would come next.

Scarlett found herself slightly annoyed at the woman's delay but did her best to contain it to a small frown. "Speak," she said and gestured to the woman.

"My Lady...Madame Evelyne has also paid a visit and wishes to speak with you."

Scarlett's eyebrow rose. Evelyne had come to see her? No, perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise. She had caused quite a ruckus after all. And it was these matters that Evelyne's questline in the game had been about too, so it was obvious that the original Scarlett's younger sister would have some reaction to the events.

Meeting Evelyne wasn't a pleasant experience, however. Last time she had barely been able to control the original's disgust for the woman.

"Lead her to the parlor and serve mint tea," she told the servant. Mint tea had always been relaxing for her nerves. Maybe she should consider this a good thing. She had been concerned about losing herself, so this could serve as practice. She also had a couple of matters she wanted to discuss with Evelyne. "Tell her I will be there shortly."