C96- Janeen's Fateful Coincidence (3)

Walking through the silent streets, Janeen wondered what to do next.

She somehow managed to escape from that hellish situation with a mysterious power.

'Where did this even come from?'

She tried to reach for the power she felt once again, trying to understand what it is and where it is from.

"What is she doing? Maybe I should ask mama..."

"Who?"

She heard a boy's voice as she reached for the power. She suddenly turned towards where the voice came from. It was a boy looking at her through the gap between the curtains.

"Eek! She looked at me!"

The boy closed the curtains, got away from the windows and hid.

'Huh? He didn't open his mouth...?'

Reaching more into the power, she tried sensing the boy once again. Just as she was about feel something, a sudden headache hit her like a whip.

"Ugh... It is hard to use this thing..."

After stopping her power, she decided to find a place to stay the night. Walking towards the richer parts of the city, she ended up entering a mediocre looking inn, which was still five times better than the decrepit house she was using before.

Inside the inn, there were still people eating late dinners at the tables. As she entered, she immediately felt the dirty gazes of some of them.

'Disgusting.'

"Hi, Miss! How can I help you?"

Interrupting her thoughts was a young and pretty girl with a wide smile.

"Ah... I-I want a room for the night."

"Sure thing, miss! Do you also want new clothes? We just got some new ones to sell that came from the north. Their fabric is really good but they are still cheap, it's a miraculous product!"

"N-No, thanks. I don't have much mone-"

Something suddenly came to her mind and she reached for her power once again. Enduring the slight headache that returned, she listened to the mind of the worker in front of her.

"If you don't have any money, then go away, idiot. Don't waste my time."

'Geh. So, your inside is like this, what great acting!'

Janeen reached towards the girl's mind with her power and talked.

"Can't you give me a new skirt as a gift for staying here?"

The girl's eyes lost their focus and she moved robotically to the racks where the new products were. She picked a black skirt and came back. Giving the skirt to Janeen and walking away, she suddenly came back to herself.

"Huh? What was I doing? Oh, I forgot to give her the key to the room."

*****

"Uuuggghhhh~ This headache is killing me...."

Janeen complained while she laid down on the soft bed at the inn. Lifting the pouch towards the ceiling, she stared at it while thinking of today. It started horrible and ended weirdly calm, causing a feeling of suspense to eat her calm mind away.

"What a weird and terrible day... I want to sleep already...", she said as she spread her arms to the sides.

After a while, she silently glanced at the door. Then she slowly got up, locked the door and laid on the bed again. Feeling more secure, she nestled herself in the bed comfortably, and fell asleep with a comfort she never felt before.

Getting up the next day, she decided on staying at the inn for a while and slowly figure out something to do. Buying her room for an extra three weeks was expensive and almost cost all the money she had, but she managed to trick the worker into gifting her a couple pairs of new skirts and shirts.

She stared out of the window to think of something to do.

'They will soon start searching for me probably... I can't deter them with my powers currently, I need to get better at using it. I also need more money... I should just train my power and use it for things, right?'

Glancing at the soft bed, she grabbed a cookie she bought from the inn and jumped on the bed.

"Meh! I should take it slow today. I earned it! I can think about boring things later!", she said and spent the day lazing around and watching the outside.

*****

The following two weeks, Janeen spent her days using her power to trick people into giving her free stuff.

As time went on and her power got stronger, she got more and more.

She even managed to make a rich merchant to rent a house for her in the city, where she would then use as a place to return after scamming people. During this time, her powers grew the more she used them.

She figured out some traits of her weird power. It worked like the magic of a whisperer but only on humans. She could make someone do something if she ordered it, but it caused a lot of headaches and was harder to do. If she gave a reason or an excuse for her order, it took less effort to make someone follow her orders.

But that wasn't where her powers stopped. Hew powers could affect everything about a human's mind, and even personality.

Even though it was extremely exhausting and navigating through the mind of someone using vague senses was hell, she could alter someone's personality, feelings and memories. But, it took a lot of effort to do it, and needed maintenance since the more important the part of one's mind she changed was, the faster their minds were fixed back to how it was before.

That's why she needed a place for herself to maintain the people she managed to turn into her servants, like the merchant that rented the house for her.

Along with the merchant, there were also the men of the debt collector. They found her a week ago and sent another two white wearing men to capture her, but she used her powers to brainwash their lackeys and make them pay for her mother's debt.

Her powers weren't strong enough to change these people permanently, and that's why she had to keep them close to her at all times, so that their minds didn't fix themselves and become a problem for her later.

But, that also brought a new annoyance to Janeen.

'I am sick of it already... If I had a chance, I would leave but I can't... UGH!'

To make the three men her servants, she used her powers to make them fall for her, but that turned into a problem on it's own. Since her powers got stronger, she could now easily feel the casual thoughts of the people around her and usually it is really faint when she isn't actively trying to hear it, but since the three men's minds didn't have any resistance to her power, she could feel their minds much more easily and clearly than others.

'Their dirty gazes and vile thoughts... At least show some respect to the person you supposedly like... Annoying and disgusting!'

One day, when she decided to take a walk after getting tired of enduring the people's dirty gazes, she decided to eat some desserts as a reward for herself for enduring her harsh life.

After eating her fill, she walked out of the shop and walked towards her place. While she was walking, someone walking absentmindedly bumped into her. It was a boy about her age. A handsome boy who had bluish black hair, ruby red eyes and a trained body.