Chapter 21: Nora and… Ice Cream Girl?

~Kuro POV (10 years old) ~

All right from looking around the place, there seems to be a lot of people around this part of the road.

I walk towards the direction where there is a large crowd selling items all around the place so I went to the nearest market store to talk to, "Hey mister do you know somewhere in this place that I can sell Dust?"

When the store owner in his stand looks at me, he smiles and replies, "Ah, sure thing kid if you go down in this path, you'll meet a stand that sells Dust crystals she'll pay for your crystals but don't expect much in return."

Now I was curious to wonder why the lady won't give me much?

So, I ask the guy, "Ok but why sir?"

The guy just gives me an answer while looking around the place, "Well that's because we live in a forest area of Anima which might help us live with the wildlife but a person still needs Lien to get any of the good stuff and we aren't affiliated with the Kingdom of Mistral so getting Lien is hard to come by you see but we get by."

Ah, ok now I understand why it's not in the matter of Dust but the matter of Lien and backing needed to get financial help huh?

I thank the guy and I started to go to the path I was in further down till I see a lady with some Dust crystals all around the place perfect.

While no one was looking I managed to bring a bag with me with all the Dust Gravity Cluster inside with that I headed in the direction.

When I finally reached the destination, I smiled at the lady, "Hi there miss I was wondering if I can sell some Dust Crystals for some Lien dame."

When the lady looks at me, she smiles and ask me, "Ok their kid what kind – "

However, she stops talking when I brought out the 10 clusters of Gravity Dust to her causing her to have a wide-eyed expression while I look at her innocently.

When I look at her, I asked with a smile on my face, "How much would I get for these 10 clusters of Dust Gravity Crystals can I get if I sell them to you dame."

I see she changed her expression to somewhat serious but thinks over the offer till she went to the bottom of her stand floor getting something, but I managed to see a…

Spider tattoo on her back… shit…

If my knowledge is right, then this must be one of Lil' Miss Malachite's followers, but I really shouldn't get worried over this at least.

I mean what would a person like her would want with me anyway as far as she's a concern, I'm just a kid that got lucky finding some Dust Crystals nothing that would bring her attention at least.

When the lady comes back up again, she gives me a card that is used in this world to pay saying to me, "Ok 10 Gravity Dust Cluster Crystals are going to be 100,000 Lien for each Cluster being 10,000 Lien at original price…"

I'm hearing the next thing she says is a 'but' next since I can tell the lady is lying to me, I can sense it with my Observation Haki…

The lady continues showing a smirk on her face, "…but since we're short on Lien here in Kuroyuri Village I can only give you to it at 50,000 Lien for each unless you're willing to go to Argus to get them appraised but they don't exactly will treat Faunus nicely there."

I sigh out loud yeah I get it already it's not exactly a good time to be a Faunus at Argus but still, even if I did bring the Dust Cluster there I might not get a good price and if I say no to her I might get ambushed just for what I have on me so, for now, I'll agree.

But hey it's not like I can do this continuously I mean I can, but I'll make sure to take my business in one of the other Kingdoms like Vale or Vacuo since at this point of time Faunus are treated as dirt till Sienna Kahn takes control.

I nodded my head and I got the card that has 50,000 Lien on it, and I tucked that away in my pocket but into my inventory when no one was looking.

After that, I managed to look around the place, "Alright time to search for the Valkyrie then I get off on my way out of here to the Academy."

With that, I begin my search to find Nora Valkyrie in the village of Kuroyuri while I was admiring the place, "Huh… I still can't get enough of this place the culture here is definitely different I wonder if I can make my own just like this?"

Still though finding orphan kids are hard but still how hard is it to find a kid well I better hurry up then.

I searched around the place for the village to find Nora all around while meeting some new people and Faunus alike when I was about to give up the search, I overheard the sounds of someone yelling.

When I heard the news, I smirk at the thought that I finally found her but also confuse that there were two, "Come back here you two thieves give those bread back now!"

Two? Unless Rin stole with Nora who else is there stealing as well whatever time to see what's going on.

With that, I quickly rush over to the scene and I look surprised I see Nora as a kid with her dirty jacket and clothes but the person next to her… "Neo?"

I was really confuse looking at the scene in front of me if I know correctly Neo is probably somewhere in my and Cinder's age group, I see she is wearing dirty clothing with her hair dirty and with her pink and brown eyes.

I see over the corner of a building that a chief was angry at them and I see Neo carrying a bag filled with bread, sigh I guess I better intervene to get their trust and convince them to recruit.

I immediately went over to the chief to see what was going on, "Hey there sir is there a problem?"

The Chief and the two girls look over to my direction and he says, "Get out of here kid I have two thief's I have to deal with so – "

But I interrupted him by saying to him, "No worries just let me pay for the items they stole ok here I have a Lien card worth 50,000 just tell me the price ok."

That seems to get the two girls' attention, but the chief just looks at me uncaring as long as he gets paid, "That will be worth 15,000 Lien worth mostly because of the trouble those two brats put me through stealing my bread."

Yeah, I would probably get mad as well if I was in shoes so I pay the man and with that, I look at the two girls while I say to the both of them, "Hey you two now owe me a favor since I got you two out of trouble but first introductions are in order the names Kuro White and you two are?"

The first one to talk was Nora but her voice was a bit scared, "Uh… mister the names Nora sir…"

Next was Neo only giving me a name, but I was surprised that she can speak at all, "Neopolitan."

With that, I motion towards the two of them, "Ok then from the looks of things I see Nora is a refugee here in the village, and you Neo… I can take a guess that you're a wandering thief just going by to live right?"

I see that Nora is surprised but that was expected but Neo just gives me the silent treatment but does answer my question with a nod only…

This is going to be a lot harder for Neo to trust me much less get her to join me because that girl was loyal to Roman to the point of searching for his murder even if he was long dead this girl's loyalty is something I want.

I just smile at the two of them and give them an offer, "How about you two join me and in return, you two will get a home under your heads and food as well and as a nice bonus I'll even unlock your aura's if you join?"

Well, I see that Nora is tempted by the idea, but I can see Neo is considering my offer after all I can clearly see that her wounds were on her body which means that she hasn't unlocked her semblance yet…

Good if she had it, I would have not considered recruiting her at this point of time till later since her ability is really good to have and can fool even me if I'm not careful enough…

With that, I see over to Nora and bring out some pancakes in order to convince her more, "I can also make some pancakes for you if you want and cook for you some types of food so you won't feel hunger for a long while that includes you as well Neo."

Now when I gave them my Bacon Pancakes to the two of them Nora was immediately hooked on so much that she cried while Neo having a surprised expression but I manage to hear Nora answer, "Mister Cat is it true I won't feel hungry again if I join you?"

Cat? Well, she is 5 years old I'll let that slide for now till she feels comfortable enough for me to say my name.

I look at her with a smile on my face and say to Nora, "Yeah I never go back on my word so far and I always look after my allies under me if they have an enemy then those people are my enemy too because any problem they have its mine as well so what do you say you want to join?"

I smile at Nora nodding her head, but I was more surprised to see that I gain another loyal ally this quickly, but I look over to Neo waiting for an answer.

"[Congratulations you have made a loyal ally: Nora Valkyrie (5 years old).]"

I see over to Neo at the end she sighs but gives me an answer, "Very well I'll join… but if I see any trouble, I won't hesitate to leave…"

I nodded in understanding well it's going to be for a while for her to trust me fully but for the time being, I'll just work out a relationship with Neo till she trusts me.

With that, I moved to the two of them, "Alright now that we have that settled how about we do some shopping for the two of you before we leave ok?"

They nodded to the idea and with that we were able to buy all kinds of different clothes for the two of them which costed me the remaining Lien I got from the Gravity Dust but they will be valuable people for me in the future so this is worth it.

With that out of the way I showed them to the entrance and open the Door for them to which they were surprised to enter but I see Cinder, Rem, and Ram saying to me, "Kuro you have some explaining to do."

I'm in trouble, aren't I?

System:

Status, Shop, Mission, Inventory, Devil Fruit Raffle

Inherited Skills: Aura, Semblance (Eyes of the Lord), Electro, Natural Enhanced Body, and Sulong Form (Locked)

Skills: Hunting, Observation Haki (Intermediate), Armament Haki (Beginner), Swordsmanship (Intermediate), Geppo (Intermediate), Kami-e (Intermediate), Tekkai (Intermediate), Rankyaku (Intermediate), Shingan (Intermediate), Soru (Intermediate), Rokuogan (Intermediate)

Devil Fruits: Hie Hie no Mi, Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, Doa Doa no Mi, Moa Moa no Mi

Equip: Reject Dial Fingerless Glove, Omen

Allies: Cinder Fall (Logia User), Rem Arashi (Paramecia User), Ram Arashi (Paramecia User), Kagero, Nora Valkyrie

Inventory: Sets of clothes, Ryu Ryu no Mi Model: Pteranodon, Vari Vari no Mi, Hito Hito no Mi, Ryu Ryu no Mi Model: Triceratops, Shiro Shiro no Mi, Neko Neko no Mi Model: Leopard, Suna Suna no Mi, FIT

Lien: 1,492,544