Big brother

Upon entering the Drowned Fish bar, Finn brought the elf girl, Fae, to the second floor.

After placing her on his bed, he then went back downstairs, where he met up with Dora, who had already arrived with Gruul.

The orc was dissatisfied because he wanted Finn as his master and not Dora, but he still had the collar, so he kept those words to himself.

Finn walked up to the orc, who was a lot taller than him, and looked at him.

"I don't like looking up when I am talking to someone. Kneel down."

"Yes."

Immediately falling to his knees, the orc bowed his head.

The orc's master wasn't Finn, but he still listened to him because he knew that it was Finn who bought him, and he was also the boss of his master Dora.

Finn then looked at the kneeling orc and opened his mouth.

"I bought you because I want you to protect this gang while I am gone."

At that sentence, the other gang members started talking over each other, mostly asking Finn where he was going.

But when Finn raised his fist, they all closed their mouths.

"I am going to the Elvish continent to return that child I have bought. Also, you should get used to me not being here, so when I am not here, Dora will be the leader."

He already planned to leave Leviathan, so he taught Dora everything she needed to know to lead the gang.

Finn had already done everything to ensure that the gang wouldn't collapse without him, and he only needed someone strong to protect it in his stead.

"Gruul."

He looked back at the kneeling orc.

"You will become Dora's bodyguard. She is your master, and you will protect her with your life."

"Gruul understands!"

The orc nodded, and Finn then looked at Dora.

"Buy Gruul a weapon of his choice and armor from the coins that we have in the gang's treasury."

"Yes sir!"

Dora already knew that Finn planned to leave because he had told her a few days ago, so she just nodded while accepting his order.

"Now, everyone back to work. I don't pay you to drink."

Finn then clapped his hands, and everyone stood up.

They all ran outside the bar to find people they could lend money to.

Most of the people in the city had already borrowed money from Finn's gang, but because he allowed people to borrow more than once, his business only grew.

He wasn't only taking from the city, though. Most of the coins he received went toward buying parts of the city and then giving jobs to people who didn't want to live a gangster life.

Be it working as a barman or in a redlight district, all Finn was doing was spreading the wealth among all the citizens while taking his share of the income.

Also, the gang was making him so much money that he had told Sophie to just keep the part of the gold coins he used to receive from his guild.

When Finn was done ordering everyone around, he went upstairs to check on Fae.

But once he opened the door, he heard a young girl scream at him.

"Stay back! I have a weapon!"

Fae was already awake, and she was holding a flowerpot with both of her hands. She might have looked threatening if only her arms weren't shaking from the weight of the pot.

But Finn didn't laugh at her.

He just put his weapons into his inventory to show her that he meant no harm.

"Calm down, Fae. I don't want to hurt you. I have already taken your collar off, and the reason I bought you is because I want to take you back to Eliglade."

Eliglade was the capital city of the Elvish continent, and it was also the city Fae had come from.

Fae slowly put down the flowerpot, not because she trusted Finn but because it was starting to hurt her arms, and she didn't want to drop it lest she hurt the flower inside that didn't do anything evil.

"How can I trust you?"

She warily looked at Finn, who still didn't move from his position.

"I don't have a way to make you believe me, but if you give me a chance, then you will see that I am just trying to help you."

He tried to talk to her in a calm voice, but the traumatized Fae was having none of it.

"No! I already gave you humans a chance once. Not only did I pay for it with my teacher's life, but I also got sold into slavery!"

Fae shouted and pointed her small, frail finger at Finn.

"I understand that you have met evil humans, but every race has evil individuals, even elves do. And just like you know kind elves, there are kind humans out there too."

Finn then registered that he was talking to Fae with his mask on, which probably only made her even more terrified of him, so he decided to take it off.

He also closed the door because he didn't want to reveal his face to his gang members.

"I am sorry. I didn't realize I had a mask on. I was constantly wearing it this last week, so I kind of forgot about it."

Fae looked at Finn's now-revealed face and thought that he was pretty handsome. Even among the elves, who were known for their beauty, he could be considered their equal.

"…You are handsome, and handsome people aren't evil, so I will trust you."

This wasn't a split-second decision only because she saw his appearance. It was because she knew Finn had multiple opportunities to hurt her but chose to show her kindness instead, so she decided to trust her gut feeling and give him a chance.

She wouldn't completely drop her guard around him yet, but she was willing to listen to him now.

Finn felt like Fae's logic was flawed, but he wanted to get closer to her, so he decided to educate her about evil, handsome people once he got to know her a little more.

[You have accepted the quest Coming back home]

Suddenly, a quest window appeared in front of Finn.

Name: Coming back home

Rank: E

Description: Fae wants to return home to her family. Bring her safely back to the Elvish continent's capital city, Eliglade, where her family is waiting for her.

Reward: Fae's gratitude and ???

Finn sighed at the fact that he couldn't see the rewards again, but he could somewhat guess what he would be getting, so he swiped the quest away and looked at Fae.

"Alright, thank you, Fae. You are really dirty, so I will show you where the bathroom is and give you new clothes, okay?"

"Alright. But what is your name?"

She looked at Finn, still keeping her distance from him.

"Oh right. I am Finn. Nice to meet you, Fae."

Finn wanted to shake her hand, but he didn't want to trigger the trauma that she probably had after she was kidnapped and sold into slavery, so he just smiled at her.

"Okay Finn. Show me the bathroom."

Fae stopped acting like a scared kitten and followed behind Finn. He put his mask back on and showed Fae the bathroom.

Finn then gave her a cute dress that he had previously bought, and because he knew that the slave he would be buying was Fae, he knew that he needed to buy a dress that would fit a skinny thirteen-year-old girl.

Buying it, Finn received a few concerned stares, but since he was the infamous Black Skull, most people just went about their day, refusing to do anything about it.

"I will wait outside the bathroom so after you wash and dress yourself, you can just exit the bathroom, and I will give you some delicious food because you are probably pretty hungry."

He explained that he wanted Fae to know what would happen next, as uncertainty would make her more scared.

"Delicious food… Okay!"

Fae started salivating after she heard the words delicious food, because all she ate as a slave was hard bread.

And after quickly wiping her saliva, she entered the bathroom.

While she was washing herself, Finn changed the sheets on the bed because they had become dirty after Fae had slept on them.

Ten minutes later, Fae walked out of the bathroom with her new green dress, which had white laces and looked really cute.

Now that she was clean, Finn could see what Fae really looked like.

She had long, glistening silver hair, light blue, gem-like eyes, and a small, cute nose. Her pink lips and round face made her look as adorable as a doll.

"Can we have the delicious food now?"

Fae was still pretty scared, so she didn't get too close to Finn.

"Sure."

Finn never had a little sister, but looking at Fae made him feel like he wanted nothing else but to protect her, so he just smiled and showed her the way.

He felt a certain charm toward her, but not in a creepy way. It made him want to act as her big brother, so he kept smiling while glancing at her like a fool.

Finn always wanted a younger sibling, but his parents never gave him one, and now that he met Fae, he suddenly felt like his wish had finally come true.

The second floor of the bar had a room with a table that was connected to the kitchen, and upon entering the room, Finn saw that the food was already prepared.

He had tasked a gang member that also worked as a chef to cook food while Fae was in the bathroom.

"Food!"

Seeing the different types of roasted meat and various side dishes, Fae ran to the table, and after sitting down in a chair, she began gulfing the food down.

Finn took his mask off and also sat down next to her to watch her eat.

"Nobody is going to take the food away from you, so just take your time or you might choke on it."

He tried to warn her, but Fae acted like she didn't hear him and kept shoving different dishes down her throat.

"*COUGH*"

Suddenly she choked on a piece of vegetable, and Finn quickly handed her a glass of water. So she quickly gulped it down, which made her swallow the piece that was stuck in her throat.

"What did I tell you, Fae? Take your time. I am not hungry, so I won't take the food away from you. Eat slowly and chew before swallowing."

He scolded her, but in a kind voice, because he didn't want to make her more scared than she already was.

"Yes…"

Fae nodded and began eating slowly this time.

Finn thought that she wouldn't eat much because she was really skinny, but she managed to eat a lot more than he thought.

That was a good thing, though.

"Eat a lot so that you can become healthy again."

Finn smiled and unconsciously started patting her head.

Feeling his touch, Fae flinched a little, but she didn't run away.

When Finn felt her flinch, though, he realized what he had done and quickly pulled his hand back.

"I am so sorry, Fae! I probably scared you, right? I am sorry!"

He bowed his head to show her that he actually didn't mean to do that, and Fae was slowly starting to understand that Finn was either really good at acting like a kind person or he was a kind person.

"It's okay... Just ask me next time."

She crossed her hands and looked away, acting offended, to which Finn smiled.

"Alright, thank you, Fae."

"When are we leaving, by the way?"

Fae looked at Finn and impatiently asked because she wanted to go home and meet up with her family as soon as possible.

"It's going to be evening soon, so you should go to sleep. After that, you will have dinner and go to sleep again. This will help you gather a lot of energy, and we will get on a ship tomorrow morning after you eat breakfast."

Finn told Fae about his plan to have her eat a lot before they left because he knew that traveling by ship could be pretty dangerous for people who didn't have healthy bodies.

There were a lot of illnesses one could catch on the sea, after all.

So, he decided to give her the nutrients her body was missing before setting out on their journey.

"But I thought we would be going now!"

Fae suddenly stood up and glared at Finn.

"No ship is going to sail this late, Fae. And I don't want you to get sick by traveling on the ship when your body is still really skinny, so please just do as I say. I want you to meet your family too, but I don't want you to get sick along the way."

Finn explained his worries to Fae with a gentle voice, and she realized that he was only thinking of her wellbeing.

She once had a big brother who unfortunately passed away, and she found Finn and her late brother really similar.

The way they both talked to her in a gentle voice, the way they both scolded her without getting angry, or even the way they patted her head while giving her a kind smile.

"...Okay, big brother."

So, without thinking, she accidentally called Finn her big brother.

But Finn didn't mind, and before she could correct herself, he stood up and looked at her with a gentle smile.

"Let's get you to bed, Fae. I will wake you up when it's time for dinner, alright?"

"Mhm…"

Fae nodded and followed Finn back into the room where she had woken up before.

Then he told her to change into her pajamas that he had bought for her and go to sleep once he left the room.

There was still some light outside, so he also told her to close the curtains, and after wishing Fae sweet dreams, Finn went outside the room and closed the door.

"Sir…"

But as Finn kept smiling to himself because Fae called him her big brother, he didn't realize that he wasn't the only one in the hallway, and turning around to look at the shocked Dora, he registered what he had done wrong.

He forgot to put his mask back on after leaving the dining room with Fae.