Casefile: LITRature

THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION, and White didn't need to see what happened. He knew it was Nikolai Flume. Slabs of wood and small rocks flew and hit White's leg. Egg Soup protected Aifric from the debris. Behind the concrete wall that separated Aifric and the others' tent from the communal space, Nikolai created another explosion.

It stressed White out. The boy was wasting his Pen's power and ultimately his life just to throw petty tantrums, so White decided to teach the boy another lesson.

Soup and Aifric were about to rush into their people's rescue, but White stopped them. "It's just Nikolai Flume. The sound of the explosion was real, but I'm sure no one was hurt. I need you two here."

To protect me, to be a witness, to-mey-to, to-mah-to.

Soup was a little reluctant to stay. "But the people—"

"Notice how there's no one screaming?"

The two listened for a second.

"That's because despite his unpredictable nature, Nikolai makes sure that civilians are safe." White had managed to convince them.

"WHERE'S THAT PIECE OF—"

"I'm here, you idiot!" White yelled back. Soup and Aifric watched reverentially as White faced the threat bravely and unarmed.

Nikolai finally appeared from the other side of the concrete. He scowled at White and raised his Silver Pen up. "You punched me."

"I saved you," White replied, doing a quick check of Nikolai's Book. The pages remained the same, which made White sigh in relief.

"Where are we? Why is everyone carrying arms?" Nikolai glanced at Soup, and quirked an eyebrow after being mildly intimidated by Soup's physique. "D'ya know, they let me fire a bazooka back there to get your attention."

So he wasn't writing.

"We are refugees," Aifric spoke, stepping forward. Nikolai was speechless and starstruck by her presence and her adorable accent. "We came from Area 9 and fought against Crowne. Now Area 3 is ours."

"So you're like, anarchists?" Nikolai studied Aifric from head to toe. "Have you been stealing weapons from Crowne?"

"Aifric creates weapons for us," Soup supplied. "And we use the weapons to intimidate people from Crowne. As long as we have these, we're untouchable."

Ah. They don't know how to use the weapons. Ginagamit lang nilang panakot.

Effective naman sa 'kin.

Nikolai scoffed. "But why are you talking to this foreigner?" He stood beside White and poked his arm with the end of his pen.

White smiled at Soup and Aifric. "Please give me a second to discipline my friend." Then he grabbed the back of Nikolai's collar, dragging him out of earshot. And before Nikolai could protest and wrote something stupid, White covered his mouth and said in an audible whisper, "That's Aifric Dewmorn."

"Mmph—mmph?!" Nikolai struggled to free himself from White's strong grasp.

"Listen, see that golden pen she's holding? That's a Gull Pen."

Nikolai somehow calmed down. He looked back at Aifric, and slowly nodded.

"There are six Gull Pens in this world and that's one of them. It imprinted on her and now she uses it to create weapons."

Nikolai was about to say something, but White didn't think so and held his mouth shut firmly.

"If we're planning to create LITRature in this Area, we need Aifric's help. So be nice to Aifric and everyone around here."