Now it's a day to help a young noble literally called Reign. Might as well meet the local fake power before departing. Really, can any nobles control Hargeon with Blue Pegasus around? His father might have died unexpectedly for a reason. On to the contents of the day, Vice loves ignoring sick children. Childcare is so amusing when the bundles of energy have been deprived of it. For the good of the public, Vice really doesn't want to let this sick child go infect other people. Warming up masks in his dark grey robe pocket, Vice hopes people don't find him weird! Before going to the beach, Vice hangs around the mansion.

Why can't Reign leave his mansion, is he afraid of getting sick? It must be related to why the dad died unexpectedly. Having to manage the children of smart companions before, Vice feels experienced enough with kids at his young age, and hasn't abandoned any. In a way, this is a practical use of time, coddling up to the nobility of Hargeon. If the child was of regular identity Vice has a more efficient way of watching children. Usually, he just likes to ruthlessly match the energy of a child until it gets tired. Blatantly command the kids to run around and lose their smol energy reserves. No need to feed the children in the process, as that would replenish them. In case a child resents you, expedite the process, and ignore their pleas for attention entirely. The case differs here! Vice must make this child hate her uncle, and make Blue Pegasus reign supreme in her heart!

(WC first post 270, this post 368)

"I WANT TO PLAY NOOOOW." Anxiety filled the little girl still in the mansion, so much so, she yelled out unbecoming of her image with her uncle close. An escort called Rick had arrived, but she couldn't leave? Looking out the window, she saw the other escort, and promptly hopped out safely. Confident in himself, and his ability to satisfy the true challenger, Vice doesn't want to go meet Mr. Fake Lord. A competent lord is aware that Vice has arrived, and there are escorts protecting from the shadows! The usual story. Vice has no work to do! Isn't that how it usually goes?

Turning his back to the mansion, while keeping fully aware of his surroundings, Vice in sync follows the shadow of the little girl that begins to run away. Vice notices immediately she doesn't want to engage with a stranger. The butler situation has probably been experienced by her before. If anything, the nobleman is hosting a tryout for the little girl to find a toy. Looking at her appearance, maybe she's one of a hundred nieces, so Vice tries to determine her ordinariness.

"Scouting the perimeter, Mr. Quester!!!" Vice shouts toward the mansion! Haha, quester should have been outside, it's just proper business sense! Now, is the landlady disciplined and protected properly? That isn't Vice's job. All Vice needs to do is stay in this little lady's service, while limiting his energy output, and maximizing hers. She dashes toward the beach as a good pet.

"Firrrst, get all the seashells. Or you're gone." Having her pant in anxiety, Vice purposely didn't catch up with her so she could keep wearing herself out going to the beach full-throttle. A little game of tag edged in.

"Okay, but you must follow, to make sure I complete your task properly." Straining his words, Vice begins running over to different patches of seashells chaotically, Vice allowing the little one to get confused and frustrated at the inefficiency. Tilting his head back, Vice also prepares to get to know his quest companion, if he has caught up. Along the way, Vice plays a game of catch with the little one, making her flustered to repeatedly fail to catch seashells.

(377 words)

Children get bored quickly. Vice is bored of the little girl. Also, he is not a child, Rick is a child! How dare the quester not pick up the seashells? Vice wasn't ignoring the approach of Rick, all Vice wanted to dooo, was make sure Rick was close enough for any plot Vice might cook up. Waiting that other child-hater out, Vice first squandered his time to let the little girl keep playing. Seeing things mixing up, the little girl gets thrown into the air, and Vice's build-up of her apathy is negated! Zoning out, Vice takes a deep breath, and sneezes. Leaning forward, he avoids the flying little girl completely, and makes no contact with her innate danger.

"Oh no! Are you alright lady Wahwah Valystasia? Actually, we got all the seashells in our hearts, so we're all done. Your uncle wants to keep seashells here for your next party! Ohohoh and Mr. Quester, my name is Vice, fancy meeting you here." Trying to distract the girl rushingly, Vice accepts his companion's help. It is time for good cop bad cop.

"WAH WAH" There there, Vice pets the crying thingy that fell on the ground. After a while of all this work, the noblelady is exhausted, and Vice beams off her task completion. Only special seashells matching the noblelady have been picked up, to accentuate her cuteness! Lying with children is also important, as they are ignorant and useless, but must be kept up to speed. Lying is purely good! Survival instinct does kick in for the child though, and she starts to sober up. Of course, provoking the survival instinct is the goal. Self-improvement is the greatest icebreaker toward a child's happiness.

Somehow, the Ms Valystasia thought she was helping, as all silly children do. Now that she has noticed the heat and dangerous thrower-man, she audibly groans to complain, and motions Vice to stay in the sun to make shade for her. Nodding his head along, Vice accepts the progression, and takes the opportunity to take his shirt off. Then, fanning of the little one starts. With gusto, Vice might be throwing sweat off his body toward the girl, but he's picking up a tan. Ah right, Vice's guild tattoo is on his back.

Pushing the little girl to fan herself too, Vice gets sad when she makes a lackadaisical effort out of tiredness, and distracted toward her next game. Infact, the battle is already won, as the little girl didn't have her guard up. Being the overlord of Hargeon, or part of that guild, Vice has no fear of any noble family. From the first sighting, he had determined he'd exhaust this little girl to make things as they should be. Suddenly, Vice is compelled to actually fulfill the happiness of this child. She wants to go to the other side of the beach, to the forest. While she looks pleadingly toward the questers to carry her, Vice ignores her, for this would give her energy a break. She'll understand the dangers of carrying! Resoundingly excited to go to the flowers, Vice pushes her to go with a furious nod ignoring her!

"Rick! Great to meet you. I'm sure we'll come across each other quite a bit. It's all swampy and small here in Hargeon. We'll stick to each other like maaagic." Rushingly replying to Rick, Vice prepares to sprint out the little lady's quest. As many children do, the noblelady forgets that Vice has ignored her actual immediate desire to be carried. Letting sweet adrenaline take her, Vice is happy he took a mask for this girl, so she could be more tired and safe for the public. Initially, without knowing the child, he couldn't apply the mask. Eventually, he got it sneaked in on the pretense of safety, bumping into her as she goes forth on her new childish journey. Ignoring any onlookers, Vice will just advertise Blue Pegasus on his back for this day, and follows along with the party. Indoctrinating children into the guild would be weird, as it's not like creepy child beauty pageants exist.

"Let's go ahead and pick some flowers! By picking them at that spot, you will make sure even more beautiful flowers will grow safely!" Finding the objective focus, Vice patiently lies to the lady, and points toward random flowers. Nodding her head in sync, Vice's mind wanders in unison. Yeah he has no idea how flowers work and doesn't care if they die. But! Momentary happiness leads to permanent joy. Taking the opportunity to pick up the flowers, Vice forgets where the lady was located. Oh no she actually ran away and was tired of Vice's swindling maybe. The nightmare scenario has arrived! Vice has no idea about popular spots in Hargeon, or somebody could have just kidnapped this noble for ransom. Hopefully the second case happened, as Vice can't fight anybody anyway. But by the power of tanning in the sun, Vice eventually finds the girl, and notices her coddled up.

"Oh! I wonder why she's so tired Rick. She must have imposed too much fun on herself. Wah Wah! It's time to go! We'll do even more fun stuff later!" Pretending he's out of breath, Vice makes a shaky voice. Actually, she wasn't that far away in the forest, as she has been crippled with tiredness. Imposing the niceness of Blue Pegasus, Vice will not allow her a break. Aw, it's just in true child-like fashion, she's sad she couldn't keep up with all the fun! It's time to go home for the girl, lying that they can plan out an even more fun day going forward. When Vice has crystallized the fact he will never see her again, fun will be at it's peak! Payment is also needing to be done. At the castle, Vice gratefully accepts his reward, and goes away.

(602 words, 1617 total)