The rooms were cleared very quickly because there was no one there and before Alice had time to step on the first step of the stairs, she was distracted by the duck. She was sure that the whole charade was upstairs but there was no time for that. Not now, she looked up but did not hear anything and thus turned around. As she hunched down to observe the duck, it seemed to get angry at what Ren said and she raised her right eyebrow and looked up at the Rune Knight. That's right before the duck took off and she stood up to follow it as silently as she could. For some strange reason it looked like the duck understood the Fioran language that they were talking. As they were following the duck, Alice turned to Ren to show her idea which was putting her left index finger against her lips to tell Ren to be quiet as well without making a sound of a word. No hush, no whisper and no noise. Especially when she heard voices, whispering, uttering, muttering. It came from a back room, so it was not upstairs, that meant that the duck saved her from spilling time on something impossible. The needle was here not in the higher part of the haystack but very low.
She eyed the duck as it seemed to point at the door and she wasn't sure. Apart from the fact that the duck seemed to know the language that they spoke as well as the signs, for it did not make another quack. Not only did it know how to read signs it also knew to make pointing with its wing towards the door, she was sure after looking a second time. She nodded at the suggestion that Ren would go but she moved up her hand first as an indication to wait for a second and she pulled the sword from its scabbard and stood ready with it in her right hand. She wanted to keep her left free. In case of a hoard of people she would be able to pull Ren back and close the door. However, the sound was not like a conversation but more or a one man show. She got very curious for as much as she allowed it. Ready to actually protect him or see what would happen. With the door open she noticed at first the person strapped to a chair and it must be the fiance, it was the same description by Marlee. "That's him." She took a scan across the room, noticing the medical equipment but quickly took rapid steps over to the fiance to take the gag off. But instead of talking he quacked at her and she took a step back and held her sword with both hands. What the hell? She looked at the duck, back at the guy, back at the duck and stared with a pale face at Ren.
"I think the duck is him and this thing is the duck." a thumbs up at the human body. She felt insane because that was ridiculous but she had seen so much also with her dad that is.
She groaned and went to look through the room, holding her sword still ready but a tad lower and only with her right hand again, there must be someone in this manor because they look well-taken care off.
"There must be an idiot around." She looked at the open door on the left and the closed on the right and took a deep breath,
"Keep that duck here and try if you find a solution." She did not even try to whisper anymore. The door looked solid enough to drown out their voices. This would mean that she was going to take a soft approach. She was done. She went to the closed door and kicked it in and stared at the hunched man who seemed to be laughing at a set of bottles with strange liquid. As he seemed to be more in his head with his giggles, she was quickly at him and took his shoulder and held the sword right underneath his chin.
"Look, we can take the long road or the short one but the end will be the same. Fix. It." She wasn't really polite or anything but why did it need to be. She pulled him to the door and kicked him through with her sword at the small of his back.
He muttered things she did not hear and shortly looked at Ren who was of course in that room. The man took the duck and put him on the other empty chair that she had missed before and muttered something, something that he could not work like this but she only hissed at him that he had to hurry. He seemed to know what he was doing but she didn't trust him,
"Any mistake and you get to meet my weapon even closer." Which made him switch to another liquid but it seemed to fix the problem and switch it back. Which was a very weird show if she had not seen a lot of things in her life already. She looked as if she checked upon the duck but hit the scientist with the back of her blade on the back of his head. To which he fell to the ground.
"Oh, and I forgot to say you are arrested." but she let Ren fix the other things. The rights. It was with the massive headache that he probably did not hear it as he was basically knocked out. She shook her head and made sure Marlee's fiance was alright.
"Would you reunite them?" She lifted up the scientist over her left shoulder and tucked the duck under her right arm, petting it softly so it knew it was okay and she would make sure it would get a good place to stay.
She made her way out of the manor, but waited for the other two and walk with them mostly before dropping the scientist at the station.
2010/2000
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