The next day after lectures, Melinda paid for the carriage that dropped her off at the orphanage in the western parts of the Jade City - by that, it meant that she traveled outside the inner walls and then on to the very edge of the outer walls, onto a small hill overlooking the gate leading towards the strip of wilderness which was a safety buffer separating the Emeraldios empire from the Silver Ocean and its inhabitants.
"It might take a little while."
After getting out of the carriage, the gold-haired girl informed the coachman and turned towards the small farm-like complex of buildings.
There wasn't much to it.
A long one-floor building with a straw roof, a shed filled with wood and sticks, a barn that didn't appear to have any cattle in it and was slowly turning into ruin, and a chicken coop with a few domesticated Paddle-foot chickens pecking at the dusty ground they had cleaned out of any vegetation long ago.
There was some commotion going on in front of the house, though.
Two men were trying to drag a young ashen-haired girl into an old carriage that had its prime far behind it, and three even younger girls were doing their best to hold onto their friend, while two others, one a pre-teen child and other looking barely six years old, were crying in the doorway.
"Miss…! We shouldn't be here…!"
"Pshah. Why?"
The coachman, who brought Melinda all the way to the orphanage called out to her in a hushed voice, spooked about the situation, but the gold-haired girl merely scoffed, waving her hand dismissively while approaching the house and the old carriage.
The two rough-looking men were successful in dragging the girl halfway in the carriage, but because of the ones pulling back on her, they couldn't really get away without letting go of their captive.
"The adoption process sure looks rough around these parts. Anyway, where is the person in charge? I have a business with them."
"?!?!"
Melinda casually approached them and asked, leaning against the old carriage, causing both sides of the struggle to stare at her in confusion and utter disbelief.
"Th-this isn't adoption! Those thugs want to take Olina! Please help us!"
One of the girls holding onto her friend had enough brains to call out before gritting her teeth.
"Thugs…?"
Melinda raised her brow and turned her head to have a better look at the individuals intending to take the ashen-haired girl with them.
"Stay the fuck out of this! Bitch!"
The man closer to Melinda, maybe a failed martial artist of sorts, spat out and kicked her square in the face, causing the gold-haired girl's head to bounce back, receiving the full brunt of the attack.
"...hey…"
Melinda, whose face was now marked with a dirty imprint of the thug's shoe's sole, spoke up in an ice-cold voice, giving the man a murderous look right while blood started dripping down out of her left nostril.
The next moment, the girl moved one arm and gave the old carriage just the gentlest tap with the very ends of her fingertips…
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
The entire thing broke into splinters and crushed metal - the cabin, the wheel, and even the axles - all shattered and blown into the sky by an earth-shattering shockwave.
"!!!"
"!?!?"
The thugs let go of the ashen-haired girl as they suddenly dropped to the ground when their vehicle ceased to exist, and the pair of horrified horses that were strapped to the carriage had now run off in panic.
Despite being free, the ashen-haired girl and her friends didn't move a muscle from their spots, just as bewildered as the thugs.
All of them stared between the long streep of fine remains of the carriage laid parallel to the road leading to the orphanage and the gravely annoyed gold-haired girl tilting her head to the side so the blood dripping from her nose would not stain her clothes.
"I hope you two understand that you just began a fight with me. Intermediate Heal."
"!!!"
Melinda pointed out, raising her hand to her face, stopping the bleeding, erasing the sole imprint from her face -except for the dirt, of course - and causing the pair of thugs to make an expression as if they were about to shit themselves in one swift go.
Without saying another word, the thugs dashed away, going into a full-on sprint that looked to be even empowered by some traversal-type skill.
"So, could everyone be so kind and just turn around for a second?"
"Thank you so much!"
Melinda raised one hand and asked, aiming it at the escaping man as she prepared to flick her finger at them, but she got hugged by the grateful ashen-haired girl.
"Thank you!"
And to make the situation even more troublesome, the two youngest girls got out of the house and ended up hugging her, too.
"...wha…? But I was still going to… Haa…"
Melinda flinched and let out a troubled gasp before taking a glance at the escapees and sighing as she lost sight of them.
She still could judge their approximate location, but with all those witnesses around, it would be too much pain in the ass to deal with the inevitable consequences.
"You're welcome."
The gold-haired girl ended up breathing out in a tired voice, lightly patting everyone who was clinging to her.
"Well then. What happened, and where is the person in charge?"
Melinda gave up on ending the thugs and asked, taking a step back from the ashen-haired girl but accidentally taking the two children with her as they clung to her legs with impressive stubbornness.
"You are here because of Mister Jude?!"
"In a way, yes."
The ashen-haired girl, Olina, let out an excited gasp, and Melinda raised her brows and confirmed while cleaning her face with a handkerchief.
"~!"
All the other girls seemed equally excited about Melinda's answer, which was rather suspicious, but worrying about something like that wasn't exactly in the gold-haired girl's plans.
"Where is Mister Jude now?"
She asked again.
"Mister Jude went to the city in the morning. Usually, he comes back around now. He might end up running into those thugs you chased away."
Olina answered properly, even mentioning the other subject that picked Melinda's interest.