Nero and I make our way down to the docks, the salty air and smell of fish assaults our noses causing Nero to scrunch up his nose while he looks at me with an unhappy face, “Oh relax, you’ll get used to it soon.” Making our way past the numerous stalls, through the tourists and sailors going about their business, we greet the usual shop keeps on our way to Aunt Anna’s stall, “Hi Aunt Anna!”

“Hello B, Hi Nero.” As we approach, the smell of candied apples, caramel corn, cotton candy and numerous other sweets that drown out the usual smell of the area causes me to let out an unintentional gulp. “And what brings you two here today?” she looks at my and Nero’s longing face’s with a smile before continuing, “Just kidding, I’m about to pack up so you guys can take one of anything you want.”

The words had barely left her mouth before Nero snatched a candied apple, I made my way behind the stall and grabbed the last bag of caramel corn when a deep voice sounded out from the other side of the stall. “Good afternoon Sister”

“Knight Commander!” after a startled yelp, Anna responds by giving a deep bow to the large, broad shouldered man dressed in simple white robes looming over the stall. “Greetings, May I ask what brings you to the docks?”

“No need to be startled sister, it’s one of my rare off days.” The knight commander lets out a chuckle before continuing, “Just spending some time with my daughter Kyrie before I go back on duty.”

Poking my head out from the side of the stall I can see a swish of brown hair sticking out from behind his legs, looking to the other side of the stall I can see Nero with his eyes wide open and his face frozen as he stares at the figure hidden from my view. Making my way behind Anna to the other side of the stall I can hear her take notice of the new arrival as I grab a handful of sweets, “Hm? I didn’t see you there little one, what would you like to have?” There’s a quiet squeak as she tries to obscure herself even further behind her father’s legs.

“She’s just a bit shy is all,” the knight commander replies with a gentle smile. “It’s been a bit hard on her since Credo took his vows.” looking at the contents on the table he comments, “no caramel corns? A shame, it’s her favorite.”

Reaching the other side of the table what greets me is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in both my lives, now I can understand why Nero froze, he probably already has a crush on this little girl. Noticing us stare at her she hides again, I Elbow Nero in his ribs and hand him the bag of caramel corns while motioning for him to give it to her, breaking out of his stupor he starts making his way over before noticing the large figure blocking his way and freezing on the spot. Putting my hand on his shoulder I whisper in his ear, “If you don’t go now I might just steal her for myself.” With a panicked look on his face Nero takes a deep breath, goes over to the knight commander and tugs on his trousers to get his attention, seeing the massive man look down at him I swear I can see Nero’s neck shrink in response. The knight commander looks down at him with a raised eyebrow before Nero raises the bag and hands it to him. Receiving a firm nod in response Nero scurries back behind the stall in an attempt to escape his gaze.

“Wait a second, THAT’S Credo’s sister!? How can Mr frumpy himself have a sister this cute!?” the words unintentionally leave my mouth as I recall the Knight Commander’s words and the realization hits me.

“Pffft, you’ve got him there girl.” The knight Captain smiles at me before continuing. “don’t be too hard on him though, he’s had to be the man of the house for most of his life due to the nature of my job, it’s only natural that he grew up to be a bit too serious.”

“Nmmf Fmmmy.” A muffled voice squeaks out from behind the knight Commanders legs.

“Huh? What was that?” I ask and lean in closer.

“Cledo Isn’p lumpy!” exiting from behind her father Kyrie yells in anger and exposes her missing front teeth before quickly putting her hands over her mouth and ducking away again.

“Pfffmmmmnnn.” I almost started laughing before Aunt Anna managed to cover my mouth and stop me.

“Enjoy the caramel corn darling,” Anna remarks and accepts the money from the Knight Commander.

“Thank you sister, much appreciated.” The knight commander bows and turns to leave.

Watching the two leave Anna comments, “That was nice of you Beatrice. I know caramel corn is your favorite too.”

“Not a problem, now Nero owes me for the dowry I sponsored him with.” I reply and give Anna a wink, causing her jaw to drop in response.

“What’s a dowry?” Nero questions from behind the stall, “another name for caramel corn?”

“I’ll explain when you’re older Nero, Beatrice is just joking.” Pinching my nose she continues, “Now, I have an appointment at head office so I need to be on my way soon, don’t stay outside too late and make sure you get home safely.”

“You need us to take the leftovers back to the orphanage for you?” I ask as I take a candied apple off the table, only to be looked at as if I was an idiot.

“You’ve proven that we can trust you with a lot of things Beatrice,” Anna pinches the bridge of her nose as she continues, “However you’ve also proven that you can’t be trusted around sweets.” Sticking out the palm of her hand she continues, “Now hand them over.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Is this because of the cake incident? That’s ancient history, just let it go already.” I reply and flash the cutest smile I can muster.

“Let it go? Ancient history?” She lowers her hand and looks me dead in the eyes with a glare that threatened to empty my bladder, “That was last week Beatrice. And that face might work with Sam, but we both know I’m immune to it. Now I said ONE of anything, you can count the handful of sweets you took as one but you have to choose between that and the apple.” She replies while motioning with her hand.

“Tsk,” reaching into my pockets I pull out the handful of sweets I swiped while she was talking with the Knight Commander and hand them over.

 The rest of the day was uneventful and we spent most of the time playing in the park, this place is safe enough that children can walk around unattended almost anywhere on the island, some places are restricted of course but for the most part we have free reign from whenever our guardians feel we’re ready to go out on our own until we’re enrolled in the local school when we turn eight. The way I understand it a child’s guardian is responsible for teaching reading and writing skills, using only the temple provided teaching materials of course. Speaking about reading and writing, the spoken word is the same as my old world but all the characters used for writing are different, so that took a bit of learning. When the sun started to set we headed home, opening the orphanages doors we’re greeted by the familiar smell of food being prepared in the kitchen, the sounds of Sam busying herself with the dishes and utensils fill the otherwise silent building, “Hi Sam! Were back!” Nero zooms past the kitchen window shouting his greeting as he makes his way to the TV in the common area. I honestly don’t see the appeal of cartoons, they probably aren’t like this outside of Fortuna but most of the character interactions only serve to villainize anyone who doesn’t live on the island, it’s was easy to spot the subtle hints they use for brainwashing even though they use animals as a stand in for people, mostly because we did the same thing when noble children came for their blessings.

For the education portion leading up to their first blessing we’d tell them similar stories, the difference being we openly used words like heretic, apostate and infidel to describe our villains and their evil deeds where equivalent to war crimes, here they use the animals behind a fence and things like stealing vegetables to give the same effect, its more subtle but in its own way all the more terrifying since these are freely available to even commoner orphans like us just by flicking a switch, and the content used is much more child friendly and approachable for younger audiences than the scare tactics we made use of. Of course, I haven’t seen what the temple school here has in store for me yet but I suspect the bulk of the fear mongering to start there. Aside from the us versus them mentality there are a lot of similarities when it comes to the doctrine of the church in my old world, same sex marriage? Off the table. I found the cartoon for that one a bit funny actually, two kind sows were living together with their adopted donkey son and started getting terrorized by a snake, they tried a bunch of things to try and get rid of it but nothing worked until a large bulky male pig showed up and beat it in one hit, coincidentally also bringing along a donkey couple who could raise their son properly, and yes sending away their son was framed as the male pig being heroic, I mean really. The fight scenes in some of the demon centered cartoons are fun though, and that’s basically the only thing Nero pays attention to anyway so I think we’re safe on that front.

“Foods almost done!” Sam shouts from the kitchen. “B can you make sure Nero washes his hands and set the table for me.”

“No Problem!” I yell back, making my way to Nero. “Come on Nero, you can watch your cartoons later, it’s time to eat.”

“This episode is almost finished, ill wash my hands when it’s done.” Nero replies without taking his eyes off the screen.

“How invested can you be? We just got home and you can catch the full rerun tomorrow morning.” I reply and grab his ear. “I’m too hungry for this argument again,” I start pulling him toward the bathroom. “Now come along before this thing gets ripped off.”

“Ow ow ow ow, Okay, okay I’m coming.” Nero replies while jumping to his feet and follows reluctantly.

“Where’s Aunt Anna? Haven’t seen her since we got back.” I question as I set the table.

Walking out of the kitchen holding a large platter Sam answers, “A member of the order returned after a long time away and she’s helping him settle back in, she should be back soon.” A few trips back and forth to the kitchen later and a feast was laid out in front of us. “Hands together children, we can’t eat without praying.” I lower my head and close my eyes while I pretend to pray, I’ve made my argument against this before and the result was me going to bed hungry, so yeah, not again.

“Who’s so important that he needs a personal escort when he comes home?” I ask while cutting Nero’s steak up for him.

“I think his name is Agnus, he’s the one who invented those Caliburn swords that all the order knight’s carry around. I believe he was the chief technology researcher before he left, I wonder why they called him back.” Sam answers absentmindedly before digging in.

As per normal Sam made way too much food and we ended up taking the leftovers to the Knight Barracks before we started getting ready for bed. Sam, Nero and I walk through the empty streets of Fortuna, large parcels in each of our arms as we make our way down the street. We knock on a massive wooden door and a young brown haired teenage boy answers the door while panting.

“Are they still using you as a gopher Credo? I thought you’d have earned their respect by now, guess some people just don’t have what it takes to be a knight.” I shrug my shoulders and smile at credo as the now familiar scowl fills his face.

“Beatrice. Still leaching the churches resources without an ounce of gratitude?” Credo responds.

“And loving it!” I reply with a smile.

“Ungrateful litt-” Credo starts speaking before another knight smacks him upside the head.

“Getting angry at children huh. Maybe it’s still too early for you to be a knight.” The moment the older knight sees Sam an uncharacteristic smile blooms on his face. “Sam! Thank Sparda you’re here, the muck they serve here barely counts as food.”

“I’m sure dale tries his best, they really should hire a proper chef for you guys.” Sam replies with a smile and hands over the platter she was holding.

Taking the platters from me and Nero the older knight turns to credo, “Well don’t just stand there! Help me carry these, and don’t forget to show proper thanks to Samantha and the kids.”

“Well?” I question credo with my arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

“Thank you sister Samantha, Nero,” Gritting his teeth he almost spat out the next words, “And Beatrice.”

“See? Wasn’t so bad was it?” I was leaning in and waiting to see the usual unhappy scowl when my head jerked backwards as someone pulled on my ponytail. “The hell?” seeing Samantha’s smiling face looking down at me sent a shiver down my spine and my mouth instinctively shut.

“You can bring the platters back tomorrow, you don’t have to worry about cleaning them.” Sam instructs credo with a smile.

As we turn to leave and before the door closes I yell back at credo, “Try taking that stick out of your butt sometime! It might make your scowl disappear!” I can swear I heard laughter as the door slammed shut. Well that was a fun trip.

“Why do you insist on tormenting that boy?” Sam inquires as we make our way back to the orphanage.

Shrugging my shoulders I reply, “Because it’s funny?”

Looking down at me with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile Sam responds, “Hmmm, funny you say, Okaaaaay.”

“What? And why do you have such a stupid smile on your face?” I reply.

“No reason, no reason,” Sam responds and dismisses my question. “Oh to be young.” She mutters to herself.

Entering the dark and quiet orphanage a sleepy Nero rubs his eyes and speaks up, “is Aunt Anna not back yet?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” Sam replies then turns to me, “Help Nero get ready for bed, I’ll be up to tuck you two in a bit later.” She then makes her way to the kitchen and the sound of a kettle boiling water fills the air.

“C’mon Nero, let’s get ready for bed.” I grab his hand and start leading him to the bathroom.

“But what about Aunt Anna? We never go to bed without saying goodnight to her.” Nero questions as we make our way up the stairs.

“Don’t worry about it, Sam’s probably gonna wait up for her, imagine how mad Aunt Anna will be if she comes back and finds us awake after bed time.” I reply.

“Kay.” Nero replies half asleep as I brush his teeth and get him ready for bed.

I might have told Nero not to worry but I can’t help but feel the pit of unease in my stomach continue to grow as I lay in bed and drift into sleep.

A/N: So dmc doesn't actually ever give ranks to the knights aside from Credo in dmc 4 (Supreme General, makes me think of the dictator so i'm tossing it), and they basically never rank demons aside from demon lord or demon king so i made up simple ranking systems for both of em going forward.

Knight ranks (Low to high) Credo is a squire btw.

Squire, Knight in training, Serving knight, Knight captain, Knight commander, with executives from other departments in the church on the same level as the knight commander and Sanctus above them all.

Demon ranks (Low to high) more like umbrella terms than anything else

Lesser demons (includes all non speaking demons and variants), demon General (boss lv strength), Demon Lord (Final boss lv strength), Demon king (Ruler of the demon world, e.g Mundus in his prime)