After days of being on the wilderness trails, We have finally arrived at a town called “Whispering Pines.” The town seems to be heavily inspired by towns in the 1890’s to the 1920’s style in the sense that it looked way more “modern” than the town back home which was mostly “wooden and antique.”

“We’re 1 town closer to our destination!” My Mother suddenly announced while Chloe, Dad, and I were fast asleep.

“5 more minutes please~” My dad and I said in unison.

“Aww~ alright, How about we check in at the nearby inns and get comfy!?”

“Alright you kid’s heard Holly, Let’s go look for an Inn!” Dad stretched and encouraged me and Chloe to also get up

“Fine~~” I muttered and woke up Chloe who sat next to me.

     We got out of the covered wagon wagon and the town was very beautiful, the sky was very cloudy due to being winter season and arriving at sunset.

     We arrived at a very warm and cozy Inn, Our family checked in for the night and rented 2 rooms, which were for me, Chloe, and my parents which embarrassed her regarding sharing a room with the family, while our Drover took the 2nd room.

The morning came sooner than expected, I was the first to get up from bed, the sun was already up, and I mustered up the “energy” to not oversleep like I did back home and prepared breakfast.

“I hate waking up early…” I rubbed my eyes and headed to the bathroom to fix myself.

     I then went to the kitchen to prepare our breakfast. I prepared a cup of coffee for my parents, scrambled eggs with smoked bacon, and fruits to stay healthy. How did I learn to cook these dishes properly?

     Well In my past life, I always assisted my wife in cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner which led to me cooking better dishes than her, I’d tell you to ask my kids on how good my cooking was but they are in a different world.

     The other reason is that My parents once caught me cooking in the middle of the night preparing them breakfast and then pretending it was Chloe who cooked for them. That was 2 years ago and I still remember my mom celebrating my “Skill and being a prodigy.”

     I then carefully woke Chloe up and we prepared the table for my parents.

“You've grown fast Gwen!” She complimented me while I put the plates on the table.

“I think you and my mother’s skills have rubbed off on me!” I lied as naturally as I breathed.

     After that I went to wake my parents up in the other room so we all had breakfast together as a group.

     A few hours later, we finished packing up our luggage and headed out of the inn.

“Before we leave the town and continue our way to “Grandma’s house,” what if we let Gwen and Chloe go and explore the town? They could use the exercise” My mother asked while doing her makeup.

“That’s a great Idea Holly, and it let's us plan out the roadmap to Valentina!” My father agreed.

“Then it’s settled! Chloe, go and take Gwen around the town for the day!” My mother cheered while giving Chloe a small pouch of gold coins.

“Uh- Mrs Smith is this not too much money?” Chloe shyly asked.

“Nonsense, you too can spend the money for anything you also want to get, just be back by sundown!” Father followed.

“W-well alright… let’s go, Gwen!”

“I’m Coming!”

     I suspected my parents didn’t just want us to get our “morning exercise” so they could plan the roadmap, My bet is they wanted to bump uglies again, as they weren’t able to inside the covered wagon with me, Chloe, and the drover with them.

“I can’t blame them for wanting to have privacy.” I thought.

     We got out of the inn and unsurprisingly, the sun was already up, and the town was very beautiful! I remember when I used to go on these kinds of road trips with my family back then.

“So Gwen what would you like to go do first?” Chloe asked.

“Hmmm… What if we just go take a morning walk, it’s not like we don’t have time right?” I answered.

“Hahaha~ I can’t say you’re wrong, well then shall we?”

“We shall!”

     We started going around the town to see the many landmarks and met up with the locals of the town. The locals were very welcoming and friendly towards an outsider like me, I just know that I would love to visit this place during winter seasons when I’m old enough!

“Gwen, What would you like to go do after we finish looking around?” asked Chloe.

“I was wondering on what souvenirs we could buy here! I was planning on getting Amy a souvenir when we get back, but now may be the best time to buy one instead of buying something from grandma’s place.”

“You sure have matured quickly over the last 4 years… Here I’m afraid you wouldn’t be needing a babysitter anymore hahaha!”

“ *Gasp* that’s not true! I enjoy having Ms Chloe Onee-chan around a lot! Honest!!”

“Hahaha, it’s fine! I trust you!”

     That was awkward and terrifying. I almost lost my beautiful babysitter over being a genius “child prodigy.” I better start holding back on being too “mature for my age.”

I wonder if it would be cute or funny for me to ask Chloe to wait for me to grow old enough for marriage.

We then headed to the nearby gift shop and started looking around for any souvenirs we can get my grandparents and Amy.

“Ms. Chloe, what souvenir should I get Amy?” I tugged on her sleeve.

“Hmmmm…. How about getting her this one?”

“Oh Wow, that’s perfect!”

     She pointed at a large pillow shaped like a dog bone with a bunch of smaller dog toys that come with them. The gift was for Amy but it also extended to her pet dog army back home.

“Let’s buy it!” I proclaimed before choosing Grandma and Grandpa their own souvenirs, a new fishing set for Grandpa, and several high-quality yarn and knitting materials for Grandma.

     Roughly 2 hours passed between the long morning walk and souvenir shopping. We were in the streets of the town when Chloe broke the silence.

“Do you want to go back to the inn Gwen?”

“I was thinking we could go and walk around some more but I don’t mind going back to the inn and rest-”

“Is something the matter Gwen?”

“Um…. Ms Chloe, can I ask what that is?” I pointed at the structure that was right in front of us.

     I was completely dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and in total shock by what was in front of me. It was a fairly large, colorful building with a sign that was labeled as…. “The Nah-Zi Orphanage” is run by the “Ax-Is.”

     It had a baseball field, what seemed like a picnic area, some dormitories, and a small area for painting which was decorated in Austrian decor.

“Yes, Gwen?”

“Oh- Uh, It’s nothing… I was just interested in seeing this place!”

     What in tarnation were Adolf Hitler and his army of Nazis doing here!?