4 Until dawn comes
He rushed down the stairs, three girls were already in the hall.
"Cindy, I need you to read this to me." he said as he put the letter on the counter.
Kaldia and Diane approached them, curious about what are the contents of it. Marcus suspected what it is about but he still wanted to know the whole message.
"Eh...? Alright." Cindy was kinda confused at the beginning but she quickly started reading out loud. "'Thank you for everything you have made for me, but I'm afraid I cannot stay much longer. I regret we had to meet in such uncomfortable circumstances and I hope I wasn't too much of a burden for you. There are people that want me to disappear and, though I'm really sorry, I can't put anyone else at risk. I hope you understand and for your own safety you will forget about me.' signed by Layla Ranven. So it was really her..." Cindy looked a little shocked.
"But what would she be doing in Salavel?" Diane asked. "I thought prophetesses are supposed to be in Varas."
Varas was the capital of Myria, Marcus was there three times, for now. Every time he gets a promotion, he has to go to guild hall in Varas so he can obtain a new tag. The capital was bigger than Salavel but he had to admit it was really nicely designed and impressive.
"They can't leave it or something?" Marcus asked.
"It's not like that, they are allowed to roam freely unless there is a reason for them to stay, but they usually don't move outside the castle without guards for safety reasons." Cindy answered and started thinking on Diane's point.
"She had her guards with her but was betrayed..." Marcus said what was obvious for everyone. He thought for a while and suddenly rushed upstairs. "I'm sorry, I won't pick up any quest today." He shouted from the upper level.
In his room, he packed his savings, map and the stuff he usually took for hunting. He looked into the bag of money, there was quite an amount saved. Leaving the room he again shouted to girls.
"I'll have a standard breakfast, Cindy."
"Y-yea..." the girl answered in confusion. "Mr. Ghend, one standard, please!"
"What are you going to do? Please don't tell me you are going after her..." Kaldia looked at the black-haired man and realized this is exactly what is he going to do. "Haah... Nevermind"
"I kinda feel responsible for her, you know...?"
"If you just felt like that about me..." The girl said quiet enough that Marcus couldn't hear her. She just let a quick sigh and went back to work.
"I'm leaving" said Marcus opening hall door and stepped out on to the road.
'I have to get to the weapon shop first' he ran straight into the alley he bought his first knife.
Entering the weapon shop was always something amazing for him. It was that famous "upgrade syndrome". The feeling of getting stronger was always nice.
"How can I help you, Nightie?" The blacksmith was a man in his forties, muscular with a kind face, yet he got every penny out of Marcus when he was stopping at his shop. He also used "Nightie" sow in Marcus' liking scale it was -20 points out of 100.
"Don't call me that. I don't really have much time and I want the best dagger you have for 70 silver coins."
"Oy, you have that much? Just how long you work every day, huh?" Blacksmith seemed to be surprised by that request but he went to the backroom and got out holding something similar to katana but really short. In his world, it would be called wakizashi.
"This should be fine, it was made from magic imbued metal so it's harder than normal steel."
"How much for that?"
"67 silver, but I can sell it for 60 and your knife, how about that?"
"Fine" Marcus handed the knife and counted coins to the blacksmith. Wakizashi he got was light and fast. The blade was too long to be called a dagger but the overall feeling was great. This was a really good weapon.
After visiting the shop, Marcus started his race around Salavel, he knew some citizens so he could ask them about Layla. Unfortunately, the answer was always the same, no one he knew had seen her. He decided to check once more the place where he found her. The carriage was moved to the forest, probably when some other carriage tried to get into a town. He apologized for intruding and opened it. Inside he found some documents and bag of money hidden inside the seat but nothing helpful about where the girl could be. He was already getting out when he remembered something. Yesterday, the carriage was standing as it is was moving away from the town.
Layla was not staying in Salavel, she was going somewhere else and he knew exactly where. He got the map out to double-check it and it was obvious. The only place this road lead to was the mansion of Lord of lands to the north of Salavel - Deler.
She couldn't get there on her feet, though. She must be still in town.
'I'll check the stables and area around' he thought. If she wanted to get to Deler, she had to buy a carriage or a horse at least.
"Right! You idiot..." Marcus scolded himself as he ran back to the city. "She doesn't have money, for that...".
He took the money he found with him as well as documents, but he still can't help her if he doesn't find her. With all his might, he ran straight to the stables.
"Yea, I've seen her. She was asking if she can borrow a horse, and that she would repay tomorrow. Do you believe it, am I a charity or something...? Tomorrow she would be far away with my horse. I don't care if she's a prophetess, she may even be a god but business is business..." Halfway his answer stable owner started talking more to himself than to Marcus. Theodor was a kind man but really strict when it came down to the money-making. "She went down this alley, maybe you'll catch her, you are quite fast, boy"
"Yea, thanks!" Marcus shouted already running into the alley Theodor talked about.
It was already afternoon, brunet was tired and hungry so he stepped into a bakery nearby and bought three small loaves of bread stuffed with shrooms and cabbage though it wasn't really cabbage he knew from his world.
'To think they will have something like that there too'
He ate first one and walked the alley looking around. He passed a countless number of narrow side alleys but she was nowhere to be seen. He was already losing hope when he heard a strange noise coming from his left side while he was passing another alley. He knew that sound very well. He looked into the alley and right in front of him was sitting gold haired girl, now covered in dirt and dust but still beautiful. She made an embarrassed face when she realized Marcus heard her stomach rumbling and looked away. She had to be even more tired than brunet. He sit next to her and took out another stuffed bread loaf.
"Here, enjoy your meal" He said with a smile while giving food to her.
"Thank you"
The girl started eating, little greedily, yet diligently.
"So, what exactly were you thinking while leaving without having anything, even money?"
The girl didn't respond but Marcus could see that she wasn't really suitable for this kind of situation. He decided not to press that topic anymore.
"Here, it's yours, isn't it?" The boy took out a bag of money and documents he found in the carriage"
Layla looked a bit confused and Marcus realized something.
"Ah, sorry, I'm stupid. You don't have any bag" Brunet put those back to his bag. "Alright, I'll keep until we get to Deler, how about that?"
"Are you not scared of me?" Blonde looked like she was getting herself to ask this since she saw him.
"Why should I? Did you do something to scare me?"
"No, but you know who I am right?"
"I only know you are a prophetess of fire, so no, I don't know who you are, I only know your position." Marcus looked in front of him and stared at the cobble street. "Besides, did you killed or even harm someone?"
"Eh? No."
"So I guarantee you cannot be worse than me. Alright, let's get a horse and deliver you to Deler."
"How do you know..."
"It's the only place that road from yesterday lead"
Back at the stable, they borrowed a horse from Theodor and Marcus decided to be the one holding the reigns as Layla was exhausted.
"Try to hold tight, we should be at the mansion until dawn comes"
"Yes. Thank you."
