Parasol

"Riea, Why did we not just give him the silver nuggets instead, was there a reason you wanted to give him the earrings from Joachim as a collateral ?"

The Redheaded man asked his companion, he was holding himself back from mentioning the silver nuggets in front of the imperial traveler they met, since his companion thinks a few steps ahead of him he could only wait and ask questions later,

Riea sighed as she walked ahead of the man, she explained in a low voice so only her companion could hear,

"Don't you think it would be unfortunate if our karma with the pair of father and child gets resolved so easily"

The redhead showed a confused face, as he followed behind his companion, Riea thought in contemplation as the paces of her steps grew bigger,

'That man was dangerous but no one, not even Kaen noticed, and the child .. I could not even feel anything from the child, I hope its all in my head'

Riea and Kaen made their way to the city marketplace amidst the crowds, their figures blended in the traffic,

=====

Collective was holding Vincent's hand they made their way to the City counsel, in the counsel building is a kiosk for the Hunters guild, Vincent had to turn in the proof of mission and report the unfortunate death of his hunter crew and their escort target,

- We understand that there is a penalty for the mission failure, is that not so ?

"Well, yes first I have to return the deposit now and pay the collateral mission abandonment and failure fee, otherwise I might lose my Hunter qualification and I cant associate with the guild any more,

The guild should send a message to the family members of the hunters and escort targets who lost their life's,

Connor and Damian had no family members registered, but Chris has two younger siblings and his grandpa, Avian has a both his parents with two brothers and one sister down south,

That will be a hard news for them to swallow .."

A forlorn look was cast into Vincent face as they transitioned from the busy street to the City counsel building, the insides of the building was bustling with people from all backgrounds, to each their purpose, city workers, public servants and even peasants were going in and about in the building, to the far left side of the hallway a group of rough looking people stood in line in front of a great wooden kiosk, two public servants draped in pearly white and navy blue silk clothes were neatly standing on the other side of the stand and handing quests for the hunters, a great billboard with various parchments that are pinned to it could be seen opposite of the stands,

Vincent and Collective made their way to the line of hunters, and took a spot, Vincent looked at collective and asked,

"Are you going to stand in line with me too ?"

Collective looked at Vincent and tilted their head to the side as if asking Vincent what he meant, Vincent then pointed towards a row of empty benches near the billboard and said,

"Go set over there and wait for me"

Just as Collective were heading to the empty benches Vincent stopped them and stressed every letter as he spoke,

"Do . not . move"

Collective nodded and skipped a few steps towards the benches, the rough men and women in line stealing glances at the child, some even whispered in hushed tones,

Approximately a Ra later Vincent was done with the formalities as well as the payment and was heading for the benches that he left Collective at,

Vincent could see Collective setting next to a dignified looking woman with pale skin her head was hidden beneath her black parasol and her chrome blond strands of hair were gently flowing down her shoulders, she wore a black dress that was adorned with multiple layers of frill and jewelry, the woman was talking to Collective however the child was abstinent as if she did not exist,

"Child, can you please tell this aunty if you are alone ? where are your parents ?"

The woman had a gentle tone full of affection and worry for the child before her, Vincent hearing the tone of voice was apprehensive as to why this lady was this gently coaxing a child she just met and why does she cover her head with a parasol indoors, however he was also relived since he could feel no malic from her voice,

Before Vincent could talk to the lavish woman setting next to Collective, a high pitched voice was drawing close,

"Madam !! where were you, I spent the better half of a Ra looking for you, we are late for the old master"

The owner of the voice was an adolescents girl in a maid attire, the hems of her Dress was ruffled as she was running towards her mistress, her brown twin braided hair were jumbling about as she jogged, her green eyes on the verge of tears and her freckled face wrinkled as she was trying to hold her cries in,

The woman in question put her hands on her cheeks and spoke elegantly to the rushing girl,

"Rushing in the hallway is not ladylike Audrey"

The woman put down her parasol to reveal silvery gray sharp eyes, she noticed Vincent coming closer so she turned her attention on him, both people blond with gray eyes looked at each other in contemplation,

'This hair and eye colors, she must be from the Clifford household'

Vincent felt uncomfortable as soon as he had a full view of the woman's face in front of him, the woman on the other hand thought she met someone interesting, Vincent spoke in an apologetic voice,

"Thank you for taking care of my child madam, I was standing in line and could not let the child suffer the long wait, so I told them to wait for me in the waiting area"

The woman raised her elegant hands and spoke in an untrusting voice

"Good sir how can I be sure you are the child guardian ?"

Vincent sneaked a peak at Collective who rushed to Vincent and held his left pinky finger,

-Vin Quick lets get out of here, we cannot stand this feeling she gives us

Vincent could feel turmoil in the words transmitted into his head by Collective, foreign emotions permeated Vincent's head, he recollected himself quickly as if nothing happened,

'Just then, were those Collectives emotions? I almost got a shock from the torrent of feelings, as if Collective could not cope with something and dumped .. no more like shared everything with me

This woman, what the hell did she do while I was gone'

the stern voice of the lavish woman broke Vincent's line of thought,

"Seems it truly is your child, I apologies for doubting you, however you cannot just leave your kid unattended, the city hall is a busy place, its not appropriate to bring children here !"

Vincent pated the back of his head as he apologetically said,

"Madam, I am a single father and traveling with my child right now, on any other occasion I would not be doing something like that"

The woman felt that she overstepped her bound, before she could continue speaking to Vincent, the maid was already ushering her to head for her next destination, and thus they parted,

Vincent looked at the woman as she left the building and a sigh of relief left himself,

He looked at Collective and spoke with a tired voice,

"Lets go meet the margrave"

'This sure was a tiering day' he thought