Episode 4: Back to Yumin (5)

The Cottage—Fei's Room [8:14 PM].

Within her room, Fei hugged her bolster tightly as she moved about on her bed in frustration.

"Argh! Why won't dad ever tell me what kind of missions he ever does?!" she pouted. "Always keeping secrets here, secrets there, secrets everywhere! Ugh..."

Stopping at her movements, she turned to look at the ceiling. "Here I thought that becoming a guild ranker would make dad tell me stuff..." she sighed. "But at least... for once, he did promise that he would tell me when he gets back. He never promises! So this must be a good sign..."

"But... why do I feel as if something is up?" she frowned as her hand moved to her chest. "This feeling..."

Still deep in thought, Fei was quickly interrupted by a loud sound protruding out from her door.

Thuck Thuck.

"...huh?" Curious at the sudden knock, she turned in the direction of it whilst sitting up. "Who is it?"

"...it's me," Damian's voice protruded out from the other side.

"Bah! I'm sleeping!" she shouted out whilst covering herself in her blanket.

"Bullshit. You're clearly awake," he clicked his tongue. "I can hear you from miles away whining about this situation."

"..."

Seconds later, no reply could be heard on Fei's side of the room. Waiting and waiting, it soon turned into a minute, as the sound of footsteps rang out. Momentarily, the door of her room soon opened.

"What do you want?" Fei asked in a doubtful voice. "It's not like you to randomly knock on my door wanting to talk in the night!"

"Is it...?" Damian laughed awkwardly as he soon murmured. "...and for you to come banging on my door every so often is normal?"

"Huh what was that?" she frowned.

"Look. I just want to talk with you," Damian stated.

"About what? How you can't sleep?" Fei glared at her brother.

"...about his mission," he mumbled out.

"What about it? What can we even do?" Fei said in an unhappy tone. "Dad always keep secrets from us. It's not even new."

"Well it can't be helped," he sighed. "The jobs he goes to are all top secret I guess?"

"Uhuh, and where are you getting at here?" Fei questioned. "Do you want us to force the words out of him?"

"No... I just want to know what you're feeling about this?" he asked.

"Eh? What kind of question is that? That's so unlike you," Fei raised her brow in suspicion as she quickly shook her head, removing the thought. "Anyway, you asked how I'm feeling right? Besides angry, I feel... unease."

"Unease?" Damian inquired.

"...unease at this job thingy..." she muttered out. "Unlike all the others job... he seems very wary this time. It scares me," she frowned. "It makes me feel, helpless. Especially with how this entire secret stuff is playing out. I just can't stop this beat in my heart that is shouting at me, 'STOP HIM' or something."

"..." Damian kept quiet at her words.

"...you know what?" Fei quickly walked past Damian in a hurry. "I've decided!"

"Huh? D-Decided what?" Damian turned towards the moving Fei.

"I'll raise my concerns to dad and get a better answer!" Fei shouted out. "Otherwise... this aching in my heart won't stop."

"H-Hey hold on a second!" Damian cried out as he chased after Fei.

...

Moving down the stairs of the cottage, Fei turned her head left and right in a frenzy whilst searching for Kruz.

"Dad!" she shouted out whilst making her way over to Kruz's room, quickly knocking on his door. "Dad?" Her hands stopped on the door as she tilted her head in confusion. It was quiet. Too quiet.

"...dad?" Moving her hands over to the doorknob, the door opened easily. Peeking inside, she noticed the emptiness of the room. "...huh?"

Stepping back slightly in disbelieve, she quickly headed into the living room, shouting out his name, however, there was no reply. "No... that means..." Her eyes moved over towards the entrance of the cottage, noticing that the door was open.

"...no, it can't be..." she muttered out in denial. "He already left...? No..."

"Fei..." Damian slowly walked towards Fei from behind. "He isn't here anymore. He left a while ago."

"What?!" Fei turned to Damian in anger. "You knew about it and you didn't tell me?!"

"Fei..." he turned his eyes away from her. "It's just..."

"What? What is it?!" she shouted out. "What do you want to say?!"

"This letter." From his pouch, Damian took out a small white envelope as well as a letter. "...he left it here."

"...huh?" Fei muttered out as she quickly took the letter and the envelope from Damian's hand. Soon after, she began to read through the letter.

「Sorry kids. I might not come back for a long time. There are things that have to be done.」

"N-No... is this why he promised...?" Her eyes widened. "No... No!" Shaking her head in denial, she quickly gripped the letter tightly in her hands. Immediately after, her legs soon began to move as she headed out of the cottage.

"F-Fei!? What are-" Seeing the sudden action from Fei, Damian's hand shook slightly, however, he could not react in time. With eyes widened, he helplessly watched as Fei rushed out of the cottage.

...

The Lakeside Town—Yumin [8:18 PM].

On the balcony of the guildhall, Roy silently looked at streets crowded with people under the night skies. While doing so, he was lost in thought.

"That feeling earlier... " he calmly closed his eyes. "Could it have been the actual cause?"

Thinking back at the ruins, Roy had felt an odd aura from the rooftops of the structure, however, he couldn't pinpoint anything on it.

"Hmm... in any case, I'll investigate again," he nodded his head in agreement as he soon spotted a figure rushing through the streets. "...?"

At a closer look, he saw Fei in a frenzy, watching that she was making her way over towards the guildhall.

"What?"

...

Storming through the guildhall in a hurry, Fei's eyes looked around in anxiousness.

"Dad? Dad! Are you here?!" she called out.

"My? Fei, what brings you here so late into the night?" Orelia yawned whilst stretching her back.

"...dad, Kruz... is he here?!" Still looking around, she could only see Orelia by the counter.

"No," Orelia shook her head. "It's only me and Roy right now. Didn't Kruz leave with you all?"

"No... no..." she spoke out in sorrow. "I can still make it... there's still time!" Without wasting any time, she turned back, hurriedly exiting the guildhall.

"Fei?! Where are you going?!" Shocked by Fei's behaviour, she chased after her as she headed out into the streets. Narrowing her eyes through the crowd, she noted that she was making her way over to the forest.

"...Orelia?" Roy asked as he made his way down the stairs. "What's going on?

...

Outskirts of Yumin—Yumin Forest [8:21 PM].

"...huff, huff..." Fei bolted through the dirt paths as she cried out. "Dad!" She continuously cried out, however, the only reply that she received was that the silence of the night.

"...no, I'm too late," Fei fell on her knees as she could no longer go on. "DAD!!!" she screamed out her lungs as tears soon began to form around her eyes.

"You promised... YOU SAID YOU PROMISED!"

...

While Fei had entered into the forest, Damian frantically ran through the streets. Quickly looking around in hopes of finding Fei.

"Ugh... Fei, where the heck did you go?!" Damian cursed silently whilst heading towards the direction of the guildhall. Moments later, he heard a voice from behind him.

"...Damian!" Turning around to see where the voice came from, he spotted Orelia making her way over to him in a hurry. "What happened? What's up with Fei?"

"...where did Fei go?" Ignoring her question, Damian quickly replied with another. "She didn't go into the guildhall?"

"Fei... she left just a while ago," Orelia muttered out. "I'm not sure what happened... but she was in a hurry."

"Tch.. damn it! Where did she go!?"

"She headed over to the forest. Roy went and chased after her," Orelia replied. "Just what's going on? What is it about your sister saying that it wasn't too late to catch up to him?"

"You see... he..." Damian hesitantly looked at her as he heard Orelia's concern, and just as he was about to answer her, he stopped as his words, quickly he instinctively turned towards the direction of the forest.