Arc 3 - Chapter 29: Further (1/2)

They had extended their break because Neko said she wasn't feeling well. This suited Leoral too, because being on the move all the time was bad for his body.

But hours had passed and they still hadn't finished their break and moved on, because their caravan was missing one person. Bart, the former butler of Virgo Cathedral, was nowhere to be found.

"I told you, that Valarfin bastard did something!"

"Hold your tongue in front of His Excellency!"

One of his personal guards reached for his sword and turned towards the boy with black hair and green eyes. He was angry that he had insulted and shouted in front of his master.

"How would he know we're talking about him?"

Leoral was just thinking out loud. Yu Valarfin had appeared out of nowhere. Of course, most of the people he'd just met would technically have appeared out of nowhere, but the problem here was Neko's incredible closeness to him.

She was almost closer to him than she was to Rie. She didn't want to get off his lap, kissed him in public, jealous of the girls around of him, and sometimes made him eat dinner with her own hands. Sometimes she even asked him to feed him, just like she asked her mother.

Their closeness was not normal, Neko was not the kind of child to do such things. That was why Leoral had suspected Yu Valarfin, and the first contradictory information that emerged from his investigations only increased his suspicions.

Yu Valarfin gave people conflicting information about where he came from. The girls with him said he came from İlonya, but when he entered the capital he said he came from the Storm Kingdom, and he refused to tell Bart where he was from.

Then there was a second event that heightened his suspicions, news of a robbery in İlonya. It was the biggest robbery the İlon state had ever faced. When Bart learned that Yu Valarfin was hiding gold, he couldn't help but connect him with this robbery.

Moreover, Yu Valarfin had stayed in İlonya instead of coming here with his friends, and in doing so, he said, he had borrowed money from his family. It would not be surprising if the two events were connected.

But it was the boy in front of him that raised his suspicions the most and made him think that Yu Valarfin should definitely not be with Neko.

"Let's find him now, Sivina will believe me when I tell her what happened at Rolderhelm."

But the boy in front of him looked like a hopeless case. The only reason he had come this far was his love for a woman, and it didn't matter to Leoral whose side she was on.

In fact, he could understand that he had come all the way here because of his love. If Natalia were alive today, no matter where she was, Leoral would go to her, even when he was in his death bed.

"So what if she believes you? As long as Neko is with her, all our claims about Yu Valarfin will be useless."

"These are not any claims, these are facts! I investigated everything, I even talked to a girl we on a duty with. That man is the one who swindled people with letters, I'm sure of it. He smuggled money into İlonya, there are documents."

"Do you have these documents?"

"N-no..."

Raul bowed his head as he clenched his fists. Since the İlon state was not obliged to give him any documents, he had no proof.

And even if they got these documents, they still couldn't provide any evidence that he was guilty. There was no evidence that he was a fraud.

"Have you tried explaining this to the authorities?"

"Why are you making me retell it?"

Raul sat down on a chair without waiting for permission. The guards took a step forward to lift him from the chair, but Leoral stopped them.

"After tearing myself apart, I was able to meet the prime minister himself. When I told him everything, he just laughed."

Raul clenched his fist so hard that his nails dug into his hand and made it bleed. The hatred in his green eyes gave the impression that he would pounce on Yu Valarfin the moment he saw him.

"Why?"

Rolderhelm was not such a country, Denise was not such a person. How could all she do was laugh? Leoral couldn't understand.

"That guy..." Raul started to speak. "He's seen as a folk hero for leading us in Redchapel. To reveal that a folk hero has committed such a large-scale crime could cause a public uproar."

They couldn't get any hard evidence that he was guilty, Bart had disappeared and they couldn't find any evidence that he was responsible. No one they questioned said anything against Yu Valarfin.

Even Luna, whom he had assigned to watch him, said she hadn't seen him.

"I guess there's only one thing to do. I'm sorry, Neko... This is all for your sake and Mora's."

***

By late afternoon there was still no sign of the missing Bart. As time passed, he became more and more convinced that Valarfin had something to do with it, but he couldn't understand how he knew what they were talking about.

He had talked to two girls, Sivina and Ana, but Bart was not with him and he had not said anything about Bart.

"I should have been there when you were talking to the girls. I told you."

"If you had been there, after talking to us, they would have immediately gone to Yu Valarfin and demanded an explanation. The man who turned Neko into someone she wasn't would have easily fooled them too."

He was thinking of using Raul as leverage. He would suddenly reveal him and Yu Valarfin would be finished before he could give any explanation.

Now they were to hold a meeting about Bart's disappearance. That's why Leoral had summoned the members of the Virgo Cathedral to his tent.

Waiting for him in his tent were Neko, Sivina, Ana, Link and Yu Valarfin. Today he would enter the tent and take Yu Valarfin from there. His soldiers marched behind him, ready.

"You wait for me and come when I tell you to come in."

Pushing his wheelchair, Luna led him inside the tent. Four guards had entered the tent with him for now, but others were waiting outside to enter at his command.

"Now that Bart is dead, I'll have to do everything alone…"

When he went inside he saw two other people he had not allowed to be here. Two of Neko's roaron warriors were in his tent. If he remembered correctly, their names were Kigaro and Dimen.

On the way to the refugee camp below Andromedia with the two girls, he had spoken to Neko and learned that thanks to Valarfin she had taken their services.

Leoral wondered if their loyalty was to Neko or Yu Valarfin.

"Still no sign of Bart?" Leoral asked.

"That is what we were planning to ask you," Yu Valarfin replied.

"Interesting, I thought you might know. After all, don't you run them all?"

"If I had known, I would have said so already. It is my duty to take care of the young lady's entourage."

He thought Yu Valarfin would be nervous, but he was relaxed. If young Leoral were here he would have laughed inwardly, but with seventy years of life experience under his belt he was only stressed now.

The stress was dangerous for his old body. Leoral was afraid when it was Yu Valarfin who should be afraid. His heart racing, he asked for water and Luna gave him a drink.

"If it is your duty to take care of it, you are responsible for its disappearance."

"It's my job to take care of them, but I'm not their caretaker, and neither is the young lady. Bart is an old man, he's probably passed out somewhere."

Link Yachi Long nodded. He was acting as Tauntis' eyes in the Virgo Cathedral.

"I agree with Yu, he's been missing for about six hours, he could have been sleeping somewhere the whole time."

"If he was asleep, we could have found him," Ana said.

Yu Valarfin remained silent.

"Do you really know nothing?"

"How many times do you plan to ask me this question? If you suspect me, tell me clearly."

"I suspect."

Leoral wasted no time in answering. Neko and Sivina approached him as Yu Valarfin clicked his tongue.

"You can't accuse Yu of this nonsense! Accusing him means accusing me!"

"Your Eminence has misunderstood me, I speak for your sake."

"You're not the one who decides what's best for me."

This sentence hurt him so much that he could have cried. He felt like a father seeing his child betrayed him.

"Can't you see that Yu Valarfin is not normal, Neko?"

"Don't make me angry."

Neko was as clear as Leoral. The little girl also clenched her fists and took a step ahead of Yu.

"Why are you so close to him? Do you know what he did?"

"We've been side by side with him since Rolderhelm, tell me, what he did?"

Leoral turned his head and winked at Luna, and Luna bowed her eyes and walked out of the tent. After gesturing for someone to come, a boy with black hair and green eyes entered the tent.

"I'll tell you what he-"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"