Chapter 188 – Mary’s Request
The days began to roll by, and soon it was the fourth day they had been in the city. They had made it back to their current ho without any more trouble, and they had spent additional ti in the morning going around the city. There really wasn’t much else to do at this point in ti.
The trio used this opportunity to learn about the changes the city had faced and listen to conversations various groups were having, because while they were in the city, of course, they were going to do so investigating. They had made a promise to themselves about being more prepared, and they were sticking with it. There was also a lot they had wanted to uncover while inside the city about the past. So points that they were individually more interested in than the others.
They hadn’t had a proper talk about exactly what they wanted to find within the country, but they each had so ideas on the core points. Though an outlier was Luna, who had the goal of finding out what happened to Eva’s body after she passed.
Eva herself wasn’t too interested; that was what she told herself anyway. In truth, of course, she wanted to know what happened, but the idea of learning what happened to her own corpse was a little frightening even for her. Her apparent disinterest was all the signal Syrus needed not to be worried about that elent of the past.
[What to do today.] (Syrus)
After a morning jog, they had returned to the manor, but Syrus was getting a little purposefully restless. It helped get the other two into action.
[We could see if we could craft a disguise for Max and bring him around the city? Ethan has been waiting to show Max around this whole ti.] (Eva)
[That could be tricky…] (Luna)
[What is there that would be tricky?] Syrus said, purposely ignoring all the things that were tricky about the matter.
[...] Luna held back a sigh.
The obvious issues were that, would need Mary’s and likely Lord Hall’s permission. Even going behind their back ran into all the other issues. Max’s appearance would be an auspicious sign for many, and hiding all that from everyone would be difficult. At best, soone could notice his exotic horns, but it only took one person from a curious crowd to notice what the specific combination of his traits ant. After his bath and being properly cleaned, those physical traits were amplified, with his royal blood truly shining.
The mont one person found out, the whole city was going to.
Eva felt quite sad about the situation; she empathised with Mary's situation. She could understand the feeling of returning to their ho after such a long ti, and the idea of being trapped in and not allowed to go out without conditions would be deeply frustrating at best. Max was just a boy; he would’ve been so curious about the city, and he was forced to stay inside while Ethan and Maca told him about their experiences.
[There must be sothing?] Eva said, but she didn’t have much hope.
The black hair and gold eyes, while they could be suspicious, wouldn't normally tick off anyone’s boxes. Due to attributes, many people could have weird combinations of hair and eye colour if they had multiple. The horns, however, were another nail in the very filled coffin. Mary’s had been cut back, but doing sothing like that to Max seed cruel.
Walking around their room, Syrus noticed sothing underneath her pillow. They hadn’t been out for long, and they requested that no one enter the room while she was gone. It was a fact that Syrus had always made very clear. She liked her privacy.
[Syrus?] Luna didn’t imdiately notice what attracted Syrus’s attention until the latter focused on the object.]
Syrus moved with caution and removed the folded note from underneath the pillow. There was a place–which was inside the building–and a ti.
[Who is it from…?] (Eva)
[Likely Mary.] Luna answered. [There are many easier ways for any of the staff or Lord Hall to give us or request us to et sowhere. And if they wanted such a eting to be kept secret, they would choose a different location. Mary and Max were both in the house at all tis, and Maca was around often.
So, if it was to be a private eting and the location on the letter appeared to be a side closet of all places during a quiet part of the day, it wasn’t hard to assu it might’ve been from soone who couldn’t leave the house.
Of course, there was the off chance it was soone else, but Luna was confident in her assumption.
[So do we just wait for the appropriate ti, as the ssage said?] (Eva)
[No reason not to, as long as we stay careful in case it is a trap.] (Syrus)
[We will leave trap prevention to you.] (Luna)
[Thanks!] (Syrus)
There were certain unanswered curiosities, but those could wait until the eting. In the anti, the trio played a ntal ga of ntal tic-tac-toe.
Once the allotted ti ca around, Anlesa found herself in the small storage room after following the directions on the note.
Mary stood up from behind a bag of wheat. It was unknown to Anlesa how long she had been hiding here for. “Thank you for eting here.”
“All good, it’s a decent private area?” Syrus comnted before asking. “So what do you want to speak about?”
Mary felt a little jump in the deanour shift. There was a sudden coldness in Syrus’s tone that put Mary on edge in an almost good way. There was danger present that Syrus had already been prepared for, which quickly cald her emotions.
“I want your help… I have a request…” Mary focused her words. “You understand everything that has happened in the past, right?”
Syrus confird. “Yes.”
“...” Mary paused for a mont, as if unsure whether to even speak her next sentence.
Luna spoke, her tone similar to Syrus’s at this point. “Feel free to speak. …I already have a few assumptions about what this is about.]
[You totally were about to say we.] (Syrus)
[Sadly, you are correct. It truly is a bad habit sotis.] (Luna)
[Perhaps a few more solo trips would do you so good.] (Syrus)
[We don’t have the ti for such luxuries.] (Luna)
Mary continued. “In a way, it is a two-part request.” She crossed her arms. “The first is protecting Max while you are in the city.”
“So, an extension on the protection portion of the prior contract.” Going from protecting the escort while on route to protecting them on location.
“Yes.”
“Will Maca be involved in that as well?” Syrus felt there was no way Mary wouldn’t have asked him first.
“Yes, he will be. I’ve also notified Lavender about protecting my son while in the city.” Mary winced for a mont, rembering the conversation. “She did call an idiot for that… saying such actions were to be expected.”
“Sothing on the lines of, ‘I’m not having royal blood on my hands’?”
“How did—”
“Just understanding how she would try to justify the act.” Syrus figured sothing was up with Lavender, even before any talks between her and Mary. Lavender’s attitude towards the whole situation once they entered the city was cautious. She had been on the lookout for trouble even before anyone asked.
“That’s fine; I accept.”
Mary quickly added, “I’m not asking you to do it for free…”
“If you have any money at the end, I will gladly accept a charity donation.” Said Syrus. The likelihood that Maca agreed to so monetary reward was basically nothing. She could see Lavender requesting a normal guard rate, which might already be happening since she was interacting with Lord Hall’s guards a lot more. The manor’s owner was likely the one footing the bill, and Lavender had taken the position of the front-facing guard.
Anlesa would like money, but it wasn’t the ti and in the worst-case scenario, it was better to ask for money at the end of this work. Protecting the kids was sothing Anlesa was already going to do after all, while they were in the city.
“More importantly,” Luna said, ensuring Mary couldn’t continue the money talk on the first point. “What is the other part of the request?”
Mary bit her lip. “You said your family’s history could be traced to this city…”
“Correct.”
“So… you know exactly what happened those years ago.”
“Yes?” Anlesa was wondering what Mary’s point was going to be.
“I was only ten at the ti… and while everything was falling apart, I simply wished it would stop. But in the end, that wish never ca true, and a different one appeared in its place.” There was a cold determination in her eyes. “I want to know what happened thirty years ago.”
“And you think I can help with that?”
“I… know that Maca was apparently the one to provide information to the city about the incident. After we reunited, he gave so details. He never dropped your na and admitted that he was the one who found the information, but that part was hard to believe. He almost didn’t want to tell he provided anything to the city, but when I told him about the mass hypnosis event, he eventually spilt so information, as an event like that couldn’t have just been because of so mutated animals.”
Syrus rubbed her thumb and index finger. “Is this so sort of guess that I was the one who provided the information?”
“...I feel like you are the most likely individual, but even if you are not, my request doesn’t change.” Mary breathed out. “I want to find so answers about what happened.”
“Lord Hall, Havier, none of those people can help you?”
“If they know any more information, then they aren’t telling …” Mary swallowed the pain. “You already seed intrigued by the country’s past, and out of anyone I can ask, you appear the most skilled in this field.” Mary’s judgent ca from her entire experience with Anlesa in the last month. Her first ten years of life taught her a lot about examining people and noticing, and the next thirty reinforced that learning by teaching her how to judge people for her own survival.
Syrus was an enigma for Mary. At tis, she felt like the standard wild hunter or perhaps rcenary, but then other tis, with that sa wild grin, she was the most controlled person in the area. Watching her hunt for food, fight bandits, or train and spar with Ethan, she never once broke a sweat, and her actions in combat were precise. Then, seeing her speak with people of authority, she moved without any concern, and when trouble seed to be brewing, she backed off with the perfect excuse that defused the situation.
Syrus might not have the political skill to dance with those in higher positions like Luna. The latter would be able to enter their gas on their playing field without issue. Syrus couldn’t do that and had no interest in trying, but she had learned how to nab the information she wanted from frustrating clients.
“So please, I would like you to find out so more information about what happened… I just want to know what happened to my family.”
Anlesa thought about it for a mont, a quick internal dialogue where everyone agreed on a response.
Mary was sure that out of everyone, Syrus would be best for this request. However, she never knew how far the trio had already been silently planning to investigate.
“I'm sure we can co to an acceptable arrangent."
User Comments
0 comments from readers