Races: Online

While two young men continued their lessons with nothing but hard work and sheer will until the end of their class, another had enough. This was enough time dawdling around with nothing to do in this cozy cat's crib and acting like everything was fine with the world—because it wasn't!

Even if he got a cup of milk every meal time from the Innkeeper herself, this young Bodyguard would no longer allow himself to sit here and do nothing. He already had enough waiting. This was his fault in the first place so it was up to him to set things straight.

While the older man was still drinking his cup of roasted beans, he finally stood up and mustered up his courage. There was no time to be wasting and positions could only get one so far in this kind of lifetime. He cleared his throat and towered over the man still in his seat, the man was relaxing and reading the parchment news and enjoying his hot brew, slightly hunched over the table. He could do this! "We actually need to start looking for the Princ—" 

Liam received a stern look from the older Bodyguard and shut up at once. But he gave a glare at the older man's back, he knew what was at stake! They should be up and about, not sitting here and getting fat! 

"I've visited the Mage's Guild yesterday," Gesth told the younger man.

The Bodyguard's eyes widened, his earlier loss of hope renewing itself like a flame. He brightened up and grinned. He knew he could count on the experienced ones, there was a good reason why Gesth was in charge despite his status. He tilted his head, "Really? Did you contact something like a Seer or a Diviner? Maybe someone could see a vision—"

"I think we could hire a Beast Tamer to do the job for us." The older man rubbed his chin for once and placed his mug down. He stretched one moment and yawned despite it already being broad daylight outside of the inn. Gesth eyed him with a calm look, "There was a good deal there when I checked it out on the sheets posted in their bulletin, a reasonable deal. We should meet up with them later, actually I have it already scheduled at noon later."

"...A what?" Did he hear the man speak up correctly? Surely he got it wrong.

"We'll hire a Beast Tamer to help us find our ward, and at a fraction of a cost than what others might charge," The older man sipped his dark brew.

Liam didn't want to be rude to him. He honestly didn't want to disrespect this much older and higher-leveled man with countless more experience than him, but was he growing senile? Did it start when the man started giving away gold coins like it was copper to random young men they met in the street?

Those were the signs wasn't it?!

What would he do? He wasn't prepared to take the lead in searching and take care of somebody else at the same time. Did it really have to happen so suddenly? Now was a terrible time for that to happen—

"Do you have anything belonging to our ward?" Old Man Gesth asked him with a blank look. A look that could strike the City's Councilman into a flurry of apologies and sweating, unnerve thieves on the passage to here and even grant them speedy entrance to the city with him simply riding past the Guardsmen.

It was also enough to make him embarrassed and forget his previous train of thoughts.

Liam's face reddened and he waved his hand at him. Now the man was saying ridiculous things. Preposterous things even! What madness was happening? He shouldn't have let the man leave yesterday all by himself, who knows what might have happened to him that made him think this way?!

Was this an [ Insanity ] Spell or something? Liam scoured his belt bag for something to use. Where were his artifacts to deal with this?

The old man raised a brow, "Well?"

He shook his head wildly, his voice rising slightly. "Why would I have anything that belongs to the Pri—"

"I mean do you have something that can be used to track her?"

He blinked and calmed down his racing heart, clutching his chest for a moment. "Why didn't you say so? We could have gotten a Scout or something! A Tracker?" He questioned. Didn't he suggest this before? Liam could hardly recall it now with his frantic heart. He gave the man a look, "I mean we could let the Beast Tamer smell the carriage? I mean whatever animal they use, you know?"

His words weren't making any sense now, does it?

The old man snickered at him because he was caught right in the act. Liam cleared his throat and fixed his shirt, giving him an affronted look. "That makes sense doesn't it? Her scent is—"

"Her scent is what?"

"The perfume is everywhere," Liam coughed, "We'll be able to find her in no time."

"Do you know how many days we have already been here?"

He didn't even want to count it if he wanted to be honest. He gave a look at the older man, "Not a lot, but at the same time, just enough days for the—"

The older man shook his head, "Whether the critter smells the carriage, there won't be a lot to sniff if our ward is able to think ahead and mask her scent. Even a good ol bath is enough to get rid of the smell if we're being honest and this is a big city, you know?"

A heavy realization struck Liam for once.

It was a little hopeless now that the older man had stated those things, the Bodyguard scratched his head. "Then what is the need for any of her belongings for?" Liam had originally wanted to track down her jewelries in any pawn shops and agreed to look separately as his senior did his own business yesterday, but he had found nothing.

Were they stuck in a dead end?