The journey to find the lost children, enjoy~ ^^


~ Chapter 4: Journey ~

The high priest allowed Jouno to meet the children in the marketplace for the last time, in exchange for her freedom. They left the palace together with ten palace guards to prevent something that would happen on the way there. The people suddenly stopped their activities and knelt down as the high priest walked past them.

So this is what it feels to be an authorized person... Jouno amazed by the sight of hundreds people kneeling down before their group.

They kept walking straight ahead until they reached the slums that located at the end of the path. All of the people that lived in that area were shocked by the high priest's sudden arrival. They quickly came out from their house and knelt down in front of their group. They didn't dare to look into the high priest's eyes, their body were trembling.

"What business do you have in this dirty place, my lord?" The elder of the slum asked for the high priest and his group arrival.

The high priest allowed Jouno to spoke first.

"I'm searching for pale-skinned twins with blue eyes and white hair. Do you know or heard anything about them?" Jouno asked the elder.

Pale-skinned twins with blue eyes and white hair... The high priest eyes widened when he heard it.

"W-we're terribly sorry! We deserve to get severe punishment..." The settlers apologized to them.

"What are you apologizing for?" The high priest approached the elder and stood right in front of him.

"...Last night there's a group of men with black robes came here and took the twins with them." The elder answered nervously.

"Why you didn't help them?" Jouno quickly grabbed the elder's coat, made him more afraid.

"W-we were too afraid to stop them... They bring swords in their hand." The elder stuttered.

"Please let him go, this is my entire fault! I'm the one who deserved to be blamed for it!" Suddenly a guy stood up from the place he knelt and moved to cover the elder.

"No, this is entirely my fault!" Another guy stood up and covered the elder.

"I'm responsible for those children, because I'm the one who saw them before that event occurred!" This time a lady stood up and covered the elder.

The settlers moved one by one to protected the elder. Jouno, the high priest, and the palace guards were amazed by their strong relationship. The settlers kept begging for their elder's sake, made the high priest's group stood in silence for a moment.

"...We didn't come here to capture or punished you. We just want to search for the twins." The high priest explained the situation to the settlers.

"We maybe too weak to help the twins from those men, but we could escort you to their hideout." One of the settlers volunteered as their guide.

"Really? Thank you so much!" Jouno took the guy's hands and shook it excitedly.

"You welcome, miss..." The guy replied her groggily.

The high priest glared at them, but he quickly looked to the other direction when Jouno and his eyes were meeting. Jouno didn't understand why the high priest suddenly avoided her eye contact.

"Shall I show the way, my lord?" The guy bowed down in front of the high priest.

"Hmpf, do what you want to." The high priest answered with sarcastic tone.

So, the guy from the slums escorted them to the outside of the city wall and walked to the middle of the desert. The sun was about to set, but they hadn't reached their destination yet and they were already too far away to go back to the city. They decided to stop the journey as they reached a small oasis.

"We couldn't continue our journey at night, so please rest in here until tomorrow." The guy informed the high priest.

"Fine... Set the campfire for tonight!" He ordered the palace guards.

The palace guards quickly gathered small branches and twigs to make a bonfire. The guy from the slums was helping them when Jouno approached him.

"How far is the hideout? Can we just continue it a little bit more?" Jouno asked the guy while picking up the twigs.

"...Unfortunately, their hideout is quite far away from here. But don't worry, I'm sure that we could arrive there tomorrow." The guy looked at the red skies.

"I'm just a little bit worried about their condition right now..." She sighed worriedly.

"They're not what they seem to be, they're strong and tough." He patted Jouno's head.

"Thank you." Jouno smiled at him.

They continued their small conversations while gathering the small branches for the bonfire as the high priest watched them from a distance.

- To Be Continued -


Whenever I created a fic, my first idea would be different from what I type... (= v =")

Thank you for reading this fic~! *bow* (_ _)

Rewritten by Yami Ace and Neko