14. Searching
After getting out of his own bed upstairs and changing, before coming downstairs, Arganan stared as he saw the empty hospital bed that once occupied a patient.
"I only turned around for a moment." Jones explained, shaking his head. "He must've bolted when I wasn't looking. And quietly, too."
"What's going on?" The three turned to see Frey enter the Clinic, wide-eyed with worry. She noticed Jones' expression, and then looked towards
"It seems the man you rescued yesterday escaped." Arganan managed.
"He can't have gone far." Jones frowned, looking towards Frey. "Maybe we can all start searching the town?"
"I'll help." Arganan offered. "I'll take the left side of town—Frey, can you search the right side?"
Frey nodded. "Yes. I'll check now!" With that, she rushed out the door.
Arganan moved to get out of the Clinic, but Nancy spoke up. "Arganan?"
He turned to face her, just as she handed him a sandwich. "At least have some breakfast on the go, while you're searching. You'll need the energy."
Arganan took the sandwich with him, eating it as he searched. Hopefully, he would find said man.
Arganan's search was fruitless. Same went with Frey, as she met up with him in the town square. Therius also met up with them, having heard about the and Arganan saw how tired the white knight was, given the darker circles around his eyes. However, he looked mostly well, otherwise, despite the lack of sleep and being out all night with Frey.
"Have you seen him, Therius?" Arganan asked.
Therius shook his head. "I haven't found him. And neither have the both of you, I assume."
"No." Frey swallowed, looking around quickly in case. "Could he go outside town? By himself?"
Arganan doubted the man would fare well if he did, and he shook his head. "I don't know…but if he has, he's in trouble."
"Let me get back to my room to grab my dual blades." Frey started, looking towards the castle, then towards Arganan. "Do you still have the sword Forte lent you?"
"It's back at the Clinic, but I could take my sword with me." Arganan managed.
"I'll also assist in the search." Therius gestured to the sword still at his side. "And we can go take Forte with us—"
A bright light suddenly came from the castle, sparkling white, before vanishing in a moment. Arganan stared at the castle, then towards Frey and Therius, and then they bolted towards the castle as fast as they could. Arganan just had a feeling that the escapee went there. He didn't know why, but he just did.
It turned out that he was right about that hunch.
Inside the castle, in Ventuswill's chamber, was the man they were looking for. Long blue hair somewhat obscured most of his face (though a darker shade than Vishnal's), and he looked fast asleep. Or maybe he just straight-up passed out and collapsed on the ground, or got knocked out. It was hard to tell.
"What are you doing here!?" Ventuswill yelped, looking up at the three.
"We were looking for him." Frey explained, gesturing to the man on the floor. "He's the monster. Or rather, he was!"
Therius approached the man, getting on a knee to check his pulse, before a relieved breath left him. He looked up at Arganan and Frey quietly, his gaze quickly looking down at the unconscious man before speaking. "He's still alive. Just unconscious."
"He slipped out from the clinic." Arganan continued to explain to Ventuswill. "Nancy was in a state of utter panic."
"Ah, I see! So he's an escapee, then.." Ventuswill looked down at the man, then up at Arganan, Therius and Frey reassuredly. "All right. Please, hurry up and take him back to the clinic right away."
"That's the plan." Frey managed, before walking over to the unconscious man and starting to pick up said man with her own arms.
Arganan stared at her. "Are you…going to be okay, carrying him? I could help."
"It's okay!" Frey insisted, even as Therius also offered to help her. "I got it!" She paused, then stared up at Venti. "By the way, why was this room shimmering a moment ago?"
Ventuswill stared at her, confusion on her face. "Shimmering, you say? I-I think you must have imagined that…"
An exasperated sigh escaped Frey, but that was when Ventuswill suddenly shook, staring off into space, before collapsing forwards. She hit the floor, groaning.
"Venti!" Arganan rushed towards the dragon's side, trying to kneel by her side. She looked almost a bit paler than usual, which was odd for someone like her. Why…? "Are you okay?"
Ventuswill pulled herself up, much to his relief. "I-I'm okay…"
"You don't look okay!" Frey insisted, having been halfway through putting down the fallen man to go check on Ventuswill.
Therius nodded in agreement, his gaze snapping towards Ventuswill. "I agree with Lady Frey and Arganan, Lady Ventuswill. You look rather pale."
Ventuswill shook her head, chuckling. "Well, don't worry…I'm just tired."
"What are you talking about?!" Frey huffed.
Venti didn't respond. Frey groaned, before speaking again, looking towards Arganan. "Come on. Let's go see Jones. Is he qualified to practice medicine on holy dragons?"
"We could ask Volkanon." Therius suggested. "He is head butler, after all, and might have a better idea of how to care for Ventuswill."
"Yeah." She nodded. "Let's see what he has to say."
"I said I'm okay." Ventuswill insisted, shaking her head. "I just didn't get enough sleep, Frey. I was…so worried about you, in the Water Ruins, that I couldn't get a moment of shut-eye. So, don't concern yourself with me. Just be grateful that I care so much about you!"
Frey's expression fell, and she looked down a bit, then up at her. "Venti…I'm sorry." She finally managed. "Didn't mean to make you worry."
"It's alright." Ventuswill yawned, a soft chuckle escaping her, but at least she looked like she was smiling, and seemed better than just moments ago. "I'm so sleepy…I think I'll take a little nap. You can handle the escapee, alright?"
"Okay…"
Frey, Therius and Arganan exchanged glances with each other, but both left Venti with the man in tow, so Ventuswill could rest.
Jones and Nancy were both grateful that the three returned with the escapee. Said man was still unconscious, and probably would be for some time, Arganan guessed. Therius almost insisted on heading back to the Bell Hotel to get some rest, given that he'd been out with Frey all night, but Jones and Nancy (as well as Arganan) insisted on Therius just sitting down and eating breakfast with them. Jones and Nancy had to finish up breakfast early to attend to some patients (on top of the new one they retrieved this morning, and Nancy promised to let Illuminata know that Arganan was occupied with discussing the recent events with Frey and Therius), but Therius ended up staying longer to continue eating breakfast, as well as Frey. Arganan took the moment to do the following:
"Tell me everything that happened last night, and do not leave out any details. Please."
Cue Therius and Frey retelling the whole story. The two of them (plus Forte) ended up battling their way through the Water Ruins, only to find out that the source of all the weird voices at night was…a horse. A water-element horse monster, to be specific, and it attacked them the moment it saw them. They ended up having a long, long battle, resulting in the monster turning into a human the moment it was defeated. Exhausted and weary, the three lugged their new companion all the way back to Selphia. Frey guessed that Forte was probably asleep back at her own house right now, still tired out from everything that happened.
"Meg told me that you three were going to the Water Ruins to investigate the other day…" Arganan looked towards Therius. "Why did you go along with her?"
"I wanted to find out more about the voices, as well." Therius managed, sipping a cup of tea. "And I got my answers."
"What will you do with them?" Arganan recalled his and Therius' conversation from the other day. "Does this mean you'll report this to my niece as well?"
"I don't have much of a choice." Therius' words came out a bit too fast for Arganan's liking. "Even if I didn't, she'd find out eventually. It's best that she does know, as soon as she can. I don't believe it'll change her keeping the whole humans-turning-into-monsters incidents a secret, however."
"I'm just glad it got resolved." Frey sighed. "Arthur mentioned, during our meeting yesterday, that the voices might scare away potential tourists."
"Which would impact trade in turn." Arganan mused. "I can see why he'd be concerned."
"And in the midst of all this, you have the Outsider's power now." Therius looked towards Arganan's right hand. "It seems you can protect others well with it, given that you could deflect my own attack earlier."
"Wait, what?" Frey burst out, staring at Therius. "You attacked him?"
"It was a demonstration." Arganan cut in quickly. "I had to show him how it worked. Technically, he was attacking Vishnal."
Therius looked towards Arganan. "Exactly how many people know that you have the Outsider's power?"
Arganan paused, counting. "Ventuswill, probably. You, of course. Then we have Frey, Vishnal, Clorica, Volkanon, Nancy, Jones, Illuminata, Amber and Arthur. That's it." Arganan's nose wrinkled at that. "I imagine there will be a time I might have to out my abilities to the whole town, but let's not have that day be today or anytime soon."
"I agree." Therius managed. "Especially since we don't know much about Arganan's use of the Outsider's power, or how fast it will develop."
"Fair," Frey sighed, and the three fell into silence. She paused, finishing up her breakfast, before asking, "What do we do from hereon, then? Any idea?"
Therius looked towards her. "How soon did the voices take place after Amber emerged?"
"A couple days." Frey managed, frowning.
"If we follow that pattern, it means that something else strange might emerge. First butterflies, now voices. Something else could come next, and they're always connected to the beast we end up fighting." Therius looked Frey in the eye. "Of course, I'll likely be out of Selphia by the time the next monster-turned-person comes along, but if anything odd like that happens…"
"I can send a report to Calista." Arganan cut in, and Therius turned to face him, frowning. Arganan resisted the urge to mock his frown. "What? I'm sending letters to my niece as is. The first one I sent was what brought you here, so why not me?"
Therius did not comment on that, and Arganan wasn't sure whether the white knight approved of such a plan, given the frown that still remained on his face. Instead, Therius took a deep breath, standing. "I apologize, but I should head back to Bell Hotel. Miss Lin Fa is probably worried about me, and I did promise to come back as soon as I could."
"Uh, sure." Frey managed, also standing. "Arganan and I can take care of cleaning up here. Thanks, Therius. For coming with me, last night."
Therius bid the two farewell before leaving, and Arganan could only sigh. "Sorry about Therius. He's so…formal."
"It's fine." Frey reassured him. "Forte acted like him when I first met her, at least for the first few days while I was here."
Arganan thought about Forte. "I'm sure she'll want to know about our newest resident of Selphia being here, and all the shenanigans he got into already."
"I'll let her know later." Frey started gathering the dishes as Arganan stood. "I can help with these, if you'd like."
"I would love that. Thank you."
After the two finished cleaning up, Frey bid Arganan goodbye, as she needed to attend to other Princess-related duties (and, hopefully, catch a nap inbetween to make up for the lost sleep). Arganan took the time by himself to write in his journal.
A new person has been found. I don't know his name yet, but he already attempted running away from the Clinic.
Therius said he'd report this to Calista, and I'm not sure how to feel about this. I trust he'll keep his word. He's exactly the person that would do that. But…how long can I keep my abilities a secret from absolutely everyone? And what should I do, if everyone finds out?
