Looking over at the man which she was sitting beside. Bria couldn't help but be curious. Though she was given incentive by the system which accompanied her, how was she supposed to find out who he was? Staring at the two quests, it seemed that they didn't have a visible time limit.
Letting out a quiet sigh, she would lean back against the wooden spine of the front seat before slowly slumping over to the side.
The man gave her an uncomfortable glance as he could feel her short black hair tickling at his arm. His eyes were sharp now. "Errm… Princess."
Sniff, sniff. The Princess took in the man's scent subtly. He smelled quite different from that of a farm. The hay behind them smelled more like a farm than he. "Hmmm?" Her eyes darted up to the man.
"All do respect. Get off me, your Highness." Quin's voice had become cold, a threatening aura surrounded him. It was as if he could slit her throat without a second thought. Yet, she didn't budge.
"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, mister pseudo-farmer?" She placed a soft hand against the man's toned arm.
"…" Lifting one foot, he sent it directly towards the side of her head after giving her a light shove by the hand. Yet, she gave no reaction, not even a flinch.
The Princess let out a huff and stared at him for a few seconds before glancing away from him with an indifferent expression painted across her little noble face. "You're not fun," Bria exclaimed as she reached up her hands to grasp the boot which was in her face and pulled it right off of his foot.
However it wasn't only the boot that came off. His entire foot came off in the process leaving a wooden peg-like joint in its place on the end of his leg. "Ah… Prosthetics." The girl would scrutinize the peg, her voice sounded as neutral as her expression.
With his leg up and still pointed at the girl, the so-called farmer named Quin stared at her. People usually had different reactions to someone wearing a prosthetic. If it was followed by a tale, it was met with amazement, adoration. If it was followed by a sob story, it was met with pity. And then there were those whom looked down upon the people who lost their limbs and other body parts. Yet she had none of these reactions.
"Damned eccentric," he muttered and turned his gaze to look forward again as the girl snapped the boot back into place on his leg, so he could put it down.
"Damned eccentric." Bria copied his tone, mocking him as he had cursed her.
Quin's eyes narrowed on her again, lightly shoving her head away from him, however just like one of those anchored punching bags, she swayed right back into place.
"Your hand smells of garlic," Bria would let out an informative tone, a grin forming over her lips. Reaching up slowly, she would grasp the man's wrist and examine the hand with the aid of her three senses.
Sight, smell and touch. She dare not lick this hand for she had no idea where it had been. That and it would be a little too eccentric for her. Last thing she wanted was the plague.
It was clear she didn't know how the plague was spread.
"Oh? You know what garlic smells like?"
"Of course, it's the main imported good here. For some reason no matter how hard we try, it won't grow within the Kingdom." The girl stated with her arms crossed against her chest. "So which country are you from then? Sevik? Klus? Rumani?"
"Heh, kid. You should stop asking questions." Quin gave a simple line of advice.
"Are you a spy? Some sort of covert bounty hunter or messenger?" Bria completely ignored the man's piece of advice. She wasn't going to let up. She was going to keep bugging him, nudging him. It would be hard for him to escape her grasp since they were going to the same place.
Letting out a hefty sigh, Quin's eyes looked as if they were about to become completely consumed by broken blood vessels. The irritation seen on his twitching eye lids was exceptional.
"It's complicated." The man stated with a face of contempt. "Sixteen years ago, I was your father's head alchemist."
"Oh… The one who couldn't save my mother after she gave birth to me," Bria could recall from the previous inhabitant of the body's memory. She stared into space for a few moments, shrugging softly. "You're an alchemist. Not a physician, nor a court mage. If we had either of those at the time, she would have been alive. Probably."
The man sat there and stared at her in disbelief. She wasn't blaming him? She didn't feel scorn or anger towards him? Quin simply stared at her for a few moments before focusing back on the tiled road ahead.
[ Quest Completed. Rewarded. Item added to inventory. ]
Pursing her lips slightly in thought, she would go into somewhat of a dazed expression as she opened the inventory menu and paused. Within the menu there was a shop button which was greyed out in the top right corner of the display.
If she were to suddenly equip this mage tunic, it wouldn't be at all that weird. After all, she noticed she had Spatial magic within her affinity set.
Focusing in on the shop button, a small tag appeared, saying that it would be unlocked after reaching level ten. Nodding to herself that she would definitely want to use that, she then paid more attention to the Hexagonal grid where items would be stored.
At the bottom right hand corner of the inventory was the limit of items allowed to be stored. 20,000 individual items could be stored in this inventory. Currently there was only the tunic. There was also a special area for money to be found with a drop down menu, centered under the grid. Currently in her inventory's 'treasury' was around 1,000 platinum gold coins. There was a question mark circled directly next to this treasury which gave exact measurements of the money in increments.
Why was Bria carrying so much money in the first place? Did she raid the Kingdom's treasury before being whisked away? No, that didn't sound right. Maybe she was embezzling on taxes?
Sifting through the girl's memories, she kept her pursed lips upon her face. It was as if she was making a duck face.
Quin gave her a questionable glance before going back to commanding the horses which drew the cart. He had no idea what was going on in her head, but it seemed that she was definitely thinking about something.
Maybe she was assuming he was returning for revenge? That wasn't necessarily the case. He had finally found a way to grow garlic within the country's soil. What was in the chest beside him was seeds which he had genetically modified on his own through the use of his alchemy.
Glancing at yet another tab on the inventory screen which read as equip, she would activate the button which revealed a complicated layer-able system for auto-equipping items.
Dragging the mage tunic over with her eyes, she would place it over the white night gown. A few milliseconds later, the object appeared upon her. She could feel the increased weight upon her shoulders and the hood which covered her shaven head.
Quin on the other hand noticed the change from the corner of his eye. When the item was first summoned upon her body, there was a gentle shine of light which then took the shape of the tunic. His eyes remained calm however as his mind was racing.
'She was skilled with magic, this is the first time I heard of this, what else could she do?'
Opening the faction tab from the toolbar, her duck-like expression turned neutral once more. Her eyes seemed to have suddenly dimmed at the sight of names which had crosses next to their names. Each name brought a memory of adoration and friendship between nobles and peasants that resided within the castle. The peasant servants that served her were dead, the nobles were imprisoned.
However compared to those, there was one name which was grayed out. The Third Prince Kade. It appears that she wasn't the only one to go missing, and yet Kade's posters weren't around. Nor did it seem that anyone even spoke of the missing royal children.
What was going on here?
Looking over towards the man's shadow who was sitting beside her, Bria would lightly nudge him with her shoulder. She didn't make eye contact, instead it seemed she was just watching the shadow on the tiles.
"Hm? What is it?" The Alchemist looked over towards the girl for a few seconds before pausing. The girl had become pale, was she sick? Did she have motion sickness? No, she didn't look nauseous.
"Stop the cart."
Quin paused before letting out a snicker as if she was joking. "Why?"
"Just stop the cart." She reached up and grasped onto his arm again as she had done before.
Blinking a few times looking at the girl, Quin nodded to the Princess as he pulled the cart over to the side and parked it in front of what looked like a shopping strip.
"I'll be getting off here. When you reach the castle, don't speak of me." Bria would say as she hopped off the side of the cart and onto the ground. Her bare feet making soft sounds as she took a few steps away. Turning to face him, she didn't look up, her face being hidden by the rim of the hood.
"Your highness?" Quin's tone was inquisitive, the irritation was completely gone from before. Now he was just purely confused. She was only several minutes away from the Palace District and yet, didn't want to go further?
After a few seconds of staring at her, he blinked a few times at a possible conclusion. How did a Princess end up in a murder house? How did she get out of the Palace without the guards knowing? From the reports, it seemed that she disappeared over night. On top of that all her servants were dead and the nobles which didn't have alibies were imprisoned by the second prince who was placed in charge of the investigation.
Quin blinked, the second Prince? He knew of the man's ambitions, he knew of his ruthless schemes. What if this man was trying to get rid of the competition which was behind him, before getting rid of the first Prince?
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Quin snapped the reigns of the horses drawing his cart and made his way towards the Palace District. Leaving the Princess to her own devices.