As time went by, the noon quickly passed. Jennings spent his day in his room, preparing to return to Alara since Bernard would absolutely not want to see his face for the time being, Jennings decided to give Bernard some time alone.
whether he retires from his position as the military affairs general or demand Compensations for the damages that happened upon the town. It was all up to him to decide, Jennings would go with whatever his decision was.
With his magical bag around his waist, the absent-minded Jennings went down the stairs heading to the exit. But unexpectedly ran into Maitea, desperately trying to tie her shoes.
Maitea never did anything by herself, was it bathing, sleeping, or even brushing her teeth, her master and Bernard would do it for her. and as he heard from the master, her second brother, Yoon, was the one who spoiled her the most.
Seeing someone as clueless as her, having a hard time just because of a shoe tie, made Jennings's heart sting for a second. after all, he was the one who made her lose her master.
"....Little Ma?"
Maitea instantly flinched by hearing her name, she slowly turned to look at the man behind her, with a cracked smile on her face.
" ah. Y, your majesty "
Seeing this reaction, Jennings knew something was off. Maitea looked nervous and troubled exactly like a toddler who was caught red-headed stealing cookies.
"Where are you going?"
There was nothing wrong with her leaving the house at this time, she always ran around the town every day. However, after the incident with the white Griffin, Maitea never left the master's room, then why now? And most importantly, her behaviours at the moment were suspicious.
" n, nowhere, just, I w, wanted to, go on, a walk"
One doesn't need to be smart to see that she was lying.
' ....you don't go walking with a sword'
For the innocent and low IQ Maitea to lie, means that she was about to do something absolutely not acceptable. The master and both of her brothers would always head her requests, but if she decided not to ask them, it can only mean either it's dangerous or nefarious.
" then I will tag along with you"
Maitea's eye twitched after hearing what Jennings had to say, she obviously did not want him to follow her. She said as she took a few steps towards the door.
" amm, no need. I, I will be back soon"
' ah!! She is running away!'
Click
Jennings quickly dashed to grab her, but as expected, Maitea was way too fast for him to be able to reach her. She opened the front door and immediately jumped out of the house, Heading to the south with no hesitation.
' I should follow her, but who will tell Bernard....?'
******
" After moving the ruins, we will have to start with building few shelters for those who lost their homes and utilize the farms, the food in the storages won't last for more than three months"
Said Bernard to the soldiers around him. The damage range of the battle was unexpectedly vast, enough to cover around third of the town. Besides, many people died, injured or became homeless, and Bernard had to do his best to at least return the structure of the town to normal.
Rebuilding the town won't be an easy task.
"Ah, captain. There are few corpses that either weren't identified or no one came to look for them. what should we do with them?"
" they were probably some passing travellers, we will have to bury them ourselves, make sure to perform a suitable soul ritual"
"Yes sir!"
Bernard kept receiving reports and giving orders for hours, work was endless that he couldn't feel the time pass until someone called for him hurriedly.
" Captain!! Captain Bernard!"
A man in his early twenties ran towards Bernard as if his life was on the line, he reached to Bernard, hardly breathing.
" the man...the mister you brought with you...."
"What about him?!"
Bernard urged the young soldier to quickly talk.
" he told me to tell you that Maitea went to the forest....he then said something about a green flag "
'...green flag?'
As Bernard remembers, a green flag was a sign used when a valued prisoner escapes, why would he use such a sign?
"....oh shit!!"
Bernard suddenly grabbed the young soldier's shoulders as he demanded:" when did that happen?!!".
"Uh, around five minutes?"
Instantly Bernard let go of the young soldier and rushed towards the south, to the enormous forest that hid Sakka town for many years.
' why and where is she planning to run to?....aah fuck!'
Beside his elemental, Bernard was already a swordmaster with lightning affinity, that gave him the ability to increase his speed significantly. However, without knowing her whereabouts or even her destination, speed means nothing.
-splash
'..water? Few kilometres after crossing the river comes the road to Alara....is she searching for a bigger city'
Bernard immediately headed towards the sounds of splashing water while working his brains to figure out what was going in his sister's head.
'Better just ask her directly...'
When the view gradually cleared up from trees, Bernard could see Maitea's tiny silhouette slowly making its path through the wide river.
"Little Ma!"
Hearing her brother's voice startled Maitea too much that she lost her footing and almost fell on her face. She quickly regained her balance and turned to Bernard who began walking slowly towards her.
" Brother stop! Don't come closer "