Leonel was watching him as he strapped his lame leg into the Blueiron armor. "If you keep staring, I'll start to feel shy."
The Inquisitor scoffed and rolled his eye. He fixed the straps around his chest and adjusted the Witch Slayer that sat against his back. "Hurry up, sun's about to go down any minute now."
"It's barely past noon," Julian gritted his teeth as he tested his balance on the thing. His magecircuits were still a little drained from the damned purge, but he supposed he'd make do for now. The entire town had mobilized to search for the missing kid, and Julian wasn't about to give up on his reputation.
He nagged the Inquisitor to join him on the endeavor and was a bit surprised with the overgrown manchild readily agreed. "Why are you bringing this terrible thing?" Julian poked at the black steel and shuddered at the cold emitting from the blade. "Are you actually planning on killing me when my guard is down? Perhaps dispose of my remains when no one is looking and escape with the wind."
Leonel gave him an incredulous look and opened the door, letting go right when Julian was about to pass through it. The Doctor grimaced at the Inquisitor's childish actions but didn't scold him further.
They made an odd pair. A Blueiron armor-wearing mage and an Inquisitor, going out into the forest to look for a lost kid. Spring was finally coming into summer properly, heat swelling with humidity. Julian groaned and fanned himself with no avail. Meanwhile, the young man at his side did not utter a single word of complaint and matched his pace, lazily scanning the forest trail for hints.
The Doctor still couldn't understand why this Inquisitor was even an Inquisitor. He did not seem religious, nor did he care much about mages. Was it perhaps for social status, or did his family maybe force him? Random explanations that Julian kept in his mind.
There was a grimace slowly pulling on Leonel's features, which inspired Julian to poke him in the cheek, "What's with that face of yours? Lighten up! We're just looking for one missing brat that probably went off the trail trying to chase frogs or something."
"Or he could have ripped apart by wolves."
That too, was a possibility, but Julian wasn't there to discuss horrible outcomes that the dumb kid might have faced. He frowned, forcing his visage to look genuinely disturbed, "Be a little more optimistic, won't you?"
"Hard to be." Leonel raised a finger and pointed at broken branches and footprints among the dirt, "These damned villagers are just searching without any care or communication among each other. They're going to muddy up any tracks left by the kid."
Julian sighed, understanding that the Inquisitor did have a point. As much as he didn't want to, it was probably best to cast a spell to aid in their efforts. It wasn't as if the villagers weren't aware of his available power; they'd probably be more upset if he hadn't at least tried to use his magic to help out.
Holding out his hand, Julian pinched together his thumb and middle finger. His eyes closed, a blue light unraveled from his fingertips like a thin string. The string spread out into multiple tendrils and shout out the in about a dozen different directions, stretching out in search of clues. Julian, who was familiar with Freddie's essence, had a general idea of what he was searching for, and could easily discern the other villagers that were out in the area looking or the child.
The spell stretched and stretched and Julian was beginning to feel dizzy until--
His eyes flew open. The Doctor swayed on his feet, hand reaching up to hold his spinning head.
"You find anything?" Leonel asked, circling his large hand around Julian's thin bicep to hold him steady. He decided not to move away when the Doctor leaned on him.
"Yeah," Julian's eyes were closed, his forehead resting against the Inquisitor's arm. Leonel resisted the urge just to pick the frail old man up and carry him. It would be so much faster that way. And he kind of pitied the pained expression of nausea on the Doctor's face. Just a little bit. "Found a trail of fear left by our little brat. But I can't tell the time. It could be from five minutes ago. Could be a day old."
"Better than nothing. Lead the way."
With a sharp intake of air, the Doctor steadied himself and fixed his eyeglasses. He shamelessly kept a hand on the Inquisitor and used him like a giant walking stick, leaning against him for balance when he felt light-headed. Privately he wondered if it were better to leave the Blueiron armor at home—that way, he would have had more mana to expend for spells.
But alas, he was better off. After reaching the destination at the end of the spell, Leonel was able to pick up the boy's tracks. Several hours old, the Inquisitor said, but at least it was better than nothing. They followed it to a steep decline, where the kid had rolled down.
It didn't bode well for them however, when they were led to the corpse of a man. Crows flew off at their approach. He'd already been disemboweled, his organs trailing out like a mess of fleshy bloodied strings. Animals had their feast, flies buzzing around.
"What do you have here?" Julian hummed as he raised his sleeve to cover his nose from the stench.
Leonel glanced at the corpse quickly and then at their surroundings.
The corpse, though a mess, was not that old. It was the workings of wild animals that had the dead man in this disgraceful state. The eyeballs, however, hadn't been pecked out by the crows and were still staring up with solid glassy sheen that reflected light like dirtied glass, a little yellow.
This man was a mage, and was in the middle of spell-casting when he died. Julian was unwilling to touch the corpse and only made observations from above. The chest had been ripped open with animal teeth, but it also exposed broken ribs that had been hacked away at with a blade's edge.
Curiously, he held his palm above the corpse and cast a quick and straightforward spell. A light blue glow enveloped the dead man briefly before dispersing.
This mage's circuits were wholly fried at the moment of death. The culprit was an Inquisitor. But not Leonel, who'd been with him the entire time.
"...Were you expecting some friends of yours to swing by town?" Julian raised a brow at the young man.
Slow footsteps approached at his side. Leonel crossed his arms as he looked down at the dead mage. A complicated expression haunted his visage, lips pulled into a deep frown. A curse left his lips as recognition suddenly dawned on him. Leonel had only met this man a few times, but this guy was the contact that forwarded Marik the request, who in turn, got in touch with Leonel about the affairs in Fauster.
He knelt by the corpse and began to peel apart the rags of clothes, looking for a mark just to be sure. And just as he expected, found a black lily tattooed on his chest, just above the heart.
Julian raised a brow, "The Black Lily Alliance?"
"You heard of them?" Leonel asked, though he supposed that most mages have.
"Only in passing," Julian shrugged. "But something tells me that this mark means something more to you than just a member of the Black Lily Alliance."
"Yeah," Leonel said, with a scowl and a sigh, "Means that we need to get the fuck out of here."
"What?" Julian wasn't quite catching on, "What do you mean WE need to get the fuck out of here?"
Before Leonel could explain, a horn was sounded, indicating that the boy, Freddie, had been found by someone else. Julian sighed and ran a hand through his messy dark locks, "Looks like they didn't even need us in the first place." But he turned his attention back to the Inquisitor, more curious about the things he was saying earlier, "What were you saying?"
"...Let's head back for now," Leonel said, his eyes a bit lost, his mind clearly on something else, "But we need to prepare to leave as soon as possible. This guy's charge," he said, motioning at the dead man, "probably lead a whole pack of hunting dogs right here to Motsven."