…
Ghosty lets out a gloomy breath, his tattered clothing sways around as it were blown by wind. He's footless, though, that's why he's floating around all the time.
"Gyehehehe...~ what was that I'm gonna say again... oh, yeah...~" Ghosty rubs his head, which appears like a fluff of nothingness.
"Erm...~ gehehe..~ it's just that...~ uh... being a 'soul spirit' is... not really nice...~ you couldn't remember things...~ pretty well, hehehe...~" he grumbled, "but now... I remember...~ hehe. It's this thing..."
Ghosty lifts his cloth, revealing nothing but utter emptiness.
"Heh… so he doesn't have a body, huh?" Marco mumbled. Shortly, from beneath, a shadow-like arm stretches out holding what seems to be a card and hands it over to Marco. Scias felt intense goosebumps from watching the wobbly shadow.
"O-Oh," Marco gets ahold of the card. He examines the oddly clean card, it's written "Naprean Checkpoint"
"Er... what's this?" Marco asked, "Ah-what…? Oh… it's a... pass....~ in case you wanna go...~ outside...~ hehehe."
"By outside you mean…"
"Yup! You get the idea…~ ehe-ehe-hehehe… going beyond those walls can be quite satisfying… you know…?"
Just when Marco about to put the card thing in his pocket, Scias goes near him and whispers, "Oi, Mr. Unsuspecting, sir… reconsider whatever you obtain from a mysterious creature. It might be a bad item!" he warned.
"Uwah, you're too concerned, dude," Marco replied frowningly. "It is okay, Scias… hopefully."
"Hopefully?! So you're unsure as well?!" he retorted quietly. "Eh…? What are you boys… whispering~? Not fair, not fair…~ don't hide things from Ghosty…~"
"Don't worry, Ghosty, it's just a 'small' thing. Anyway, where did you find this thing?" Marco asked again.
"Oh, that...~? Ahahaha...~ I found it...~ lying on the ground, hehehe...~" Ghosty wheezingly stated. "I'm not...~ into stealing...~ you know...?" He added slowly.
"Ow, you know...~ I don't know...~ ehehehe... it's just… like that, I guess... hehe." Ghosty giggles much faster than his usual portion. His shadow arm disintegrates into thin air, shortly afterwards.
"That… is very unassuming," said Scias shortly, "Now I'm with you, Scias…"
Ghosty floats away from the seat, "Anyway… alright...~ I gotta go~ bye, now...~ pyooooooooooooooooohh....~" Ghosty has disappeared into thin air, leaving the two guys left hanging in confusion.
. . .
"Okay… that was weird. But, hey! We've got something neat, don't you think, Scias?"
"No. Absolutely no," Scias quickly walks upstairs leaving Marco behind, "Wha-hey! What's wrong, dude?" Marco asked.
*BAM!* A door has been slammed roughly.
"What's wrong with him?" Marco wondered. "Perhaps he's not that usual into seeing astral creatures? Who knows…"
"What's more important is that why Ghosty gave me this card… what's his intention?" Marco checks the card again, he thought Ghosty might've pranked him or something. But no, the card was authentically real. It's not forged or anything.
"Oh, well, I guess... I don't think he had any bad intentions, tho…"
Marco was more curious about who ordered Ghosty to come to him. Nobody aside some people in Areda Island knew that he's on a journey. Who would give him an easy pass?
He has no idea. A certain uncovered thing was left in mystery. Either it's just Ghosty being hospitable or it's another man's plan. Marco's body shivers in goosebumps, he feels uneasy all of sudden.
He then leans onto the wall, "HUH?! It's freezing cold?!" Marco turns around in an instant. He sees the wall covered in a thin ice sheet. "I…Ice…?" Before anything gets worse, he decided to go back to his room and rest.
. . .
The next day…
They take the same breakfast as yesterday. Scias scrolls his eye around the lobby. He thought, "Hm... I don't see that lady from before..." He wonders about it, where's the young girl?
Granny comes from the kitchen. She stated that her granddaughter, Sara, was gone to buy ingredients for food to the market place. Hearing this, Scias quickly finishes his food and runs outside.
Marco and the others were shocked to see his attitude. Nina and Marco have the same thought, "Oh... boy. Isn't he's in 'love'?"
"Fufufu~ I wonder where this'll go..." said Nina teasingly.
"Hohohow, yeah, baby..." Marco grumbled intensely, he saw his friend acting up all of sudden and he wants to play with the flow.
. . .
Outside…
Scias manages to catch up with the young woman. She wore a red dress with a pale-orange collar. She brought a straw basket with her, which will be used to gather resources.
"Oh, my, Sir Scias... What's the matter?" She asked,
"N-No... it's just t-that... I f-feel like... 'going along'..." Scias nervously said.
Sara chuckles as she heard him saying in a nervous way. Without further ado she and Scias walks together to the market, albeit Scias being super-nervous, but hidden within his containment of serious face.
. . .
The clock tower chimes loudly that everyone in the kingdom can hear it. It's high noon.
Scias helped Sara bring her goods, he doesn't care if the basket she brought along before was not matching to his appearance. He just doesn't want to let her tired. Her smile and kind personality made Scias smile most of the time, his heart pounds a bit everytime Sara glanced at him. Not to mention she has beautiful face and an elegant-looking cream-brown hair.
They took a walk around the park. Sara herself felt embarrassed for letting her customer do her job, but she tries to hide it in front of him. She pleaded him so that she'll carry her goods over and over, but Scias simply denied.
They enjoyed their time together, walking around Napre. For the first time after some years, Scias learnt to smile sincerely, thanks to her being so kind to him. And Sara herself... she felt happy with him.
"I don't know how I must thank you, Sir Scias. You're helping me too much, whereas I should be helping you as my customer."
"It doesn't really matter, though…" said Scias shortly, "Think of it as a little gift from your customer," he added.
"O-Oh... I s-see..."
Both of them see each other wholesomely. They no longer looked like a pair of seller and customer. Sara views Scias as a kindhearted man who couldn't show his expression well and she fell for him. The same said for the tall guy.
"Thank you, Sir Scias... you really made my day." Sara kindly stated.
Suddenly, a thought rises in her mind.
"Say... Sir Scias... have you m-m-m-m... married?" she asked nervously. "Married? A mercenary like me? N-No." Scias gently replied. He knew where this conversation is heading.
"Well... if that's the case... I just w-want to say... I— *BTOOOOM BOOOORMMM!*
. . .
A large explosion shatters the soft atmosphere within the two. Scias quickly stands up and examines the situation quickly. He quickly becomes full alert and instantly looked around sharply, when he looked upwards to the north-west. He spotted large puffs of smoke coming out into the sky. Sara, however, didn't shutter or scream like most girls would do. She quickly took shelter behind Scias while checking her surroundings. She noticed a huge crack on the ground.
Scias remembered something that he nearly forgotten: The kingdom he is staying in isn't in in peaceful state. It has to be it, he thought. Napre is under attack.
"Are you alright, come on!" Scias takes Sara along to return back to the inn, but suddenly in front of him appears a large scorpion-like creature, measuring up to 2 meters big from the ground. It roars out a screeching sound, making everyone escape from the area.
*THWANG!
"Sara, run! I'll fend off this creature, GO!" Scias shouted as he drew his sword to deflect the incoming sting.
"Understood," Sara made a quick step and fled the area. But deep inside her appears a feeling of concern towards the tall mercenary, she wanted to give him support, but she's no good at battle, despite her being brave when faced a demonic creature.
The scorpion attacks with its pincers. "Tch... you're just ruining m-my day..." Scias draws his other sword, which has a shorter length. He quickly parries the charging scorpion.
Meanwhile, at the inn...
"Holy molly, the hell's going on?!" Marco shouted. His card game with the Meridian sisters stopped instantly after a huge explosion happened.
"Marco! It must be the Imperial forces! Remember what Mr. Drugo told us?" Nina stated in a bit panic.
Marco comes to a realization again. He remembered that the kingdom was not in good terms with the empire. An attack would likely to blow up, but he didn't expect the empire would be this fast. He thought so because the vanguards and soldiers spread word that everything's safe.
"Kyyaaah!"
A big hornet monster crashes into one of the inn's windows. "HYA! Scary big stinger!" said Marco in shock.
"G-Granny! *BANG*" Marco quickly draws his gun and fired at the one foot big hornet, killing it almost instantly.
"Granny, you OK?" Marco dropped his gun and checked on granny, "Phew," he sighed in relief. The old lady wasn't hurt.
"What's going on... oh god, please forgive us! What have we done till monsters attack our community...?!" She shrieked in terror. Aily and Marco tried to calm the poor old woman.
"Nina, can you please check outside?" Marco asked,
"Leave it to me." Nina replied quickly and left outside.
"Mana Perception!" *ZIIIIM*
A few moments later, Nina came back in, she disclosed her observation.
"They're everywhere,"
"W-What do you mean they're everywhere?!"
"Monsters... mostly were bug-like creatures. This must be a work of an enemy's power..." Nina stated.
"I believe it must be an Entomancer!" She added. "Haaaah?!" Aily shouted.
Marco solidifies as he hears her saying that. "Whoa-whoa-whoa! hold your horses, Nina." He said. "You can't be SERIOUS!" He continued screaming.
"Unfortunately... it's true. Only an entomancer with the capability of Level 3 magic could do this sorcery..." She explained with a slight terror in her face.
"W-Wait... Scias, he went outside!" Marco remembered his buddy who went out with Sara, the young inn owner.
"Oh, no...! Oh, no, my dear Sara! SARA! SAAARAAA!" The granny shrieked loudly, she's at her peak of horror, knowing that her one and only granddaughter was still outside and in danger.
"We need to catch after them!" Aily scrunched her face seriously.
"But someone gotta stay with poor ol' granny here," said Marco worrying the old lady.
"Don't worry, I'll stay here, Aily, go with Marco and find them,"
"A-Are you sure, sis'?" Aily asked, "I'm OK, I'll nurture her for the time being, now GO!" Nina said loudly. Her younger sister nods and left the inn with Marco to find Scias and Sara.
Marco and his friends are faced with multiple dilemmas at once. "Hey, Aily?" he said as he ran side-by-side with Aily. "Yeah?" Aily replied. "Do you think it's possible for humans to command an Entomancer?" he asked.
"I dunno, I haven't seen a human powerful enough to command one," she replied.