VALENCIA
Among the shoreline, the sound of the wailing ship came through the dock. Flocks of birds flew away at its dominant presence. The ship horn at its arrival called new passengers aboard. Alan gripped the handle of his suitcase tightly and looked right at the ship. He needs to be in there, and he misses his daughter already before even having to say goodbye.
He turn his stare at his daughter who wore a white summer dress with a cute handmade hat, which he bought when he was in Scovetian from a business trip, over her head. Looking at her, he felt reluctant to go on his business trip to Hunai, but it was his job to do so. Without this business, he wouldn't have been able to raise his daughter in a good environment.
Lana pulled in a strong smile for her father to see. She pulls her father down by the arm in order to give him a quick peck of a kiss on his cheek, which brought a smile to his lips. Alan's laugh soon fills the air with the sound of joy. To her surprise, Alan swept his daughter off of his daughter's feet off of the ground and spun her around. The both of them laugh in unison. "Father, I am not a child anymore," Lana complained.
"You'll always be a child in my eyes, Lana," Alan states still clinging to his daughter. "Always and forever."
"Haha, father," Lana. "I love you, father."
"Love you too, honey pie."
The sound of the ship's horns for the final call of passengers. "I have to go, honey pie. Care for some apple tarts from Hunai? They are famous for their tarts."
Lana's eyes glimmer like a child. "Yes, father, I'll like that."
Alan turns his head to look at me, worried. "Take care of my daughter, Valencia."
"It is in our code to do, sir." I bowed.
He smiles in reassurance. "Very well. I'll leave her to you. Good-bye, my beautiful daughter and get ready for some souvenirs when I come back."
She went up to her father and gave him a warm embrace to her father before he aboard the ship. Before the ship sailed again, Alan waved his hand goodbye to us and I placed a hand over Lana to give her the warmth she needs. Tears had silently rolled down her angelic eyes when the ship started to sail far, leaving our eyes. She folds both of her hands over to her chest whispering words of prayer for her father's safe journeys and returns.
Giving me memories of me when I was a child when my parents left to visit other countries. I would too, pray just like her, hands together and passionately praying for the safety of our parents, but ever since the incident happened. I stopped believing in gods.
I admire their relationship it almost makes me envious which left me almost silent during our walk to a restaurant. Reminiscing on the time I had my family with me I knew that Lana needed some space. I started to order some salads, and side dishes to go along with baked chicken that came straight fresh and hot from the oven.
When the smell of chicken hits her nostrils her expression brightens making me chuckle when she started to carve all the meat from the chicken into her plate. It wasn't a lie when Alan told me that she might love food more than her father.
I watched her gobble all these foods down into her stomach. She had a large appetite despite having a skinny frame. I guess she is the type that eats a lot but can never gain weight. She sighed contently at the food and rubbed her stomach in circles. "I'm stuffed," she complains.
"Sure you do, Lana," I compliment. "I'm surprised that you can eat this much and not gain weight." She giggles.
"And you eat too little, Valencia. Don't just eat salads. Have some meat? Here."
"My lady, thank you for your kindness, however, I can't eat too full knowing that it'll slow me down from a fight."
She yawns tiredly. "I feel sleepy."
"Sure you do, my lady."
"Valencia!" a voice boomerang inside the restaurant making everyone in this room startled. Everyone stared at the man who was standing at the exit of the restaurant.
"Sir, you can't shout like this in the restaurant," the bartender stated. However, the man ignore the bartender's presence and continued to call out for my name while walking inside the restaurant.
"Valencia Logan!" Meanwhile, I stayed silent and pretended to not know this man. Lana stared over at me like she trying to read my reaction to this situation.
"Someone seems to be calling for you, Valencia. Aren't you going to call him?"
"Leave him be," I continued on with my salad.
"I don't think we can cause-"
Knowing what was coming I sent him flying over the walls with my fist. He always gets on my nerve.
"C-cruel as always, Valencia Logan."
"And you're annoying as always, William."
He laughs and groans. He got off the floor and stumbled a bit. He walked over to our table and started to introduce himself to my client's daughter. "You must be Lana. My name is William just a friendly neighbor of Valencia and one of the private knights working in Silver Code."
Lana looked over at the man. "Are you ok, William?"
"Don't talk to him, Lana. He's an idiot."
"So you think I am an idiot, aren't you, Valencia?" He smiles holding out a vial of medicine to me I stared at it and groaned.
"Don't tell me that is-"
"Medicine," he answered. I grunt. "This is what you get for calling me an idiot."
"Can Luna just you know excuse me for once?"
He shook his head. "Luna specifically told me to give you this in person so that I can see you drinking it personally."
I groaned, but if I don't take it I won't be able to hear the end of Luna's nagging.
I took the vial from William's hand and examines it. He was watching me, and I had no choice. I open up the vial and a strange bitter smell came from it. At one go I held my breath and drank it down. I gasp and wanted to drink water to get rid of the taste.
However, William predicted my move and took away the water before I could reach it. I wanted to give him a death glare if I could but I choked shamelessly upon the taste of the horrible herbs and very slowly my vision started to blur. "Ugh." I held my head from spinning and closed my eyes.
After a couple of minutes, all my senses had returned and Lana stared at me worried.
Valencia, a-are you alright?" I nod and groaned.
"I'm ok. Can you give me the water now?" He gave in a smug face.
"You can have mine," Lana offered.
"Thanks, my lady."
"No problem."
I took a couple of sips and the bitter taste started to subside. They taste horrendous. What in the world did Luna put inside this time? Lana's facial expression spells concern.
"Don't worry about it, Lana. This medicine is created by our doctor at our institution. She is very talented," William explained.
"Are you sick?" Lana asked concerned.
"No, I'm not-"
"Oh, she is not sick, Lana," William intercepted. "It's just there is something wrong with her body that our doctor fails to understand and she is trying to dissect that problem out of Valencia whether she likes it or not."
This was taking a little longer to heal. Usually, it can be healed up so fast but now it is taking longer than I expected would. I huffed and groaned. "Give me the other vial, William." He sighs and took out another medicine once opened and drank. Immediately I could feel the medicine doing its magic restoring my breathing back to normal and clearing the cloud that was in my head.
My white gloves soon turned black and it's too risky to drink this medicine out here, but it was my fault for not going to Luna sooner. I folded my gloves carefully and William soon passed me a new set of gloves under the table where no one would notice. I slipped the new gloves into my hands and pretended to finish my salad. Being trained as a knight we learn to be quick in our movement.
As soon as I finished our food. We left the restaurant and let Lana walk around in the shopping district to liven up her mood before going back to her mansion, but in the midst, the people that Alan was talking about appeared faster than I expected. Noticing them too, William pretended to leave the shop before us.
We walked into a small aisle where they thought they could ambush us girls, but because I didn't wear my knight clothing they didn't know I was hired to protect Lana. I sheathed my sword open telling Lana to hide by cargo beside the wall with her frame it should cover her pretty well. She was scared I could tell, but from the judge of her movements, she has experience in dealing with this kind of situation.
The five men surrounded me dressed in black with cloth covering up their faces holding onto their knives. "Find the girl!" A man spoke. When one of the men decided to move. My sword jumps straight to his neck with another slight movement. He would have lost his head. Afraid he moved backward and fell to the ground.
"What are you all doing?" the man in front of me yelled. "Attack!"
And so this is their decision.
Before I could even let them lift a finger on my client's daughter, in a flash, their bodies fell flat to the ground leaving the man in charge alive. We look at each other but his movements tell me that he wants to flee. Not letting him do that I punched his face towards the ground and held him by the collar of his clothes, removing his mask. Blue eyes, tanned skin, dark messy hair with a scar on his temple. "Who are you?" I demanded.
He did not speak instead he chose to kill himself before giving me the answer. I tutted in annoyance. I hope William has better luck with gutting their answers out. I really do wish to know why people would go after Lana. I remember Alan said there are some people who want to kidnap Lana not for the sake of getting money but for something else.
Alan wouldn't give me the details but he hoped that I keep up with the deal to protect her daughter at all costs. I looked back at the cargo. Lana came out and saw the corpses on the ground. She looked like she has been used to it, but her eyes still state fear.
Even though, we only met for a few days Lana ran up to hug for comfort. "My lady, I'm a mess right now."
"If it's you. It's fine," she whispered. "Please hug me back."
I obeyed. "You're alright, my lady. You're alright." I patted her head for reassurance. "I will always protect you."
"Valencia!" William interrupted causing Lana to move away from me, but when she saw the bodies she hid her head back on my chest. I guess she is still not used to it.
"Any luck?" I ask.
"No," he said. "The ones I kept alive all bit off their tongue to die."
"I see," I said slightly disappointed. "If you need me any time. You know what to do."
I nod. "Thank you, William."
"No, probs." Then he left.
I walked Lana back to the mansion and I can't help to wonder. What do these people want with Lana?