We'll miss you," Emma said as she hugged the red-haired girl.
"It's not like I'm going away forever," Christa said "I'll be back when my journey is complete"
"Then we'll wait for you until then," Mary said as I waited by the gate. I still wasn't sure why this girl was so insistent on coming with me but it's not like I cared. If she wanted to join me then I wouldn't stop her, it would be my responsibility to keep her safe no matter what.
"You ready to go?" Christa asked and I nodded "well then come on"
"I told you where we're going didn't I?" I asked and she nodded.
"Avarin right?" She asked and I nodded. I wanted to find Arin, the knight who was banished after supposedly betraying the kingdom. Truth be told I believed he was innocent, Avarin was a major trading hub. Even bigger than Aurora, the capital of Aria. If I could find info on him anywhere it would be there.
"Let's go" I ordered and Christa saluted me before following me into the forest. The city of Avarin wasn't nearly as far as I was expecting, it would only take us about a day of travel to make it to the trade hub so we left as early as possible. The sun was only just beginning to rise
"Hey, you said that you knew who killed your parents right?" Christa asked and I nodded.
"I believe that it was Geoffrey, the royal advisor" I explained and she nodded
"Then why didn't you just say that?" Christa asked and I sighed
"All evidence did point to me, I was the only one in the room and was covered in my father's blood," I said and Christa frowned.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," she said and I smiled.
"You don't have anything to be sorry about, you just focus on not tripping over that root," I said and she turned to me.
"What root?" She asked before tripping over a root and falling flat on her face.
"That one," I said and she looked up at me.
"Haha" she laughed sarcastically and I just smiled before helping her up, she dusted off her tunic and leggings before continuing to walk.
Then suddenly I heard rustling in the bushes.
"Get down!" I yelled as I tackled the red-haired girl to the ground and a wolf dove from the bushes on top of me.
It dug its teeth into my arm and the white-hot pain shot through my body as blood began to pour from the wound. I mustered up enough strength to throw the feral animal off of me and it landed in a heap before climbing back on its feet and charging again.
"Windstoß!" Christa yelled sending the wolf flying into a tree, killing it.
Christa rushed over to me and kneeled at my side before casting another spell.
"Heilen," she said and the wound began to close and she smiled at me "are you okay"
"Wolves hunt in packs," I told her and suddenly another wolf emerged from the trees and I quickly pushed Christa behind me before an arrow pierced through the animal and it fell to the ground dead.
I was confused but also thankful for whoever did that, I probably could have taken the wolf but I didn't wanna get bit if I didn't have to.
"Are you okay?" a girl's voice asked and I turned to see a short girl, even shorter than Christa in fact, and Christa was already only at my chin. The girl had short blonde hair that reached her shoulders and brown eyes. She was wearing an orange shirt that left her left shoulder down to her stomach exposed and had bandages wrapped over her chest, she also wore a black and orange skirt and shorts underneath it. She had black shoes and a bow in her hand and a quiver on her back.
"We're fine," I replied "thanks for the help"
"No problem" the girl greeted with a small laugh "the name's Yuna, it's nice to meet ya"
"I'm Christa and this is Leo" Christa greeted, using my alias instead of my real name.
"Why are ya callin' him, Leo?" Yuna asked, holding up a wanted poster with my face and name on it.
"Well that was fast" I muttered "I'm gonna have to start wearing a hood"
"So what are you gonna do now?" Christa asked, placing a hand on her spellbook in case a fight broke out
"Nothin' at all" Yuna said making my eyes widen.
"Huh?" I asked and she smiled.
"I guess I just don't believe that someone who killed their parents in an attempt to take over the kingdom would so readily sacrifice themselves like you just did," Yuna said with a small laugh "so you wanna tell me what happened"
"Very well," I said and I explained what happened that day and my suspicions about who the real killer was.
"I see," Yuna said after I finished explaining, and then she jumped up "Well I believe you"
I was shocked at this revelation, I was expecting a lot more resistance but she was taking this all in stride.
"Really?" I asked and she nodded before explaining her reasoning.
"I've learned to trust my gut, and my gut says that you're tellin' the truth," she explained and I was shocked by her simple approach.
Suddenly her stomach grumbled and she blushed.
"Anyways are you guys hungry, I could cook up that wolf for us," Yuna offered and I smiled.
"I'd like that," I agreed and Yuna began preparing the meat.
"We'll need fire," Yuna said and I threw down some firewood. "Great! Now we just need to ignite it"
"entzünden," Christa chanted and suddenly the logs burst into flames and Yuna smiled.
"Well that's useful," she said and began cooking the meat, after a few minutes it was done and we began to eat.
"You're a good cook," Christa complimented and Yuna smiled.
"Thanks," she said, "so where are you two headed?"
"We're going to Avarin at the moment," I said and Yuna lit up at this news.
"I'm going to Avarin too, why don't we travel together?" She suggested and I raised an eyebrow.
"You understand that if you're seen with me then you'll be considered fugitive right?" I asked and she nodded.
"Yeah, I get that. But I also just don't care," she said "I'm gonna live my life how I want and nobody can stop me"
I was slightly taken aback by her attitude, she had a very refreshing take on things. It was clear she didn't overthink things. For that reason I kinda envied her.
"If you wanna join us then go ahead," I said and she smiled and began jumping up and down.
"Alright!" She cheered, way too happy about being a traitor to her kingdom. Christa laughed at the smaller girl's antics.
"Come on, we should probably get moving," I suggested "I wanna get to Avarin within the day"
"Oh I know a pretty good shortcut in that case," Yuna said and we looked at her.
"Lead the way then," I said and she stood up and began marching.
"Follow me then!" she ordered as she continued to march through the forest with Christa and me hot on her tail.
After a few more minutes of walking, we arrived at a massive tunnel.
"The reason why the walk is so long is because you have to walk around the mountain," Yuna explained "but this tunnel cuts straight through the mountain, we could be there within about an hour taking this route"
"I see," I said with a smile, it appeared that Yuna was already proving her worth in gold.
"Y-You mean in there?" Christa asked, hiding behind me.
"Are you afraid of the dark?" Yuna asked and Christa shook her head.
"I'm just not good with caves in general," she said and I frowned
"Just stay close to me okay," I said, taking her hand in mine "you'll be fine"
Christa blushed slightly before smiling.
"Yeah okay," she replied, taking my hand and holding it tightly.
"Aww you two are adorable together" Yuna teased and Christa turned as red as her hair while I just smiled at the pair's antics as we began to walk through the dark tunnel.
It was a mostly uneventful trip, outside of the occasional bat there was nothing too amazing that happened.
"Hey Yuna, how did you get to be so carefree?" Christa asked and Yuna looked down.
"Let's just say there was a time when I wasn't allowed to act this way, I wasn't always allowed to be free like this," she replied "but that doesn't matter anymore, this is who I chose to be and I'm not gonna change that for the world"
"I think that's the exit," I said and Yuna ran ahead, and just like that, we had finally arrived. Yuna then turned and decided to play tour guide
"Lady and Gentleprince, welcome to Avarin," she said cheerfully
____________________
I've never seen a place so lively" Christa said as she wandered the streets of Avarin. She almost reminded me of a child. It was cute!
It was fair enough that she was excited, to go from her small village to the bustling market town had to be an interesting change. Not to mention the market seemed livelier than usual. Duke Hasel was watching over his city well.
"Christa we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves," Loki said as he pulled his hood further over his head. Desperately trying to avoid being found out. It was working pretty well but I knew that it only took one slip up for him to be caught. He was the most wanted man in the kingdom after all.
"I'll handle the talkin', okay, you two just focus on not standing out," I said and Christa raised an eyebrow.
"I have bright red hair," she said and Loki quickly followed up with his problem.
"I'm the most wanted man in the entire kingdom," he said and I chuckled and began to sweat nervously.
"Yeah that's fair" I joked and Loki sighed in exasperation. Clearly wondering how I had survived this long. Little did he know that I had no idea either.
I led the two to the local inn and got us checked in, once we were in our room I told them the plan.
"Alright, Loki is gonna wait here. He'd draw too much attention to himself in the streets, that hood is only gonna hide his identity so much" I explained "Christa, you're gonna come with me so we can gather intel on this guy you're looking for. What was his name again?"
"I believe his name is Arin," Loki said and I nodded.
"Got it," I replied.
"Hey one more question," Christa asked and I turned to her.
"What's up?" I asked and she began to blush.
"Why did you get a room with only two beds?" She asked and I tilted my head.
"Aren't you two gonna share a bed?" I asked and they both turned as red as Christa's hair.
"Why would you think that?" Loki sputtered out.
"Aren't you two dating?" I asked and they both began viciously shaking their heads.
I was completely shocked by this. I thought for sure there were in a relationship but as it turned out they were just really dense. Oh well, that just means that I get to play matchmaker.
"Well Christa let's get going," I said as I dragged her out of the room and into the streets.
"So where should we start looking," Christa asked and I put a thumb to my chin in a thinking position.
"We could try an info broker that I know" I suggested and Christa smiled.
"That seems like a good start" she replied and I could tell something was bothering her
"Are you okay?" I asked and she frowned.
"Hey, Yuna?" She asked, "am I useless?"
"Where did that come from?" I asked and she sighed.
"In only two days of knowing him Loki has already had to rescue me three times, and he even got himself hurt. But you just met him and you're already playing a big part," she explained and I nodded
"Sure he may have gotten hurt protecting you but who was it that healed him afterward?" I asked "You're not useless to him or me, you'll find what you're meant to do soon enough," I explained, trying to reassure the taller girl and she smiled.
"Y'know, you're pretty good at the whole feelings talk," Christa joked and I laughed.
"Well someone has to be" I replied with a small laugh as we arrived at an alleyway.
"Is this where we'll meet him?" Christa asked and I nodded as we walked into the alley and I stopped to talk to a man in a straw hat
"I need information," I said and he turned to me.
"Pay first" he replied and I slipped 50 silver pieces into his pockets "what do you need?"
"I'm trying to hunt down a traitor, a knight named Arin" I explained and the man nodded.
"The Veiled Woods, there have been sightings of a man living there recently. He matches the description of Arin Lockhart" he said and I nodded
"A pleasure doing business with you" I replied as I took Christa's hand and led her out of the alleyway.
"Alright, so that's our lead then" Christa stated and I smiled at the girl.
Suddenly I stopped and looked around.
"We're being followed," I said and Christa stopped as well, I grabbed her hand and began to run. Only to be cut off by a guard who slammed me into a wall. Another guard grabbed Christa and held her in place.
"Where is Loki Leonhart?" the guard asked and I glared at him.
"Never heard of him" I replied as I spit in his face.
"You can play dumb all you want but we know you know where he is," he countered and I continued to glare.
"Piss off, I don't know what you're talking about," I said before the guard slammed his fist into my stomach causing me to throw up a bit.
"Talk now!" he ordered and I chuckled.
"I'm not afraid of torture," I replied and he scowled.
"Maybe your friend is," the guard said and Christa shut that down quickly.
"Piss off!" she said as she struggled against her captors.
"Does that answer your question?" I asked and the guard again went to punch me, only to suddenly lose his head.
"Holy shit!" one of the guards said
"entzünden," Christa said and one of the yhe guards exploded into flames while I shot the other one with an arrow.
"You two come with me," a voice said as he appeared from the shadows and grabbed our hands, leading us through the alleyways as we evaded the guards.
After a minute of running, we finally escaped from them.
"Are you two okay?" the man asked and I nodded.
"Yeah," I replied "thanks for the help"
"Take me to see Prince Loki," the man ordered.
"Why should we do that?" Christa asked and the man stared at her before replying.
"Because I have an offer for him,"
____________________
I was getting worried. The girls had been gone for a few hours now and I had received no updates on their situation. Maybe I was worrying over nothing but considering the circumstances, I feel like I was right to be concerned.
I suddenly heard a knock on the window and went to open it. I was met with Yuna diving through the window and landing on me.
"I'm okay," she said as she sat on my chest.
"Ow" I muttered and she climbed off of me, followed by Christa and someone I'd never met before.
He had black hair and onyx eyes, his outfit consisted of a dark blue tunic and a white jacket with a hood that he had up, covering most of his hair. He also wore dark pants and boots.
"So who's your new friend?" I asked
"Your new friend if you play your cards right," he said, locking eyes with me.
"What?" I asked and Christa sighed.
"He's offering to help us if we help him with something first," she explained and I nodded in understanding.
"Alright?" I asked "what is this job you have for us to help you with"
The man removed his hood and gave me a good look at his face before answering me.
"I want you to help me break into Duke Hasel's vault"