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*******************
Noon is approaching and I am going to Agustin and Joseph's parents' store to pick up the dagger.
I left a letter to Julia on my bed, explaining the situation. I hope she understands my decision.
I spent a good number of hours last night, trying to make it sound as reassuring as possible.
As I enter the workshop, after waving to the boys' mothers who are busy attending to some customers, I see Sabrina, Joseph, and Agustin waiting for me inside, and I approach them.
The boys' parents are working metal in the forge, but there are no signs of Lorna in the workshop.
"My sister was working on the dagger until a few hours ago, as it still needed to be sharpened and mithril is quite difficult to work with" Agustín says, as he sees my gaze wander around the workshop, looking for her "She didn't sleep through the night to finish it, that's why she's sleeping now. She wishes you luck on your journey."
"Ahh, tell her when she wakes up that I thank her very much" I say, surprised that she has gone to that extent for someone she didn't know until yesterday.
"You can tell her when we get back" says Agustin, with the tone of decisiveness in his voice that he always adopts when we are about to engage in combat.
"What do you mean?" I ask in bewilderment.
"Did you think we would let you go on adventures alone?" asks Joseph with a smile.
"I'm not going on adventures, Joseph!" exclaims I, exasperated and annoyed "I'm going to a dangerous place. Why the hell would you want to follow me?"
"that's exactly why" says Sabrina "that's what friends are for, right?"
"She's right" says Agustin tersely.
"What kind of friends would we be if we let you go alone to have fun?" says Joseph jokingly, but when he sees my look he stops joking, and with a tone of voice similar to his cousin's he says "we understand, Xel. That's exactly why we want to accompany you. The more of us there are, the better chance we have of saving Ragnar."
"hmt, fine" I say, resigning myself to accept it "but I'm going to go on horseback… do you guys know how to ride?"
***
It turned out that the boys did know how to ride and, although Sabrina doesn't, Agustin assured her that she could go on the horse with him without any problems. Horseback riding was another of the many things Joseph had been fond of for some time, in which, as seems to be normal, Agustin accompanied him.
So, after buying two more horses from Ozy's friend and waiting for them to be saddled, we set off in the direction of the southeast exit of the capital.
***
We are currently camping and, after a day of fast-paced horseback riding, my body is a bit sore from lack of habit. My companions don't seem to be in a much better situation.
When I rode back from Crossroads Village with Joaquin on horseback, we were going at a more relaxed pace, so I never felt the stress of riding in my body. But now we are in a race against the clock, so we are going as fast as our mounts will allow, but without overtaxing them.
The guy who sold us the horses told us that even though the harnesses are enchanted to enhance the animals' abilities, we should not push them too hard anyways.
While we wait for dinner to cook, Joseph starts playing the flute to try to lighten the mood.
He has improved incredibly with the instrument, and he seems to have an exceptional talent for it. But my gloomy mood doesn't change at all, despite the music.
During the trip, we hardly spoke at all. And although my friends are now trying to make conversation with me, I can't help my voice sounding strained and my responses curt.
It's normal, they only knew Ragnar for a few days. For them, he is nothing more than a guild instructor, while for me Ragnar is the reason I was able to start a new life in the capital.
He and Julia taught me how to fight; he taught me how to do magic, he gave me a place to live and he fed me. And, much more importantly, he was my friend when my life was shattered and I couldn't fall any lower.
That's why I can't help but be worried and tense at the prospect of something happening to him.
******
At dusk, on the sixth day, we arrive at our destination.
The village in question is made up of a few dozen brick houses built without much order. It is located near a river and a few trees, in the easternmost inhabited region of the kingdom.
We approach some children who are playing in front of a house and ask them where Ragnar's friend's house is.
The children give us a strange look before answering us and they runoff. I guess they don't see many strangers in the village.
We find nothing in the house that the children indicated to us. It seems uninhabited and, from the windows, we see that the furniture inside seems to be covered with dust.
We ask a woman in a nearby house who is collecting the clothes on a line and, after looking at us with a blank stare for a few moments, she replies that we should go and talk to the village chief since she does not like to speak ill of her neighbors.
Puzzled, we go to see the village chief. We are greeted by a man in his 40s and, when we ask him about Ragnar's friend's house, we are invited for a drink at the man's house.
As we enter we see his wife holding a jug of juice in her hands. She starts pouring the juice into some glasses on the table and when she finishes she goes to another room.
The man invites us to sit down. We do as he says and he begins to tell us the story.
I can't help but tense up as I sit down, thinking that maybe the man is about to tell me about my friend's death.
It seems that Ragnar and his friend set off into the nearby forest to search, following some tracks, for whatever it was that was stealing the cattle. However, after going deep into the thicket, they never came out again.
As I listen to the story, I sip the juice a few from time to time.
It appears to be an apple juice but has a slight hint of another fruit that I can't identify.
It's odd, considering I tried a myriad of combinations when I lived with my parents.
My worries lighten a bit after listening to the village chief because, even though we still don't know for sure what has happened to Ragnar, they are still better news than what I expected when I arrived at the village.
He invites us to stay the night and have dinner. We accept, as it is getting dark and maybe they can tell us more about the forest, which we decide to investigate tomorrow.
At dinner, we meet the chief's daughter. A girl of about 15 with white hair and light blue eyes.
Joseph looks at her as if he has never seen a girl before, and constantly tries to get her attention.
I am amused by his attitude, considering how much Joseph has teased Agustín during the trip about how he acted with Sabrina.
We didn't find out much about the forest during dinner because of Joseph's attitudes, but I'll ask the village chief tomorrow.
I don't know why, but I feel relaxed, even optimistic… I feel like I haven't felt since I heard about Ragnar's disappearance. The fact that we have found no sign of him seems to be more like good news than bad ones.
After all, if something serious had happened to him, the people in the village would know about it, wouldn't they?
We sleep by the fireplace in our sleeping bags, as the chief has no spare beds to offer us. But no matter. It's still better than sleeping out in the open.