"Oi don't you know its rude to comment on someone's name like that?" alastair asked the girl in a huff. "don't get you knickers in a twist over such a little thing its beneath you." the girl said matter of factly. alastair picked up a small slip up on the girls part that he immediately latched onto. "oh? and how would you know that?" he asked with a teasing grin. the girl froze when she heard the question and knew she made a mistake and immediately tried to recover. "well i mean i don't know , you just seemed like such nice person is all."
Both alastair and erik laugh at this for a moment causing the girl to pout. "whats so funny?" she asked angrily. "ah , sorry about that but you are terrible at lying to the point its funny." alastair said after he stopped laughing. "that doesn't mean you need to laugh at me for it." she said grouchily. "what gave me away anyway?" she asked curious. "oh that was your reaction when you turned around , you looked like you had seen the last person you expected." alastair explained honestly. "so you mean to tell that all my acting was pointless?" she asked stunned.
"Completely and unequivocally pointless." alastair said flatly. "also whats up with that weird transfiguration on your body?" erisa asked curiously. "transfiguration what do you mean?" alastair asked for clarification. "transfiguration is the practice of changing the shape and even properties of things into other things , my people are innately gifted at the practice due to our dual shapes that we switch between. this person is in this shape unnaturally but the process it was achieved is odd." erisa said with a confused look at the girl.
"That's some extremely high concept magic you just explained like it was a cheap tea , who in Yggdrasil are your people to be gifted innately in such a thing and why haven't i ever heard of them?" the girl asked in astonishment. "hmm? oh i'm a mhmm" erisa was about to explain before alastair quickly put his hand over her mouth cutting her off. "as much as i wouldn't mind a bit of friendly dialog i would rather we didn't do so in the middle of the town about such sensitive topics." he said looking around at the many people within earshot.
"That is probably for the best , my name is veronica by the way." she says before heading to the left of the town entrance where a small gazebo sat in the distance a fair bit from where every other person was. once the group sat in the gazebo and made sure there weren't any nosy busybodies about erisa explained about her people just without the changing into a dragon. veronica almost died from laughter when erisa explained how she was trying to court alastair. alastair took exception to this however and immediately oust veronica by asking why she seemed to recognize him.
"That is because the head priest at my home town described what you look like also you have a very obvious pure aura." veronica explained honestly. "she is right you know that was one of the reasons i chose you after all." erisa chimed in. "enough about me , what was this about your sister being missing?" alastair changed the subject. "as embarrassing as it is to admit i was kidnapped by some monsters when i was enjoying the hotsprings. the truth is that i had completely relaxed my guard giving them an opportunity." veronica said with an embarrassed expression.
"That doesn't explain why your sister is missing." alastair said calmly. "i'm getting there , so anyway after i barely managed to escape from the monsters and finally returned to this town my sister was nowhere to be found." she finished explaining. "well to the bar we go then." alastair said calmly. erik nodded but veronica looked confused "what does a bar have to do with my sister?" she asked not understanding. erik was the one who explained this time "bars are places that information flows freely and as a result bartenders are usually the most informed people in towns." he said calmly.
"I will have to remember that in the future" veronica says before walking out of the gazebo. the trio followed after her but erik stopped her before she could head up the stairs to the bar. "no one in their right mind will let a child into a bar , so i suggest you follow behind so we don't have to argue with the people inside." he said seriously and even though she knew he was right it still irritated her but she agreed. after the group entered the bar they came across a young girl who was looking for her father that she can't seem to find after he went to the hotsprings.
The girl called connie explained that she and her dad had gone to the hotspring to wash up but after she left he was nowhere to be found so she looked in the first place she thought he would go and she has been sitting here sadly waiting to no effect. veronica talked to the barkeep about her sister and learned that she had apparently gone to look for her. veronica cursed her sister for being foolish and told connie to wait here as she had an idea were her dad was before telling the group about the old ruins she had been taken to.
The group then headed out of the town before quickly making their way to these ruins even ignoring the monsters since alastair knew they might need to hurry. the ruins were sunk into the side of a canyon just past the most commonly used campsite and took them two hours to get to since it was a good distance away. the ruins were filled with musky stale air while the walls looked to be made of some form of cement that had resisted times corrosion.