The kids were in luck – almost.
The soldier showed up by the temple's broken wall just in time to catch a glimpse of the dark-blond-haired boy hoot disappearing behind the wall of the broken down stable with a single skinny cow watching it all with a clueless expression.
"I ORDERED YOU TO STOP!"
The man shouted and jumped down – right into the compost pile, sinking in up to his knees.
"YOU PESANT BASTARD! GET BACK HERE, I SAID! JOHN, COME WITH ME – WE'RE LOOKING FOR A YELLOW-HAIRED BOY COVERED IN SHIT!"
The soldier was furious and called for backup while digging himself out and going after the runaway – without even knowing there were two of them.
--------
"OWW...! OOWWWWWW...! Shthooooop! Phease shthooop...!"
"...!"
As the boy was pushing the girl forward without a moment of rest, she ended up breaking down in tears, finally alarming him that something really was wrong.
They were running away through the run-down outskirts of the city that were slowly turning into slums. The remnants of a village that got swallowed by the growing city and almost completely abandoned when the local landlord, Earl Rotteloss, relocated most of the residents to have more control over them.
As such, there were plenty of old houses and barns slowly turning to ruin that was under the direct control of the Roteloss family, so beggars from the inner city were hesitant to squat in.
Which meant they were empty.
"UGWAH...!"
Having the girl yelp so loudly would bring an adverse effect on what the boy wanted to achieve, so instead of continuing the escape, he hooked the girl's waist with his arm and barged into an old barn.
*thump*
"...ugh...!"
Already inside, the boy pushed the girl onto a pile of dusty hay, scaring off a family of mice, before adjusting the broken door for even the tiniest bit of cover.
"Can't you be quiet for five minutes?! We could get have got away from them if not for...!"
The boy scoffed angrily, turning back to the girl, and froze up.
Zorivia Roteloss was unmistakenly a rare beauty.
But she was a complete pushover that cowered and apologized for everything, whether she was in the wrong or not, which had an inexplicable effect of making her highly forgettable.
That's why even the boy who saw her beautiful face day after day for two weeks didn't have much of an opinion of her.
But right now, she was crying her heart out, disheveled blond-haired that were almost golden like the most valuable coins, flushed face stained with tears that shimmered like diamonds, and blue eyes so captivating they could easily pass off as the most valuable sapphires.
Because of the scolding, the girl was actually trying to hold back her voice, choking on her own tears and the handkerchief that she STILL DIDN'T SPIT OUT even though it wasn't held in place by anything other than her own jaws.
".. wh-what's wrong...?"
The boy flinched and shook his head as if shaking off a blow and asked while blushing and looking away.
*sniffle* "...mhy anhle..."
The girl hiccuped and slowly raised her left leg – showing off her foot and, more importantly, her ankle that swelled up to the size of a juicy red apple.
"...!"
The boy's eyes widened, and he gulped down his saliva, shocked at himself or feeling bad for her.
"THAT BRAT MUST BE SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE! START CHECKING THE BUILDINGS FROM THAT SIDE!"
"!!!"
And then he flinched as the persistent soldier's voice came from the outside.
"...I will help you, so stay quiet... promise...?"
The boy hurried over to the girl and kneeled on one knee right in front of her.
"...uuuu..."
The girl didn't answer. She only lowered her head and was looking up at him like a terrified lamb on an approaching starving wolf.
*thump* *thump*
"Nothing!"
"Here neither. Keep looking!"
"...ah...!
"!!!"
The sound of the door of the nearby buildings being opened, followed by the voices of the soldiers
communicating with each other, made the two children flinch – additionally causing the girl to spit out the handkerchief.
The boy made an expression as if he had decided on something and carefully but hurriedly took off the sachel, hiding it in the hay next to the girl and completely taking off the hood that was a separate part o the outfit.
He then followed it up by hiding the hood within his clothes and searching for something.
As he rummaged, the heart-shaped pendant that looked like it was made from the common white river stone got pulled out as the boy took out a single dark-green marble.
"Uu-uuu. ..wh-why are we even hiding from the soldie... eh...? I that a magic pell... e-eh...?! I... I know you...!"
The girl was sobbing but then closed her mouth at the sight of the green marble, and then she gasped in shock as the boy took off the dark-blond wig and the hairnet holding back his natural black hair and hid it within his clothes just like he did with the hood.
"I've heard something from there."
"...!"
The boy stopped with the magic pellet in hand as one of the soldiers must have noticed the girl's voice, and the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears.
"You're the boy that Kenneth got really angry with three years ago!"
The girl, with no sense of danger, continued to talk to the headache of the black-haired boy.
*creak*
"Why are you here?"
With the door behind him already opening and the blabbermouth girl in front of him, the boy got desperate, realizing that though the blond-haired girl was the daughter of an Earl, she was utterly hopeless, and instead of helping him, she would only get him in more trouble if they got captured.
So he hurriedly put the magic pellet in his mouth and...
"Why did you have a wi-hmpfgh...?!"
*chuu*
"Huh...?"
Shut the girl's mouth with his lips just in time for the soldiers to look inside the barn they took cover in.
"Nnngh...!?"
"..."
The soldier observed them for a bit, at least until the girl let out an easily misunderstandable noise of surprise as the boy used his tongue to push the magic pellet in her mouth.