It took one last look in the direction of the shop to make sure nothing was there but seeing that nothing moved, it turned around in the direction of the sound it had heard earlier.
As the sound of its footsteps drew further and further away, the duo finally relaxed and let out a breath of relief. The woman peeked over the corner just to make sure the creature had actually left and when she was satisfied, she stood up.
Marcus observed the woman standing over him warily and tried to gauge his chances of winning against her in a fight.
However, before he could finish his thoughts, a hand stretched out in front of him. Marcus looked up at the woman in bewilderment, trying to understand what she was trying to do.
'Maybe she would take his hand and throw him out of the shop into the jaws of the creeper.'
'Or maybe she'd help him up to gain his trust, just to use him as bait once they were outside.'
The possibilities were endless, and Marcus couldn't guess which plan she'd choose to execute. He wasn't fond of any of the scenarios he'd come up with either because he lacked the strength to do anything should she decide to use force.
After forcing his body to run so much, he was running on fumes and hardly had anymore fight left in him. However, in spite of his senseless thoughts, the woman's next words forced him to stop thinking so hard, if but only for a moment.
"Oh, you poor thing, you must be frightened," the woman said as she retracted her hand thinking she scared Marcus.
Marcus's cold and calculated thoughts turned into confusion. Hadn't he left this woman for dead only a few minutes ago. Why is she acting like nothing happened.
"Its okay dear, that thing can't harm us so you can speak. Oh, and it also can't find us in here as long as it doesn't see us directly."
Marcus grew curious about what she meant when she said this.
"It can't see us?"
The woman was surprised that Marcus actually replied to her but she recovered and answered his question.
"Yes, the flowers in this shop are very special and prevent it from spotting us here."
Marcus stared at the flowers in the shop attentively. The purples ones in particular were strewn all about the shop already due to whatever happened to the town prior to being abandoned, but the creeper made an even bigger mess as some of them now lay sprawled on the ground and hanging from the shelves.
Tiny blue orbs circled the purple ones but they were fewer in number than what usually floated around said flowers.
"They're called 'Prukade', and they attract tiny orbs of pure mana that act as a cover for us while we're hiding."
Marcus started to understand the situation now. The flowers attracted vast amounts of pure mana orbs into the shop, which then acted as a type of mana camouflage for he and the woman to hide behind. When the monster looked into the flower shop, it couldn't pinpoint us due to the already plentiful mana in the surroundings accumulated by the Prukade.
"I get it now. Thank you for explaining.
"No worries sweety. Well now that that's settled, I guess introductions are in order," the woman spoke with a wide smile on her face.
Marcus got lost in the woman's smile for a moment. Not because she was some breathtaking beauty but because for a second he thought he saw a glimpse of his mother in place of this stranger he'd just met for the first time.
"My name is Beatrice, and its a pleasure to meet you. Do you mind telling me your name young man."
Marcus hesitated to answer the woman. She was being overly nice and this in and of itself warranted suspicion. Not to mention, she seemed to be ignoring the elephant in the room, that being his black hair and eyes. Was this woman blind or just pretending not to notice for the sake of not being the only one trapped in this hell hole.
"Um... my name is Marcus."
"Marcus huh? Well, nice to meet you Marcus. Oh and don't worry about earlier. I thought you were another young man I met a long time ago and figured you could help me. It's a bit shameful looking back on how I acted, so I apologize."
It took Marcus a moment to realize what she was referring to, but he ended up figuring it out. She was talking about how he'd pretty much left her for dead even after hearing her cries for help.
Marcus didn't regret what he did. In fact, he'd have done it again if the same situation occurred. Beatrice was a stranger to Marcus and as such he felt he didn't owe her a thing. Even now, he was contemplating the woman's motives for helping him.
All of a sudden though, Marcus's stomach started growling, and he clutched his stomach as he winced in pain. He still hadn't eaten anything since being revived and it seemed to finally be catching up with him.
Beatrice, who'd been standing right next to Marcus, heard the boy's stomach growl and looked at him worriedly. She then left from around the shelf they'd been hiding near in search of something.
Marcus didn't notice the woman's gaze and actions since he was pre-occupied with a stomach that was literally eating itself and a pounding headache that he was having as a result of not eating.
His master's voice suddenly rang out in his head for the first time since he'd entered the flower shop.
"This is embarrassing. The son of the greatest warriors to ever live is about to succumb to a mere stomach ache," his master commented exasperatedly.
Marcus was in no mood to listen to his master's snide remarks though, so he ignored him. Although, when this was all over, he'd be sure to give this master of his a piece of his mind.