I arose out of mediation when I felt light beginning to seep through the window. When I noticed it was the break of dawn, I got out of bed. While walking towards the door, I grabbed my blade and placed it upon my back. Once I made it out of the inn, I began walking towards the guild to say goodbye to Ilise before she left for Trennent.
When the guild was in sight, I saw the black clothed carriage up front with a group of three people talking, one being Ilise herself. The other two with her were most likely the ones she mentioned last night during dinner. One was a man donning a full set of armor that had an engraving of a rose on his chest, he also had a black cloak overtop of the armor. The man had a shield in his right hand and a sword sheathed on his waist. It was hard to see his face from a distance because of the helmet he wore. The other with her was a lady with long brown hair that was propped up in a ponytail. She was wearing a brown leather chestplate that had a white chemise covering up her arms. She also had brown pants that disappeared underneath black boots that rode up her calves. She as well was wearing a black cloak and what laid upon her back was a bow and arrows.
Once I was in hearing range, Ilise broke off the conversation they were having to greet me. “Are you two ready to leave? I just have one mo- Oh Crim, you’re awake! Or should I say you came out of your room now. Hehehe.” Ilise shouted to me and let out a giggle that I could hear from my distance.
After I was close enough to see the two others' faces well, I could see the man had a stern expression on him as he looked towards me while the lady had a relaxed expression that turned into a small gentle smile as she looked at me. “Oh so this is the man you came here with.” The lady said as her eyes went from my feet to my face.
“Yes, this here is Crim and these are the two I mentioned to you while we were eating last night; Evela and Deronge. They are my guardsmen on the way back to Trennent.” As she said Evela’s name, she gave me a wave while Deronge just nodded his head to me.
“Are we good to go, miss Illise or do you still have one more thing like what you were saying?” Deronge said while turning to her.
“Nope, I’ll just say my goodbyes to Crim and we should be good to go.” Ilise told him before turning back to me.
“What about the one important thing you were mentioning earlier?” He questioned back.
“Oh no, it’s done now.” She told him as she was still facing me.
“What? But we were just standing here.” Deronge voiced out, confused.
“Don’t worry about it, Dero.” Evela said while placing a hand on Deronge’s shoulder causing him to grunt before sighing and giving up on it. While I looked at the two, I saw Evela giving me a mischievous smile.
“So Crim, this is where we part ways.” Ilise said with a saddened expression. “I enjoyed the time we traveled together and if it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have seen either the Great Lake of Gyuzuu or the Forest of Tranquility. Both of which were very pretty.” She said while her face turned to a smile as she mentioned those locations. “I’m happy I was the one that had to come along to monitor your promotion quest and after seeing you fight, I definitely can confirm that you are worthy of being a rank B adventurer. It’s still a surprise though that you don’t use magic.” She told me. I thought back on the fight and the fact that I did have to use magic but I still didn’t want the guild to know that yet so I just nodded to her.
Illise then takes a breath in before talking again. “I hope you come back to Trennent sometime and if you do please visit the guild and tell me about the places you visited.” She said with a smile.
I then nodded to her again “It was short but I didn’t dislike the time we traveled together. Until we meet again.”.
Illise then with a big smile on her face voiced to me “Yes! Until we meet again.”. She then turned to the carriage and began walking towards the front. “Okay guys, let's not lose any more daylight and get on the road!” She called out to the other two with great energy.
“Wait, so is the thing you were mentioning earlier done now?” Deronge asked with his face riddled with confusion.
Evela lets out a sigh while shaking her head “Just let it go, Dero. This is a reason why you haven’t gotten together with someone.”.
Deronge turned to her looking angry “And what's that supposed to mean!?”.
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“Get into the carriage, Dero. Miss Illise is waiting for us.” Evela told him while shooing him towards the carriage. Once he finally gave up and started boarding the carriage, Evela looked towards me with a mischievous smile “I too would love to go on an adventure with you, Crim. You look very capable.” she then winked at me before boarding the carriage as well.
I was confused by her actions but just shrugged it off. I then watched the carriage as there were rustling noises coming from within before it finally started moving.
“Bye Crim! Please don’t forget to come back to Trennent and tell me about the places you’ve visited!” Illise shouted out while waving at me.
I waved back at her and watched the carriage leaving the area and turning off towards the town square and out of view. While I watched, I thought back on the parting I had with Chelsey and Vaero and was wondering how they were doing. When I thought of it, I had an image appear in my vision of two black silhouettes that for some reason made me grab my chest as I dropped to my knees, gasping for air.
It took me a bit to steady my breath before getting back up, confused on why it just happened. I didn’t want to think about it too much and decided to go and see if Rick had found the information I was looking for.
On the walk towards the bookstore, I passed by many different townsfolk, from adventurers most likely leaving to go on their quest or going towards the guild to people going towards their places of work. Finally after a brief walk, I found myself in front of the bookstore. I stood there for a few moments wondering if Rick would even be awake this early before taking my chances and checking to see if the door was unlocked. To my surprise it was so I assumed it was open and entered.
Once inside I started hearing rustling of papers coming from behind the counter. Even after entering in and walking towards the counter, the rustling continued. “Rick? Are you here?” I called out.
From behind the counter, Rick’s head popped out and with one good look at him, I could see from his bloodshot eyes, he probably was up all night. “Crim! You’re here. I was just about to go to the guild to see if you were there.” Rick told me before letting out a huge yawn.
“Oh? Did you find it?” I asked, curiously.
“Yes, yes, oh yes I have.” He said with a smile.
“Were you up all night looking for it?” I questioned back.
“All night? What time is it?” He then asked, confused.
“Dawn broke a bit ago, I thought you’d be still sleeping.” I let him know.
“Wait really? I guess I got caught up trying to find the name… but at least I got it! Well partially….” His voice was trailing off near the end.
“Why haven’t you gone to tell me yet then and what do you mean about partially?” I asked him.
“Well I found a name but I don’t know if it’s a birth or surname so I was trying to see if I could find more information before giving it to you.” He let me know.
“Well I’m here now so maybe I could help you. Anyways why were you up all night to find it, I never said I desperately needed it” I said, confused on why he spent so much time finding it even though we just met yesterday.
“Hmm… that is true.” He said while letting out another yawn. “I guess I just lost sense of time, while I was searching for it at first I remembered something the old man told me one day randomly near the time he left. It was something along the lines of “If by some weird chance that someone comes by asking for that book I sold about Marawa, help him no matter the cost.”. I mean I was confused as to why he told me that randomly but here you are now, someone looking for a book about Marawa.” he said.
I wondered more about this old man and was curious if he knew a lot more than it seemed. “Okay, I guess that makes sense but now, what's the name you found?” I said, wanting to bring it back to topic.
“Okay well I haven’t found any information about them here yet but all I got as of now is the name Trusley but I don’t know if it’s a surname or a birth name. If you give me a bit more time I might be able to figure it out.” As he told me, the name Trusley rang a bell but I just don’t quite remember why.
“I think I know the name, I just can’t remember where I heard it though.” I said while I tried racking my brain to where I heard it.
“Oh! You have? Do you remember if it’s a birth name or a surname?” He asked me.
I went through all the current memories I had before thinking back to the time I properly met Chelsey and Vaero. “It’s a surname I believe.” I told him while thinking back to when they both gave me their surnames.
“If that's the case, I can find out more information about them but if you say you know the name maybe you won’t need my help.” Rick then said.
“You’re right, I don’t think I’ll need any more help since I think I know the person that bought the book.” As I told him, I tried remembering where those two are currently or where they were going. I then remembered that Chelsey said their hometown is actually close to Marawa and since those two have known each other for a while, Vaero most likely was born there too. “Actually I do have one question, what are all the closest places near here?” I suddenly asked him.
“Places close to here?” he repeated to which I nodded to his words. “Hmm… the only place close to here is The Forest of Tranquility to the east, The Great Lake of Gyuzuu to the west. I also heard there was a small town near the border up north and one other place which is a town southwest of here called Nishilon.” He said.
Once I heard the place Nishilon, I felt like that might have been the place that Chelsey mentioned. “Do you know much about Nishilon?” I then asked him, curious if that's the place.
“Hmm… The notable things of Nishilon are that they have great food as it’s a place that many great culinary artists came from and a few big merchant families reside.” Rick told me. “Other than that, there isn’t too much notable about that place. Do you think the person who bought that book is there?” He questioned back.
I nodded to him “They might be there, if not I believe that’s where they lived so I think I can find more information there.”.
“Well if that's the case then I guess my end of the bargain is done. I’ll make sure to talk to the guild once I need your help.” He told me.
“I must say Rick, thank you for finding the information out and the next time I visit, can you tell me about the old man, I don’t remember much of him since I was so young.” I let him know as I was curious about who the man that taught me the basics of magic was when I was a child.
A gentle smile crept upon Rick’s face before speaking again “Yes, I can do that. I feel like meeting you was fate and I’ll look forward to the next time you visit this bookstore.”. “Until we meet again, Crim. Goodbye.” He said before letting out another large yawn.
“Yeah, until then. Goodbye Rick.” I said back before turning around and leaving the bookstore. As I walked out the bookstore, I heard Rick walking towards the back of the room while talking to himself about sleep.
Once I left the bookstore, I began walking towards the guild to find out a way to get to Nishilon like the way I got here from Trennent.