Pulling himself away, Andrew wiped his eyes, composing himself. Ivan was his best friend and although he did not know the whole truth, he still comforted him, what a great friend he was indeed. But Andrew knew that his friend had many more responsibilities than him, many more things to worry about, so to burden him as such was selfish.

"Thank you Ivan, I am fine."

"I know expressing your worries can be difficult however always remember I will listen to what you have to say and I will shoulder those worries with you happily."

Andrew replied with another thank you.

"I wish to be alone for a while, my apologies."

"No need for that, I understand, I will be in the hall if you need me."

Exiting the garden, Ivan stopped at least 5 metres before turning to see a familiar face. One of a hairy old man with rugged structure.

"Adolphus?" Wondered Ivan to why the mage was here.

"I heard the conversation you two had."

"What of it?"

"I once met Andrew's mother, I only came to live here after she left."

"Do you have any information on her? Have you told Andrew?"

"I have not told him."

"Why!? Andrew requires all the..."

"The reason I have not told the young master is because I do not wish to hurt his heart."

"What do you..."

"Listen here, do not try to find Master Andrew's mother. She is a witch."

"Excuse me?"

"Haaaaah..."

"He fell asleep!?"

Adolphus briefly closed his eyes then awoke and vacated the garden, returning to his life as a recluse in his workshop of wizandry.

Ivan had no idea what the mage was saying and thus he paid no attention to it. Continuing to exit the garden, Ivan entered the castle for some relaxation. He simply wanted a moment to collect his thoughts, a lot had occured over the past few days.

"Let us review the situation. There is a dead man in the dungeon. We have no idea who murdered him. A village with a past I cannot even recall despite visiting multiple times and now Andrew's mother, that can be cast aside for the moment."

There was so many things to worry about and the non-stop action had worn Ivan out. Still he wanted to reach the truth but he feared if he dug deeper then he would dig a hole he couldn't get out of and the only way from there is down.

"Think Ivan, think. Who could it be? One of the castle staff, a villager? Dammit I just..."

Suddenly a knock came on the door and Markett appeared.

"Prince Ivan," he began, respectfully lowering his head, "a young lady from the village has come to visit you."

He stepped aside and a girl with aubern hair wearing a common village dress entered. She curtseyed and smiled.

"Hello again Prince Ivan." This time using his title.

"Laila? What on earth are you doing here?" Asked Ivan surprised at the sudden arrival, normally nobles wouldn't let common folk into their castles but then again, Andrew wasn't like every other noble.

"I thought I would come to chat, you know, since you haven't remembered much from our time together. I thought I'd help you catch up."

Chat? CHAT? Ivan had no time to chat. There was a murderer on the loose and it required his full attention to apprehend the culprit.

Anyhow, perhaps Ivan could extract information out of her about the villagers. Plus the poor girl had come all this way so the least he could do was treat her.

"Have a seat Laila, I am currently working on something so I may have some questions but we can still talk."

Laila took her seat opposite Ivan on the red cushions.

Getting straight to business, the questions began.

"Has anyone around the village seemed suspicious as of late?"

Laila seemed rather disheartened by the fact she was being questioned, most likely because this wasn't what she had in mind when she came here.

"Not particularly."

Ivan needed to squeeze as much out of her and keep the questions as precise as possible.

"Has anyone left the village recently?"

"No."

"Has anyone arrived in the village recently?"

"Yes actually, for the festival. A married couple who used to live here, a merchant and 2 men in white robes, I thought they were monks of some sort of religion but who knows."

"I see."

Ivan wanted to talk to these people but first he wanted to talk to the guards posted upon the walls and at the gate although it was his belief the murderer had snuck into the castle by other means, should they have come from the outside.

"Laila, you have lived in the village, you know the people, has anyone ever demonstrated murderous tendencies?"

"What? No. Ivan, what's going on? Murderous tendencies?"

"It's none of your concern," replied Ivan with a sharp look.

"I'm sorry."

This girl talks as if we're close friends, thought Ivan.

"No I apologise. Now then I wish to visit the village again and talk to a few people but first the guards."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Mind if I join you?" Said Laila blushing.

This girl...

"Very well then."

"What about Andrew?"

"Best not to disturb Andrew currently, I will only be a short while."

Immortal and mortal set out together. First coming to the guards, Ivan asked them a series of questions to which they answered they had not seen anything abnormal that night. One guard, well versed in the history of the region stated that the castle was now more of a noble's mansion, indicated by the forest that surrounded the defensive structure. He stated that a long time ago the forest wasn't there and it was just grasslands which made sense as it was a proper castle then. But now it was diferent and if anybody tried sneaking into the castle, they could do it easily. However that was why they had wall checks to see if any parts of the wall were weakened enough to create a secret doorway in. Apparantly this week's wall check was, as usual a success. But nothing would stop an intruder from scaling the walls said the guard. If getting in was so easy then this strengthened the idea that it could be someone from the village. Ivan thanked the men and headed for the village once more.

Upon returning to the wooden arch and entering the village, Ivan accidentally bumped into someone due to him being lost in thought.

"Oh pardon me, I am terribly sorry. Do forgive my rudeness."

It was a man in a white robe with black outlines. He seemed to just stand there, doing nothing, his face was not visible because of a hood, he did not look at Ivan, did not speak to Ivan but simply walked away.

It was then that Ivan had remembered he wanted to talk to this person and so called out to him.

"Excuse me!"

The man stopped and turned his head slightly so that his cheek could be seen. But like before, he walked away, ignoring Ivan, even when he called out to him again.

"How rude!" Commented Laila.

Ivan stood there silent and still as if he was in a trance.

"Huh? Ivan? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, nevermind, it is just, that man's face almost seemed to resemble my father's."

Despite a rough start, they pressed on. First talking to the couple who appeared absolutely innocent, they seemed completely oblivious to the world, acting extremely cheesy and coming off as completely weird. They treated Ivan unfit for a prince but giving him cookies and calling him 'son'. Laila strangely appeared to be daydreaming or something, whatever it was, she wasn't paying much attention either.

Next was the merchant who seemed to be leaving just as he had arrived.

"Me? Oh I'm heading to the next village over."

"Oh? And why is that?" Questioned Ivan, sceptical of the man.

He wore a funny coat and long baggy trousers. Probably wears he obtained on his travels.

"There's money to be made of course."

"Why not stay here another night or 2, it would probably mean more people would buy from your stock."

"You ever sold stuff? Didn't think so. I set up shop right in the middle of the festival, so everyone could see me. Everyone who passed by me weren't interested and everyone who already paid won't be coming back otherwise they would have bought what they wanted so there's no-one in this village to sell to anymore. My prices are quite cheap so I doubt anyone won't have enough money to purchase. It also justifies the reason I travel so quickly, so I can make more coin."

Ivan's suspicions didn't fully go away but the merchants argument was very logical that it was hard to disagree with. The last resort the prince had was to judge by his reaction to a question. It was an awful way to judge someone but it had to be done.

"Do you know of someone named Walter Argon?"

A purely confused look came upon the merchants face as he tried to recall the name.

"Nope, sorry. I know a Walter Wickenmoth if that's who you're looking for?"

"No, nevermind. Thank you for your time."

"Before you go, see anything you like?" He said opening up his cart revealing many boxes of objects and trinkets.

"I am afraid I must be going," responded Ivan brushing off the topic.

Typical of a merchant, at least we know he wasn't masquerading.

"Looks like I did not have the chance to talk to either men in the white robes and I cannot seem to find them again nor do I feel like going around every door and asking."

"What should we do now?" Asked Laila.

"I will head back to the castle. I need to put all of what I have gathered together and look over the information."

Laila seemed like she was about to protest but stopped herself. She seemed like she was about to do it a second time but stopped herself again. Most likely she wanted to ask about all of what had just occured.

"Do not worry we will talk at a later time," lied Ivan, not wanting to converse with Laila anymore.

"You know, you're really bad at keeping promises sometimes."

"Pardon?"

"You say you will come back later but always fail. Like that time when you said you would come play tomorrow but got ill, or how when you said the exact same thing then never came back for almost 10 years. I know those weren't your fault, it just seems like fate wants to keep us apart."

"What are you speaking of? When did I say that?"

"Why don't you remember anything from those times?" It almost seemed like tears had begun to form in Laila's eyes.

"I do not know."

"I want to help you remember Ivan. Please let me help you."

"Like I said, we can talk all we want later," said Ivan getting slightly embarrassed because he felt like they were attracting attention but also a bit irritated as he didn't want to forget any of the information he had recieved.

"It's just that...it's just that..."

"Just what?"

"I...I...nevermind."

"Very well then."

"I just want to help you because you are one of my friends even if you don't remember all the time we spent together."

"We will talk, as for now I must leave."

"Swear that we will."

"...I Swear."

"Thank you."

Making his way back to Ukberg castle and into the living room. Ivan sat down and rested for a bit. What was wrong with that girl, he thought, it is obvious how she feels about me but all this stuff about recovering lost memories or something? How could Ivan begin to wrap his head around all of this.

Finally deciding to analyse the information he had garnered. Ivan took some parchment and began writing to help him keep track of everything. The people most suspicious were the men in the white robes. Ivan had not had the chance to talk to them when he really needed too.

"What are you writing there?" Came a voice from the door, it was Andrew, leaning against the wall with the same old smile on his face.

"Ah, just some notes on the um incident."

"Ah, I see. Well do not let that preoccupy all your time. Markett tells me you visited the village with Laila when she came to visit?"

"Yes. I had some questions for some people."

"As always. Anyway, I take it you have not had lunch yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Then my friend I shall indulge you!" Shouted Andrew raising his arms into the air.

"Haha. What has the chef prepared today?"

"Have you ever tried chicken, rice and vegetable soup? It is a common food in some other nations but it is delicious."

"Sounds interesting," said Ivan licking his lips.

"I hope you enjoy it, come on, lunch is almost done."

"Right."

As Ivan began standing up, still annoyed at the fact that he didn't get to talk to the men in white robes, an epiphany suddenly dawned on him. There was a way he could have talked to those men, assuming they were together.

"Argh! I am such an idiot!"

"Uh Ivan?" Wondered Andrew.

The village elder! He could have talked to the village elder! He would know where they were staying and would know who had left the village in recent years. The fact was, why would a couple of monks come to the middle of nowhere? There was no religious sites around here. One of them being the murderer if not both of them was strongly plausible now. But if they were in the village currently then everyone was in danger.

"Andrew, I am afraid lunch will have to wait."

"Oh, okay. Uh, what is going on?"

Ivan quickly rushed out the door and out of the castle. He didn't know why, he didn't care about the peasants in the village, he thought. Laila popped into his mind, but why. He simply brushed this off and continued his pace. Upon entering the outside Ivan could see something just above the wall, something grey that dissipated as it joined with the sky. Going atop the wall to get a better look was a mistake on Ivan's part because that grey thing was a pillar of smoke, emanating from the village and an orange hue seemed to be the source.

Fire.

Andrew caught up with Ivan and stood next to him on the wall overlooking the forest.

"Wait what?" He said shocked.

Markett joined them shortly afterwards.

"Master Andrew, Prince Ivan, please come with me this instant!"

Andrew complied but Ivan refused. If he helped put out the fire then he would earn renown across the country. An assassination, a village fire. Ivan would be the talk of everybody.

"You men with me!" Ivan called 2 guards to follow him which they did, "tell as many soldiers as you can to bring water, if the fire spreads to the forest then there will be mass devastation!" He yelled to Markett.

"Ivan wait!"

He rushed onwards, towards what seemed like death. But he knew, that no matter how time he dies, he will always come back. He may not be able to keep to his promises exactly but he always came back. No matter what. Still, the thought had been on his mind the entire time he had stayed at Ukberg castle. What will happen if he dies again? Will it be different? Or not?

They began to approach the village, the orange hue was visible amongst the study trees which were soon to be ablaze.

Another question head come into Ivan's head. His assassination, Walter's death, lost memories, Morta, Andrew's mother and now this.

"Just what the hell is going on?!"