“Good, no one is coming here,” Aya said as he gazed across the street and watched the villa rented by the Dolsworth students. With his decoy seals running around the city, he was confident that no one would have thought to come to the villa. That was if they even knew about this place, or considered that he would return here.

What did they want with him? Whoever ordered them to guard him was obviously interested in the transformation he showed during the fight with Garett. Was it the good kind of interest, or bad? Whatever it was, his escape from the hospital would certainly affect their perception of him. Now it was bad. He was sure of it.

By now they would have revived the knight that fainted because of mana depletion. After Five attacked the knight and took off his helmet, Aya used his unique brand of void magic to snap back his injured self and then grabbed the face of the knight as the latter turned around. The knight couldn't have caught a glimpse of him because his hands covered the eyes of the knight and immediately started to burn both of their mana pools. Aya didn't faint because he had trained himself to weather the effects of mana depletion, something that could only be done if one only had a pitiful amount of mana in their body.

But how about the healer? The younger one, since Five knocked out the older healer who seemed to be in charge. Yes, one of them saw him return to his healthy body. What would the healer have made of that?

Obviously, that healer wouldn't know that it was the rarest form of void magic at work. Like their counterpart elemental mages, void mages at birth would have an affinity for one of the five different types of void gates. Others, although it rarely occurred, would have access to two void gates. Aya hasn't met anyone who had opened three void gates naturally, but there were records of such individuals.

One would think that the exception to that was Clement the Void Archmagus. But his case was different. He was born with an affinity to open only one void gate but due to intense experimentations on his body, guaranteed success by his apparent immortality, he was able to open four void gates at the same. The last one, he wasn't able to open, no matter how much he tried.

Which was the reason why he looked for Aya. Void mages who could open the fifth gate were even rarer than those who could open two gates at once. And there was never a time when a void mage could open another gate along with the fifth gate.

Aya was sure that even normal void mages wouldn't know what he did back in the hospital. The healer who saw him wouldn't think that he was a void mage. But there were void signals running around the city, plus, Aya disappeared right before. Putting two and two together, the knights would think that he was in league with the void mages even if he wasn't one himself. Or would they think that the void mages kidnapped him for their own interests? Is there a chance that they would consider the latter proposition?

He was curious what the knights and the guards of the city were thinking right now.

Should he ask one of them? Nah, that will just bother them. I don't think they will like it if I stopped them to ask what they think of the void thingies roaming around.

There was a noticeable increase in the number mages flying above. He hasn't spotted any golems yet, but he was sure they were bound to show up soon. They were trying to increase security without alarming the public but it was obvious to the normal citizen that something was going on. However, there were only a few people out on the streets because most of them were probably watching the ceremony of the princess in places where they could find orbs.

This made the movement of the guards more conspicuous.

The knights would have known by now that those things moving around, or most of them anyway, were just decoys. Aya could sense that less than half of them were still up. But Aya was gambling that they wouldn’t just let those things roam around. Given the general attitude of the people of Krysperia when it came to void mages, he was sure that they would hunt the remaining decoys down with fervor.

He made sure to move them about randomly and not look like they were drawing the knights away from a specific place, which was the villa.

After two mages flew overhead, Aya quickly crossed the road and placed his hand on the wall of the villa. He followed the wall until he reached the part of the wall enclosing the garden. Sensing that no one was on the other side, he jumped over the wall. He rolled as he landed on the soft grass on the other side and ran to the main house and placed his hand on the wall once again to feel the vibrations.

There were people inside. A lot of people. They were in the inner part of the compound. All the students were probably grouped together in the dining hall to watch the ceremony of the princess. Like what most of Krysperium was doing.

He transformed his face back to normal. It would be hard to explain to a Dolsworth student what an employee of the hospital was doing at their place. It would be easier to explain why he was wearing a hospital worker's clothes than why he was wearing a hospital worker's face. Too bad about that black robe. I wonder what happened to it.

His room was located in an outer wing of the compound. He sprinted to it while making sure not to make any noise. No one was roaming around the house. The ceremony of the princess had all of them glued to their seats. Upon reaching his room, Aya stopped to count how many decoys were still up. About a quarter left. He opened the door to his room and quietly slipped in.

There was an open chest on his bed. He asked Orvin to get one for him. The boy was delighted to do anything for him. Orvin swore that he would repay the help Aya gave him someday. The Dolsworth students only expected Emelie to be accepted in Milla Lyceum since she was a prodigy among prodigies. Orvin, on the other hand... No one really expected anything out of him, but because of Aya, he was able to tap his talent and land a spot in Milla.

Aya sighed. "I hope nothing happens to him when I go. Really rare, that talent of his." He was worried that the authorities might suspect Orvin of being in league with him for whatever it was they wanted to detain him. At least, no one saw him use void magic. And he did actively participate in the tournament without using it. They would just think that he was a sympathizer of the void mages. "Oh well, nothing that I can do about it," Aya said.

He examined the contents of the chest. It was full of the mana parchments he got from Aileen after he defeated her after she challenged and made a bet with him. They contained the models for all the runes composing the curse formerly draining the power of Aya. When he felt it was weakening, he immediately began recording their designs. He closed the chest and locked it.

Aya checked the room for anything he could have forgotten. He was leaving the city. He didn't know how but he had to get out and find Clement. Perhaps with these runes, he could create a new spell that could get rid of the Blighted Multitude for good.

"What's this?" he said, picking up an envelope on the table. It was from Bhorg. Orvin might have accepted it and placed it in his room.

He remembered he asked help from Bhorg to get to Mandolin city safely. It was a long trip based on the maps Aya consulted. Mandolin was at the fringes of the empire.

Aya smiled. Bhorg had made some arrangements for him to get to the city near Mandolin. He apologized that he wasn't able to find a direct trip to Mandolin.

"I have to go visit Roghinia someday," Aya said as he picked up the chest. "Might be interesting to see people with the same black hair as me."

----------------------------------------

Brummer said with an annoyed tone, “We’re going to be guarding him as well?” He lowered his voice when he met the stern gaze of Malakor, the leader of their party. Malakor probably did not mean to look scary but every expression he had was turned into a scary one the large scars on his face. “Our job is to guard the beasts, right?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Marla spoke up to support him, making his heart skip a beat. “Brummer is right. We signed up to secure the beasts.” She was playing with the feathers of her arrows like she usually does when she was bored. “Levels of risk, Mr. Drabon. We’re getting paid to take care of beasts, not people.”

Mr. Drabon, their employer, raised his hand in helplessness. “My master wanted us to accommodate one person in our travel back to Bandurria.” Mr. Drabon was tasked by his boss, a rich merchant who was found of collecting rare beasts, to come to Krysperia for the beast-taming competition and buy some beasts used during the competition.

After the event, the beasts were auctioned off and many collectors would buy them, especially if they performed well during the competition and displayed their ferocity. Sometimes, beasts were bought for their novelty or if something interesting happened during their taming. Like the Armored Halkor Tusker in this year’s competition.

Brummer gritted his teeth as he remembered how Marla gushed about the Roghinian taming the Halkor. And now they had to guard it.

“We get paid, of course?” Kylendel asked, poking her head from the covering of one of the wagons containing the food for all the beasts they were transporting. She had been sleeping in their all this time based on her droopy and tired eyes. “Additional payment.”

“Yes, yes, of course, you will get paid for this new assignment,” Mr. Drabon assured them.

“The fact remains that guarding a person is not the same as guarding the caged animals,” Malakor said, folding his arms. “In guarding the beasts, the objective is not to let the beasts escape and deal with them if they do. Of course, there is also the threat that someone would try to steal them given their value. But that is why you have guards, right, Mr. Drabon?” He was referring to the guards employed by the merchant house Mr. Drabon served.

“Well, yes, I see your point…”

“We were hired because of our experience in dealing with some of the beasts you have bought. In essence, we are babysitters in this contract. We make sure the beasts don’t hurt others or themselves,” Malakor said.

“Those guards,” Mr. Drabon said, jerking his thumb towards some of the white and blue clad persons currently loading a large cart with the cage of the Stonewark, “are for the general security of the whole caravan. I’m asking you to guard one specific person, in addition to your duties taking care of the animals.” Mr. Drabon inhaled and said with emphasis, “With pay.”

“It’s with pay, you guys,” Kylendel said. “Let’s take it.” She slid back into the wagon but added, “I could use some spare money to have my sword sheath decorated.”

“That could have several interpretations,” Marla said, giggling.

“I’m sleeping. Keep your interpretations to youself.”

Brummer said to Marla, “What do you mean?”

“Going back to the matter at hand,” Malakor said. “My problem with this is that we do not even know who this person is and the possible threats he is facing. Or is this more of a general guard him from robbers and kidnappers?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Mr. Drabon said. “I’ll go get him. And as I have said before, you will be paid, so no worries.” He waved at them, telling them to discuss it on there on first as he went to get the person they were supposed to guard.

Brummer said, “What if this guy has some assassins coming for him? Isn’t it really suspicious that he’s suddenly thrust to our hands? He may be part of some sketchy business.”

“That was what I was considering as well. I do not want to endanger our party.” Malakor looked up in the sky. “Many mages in red robes flying overhead.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Marla said. "Lots of city guards."

“What if this was connected to the person we were supposed to guard,” Brummer said.

“Maybe he stole something?”

“That could be it.”

“Do not assume,” Malakor said. “He is coming now. We will ask him, politely, why he needs bodyguards.”

Brummer shrugged. They were going to end up taking on this new assignment. He just knew it. He hated bodyguard missions. You never knew who would come to attack your client. And you were required to put your life on the line for that. There were times when their past clients have lied about the people who were targeting them. One time, it resulted in a situation where they bit off more than they could chew.

Thanks be to Paximillon they got out alive. Brummer hated guarding a person since then.

Mr. Drabon returned, followed by a very tall but thin man in a scholar’s clothes. One of those researcher types who were usually employed by rich mage families to manage their libraries. He even had matching medallions they wear for storing information quickly without the need for a data orb. Brummer has met their kind before during their time serving the Burgandel Family of mages.

At least, he doesn’t look like a thief. What was a thief supposed to look like, anyway?

“This is uh, I didn’t catch your name earlier, sir,” Drabon said.

“It’s Ay….leen. Aileen is my name,” he said, peering from his glasses that sat on his long sharp nose.

“That’s a girl’s name,” Brummer and Marla said together.

“A girl’s name in one place could be a boy’s name in another. Don’t be so close-minded, you two,” Kylendel said. She climbed out of the wagon, foregoing her plans on sleeping. “Nice to meet you, Aileen. I’m Kylendel. A swordsman, or swordswoman. Depends on the people you ask. Some people get angry when you try to differentiate the sex of the person holding a sword. And swordsperson sounds weird.”

“I am Malakor,” their leader said. He was just a bit taller than this person named Aileen. He extended his hand which was received warmly. Brummer was surprised Aileen didn’t flinch at the sight of Malakor. Most people would be intimidated when they first saw him.

“Marla here!”

“I’m Brummer.”

“And sorry for saying that your name is a girl’s name.”

Aileen just laughed. “If I had a gold coin for every time someone told me that, I could build a museum. I like museums, you see. Any place that holds interesting items.”

Brummer and the others looked at each other, not sure of how to react.

Malakor said, “Drabon told us you needed bodyguards”

“Yes, yes, I need guards. I am transporting something important, you see. I need to take this with me to Mandolin city.” He had a chest beside him. A heavy lock secured the wooden chest with metal lining.

“But we will be guarding the beasts until they reach Bandurria city,” Brummer said. He narrowed his eyes. What did the chest contain?

Drabon cut in, “What happens after Bandurria is your own business. You may continue guarding Mr. Aileen, or you may go your way. What is important is we get the beasts to my master in Bandurria.”

“And we get paid,” Kylendel said. “Additional pay.”

“Yes, of course,” Drabon said.

“Just checking.”

One of Drabon’s assistants approached them and said, “Sir, the beasts have been secured and we have loaded the supplies.”

“Good, good. We should leave now. I want to avoid the jam at the city gates that would surely build up throughout the day.”

“Why? What is the problem?” Malakor said.

“It’s nothing,” Drabon said, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand. “Just some criminals the city guards are looking for. I don’t even know what they did.”

“Sir,” the assistant said. “I heard they were looking for one very large and muscular man, a very old man, and a young man who had black hair.”

“Black hair? So a Roghinian like the BasketSlayer?” Marla said excitedly.

“I don’t know if they were looking for a Roghinian,” the assistant said.

“That’s enough,” Drabon said. “Let’s go now. We might snag some trouble because Malakor is a ‘very large and muscular man’ and they might take time to examine him.” Drabon shook the hand of Aileen. “Glad that you’re with us. I heard that your friend is a friend of my master. Please make yourself comfortable.” Then he left to attend to the preparations of the caravan.

“Guess you’re with us, Mr. Aileen,” Brummer said.

“Can people get naturally black hair if they are not Roghinian?” Marla said. “And I don’t know why someone would want to have their hair dyed black.”

“I dunno,” Kylendel said.

“That does not concern us,” Malakor said. “Come with me, Mr. Aileen. Let me help you with that chest. I take it there's nothing dangerous inside?”

"It's full of mana parchments," Mr. Aileen said. "Very important mana parchments."

Marla sighed. “I just couldn’t get over the fact that they declared Berklaw the winner. Both of them were knocked out. That Garett Berklaw may have come out with fewer injuries and regained his consciousness but they were saying that he still needed intensive care because he wasn’t responding to people. Like that’s much better than what happened to BasketSlayer. I do hope they heal him quickly.”

Brummer almost said ‘serves’ him right’, but he held his tongue because Marla would hate him if he badmouthed her idol. Instead, he followed Aileen. At last, someone he could talk to about magic theories. Someone who might understand him.

Maybe this wouldn’t be such a boring trip with animals, after all.