Story of a past: Father's fight (Second part)
The news of Sillath’s disappearance quickly spread throughout the town.
Each inhabitant decided to take part in the search. People began to form small groups to look for him on the outskirts of the town.
Millodas was currently with Gaya at the place where they had lost track of Sillath the night before.
She searched Sillath all night and was now exhausted. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. It was a strange sight to see her shed tears in this black beast form.
Millodas could only pat her on the head to comfort her, but in fact, he was the one who needed comfort.
“He lied.”
The small voice of the little girl caught his attention.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Millodas.
“He promised… He promised me that he wouldn’t disappear. He lied, he lied.”
“It’s not his fault Gaya!”
“I know. Sorry…”
A heavy silence settled down.
“I’m alright now.”
The little girl resumed her search once again. Millodas wanted to run around and look for him, but he understood that Gaya was the best chance he had to find his son.
After a few hours, they left the forest together disappointed.
Gaya suddenly stopped in her tracks. Millodas quickly took notice of this.
“What is it? Did you catch a whiff of his smell again?”
Gaya didn’t answer immediately and continued to sniff the ground carefully.
“I know this smell.” She said curiously.
“If it doesn’t belong to Sillath then there’s no point. It probably belongs to one of the guards.”
“No, it’s not that…”
She caught his interest again.
“This scent… It belongs to a woman.”
“A woman?”
Millodas furrowed his brows as he started to think. There was no woman amongst the city guards and it was unlikely that a woman from town came this far alone into the forest.
"I think I can smell Sillath's presence here too."
Her words took Millodas’ full attention while his heart began to beat faster and faster.
“Are you completely sure of that?”
She carefully sniffed the ground another time, but didn’t answer. Millodas lost his patience.
“Gaya!!!”
The little girl jumped in surprise.
“I’m… I’m sorry… but I’m quite inexperienced in this.”
“Is it Sillath’s scent or not?” He repeated himself.
“Y-yes, I believe it is!!!”
They continued to look around the area once again, but they were unable to find the direction in which the scent went. However, they weren’t back to square one. Thanks to Gaya, Millodas finally found a clue about Sillath’s disappearance.
The news quickly spread among the soldiers and the general population, but they’ve never heard of a woman who delved so far into the forest.
“I remember!”
Gaya who was now back in her humanoid form suddenly shouted out unexpectedly.
“This is Amanda’s smell.”
“Amanda?” Millodas replied with a questioning look.
His head was filled with many questions. He knew that his son wasn’t particularly close to Amanda, even if she was their neighbor. However, after seeing Gaya's confident face, he couldn’t simply reject her words, especially since it was the only lead they had gotten so far.
Together with Gaya, they both headed toward Amanda’s residence.
However, nobody was inside.
Gaya was able to confirm that it was definitely the same smell she found in the forest. Millodas looked for any signs of her, but nobody had seen Amanda since Sillath was reported missing. She was gone.
Amanda took Sillath away.
Millodas was now sure of this.
It was the only possible explanation for her and Sillath’s sudden disappearance.
However, Millodas had no idea why. If he could find the reason why she took Sillath, maybe he could find her.
Sillath was a cute five-years-old child with an abnormally huge mana pool. When he remembered that, he found the answer right away.
She wanted to sell his son as a slave.
Only anger and frustration built up inside of him because he had no idea where she could possibly be. It was impossible to track her now. She probably had everything planned since the moment of his Elementary test and patiently waited for Seledia to give birth.
Kidnappings were a very common occurrence in this world. A good-looking child with talent in magic was invaluable, especially if he was without parents. Unlike the other two Human Kingdoms, slavery toward humans wasn't so uncommon even if it was deemed as illegal and the reason was simple.
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People from noble backgrounds desired to own slaves.
The younger, the better. This way, they could be trained from a young age and be raised to become a soldier, a worker in the mines or even a plaything to relieve the sexual needs of his master.
It was one of the reasons Millodas left the Waldemar household, as he simply wanted no part of it. The allowance of slavery was a dark, despicable side of the Kingdom. Those who knew it could only stand by and let it happen, as they feared to provoke the wrath of the noble houses.
Since Millodas abandoned his family name, he understood that nobody would offer to help him get his son back. The only organization which wasn’t under the control or influenced by the noble houses in the kingdom was the one created by the Council of Magic. It was an organization formed by powerful mages to preserve peace and fight against the injustice in the kingdom. However, they were too few in number. It was impossible for them to help every family whose child was kidnapped.
After Millodas collected information about Amanda, he grew even more desperate. Nobody really knew her. Everybody only repeated the same thing: she was nice, quiet and came in the town at around the same time as Millodas and Seledia. Their only way of getting Sillath back was to gather information about the slave traders in their area and possibly buy their son back.
After his explanation, Seledia only anxiously nodded.
If they could only find their son’s whereabouts, then they would possibly be able to get him back. It was just a tiny ray of hope, but Seledia and Millodas were clinging to it desperately.
However, when Millodas looked at Gaya, he understood that something was off.
Gaya was a cute little girl from a rare beast tribe.
Even if Human slavery existed, it was much less developed than slavery toward beast tribe members.
She was definitely more valuable than Sillath and much more vulnerable, but if so, then why was Sillath the one kidnapped?
The fact that Amanda chose to kidnap Sillath when Seledia was unable to protect him was understandable, but she even moved to the city shortly after they did.
It was too suspicious for it to be a coincidence.
Until only one answer came to his mind.
It was a ridiculous answer.
It couldn’t be true, but no matter how much he thought about it, his uneasiness only increased. There was only one person who would choose Sillath specifically instead of Gaya.
It was none other than his father.
Arthur Waldemar.
The thought was unbearable. However, Millodas knew that his father had a possible motive. After all, he left him to pursue his own goals, leaving him without an heir.
There was only one thing his father cherished above everything else: his family name. Sillath was his grandson, and as a result, a member of the Waldemar family.
Even if he didn’t want to believe it, he had to make absolutely sure that his father had taken no part in his son’s disappearance.
---------------------------------------------
He discussed his theory with Seledia and Aten. He knew that Aten was a trustworthy friend; therefore he hid nothing from him.
Seledia couldn’t believe her ears.
As soon as she heard Millodas’ suspicions, the room suddenly rose in temperature. An incredible amount of mana was immediately released from Seledia.
“Seledia, stop it!”
Her husband’s voice instantly helped her realize her sudden actions. The cries of her children could be heard echoing inside the room.
“Sorry.”
If Millodas hadn't told her to stop, she could’ve possibly hurt their daughters.
It only showed how angry and frustrated she was.
She wanted her son back even if she had to burn the world for that.
Since the first time they met, Millodas was always the one who calmed her down and controlled her impulsiveness during her times of fury. Once again, he managed to calm her down.
“I will go to see my father and investigate. If I find him innocent, then possibly… He might be able to help us find Sillath”.
“I will come with you.”
“No.”
Millodas immediately rejected Seledia’s proposal.
“You have to take care of our daughters and keep them safe from harm.”
In this world, breastfeeding was the only way to feed a baby. Without their mother, their daughters would starve to death, there was no doubt about it.
In addition to that, they were far too young to travel.
“I know but…”
She was anxious to let him depart alone.
“I will go with him.”
Aten raised his voice to offer his help.
They both looked at Aten.
“Thank you.”
The relation between Humans and Elves was often tense because their cultures were opposite to one another. However, Millodas felt nothing but gratitude to this man. He was a trusted friend.
“Please, be careful you two.”
Seledia's prayers accompanied them as Millodas departed with Aten as fast as possible to meet his father and get his son back.
No matter the cost.