The Hunt for the Royal Runaway

Chapter 7: The Beastbearers' Greetings

Akisha Diamond’s Point of View:

“Thank goodness, Miss Sol! We thought something bad happened to you when we left!”

“How dare you fight someone like him head-on like that what if he casted that lesion whatever on you instead?”

“He’s right. Peasants like us have way less magic than nobles, knights, and royals! You just got lucky you know how to fight…”

After Ashley has brought me in her home temporarily due to the incident earlier, I’ve been receiving nothing but lectures from Gen and Carmi. Only Lita took delight in cradling me with soft embraces. Nevertheless, I was grateful I got to meet them again. And it’s only now that I also learned that Ashley is their oldest sister.

“Hey, give me a break! I saved your sister…You didn’t even told me that she’s your sister back then!” I pouted before scooping a spoonful of hot porridge and gratefully indulging myself with it.

It turns out that I am inside the household of 4 enchanters younger than myself. They’ve been living in this house since they were born and it appears that their small, nipa hut-like home has been a witness to the Opal realm’s history for quite a long time now. It continued to stand erect despite being evidently present at every visit of natural calamities and magical catastrophes in the kingdom. Cracks on the wall, fading paint, and missing wooden scaffolds on some corners are enough to tell me that it has been through a lot. Its flickering magic is the only thing that’s keeping it from collapsing.

But I don’t mind. I feel comfortable with the people I am around with here and that is all that matters for me.  

“This is really nice, thanks a lot Ashley!” I complimented as I widened my eyes in shock of how good the taste of the porridge is. As I further observed my surroundings, I realized that their family doesn’t have much. Maybe they’ve been saving the sticky rice that Ashley made for me for the winters to come and I’ve never felt so guilty before. I wish I could pay them back but I already used all my golden tokens back in the market.

“Miss Sol…can you live here with us?” Lita tucked the edge of my clothes, causing me to divert my attention down to hers. As she sits comfortably on my lap, I brushed the ends of my fingertips onto her delicate skin and watched her eyes sparkle innocently. This kid has grown attached to me and I could only smile to her request. If only I were that shameless.

As much as I want to say yes, I felt instantly embarrassed at the thought of being a burden to them. Suddenly, a knack of realization came flashing at the back of my head.

What do I do after this?

Where do I go?

“Yeah…why don’t you stay with us? You said you’re just a helper right? I mean you could have a little more than what we have here when you continue your job but you aren’t totally free there…aren’t you?” Carmi looked away at the window while talking to me with his arms crossed. He’s trying his best to hide his warm emotions, I see. Despite his cold treatment towards me, I could sense that he has grown attached to me already as well.

You aren’t totally free there…

His final words echoed inside my head. That’s when I realized what I’ve came here for. I ran away from the palace so I could be free and freedom is knocking on my door right now. How could I say no to it?

“C-Carmi…” I uttered his name only to be followed by motivating words coming from Gen.

“He’s right…We’re all alone here anyway with no one to look after us…Since you’re quite older, you could become our big sister or s-something.” He followed, earning a squeal from little Lita.

For a moment, I was lost for words. Something inside me is telling me to take care of them like this, to stay with them and protect them as the five of us explore the world together.

“I—uhh…” I stuttered, lost in my trail of thoughts.

“You could help me out in hunting or fishing…It’s quite tiring doing those things on my own, you know.” Ashley followed without looking at me, persuading me to stay. After her voice filled up the somewhat tensed atmosphere, the sound of the running water from the faucet grew louder until it stopped. She halted from washing the dishes to look at me properly.

“I couldn’t think of any more form of gratitude that I could offer to you in exchange of saving my life. Please, stay with us here…and teach me how to fight like that.” She continued before smiling shyly and looking down the ground.

Brief silence came between us until I realized that this is what I wanted too, at least right now.

“Okay! I’ll stay with you guys.” I uttered confidently with the hint of excitement in my voice as I look forward to what the future would bring to us.

[2 Months Later]

“Hey Ashley! What do you think of this?” I hurried to her location while calming down the aggressive catfish that I just caught after a long time of being patient. The moment she looked at my direction, she was quick to run towards me, wearing the look of surprise.

“Seriously, how could you catch something that big? I’ve been doing this my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like that before!” She yelled while trying to tie down the fish.

Currently, it’s around 9 in the morning and we decided to fish instead of hunt since we’ve been catching nothing but baby boars these days. The demand in the market is on fishes so I encouraged her to give it a try despite it being not in season yet.

“Do you think so?” I followed before letting the rod and bait fall from my other hand and focusing my grip to the panicking fish.

“Yeah…we’ll earn about 600 golden tokens with that. Let’s have Shackji noodles for tonight, what do you think” She giggled in excitement. I could almost see her drool at the thought of earning that much money from a single catch.

“Sounds great…But we need to catch more first.” I suggested as I headed back to my location and place on another bait at the tip of my rod.

“They’re probably attracted to your magic or something.” Ashley joked before grabbing a handful of swamp water and splashing it straight to my face which caused me to squint.

“Hey! Not funny!” I countered before mimicking his action and chasing her all around. The two of us shared laughter for quite a while until we decided to stop because of fatigue.

“Hey Sol…now that I think about it, I don’t know what your magic attribute is yet. I mean you know that I use healing magic, Lita has rock magic, Gen has clairvoyance and Carmi has transportation magic…But you, I don’t think we haven’t seen your concrete attribute yet, even back in the day that you saved me from the bullies.” She explained in curiosity as she continues to be vigilantly holding her rod in case any fish would come out.

“Hah! I told you, I haven’t got the chance to develop my magic since I am an orphan and I can’t use it properly since then…even now. So I, myself doesn’t know what I have in me.” I countered quite sadly. My inferiority feelings towards my family slowly crept in now that we get to talk about my abilities.

“Is that so? Fine, starting tomorrow we’ll explore the occasional faint light coming from your palms here and there.” She commanded before looking away and pulling the aggressive thread of her rod.

“Talk about someone leading me, huh?” I chuckled as I rushed to her spot and help her pull out one big, fat catfish swinging helplessly on the hook.

“Yes! Yes! We made our second jackpot catch!” We jumped in unison and clapped our hands the moment we calmed down the fish. Now that we have two major catch, we would get about a thousand golden tokens. It’s enough to buy us a month of supply of Shackji noodles while setting aside savings as well.

Talk about how lucky today is.

“Now now, I’m so happy you caught something that big…”

Out of the blue, Ashley and I’s mini celebration was interrupted by the lurk of a deep and manly voice coming from behind. Immediately, we turned our head back and shifted to a defense position when we saw that three men with ragged clothes and eye patches came walking ominously to us.

“The B-Beastbearers…” Ashley muttered as she furrowed her eyebrows and focused on the men.

“The what?” I asked in curiosity. But I could tell that she has no time to respond. As I observed the three male enchanters, I sensed a negative and spine-chilling aura from them. It’s as if their barbarous façade is enough to make my knees wobbly. They’re way more different from the bully I encountered when I saved Ashley's life.

Looking further back, I noticed that there weren’t only three men. There were backups holding spheres and arrows aimed directly towards us. Whoever they are, they’re not only strong in terms of magical attributes, but they’re skilled in combat as well.

While we….we only have ourselves and 2 frail fishing rods as a weapon.

“Ashley, stay behind me.” I commanded Ashley quite clearly as I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, only to be cut by her own motivation to fight.

“No! I didn’t train with you so I could cower in fear in times like this. I told you, I learned my lesson before and I’m going to fight with you this time.” She declared with a determined look in her face.

I gulped hard. I’m not quite sure if we could handle this but I have to trust her.

“HAHAHAHA! There’s no reason to fight each other, lovely ladies. We just came here to tell you that if you hand over your catches, then you could walk away freely.” A man about 6 foot in height took the lead. His audacity to speak like that as he is robbing is infuriating.

“Tch. Don’t dare lay even a finger on our catch.” I resorted to a threatening remark. If he thought that I would back down easily, then he thought wrong.

“Yeah…Go away beastbearers!” Ashley followed before raising her clenched fists up in the air and aiming her body in a fighting position just like how I taught her. But at the back of my mind, I wanted so bad to ask her who the hell is these beastbearers and why are they acting so awfully air-headed.

Anyway, it’s time for an internal cheer for Ashley. Hell yeah! That’s my sister!

“Oh, what’s this? You plan on teaming up to beat us? Please, even if you bring whole village with you, you wouldn’t stand a chance against us…Quick, take everything they caught.” The man dared to say and command his underlings as if we are nothing but dust in the air. Finally, his remark made my thread-thick patience to come undone.

“Yeah? Let’s see what you got then!” I yelled before running straight to his direction and aiming to his stomach. I saw that his once calm facial expression turned sour. He focused on my direction and decided to shield from an incoming attack. He pressed on my knuckles so firmly that I felt my bones c***k. Nice. I got all his attention now.

“Ashely! Now!” I screamed back and turn to Ashley. The moment she got my signal, her body reacted quickly. As if almost automatically, she stretched her arms out and lay his palms open to reveal a ray of green light directed straight through the man’s face.

“Take that, you asshole!” I mustered the moment Ashley’s attack landed perfectly on his face. When he struggled to regain his composure, I targeted his head next, locking his neck with my thighs and pinning him down the ground.

But he was strong, I thought we succeeded only to be disappointed by a sudden burst of purple light that emanated from his body…I hate to admit it but his attacks worked, it blasted me away and it threw my body to the nearby three.

“Ngh…” I only groaned in pain.

“Sol!” Ashley screamed in surprise. I couldn’t move for a second but I sensed them fighting her next. Faint sounds of ray coming from her palms were the only thing that I heard now that I am almost losing consciousness.

I couldn’t be like this. I couldn’t leave her to fight alone those damn beastbearers.

Slowly, I moved my body upwards and parted my heavy eyelids, only to witness that my left arm has been burned quite slightly by that guy’s power. I gasped. If he were that strong then Ashley wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Let me go! Let m-me go! I heard her voice from afar while the men chuckled in delight of seeing her struggle from their grip. Fuckers!

I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate in channeling my energy to form attack magic. I closed my eyes and shut each one of my senses except from hearing.

“Come on, don’t fail me this time…I need you.” I mustered faintly as I clenched my fists and tried to read the flow of energy within me but it won’t work. I’m too tired and weak to channel a magic spell. Besides, I am too distracted by Ashley’s scream that I could only feel rage and disgust towards those men.

“No! Noooooooooooooo!”   She screamed one last time until I lost it. I stood up and resorted to the final choice that I thought I wouldn’t do.

“Let her go! You can take everything from us…Just please let her g-go…” I bursted from the nearby bushes and kneeled pathetically in front of three disgusting men. Instantly, I felt my vision blur and a lump started to form at the back of my throat. s**t, I shouldn’t cry in front of them.

“Good thing you could read the room!” One of them mouthed before licking Ashley’s wounded face and throwing her right at my direction like a wounded prey. The two of us fell silent as we hold each other tight and watch the rest of them walk away in a wagon filled with stolen goods.

I gritted my teeth. There’s no way I’m letting them go that easily.

“Listen to me Ashley, go home and report to the knights. I’ll be following them.” I whispered carefully and attentively.

“What? No! Are you crazy?! They’re going to kill you! You don’t know them!” She uttered in worry before grasping my wrist tightly.

“I’m sorry, Ashley. All my life I’ve been taught how beautiful and honorable the Stoneheart Kingdom is. Now that I’m being slapped by that lie in the face, there’s no way I could just sit back and watch it unfold before my eyes.” I stated in anger with my blood boiling inside every corner of my body.

“What are you saying, Sol? Let’s go b-back home…please.” She pleaded in return while shaking her head with tears now falling freely down her cheeks.

I felt bad, really bad that I wanted to start crying too. But I know that this isn’t the right time for that.

“Please take care of our siblings for the time being, I’ll see you again.” I muttered my final goodbye as I sneaked my way quietly in the wagon and be carried away by its motion.

From a distance, I saw Ashley one last time…crying and frozen in shock. A sudden jolt of realization hit me in the gut and that’s when I knew, this is the last time that I will probably see her again and I couldn’t even utter a word of goodbye.