Private - Operation Save the Little Ones | Page 3

The young mage behaved quite well through the healing process, and through the combined efforts of the two Faerin, they managed to carefully restore the face of @Manya Boole back to nearly-perfect condition. Hearing the compliments from @Hanno Futaba, Daedalus rubbed his chin self-satisfiedly and chuckled, patting his potion bottles through his pockets.

“It is, isn’t it? I’m currently looking into improving it even further, you know, and won’t that be something to see? Hopefully, the next batch will be able to heal up scars as well; small progress, but you know...in this line of business, you gotta take baby steps, one at a time.”

Hearing Liri’s wonder at the capabilities of adventurers like them, he ruffled her hair playfully, the fear and paranoia of earlier all but forgotten, and squatted down next to her, laughing and handing her a spare bottle of Panacea with his very own maker’s mark on it.

“Here, keep this in case you need it later. Remember, Hanno’s right; if you try hard enough, anything is possible. Magic is everywhere in this world, you just need to work hard to tap into it.”

Gently tapping her on the nose, he turned back to Manya, a light frown on his face. By no means was it imposing or accusing, only concerned for his loss of memory yet relieved at his recovery.

“Damn...looks like that shock gave you a bit of amnesia, did it now? Hanno’s right, if you’re going to play around with magic, you need someone watching you. Tsk, tsk.”

Looking over at Hanno with more than a little suspicion in his eyes, Daedalus wondered what was up with his shaky excuse for knowing this kid’s name, but decided not to question it. Surely, the shieldbearer had a reason for possibly lying.

“I’m, as you may already know, Daedalus. Just Daed is fine. Tinkerer and divinator extraordinaire. Based in Brisshal, little business for adventurers and normal folks alike. Nice to meetcha.”

Extending a hand, Daedalus made to pull the young mage up.

“You’re gonna be just fine, kid.”

 

The introductions made it click, and Manya gave a pleasant smile at @Hanno Futaba
. This was Hanna-chan's twin brother, wasn't it? Through the haze over his eyes, they did look awfully similar, having the same stature, features, and hair, although Hanna-chan wore hers in twin tails. And @Daedalus , while not a familiar face, was still a more welcome sight than many things right now. He took the taller Faerin's hand as he was helped up to his feet, and he dusted his coat, taking his hat off to replace it on his head properly. After that stumble through the forest, he did look quite...askew, but a few seconds and he was looking presentable enough!

"Ah, your timely intervention was definitely helpful. I dread to think what would have happened otherwise, or if it were delayed too long." But such nasty thoughts were swept away. It was a possible future, but an averted one, and he had learned an important lesson to boot.

He gave a jolly wave at the small girl, who had not introduced herself. It was a natural thing, for her to be shy, so he let it slide. But he must introduce himself properly, no?

"And I'm Manya Boole, White Magician!", he said with a flourish and a short curtsy. Straightening up, he looked around, trying to regain his bearings.

"It was fortunate that I ran into you folk, perchance you're heading for Finweald? I hear there's a festival there today, one for...well, adventurers like us!" Manya closed his eyes and hummed, already thinking of buying roadside treats and cakes. One could not fault him for not knowing about the tragedy that had happened, though...even to Manya's preternatural sensing of life and death, the massacre at the Faerin village had only registered as an apprehensive feeling to the untrained magician, one that he had stashed away with self-reassurance and optimism.

Hence, it was quite natural for him to not have noticed the condition the others were in, not having been able to pick up the fact that they were, just moments ago, in a fight for their lives against dastardly bandits. He was clueless, as he tilted his head and waited for their answer. Of course, they might be heading from Finweald, in which case he might have to go on alone. 'Twas not a bad thing, but it wouldn't be the best, either.

 

The Faerin nodded at his tinker friend's words, indeed baby steps were important in order to practice and learn new things. Trying to jump too many steps in attempt to learn something bigger than you can deal with is something dangerous, and many times don't make up for the risk. There was a (Luckily) live example of this right in front of them.

The little girl closed her eyes, letting out a giggle when @Daedalus tapped her nose.

"I will work hard for it!" Liri said with determination in her voice, later turning to the mage Faerin, timidly waving back. "Nice to meet you, Manya."

Hearing the boy's question, Hanno scratched his head with a troubled expression. At first the duo was indeed there for the small festival, but tables really turned to something much more grim. It even reached a point that they had one person less to help them to save the Faerin villagers...

Looking at @Manya Boole, Hanno considered that maybe the boy would be willing to help them to save the little girl's family. After all, he said he was a White Mage, and from his memories the Faerin was very friendly and kind as a custumer in Ivan's Curry House. "Well, it's a long story... But we need to rest a bit as you can see." He said, opening his arms to give emphasis to his worned out tunic and scratches on his armor gauntlets. "This said, I will explain what happened while we are resting a bit." Hanno sitted down on the grass, pulling out Dr. Kepler (It's Soda, choose the flavor) bottles and giving to the group.

"Basically what happened was that we were in Finweald, in this festival you are talking about. And suddenly Liri appearead crying for help, saying that her village has been attacked by bandits. And me, Daedalus and another person went to the village to see if we could find any hint- But we were quite unlucky and we got ambushed by the bandits. And that was when tables turned a bit..." Hanno looked at Daedalus as he opened the grape Dr. Kepler bottle to drink, giving room for the tinker explain the rest of the situation.

 

Nodding at @Manya Boole's speculations, Daedalus looked the little White Magician up and down as he recomposed himself and dusted himself off after the confusion that had occured seconds before. Bit on the shrimpy side for a Faerin, he thought, but maybe that's just a magician thing. Besides, the kid's still got room to grow, I s'pose. Both in skill and height, I'd hope.

Chuckling and smiling a fatherly smile, Daedalus patted Liri on the head and was on the point of squeezing her cheek affectionately before the mood turned a little awkward as Manya brought up the festival. Yes, that festival, which had been the root of all this trouble. Looking over at @Hanno Futaba and wringing his hands, Daedalus shrugged and followed him to the patch of grass.

"Oh, hey, sweet! Dr. Kepler!"

Selecting an orange soda, Daedalus gestured over at the pile of drinks for Liri to choose one too. He sipped slowly while listening to Hanno tell the first half of the story, nodding along when it seemed appropriate. It was a heavily condensed experience, admittedly, but perhaps it was better to not have Liri relive that bloody experience again nor expose Manya fully to it either.

Wiping his mouth clean and smacking his lips after Hanno paused, Daedalus continued with the retelling.

"...and then, we all got into a massive fight, and we were eventually outnumbered. They had crossbowmen and all, it was like they had everything set up specifically to ambush us...anyway, we escaped through the bushes, picked through the forest back to town, and here we are."

 

Manya smiled and took the can of Dr. Kepler as well, sitting down on the grass. While he wasn't the one who did the healing on himself, he was still exhausted from his unconscious burst of magic, so he needed to recover, and the mango - hey, it was an acquired taste! - flavored soda would be perfect for it! He opened the can and sat down, taking a sip of the refreshing drink with a grin.

That grin didn't last, though, as the gravity of the situation sunk into him as he heard the explanation. He became quite solemn as he listened to the story, sipping his drink quietly.

Bandits, then. If Liri was from the village...could it have been one of those Faerin settlements he had heard so much about? That would mean...

"Oh...oh no."

Call it a cruel fate that did this, but then, the world was cruel, and it was a lesson that Manya was learning all too quickly. He reached up, removing his hat with a solemn expression. As much as Terrasphere was a game, and even that distinction was blurring...the thought of such a horrible thing happening made him sad anyways.

"But why would bandits attack the village? Did they just want to loot the place?" It did not occur to Manya that there was value outside of trinkets and baubles, that people themselves could be sold. Still, such an act of cruelty just felt so alien to him...

"They sound so organized and violent, it doesn't feel like it's just a bandit attack. It sounds more like one of those rebel lords...under the guise of bandits, that is."

In a normal situation like this, Manya would just suggest to the group to report it to the guards, and to let them handle it. While the occasional lone monster was within handling for people like them, a whole bevy of bandits was far beyond their capacity by the fact that they simply outnumber them several times over. But then...Astorea has been extremely volatile and dangerous for a long time now. All the feudal landed folk were afraid of losing their fief, and things like this were happening elsewhere too, but in other forms. So many people have taken up banditry during this precarious time that the normal idea of just calling for help would not bear much fruit...

He shook his head. All this thinking hurt his head, and he replaced the hat back on with a sigh, taking another sip of the drink.

"Here we are.", he echoed. He looked from @Hanno Futaba to @Daedalus , and then at Liri, before looking out in the direction he figured was Finweald.

"So what do we do now? Whatever it might be, I'm in no hurry to get to Finweald, and I don't mind sticking along if any of you have a plan. Should we go to the town and ask for help, or go after the bandits once more, and catch them by surprise with haste on our side?"

 

Liri giggled at @Daedalus's fatherly actions, but soon stared with a sorrowful expression when the topic about what happened was brought up. She didn't look as sad or desperate as she was before though, half of that expression also showed a burning determination to find her family again.

Nodding at his Tinker comrade, Hanno looked back at @Manya Boole. The magician's face was gravely serious, that was expected after hearing that story, and even though he wanted to go to the small festival in the city, he offered to help. The Faerin nodded at his offer, after all they had just separated from an ally so any help would be very welcomed. "As far as I know, according to the history of Terrasphere, Faerin's slavery has always been something 'common'. So that could be the main reason they attacked a Faerin village."

Hanno rubbed his chin, pondering the possibilities. "The village was quite recluse too, which made it an easy target for bandits. Specially being inside of the forest, where have a lot of bandits hideouts... Also, what you said make sense, Manya. I didn't think about the possiblity of being a lord since slavery is frowned upon, but considering how Astorea has been in a chaotic scheme lately, it sure doesn't look that much impossible to have a noble doing this kind of atrocity."

"About what to do... I'm not completely sure. I don't think that we will get much help from the city, because when Liri pleaded for help we were the only ones that decided to help her out. Maybe it will be more advantageous to go and find a bandit hideout, where we can grab someone that can give the information we need... This will be a little dangerous because they are kind of tracking our steps, but we can't let the villagers suffer. We are going to save them." The Faerin nodded with confidence. The world may have rotten people doing bad things, but there were also people willing to do the good, and that's exactly what they needed now.

"But if you guys have a better idea or have an strategy about what to do, I'm hearing! After all, we have some really big brains here." Hanno gave a grin to Daedalus.

 

Daedalus' expression, too, shifted to a more solemn one as they reviewed the situation again for the benefit of @Manya Boole, cheerily smiling mouth hardening to become a pensive line of thought as he continued to take sips of his soda.

"Tch...deplorable...whatever kind of bastard would condone that kinda thing deserves everything coming to 'em, lord of anything or not..."

Almost growling with animosity as the topic of Faerin enslavement by displaced lords was brought up, Daedalus' grip around his soda tightened, the leather of his gloves squeaking lightly as his fingers tensed. Realizing he may have been scaring Liri with the sudden shift to grimness, Daedalus forced himself to take a deep calming breath.

Even though he was just playing the role of 'Daedalus'...these emotions were becoming real for him, slowly but surely. How did he know? Because just then, the anger he had felt was undeniably more reality than acting. But that wasn't important right now.

"...mhm. I get where you're coming from. But 'chaotic' is an understatement. 'Ungodly mess' is probably a better word for it, what with these power-hungry thugs each carving chunks out of innocent peoples' lives for themselves. And those city-slickers aren't helping, what with all that self-concerned apathy..."

Gulping down some more soda to refocus and rehydrate, Daedalus drummed his fingers on the grassy earth and listened to @Hanno Futaba list their options in responses now.

"We did have a plan to take a hostage at some point during that big melee, but, uh, that kinda fell apart when...you know, nevermind that." He bit his lip a little as he wondered whether the Battle Princess had made it out of the bloodbath, but grinned into his drink all the same at Hanno's heroic resolve and praise.

"Ehe, that's pretty high praise, Hanno, but it's never the lone gear that makes the machine run, so I say. Ahem, anyway. Information gathering is indeed important at this stage. Though I'd not advocate walking into a nest of snakes like that...I suppose we could make them come to us instead?"

Plucking a gold piece from his pocket, Daedalus flipped it and caught it in midair, a devious grin spreading from the edges of his lips.

"Ya interested?"

 

Manya listened to the other two strategizing, and it was quite a rollercoaster of emotions.

Slavery!

If anything made Manya's blood boil, it was the assumption that one person could own the other as chattel. He's had far too many experiences due to his short stature and unassuming nature where people have bullied him and even tried to harm him, but he's gotten through most of it. This ends up with the result being a deep-seated hatred for racists, slavers, rude people, and any combination of those three.

Which meant that it was a terrible shame that these rude racist-slavers had ended up catching his attention. Manya's newfound ability to hurt people would be put to the test...

And he looked at Liri, at the frightened girl who still tried to stay strong amidst all this.

As long as you never forget what you're fighting for...

He nodded at the plan. It sounded risky, but he was sure the trio could handle it. They all seemed to be mostly able to support each other and stay alive, but they had a severe disadvantage of numbers.

"First, beyond anything else, we need to escort Liri to someplace safe. I don't recommend leaving her anywhere here, nor taking her along with us. We should escort her to FInweald..."

Of course, that'd mean that their numbers would be split up. But Manya could work around that. After all, his most newly found ability was there...

He took a drink of the soda, shaking the can and realizing that it only had half of it left. Oh well, he has already refreshed anyways.

"Second, we should act fast. They might think you guys were beaten back, so they won't expect three people returning to attack, rather than two!"

He was unaware of the actions of that third person...but that didn't do much to lessen the feat of the other two.

"I could bait them out. Without the hat and coat, I look a lot less threatening, and some of the bandits could be baited in. Once they're close, we can jump them."

Of course, he was not qualified to make the plans here, nor did he think that was the most efficient idea. So he stuck to what he could do best right now. He focused his mind, dipping into his reserves of energy. His palms glowed faintly as he brought them together.

"Let me just summon a friend..."

While he was willing to trust @Daedalus and @Hanno Futaba with his own life, even after just having met them no less, he would not dare to put Liri at risk. The young girl has already seen more than she should have, and she needed security more than anything else.