"Melas, what did you say they looked like again?
"He claimed to be a traveller. He was wearing a thick black coat, and had an oversized black hat. He had grey hair, looked to be around 50 years old. He was alone— no companions, no horses, and no travelling supplies. There’s no way a random man could do that."
"Ah." Aria sagged in relief. "He is not an Inquisitor."
"He’s not? Wait, do you know him?"
Aria shook her head. She did not know who that man was, but she knew that he was not an Inquisitor.
Inquisitors never traveled alone. They traveled in groups of four or more, and never separated from each other. Even when they went scouting, they would at least do it in pairs. That was par for the course of an Inquisitors training. Furthermore, they would never hide their distinctive armor, always bearing the sigil of the Holy Xan Empire for all to see. Whoever that man was, he was definitely not part of the Inquisitors.
So Aria told her daughter this. She reassured her daughter, telling her that her peaceful life would not go anywhere. Maybe the man was a Hunter, or a Mercenary. Or any other possible scenarios Aria could have thought of. But Melas didn’t believe any of it. She was too afraid.
"But he could be one! They could’ve changed the rules, made it so they could travel more discreet. It’s better to be safe than sorry."
"Melas, I know you are worried. But you have to trust me, he is not an Inquisitor."
Her daughter was defiant. She was scared, bordering on paranoid even. Aria took a deep breath.
"You are right. It is indeed better to be safe than sorry. Even if he is not an Inquisitor, he could still be a danger to us. But if he is, what do we do?"
"We leave."
Melas spoke without a hint of hesitation in her voice.
"We leave the village, mom. Go far away from here. If we do, nobody will bother us for a while."
Aria was shocked. She didn’t expect this kind of determination from her daughter. Even Aria, who only has a working relationship with the villagers would hesitate to just up and leave them. And Melas had… friends? Aria shook her head. No she didn’t, apart from maybe Adrian. And even then, she’s not too close to him.
Melas was a child. Even if she did not have any friends, the village was all she had known. To abandon her entire life up until this point, it should be ridiculous to even suggest. Yet, here she was demanding it. But why? Aria did not know the reason for her daughter’s behavior, and Melas seemed to realize that.
"It’s because I love you, mom. I don’t want anything to happen to you."
Aria was stunned. She was glad— glad that her daughter felt so strongly about her. It made her feel like she finally did something right in her life, in spite of her past sins. But she also felt bad for her daughter, that she had to worry about such things because of her. Before she could voice her thoughts however, her daughter continued.
"Sure, I’ll be sad. Villamcreek is where I grew up, after all. Mr Walden, even though he can be a bit annoying with the way he teaches, is still a good guy. And Adrian and I only just started to become friends. But this place is not my home. My home is with you, mom. So wherever I may go, I’ll be fine as long as I am with you."
Upon hearing that, Aria felt her chest grow warm. Warmer than it ever had been. Maybe only as warm as when she first gave birth to her child after all her struggles. Her eyes welled up, and tears started to streak down her beautiful face. She started crying, because now, her daughter was making her feel this way again.
Aria gathered her emotions, and wiped away her tears. Slowly, she looked her daughter in the eyes, and saw her resolve. With that, Aria made her decision too.
"Fine," said Aria, smiling, "we will leave."
Hearing that, Melas smiled too.
They were going to leave, but not right now. They still needed to gather their things tomorrow, and resupply in the village. Maybe even say goodbye to several of the villagers. Then, they would be gone.
And as the mother and daughter made their decision to leave, both felt only one thing. The same feeling which they had always felt for each other.
Love.
Chapter 5: Monster Attack
The next morning, I woke up much earlier than usual.
Usually, I would wake up when the sun was a quarter of the way up the sky. I’m not sure what time that was, since we did not own a clock; I assumed that that was around maybe eight or nine in the morning. Today however, I’d say I was up closer to six or seven.
And that was because today, my mom and I would be leaving Villamcreek.
My mom was a magic-wielder. A spellcaster. Or a so-called ‘Dark Acolyte’. But most importantly, she was a heretic. She supposedly used to be quite a prominent figure as well, being a Human from the Holy Xan Empire who joined the Forces of Darkness. She was one of the only Humans who was a part of the Shadow’s Evangelium when they were still around over a decade ago, before they were finally crushed by the Holy Xan Empire. As such, my mom was wanted by the Church, the Mercenaries Guild, and numerous other countries or organizations that my mom made enemies out of.
We talked about it last night, and decided
