Chapter 176 – Conspiracy

[...] Eva and Luna thought about the question Syrus just asked. Of course, they both would like to find Maca, but both had their own worries.

[What if he is far away?] (Eva)

[What if he is dead?] (Luna)

Mary stopped patting the animal. “Beara… should be able to–”

“We can find Uncle Maca!” Max exclaimed, his voice resolute, “We need to do that now.”

[Well, we know what someone’s opinion is, but the more important one that needs to be answered.] (Syrus)

[Would we really interrupt this trip to look for Maca?] (Luna)

[Do you not want to?] (Syrus)

[Don’t put words in my mouth; I would love to look for him. I just worry about consequences.] (Luna)

Depending on the distance and how much risk he was in, there was a lot of difficulty and risk involved with the simple idea of going to track Maca down. Luna was rightly worried about the fact that such a trip could be difficult from a practical standpoint and from the fact they had two civilians in Mary and Max who would have to deal with the dangers of the travel and factors that could be surrounding Maca.

Luna was still very worried that Maca was captured due to the information they had provided to him; if that was the case, then he could be in a prison or surrounded by guards. That was, of course, if he was alive, which Luna liked to believe he was for her own sanity's sake.

Mary softly sighed and asked, “Beara, do you know where Maca is and how far?”

“Moo.” Beara moo-ed with a nod, then, “M-o-o-o.”

Mary muttered, “He is close…”

[Looks like they have a language sorted.] (Syrus)

[So it is not like Ethan and Cobalt?] (Eva)

[I don’t know how mythic creatures work, but it seems Ethan has a true connection with Cobalt, while Mary and perhaps her family were people who knew and grew up with Beara.] (Luna)

“Close?!” Lavender jumped up and leaned in. “How close are we talking? Ten minutes, an hour, a day? Any of those and it will be worth tracking the bugger down.”

“Around an hour away… give or take, since I am unsure what direction he is in.” Mary’s eyes turned to the forest. “If he is through the forest itself, then it might take longer.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Max said firmly, his golden eyes resolute. “He has helped us, so we shall help him.”

Ethan looked up to me and Lavender.

“I’m for it.” Said Lavender, “I’m not about to let the chance to give him a whack on the head for the disappearing act.”

Next was Syrus. “I owe him, so long as the people who request this commission are fine with that decision.”

Finally, there was Mary. “If that is what my son wishes for, it does not harm our commission or delay by a short while.” She stood up, with her hand still resting on Beara. “We will go and find him.”

With everyone in agreement, they continued with the plan to track down Maca. They followed Beara but quickly the forest became their enemy. When it did, they made the hard choice of tying the horse and cart in a quiet corner away from the main travel roads. They knew they needed to be quick, but they also had to be wary of the worst-case scenarios.

Picking up their bags with the essentials, they moved as a group through the forest. Beara led the way, and Mary and Max were in the middle of the group as everyone covered the outer sides of the formation. Mary said she could defend herself, to which Syrus responded with, “Great, you can keep your son extra safe if the formation breaks.”

Syrus didn’t doubt Mary’s claim; she felt there was a strong will from Mary’s gaze, but Syrus also had a job to do, which was about keeping these two people safe.

Lavender asked, “How do you actually know Maca, since you were close enough to share knowledge about this little ox here?”

“Two separate questions.” Mary said, “I met Maca because of who he was. I had made Arisea Station my home a long time ago, but it wasn’t the first place I lived in during my travels. Eventually, I met Maca, and he was willing to take care of me due to my appearance.”

Syrus said, “That nearly sounds nice, if someone who didn’t know who Maca was heard that.”

“Very true.” Mary smiled.

[It looks like Maca has been taking care of people with Exotic attributes for a long time.] (Eva)

[Sounds like him.] (Syrus)

[He is a good man…] (Luna)

[You need to stop feeling guilty about it; the same holds true for you, Eva.] (Syrus)

[Maybe we will once we know that he is alive.] (Luna)

The trip through the forest was at a quick pace, as they wanted to find Maca before anything else happened. It would have certainly been faster if only one of them had gone with Beara, but that didn’t suit the situation. To be expected, they didn’t run into any other people, but even after an hour of travel, they still hadn’t found Maca.

Max grew tired and he tried his best to not show it, but the kid had no experience in hiding his exhaustion.

“Hold on, kid.” Syrus picked up the boy and placed him on her bag as he held her neck.

Max attempted to protest, “Wait…”

She asked, “Do you want to collapse on the ground unconscious when we finally meet Maca?”

His silence was a good enough answer for Syrus and they all kept moving. The forest was cold and unwelcoming to these trespassers, but they did not care as they could only press on. The old ox that led the way didn’t stop despite its own tiredness; it had a request, and it wished to carry it out without failure.

Finally, Beara cried, “Moo!” And jumped through a large chunk of foliage. Breaking through the vines that were in the way, the rest followed into the small clearing.

In the middle of this area was one man with a bluish, bone-like exoskeleton, with a few wounds on his body, and his slightly blue skin had bits of mud stuck in it.

When he heard the noise, his eyes snapped over but relaxed the moment he saw the crowd.

“Oh?” Maca looked over at the group of people that had suddenly shown up in front of him. “Didn’t expect you here.”

His response was taken gently.

“Fuck’in bastard. That’s all you have to say, huh?” Lavender shouted back, “Do you know how long it has bloody been? Too damned long! The number of people betting you were dead was stupid.”

Syrus questioned, “People were betting on that?”

“You would know that if you went to the pubs.”

“I’m more of a private drinker.”

Lavender groaned, not even bothering to keep responding to that. “Enough of that. Where have you been, Maca?”

While they were having this quick discussion, Syrus was helping Max get off her back.

“Complicated.” He replied.

Luna was about to step forward.

“It is my fault, isn’t it?” Said Mary.

[What…?] (Eva)

[Oh?] (Syrus)

Her gold eyes held a deep concern.

“...” Maca replied, “It was just an unfortunate coincidence.”

“Then why are you here?” She interrogated further, “You aren’t close, but you are near the roads from the path that connected the two cities, and the only reason you would be here is if you knew we had left to go to Eletscoep.”

At this point, Lavender had already taken a step back besides Syrus again. “What is happening?”

Syrus whispered back, “Well, after you let out your mix of rage and concern, Mary took her turn to interrogate Maca.” She sighed, “Which leads us to this, where it appears Maca has been, at least in some way, attempting to follow us.”

“So he was okay?” Max asked; the situation was very confusing to him. He had been all too ready to run up to Maca but people started screaming, which forced his body to jump back.

“...Based on the wounds, he wasn’t just attacked by animals.”

[...] (Eva)

[A little confused?] (Syrus)

[Why wouldn’t I be?] (Eva)

[I think it is not that confusing. Either way, Maca was seemingly taken by people looking for him because of the church thing, or because of his connection with Mary. He got out, and then found out we were heading for Eletscoep, so he attempted to catch up.] (Syrus)

[Aren’t you making a few assumptions?] (Luna)

[I don’t think I’m saying unpredictable, considering the circumstances.] (Syrus)

“Before this becomes a full drama novel,” Syrus walked forward. “It’s good to see you alive and well, Maca.” She sat down next to him and pulled out some bandages and potions. “You had us all very worried.”

His words were simple but full of regret. “Sorry.”

“That’s fine, let’s just get you patched up.” They got to work fixing his wounds and dealing with his immediate problems. From looking up close, some of his bones had been damaged. Syrus touched them, “Were these caused by the attack or afterwards?”

“A bit of both.” He replied.

Syrus eyed Max for a moment and singled him with a glance to come over.

“Uncle Maca?” The boy waddled up to Maca. “You are alive, right?”

Maca softly smiled, “Yes.”

“Good.” The boy hugged him, “I’m so glad you didn’t leave…”

After a few moments of patching Maca up, everyone had a chance to leave the questioning to the side for a moment to simply just catch up to make sure everyone was okay. Lavender needed this time, as she was holding her own trunk of worries about his safety. Of course, this whole chat and patch-up job took place in under ten minutes, as they needed to get back to the carriage.  Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel_fіre.net

“Now we are all happy.” So, Syrus chose to bring this part of the conversation to a close. “Do you all want to have the important parts of this discussion while moving here or at the carriage?”