CLAY was stunned upon hearing the black haired teenager who was just trying to cut him in half called his na. Then as if a button was turned on inside his head, a sudden realization hit him. He suddenly thought of everything that had happened in the last 15 minutes. The unexpected familiarity he felt with the black haired girl and the savvy swordsmanship of the teenage boy. If his mind wasn't full of getting money, he would have probably recognized the two much sooner.
"Argent Blackbourne?" Then he turned to the girl. "Blondie?"
Aurum almost blackened her face. Why did this guy never bothered calling her by her na? She walked beside her brother and looked at Clay arrogantly. "I told you my brother will kick your ass."
Seeing that the two didn't refute what he said, it readily confird his guess. Truly, what a coincidence. eting in this kind of place. Then he rembered what Aurum just said. "Wait- have you known it was the whole ti?"
"Not with full certainty. Just thought that your voice was annoyingly familiar." No wonder she stopped struggling when she heard his voice. "Why are you robbing people anyway?"
That was the part Aurum didn't quite understand. It was weird enough to suddenly et him here, it's even weirder to find out that he suddenly beca a thief. She might not know Clay that well, but she knew he's not the type to just go around taking things from other people for no reason.
Clay felt ashad. It's one thing to be a masked thief, it's another for an acquaintance to discover that he was that thief. He's not really that proud of what he's doing right now. But he had to do it.
"You needed money to go to Victoria City. That's the reason why you're running around town, robbing nobles, isn't it?" Argent said.
Clay just shrugged helplessly and answered, "Yes."
He wasn't really that surprised that Argent figured it out that easily. This guy was the young genius who founded Silver Corporation after all.
"Why would you do that so close to Victoria City?" Aurum said, a bit confused. "You should have robbed enough people in other places before going here."
"Nice advice," he said sarcastically. "Going to Victoria City wasn't in my plan. But circumstance forced to. How about you two, what are you guys doing here?"
"We're also planning to go to Victoria City," Aurum answered.
Although he already kind of expected that answer, Clay was still slightly surprised. Then an idea entered his mind. If he could ask these two to bring him along with them, then he could enter Victoria City without a problem. At the rate he's going he still needed to steal a lot in order to stay in Victoria at least for a couple of days.
"Could you guys take with you?" he said, his tone a bit hesitant. "I promise I'll pay you back."
Aurum turned to her brother because the decision was hers to make. She saw Argent thinking, aning she's considering Clay's request.
"Why do you need to go to Victoria City?" Argent asked instead of imdiately giving answer to Clay's request.
Clay wondered if there's a way he could lie his way through that. But in the end, he thought better of it. Maybe if he told them the reason why he's really here, they could help him. But then again, Argent Blackbourne was not really the type to be moved by a sob story. The only way he would agree to help him was if he gave him sothing of importance in return.
He sighed and just answered truthfully. "I'm here to save soone."
"It's not your sister again, right?" Aurum asked before he could elaborate more.
"No, my sister is sowhere safe and sound, thank you very much," Clay said, a muscle on his face twitching. "As I've said, I'm here to save soone. The information I received told that the person would be here in Achea but when I got here, I found out that the person was moved to Victoria. I was not prepared to go there so I have no choice but to resort to thievery."
"You need to elaborate more on that," Argent said.
"It's kind of complicated."
"Then explain it properly," Argent simply said.
Clay hesitated for a bit then at the end he could only grit his teeth and explain everything. Maybe if he did, then Argent would find it interesting and decide to help.
"When we left Shandra, , my sister, and the others decided to help the children in other villages like the one we grew up in. There's a lot of those scattered all over the world. But sadly, we could only help those that were being thrown away because, like us, the Temple didn't manage to brainwash them. They were few and far between. Even if we wanted to save the others, they wouldn't want to go with us."
Most of those kids were thoroughly brainwashed by the Temple. They would probably think that they were kidnapping them instead of saving them. Which was truly sad. He wanted to save those kids because he wanted them to live the life that they should have if they weren't taken in by the Temple. And it was also a way for Clay to retaliate against the Temple. Clay understood that he was powerless to fight against them on equal grounds. But with this, he could at least make a ripple. And soon, he promised he would turn that small ripple into a big tidal wave.
In these last five months, they managed to find three villages and saved seven teenagers. Her sister, the others, and those teenagers were now in a certain mountain range in this continent. It was quite isolated, which ant safety for now. Clay wanted to at least build a village or even a proper house for them. But he didn't have the financial power to back that up. Which was really quite frustrating.
"Wow. You really beca a crusader, huh," Aurum comnted.
That was dumb in so way, if you considered his status and who he was up againts. It's like a dwarf trying to win againts a giant. But it was also quite admirable. It showed just how much guts this guy had. Not to ntion, the fact that he did have a very big heart.
"Well, it's s good way to piss off the Temple," Clay shrugged.
Aurum gave him a thumbs up. "I like that answer."
"Anyway, in the last village we went to, we encountered a problem. When we tried to save the kids that were being thrown up, a masked man wearing a white cloak passed by and just overwheld us with his Gift. So of the knights who were pursuing us died on the spot." He still felt chills whenever he rembered how those knights ended up.
"We would probably also end the sa way if that boy didn't appear. He shielded us and took the attention of the masked man away from us. We didn't have ti to think too much and we just ran the hell out of there. When we were in sowhere safe, I wanted to go back and help the boy but I knew it was already too late.
"Then one of the teenagers we saved said that the boy was brought to the village three days before that particular day and that he escaped the day before. He heard that he was just there for a pit stop until his escort ca. The masked man was his escort and they were going to take him to Achea. Thus why I'm here. I've been here for three weeks now.
"For the first two weeks, I searched every nook and cranny of this town. But I still didn't find any traces of them. Then last week, I heard about a special auction that would be held on the eve of the Festival of Creation. My instinct tells that the boy would be sold in the auction. So I wanted to go to Victoria City as soon as I could."
Clay wanted to save the boy. That's the least thing he could do. Because if not for him, he would definitely be nothing but a corpse now. He owed him his life. So he would make sure he would save his.
The twins looked at each other, digesting everything that Clay said. The masked man he ntioned, that was definitely an Apostle. Which ant this boy Clay was talking about was of so importance to the Temple if an Apostle was sent to personally escort him.
"What makes you so sure that the boy would be at the auction?" Argent asked.
"Because he's an elf."
Well, that answer was certainly sothing the twins didn't expect.
"You an an elf, elf?" Aurum asked, quite unbelieving.
"Yes, the one with the pointed ears."
"An elf would certainly be a good finale in an auction." But Argent doubted that the Pope would just sell a mber of one of the mythical races at an auction. He probably needed him for sothing else. And it was most probably related to one of the sacred artifacts. "Okay. We'll bring you with us. I'll even help you save the elf. And as an added bonus, I'll also fund your crusade."
Clay was surprised and a bit confused too when he heard what Argent said. "You will fund us?"
"Sure. I have a lot of extra money. If you're going to piss off the Temple, then I'll be more than glad to help you," Argent said. "But I need sothing in return."
Clay just knew there's a catch. "What is it?"
"I want you to tell all the information you have on the artifact that your family was trying to protect. And when I said all, I an everything."
He beca even more confused. Why did the artifact suddenly pop up in this conversation? But despite his confusion, he still considered everything seriously. He weighed all the pros and cons and finally arrived with a decision. "I understand. I'll tell you everything that I know."
"Good." Argent grinned. "Let's have a good cooperation once again."
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