Chapter 159 – Chapter 5: Vanishing Footsteps – 2
Due to Mari’s strong will that she could do it on her own, it was decided to send her outside.
Ruyev asked several times. She fastened Marie’s collar tightly and told her how to behave in order to avoid suspicion. It was good up to that point, but when a bad guy suddenly appeared, I had to stop him from giving me a small knife and telling me to stab him.
“I’ll be back!”
He looked worried until Marie left her inn with a strong voice.
“Don’t worry too much. You’ll take care of it. “They know the road better than us.”
“Hmm…”
“Now it’s time for Marie to go on her own. “Tia had the most accidents at that age.”
“That guy is an unusual case, so let’s not discuss it.”
“Well, that’s right.”
Luyev’s anxious mood seemed to have eased slightly, and he uncrossed his arms.
“However… That’s not why I’m worried.”
“Then?”
“It’s because I don’t know my brother very well.”
‘I don’t know much’?
I didn’t understand.
If there’s anyone who knows Marie well, it’s definitely Luev.
Except when they were working, the siblings were together all day. Since she had been raised, clothed, and fed by her since she was very young, Marie followed her brother’s instructions well, and it was easy to see that Luev cared especially for her younger brother.
But how can she say that she doesn’t know much about her younger brother?
“I once lost Marie in the mountains. I searched for a long time until the sun set. In the end, I finally found it hiding in a rock crevice… Even when I asked him what happened, he didn’t answer. “The guy who answered everything I asked so far.”
It was a very nerve-wracking story.
… Because Tia once did the same thing.
“After that, he just stayed home quietly.”
“You didn’t lock him up?”
“I have never done that.”
I had a bad feeling.
“I wonder if something happened… “Didn’t we still talk about it?”
Luyev nodded his head.
If so, she thought, now would be the time for Tia to tell her what Po Sao had done to her when she was young. Because I couldn’t be sure that that ugly pig wouldn’t have done the same thing to Marie.
It was a moment when I was about to bring up the story with a slightly heavy heart.
“Ritz. Just know that. “Don’t ask any more questions.”
“Why? “Maybe something bad happened to Marie and that’s why she’s trying to hide it from you?”
“That could be possible.”
It seemed like Ruyev had already made such an ominous assumption without me having to say it.
“But that is something I, as his only living relative, must seek to understand myself. “I don’t think you should forcefully ask for that secret.”
Grumble-.
Suddenly he lifted his bag of money and poured it out on the bed.
“Let’s stop talking trivially and just count the money. It’s hard to make a living.”
“… Yes.”
We touched the coins in silence.
It was around noon. Marie returned to the inn. She finished her work much faster than expected and didn’t seem that tired.
Marie began chattering about the things she saw and heard outside.
“Your brother was right.”
As Ruyev said, the reason Taildon became quiet was because of the ‘camping’. She said that the lord took all the young men and headed to De Seo.
But she wasn’t going to war there, she was stationed there for a few days, and then she was promised to return, so she said the city was quiet for a while.
It was strange because she could only see people and the city itself felt peaceful. Was there a reason for that?
In the end, it was a good thing. The fact that there were few people meant that we could move around freely here.
“Then what carriage goes to Gordburg?”
She said, “I tried to save it… I think it might be a little difficult.”
If she wants to go to Gordburg, she must go through a trading post, and when Marie catches a glimpse of the process, she sees that her soldiers are inspecting it very strictly.
She confirmed the identity of the coachman and her passengers, and unpacked all their luggage, if any. This was because thieves were running rampant while the city was quiet.
If it’s that strict… There was no way we could safely pass through the trading post as we had no ‘identity’ in the first place.
It’s difficult.
“What should I do?”
Ruyev answered seriously.
“You can just steal a carriage and run away.”
“There weren’t many carriages to steal in the first place, brother. They said they took everything to Deseo.”
“Then there’s nothing I can do.”
It seemed like this brother and sister were really planning on stealing one of the carriages if I wasn’t there.
“Did you ask the price?”
“1 gold and 50 silver per person.”
It was quite expensive. It was a steep price to pay for being mixed with luggage in a horse cart that had no roof and was very shaking.
The money bag I just counted contained about 7 gold. Before leaving Brisden, I raided all the safes and got about 4 gold, 3 of which were given to me by Aunt Lily last night.
The longer you stay here, the more money you spend on lodging and food. It would be best to leave Taildon today if possible, but I couldn’t think of a better way.
“…”
As I rested my chin and thought quietly, a question suddenly came to mind.
How did Posao go to Gordburg with Tia, a wanted criminal?
If the quarantine was that strict, the soldiers would have arrested Tia on the spot as soon as they saw her red hair.
However, Posao spoke as if his method was already ‘prepared’. I don’t know what it is. He wants to look at the memories, but he can’t find out how they moved because he no longer has anything to contact them.
… But if it’s Posao.
I feel like I know somehow.
After seeing countless memory illusions, I now know his past, personality, and way of thinking.
Swoosh-.
He got up and went to the window. He sees a sun-drenched street filled with sparse people walking around.
If that gloomy bastard had anything to do in Tail Dawn, it didn’t seem like he would be walking around in this sunny place.
Maybe… A street with shabby houses close to the beach in the distance.
You might be more familiar with ‘brothel’.
Posao said he learned massage there, and he also stopped by the black market there to get the medicine Tia needed.
I didn’t know because I had never been near a brothel before, but maybe Posao was someone I knew there?
At least I’m sure you know more than me.
Ruyev asked after seeing me standing blankly in front of the window.
“Why. Did something suddenly occur to you?”
“Okay. Ruev, follow me. Marie is resting here.”
“Yes.”
“Where are we going?”
Clutter.
I went out into the hallway and closed the door tightly.
“Bordello.”
Ruyev frowned.
“What?”
“… On the black market in. “I have something to investigate for a moment.”
“Oh, right. Yes.”
Is it because of my mood that there was a slightly awkward atmosphere?
* * *
The whorehouse in Taildon was much dirtier than I thought. And most of the prostitutes followed the expedition, so the streets were very quiet. It’s probably natural since there aren’t any young men who are the main customers.
Occasionally naked women would stare at us, but I walked down the street without paying them any attention.
Before long, the prostitutes started beckoning one by one.
“Oh. You look tired. Do you want to go play?”
“Babies – come here.”
But it was just words. They didn’t dare grab our arms and pull us into the store.
It seemed like it was because Ruev, who was following me, had a very scary face. He was pushing the prostitutes away with a murderous look in his eyes, threatening to destroy them as soon as they got in the way.
That was when I was walking straight towards the black market.
“Aaaaah-! “Let go of this!”
Suddenly, the door of a store burst open, and a woman jumped out.
She was a blonde woman with scattered hair.
Almost naked, she hurriedly got out and slipped and fell in front of us. In the back, other prostitutes were rushing to catch the woman.
“Ailee! Stand there!”
She seemed to be the woman’s name.
The woman named Ailee looked around frantically and ran screaming when she saw me.
“Save me!”
Luyev tried to come forward to help me, but I held up his hand first and stopped him.
The whore held my arm tightly with her distraught face on her face. Then he started saying something incomprehensible.
“Bandit! Bandits are coming! Oh, you have to run away!”
“Bandit… ?”
“Ailee-! “Oh, there it is again!”
Ruyev said bluntly.
“I think this woman is out of her mind.”
Okay.
She is a crazy woman.
However… I don’t know.
Why does this woman’s face look familiar?
It’s my first time hearing this name, and no one I know has blonde hair like this, and I’ve never been to this brothel before.
An intimate feeling, as if I had seen it somewhere before. And what is the ‘relief’ rising from her chest?
“Help me! That kid… Yes, it’s on the mountain! I need to help you quickly… !”
Finally, the prostitutes ran over and grabbed the crazy woman by the back. Then they held us tightly so that they could not move and bowed down to us.
“I’m sorry – young man! “It’s because this kid goes crazy sometimes!”
She was carried like a piece of luggage.
Seeing that the situation was resolved, Ruyev urged.
“Let’s go quickly.”
However, she could not walk forward again due to the mysterious and mysterious feeling that was flowing through her head.
Uneasiness seemed to fill her entire body.
Is it because of my mood? It was a moment when I thought like that and tried to shake it off and move on.
The prostitute who was being dragged into the store muttered.
“Tia… Are you dead?”
