*Hospital*

"You're here...."

"Why did you call us? Morse." Geld said.

"It's nothing….. I just have some few questions to ask.... Don't I have the right to know what's happening in the village?" he respond in a threatening voice.

For a second, Geld felt scared and troubled at the same time. The hospital office was quiet and tense for a while, and then Roswald began to speak, "Isn't it fine to tell him? He's a citizen of this village, isn't he?"

The tension in the room vanished as he uttered a word. Geld began scratching his head and groaning. Then he said, in an annoyed manner, "Hayss.... Fine, fine, since he's a citizen in this village, of course he has the right to know, but seriously, that was a way to say it. Are you even reading the mood?"

"Aren't you two friends?"

"What?! Are you out of your mind?!" Geld shouted, furiously, denying every word.

"It just seems that way. I'm sorry if I'm wrong."

Morse's eyes widen, and he chuckles. Then he said, "I like your companion... It's not that we were friends, but we were more than just friends... right honey?"

Geld got shivers and punched Morse in the head. Then he said, "Stop with your nonsense! I just knew him when I was just a teenager."

"I see," Roswald said, uninterested.

"By the way, is that the only reason you called us here?"

"No..... You see, I called you two here because the patient who was brought here not long ago died before I could treat him. I heard he was one of your people? Anyway, I did an autopsy on the body and found it quite strange. So I called you to ask you that." Morse said, getting up from his chair and walking towards the door next to the bookshelf, which showed the body inside. Roswald approaches the body and examines it.

"What the? Did you keep his body until now?" Geld said shock.

"Until now? How mean... It's only been two days, you know, since he was brought here."

"Why did you even keep it?"

"Didn't you hear what I said? I said I ran an autopsy." Morse responds with a smile on his face.

"Uh-Uhm, I'm going to need to bring his body back with me."

"You can, but first let me examine it." As Morse suggested,

"No," Geld said, firmly.

"You can't do that. Don't you know I own this pla…"

"How long are you two going to argue?" Roswald asked.

"Why? What's wrong?" Geld responds with a question.

"Come and look at your slave's body."

"What slave? He may work for me, but he's not my... " Geld responded while walking into the other room and seeing his worker's scarred body, which caused his words to stop halfway.

"Strange, am I right? There are also traces of magic cast on his body." Morse said.

"How do you know that?" Geld asked, with his eyes set on the body and his face full of anger.

"That's obvious, I'm a mage doctor. So are you going to let me examine it or not?"

"Do it today and tomorrow I'll retrieve the body." Geld said, and walked out of the room. His eyes were filled with anger and frustration because, as much as he was a superior, he more than anyone treated his people with care, just like a family member or a friend.

"He's still the same as always." Morse said, then chuckled.

Roswald was left alone in the other room, and as he didn't know what to do from that point on, he decided to head back to the inn to think for a while before roaming the village at night.

*Village Inn*

"Roswald, you're back early today," the inn owner's wife said, after serving the food to the customer.

"I'll be going back later at night," Roswald responded, putting his sword down on the chair beside him.

"I see..... The little girl was planning to go to the town hall with you, but I guess you're busy," the inn owner's wife said, leaning her arm on the counter table. Roswald couldn't say anything back and just headed back up the stairs after nodding his head. Then the inn owner's wife sighs.

Della was sitting by the window looking at the children passing by the inn. Roswald came in and saw her gaze focused directly outside the window, and then he asked, "What are you looking for to have a sad look on your face?"

She was surprised by the sudden sound and looked back as she saw that it was him. She then responded, with sadness in her eyes, "I was just remembering the past."

He couldn't say anything back to her as he saw the deep sadness in her eyes. Then he asked, "I heard you have something to say."

"Yes?" she said, surprised.

"I heard from the inn owner's wife that...." He asked while getting himself seated.

"T-that, I'll ask you next time." She responded, stammering.

Roswald felt a little disappointed by her words. He was hoping that she would be honest with him, but it was too much of an expectation on his end. He let things go by and leaned against the wall, resting his eyes. The room was muffled, without any words uttered. Then night came in the village, and he woke up from his slumber. "What are you doing?"

She jumped back and stumbled, then fell on the ground, causing a loud noise. Then she said, flustered, "I... I... I was doing nothing. I was trying to wake you up because it's night."

He gets up from where he was seated and responds, "I see," He reaches out his hand and pulls her back up.

"Uhm..."

"Let's head down for now."

"Y-yes,"

Della followed him from behind eagerly and blushing, calling back the events that happened just a second ago. Then he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yes?.. Yes, I am alright. Thank you for helping me up, mister Roswald." She responded by smiling awkwardly.

Both of them took a seat by the counter table, and before they could order, Balder put down a plate of food in front of them. She was bewildered, and Roswald asked, "What is this?"

"You're not thinking of ordering the same food, are you?" Bal asked him back, and he couldn't say anything but thank him.

"T-thank you, Mr. Bal." Della said, after him, and smiled hesitantly.

Bal was happy to hear that, and he had a big smile on his face. He then said, "You're welcome."

Roswald and Della eat the food without reserve, and after that, Della gets back up to their room, and Roswald heads out after talking and saying farewell to the people of the inn and Della.

*knock* knock*

"Della? It's me, Ramy."

"Ramy?"

"Yeah, can you open the door?"

"You can open it and come in."

"My hands are tied. I can't open the door."

She walks near the door and opens it. After she opened the door, what she saw was not Ramy. She was knocked unconscious on the ground and then was put inside a sock, Ramy was going up the stairs to talk to her, but as she arrived, the shadow of the two men had already disappeared without a trace. Ramy knocks at the door and calls her name. No one responds. She knocks and calls again, but still no sound. She then decides to open the door, and when she opens it, no one is inside. She headed down and asked her parents. "Mom, dad... did Della go after Sir Roswald?"

"No she didn't. Why do you asks?" her mother replied.

"Well, she's not in the room upstairs."

"What?! She's not upstairs?!" Balder shouted, shocked.

"Ramy, is that true?"

"Yes, mom, She's not in the room."

"If she had gone after him, we would have seen her come down or heard a creak if the window opened. And she's afraid to go out alone, isn't she?" her mother replied.

"Isn't she kidnapped then? *hickcup* ….Hehe," the drunk person said, then he blacked out on the table with his face flat in the bowl of soup.

Her parents' faces blackened as they heard what the drunk person said, and her father immediately ran to the village guild to inform Roswald about what had happened to Della. He arrived at the village guild, but as soon as he arrived, he was unable to meet or talk to Roswald, as he was in the forest together with Mario, Geld, and the alchemist, trying out some devices.

*Forest of Danbell*

"We walk far enough from the village. What are we even doing here? Roswald and I were going to roam the village tonight when you suddenly showed up."

"Sorry for suddenly calling you two... but I really have something important to show you."

"What is it?"

"We were almost there. Geld, you're as impatient as ever. "

"Hmp."

The four of them walked and stopped in the wide plains inside the forest where nothing but trees and grass were in sight. "Let's test it here. Back away a little." The alchemist said,

"What is that?" Geld asked, pointing at the device in the alchemist's hand.

"That's a shield device." Mario replies.

"A shield device?"

"That's right, we will use it to protect the village from monster and beast attacks."

"You should have said it to us instead of bringing us here."

"I wanted to surprise the two of you." Mario said with a smug smile.

"Please be quiet..." The alchemist said that by placing the devices on the ground with a distance between them, he then starts the enchantment. The devices responded to the alchemist's voice and started forming an array gently surrounding and then shielding the grass inside it.

The three men were standing by the side looking at the alchemist doing his job. Then, in the dark forest surrounding them, Roswald saw two shadows passing by in a flash. He thought that it was merely a bird, so he ignored it and focused his gaze on what they were doing. After thirty minutes of enchanting, the devices blow up, and then he says, "It's a failure. *sigh* I need to go back and upgrade some parts."

"I see it's a failure." Mario said.

"What the? So are we heading back now?" Geld asked.

"That's right... hm? Is there something the matter? Roswald,"

"Nothing, I just heard some footsteps."

"There's no one else here besides us." Geld said.

"I know..... But it's oddly quiet, don't you think?"

"Now that you say it, it is oddly quiet... We'd better head back to the village."  Mario suggested,

The four of them headed out of the forest and went to the restaurant in front of the guild to eat and converse. They take a seat, and Geld asks, "By the way, who is he?"

Mario's eyes widen a bit, and he laughs. Then he replies, "You asked that now? I thought you'd never ask."

To be continued.