DANIEL

I stood dumbfounded as I watched the large, bulky man rush past me and into the arms of his daughter. He had clearly been worried - which was expected of any father, but the amount of care he gave her was quite shocking to say the least. It was common for nobles to be cold, even to their own children. Although, the Marshal had not always been a noble, which I assumed was why he cared about his daughter so much. 

The Marshal finally released Charlie and asked, "What in the world happened?" Charlie hesitated, and opened her mouth to speak. I had not heard her side of the story - how she had even escaped this watchtower of a house is still a mystery to me, as such I was quite interested to hear this. However, betraying my expectations, she whispered into her father's ears instead. 

After a short while, he nodded understandingly and stood up. I decided my presence was not required right now, and started to go towards my hotel. However, I was stopped dead in my tracks by Hayya who stopped me by borderline shouting with his booming voice, "Please come inside. I would also love to hear your side of the events." 

Pretty surprised at his sudden escalation in tone, I froze in place. Though it did not last for long and I turned to face him. There was no hint of anger or anything in his face, he just seemed relaxed. I assumed that his loud voice a second ago was simply natural. I decided to relent and follow them into the mansion - I assumed I did not have much choice either way. 

As I stepped through the big double doors of the mansion, I was greeted with a relatively pleasant sight. The building was huge, even bigger on the inside than I had expected. The entrance area was decorated with a brilliant white marble that shined from the light orbs that hung from the ceiling. There was a marble staircase in the middle of the room that diverged into two areas of the second floor. 

On the left of the room was a living room, of which the floor was wooden unlike the white marble of the entrance hall. The transition between the rooms was smooth and I never noticed the abscence of the marble until much later. Hayya pointed towards an armchair, indicating that I should sit there. I decided to do what he said and took my seat in the armchair. I sat awkwardly, with my hands holding each other while my feet were left with no idea what to do.

Hayya and Charlie sat in a couch across from where I was sitting. Hayya spoke first, "So, please speak about your experience. I would like it if you added as much detail as possible." 

I recounted every event that happened, from the time I left the hotel up to the point we arrived at the mansion. At the end of my tale, Hayya sat with a puzzled look. "So it's your first time in this city, huh? I dislike the fact that this was your first experience here.. almost as if you were meant to save my daughter. Fate works in mysterious ways." he said with a slight grin. "Is there any way for me to compensate you?" 

I just shrugged. I had nothing I needed or wanted urgently, nor did I have any grand ambition. Hayya examined me for a short while before finally asking, "Where do you come from anyway?" 

"I come from the town of Malba, just outside the city." I replied in a relatively flat voice. Hearing this, I noticed a significant shift in Hayya's emotions. He no longer felt calm and relaxed, but he wore a slight expression of intrigue. 

"Can you tell me your parents' names?" Hayya said with the same expression as before. I replied without thinking, "My father is Zach, and my mother is Marie. Why?" 

Hayya finally burst out a smile. He smiled at hearing my parents' names. He looked up to the ceiling and muttered to himself, "Fate really does work in mysterious ways.." Needless to say, I was confused on why Hayya had asked this, and why learning their names interested him so much. Getting impatient, I finally asked.

"Do you know my parents?" I asked. Hayya darted his eyes back to me and answered me. "Of course. For many years, in fact." He motioned something to Charlie, and she promptly got up and left the room. Once we were alone in the room, Hayya finally began to speak again. "Your father and I met in the military, many years ago. He said he was angry at his family, which had lead him to join the national military. We have been good friends ever since then."

Come to think of it, father never mentioned anything about his family.. I thought to myself. I've known him so little all my life.. I'm going to need to ask him some things once I return home.

"Your father was the finest swordsman I'd ever known by that point, yet he was unrecognised by his superiors in the military. His magical talent was lackluster, as such, he was practically ignored." Hayya continued to explain. "Your mother was a fine mage though, probably one of the best. What about you?" he asked.

I chuckled and explained my situation to him, "I have no aptitude for magic."

Hayya looked surprised, just as anyone did when they heard me say this. "None? Surely you must be able to augment your body at the least." 

"None. The doctors believe my mana organ is defective, even though that should still allow me to use some magic. The best explanation they have is that my organ pushes out mana instead of pulling it in."

Hayya put his hand to his chin and thought out loud. "That's really odd.. It's certainly the first time I have heard of it." Then he laid back on the sofa. "Even weirder considering both your parents could use magic just fine."

I simply shrugged. I did not have the answers he seeked, nor did I want to. I had been constantly bullied for my inability to use magic. They left me behind, forgot about me. I didn't like to think about this, and just telling the Marshal about my ineptitude was more than enough to make me want to vomit. 

Deciding to call it a day, I left the mansion and returned to my hotel. I collapsed on the bed nearly immediately, and fell asleep without even putting on my sleepwear. 

I woke up with a loud banging on the door. I stood up, half dazed from the sleep and made my way to the door. I opened the door with a weak grasp and saw a soldier standing in front of me. The man was wearing the usual standard-issue uniform, which didn't complement his red hair in the slightest. "Yes?" I finally asked.

"Are you Daniel?" the man asked. I gave him a nod and he gave a sigh of relief. "Finally. Come with me, the Marshal requests your immediate presence." 

At this hour? I whined. I did not bother to argue though, if he had requested me this early it must have been important. I simply brushed my clothes and went out the door, leaving my stuff in the hotel to pick up later. I followed the soldier to the Asbur estate, and was greeted with Hayya waiting in front of the door. Much unlike yesterday, he had a very serious expression that indicated this was quite important.

Without a word, I followed Hayya into the mansion. Instead of the living room, we went to the second floor into a room which looked like a study. The soldier did not enter the room with us and instead opted to stand guard in front of the door. Hayya indicated for me to sit down on a chair in front of the desk.

After sitting down, Hayya began to speak. "Daniel, you are in immense danger." 

I stared at him dumbfounded as if he was making a funny joke. "How so?" I finally asked.

"We did not receive this week's report from your hometown, Malba. Upon my orders yesterday afternoon, an investigation was launched to learn what had happened. Nothing was clear, so I opted to refrain from sharing this information with you during your visit."

I listened in shock as he continued to explain, "Upon going to the town, they found nothing. Literally nothing. In the place of the old town, there now laid a massive crater, with not even a brick to remember it from." 

I opened my mouth to speak, ask questions but Hayya raised his hand to stop me. "And I believe whatever happened was meant for you."