It was a clear morning when he had set out. He could have sworn it was. The skies were blue, with only tiny patches of white in sight, and the sun attempting to burn his pale completion. He knew he had been cooped up in that room far too long, much longer than he had expected, but then again, she was to be prioritized over anything else.
Sigmund. His name was Sigmund Hayden. For now though. It didn't really matter if he had fixed name or not for he needed to change it constantly, for both the safety and protection of that girl. She was young, naiive, and kind. It wasn't supposed to be bad, but the problem was that she was too kind. She wouldn't eat anything he slaughtered for the sake of eating. On days such as that, he would be forced to live on herbs. It didn't do much benefit for them both though. And he was feeling it through his body right now.
It was less than three hundred paces yet he was already feeling worn out. One could say it was also because of his lack of stamina but he had to abandon it. With such a diet that required him to eat greens, and only greens most of the time, training his body would only make the conditions worse. He also knew not training it would be bad but it could not be helped. If he trained, he might not have the energy to serve her, what more to even save her. Sigmund cursed every foul word he knew of, words he restrained in front of the young girl. On the surface, he was quite the gentleman but deep inside lived a sailor.
It was a fine young day, and what was he doing? It was a good day for a book, to buy goods from the market, to rest- anything! But he had to waste it away by simply chasing the tracks of his young master, Valencia.
He had dashed through the market in a frenzy, carelessly knocking over several baskets of fruits and cages. He tried his best not to calculate the cost. Afterall, there was also the amount of people he had literally banged into. It wasn't intentional but he had midly bruised several of them. Conpensation was needed. Again, he would need to calculate the cost of loss. He failed to take in most of the surroundings as he ran, a foolish mistake he should've fixed a long time ago. In truth, he had learned. He had tried to apply it but when it came to Valencia, all forms of sense were lost to him.
Sigmund wasn't quite sure if he strapped his boots right or not. He knew his shirt was only half buttoned from the bottom. His pants were on for sure though, as well as the man's trusty epee slinged on the left side of his hip, burried in its leather scabbard. There were fewer people in sight now and he felt relieved. The houses were appearing more run down compared to where he was at the beginning of his ferment induced marathon. What the hell could Valencia be doing around this area? She has called for him out of the blue through a homing pigeon with three words
"Come down town"The words seemed to be more of a scribble than her normal illegible handwritting. Plus, there were grammatical errors he should be yelling at her for. With all these in mind, he had automatically geared up, his consciouness completely oblivious of his actions. By the time he realized it, he had nearly took down the door as he bolted out with the grumpy old landlord snarling at him. Sigmund sighed. How much more are they going to lose in this town alone?
With his thoughts drifting about again, Sigmund became careless once more. The man could not control his speed and fell into one of the town's canals. With a yelp, he crashed into the depths. Fortunately, he could swim but that was not the problem at hand now. The weather had played tricks on him. Sigmund cursed out loud, not caring if several homeless people turned to look at him in surprise. It was rare for a blue blood to exclaim profanities, and these commoners had simply assumed he was one by just a look at his barouque shirt. They probably assumed he was one of the womanizers too, given the way he had worn it in a rush.
Trying to divert his thoughts, he remembered Valencia's message. "Down town..." the man muttered as he swam to the bank, ignoring curious stares as he pulled himself up. "Down town... I believe I already am here but... Which part did that idiotic girl mean? I don't read minds" he grumbled to himself as he continued wandering down the streets. There was no point running now. He was already at the location she requested him to be. It was just that he didn't know the exact point she wanted him in. Their meeting places would always be in a building. Nobles and their bloody etiquette.
His wet boots crunched over the uneven gravel as he continued walking aimlessly. It was safe to say that the roads downtown were quite... lopsided. He cussed when he almost tripped again. The noble in charge of this damned town was really doing a half-assed job of maintaining it, as reported. The ones above had sent Valencia to the town to confirm reports. She was fresh in business and so they had given her easy jobs to complete. This was no different. He had a feeling that authorities were making it easy for Valencia, given that she was the Duke's youngest daughter. Either that, or they were just making fun of the fact that she was a child.
Sigmund sat down and leaned against one of the lamp posts. He was almost at the border of the tiny town yet he couldn't find her. The possibility of her falling into the canal like he did, and drowning had been completely ruled out. He had forced her to learn how to swim. Even if he was not the one to teach her, he had personally supervised the entire programme. She couldn't possibly have got lost. The town's too damn bloody small and she would immediately ask for directions if she's lost. Anyone would answer her... She was a sweet young girl with a shy demenour afterall. Sigmund smiled at the thought of it before sneezing. She couldn't drown nor get lost. Then where the **** is she?
A strong gust of wind blew out of nowhere. It swatted several dead leaves and sand right in his face. Profanities exploded from him again. He stood up and looked around. The homeless people were all gone. Strange. There were a whole lot of them opposite him earlier, lined up along the walls of the buidlings for even the tiniest bit of shade under the blazing sun. He walked towards the buildings, ignoring the chill his clinging wet clothes brought him. Though he wasn't used to it, curiousity had overcome all of his senses as he peered into the building window.
The wind had started howling and dark clouds were dying the blue sky grey. The building was empty. He turned away and begin striding down the street. It annoyed him that he hadn't found her yet, despite being "down town".
"Valencia, my dear Valencia... You really do wish for my head to roll in secret, don't you?!"
He had shouted out of sheer frustration. First off, she hasn't even finished her breakfast, made her bed or anything. Secondly, she had left without informing him by word but with a note instead. Thirdly, when she dragged him from the table he slept on, she had messed up several papers which he had to recopy. He wanted to lecture her very badly for those. He had always, always told her to inform him whenever she wanted to go out. Come to think of it, she wasn't even meant to loiter about alone. He stopped for a moment. It somehow felt as though he had forgotten something. He ruffled his long damp umber hair and cussed silently.
-to be continued. Lol!
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