The Princess And The Lord

1284  A Father's Sadness

Jack took Gavin and Alfred to a location that had long been abandoned due to attacks by beasts and until now this place had not been rehabilitated. While driving that way, Jack and Gavin saw several people dressed in black with part of their faces covered, leaving their eyes staring intently at their car.

"They are Noxcra agents," said Jack.

Gavin's eyes followed the mysterious agents who were watching them from above abandoned buildings and dark alleys.

"Yes, I know, I've only met them once," Gavin's interest lit up along with nervousness.

"I only ever heard the rumors about them, even during the war no one noticed them but maybe they were the reason why the path to L'markieth was considered much safer than other places" Jack contemplated.

Gavin laughed sarcastically, "Are you kidding me, if you go to another shelter, depending on where you are, the chances of you arriving safely are only five to ten percent and even that doesn't guarantee you will get good living conditions there. On the other hand, if You make it to the safe passage of L'markieth then your chances of survival will increase by at least seventy percent and when you get there you will be provided with better living conditions and better security than anywhere else."

"Well unfortunately not many people can reach the safe route," Jack said with a heavy tone.

Gavin and Jack did not continue their conversation. The trauma of war is still clearly etched in their memories, especially for top members like those who were on the front lines facing all those monsters.

"We're here," said Jack.

10:56

Noxcra agents suddenly appeared and then signed them to enter the basement parking lot.

"We can trust them, right??" Alfred swallowed nervously.

Gavin chuckled, "Don't worry, if they wanted to kill us, we would be dead by now."

"Not helping, mate" Jack reprimanded him, while Alfred's face turned ashen.

"He's just joking, Mr. Hubert, don't worry about it, it's the Archknight we're talking about" Jack reassured him.

After the car was parked, they noticed several Noxcra agents inside the basement watching their every move, when they got out of the car one of the Noxcra agents greeted them, "Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir, we just want to make sure everything is saved, that being said Mr. Equillan and Mr. Tornberry has been waiting for all of you" he raised his hand politely to invite them to follow him.

As they walked towards the basement elevator, Gavin and Jack realized the rest of the Noxcra agents who had been watching them had disappeared like ghosts after confirming there was no foul play. Jack and Gavin exchanged silent glances, they were grateful that the Noxcra agents were not their enemies.

As soon as the elevator opened they were greeted by another Noxcra agent, The agent then took them to an empty room that was destroyed and dirty but there was a sitting spot in the middle of the room. Based on how clean the sofa and coffee table were, it was clear that this room was not part of this abandoned building.

On the sofas, Jack was sitting comfortably while typing on his laptop seemingly unnoticed their arrival. Clift was the one who noticed them first then immediately got up from the sofa and strides towards them while extending his hand to shake hands with Jack and Gavin, "Looks like your trip went well?"

"Yup, it's smooth like butter" Jack made a dry joke.

Clift smiled politely then his eyes shifted to Alfred Hubert "Your journey certainly won't be easy, Mr. Hubert but I'm glad you are safe and well" Clift stretched out his hand for a handshake.

Alfred was stunned by Clift's politeness. He didn't expect the famous Archknight to be so humble and down to earth. He thought someone with Clift's position would be cold and arrogant.

"Um!" Jack cleared his throat, reminding Alfred not to let Clift's hand hang any longer.

Alfred realized his mistake and hurriedly shook Clift's hand "Oh, I'm sorry, no, I mean thank you - thank you for your help!" Clift didn't show any dissatisfaction "Let's come, we will need everything you know about what happened to your daughter"

Alfred clenched his fist as he remembered his poor daughter.

Jay closed his laptop and then put it next to him after that he got up from the sofa and shook hands with Albert Hubert "Welcome Mr Hubert, please have a sit"

"Let's do this quickly, 'cause we better move you to a safe place before any Dragxtarn or Paladin sniffed your location," Clift reminded him even though Clift and Jay themselves didn't seem to be in a hurry.

"O..okay" Alfred straightened his back his eyes glinting with determination.

"For further investigation, we will record this conversation, okay?" Jay pressed the record button on his watch after that he turned his gaze back to Alfred, "Okay start from the beginning when the S.A.I.N.T. organization employee gives a job offer or to be precise recruits your daughter?"

"That's right..." Alfred rubbed his hands together as he remembered what happened at that time, "Uhm, one day someone from the organization came to visit us, he told us that they got information that Jessi had a healing gift and they wanted to help her understand her abilities more so she can become a better healer." "Where did they get the information?" Jay asked.

Alfred was stunned, he never thought about it before. The guilt only piled up further Alfred shook his head weakly, "I don't know, they didn't explain it either"

"It's fine, you may continue" Jay didn't probe further since Alfred had no idea but he noted himself to investigate it later."Uhm...They said they wanted to support Jessi, by giving her a free education and a safe place to live. Well, you should understand that the healing gift, although very rare and considered very valuable, nevertheless, it doesn't change the fact that it is a passive power that cannot be used to protect oneself, therefore people who have this power cannot defend themselves from bad people that wanted to exploit them, therefore we both feel grateful that a big righteous organization like the S.A.I.N.T. organization would recruit my daughter...I thought she would be safe from now on but who would have thought, ah, maybe I was swayed by how much money they would give to us, hence I didn't bother to check, I didn't even ask them..." Alfred looks down with a self-deprecating smile.

The room became silent, no one spoke but they also didn't blame Alfred's blind trust towards the organization, the S.A.I.N.T. organization known to have an impeccable reputation as a religious organization that does not care about the worldly world and focuses only on humanitarian issues and coupled with the large amount of money placed on his lap, it is not surprising that Alfred does not question anything.

"Then what happened after she entered the organization..."Jay asked again. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Alfred took a deep breath "For a while everything was normal, there was nothing out of the ordinary apart from her being unable to come home often but I was also busy so we didn't have any problems with that. After that, Jessi got her first mission together with other healers to visit a small town called Black Hill which according to them they were in dire need of help, they said that these people were so poor that they could not afford to invite doctor or healer there also a problem with how remote their location was, therefore the organization will visit them personally to provide assistance"

"Jessi was so excited to go on her first mission, she couldn't wait to help those people, but one day she called me to tell me her worries..." Alfred's eyebrows furrowed.

Clift tilted his head, "What happened?"

"Jessi said her friends caught some strange-looking men coming late at night to the main garden having some kind of conversation with one of the Paladins, though she couldn't hear what they were talking about however, she said the Paladin seemed upset when talking to those people."

"Who is this your daughter's friend's name?" Clift asked.

Alfred pinched his chin while trying to remember "I've never met her personally...ugh, what's her name?" he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly trying to jog his memory. "Uhm...her name is...My..re, yes, her name is Olivia Myre!"

"Does Miss. Myre cannot guess who they are?" Jay added another note in his head.

Alfred shook his head, "Jessi asked about that too, Olivia said judging from their gestures and postures, she said they looked like soldiers. Out of curiosity, she decided to eavesdrop on their conversation later, she did not dare to get close but she heard them arguing about the schedule for sending healers to the Black Hill town, the soldiers insisted that they had to speed up their departure, then they talked about not being able to wait any longer, they said, now or never..."

"What does it mean?" Gavin exclaimed impatiently.

"Hey!" Jack nudged Gavin to shut up and then Gavin immediately covered his mouth.

Clift's voice remained calm and steady, "What else did Miss Myre hear?"

"Nothing, they almost noticed her so she ran back to the room then told my daughter what she heard, and then Jessi called me and told me all about it" Alfred rubbed his face weakly "Honestly I don't know what to say, Jessi also doesn't want to think badly about the organization that has helped her so much without clear evidence... that's why she threw away her worries and I think she didn't want to make me worry so she told me maybe Olivia was paranoid because she brought her sister to the organization as well and her sister also joined the mission even though only as an observer because she was still very young..."

"Miss. Myre has a younger sister?" Jay stunned.

"Yes, she was the youngest recruitment, Olivia had no parents so she could not leave her younger sister alone coincidently her sister just awakened her gift and she also has a healing gift so she was also taken to the organization" Alfred's quiet voice etched with heavy emotion

Jay had a bad feeling then he asked in a measured tone "How old is she?"

Alfred's eyes tremble "Eight...she was only years old"

Their breath hitched, and everyone stopped talking for a while. Gavin scratched his head while cursing under his breath "Son of a - !"

Jay massaged his forehead, it took a while before he was able to collect themselves, he took a deep breath then continued, "Then what happens after that?" "Then they went to the Black Hill town, or at least that's what I thought then I got a call from Jessi, she sounded quite anxious "She said there was something wrong, she said a Dragxtarn team was escorting them. They took their cell phone and did not allow us to contact our family until the mission was over, they didn't give them a reason why are they doing that and no one dared say anything because the Dragxtarn were there...She also said the Paladins didn't help they just watching them....she wanted to say more but the communication suddenly cut off and that's the last time I spoke to my daughter, not long after the Black Dragon awakened, spreading chaos and destruction to the whole world...after that no one bothers question about dozens of healers who suddenly disappeared, no one remembered about my poor daughter, or Olivia and her younger sister, they were all just....forgotten" Alfred lowered his head while covering his face with both hands then he wept quietly.

They deeply sympathized with his loss, but they did not say a word because they knew full well that there were no words that could ease this kind of pain.

Gavin sighed heavily and then gently patted Alfred's shoulder.