"Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah... " Isabelle replied somewhat hesitantly while sitting by the side of the alley.
'You say that but you are literally shaking. Well, it would be a traumatic experience for anyone, I suppose.'
"Let's get you back"
She didn't reject my offer. Both of us knew it was not a safe situation and we needed to stick together in case something happened.
I walked on the streets of the market with a really beautiful girl by my side. Normally, I might have been happy but right now, I was anything but normal.
After everything that happened today, I was more sure about a certain doubt that I had in me for a while. It also made me have mixed feelings about returning home.
What if what I am thinking right now is true? Wouldn't my family get pulled into it? Maybe it was better to find the whole truth first.
I couldn't help as these thoughts crossed my mind.
The Doctor and Mr.H.
I really need to find them and make them answer these questions as soon as possible. Even if I return to Elysium, I have to meet my family as secretly as possible.
I can't pull them into this mess before clarifying certain things.
Other than that, the other thing that didn't make this walk of mine a normal one was because the streets were red with bodies lying all over.
As soon as I entered the main Market, I saw the real horror. The tragedy those bastards had brought upon here.
Isabelle was also freaked out like me. She said she's only seeing this now for the first time as they brought her to the Small Market along the alleys instead of the main road of the main Market.
The monsters were no longer roaming the streets and many guards were patrolling. I could also see the Royal Guards every now and then.
'So the King made his move. That's why it was settled sooner'.
I didn't want to question a girl who was already frightened but I had no choice now. I don't know what will happen to the tournament now but I may not get another chance to meet her again.
She may or may not visit the final match and I'll leave this town after that.
"Lady Isabelle, I want to ask you something. If you don't want to answer, please ignore me."
"No, you saved my life. Please ask."
"You don't need to answer me just because I saved your life. Anyway, is your stigmata special in any kind. I-I mean.. ah... Like maybe it.. umm... the number of stars increases or something."
'Ahhhh....How do I ask it?'
I decided to ask her but wasn't really sure how to form my weird question.
".... "
"I-Its okay. Just forget it...yeah"
"The number of star don't increase."
"I-I see. Anyway, thank you"
To be honest, I was quite relieved to end this awkward situation. I vowed to myself to think twice before asking someone a serious question like this again.
But, to my surprise, Isabelle was not done talking yet.
"The stars don't increase because my stigmata doesn't have any stars"
"Come again?"
"W-well... What I mean is my stigmata's level is shown as three question marks or something instead of stars."
"... I... see."
I was a little surprised but at the same time I expected it to some extent. I knew Isabelle had something special to be targeted. Although, not completely like me, her stigmata was also special.
From what I know '???' in my profile represented the skills which were higher for my stigmata to comprehend. But what does '???' in one's stigmata level could mean.
I could only guess that she was not strong enough to unlock what it means.
"Train yourself harder. I think once you grow stronger and increase your level, you can find out more about your stigmata. Oh yeah! And try to understand what these skills of your stigmata really do... Understanding your stigmata and its skills may really help you find the answers."
"Understanding...?"
"Yes, understanding. Sometimes certain words from someone can make you realise something about your power, sometimes a situation may make you realise your real power or maybe sometimes you can just comprehend it yourself while thinking about it."
"Umm... Sorry to ask... but Marcel... do you know something about my power?"
I expected her to ask something like that. And I really hoped I could answer her. But I myself had no idea.
I had no idea even about my own stigmata.
"I'm sorry but I don't. It's your power so you need to find out yourself. What I know is something similar to your power. And most likely your power made you today's target."
Her eyes listening carefully widened with surprise. She might have already predicted this, but still it managed to surprise her.
But this was the only thing I could say to her right now. I only decided to alert her because I don't want Isabelle to go through the same misery as me.
"Sigh! I know you suffered today. Maybe you never wanted this power but you have it now. People may target your friends again or your family next time. What I wanted to say is...be ready. You got a special stigmata, what comes next are the consequences of it."
I didn't know what consequences I was talking about but I was sure this will lead to something big. There's more to this journey and the one behind this definitely won't stop.
So we needed to be prepared.
****
"Did you find her?"
"N-no, she's not in the garden."
The disappearance of Isabelle caused a huge panic in the inn.
The girls managed to return somewhat safely and saw that their friend Isabelle was missing. But that wasn't such a big issue. At first Penelope was so scared that she rushed into the market to save them. But soon everyone ignored that possibility because it was Isabelle they were talking about. Even though she loved her friends very much, she would make a logical decision.
And so, they waited.
Then an hour passed.
And then another one.
All the people started freaking out slowly and they had already guessed something was wrong. And they only came to one answer.
Isabelle was kidnapped.
The guards were still searching for the vicinity. Penelope and the Princess were searching for her since the beginning and after two hours without any outcome, they decided to rest in the main hall of the inn for another discussion.
They were also very tired after all the rushing from the market.
"W-what do I do? What if something happens to her? "
"Calm down, Penelope. The guards will find her."
The princess said that but she was biting her nails herself.
Suddenly, they started hearing some loud chattering from outside. They looked towards the large door of the inn's hall.
The door opened a beautiful girl with blonde hair and ocean green eyes with a doll-like face walked in.
"B-b-b-elle!!! "
Penelope was the first to rush in. She hugged Isabelle so tightly that they almost fell down.
"You made us really worried, you know that."
"I am sorry for worrying you, Pen. You too, Violet."
"But, what happened?"
Isabelle looked behind without answering. Penelope and Princess Violet also followed her eyes. They were so immersed in their reunion that they didn't even see the grey haired boy standing just behind the door.
"I see. Please come in, Marcel."
***
"Yes, Your Highness"
"You are not avoiding us this time. How rare..." The Princess said mocking my usual behaviour.
"Haha... Well, I have to fill you all in this time. At least you all deserve that much."
And of course I needed their help. The guards may come to question me as it was Sylas and me who destroyed their base. So I needed someone powerful to get us out of there.
Penelope didn't look very good. The Princess was also in a bad shape, although not as bad as Penelope. They both have suffered. But if someone asked me who was in the worst shape among everyone right now, it would be none other than me.
"You are bleeding."
Now that you mention that, yes. I haven't got a treatment after that damned archer hit me in my gut.
"Don't worry. I will get treatment after this."
"No, you need treatment right now."
"What? No, I am... "
"Call the healer, now!!"
'I take that back about you being in a bad shape, Lady Penelope'.
Well, after talking to Isabelle in the streets, she told me that her powers resembled healing powers but yet it was different. It was more like the origin of all healing.
The healers need to use a skill or item to heal others but she can regulate her mana to do that. Of course, it was really overpowered.
If you just regulate the mana properly, you can never die. Although it was really difficult for most people to manipulate mana like me. And her mana too would run out in a few hours, or even minutes if used constantly.
But if her stigmata was similar to mine and she succeeds in understanding it, I don't know how far her stigma would go.
She offered to treat me with injuries which I refused, of course. Her healing power was a secret that only her father knew and I didn't want to risk revealing it in case the guards questioned me.
Though I didn't know why she told me her most important secret. Maybe she thought I had a similar power. Well, she's not completely wrong though.
I got my treatment from their personal healer and started to get to the topic. They even made me some tea and provided a seat on the sofa.
"Okay, so first of all, the one behind this was someone called Lady Vincia. Sylas and I raided their base which I found out due to an anonymous letter. I will give you the letter, so I need you all to back me up in the investigation."
"Okay. Where's Sylas by the way? "
"We had to split up. He decided to hold Lady Vincia when I came to rescue Isabelle once I heard about her location."
"What? Is he fine? And how did you find Isabelle's location?"
"Don't worry, I heard the guards are already on their way there. Besides, Sylas is strong. And it looked like Lady Vincia was already very tired and injured when she returned to the base. She was the one who gave me Isabelle's location. My guess is that she wasn't confident in fighting both of us together."
Of course, I couldn't tell Sylas was a vampire. They were hunted down by many nobles calling them a threat to society. So the vampires live their lives hiding themselves from the human world.
And moreover, Lady Vincia wasn't tired and injured either. I just can't tell them he became much more powerful after drinking a human's blood.