Franks last two days were unpleasant to say the least. There was no clue to who he was looking for and with only five days left, he could feel the blade on his neck. Tired and depressed, he went to get booze.
He could've went to a bar but decided to go to the magnificent chef restaurant, quite a pretentious name if you ask him. It wasn't a lie though, their food was extremely good, worthy to be a nobles meal yet extremely cheap, atleast for their quality.
They also have two pretty ladies which had nothing to do with him going there absolutely not. He was an outstanding rightous man with only eyes for one woman. Well things went better than he thought, one of the pretty ladies there offered him something called therapy.
It was basically just him venting but it good to let out all the steam. He was a bit afraid they might rat him out but they had a reputation for being fair and not sucking up to the rich and powerful.
Well good things never last, it was time to get back to work. He still had no clue where to start looking and it was really driving him crazy. As he was walking he saw her, his crush Nandi, before he could hide she called out to him.
She ran up to him with a cute smile. Her hard braids flowing behind her,her dark caramel skin glowing in the sun, her thick lips raised into an enchanting smile, grey eyes that seem to draw him in making it hard for him to extract himself, he felt his heartbeat beat faster.
She was shorter than him, standing at 167 cm. She looked at his face. He tried to smile but it felt forced. Is something wrong Frank? She asked in a sweet voice. No everything is fine, you don't have to concern yourself.
You don't look fine to me though, you can tell me if there's something going on. There's nothing I swear. Okay I will take your word for it, what had been going on with you, I haven't seen you in the last few days.
Nothing I was just busy with work. What work? You a guard Frank. Frank frowned, you think guard work isn't work? No that not what I meant, I was saying I went to look for you and you weren't there, you weren't guarding the gate or patrolling the street.
I have a special assignment, it was nice seeing you Nandi but I've got to go. Huh, okay it was nice seeing you too, she said with a puzzled soft voice. He walked away but he could feel her gaze on his back.
He knew his words had probably hurt her, he wasn't an idiot, he knew how she felt about him but knowing he's most likely to die in a few days, it was best not to get her hopes up by getting too close to her even if it hurt for the both of them.
The rest of the way he was dozing off, he had already resigned that he was not going to find the culprit, it was a suicide mission from the start if he thinks about it. How could a mundane human with only basic spear training have hoped to track down awakened experts let alone determine their power levels, he can't even use or sense mana.
While lost in his thoughts he did not even realise a figure clad in a dark cloak slip something into his pockets while stealing his wallet. For the rest of the day he walked around asking about mysterious figures.
He got different stories from people, some saying they saw dark figures flying in the sky others claiming to have seen ghost in some alley or what not. Although he knew it was hopeless he still disappointed.
By sundown he went back to his house. It was a simple one room house, it was both his living room, kitchen and bedroom. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, he hadn't had much sleep lately.
As he was about to drift into sleep, cold wind touched him where his pocket was supposed to be. He woke up startled. Puts his hands in his pocket, he couldn't feel his wallet and heavy weight of his coins.
He checked the other pocket,still nothing. He checked again on the first pocket and this time felt something. It was a piece of paper. On top was written. I took your money as payment. It was a good thing guards are taught basic reading.
He looked at the paper, there was a map that looks like it was drawn by a child, coloured with all kinds of colours. Then there was an X mark which he assumed was where he was supposed to go.
Is this some kind sick joke? He wondered. He tried to go to sleep but no matter how he tried he just couldn't fall asleep. Fuck it, what there to lose? He got up and put on his warm coat, it was old but it still worked.
He went towards the gate following the map. Another man was on guard duty tonight. At this time the gate wasn't locked, this part of the county was not as dangerous, there were no powerful bandits or spirit beast so gate were only locked much later than inland.
He greeted the guard and left for the forest, he walked for about 10 miles into the dark forest before coming across a relatively large tree. There was a red X on the tree. He approached it, look down was carved on it bark.
He looked down and between the roots of the tree was a stalk of grass, three to be exact. Is that grass? on first glance it looked like normal blades of grass but upon closer look one could see tiny bluish vein on their leaves.
Frank knew this was not normal grass, he just did not know what it was. Next to them was a note saying eat one and all your troubles will disappear but don't come for a refund if they don't.
This was extremely sketchy. Frank was suspicious but why would anybody go out of their way to trick him, why would they go out of their way to help him either? Frank was torn between eating them and taking them for inspection.
If they were poisonous he would know but if they were valuable they would most definitely be taken from him. Fuck it I'm going to die either way, he picked one up. I hope this is a prank, atleast nobody would go as far killing him for a prank.
He said a silent prayer, closed his eyes and ate it, it tasted a bit sweet but otherwise he couldn't feel anything. That wasn't so bad,he said with a sigh then it hit, it wasn't gradual, it came all at once,he felt his body heat up like his very blood was a volcano.
Shit, he said before darkness clouded his vision and he fainted or atleast that was supposed to be the case but no, he was rolling on the ground trying to scream yet no voice came out, this lasted until morning.