Chapter 37: Kidnapping
It was a warm morning. Everything was as usual for the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the birds were flying in the skies while chirping and the environment was as green as it was noisy and lively. Today was less of a busier day, there were crowds of people walking about the town. Unlike the days before, it wasn't silent as there was a lot of noise. And the roads were filled with people, houses or anything people would use to travel or travel with. And there were stalls and shops on both sides of the road. It wasn't dead for one could hear the laughs of another and the cries of a baby. Everyone was lively because most of them were done preparing for the festival. Sadly, Feran and Vivian were an exception. People were out on their balconies, people were traveling and having conversations. There were even a lot of adventurers in the area including knights and merchants. Today looked like a perfect day. It was the day Xavier would start making his dishes for the challenge and his assistant would be Alex. Xavier had regretted saying what he said at the food stall for this whole thing was a pain to him and Alex just wanted to back out of it but if Xavier was going he would too as a means of supporting his best friend. They would now have to work together to make the best dishes possible. Since Alex was a life-threatening cook, Xavier let him collect the ingredients himself. Imagine if Alex was the cook, he would kill the nobles and make people think it was an assassinated attempt and get himself arrested. Alex would have to search the town for ingredients.
Alex should by Xavier as they were in the kitchen. It wasn't the kitchen at their house. The man had arranged them a high-class kitchen packed with things and ingredients to make it fair. The kitchen was huge, it had tiles for the floor and plenty of white cabinets. It was also like a whole huge room. To think a stallkeeper pulled that off.
Even though it had ingredients Xavier needed more as he was making things that weren't known in Třekov. Since they weren't home they carried Xandyr with them as neither Vivian nor Feran were home. Alex was the one carrying Xandyr, he carried him all the time as if he was his brother and not Xavier.
" So what do you need?" Alex asked.
" For starters, I need more pork, both cow and goat milk, wheat, and more eggs. I'll need more things when you come back though." Xavier replied.
" Can I take Xandyr?"
" Sure, you're practically like his adopted brother."
Alex smiled as he heard that sentence. He had always wanted a sibling but had no family. However, he thought he would set a bad example since he was dumb. But that didn't stop him from wanting one. And after hearing what Xavier said moved his heart.' That kinda makes you my brother too, but okay then.'
Alex then walked off in a happy mood carrying Xandyr with him. He then left the kitchen. As he walked through a crowd, he saw the person from before. As he looked at them, they soon disappeared.' It's all in my head.' He thought as he closed his eyes and walked through the crowd. And as he was about to move out of the crowd, someone pushed him down with great force and made him fall.
" Xandyr!"
As he looked down, Xandyr disappeared almost as if he was never there, to begin with. Alex's eyes opened with shock. He quickly dove up and looked around the crowd.
" Wahhhh!"
It was the cries of a baby, as Alex walked in the direction of the sound, he heard another baby. And as he made it, it wasn't Xandyr. He then looked back in the direction of the other and slowly he didn't hear the cries anymore. He rushed through the crowd then he saw the person or woman before walking away with something with her face revealed. She was running away with Xandyr, she most likely showed her face to make him stop crying. Alex then tailed the moment woman and as he grew closer to her yet another obstacle came in his way. Someone stroke his nape with great force making him lose consciousness. As his body was falling to the ground, he thought,' Haha! You can think you've run away but I saw your face. I swear I'll track you down from every...' Before he could finish thinking he fell to the ground losing consciousness.
***
" Hey kid, wake up, didn't your parents tell you it's never good to sleep on the road." It was the voice of a woman.
As Alex's eyelids opened, he saw a woman in front of him. But he cleared out her voice, he had forgotten something.' Where's Xandyr?' He then immediately remembered what happened and how Xandyr was kidnapped.' I can't let Xavier nor anyone know about this. It's all my fault, I'll find him myself.' Alexander then started drawing the woman's voice, however, he only saw the side of her face and how she looked from behind so he didn't have much to work on. Alex was a great artist when it came to drawings, he even stole paintings for pocket change to buy himself something to eat. And as he was done drawing, he got the idea to ask people around if they knew who she was. He then started asking the crowd of people if they knew who she was.
" That's Lilly, my neighbor, if you're looking for her she's down the street." A random person answered.
He had found who they were, or so he thought. It was the wrong person, since he didn't get a good look at her face it was only common for people to mix hee up with others. He then went back to the crowd to ask more people. He pointed the drawing in the air," Does anyone know this person?" He shouted.
Most people said no while others ignored him not knowing the situation he was in. He couldn't get a lead on her in the crowd so he went around an area where tourists, knights, merchants, and adventurers roamed.
Holding the drawing upward he asked," Does anyone know or have seen this person. He had no luck yet again, just what was he doing wrong? She wore a mask most of the time anyway making it hard for anyone to know who she was. She most likely had a partner, probably the person who knocked Alex out. He was charging into a dangerous situation, no it before dangerous since they kidnapped Xandyr. Just what would they do want with Xandyr who they as being even a few months old going to be a year soon? Did they have a grudge against Feran or Xavier? How would he find them? These were questions Alex wanted to know but couldn't get answers to.' Most low-life criminals live in the slums, right? Maybe I should check there.
As Alex crossed through a few alleyways further down the town, one could notice the change. The houses were small, they smelled bad, the people slept on the floor and they even had tattered clothing. Even a dog could notice the change. As Alex wandered around, someone grabbed him from both behinds on mile covering his mouth. They then placed a knife by his neck.
" What nice clothes you have there, what brings a neat person like you here? Don't you know what happens in the slums?"
As the man finally got a good look at who he was robbing, he was shocked. Be immediately pulled back and let go of Alex.
" Alexander? What brings you back home?" The man was familiar with Alex.
" My brother got kidnapped." He replied.
" Yeah, we've heard that you got taken in by a holy knight and his family. You must've come here to ask for clues right? "
" Yeah, this is the person." Alex showed the man the drawing.
" I saw her before, I think her name is Rose. I saw her talking with a noble. Unfortunately, I only saw her and not met her but there's a church around here, the noble guy lives next to it."
Even though the slums were a place for the poor and criminals. They were always there for each other. If someone attacked one of their own they would protect each other. Since they had no one, they considered everyone there to be their family. Alex had grown up in the slums after his parents abandoned him, he even had no idea who they were but people looked out for him as he was growing up. He was quite known around the area.' A noble living in the slums? That's quite unheard of.' Nobles hated the slums, they even tried to drive out the people simply because they were dirty. ' This is gonna be a pain.'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone