KINETIC

(Author note - Unedited Chapter)

"What's wrong? You seem like you're afraid of something." Leo had a good idea what the problem might be, but he wanted to confirm it for himself.

"N-No I'm fine... Really there's nothing..." Jason kept looking around and behind him the entire time he was speaking.

"Are you looking for someone?" Leo asked with a suspicious tone.

"No... I'm just worried I'll get in trouble for talking too much... I should probably get back to work..." Jason hurried and left before Leo could say anything.

The older guard, Jason's brother, let Leo's carriage in and then went back to work as well. It was the strangest thing, Leo could feel the fear exuding from the two guards. It was like the area around them was covered in a thick fog.

Leo sat down in the carriage again as it moved into the village. "You were arrested?" Clay asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Like I said, it was a misunderstanding." That's all Leo said before he turned and looked out the window. It was clear from his body language that he wasn't going to talk about this more and the others chose not to ask further.

It didn't take long for the group to place their carriage and horses inside the village stable and head towards the tavern. Leo had already been here so he knew where everything was and directed everyone.

Upon entering the tavern the group noticed that it was completely empty apart from a Barmaid with red hair styled into pigtails.

As the group entered she looked up from the book she had been reading and looked over the group, it took her a moment to see that Leo was with them even though he was standing in front of the group.

"Leo!" She said with excitement as she ran towards the group. Everyone was surprised by her suddenly charging towards the group prepared themselves for a fight. She may be small, but that doesn't mean she couldn't be a threat.

When she got closer and Leo did nothing as she hugged him, everyone realized she wasn't a threat. Now a new thought appeared ' Who is this girl to Leo?'

Rene was especially confused about who this girl was, not to mention how jealous she felt. "Ahem!" Rene cleared her throat and stepped forwards to stand right next to Leo with their shoulders touching.

She smiled at the Barmaid in a manner that the boys didn't understand. The girls present however, understood what it meant and the Barmaid backed away from Leo a bit.

"It's good to see you, I was worried when those people took you...especially after you helped us." she said shyly.

"It's good to see you as well, Rosalia. I know you tried your best to convince them not to take me, so thank you for that. Luckily, it was all a misunderstanding so they just let me go after a little while." Leo explained as he took a seat at the same table he used the last time he was here.

Leo took out a silver plate and placed it on the table while looking at Rosalia. "If I remember correctly, I was unable to pay for my meal last time due to the circumstances. This should cover it, right?" Leo said with a nonchalant tone.

To everyone it just felt like he didn't really care about the money, which was true. Leo wasn't concerned with how much money he had, even though he pursued more it was only so that he could help others.

Although a different thought was circulating Clay's mind 'Where did he get that from? I haven't seen him with anything resembling a Ven pouch the entire time we've been traveling. Maybe he only has a few coins and keeps them in his pocket?' Clay continued to think of different reasons why he might not have seen Leo with a pouch at any point.

"That's too much!" Rosalia shouted in surprise. "Your meal would only have been 2 bronze... This is worth 10!" She said while trying to refuse the silver plate.

"Just take it. It's a thank you for giving me such a long time to pay for the meal." Leo smiled and Rosalia reluctantly took the silver plate.

"Now then, I need your help. We heard there have been people with masks seen in the village. We need to find one of these people, do you know where we can find them? ." Leo said bluntly.

There was a clear change in Rosalias mood and demeanor. She seemed to have been frightened by Leo's question.

"You shouldn't ask questions about them... They'll find you and... and... hurt you." She said with a shaky voice and her eyes almost filling with tears.

"They're already trying to kill me so it doesn't matter. I just need to find them first."

'Strictly speaking they were trying to capture you, not kill you.' Dreifus commented from inside Leo's mind.

'Do you only speak when you want to point out my errors?' Leo asked with an annoyed tone.

Rosalia sat down at the table with Leo and the rest of the group followed, all except Rene, she chose to stand with her hand placed on Leo's shoulder.

He didn't really know what was going on, but he could feel the tension between the two girls.

"You should speak to the chief if that's the case. He's the only person I know of that could have something useful to tell you. Everyone else just avoids the people in masks as much as we can." Rosalias body was shivering as she spoke.

'The people of this village are all terrified of Umbra. What could they have done to get them this way?' Leo questioned internally.

​ " Thank you, we will go and speak with the chief in the morning. For now, we would like to use the rooms upstairs, one for each of us." Leo placed another silver plate on the table and once again everyone was surprised.

Although this time it was only slightly more than they needed to cover the cost of the rooms, so it was more reasonable.

'Where is he pulling those out from!?' Clay shouted internally with disbelief.

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