Cynthia turns her attention towards Artemis, she clearly wasn't sleepwalking. "Everything okay Cynthia?" Artemis questions with concern in his voice.
"Just dealing with some nightmares, that's all." Cynthia responds.
She seems pretty bothered by whatever these nightmares are that she has— I kind of understand it though since I've had many nightmares myself.
They eventually turn into memories or they end up taking me to the world of that goddess. Not that I can complain about it since I usually learn something from it each time.
"Could I help in any way?" Artemis asks while trying not to wake up Amelia.
She sits on his words for a moment before deciding what she wants. "Just for tonight can I share that bed with you too..?" Cynthia asks with worry in her voice.
"Sure." Artemis answers with no hesitation.
I don't mind another girl sharing a bed with me tonight, it just makes it more comfortable for me in the long run anyway. She's just the last person I expected to ask to share the bed with me.
Cynthia doesn't come off as the type to give in to someone like me or to sharing things with me. She made it clear awhile ago that she didn't trust me but maybe things have changed since then.
I did save everyone back on the ship from that thing that attacked us so maybe that helped.
Cynthia got into the bed on the other side of Artemis, now both her and Amelia were cuddled up close to him for the night. The night went by after that with no issues, just comfort.
Sun begins to shine through the window, lighting up the room as it usually does. Artemis was the first to wake while the others remain asleep.
Knock. Knock. I can imagine that Shimada is the one knocking this early since he left us for a bit yesterday.
Artemis opens the door to the sight of Shimada in his usual noble like attire. "Good morning. Let's talk while everyone is still asleep." Shimada says before gesturing to follow him.
I didn't really need to speak yet so I just followed him out of the room— He brought me to a room down the hall with a similar layout to ours.
"So what exactly are we discussing?" Artemis questions.
"Being the prince here, it gave me a lot of advantages on information. I've learned that the enemy we seek has ranks and that they have taken someone close to me." Shimada speaks with more of a serious tone to his voice.
He's had a lot more of these serious moments lately— I could only imagine what's getting at him so much. But if it's just that someone close to him was taken then it makes a lot of sense.
But he was serious back when I wanted to kill those two guys as well so I can't say that it was as the sole reason. Something about him seems off these last few days.
"What exactly does this mean?" Artemis asks with a more serious expression on his face now.
"I'll stall the girls, I need you to find my sister. The princess of Avania. There were rumors she was seen with those men in a nearby village before disappearing again." Shimada responds while beginning to clench his fists.
Asking me to save his sister is a pretty big deal and it shows he kind of trusts me after all. I didn't know what to think when it came to him since he was a bit hard to read all this time.
Will the pact even allow me to go far away from her? I guess as long as she's not in danger it should be fine, right?
"I'll rescue her since it seems I might learn some stuff about the followers in the process." Artemis says before leaving the room.
I'm now tasked with finding a princess who was taken by the same people that killed my family. It's a bit odd though, why haven't they just killed her already?
They didn't take anybody when we were at Amelia's Estate so what's so special about his sister?
"Her name is Ayako. Thank you Artemis." Shimada speaks loudly enough for him to hear as he peeked out the door.
Ayako, easy enough to remember. I'm sure most people know of the princesses disappearance if she's being spotted in other places.
What a cliche though, saving a princess in another world. He looks up towards the sky. I wonder how many more cliche things I'll see in this world as I travel.
It doesn't take long for him to exit the kingdom— easily he makes his way to the village nearby. People seem to be busy cleaning their shops and some cleaning up the messy roads.
The Village of Ash. (Currently in the center of it.)
People here were definitely different from the ones I saw at the kingdom itself, but I guess it makes sense. But I need to find Ayako, that's the main goal at hand until I get back.
It looks like some sort of struggle happened here a bit ago, the shop here is all messed up.
An older sounding woman speaks. "Whatcha looking for boy?" She asks.
He doesn't hesitate to turn around to face the woman. It was an older lady with long grey hair, wrinkles on her face and she seemed to be wearing a ragged dress. "I'm looking for some people that kidnapped a woman." Artemis answers with a calm tone.
It would help out if someone saw something here since Royalty isn't common to just see here right?
I doubt the royal family just strolls through random villages for fun or even with random people.
"Princess Ayako you mean? Yeah I saw the guys with her dragging her into the old house over there." She says before pointing to a house at the end of the road.
"Thank you." Artemis replies before running towards the house.
There's probably some hidden passageway inside that they took her through so I'll have to be cautious. At least that's my hunch based off of everything I've ever seen or read in my previous life.