It has only been a few days since Jarek and the others made their escape from Belmora.
So far, their journey has been quite smooth.
'They should have returned by now.' Jarek was, of course, thinking of Thrain and Luneth.
But he wasn't worried in the slightest.
They had traveled quite a distance.
A distance that made the thought of pursuing them seem fruitless.
It didn't take long for Arvenca town to appear in their sight, and the group relaxed as a result.
Though they might have escaped, they were still worried that they would be pursued and attacked even before they reached home.
But now it seemed like their worries were unfounded.
When they were about a kilometer away, Jarek asked the coachman to stop the carriage, a move that confused most of them.
The town was so close, and now they are stopping just as they are about to reach their destination?
"Why are we stopping? We are so close." A ten-year-old girl asked.
Everyone naturally felt the same way, not quite grasping Jarek's intentions.
Well, almost everyone...
"He doesn't want to leave clues related to Belmora. If he were to enter the town in such a carriage, there is a high chance of this being associated with our escape, considering the timing and the direction from which we came. And if they find out about us..." The coachman didn't need to finish his thoughts; they already knew the fate that awaited them if what he was implying was true.
The girl shivered at the thought of such an outcome.
However, the coachman's words had an opposite effect than what he desired.
Nell, a boy almost the same age as Jarek, spoke loudly for everyone to hear.
"If that's the case, shouldn't we get rid of you as well?"
The coachman trembled at those words, but he was soon filled with relief when Jarek spoke on his behalf.
"No, I promised that we wouldn't kill him if he cooperated with us till the very end." Jarek had indeed promised the coachman his safety and freedom if he managed to successfully return them to Arvenca.
But Nell wasn't having it, and he asked, "You do realize that this guy is a potential threat to us, right? Are you that naive?"
Indeed, they couldn't trust someone who was once an enemy.
The others also looked at the coachman with suspicion.
Jarek replied to his question with another question while pointing at the coachman. "Do you know what he will do if we let him go?"
"Isn't it obvious? He will run back to his masters and tell them everything just to save his neck. Leaving him alive is a potential risk to our lives." Nell spoke as if he were telling a fact.
Jarek, however, shook his head and then said. "If he does what you are saying he will do, then he is only walking to his death."
"Huh?" Nell was confused, not quite yet grasping what Jarek meant.
"If he goes back to Belmora, do you think he will survive? Just for the fact that he aided us in our escape, he will surely be killed by his superiors in a fit of anger." Jarek elaborated.
Nell turned silent for a moment and then said, "But it wasn't his fault. He could just say we forced him to..."
Before he could finish what he wanted to say, Jarek interrupted him.
"No form of explanation will save his life. You can't hope to reason with the unreasonable. To them, he is just an ant. Who would care about taking their frustrations out on an ant? No one would be stupid enough to go to their deaths. If I a not mistaken, you were thinking of moving to another town, right?" Jarek asked as he turned to look at the coachman.
The man nodded, confirming Jarek's thoughts, and even added, "I was planning to flee to another city and settle in one of the towns there."
Hearing this, Nell could only frown, slightly displeased.
But he could only drop his intention to get rid of the coachman.
If he tried to push for the man's death even though he posed no risk, it would only paint a negative image of him in the minds of everyone present.
The man was fleeing to another city; his existence posed no threat to them.
"It seems this is where we part ways."
The man nodded at Jarek's words and turned to leave, climbing atop one of the beasts and riding off in another direction.
With only eleven of them remaining, they gathered around and Jarek asked, "Does anyone here still have their parents? Raise your hand if you still think your mother or father is still alive."
There were only three people who raised their hands, and Eira was one of them.
The others witnessed with their own eyes as their parents left this world, powerless to do anything.
"You three, I need you to confirm that they are still alive. We will meet at... a day later to decide how we will proceed."
During this time, Eira went back home, only to learn that her father had disappeared after that day.
The restaurant was closed down, and so she could only meet up with Jarek after failing to find her father.
Jarek himself wasn't idle as he moved to exchange some of the spirit stones in his possession for gold coins.
A day later, everyone gathered together, both young and adults, according to Jarek's request.
Jarek explained his intentions to everyone present.
In this world, one is considered an adult when one turns sixteen.
So, he made a deal with the adults.
He would give them the capital to start whatever business they had in mind, and he would receive a share of the profits they earned.
He also advised them to move into the wealthy residential areas, as the vampires tended to kidnap those from low backgrounds.
If one were to look closely, one would notice that all those captured from Arvenca were from poor families.
Those from Belmora didn't target those who held some form of power in the town, and only targeted those whose lives hardly made a difference.
Two years later, Eira would open her own restaurant, even better than her father's.
Two more years later, Mir would find himself back in Arvenca town, where he would once again meet with Jarek after the humiliation he faced four years ago.
And after a series of events, the nine who had escaped from Thrain with Jarek those years ago, found themselves caught by Thrain years later.
Life was truly unpredictable.
Who knew that the one who was instrumental to their escape back then would also be the key that led to their capture?
Fate was a truly mystical thing.