Chapter 230: Infiltrator's? meeting

The face that was revealed when the figure entered the thin moonlight caused Aiden not a small amount of shock, to say the least. The figure in front of him was a female, with shoulder-length, disheveled fiery red hair, which due to the mud and grease hanged from the top of the girl's dirty head in separate, thumb-wide locks. 

Still, despite the grease, the mud, the dirt, it was unmistakable: The girl in front of him was Scarlet, the princess they rescued just a while ago. How did she get here? Where's her brother, the annoying but skilled prince, Drake then?

"You? You look similar to someone I met before… but at the same time, I'm sure I never met you…" The girl looked at the familiar-looking goblin with confusion. His voice was familiar, and most of his facial features, but she was certain she never met such a goblin before, and even if she did, she wouldn't have entered a friendly discourse. Goblins and Orcs weren't known for their friendliness towards the other races.

"Me? You don't recognize me?" Aiden asked with a troubled look, however, a moment later he realized the root of the problem, his face changing he continued with a friendly smile. "Ah, right! I'm currently in this goblin form, so it's hard to recognize me. I'm Aiden, we met a while ago, back in the city of Higrove were your brother, Drake and I rescued you and my sister from the underground slave traders." 

As if remembering something, he looked thoughtfully above as he continued.

"Although, we haven't talked for that long, so I guess, I can understand if you wouldn't recognize me, but st--"

Before he could finish his monologue, Scarlet raised his right hand to silence him and interjected with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes, yes, okay, I got it! You are Aiden, that long, black-haired wild-looking boy who was with my brother! Sheesh!"

Not sure what he did that caused the girl to act in such a rash way, he looked at the girl confusedly. It was Sarah who connected the dots the fastest, and when the realization hit her that who this disheveled girl in front of her actually was, her eyes went wide and mouth agape.

"P-p-princess??" She stuttered with an incredulous look on her face. "W-w-what are you doing here? W-w-what happened?"

"Yeah, please, tell us if something bad had happened. What did you guys do for you to end up a slave again?" Aiden asked as his usual, friendly, calm smile resurfaced on his face.

"Well…" Scarlet sighed, taking her time to scrutinize Aiden's new unfamiliar form carefully. "This is not what it looks like! But before that… H-how are you a goblin?! Is it an illusion?" 

"Yeah, something like that." Deciding not to dwell on the topic too much, Aiden waved his hand in a casual manner as he responded nonchalantly.

"I see…" Scarlet nodded approaching the wooden panel separating the trio from the 'stabled' slave. "So, it's something similar to what my brother is using." She added as she thought about it for a bit longer, surprising Aiden once again.

"Wait… Your brother, Drake is here as well and is using some sort of disguise? Just what are you two doing here?!" 

"I…" Although Scarlet wasn't someone who was easily startled, the long years of her younger years taught her about the brutal reality of the world, now, she still found herself unable to respond to Aiden's simple question or to match the boy's golden gaze. Some unknown force, or maybe emotion caused her to avert her eyes in embarrassment, and just grumble non-coherent words under her breath.

Seeing that their discourse wouldn't go forward if she wouldn't intervene and handle the matter, Sarah stepped forward once again, and while placing her right hand on Aiden's left shoulder signaling him to remain silent and step back, she stepped forth.

With a kind, a gentle smile on her face, the purple-haired girl slowly reached out for the princess behind the stall.

"Princess, no, sorry, Scarlet, please tell us what happened that made you and your dear brother try to infiltrate this dangerous place. We have the same mission, so we could actually help each other if you would let us!"

Her words carried a warm, soothing trait, causing the grumbling, embarrassed fiery Scarlet to raise her head once again, focusing on the purple girl instead.

"Well…" Taking a deep breath, Scarlet slowly exhaled, calming her nerves and to recompose herself before continuing. "We came because we located another artifact somewhere around here. We don't know if it's coming from our last missing brother, or from someone else, but the signal was clear." 

Shifting her attention, she looked at Aiden as she continued.

"An artifact, one of our family heirlooms that should only be in our family's hands are here somewhere deeper! You have to understand, we had to investigate! We couldn't wait for our reunion at the start of next year, we had to know what was happening!"

Towards the end of her explanation, her voice turned almost hysterical, her face contorted into a troubled, begging expression as she continued to focus on Aiden at the back.

"I see…" Sarah continued, grabbing the girl's attention in the process. "So, you two decided to come here and investigate?" Seeing the girl look at her and gave a slight nod, she continued as the smile curved slightly higher on her face. "In that case, where is your brother currently?"

"He… my brother... Drake is currently inside the compound!" She exclaimed after a bit of difficulty, returning her gaze to Aiden and looking at her beggingly. "If you guys plan to go inside as well, then please… please, I beg you, look for him and help him! He…" 

Something obviously troubled Scarlet, as she had great difficulties with her words. Eventually, as the internal battle she was fighting came to an end, her eyes started to rapidly water up, and tears began to escape from the corner of her eyes.

"Please, save him! He should have been back by now!" From somewhere, that even Aiden couldn't completely register a circular talisman, similar to the one Lilly had appeared in her hand giving off a faint, pulsating blueish light. "I only know that he is still alive, but nothing more!" 

Grabbing the amulet, she shoved in Sarah's face as if it was obvious to anyone what the pulsing light meant.

"See?! He is still alive, but probably hurt! I was already thinking of what to do, but I couldn't come up with any good plan… I'm unarmed and the two armored orcs outside would be too much for me… Not to mention I have no idea how to get inside the tribe's grounds… But I can't leave brother alone! I NEED to do something!"

Although he still had several unanswered questions, Aiden now understood the general gist of why Scarlet and Drake would appear here. They already knew that these royal artifacts had the ability to give a vague direction about the other ones if they would be in the general vicinity, which begged a question.

"How did you guys locate this artifact? It was probably very deep in the forest. You would find my sister's amulet way faster than this one." He asked, with an inquisitory gaze. 

"Yes, we did find another amulet closer to the outer edges of the forest quite a distance away from here. However, every amulet has a unique signal, and we have already known about the one your sister was carrying." Scarlet answered immediately, shaking her head. "Sorry, but I can't talk about how we can track and locate our family heirlooms. But if what Drake told me is true, then that strange lady that was with you guys before should have used a similar method. Ask her if you would want an answer to your question." 

Turning away, she only mumbled the next words, however, Aiden still managed to pick them up. 

"I will honor my mother's last wish…" Although it raised several new questions, he still decided against asking them. The current situation wasn't fit for such personal inquiries after all.

This, however, raised some doubts and concerns about her Master's identity. How did she know so much about the royal family's heirlooms? How could she locate Lilly with such ease before? Thinking back, she did act strangely when they confirmed Drake's identity. Although it was for merely a second, there was a slight fluctuation in her mood, that Aiden didn't give much thought at the time, as he was fully focused on finding and rescuing Lilly.

'I will need to talk with Master about this at some point…' He made a mental note to himself about the matter, before shaking his head and forcing his usual friendly, kind smile to return to his face.

Stepping close to the fiery, red-haired girl once again, he grabbed the frame of the stool. 

"Okay, I think I heard enough." Shifting his gaze from the wooden panel to the girl, he nodded with affirmation as he casually lifted the panel as if it was nothing and broke it away from the rest of the section.

"Rest assured, I will save Drake from whatever predicament he got himself into this time!"