Chapter 102

102 The monster in her

Vale and Anne looking at the man with such a shocking surprised, the man really looks like Xavier, his golden eyes and brown hair, but Vale recognized a difference.

He looks like the younger Xavier, the one that he befriended eight years ago.

“So, you’re Xavier’s little brother?” Vale asked the man, while trying to shield Anne from his view.

“You can say it like that,” Said the young man smugly, “Although he never turn back to see me even once after he gained his certification, so I don’t know if you could still called him my brother.”

“You really are Xavier’s younger brother?” Anne looked at the young man and feel fascinated by him.

The young man shrugged and gave Anne a grinned, “Yeah, from the same mother and father, He was older by seven years.”

Vale looked a bit suspicious of the young man, he asked him another question, “What’s your name?”

“Xander, my name is Xander.” Answered the young man.

“Alright, Xander, what do you want from us?” Vale carefully asked the young man, his body still shielded Anne from Xander’s view.

.....

“My matron wanted to see all of you in Wolgala.” Said Xander to Vale.

“Matron?” Asked Vale again.

“The orphanage matron, you know the same matron that raised Xavier.” Said Xander.

Anne gasped, she never knew that Xavier has a brother, and the little brother still living in the orphanage nonetheless.

“Do you still lived there? Even in this age?” She asked the young man with a disbelief eyes on her face.

Xander’s frowned when Anne questioned him, “What?! Does it felt so weird if I was living in the orphanage at this age, little girl?”

Anne giggles at how Xander was trying to insert his dominant behavior by calling her a little girl, turns out her giggles making Xander furious.

“Hey! What’s so funny about it?!” He yelled at Anne, probably thought that she laughed at his dependent at the orphanage.

Anne gave him a smile, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laughed.”

“Whateveryway, Vale scratches his head trying to figured out how to relay the message to Justice and Henry.

“What do you think?” He asked the girl, wanted to know about I’lll opinion.

“I thinop99ok we should tell everything to Justice and Henry. Thinking that he need to came here and informed us, probably something more than just relayed the message.” Said Anne to Vale, she feel the young man was odd, if he came just to relay message, he could just came into the store and tell them about the message.

They go back to the tailor, Vale pay for the coats and they rushed to go back to the inn. They told Justice and Henry about the encountered with Xavier’s little brother. The two gentleman looked at each other and can’t believe what they have just heard.

“Wait, Xavier has a brother named Xander?” Henry asked them with a disbelief in his eyes.

Vale nodded his head, “Yes, and they want us to go to the orphanage immediately after arriving at Wolgala.”

“Why?” Justice seems puzzled and curious at the same time, “Why the matron of the orphanage wanted to meet with us?”

“The important thing is, how come they know where to find us? This is supposed to be a secret expedition from the capital.” Henry remind Justice while pointing the obvious.

“Sh*t, you’re right, this seems to be too suspicious, we need to be alert at all time.” Justice clenched his fist, and his face filled with concern.

“Yes we should, I’m sorry to say the moment he ran from Vale and tried to avoid him, it was too weird through and through.” Anne finally gave them her opinion.

Henry agreed immediately at her point of view. “Anne was right, it was too suspicious to be something more than just relaying a simple message.”

“Yes, so we go to the orphanage, but stay alert, although I hate this request from someone that we don’t even know,” Justice clenched his fist, “I smelled something terrible has brewing inside Wolgala.”

The room grew quieter, this is possibly one of the thing that they wasn’t anticipated.

Just as Xander told them, as soon as the carriage arrive at Wolgala, two little boy approach the carriage and demanded for the driver to follow.

Justice, Vale and Henry were anticipating of any possible outcome, Anne looking at the children with a pity on her eyes, they wear a raggedy clothes, and a simple shoes with an unkempt hair. Bones and little flesh as their body, Anne felt that they can’t get enough nutrition for themselves.

“Those orphans...” Muttered Anne while staring at the orphaned children by the window.

“Yes, what about them?” Henry heard her.

“They... they were starving... poor child.” Anne trained eyes as the healer gave her an ability to see the health of the children just by looking at their mass weight, skin, and movement.

Vale, who sat besides her, took her hand and hold it tightly to his, that’s how Vale loves to show how he was care for her. Anne on the other hand, felt uncomfortable, not because she doesn’t love the how Vale express of how he care, but because the thought of losing all of them when they’re cure from the bewitched spell.

“We are here.” Justice tell her, when she was lost on her thought.

All of them looked outside from the window, and the old sign of the orphanage being display from the rusty old gate. The four of them gets out from the carriage and chills came through their body. The orphanage in front of them is an old and decrepit building with three story and a broken clock tower. There’s a wildflower garden where three teenagers have done some gardening, even though they seems doing a horrible job at it.

The other older children were keeping an eye for the little children around the dirt yard where all they have were meager stuffs. They all have the same raggedy clothes and an unkempt look, All Anne wanted to do is to hug the little one and make them feel safe.

Justice saw her expression and immediately whispered at Anne, “Don’t you dare go to the little children and embrace them, we came here to talk to the matron, we don’t know about them at all.”

Anne gasped at him, “Do you have to be so heartless? It doesn’t mean I want to have them a false hope or anything?”

“You taking care of them and then disappear afterwards is what they called a false hope!” Said Justice with a gritted teeth at Anne.

Although Justice bluntly Reminding her, Anne could see the truth from the harsh words. She let out a sigh and followed the others from behind, they enter the orphanage without looking back at the children.

The two children from before were guided their way to the matron office. When they open the creaked old door and there she is, the only matron of the Wolgala orphanage.

An old lady with a snicker on her face, “Welcome our knight captain, magi captain, and the crown prince of this kingdom,” She turn her face to Anne and gave her a creepy smile, “and this young lady with an unsual beautiful purple hair.”

“Just make this quick, what do you want from us?!” Said Justice to the matron with a very demanding voice.

The matron make a fake sad expression, “Oh, you really hurt me your majesty, please how about we have a civil conversation first.”

Justice gave her a sneer, “We don’t need any civil conversation, just tell us what you need and we are going out from your place as soon as possible.”

The matron face then distorted into a cynical laughed with a wicked eyes, “My my... no wonder you could befriended with that ungrateful child of mine,” She glared at them and shouted, “Fine! Tell me where he is! I want to meet that ungrateful child who left his brother behind and all of us here!”

“Shut up! Xavier left this town because of you! You drive him away, and when he tried to get his brother, you said that he was already death!” Henry was in rage, he shouted directly to the matron while his hand slam into her desk.

“No!! He left us! He left his brother behind!” Screamed the matron, “I know he was in Wolgala, somewhere! He tried to stop the festivities, our feast!”

The horror came into the three gentleman’s face, they curses, Henry immediately grab into Anne’s hand, they run as fast as they could. The matron was changing, she transformed I to another being, a body of a human with a Wolf head, Anne look in horror when the matron walk towards them.

It was the monster that came to the inn, Anne remember the shape, it was definitely the matron.

“She... she changed! It was her! The one that I saw!” Shouted Anne to the three of them.

“We know! Why do you think we told you to run!” Shouted Justice back at her.

They tried to get out from the house, but the front door was barred, the four of them were trapped. The monster who was the matron not long ago already came closer, with the elongated jaws, and the huge body.

Justice, and Henry already called for their weapon, while Vale tried to cast protect spell, but the room seems repelled any magic that being casted. Justice shielded Anne to his back, and they prepared to defense themselves from the matron.

The matron jump with a long claw ready to tear them apart, but a huge shadow crash into the matron, a huge brown wolf with an earring on his ears. Anne saw it and immediately recognized the wolf.

“Xavier?!”