With surprise on both of their faces, neither Marcus nor Mrazivý had been expecting to suddenly be requested to visit the mythic grade magic beast that had made its home in Tralenstein.
Of course, they had already known that this entity had existed, but so far that was all they knew about it.
Not once had the creature named Motis shown itself, even as the nation it protected tore itself apart during a very bloody civil war.
Though its very presence did act as a deterrent for the other kingdoms to the south which were on less than friendly terms with Tralenstein, and even during the civil was these nations had not invaded.
“Sure, I am fine with meeting with Tralenstein’s guardian beast.” Marcus said nonchalantly.
He really doubted that this Motis was planning to kill or harm them, seeing as how if it wanted to do that, it probably already would have..
However, Mrazivý was definitely a bit more hesitant, since Gwyneira had told her to stay away from Motis at all costs, and to make sure not to antagonize him.
Unfortunately, now that she had been personally requested to meet with him, Mrazivý would likely offend him if she did not show up as requested.
“Very well, I will go as well.” Mrazivý eventually agreed.
Nodding her head, thankful that the two of them had accepted to attend the meeting, Daniela said, “That is good. I know that Lord Motis can have a temper, so if either of you refused, I am not sure what he would do. Now he requested that I meet with him in three weeks, and that I bring the two of you with me. So until then, feel free to do as you wish.”
After finishing up their conversation, the four of them left the castle’s vault and sealed the area back up.
Even though Marcus and Mrazivý had taken the most valuable materials and were going to deliver what they were not keeping for themselves back to Borealia, there were still plenty of other rare and valuable items sealed within that they would not want to fall into the wrong hands.
Marek and Daniela then went their separate ways from Marcus and Mrazivý, as with their positions they had mountains of work to do in running the kingdom.
As for Marcus and Mrazivý, they could do whatever they wanted, but ultimately the two of them decided to help with the city’s restoration. Since they would feel bad just lounging around while everyone else was hard at work.
For their parts, Mrazivý went to work clearing out the snow that had recently fallen on the city, which after the king’s blowing it up, no longer had any magic formations to create heating which normally kept the snow out of the city.
As for Marcus, his large item box was a major asset and using it he was able to move large amounts of materials around swiftly.
He could transport tons of lumber or stone to their destinations in just a few minutes, when normally would have taken dozens of people pulling and pushing carts hours.
‘Guess that should do it for today.’ Marcus thought as the workers began to go back to their temporary shelters, as the sun started to go down and it would be impossible to keep working.
Heading back towards the castle, along the way Marcus received an almost unending wave of thanks, as thousands of people had been very grateful for the help he had provided, which would speed things up by many weeks.
“Ah Mraz, how did your day go?” Marcus said as he bumped into Mrazivý who was also on her way back to the castle.
Letting out a sigh, Mrazivý responded saying, “It was exhausting. I must have absorbed the cold from a mountain’s worth of snow, and I still only managed to clear about a tenth of the city. I just hope it does not snow again.”
“Well, it is getting close to the end of winter now, so hopefully we will get lucky and the one three days ago will be the last for the year.” Marcus said to Mrazivý.
The two of them then headed into the area of the castle, which was mostly ruble, but still had some standing structures that had survived the battles.
Though neither Marcus nor Mrazivý, were using any of the remaining rooms as they did not want to take up space that could be used for people that really needed it.
Anyway, they were currently staying in Mrazivý’s tent which they had set up in one of the castle’s courtyards and was more comfortable than most of the places left in the city.
Yet as the two of them approached their temporary home, they both saw that someone was sitting outside waiting.
“Lyra did you need something?” Marcus asked in a concerned voice.
When she had gone off on her own, she had certainly looked worse for wear mentally. And it looked like her time alone to think had not helped her much if at all, judging by the look on her face.
However, Lyra did not immediately say anything, but Mrazivý quickly did.
“I will leave the two of you alone so that you can talk.”
After saying that Mrazivý ducked into her tent, leaving Marcus and Lyra standing outside alone.
“Here come with me. We can go somewhere more secluded to talk.” Marcus said, beckoning Lyra to follow him.
Soon the two of them came to an area that was far from where anyone was, inside the shell of a half-collapsed tower that was surrounded by rubble and destroyed ground.
“So, what is troubling you?” Marcus asked to Lyra as soon as they had stopped.
Looking down at the ground, Lyra was hesitant to open up, but after taking a deep breath she looked Marcus right in the eyes, and said, “I feel lost. My drive, my reason to live for a year now has been to get justice for my parents, and now that I have, I feel empty. I feel like I no longer have any reason to live.”