As Malaya, Hyun Jae, and Oliver went their way towards the inn that they had dinner with the third prince last night. Malaya noticed that there were knights marching left and right as if they were in a hurry on the road.

“Something must have happened,” Oliver said as he observed the busy roads.

“I can see that,” Malaya said. “But whatever happens here, is none of our concern.” 

They stopped towards the front of the inn. And a familiar knight was waiting for them. It was one of the knights that escorted the prince last night.

“His highness is already waiting for you.” He gave a brief bow and opened the door of the inn for us. Malaya and the others followed after him until they reached the second floor.

When they entered the room, the prince was leisurely drinking some tea.  There was a woman sitting in his opposite direction. She was wearing glasses and her hair was tied in a single bun.

“We greet his highness, Prince Muyang, Kija.” Malaya gave a short bow along with Oliver and Hyun Jae.

“I hope we didn’t let his highness wait very long for us,” Malaya said.

“No, you just came at the right time, Lady Malaya.” The third prince stood up and the woman that was sitting in the opposite position also did the same. “This is Beatrice, the artist that would draw the images of your friends.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Malaya.” Beatrice gave a short bow.

“The same with me,” Malaya flashed a polite smile.

After almost two hours the sketches of Iris, Rein, Kayden, Lila, and Dorris were complete. Malaya was completely amazed at how detailed each of the sketches was.

“Wow,” Hyun Jae’s eyes sparkled seeing the sketches. “It looked exactly like them!”

“These are so detailed. You are blessed with great talent, Lady Beatrice.” Malaya smiled, completely satisfied with the sketches.

“Thank you for your compliment, Lady Malaya,” Beatrice said with a polite smile as if she was already used to such praises.

Then Malaya handed the sketches to the prince. “These are their portraits. I hope his highness will help us find them.”

“I will do my best,” The third prince handed the sketches to the knight that guided Malaya to the inn earlier. “Make a copy of this and distribute it among the others.”

“Yes, your highness.” The knight gave a short bow and immediately left.

“If there is nothing else, we will take our leave now, your highness,” Malaya said.

‘She really only came to accomplish her agenda and nothing else.’ The third prince grinned.

“If it will be alright with you and your companions, I have already prepared lunch for all of us.” The third prince said and gestured to one of the maids that were with him. The maid bowed down and opened the door. Several maids holding trays of food entered.

“Then it will be an honor to die with his highness,” Malaya said, then took the seat beside Beatrice. Hyun Jae sat beside her as well and usually Oliver sat beside the prince.

As they ate, Oliver was the one who began talking to stop the awkward atmosphere they had while eating.

“Your highness, we notice that there are quite a lot of knights roaming the roads. Are there any problems?”

“About that, we just increased the security around the kingdom due to the recent attacks in nearby villages. This is also to put the citizen’s minds at ease.”

“Attack?” 

“Yes. I thought you must have heard it now since it was quite widespread now.” The third prince sipped his tea before speaking again. “Some group of beastmen was attacking and ransacking the villages in the other duchies.”

At the mention of this, Malaya had a foreboding feeling. But she couldn’t shake up what caused such feelings.

“I see, that is quite concerning.” Malaya this time joined the conversation. “I hope this will be resolved soon or many lives might be in danger.”

“Yes,” the third prince said. “We will do everything to suppress the attacks. If possible, traveling outside the capital would be quite dangerous now. So I advise you to be careful, Lady Malaya, Lady Hyun Jae, and Sir Oliver.”

“We will keep that in mind,” Malaya said.

While the three were busy talking with more other political stuff to random stuff, Hyun Jae and Beatrice were having a conversation of their own.

“When did you start drawing?” Hyun Jae asked with enthusiasm. “I can also draw but only fiction characters. You are really amazing, Lady Beatrice!”

“I’m flattered, Lady Hyun Jae,” Beatrice said with a polite smile on her face. “This is part of my job, I must have the skills in order to live.”

“Well, that is certainly true.” Hyun Jae said then something sparked inside her mind. “It seemed that we would stay longer here. If you want Lady Beatrice can I also ask for your commission services?” Her eyes sparkled as she held both Beatrice’s hands.

“Ye-Yes! Lady Hyun Jae, I will be happy to serve you. Here is my shop, if you ever need me.” She handed Hyun Jae a card. 

“Great! Then I will visit you soon!” Hyun Jae said with a brilliant smile on her face.

Soon the time for the two parties to depart had come.

“Thank you once again for your help, your highness,” Malaya said.

“I will contact you when we find leads to the people you are looking for.”

“We will wait for that, your highness,” Malaya said but before she left, she spoke another word that surprised the prince. “Please be at ease, so that we don’t have anything to do with those attacks.” 

“And why did you say that?” The prince asked, he kept his composure.

“We have cleared the issue about me buying the slaves. And although you might be interested in our real identity, I don’t think the prince would go to lengths just to probe us. And definitely, you wouldn’t find anything about us. Other than those attacks you mention that were related to the beastmen, that was the only thing I could think about why you sent some eyes to watch us,” Malaya said with a smile then turned around and left. Hyun Jae and Oliver followed behind her.

When they were outside, Hyun Jae asked Malaya. “What do you mean by the last words you said to the prince?”

“He sent a spy to watch us,” Oliver said as he gave a brief glance to the corner. “I apologized if we didn’t say it to you.”

“Ah, I see!” Hyun Jae said. “It’s alright, I understand. If I was the prince, I might probably do the same.”

‘They are talking normally now to each other.’ Malaya said as she watched the two converse.

‘The attack of the beastmen huh, it certainly reminded me of the time of the rebellion at Taleba before. I hope none of them got inflicted with that.’

“Malaya, Malaya!” Malaya was snapped of her thoughts when Hyun Jae waved her hands in front of Malaya’s face.

“Ah, sorry, Hyun Jae. Did you say something?”

“You seem to be thinking of something?” Oliver asked. “Is that the attack of Beastmen he told us?”

“Well, part of it,” Malaya answered with honesty. “But mostly about the others. I hope none of them would get afflicted with the attacks.”

“They are strong,” Hyun Jae said. “Nothing would happen to them. I know that!”

“Yes, I also know that,” Malaya said with a smile on her face. “They will be fine but I wish to see them again and see that they are alright.”

—⚓⚓⚓—

“All hail the Great Lord Baru!” 

“All hail the Great Lord Baru!” 

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone in the kingdom of Baslon, a huge army of apemen and other beastmen were stealthily approaching the capital. It was an underground route that the beastmen dug with magic.

“All hail the Great Lord Baru!” 

“Defeat to the Detestable Humans!”

They screamed in unison. Within two more days, they would soon reach the capital.

Iris and Lila were locked in a cage along with Baru. ‘Darn, to think things would escalate like this. That scheming monkey! And that guy didn’t bother to help us!’

Their cage was in a huge moving cart and they have been moving now for around a week now.

“I thought you would do something about this, Iris? You even told me that story.” Lila said as she tried to move to reduce the aching of her butt from sitting too long.

“Well, I didn’t know that they have such high-quality wines,” Iris said as she avoided Lila’s penetrating gaze, pricking directly to her conscience.

“Iris,” Lila couldn’t help but frown at Iris’ response. 

“Well, they all want this monkey,” Iris looked at Baru who was eating with lots of bananas. “If we make him into skewers, they might release us.”

Baru, the small white monkey heard Iris’ remarks and immediately hid behind Lila. “Don’t say such scary things to poor Baru. He also didn’t want to be used like this.”

Iris just released a deep breath. “Of course, that is just a joke. If I do that to him, there is no guarantee of our safety either.”

Iris glanced at the marching army.. “All we can do now is to wait and look for a chance to escape.”