Chapter IV: Hope

Carson visits Ace at the Silent Tower to discuss his quest, and he also finds someone familiar.

“Say,” Carson said, looking at Markus, “what were you doing with the Crescent Squad?”

Markus had silence for his answer.

“Look. If I try to kill you again, Ace would kill me first,” Carson reassured Markus while glancing at Ace. “I’m not that mad this time. I just want to know.”

Markus remained silent and still—like he wasn’t processing the question, or anything Carson just said. But after a few moments, he turned towards Ace, nodding at him.

“I’ll answer for him,” Ace said, much to be suspected by Carson.

“You sure?”

“I am. The kid’s one of their lower rank members, sent to join the Sun Rage bandits months before the attack. He claimed he wasn’t involved with the attack itself, and he’s never contacted them about leaving the group.”

With how Ace, including John and Virgil, referred to Markus as a kid—Carson knew something was off with his perception. He had always seen Markus as someone around his age, maybe ‌a little younger. He couldn’t tell Ace’s age, and John and Virgil seemed older to him.

“Wait. I’ve never asked him properly, but did you get his age?”

“Around nineteen.”

And Carson’s twenty-two, if he recalled correctly. With his remaining math knowledge, Markus would be roughly fourteen when the attack happened. He could’ve joined the Crescent Squad when he was way, way younger, too. And considering the Crescent Squad’s nature of abandoning and changing identities, he wondered how many identities had Markus assumed, within nineteen years.

“Say, have you guys identified him? Like, anything before joining the Crescent group?” Carson asked Ace.

Ace shook his head. “He’s completely new here. I’ll have to arrange a few more things for him.”

“Oh, okay.” Carson turned to Markus, who didn’t look like he was listening. “You okay?”

Markus nodded. “Mhm, yeah. You have anything else?”

“Hmm… Say, you know how’d my parents end up?”

“Uh, I’m not sure, honestly… Wait, hold on. I think I can answer this one.” Markus gulped, slapping his face—as if to wake himself up, and he stayed still for a bit. “I haven’t heard what would those big guys wanted to do with the captives—like your parents and other people in their group. You’re more of the… hostage? I don’t know. They only told me you’re staying with the Sun Rages instead, and that’s about it. Pretty sure there’s some other people being sent to other guilds or gangs too.”

Carson did not know what Markus meant by other people in his parents’ group. He could’ve meant people in the same guild, people who work with them, and so on. But he only cared about one thing. “Did they kill my family?”

“They haven’t said anything about killing the captives. But I’ve heard of a place they sent those people to, and I tried copying its map.” Markus turned to Ace, who picked out a paper from his pocket. “Yeah, that one. Carson can have that.”

Once Carson got the paper, he only made out an unknown town from the shaky lines.

“You know the Ashen Volcano? It’s on the west of it, I think. And honestly, it’s probably abandoned by now. But there could be some ruins over there.”

“They brought my parents there?”

“Yeah, from what I’ve heard.”

“Did they kill them?”

“I told you I don’t know… But honestly, I meant this in the least mean way, and please don’t kill me for saying this—but I don’t think they’re alive, even if I haven’t heard of any executions happening there.”

Carson had already anticipated this outcome. But after punching Markus yesterday and seeing him here again, and how he ended yesterday in the comfort of John’s house—he craved for the same relief, once again. “They could be alive?”

“Sort of? But eh, I dunno. Death’s most likely, but… If you actually find them walking around, tell them, uh…”

After watching Markus struggling to say the message, he had another question. “So, what did you do about this entire thing? You told Ace you weren’t involved with the attack.”

“…Eavesdropping, mostly. They only told me to keep you in the Sun Rage,” Markus chuckled dryly, his expression lightened up. “You know how that turned out. Hell, I’m sure I was almost killed by letting you run away a week ago, or they could want me dead for other reasons. I don’t know.”

Carson remembered the stab scar on Markus’ body, realizing Markus could’ve died when he ran away alone.

But at last, Carson had finally found a few more leads to his family’s fate. They could’ve been ‌alive or dead, and he now had the next destination. Maybe he could trace after his family or the other Crescent Squad members, too.

At the moment he considered going after the squad, he remembered one thing. “Wait, hold on. What are you going to do with those Crescent guys?”

“Whatever Ace came up next,” Markus replied.

And things seemed to click. Ace was hunting down Crescent Squad members, and Markus could’ve been a lead to his quest. And that’s all Carson wanted to hear—Ace being able to continue his own mission, and Markus feeling safe with someone else other than him.

Once Carson got back to Ironport, he told Virgil about the location Markus gave him, while accompanying him until John got home. But he only told them he had another lead to Crescent Squad, hiding the fact he was looking for his family from the two.

“You’re going out again?” John asked as he washed the dishes, while Carson was sitting at the dining table. “We could join you too, you know.”

“Wait, what?” Carson asked, raising his eyebrows at the last sentence.

“I said what I said.”

“Eh, you’re probably too busy with work or something.”

“If you’re going out tomorrow or any other weekdays, Virgil could join you. But if we’re going at the weekend, we could all go together.”

“Huh. When’s the weekend again?”

From the upstairs, Virgil joined in. “Four more days.”

That long until John could join them… Would he really need his housemates to join him too? But considering the age of this information, the only thing that really mattered was when Carson would visit this place. He could’ve waited a few days to think all of this over, as he processed what happened yesterday properly. But aside from that, nothing was stopping him—except for his decision.

Chapter IV: Empty

Carson and Virgil travel together to find something about Carson’s past.

If nothing was stopping Carson, he should be fine leaving with Virgil tomorrow—that was what he thought, as he remained on the bed, alone. Virgil was doing his own thing downstairs, and he only told Carson to get a good rest. With all the things that remained unsolved inside his head, resting wasn’t his priority.

After worrying about Markus for a while, he could finally think about his family and face questions he wasn’t ready to answer again.

The only certainty about them—was how Carson hadn’t met his missing parents for years. If they were even alive, he wouldn’t know how to face them. With any justifications that explained why they hadn’t met—he didn’t know if he could handle all those ideas. Their death would be an easier pill to swallow for him. But in the end, he just wanted to know about their whereabouts, so Carson could finally rest easy, and it’s over.

Everything about this could’ve ended tomorrow, and he didn’t know what to do next afterward. Just the thought of finally knowing about his family’s fate made him uneasy. He could’ve spent a few more years obsessing over this topic, seeking the entire truth, and maybe having his revenge, too.

Now that he thought about revenge, Virgil returned to the bedroom.

“Hey, could I ask you something?” Carson asked as Virgil laid down next to him.

“Go ahead.”

“What’d you think about revenge?”

While Carson was expecting Virgil to ask something like why would Carson ask such a thing, Virgil crossed his arms as he closed his eye. “Hmm… Honestly, it might sound satisfying in theory, but it’s not worth it.”

“Huh. Were you speaking from experience?”

“Haha…” Virgil loosened his arms. “Not a good time.”

“What happened?”

“…”

Leaving the conversation with tense silence, Virgil seemed to notice how Carson said nothing, so he spoke up. “Yeah, that part’s pretty personal. I’m still angry about it, but I’ve stopped trying to seek revenge.”

“I see… What stopped you from that?”

“Hmm… Honestly, I felt like there wasn’t any point to any of this. It wouldn’t undo any damage done, either. So I thought: why bother with it? Then I stopped, focused on my job, and tried to act better. And say, remember the book I asked you to borrow?”

“The charms one?”

“Yeah. Something to help me act better, or so I thought. I might tell you what I’m doing with that book sometime.”

Now that’s one thing Carson could look forward to, once he was done with learning about his past. Despite the uncertainty that awaited the next day, that alone was enough to make Carson relieved for tonight.

“Cool, guess I’ll just sleep now.”

“Goodnight.”

Carson had the map, while Virgil had the compass. And as they navigated into the forest by the west of the Ashen Volcano, Virgil pointed something out.

There were only both of them traveling along the woods. No bandit camps, no adventurers, no one else, except Carson and Virgil. If it were nighttime, Virgil would’ve already suspected they were inside a haunted territory—something Carson thought was something to scare the kids, considering how many folklores he had heard about the woods in this damn continent.

Without expecting it, they arrived at unnamed ruins, similar to what Carson’s map depicted. Each wooden structure of this place was destroyed in one way or the other, with chars remaining on every building’s walls.

Carson and Virgil stepped inside a house, and they were welcomed by a foul scent and several bodies scattered around the place. While that sight alone paralyzed Virgil, Carson walked past a few ‌bodies, taking notice of the weapons and all the accessories remaining on each of them.

Aside from death, there was dust—and Carson blew them away with his Wind Magic as he explored the room.

“How’d you… handle all this?” Virgil asked, as he caught up with Carson.

“I just do?”

“Oh.” After being surprised at Carson’s answer, Virgil followed him, and spotted a table with stacks of yellowed papers on it.

As Carson skimmed through each paper, they were documents regarding people whom Carson didn’t recognize, until he spotted his parents’ names. Aside from all the basic information he had already known, their guild name was marked as important in ink, just like the others who shared the guild name in their documents. Though, it didn’t describe what kind of guild it was—and it was exactly what he hadn’t learned. His parents’ exact job. They had only referred to their job as working for the guild, but what exactly did they do? Carson did not know until he asked Virgil.

“Oh, it’s one of those bounty hunters guild. Pretty sure this one was backed up by the Magic Council, too. But somehow, that guild never got big outside of the Eastern Magius.”

“Anything else?”

“…Nope, nothing. I hadn’t moved there when they were still around, from what I’ve heard.”

“I see…” Virgil looked at Carson’s papers regarding his parents for a moment, before pointing at a direction behind both of them. “I think I’ve seen those two over there.”

As Virgil arranged the papers on the table, as Carson headed to the direction Virgil saw his parents. And once Carson noticed the amulets on a pair of bodies, he knew it was them. He remembered their matching amulets—shaped like they were meant to be pieced together like a puzzle, but Carson didn’t care too much about it, as he looked at their bodies.

As he stared at his parents’ resting bodies, he blinked—as if he felt nothing, with the sight right in front of him. Rather than the overwhelming feelings he first expected, he felt rather empty. Too empty. Even if it was his parents, he didn’t sense any sorrow inside him.

It took a few shoulder taps from Virgil, until Carson turned back to him. Virgil’s startled expression was like the time Virgil asked him about handling this place, but with more shaken sorrow pressed in his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” Carson asked.

“You okay? You’ve been staring at them for a while…”

“Yeah, why?”

“I see… Are you done here?”

Carson turned back to his parents again, looking at their amulets. Inside his head, he couldn’t envision what kind of puzzle they would form, so he took the amulets off their neck and pieced them together.

Despite their strange individual shapes, they formed a perfectly round shape once connected. He felt ‌stupid for not seeing this coming, but now that he had their amulets on his hands, he realized something.

This could be the only possession he could’ve retrieved from his family.

Chapter IV: Tolerable

Carson retrieves a pair of items, as he headed home with Virgil. After around a week, Carson finally had something to look forward to.

Now that Carson had no one to stop him from taking his parents’ amulets, he finally had something to remind him of them—even if it also served as a reminder of their deaths.

“I’m done.” Carson tucked the amulets in his pocket as he turned back to Virgil. This time, Virgil’s expression felt strange, but Carson couldn’t pinpoint how. Had he always looked like this?

For the first time, he couldn’t read anything from his expressions. The more Carson stared back at him, the more his face seemed to blur. Like Virgil’s face, his voice was muffled—as if he was speaking from the other room.

But Virgil was standing right in front of him, wasn’t he?

Before Carson could recognize what was happening to his senses, Virgil’s grab on Carson’s shoulder made him jolt.

“Carson? You heard me?”

“Y-Yeah?”

Carson hesitantly nodded, he remembered this happening during his years as a Sun Rage bandit. The fact Virgil caught him in this state was enough to get his heart pumping—as if there was an actual threat.

As Virgil held his hands, Carson could clearly see Virgil’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh, no… We better head back. Your hands are cold.”

Carson shared Virgil’s concern, too, now that it had gotten this bad already. Dealing with the mess inside his head was already a pain in the ass, not to mention the other symptoms he hid to survive.

But now that his life wasn’t threatened, he didn’t know what to do next, except to trust Virgil to bring them back home safely.

Carson stared in the mirror, looking at the fool in front of him. For someone who had always defaulted to grey or dull-colored outfits, seeing himself in green felt strange—as if it was too vibrant for someone like him.

“How’s this one?” John asked as his reflection joined the mirror.

“Eh, I don’t know… Isn’t green more of your color?”

“Anyone can wear green, Carson.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

As the two bantered, Carson caught a glance of Virgil smiling at them from behind.

“What’s wrong?” Carson asked Virgil, knowing it was the first time Carson had seen Virgil like this. There’s nothing special happening today, right?

“Nothing,” Virgil replied, as his smile remained. Even if Carson wasn’t used to this kind of smile, he knew Virgil had no malice in that expression.

“So, what’d you think about this shirt?” John asked Carson.

“Hmm. Not bad, but I don’t know about the color. The size’s great, though. Where’d you get this one?”

“From Jane’s store. She has more clothes in your size, if you want them.”

“That’s enough clothes for today…”

“Okay, guess we’re done for this morning.” John grabbed and carried his bag, as he headed outside of the house. But before he went out to work, he turned to Carson. “Don’t run away again, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s been a week.”

John sighed, as he looked at both Carson and Virgil. “Just take care, then. I’ll be home at nine.”

Once John left, Carson and Virgil carried the clothes upstairs to their room, adding more outfits to Carson’s wardrobe.

It wasn’t the best week in Carson’s life, but Virgil and John made it more tolerable. Virgil had been snapping him out of the past that still haunted him, and they had gotten closer with each passing day. And despite John’s personality, Carson had grown to tolerate—or even appreciate his presence more.

Now that Carson had thought about it, he hadn’t expressed his feelings towards the two. He’s not the type to say sappy things, but now that Virgil was with him, he might as well say it.

“Hey, Virgil… Thanks.”

Virgil looked a bit surprised, and Carson had already regretted not having better words—until Virgil smiled back, as if he already knew what Carson wanted to say.

“Don’t mention it. You’re with us, after all.”

For all the years Carson had lived, his face had never felt this hot before. He knew he didn’t deserve Virgil—or even a place to go after his escape.

Before Carson could say anything else, Virgil went to the bookshelf and picked out a book. It was the same book about Charms, that Carson borrowed for him.

“I’m practicing more of this downstairs. Care to join me?”

Carson eagerly nodded, as he had been looking forward to Virgil’s thing with charms—considering how he was busy with his work and Carson.

They then left the room together, with Virgil heading downstairs first. But as Virgil took the first step, Carson froze at the sight of Virgil falling down the stairs, and crashing onto the ground.

Virgil remained still for a moment, with the book held to his chest.