Azure Water

Chapter Four

Stella looks around the room and only sees one mattress. She looks at Florian and Jasper. "You two didn't wake up in that mattress together, did you?"

Florian thinks for a moment. "You know, I don't remember how I woke up." He turns to Jasper. "Do you?"

Jasper shakes his head. "I don't either."

"Do you remember that it's winter and it's cold?" Renee asked. "Now explain how you guys got yourselves kidnapped?"

Stella looks at Linos's unconscious body and then at the door. "But first, why don't you guys bring those two guys inside. We wouldn't want them waking up and running to their boss or whoever."

The boys did as Stella said. Now, everyone was inside with the door closed.

As Stella listened to the boys' explanation, she crossed her arms and nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"So, Damianos is the village chief?" Stella said. "That one chef that Renee and I interrogated said the biggest house belongs to the chief." She points her head to the wall that was parallel to the biggest house in the village. "That house next door might be his then." She then looks at Linos. "We'll have this guy confirm for us."

Jasper ignores Linos as he was starting to wake up and look at the girls. "Well?"

"Well what?" Stella asked.

"Aren't you girls proud of us?"

"Proud of what?"

Jasper frowns. "We found out that Damianos is the village chief."

Renee gets irritated. "Orchis and I could have found that out ourselves if we weren't busy rescuing you two from this idiot here!" She glares at Linos.

Linos immediately looks around the room. He sees the two unconscious guards and then looks at Florian and Jasper. "Tsk! You're lucky it was two on one! If I was fighting one of you guys one on one, I would have won!"

"It's actually 'If I were' and not 'If I was'." Jasper said.

Linos's face gets mad. "Who cares!?"

"Well, I care."

Renee stops the argument. "Alright, stop!" She looks at Linos. "I should be beating you up myself for making me come out this way here." She walks up to him and kicks him in his legs.

Linos yells out and tries to stand up, but Florian and Jasper walk up behind him and push him back down.

"Anyways," Stella said. "Now that you have calmed down. Why did you come after these two here?" No response, so she turns to Renee. "You can have your way with him now."

Renee glares at Linos and throws an Ashen Spellbomb at him. The Spellbomb explodes into poppy red fire particles.

Linos takes the damage and screams out. "Fine! I'll talk!"

"Go on then." Stella said.

Linos looks at Florian and then back at Stella. "You see, that guy there!? He mentioned Damianos, so I got suspicious. Before he was chief, he was just a crab catcher, then someone came and offered to make him chief if he cooperated with them. So, when your friend said Damianos's name, I thought he was an enemy or something."

Stella is confused. "That's it? You thought he was an enemy because he said Damianos? There has to be more than that. Tell us more."

Linos looks down at the ground. "There are some people who weren't happy that Damianos was made chief, so I thought he was one of them. Then he and that guy tried to leave as quickly as possible, so I got more suspicious. And when I questioned them, they couldn't get their story straight. That made me even more suspicious."

"How was Damianos made chief?"

"Like I said before, someone came to him and offered to make him chief. Damianos said yes and the previous chief disappeared."

Stella's eyebrows raise. "Who was this person that made Damianos chief?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Damianos yourself… If you can beat him. You're better off just leaving this village now."

Renee scoffs. "We can take care of ourselves."

Linos glares at her. "I really hope you get to meet Damianos, he'll make you guys regret coming here."

"Was that a threat?"

Stella puts her hand on Renee's right shoulder. "We'll deal with that later." She turns back to Linos. "Speaking of your chief, is his house the one next to this building?"

Linos hesitates and then answers. "Yeah, that's his house."

"To get his attention, I'll destroy this building to get his attention."

Linos's eyes light up in surprise. "What?! You gotta be kidding!"

Stella shakes her head. "No, I never kid. You and those two guards there might want to run away now."

A Dark Spellbomb from Stella and a Fire Spellbomb from Renee were enough to destroy the small building. Linos could not believe what had just happened.

Feeling cold from the winter, Jasper requested the girls to take him to the clothing store. Florian also asked since he wanted to keep himself warm without using his Poison Midrash.

As soon as Stella and Renee were in front of the same clothing store, they were greeted by Cora as she was about to make her way out the door.

"Hey, girls!" Cora said. "I see that you got new clothes. I can't talk much right now. Apparently, the building next to my house got blown up. How did that happen? My dad will figure it out once he gets back. See you!" She immediately runs out the door.

Stella and Renee look at each other. The boys look at the girls in confusion.

"Someone you know?" Florian asked.

"She just said the building next to her house was blown up," Stella said. "Then she said her dad will figure it out once he returns. Do you guys get it?"

"Her dad is Damianos?"

"That's what I'm thinking." Stella answered. "Earlier, Renee and I met her and she said her dad owns this store and the crab restaurant."

"WOW!" Florian and Jasper said in surprise.

Stella thinks to herself for a few seconds. "Nothing to worry about. If anything, I would like to avoid her when we deal with Damianos."

"Alright then," Renee said and then looked at the boys. "In that case, you guys pick out your clothes and then we'll leave."

Florian and Jasper picked out jackets and long pants for the winter cold. Florian's was a black jacket and Jasper's was a white jacket. The pants were blue jeans.

"Oh!" Jasper said. "I forgot one of the chefs still has my Dagger."

Stella sighs. "Once again, you couldn't mention this earlier? Let's go get it."