On the next two floors, more clerks recognized them, despite not wearing any of their ionic armor. They were wearing casual-looking clothes that fit their little, short trip. Although Seth and the others were wearing casual-looking clothes, they were still items made by Neeco Boos, a master Tailor. They could easily rival a rare armor set in defensive stats. One could never be too careful.
The ninth floor was almost empty, as it housed the very few precious materials, potions, and relic-rated items they were willing to sell to outsiders. Also, because most of the relic items Minas Mar would hand to outsiders would be very expensive custom pieces from the hand of Wedan, Hoen, or recently also Neeco and Abel (? However, the goldsmith was called).
The epic and relic-rated items here were mostly the practice pieces of the newcomers who ended up being lucky when using epic materials. When they entered the almost empty floor, the entrance guarded by a massive golem on each side of the staircase, they saw a man in a fine suit, talking to a little girl licking a lollipop.
When the man heard their steps, he looked up. His face, soft and friendly just a moment ago while talking to the girl, distorted in an expression of great surprise.
“Tower Master!” he exclaimed unwittingly.
“Towa Masta? Is that the Towa Masta?” The little girl echoed him and looked at Seth, Fin, and Mina with big, round eyes full of expectation. She got off the chair she had been sitting on and daddled toward them.
Seth furrowed his brows when the little girl started walking towards them with wobbly steps.
“I assume you are the Manager? Can you explain what is going on here?” Seth asked, unsure how to react.
“My Lord, I don’t know either. This little girl suddenly came this morning and insisted on meeting the Tower Master. Since then, nobody came looking for her and we couldn't just throw her out.
We asked the guard to look for her parents or guardian, but we haven’t heard anything from them since then,” he explained helplessly.
Seth could hardly blame the man, to be unwilling to kick out a child barely able to walk or talk. Although little Sigma was much better and regained some of the civility of yesteryear, putting a small child on the street was not something a sane person would do.
The girl finally reached Seth’s trouser leg and held on for dear life. Now that he looked closer, he found that the girl was walking almost barefoot, with only a few dirty worn rags bound around her feet.
Her ankles and shins were bruised and better as if she walked and fell a lot in rough terrain and through thick thickets. Her hands also showed bruising from falling down. He looked at the manager, questioning. The man caught his look and its meaning.
“We already asked for a healer to come, but they have not arrived yet,” he said apologetically. Seth nodded and looked over to Fin. He wasn’t wearing the Golden Fleece, so he had to leave healing the girl to her.
“It’s warm...” She mumbled blissfully as the golden light of Fin's magic washed over her, closing all the wounds and healing all the bruises. When she was finished, she had even used <Lifestyle Magic> to clean the little girl up. All the while, the girl had never let go of his trousers.
“You are the Towa Masta, right? I'm Josie. Please help my aunty!” the child at once exclaimed, when it felt a little better.
“I guess, I am. But how am I supposed to help your aunty?
It followed a hard-to-comprehend explanation about how her aunt was stolen from her and that she had secretly listened to her father and his friend. She heard them talk about how powerful Minas Mar was and then she decided to come here and look for the master of that place.
"Josie, where did you come from?" Seth asked a little concerned. The way she looked and talked, it sounded like she had walked alone for quite a while. How did a single, little girl enter the city without any of the guards noticing her wandering alone?
"We came here with a caravan! Dad is a trader in a caravan and we are going to Delta," she said with a smile. If she came with a caravan, that would explain her condition...
"Did you run away from your dad to come here?" Mina asked
"I- I did, but don't tell dad... He will be angry," she suddenly said meekly, as if she only realized now, that what she had done was not right.
"And where is your dad right now?" the bard asked with a sweet voice.
"My dad is-" She suddenly looked shocked. "I-I don't know anymore. I don't know the way back anymore..." she whined and big tears appeared in her eyes. It really seemed like she had forgotten where her fathers caravan stayed and she wasn't just playing it so she didn't face to face her dad. It was a wonder she had managed to reach here.
"If you tell me your dad's name, I'm sure my friends can find him," the bard's warm voice soothed the child's crying. Seth wasn't good in dealing with children, but his skills as a bard, even a demonic one, helped a lot.
"My dad's name is Anthony, Anthony Moor," she said readily. " If you can ask people to find Dad, can't you also ask someone to save aunty?" she reminded him of her original business.
"I'm sorry, Josie. I'm not exactly good at saving people. But when we find your dad, I'm sure we can talk about a way to help your aunty," he appeased the child. He glanced at the manager who immediately went to work. Once they had the father's name it was a matter of moments to find the man.
After all, everyone who entered and left a Tree Station had to register with their status. This was a technology they had assimilated from Chrona and combined the administrative power of modern science. Like this, they knew who was in Little Sigma, what their official purpose was, and where they would stay.
Of course, this was not flawless, but in this case, they immediately knew where the caravan of her dad was staying and the guards were able to inform him 15 minutes later.
"My baby! Do you know how worried I was?!" a man looking like a beggar who had not slept in days cried out when he entered the floor 30 minutes after they knew his name. Crying snot and tears grabbed his daughter in a tight embrace. "Why would you suddenly run away like that?" he whined.
"I heard this place is de Towa Masta's so I came here. You said the Towa Masta can help aunty," she pressed out, enduring her loving parent's iron-tight embrace.
"But that doesn't mean he would be here, Josie. Even if he was, he wouldn't come out to meet some little girl," he soothed her, kissing her forehead.
"But the Towa Masta is here and he talked to me!" she countered, pointing at Seth in his casual clothing, standing at the side. Seth only waved at him lightly, hearing his cue. The trader stopped moving, staring at him like a deer in the headlights.
The blacksmith was a little preoccupied with what he had just heard. This all seemed like too much of a coincidence. The little girl heard about this place and came here on the same day he randomly decided to visit. The bard glanced at his status. Was his decision really random?
<Compulsive Precognition> was a mysterious ability that would passively influence his desires and actions. Like when animals flee from a storm, even if they can't see the lightning yet. If it was not coincidence, but the ability at work, then this meeting could be more important than he expected.
Of course, he could be wrong about this and it was nothing, but it never hurt to make sure. At first he suspected this to have something to do with Gamma, since that somehow came to be the big topic in society. However, he was wrong.
"M-my name is Anthony Moor, and I'm part of a caravan that travels the unclaimed Mountains," the man introduced himself when he finally processed the situation. He was not from Gamma, he came not from Gamma and he was not on the way to Gamma.
The unclaimed mountains. He had never had any business there ever since setting up Minas Mar, but Mike was currently traveling there. The moment Mike went there he suddenly met the daughter of a trader from there? This meeting seemed even less like a coincidence now.
"Hello, Anthony, I'm Seth Smith, the Tower Master of Minas Mar. These are Fin and Mina and this is-" he didn't know the name of the manager, so he just wordlessly pointed at the man, waiting for him to introduce himself.
"Bronson, I'm the manager of the Turquoise Anvil in Little Sigma" Bronson introduced himself.
"So, Anthony, tell me why your daughter thinks that only I can save her aunty?" Seth asked the important question.
"That is, erm," he glanced at Josie sitting on his lap.
"Josie, how about you go and Play with Fin and Mina, while I talk to your dad?" the bard asked in a sweet voice after asking the two telepathically for the favor.
"Now that your daughter left, tell me your story," the Tower Master demanded. If this meeting really was the result of <Compulsive Precognition>, then Mike could be in danger if he didn't listen.
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