365 Catching Up
It was indeed as Jean surmised - the orange-skinned blonde lad was Furion. It was a pleasant surprise for her, to meet someone familiar from the Sect after so many months. As she was about to approach him, the boy raised a finger as a signal for her to hold on and continued his loud narration.
"As I was saying. The True World Sect is looking to recruit new members on short notice. Our primary criterion is that the members must be visually impaired - preferably completely blind - and in their early teens," Furion said from his diaphragm, allowing his voice to reach the farthest reaches of the village from its centre.
As he finished and dismounted from atop his caravan, murmurs started to proliferate in the crowd.
"Why would a Sect want blind kids?" One of the members of the crowd vocalised. "This is the first we're ever hearing of Sect preferring the disabled. Sounds highly suspicious if you ask me."
Furion let out an irritated huff through his nose and said, "What you have before you is an opportunity. I get the inhibitions and distrust you have towards Sect, given the nasty rumours that follow everything extraordinary that comes out of them. But the True World Sect is different-"
"That's what they all say!" Another member bellowed animatedly. He then turned to the rest of the gathered crowd and said, "Do you remember what happened to Sion's son who joined the Soaring Sabre Sect? The boy came back a shell of his former self just within five months."
That revelation elicited a much louder discussion with more negative terms being thrown about.
"The True World Sect will support the relocation of the family of any member that joins them-"
But once again, Furion was interrupted by the same animated member, "Oh?! So destroying the future of a child isn't enough, now you want to put the family on the scale as well?"
"Sir, it seems there is a misunderstanding-"
"Oh, I understand everything perfectly!" The man shot back with righteous fury. "You Sect scum think nothing of us mortals and think you can take advantage-"
At that moment, a woman rushed into the crowd and struck the man at the back of his head with a rolling pin.
"Now you've gone and done it! You just HAD to offend a Sect, as if we already didn't have enough enemies," the woman scolded.
"What do you think you are doing, woman?!" The man snapped back.
She hit him once again with the pin on his back this time and quickly bowed in Furion's direction. "Please forgive this idiot for speaking out of line. He suffers from a mental illness-"
Furion raised a palm and spoke to the entire crowd. "I can empathise with the distrust you all hold towards sects- mages in general. However, what I've said is the truth. The True World Sect is offering visually impaired teens an opportunity to pursue the arcane arts. Needless to say, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that may not come again. Any child recruited will have benefits extending to their families as well. If you want to learn more about it, you can approach me anytime while I remain in this village."
He then turned towards Jean and said, "If you require testimonials to ease your hesitance, then I ask you to approach one of the founding members of our Sect, Jean Rasmus."
Once this was revealed, all the heads in the crowd turned in her direction simultaneously.
"Physician Jean?"
"She was part of a Sect?"
"I remember the little child that always followed her say something about that. Some 'Truth Sect'-"
"True World Sect! It's the True World Sect."
"Whatever~!"
Just as the crowd started to rush towards her, she raised both her hands and yelled, "Halt!"
She then cleared her throat and said, "I- Umm... Need to talk with my colleague first, since it's been more than half a year since we last met. I'll be at the inn later today, let us carry on from there?"
She then swiftly strafed away and beelined towards Furion, who had conveniently disappeared from the scene.
____
"Hiding, are we?" Jean growled as she approached Furion's table at the inn. "That too, after dropping the hot potato into my hands."
"It was more convenient. It would take me an entire week to convince a crowd that the True World Sect means no harm," Furion admitted while gesturing towards the empty eat near him. "I ordered lunch. Where's Kili?"
"I'm here," Kili said with a sigh, causing Furion to jolt in his seat.
"We really need to tie a bell around you," Furion mumbled. "Anyway, you probably have more credibility with these folk than I do. How long were you here?"
"A week, give or take a few days," Jean responded.
"Well, you should be positively drowning in goodwill at this point. If you asked them to cut off a toe, they'd do it without question," Furion said with a mirthful snort.
"Why would I ask them to do that?" Jean shot back with a scowl.
"It's not about whether you will do it or not, but rather CAN you do it," he elaborated while leaning on the table. "Regardless, I need you to get a few blind kids for the Sect."
"You treat them like merchandise!" Jean snapped.
"It isn't my job to recruit people for the Sect!" Furion argued back. "Look it's short notice, and the Sect Leader has big plans so-"
He waved his hands as if to encourage her to fill in the blanks.
"Did he succeed in making the wand for Yohn?" Jean probed.
"Not the Sect Leader," Furion said with a shake of his head. "Shuri did."
"Shuri?"
"Yeah, the girl has been on the rise," Furion explained. "She advanced into the Foundation Establishment realm- You know what? You've missed a lot of developments."
"I guess so," Jean mumbled in contemplation. "No matter, another Foundation Establishment mage in our ranks only works to raise the Sect's value."
"You don't sound very convincing," Furion said with a chuckle.
"Shuri is suspicious," Jean admitted. As the waitress arrived with the platter of food, Jean paused and served Kili a serving of rice and vegetables.
"You know I'm good with faces, right?" Jean asked rhetorically. "The thing is, I've seen that face before-"
21:32
"Markus did say that she was probably from some highborn household," Furion chimed in.
before-"
"Markus did say that she was probably from some highborn household," Furion chimed in.
"-in the Palace," Jean finished.
"What?" Furion blurted out, choking on a mouthful of food. "Not just anyone can join in on a Palatial celebration. She is THAT highborn?"
"That's what I suspect," Jean answered with a light nod.
"Now THAT is a hot potato," Furion commented before digging in.
"Doesn't it bother you?" Jean asked Furion. "You're behaving far too casually given the magnitude of what I just said."
"Whatever her background may be, it's not going to affect the Sect," Furion declared.
"How can you be-"
But Jean's words halted as a realisation dawned on her. She then shared a glance with Furion.
""Marie..."" the two said, simultaneously.
After a short pause, Jean took a bite of her food and said, "There aren't any visually impaired teens in this village."
"Damn it!" Furion cursed angrily.
"But there were a few in the town northwest from here," Jean added. "A fraud physician hawked a supplement for pregnant women, saying that it would improve the chances of a successful pregnancy. Unfortunately, the supplement was faulty and caused the children of those pregnant mothers to be born blind."
"That's awful!" Furion exclaimed.
"I had a tough time getting them to trust me," Jean followed up. "BUT, I did the leg work for you, so you should have an easier time convincing them to let their kids join the Sect. Make sure to use my name."
"That does make my life easier," Furion agreed. "So what's your plan? When are you planning to return?"
"Soon," Jean responded vaguely.
Furion hummed for a while before tapping the table with his fingertips. "Did I tell you about my relationship with Milanya?"
"The daughter of the Minister of Finance?"
"The one and the same," Furion confirmed before resting his chin on his hand that was propped on the table before him. "So basically, there's been some talks moving along the governmental grapevine, very hush-hush. She happened to catch a bit of it as she was stalking around her father's study."
"I think that's enough background information," Jean interjected.
Furion furrowed his brows and revealed, "The Plague of Dark Cleansing has been eradicated, and the lands are now green again."
Jean's hand, which carried the wooden spoon with her food on it, paused.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jean said with a stutter. "It's not like I cured the damn thing."
Furion's face crumpled even more before he said, "I didn't even consider that possibility. I was just telling you this because you and the Plague had a history."
"Oh-"
"But seeing your reaction right now, I think you DO have something to do with it," Furion probed as he inched closer.
Jean shook her head vigorously and immediately denied the accusations, "N-No I don't!"
"Hmm," Furion voiced with sarcasm. "Sure."
"I'm telling the truth!" Jean reiterated vehemently.
Furion turned to Kili, whose mouth was engorged with food and asked, "Is she telling the truth?"
Kili swallowed her mouthful of food and said with a serious expression, "Big Sis told me not to say anything about curing the Plague of Dark Cleansing. So please don't ask me that question."
"It's okay," he said with a light chuckle. He turned towards Jean and continued, "I think I know enough."
He then dabbed his lips with his kerchief and stood up from his seat.
"Well, I have some work to do. The food's on my tab, so have some more if you want. And Jean," he paused while looking at her and tapped her shoulder. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
Word Count: 1677
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