Lucas then spots the bench he, and Ashly are supposed to meet at. As he approaches he spots Ashly who just arrived to the area with a piece of paper. Did he just do all of this in just barely 30 minutes? It's very absurd, but Robert was very confident so he can't be to surprised.
"Hey Ashly, I'm here so don't leave I made it in time." Lucas says as he waves to Ashly who turns and spots Lucas. Ashly then crumbles the piece of paper and throws it away.
"I found a place Lucas, it's 20 metal coins for each person for a night." Ashly says as she hands Lucas back some money. "I know it's expensive, but I couldn't find any other place."
"Yeah thanks Ashly." Lucas counts the money, and Ashly was right he is now missing 40 metal coins. "That doesn't matter any more because of something I found out." Lucas says with a smile.
"I know where the man lives, and his name is Philip. Alright I don't know exactly where he lives, but I do know where to find him." Lucas says.
"Wow that's very impressive Lucas, to think that you found this out in just 30 minutes. Maybe I underestimated you a bit too much." Ashly says which Lucas looks up at her. "I'm just messing with you Lucas." Ashly says.
"Oh thats great to hear." Lucas says as he contiplates to say that he got help by Robert. No he won't tell her as it's not really important information, and she wouldn't care at all if he did tell her.
"Now show me where this place you rented, it's already quite late." Lucas says and Ashly guides Lucas passed some people still celebrating. Most people will be asleep when then moon is out, but some people specially in this festival stay up until dawn.
They finally make it to where Ashly decided to rent and it's decent. It's on the second floor of a hotel, and doesn't seem to terrible other than it's price.
"The next morning we will check this place again. You might have to wait a bit as I don't know when he arrives, but it's safe to be early." Lucas says as he looks outside the window. The view is clear, and he spots some drunk people singing together and laughing.
"I don't want to go Lucas, I just don't want to be in an area full of jerks." Ashly said as she thinks about the rich place, people who can eat anything they want whenever they want.
"Don't worry Ashly, we won't enter the place as we will wait outside. Once I meet the guy I'll make sure we walk away with him." Lucas says but Ashly still isn't convinced as she might ruin the mood.
It's the next morning, and Lucas has woken up much earlier than Ashly. This is the first time he has woken up before her. Although he slept much less than usual he seems very energetic and a bit happy.
He seems a bit to relaxed for what had a happend to him just a month ago. Lucas checks on Ashly who is still sleeping, and decides to not disturb her. He then leaves the place and returns to the center.
Lucas approaches the same guard that stopped him before. "Hey do you know when this man Philip might return?" Lucas asks as he shows him the photo.
"I'm sorry to say this, but he won't return today." The guard said which confuses and concerns Lucas a bit.
"Oh that's not good." Lucas says a bit disappointed. "Do you know where he is staying by any chance?" Lucas asks the guard.
"Oh I believe he said something about staying on the west side of the district. It's more further away from the center that's all I know." The guard said.
"Oh thank you for your help sir." Lucas says as he leaves, he begins to walk a bit faster, and passes by a bunch of people. He spots an area that seems to be selling a bunch of food. "Maybe I should bring Ashly here ones I'm done." Lucas says to himself.
There are a bunch of people already outside, the festival has already. It's early in the morning, and yet people are already beginning to drink again. Lucas runs passed them, and wonders if they slept outside or not.
Lucas then stops in his tracks as he spots a bunch of children outside. Since it was the morning it was relatively safe for kids to be out without their parents as long as they were in a group.
Lucas notices a few performances that he hasn't seen before. These must be specifically for kids as they are absolutely mesmerized by them. Many activities and performances are done on specific time periods so the morning performances are kid friendly.
Lucas can't help but smile as he watches the kids having fun. "Hey mister, why are you missing part of your ear?" A kid said as Lucas turns around.
Lucas immediately covers his ear. "I got it due to some accident a while ago." Lucas says as he begins to leave immediately, feeling a bit ashamed of his injury.
Lucas then begins to think on what Philip would think of him if he saw his ear. Would he treat him much differently if he didn't have such injury? Lucas shakes his head and tries to forget about it, he keeps on walking.
Lucas finally arrived to the west side of Ethneal, it's much larger than he expected. He can skip half of the west side that's nearest to the center. He looks at the furthest place and realizes, he might spend half the day just knocking on each place if the man decided to stay in his room.
Lucas walks to the first house, and knock on the door. He waits for a while and then knocks again, and no one is there so he moves to the next one. He does this for six houses in the row and no luck. He then spots a young man outside smoking and he approaches him.
"Hey sir, do you by any chance know where this man lives?" Lucas shows the man the photo of Philip ."I need to do some business with him and I can't find him." Lucas says.
"Oh that old man, gosh how the days have did him no good." The young man says as he stares at the photo. "Of course I know where he is, you see the house near that tree covered in red paint. It's three hours to its right, you will find him there if he has stayed home of course." The man said.
"Thank you sir, this is very helpful." Lucas says as he walks to the house, and it's quite big. He approaches the house, and knocks on the front door a bit nervous. He is nervous for two reasons, and one of them is that he isn't there at all. What if he left to do some activities, and for how long would he have to wait.
The second reason is if he does open the door, what will he himself do first. Would he have small talk or would he ask immediately about why he came here in the first place. It's been many years since the man bought his parents farm so it wouldn't be surprising if he has forgotten already.
Lucas then knocks on the door again and waits for a little bit. Maybe he isn't at home at the moment, and as he is leaving the front door begins to unlock. "May I know of why you knocked on my front door?" Lucas heard the voice of an old man.
"Young man is there something you need from me?" Lucas turns and there he is, the old man who he has been trying to find all this time. His hair is white and he seems to2 lively for someone his age. "Now don't be shy, if you don't have something to say than I'm closing the door." Philip said.
Lucas then musters his courage and says. "I've been meaning to see you for years sir. I'm glad I'm finally here face to face with you, my name is Lucas. I'm the son of two farmers who you bought the land from many years ago."
Philip then smiles. "Ah, I remember that day clearly. Why are you here then, do you want to buy the land back if I'm asking?" He says.
"Yeah that's the reason I came here in the first place." Lucas says. "I'm here to buy back my parents farm, and I'm willing to negotiate with you."
——-
Meanwhile Ashly has woken up as she hears the front door close. It must have been Lucas who has just left, Ashly struggles to get out of bed. "You dumb bastard, why can't you help me out Lucas." Ashly says to herself.
She can't help but feel a bit down today, her arms feel very heavy, and she just doesn't seem motivated to leave the bed at all. Ashly hears a bunch of cheers outside already, she doesn't want to go outside but she has to.
Ashly begins to leave the front door, and as she barely manages to do so, "If you were going to force yourself to go outside anyways. You should of went with Lucas, why am I so stupid?"
Ashly then enters the streets, and has a little walk in hopes to regain some energy. As she walks she spots an old lady sitting, by herself on a bench. Ashly turns around and begins to walk the opposite way. She then stops and thinks for a bit, if she wants to prove Lucas that she can chance then by giving this old lady some company could be a start.
Ashly decides to walk up to the lady to prove to Lucas she is a better person now. "Hey old lady, I see that you're alone, and I'm wondering if you need some company?" Ashly says to her.
"Oh what a pretty looking young lay I'm seeing right now." The old lady says as she sees Ashly. "Now why aren't you smiling at all since it's a wonderful day to be here? I can see that you aren't frowning either so it must mean that you are disturbed right now."
"You're right, I'm not feeling so well because of something." Ashly says as she sits next to the old lady. How can someone be so happy when her life is just near her end.
"I'm sorry that you're having some hard time, but I'm thankful that you're here. I'm glad a lovely girl is giving this old lady some company." The old lady says with a bigger smile.
"I'm so sorry for bringing this gloomy atmosphere towards you." Ashly says but she notices how the old lady can see through her little lie. "Sorry for lying to you. I'm actually not that sad that I'm bringing such energy to you." Ashly says.
"Hey, do you want to hear the story about Ceborati, the man who made all of this possible?" The old lady asked Ashly.
"No it's fine, I already heard it from my friend yesterday. I remember most of it so I don't need a reminder." Ashly said.
"Oh silly dear, that's the story the government wants you to believe." The old lady said which catches Ashly's attention. "You see I know the true story of the man, and let me tell you it's more interesting than you might think."
"Alright then, you caught my attention. Tell me the true story of this man if you're telling the truth." Ashly said with a smirk.