Myra and the Arcadian Lord

20. Beggar man

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Song Recommendation: Time by Hans Zimmer. 
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Theodore and leonard got down from the carriage and told the coachman to wait for them there. The bootleg market was just a kilometer away from the horlicks street. Half way through their walk into the horlicks street, both Theo and Leo, parted their ways.

"See you later", said leonard before turning to walk away.

Theodore gave a slight nod. "Goodluck"

Leonard turned and headed towards the narrow alley that led to the bootleg market. With him being a member of the Ministry's investigation department, he was assigned an undercover mission at that market. His team had recently got a tip that the dark witches were illegally buying the dried roots of Incantia, from the market and are planning to mass infect the demons with it.

Incantia is a deadly plant, whose roots turns out to be fatal to the demons if consumed, even in a smaller quantity.

The Ministry had banned the growth of that plant in all the five lands several years ago, as it tends to burn all the vital organs of the demons, one by one. Leading to their death within  fifteen minutes of it's consumption.

Unlike the pseudoborns and the falseborns, the trueborn demons comparatively do show a little more resistance to the poison. Max to max they can survive for a day, before they too succumb to death. Unfortunately, the Incantia poison doesn't have an antidote. Death is the only way out.

Lord Theodore on the other hand, didn't go with his cousin to the market as most of the people knew his identity and him going with Leonard would only hinder the investigation. So he just decided to wander around the streets, in search of a beggar man.

A few people who had recognised the Lord, bowed to him with respect, while a couple of them exchanged curious glances, as if wondering why the lord was walking on the streets like a commoner and Theo walked ahead, ignoring everyone.

Theodore would often disguise himself, by wearing worn out clothes and shoes, making himself look like a poor human man whenever he didn't want to attract any attention from the villagers. By doing so, nobody would notice him and it would be easier for him to observe people around without alerting them.

But today is different, he was out in his true self. Wearing a well stitched suit, on which he had on a dark brown double-sided cashmere coat made of the finest quality. His leather shoes was neatly polished and in his wrist he had worn one of the costliest watch. Looking at his confident strides and powerful aura, anybody could tell that he was the man who held the utmost authority in their land.

Theodore found the beggar man he had been searching for sitting in front of a store, looking extremely weak and tired. People passing by, would either look at the man with pity or with disgust. Some would throw a coin or a two at him while the others would just ignore him.

Lord Theodore, walked towards him and dropped a gold coin into his money bowl and that had the old man looking up at the lord with wide eyes. It was very rare for a beggar man to receive a gold coin just like that.

Putting both his hands inside his coat pockets, Theodore walked away casually without sparing another glance at the man.

The old beggar, waited for a few minutes before getting up from his spot and slowly he started walking in the direction the lord had gone in. At first, he limped feebly to keep up the appearance, but as he reached the deserted corner, he straightened up and started walking properly.

He saw the Lord, leaning against a wall of an old, dirty building. Playing with small pebbles.

"My Lord", bowed the old man low, with respect.

Theodore merely turned to look at him, but nodded his head curtly saying, "Fred".

"Did you find out?"  Theodore asked as he entertained himself by juggling the three pebble stones.

"Y-Yes, my Lord" replied the beggar man, taking out a piece of paper from the pocket of his ragged shirt and handed it over to Theodore. "I have noted down their names in this list".

Theodore dropped the pebbles and took the paper. He carefully unfolded it and quickly scanned through the contents, before folding it back and placing it securely in his trouser pocket.

"Good work, Fred!", he patted the old man's shoulders before walking away.

Fred, was a spy, hired by the Arcardian Lord to watch on the people visiting the Horlicks street and to keep an eye on any kind of shady business happening in the background without the ministry's notice. His task was to just sit in the corner of a street without drawing too much attention towards himself and to observe all kinds of people coming and going, doing their shoppings and report it to the Lord directly if he finds anything fishy.

Just like Fred, Lord Theodore had assigned many such spies all over the Arcardian land, to give him updates on everything that is happening in his land.

Theo, then went back to the spot where his coachman and the carriage was waiting. Leonard was not back yet, so he instructed the coachman to drop him off to the ministry and come back again to pick his cousin.

In the meantime, Amyra was feeling bored staying at the Mansion. At first she explored the House, but after her encounter with the Lord's pet Oreo, she was scared to go around any more.

'Who knows what other wild animal the Lord has kept locked up in his home', she thought.

She was sitting in one of the chairs in the living room, lost in her own thoughts. When a maid came inside holding a tray in her hands.

The maid placed the tray on the table in front of her, and bowed. "I have bought a glass of lemonade and some snacks for you, My lady".

Myra looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you" she said, picking up the glass. "And please do call me Myra".

She was tired of telling everyone in here to call her by her name, instead of using 'My Lady'. Amyra too was an ordinary person just like them and she didn't want to be treated like a royalty. According to her, she had done nothing to deserve this kind of a luxury.

The maid, bowed at her again and turned to walk away, leaving her alone. "Wait" Myra called out.

"Yes, Lady Myra?" said the maid, "Do you need anything else?"

Myra sighed, 'again Lady!'. But decided not to comment any further on this matter.

"Umm.. Is there any household work that I can help you with?" asked Myra instead. She was not used to sitting idle like this all day. She too wanted to do something productive.

The Maid widened her eyes, shaking her head. "No!, Lady Myra".

Myra pouted, "Please, there has to be something that I can do? I am really bored here".

Before the maid could reply, the butler entered the room. "Milady, you are his Lord's guest and making you work is not something that the Lord would appreciate".

Myra sighed. "But I'm getting bored", she complained.

Alvin dismissed the maid, and pondered for a while before saying, "Would you like to read a book, Milady?"

Amyra, exhaled again. Even though she liked reading books, that too would require her to sit in one spot lazily, without doing any physical work.

"Can't I do any cleaning work? or any simple task would do". She asked expectantly, "I can even cook".

Alvin firmly shook his head in a negative, "Shall I lead you to the library, Lady Amyra?"

She sighed in defeat and nodded her head slightly. What other option did she have, since the butler was adamant enough not to let her help in the household chores. Silently she followed the butler to the library.