A quarrel broke out between the people of the village.

"Hmm... this boy... he is the Heir of Wilberforce," said a young man.

An old man from the side turned angrily to look at the young man and said, "no, I don't think so. You're just too young to know how powerful the previous Heirs were. Look at him. His pol is just at 51. It's impossible. "

"Yes... that may be right," said the young man, "but the mark on his forehead is the same as the one we were shown."

The whole town was listening to the conversation and many voiced their opinions as well.

The village head cleared his throat. "Silence," he said, and the village fell silent. "Whether he is the Heir or not matters little now. This is a gift to our village from God. We just have to catch and sell him to one of the big nations. We will surely receive a great reward. Even if it later turns out he's not the real thing, we won't have a problem. At least, we won't regret it. But if he is the Heir and we let him slip away then we will regret it forever."

The villagers discussed among themselves, their eyes full of desire and greed.

Soon the majority of the villagers agreed with the village head. They began to move closer to Núsi and Armad, who still had his eyes closed.

Unlike Armad, Nusi had seen everything that was going on and had been trying to figure out how to get them out of the situation. Whatever she decided would be the fate of this man, because he couldn't protect himself now.

But something was bothering her about him. She just found out that he was an Heir of Wilberforce, a title feared by all, so did that mean he was a Wilberforce? Form her understanding the title could be taken by anyone, Wilberforce or not, and the criteria for becoming one wasn't clear. Perhaps that was why he was using Djinn to hide his real name.

Nusi sighed. Not only did Armad not trust her, but he kept lying and hiding things from her. He told her he wasn't a Djinn, but he refused to tell her his real name, or about the miyura on his forehead. So the best thing to do would be to leave him there and escape on her own. Then she wouldn't be involved in any of it.

But despite all this, she refused to listen to her heart. She wanted to help him even after knowing everything.

She looked at their attackers and realized the urgent need to decide now before it was too late, otherwise, both Armad and her could perish, because there was no way she could fight all the villagers alone.

She didn't have to save Armad, but she wanted to. It somehow felt inhumane to just leave him there after promising to take him with her. So she reached out and grabbed the red scarf Armad used to cover his forehead with. It was blown away a couple of minutes earlier by the smoke and was now falling toward the ground.

Holding the scarf in her hand, she grabbed Armad's hand and tried to drag him with her so they could flee. But Armad didn't budge. It felt like he was nailed there.

Seeing she was trying to escape, the villagers ran faster. Even those who didn't move at first started running toward her. Some of them were armed, some were not. They surrounded her.

Nusi reached into her veil and pulled an ayrid seed out. Unlike the one she gave to Armad to send messages home, this one was dark brown. It was about the size of an adult thumb, with a particular rugged surface that somehow made it look special. She dropped it on the ground, and it sank inside.

As it disappeared, the ground split and a miniature chariot made of light came out of the ground, right where the ayrid had sunk. It was at first the same size as the ayrid seed but it quickly expanded to the size of an adult fist.

At that time, the villagers took notice of it and they became agitated. They wanted to grab Nusi right there but then the chariot expanded so fast that it replaced the ground Nusi and Armad were standing on, in such a way that both Nusi and Armad were standing right inside it.

Nusi clasped her hands together, muttering some incantations.

Seeing what was happening, the villagers realized their chance was slipping away right in front of them. The village head released a battle cry and they responded by throwing the weapons in their hands. They wanted to injure her or at least interrupt her summoning, in an attempt to stop them from fleeing.

Just as two large spears coming from the left and several arrows coming from the right were about to impale them, and Nusi was trying hard to both defend them and not break her summoning, the chariot shone brightly.

At first, the light was limited, but it quickly expanded into a blinding sphere that covered both Nusi and Armad, creating a barrier of light between them and the villagers.

The villagers could no longer see them and they had to stop advancing. A few threw their weapons but they passed through the sphere of light unobstructed.

"Stop," the village head commanded. "Let's surround them. She must have summoned a protective barrier. It won't help her for long though."

So they surrounded them and waited.

After a while, the light began to diminish, before finally disappearing completely. But instead of them finding Nusi and Armad, they found a space. The duo was gone.

***

Throughout the events Armad remained in the same state of half-consciousness, so he didn't know what happened. Nusi looked at him and sighed. She needed to have a long conversation with him once he woke up. But for now, she needed to focus. Ayrid Bending was still foreign to her. Besides the basic dos and dont's, she didn't know what the risks were.

Her teacher gave her the ayrid. According to him, it was used to travel long distances in short periods, such as when a person was in danger. So she saved it intending to use it when she got into an accident that she couldn't escape from. She had no idea she would be escaping from a bunch of villagers.

While reciting the incantation for the Bend, she mentioned and imagined the kingdom of Mikironomada in her mind. So the chariot took them there, or at least somewhere close, a forest only a day's ride away from Mikironomada.

The ayrid had sucked all the Negrinki in her body, but it was still not enough to take them to the city, and hence they didn't reach the town and ended up being dropped in the middle of a forest.

Once the chariot stopped, Nusi felt dizzy and her vision blurred. She hit the ground in the next moment.

The duo laid there in the middle of a forest, unconscious and weak.

***

Back in the village, they left, the village head had gathered all his councilors and had decided not to let this opportunity go to waste. So they found skilled craftsmen and painted an image of Armad, including the mark on his forehead.

They sent messengers to the neighboring cities with Armad's paintings, to improve their relations with these major cities. At the same time, they announced that they were willing to sell paintings of Armad to any interested party.

***

On the fifth day after the chariot had abandoned them in the forest, Nusi woke up and found herself in a tent. Her body was covered with leaves and her head rested on a makeshift pillow. Armad sat by the side. When she woke up, he brought her some roasted meat and water. She took it without complaining.

After she calmed down, she turned around and looked at him angrily.

Armad didn't know what had happened in the village, but in the last five days, since he regained consciousness, he had been thinking hard about it. Of course, something must have happened in the village after he lost consciousness. The last thing he remembered was seeing the paper bearing the name Triple Factor.

Whatever had happened, he decided to ask Nusi about it once she woke up. But more than anything he needed her to trust him first. He would be accompanying her to her hometown so it would be disastrous if she didn't trust him. She would be his eyes and ears there even if it was just for a while. He had everything to gain by earning her trust.

"My name is Armad Wilberforce," he said. This would be a good first step to cultivating trust, he thought. "I'm a Wilberforce, all my family is."

He told her about his miyura and his name.

Hearing everything directly from him, Nusi fell silent, looking at the wall of the tent for a long time. Armad wondered why she was silent but he didn't interrupt her.

About half an hour later, she raised her head, her face showing no signs of anger at all, and looked at Armad. They shared an awkward stare for a while before she sighed and looked away.

"The Ururu identified you and the villagers saw your face," she said with a long-suffering sigh.

She went on and told him what happened in the village and how the black eyes had named him as an Heir of Wilberforce. Even he was surprised at the turn of events.

"Now, what are you doing?" She asked. "In my opinion, looking for Triple Factor isn't the most important thing for you now. No, your safety comes first. You too are being sought now. The world has been looking for the Heirs just like it has been looking for Triple Factor. Trust me, the difference is little."

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