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Javauni Samuels

*******************

The next day at dawn, as I went down to the kitchen I saw Julia with swollen and red eyes preparing breakfast.

Last night she slept in Ragnar's room so as not to disturb Mia.

But I guess seeing her mother crying affected her too because she came to sleep with me. She seemed to understand that she shouldn't bother her mother, but she didn't want to be alone.

Now, I am in front of the military academy and militia barracks.

I go up to one of the guards and ask to speak to Joaquín. It's still very early in the morning, I hope he's already at the barracks because I don't know where his house is.

After a few moments, Joaquín appears at the door.

When he sees me, his eyes widen in surprise. But he immediately pulls himself together and invites me to walk away from the barracks with him.

I follow him without saying anything, waiting for us to get somewhere where we can talk calmly.

"What are you doing here?!" he asks in a nervous voice when we've gone a long way.

"Looking for you" I say, resigning myself to speak in the middle of the street "We need you. Ragnar has disappeared when he went to help a friend and we don't know his condition. Yesterday we received a letter from him telling us to look for you. It said that you would know what to do "

"Shit..." says Joaquín, stopping in his tracks "come, let's go somewhere with fewer people. I want you to tell me everything you know, but this is not the place to talk about these things"

We head to a small, less crowded alley and, after walking a little more, Joaquín opens the door of one of the houses.

Inside there is a small room with a table, four chairs, and a kitchen. On one of the sides, there is a staircase that goes up to a second floor.

"This is my house, as you already imagined. Come, sit down and tell me everything from the beginning" he says, pointing to one of the chairs and sitting at the table.

I explain what happened, and hand him the letter Ragnar received from his friend.

When Joaquín finishes listening to the story, disbelief and concern mix on his face.

"Shit, what an idiot!" he finally says "how could he risk leaving his daughter and granddaughter alone like that. And, for of the immeasurable mysteries of the labyrinth! Why didn't he communicate this letter to me from the beginning? Now I'm afraid that by the time I have a squad ready, it will be too late for him… assuming he's still alive."

"What do you mean? Can't you go help him right away?" I ask hastily, concerned.

"no" he says, and his voice sounds like a death sentence "normally when we get these types of letters we send a squad of 3 or 4 people to deal with the situation, but... Ragnar is an experienced veteran, when he was in the army he was one of the strongest and most capable. If he failed to take care of whatever was going on in that town, I don't think a normal squad would be enough to solve the problem. I have to prepare a special group and that would take me at least a week, since the people I have in mind may be busy"

"And can't you and I go along with 4 other people to take care of it? Ragnar needs help now, not in a week" I say, desperate.

"We can't, I'm sorry" says Joaquín, dismayed "Ragnar's friend's letter only mentions the occasional disappearance of cattle. That suggests that the problem is small groups of bandits or monsters since, if they were larger groups they would directly attack the village... I guess Ragnar came to that conclusion and that's why he decided to go alone but… given the result of his mission, it is certain that the problem is much more serious than it seems"

*******

Appalled at Joaquin's limitations and worried about Ragnar, I wander the streets towards Ozy's shop.

I don't know what I'm going to say to Julia when I get home. I need to think and I need someone to talk to about what I think, and I don't know anyone better than Ozy to tell him my problems.

I get to the store and ask Ozy if we can hang out in the back for a bit of a chat.

My face must reflect how I feel because he accepts without asking questions. He invites me to a simple room with a table and a few pieces of furniture and we sit at the table.

I tell him the story, and while I do, Ozy listens intently.

"And that's why I don't know what I should do, what do you think?" I say, hoping that Ozy will help me out with one of his insightful comments, even though they almost always relate to alchemy.

"As I see it, the answer is simple, what do you want to do?" he simply says.

"What do you mean?" I ask, puzzled "I would like to go help him, I already told you, but then I think about what Joaquín told me and I don't know if I can do anything being alone"

"Hmm, I see the problem..." he says, taking a hand to his chin, with a thoughtful gesture "you're focusing it wrong, kid. There are things that are decided with this" he says, pointing to my head "and others with this" he adds, pointing to my chest "you have to leave the matters of the heart, to the heart, and those of the head to the head. What do you think? should you try to solve the problem of whether you should help a friend with your heart or with your head?"

"With my heart, I guess," I say, with a half-smile.

"And do you think you can be of help to your friend?" Ozy asks, watching my expression.

"Well, if you think about what Joaquin said…" I start to say, but he cuts me off with a gentle pat on the side of the head.

"Don't think! Feel! You can help him, yes or no?" he asks, looking at me seriously.

"Yes" I say, because that's what I feel, even if it doesn't make much sense.

"Well, problem solved!" Ozy says tersely, clapping his hands to emphasize his exclamation.

"Thanks for the advice, Ozy" I say, smiling despite the concern for Ragnar's problem, due to the happiness of being able to count on his wisdom.

"You're welcome, that's what friends are for... But now that you've decided, it's time to plan everything, and for that, you have to make use of this" he says, tapping my head "because you're going to get into it in a dangerous matter, I'm going to give you some of my toys. They won't solve your problem, but they will help you if you're in danger" he says and, opening a cabinet drawer, he takes out what appear to be 6 wooden balls, and three greenish-black potions, and leaves them on the table "these are some smoke bombs" he says as he points to the three 6 balls. Two of each type, you can distinguish them by the color of the buttons, green for the toxic smoke, orange for the hallucinogen smoke, and pink for the sleeping smoke"

"Yes, I see" I say, looking at the little buttons. Then I ask "what about the potions?

"Wait, we'll get to that. These bombs have an area of ​​effect of 10 meters in all directions. The toxic smoke can kill a person in a minute if the person stays in place. The effect of the sleeping smoke is similar to the numbing poisons vials that I gave you before but much more powerful. And the hallucinogen can make a father kill his son in a matter of seconds without blinking, and seconds later start digging in the ground like a dog. To use them you need to press the button and, while doing so, rotate the upper half… do you see the line that divides the two parts of the bomb?" he says pointing to a place on its surface. I nod and he continues talking "Be very careful when using them. You have ten seconds to launch them when you activate their mechanism. After that time, the bomb will start releasing smoke in large quantities"

"I understand" I say, looking at the spheres with some caution and putting them in the inventory in a hurry, to avoid the possibility of activating them by mistake.

"And now let's talk about this" he says pointing to the vials with the dark liquid "this is what I call a witcher's elixir...