With chatter from the guards and their footsteps echoing in the sleeping alleyway, I moaned and moved around in the hay a bit. But as the chatter and footsteps got louder near the house, I opened my eyes and tried to get them readjusted for a clearer vision.

Sitting up from the hay, I turned to where that noise was coming from and I saw three guards stopping near my and Gideon's house. The fire torch emitted its light in its surroundings.

"Okay, let's go search for the princess," One of the guards said. "She has to be here somewhere."

"Yeah, can you believe she ran away from home? King Marcus must've been worried sick about her," another guard agreed.

A runaway princess?!

A couple of memories of Melonia and visions from my dreams flashed in my mind, whenever I thought of her. Realizing that woman from my dreams was actually her, I wondered if that runaway princess was here.

"And once we find her, we'll receive one hundred golden coins and we'll each get thirty-three golden coins each," the third guard said.

One hundred golden coins?! That's enough money to get the hell out of poverty! Just me and Gideon. We'll get, like, fifty golden coins each if we found the princess! That's right! No more poverty, no more stealing! That would be a lot of fun.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. Let's hurry up and find her," the first guard said.

"Right!" The second and third guard said as they searched for the missing princess all over the alleyway.

While the guards checked the area, I laid back on the hay in silence and pretended to be sleeping. I didn't want the guards to find out I was listening in on their conversation. After that, they left the area. I rose up from the hay and immediately turned to Gideon.

Okay, time to wake up Gideon. This is my opportunity to get us both out of homelessness.

I headed my way towards Gideon and shook him up, calling his name. Gideon moaned and moved around in the hay but didn't bother getting up.

Once I shook Gideon harder and called his name two more times, he finally got up and turned to me. "Hmm? What is it, Mike?"

"I heard the guards claiming that the princess went missing and the reward for her return is one hundred gold coins!" I exclaimed in my lower voice.

Gideon sat up with his widened, shocked eyes. "One hundred golden coins?!"

"That's right! One hundred golden coins!" I repeated with a smile.

"That's our ticket out of poverty!"

"That's right! And once we capture her, we'll both have fifty golden coins each. What do ya say?"

Gideon stood up from the ground and stood behind me. "Well, count me in, Mike! What are we waiting for?! Let's go find the missing princess!"

"I know, right?!"

As soon as I left the building, Gideon followed my lead for the first time. Since it was curfew, we had to hide from not only the guards but also from members of the local adventure guild. There was no way to trust those people since they wanted the money for themselves-all of it, so we had to compete for it fast before they or the guards found the missing princess.

We searched the plurality of the kingdom, but with no success. Basilia has to be one of the largest kingdoms all over Mysteria.

"Goddamn, finding the missing princess is a lot tougher than it looks," I complained with a frown while I searched for her with Gideon.

"Yes, that is quite true," Gideon agreed, "It really is difficult to find her in this large kingdom."

Damn, how big is this freakin' kingdom anyway?! How many areas do we have to search for her here?!

"Halt! Who goes there?!" A man's voice echoed behind us.

Gideon and I stopped moving and turned around with footsteps echoing behind us. Shivering, we widened our eyes when we spotted two guards walking towards us.

"Why are you two out here this late at night?" One of the guards asked while carrying the torch.

"You see, sirs, we're looking for a missing princess," I responded.

Those guards gave me their suspicious looks on their faces. "And why are you guys searching for her all the sudden? Do you guys know her or something? Or even work at the guild?" Another guard questioned.

"Uh, sort of…" I answered when Gideon and I turned our faces towards one another for a moment, then back at the guards.

"'Sort of?' Just what do you mean by that?" The other guard questioned.

"We don't know her but I think I did save her life," I answered.

"You think?" One of the guards requested when picking his eyebrow at me in confusion.

"Yea, I saved her life from a couple shady people in the alleyway. Her name was Melonia."

"Melonia?" The other guard and his colleague looked each other in the eye and chuckled, then back at us. "There was no such person named Melonia in the Basilian Royalty."

"Look, you two," One of the guards asked after he stopped laughing, "You should be heading back home for your own safety, okay? Right now, this is strictly only people who know her or those who work at the adventurer's guild, okay?"

"But, sir. I-" I cried with a frown on my face.

"Nobody's allowed to leave outside at night. It's too dangerous, alright?" Another guard pleaded with his palm raised up in the air.

"But-" I tried to explain one more time before I saw one guard pull out his sword from his shaf, making me lean back a bit. Gideon just calmly stood still and stared at those soldiers, without displaying any fear in his eyes.

"Look, I'm not going to tell you again, you!" One guard roared with his teeth gritted. "Either you go back home or I'm going to have you killed under the king's decree. Do you both understand?!"

Ghesh! Is that really necessary?! Threatening to kill us with a sword just for refusing to go home?!

"Yes, sir. We will both head home now," Gideon said to the guards before he turned back to me. "C'mon, Mike. Let's go back home."

I reluctantly shook my head to Gideon and followed him back home, as it was no use arguing with the guards any further, watching the guards stare at us. One guard finally pushed his sword back in his shaf and turned the other way, with his colleague following his lead.

After watching the guards leave the area, I stopped moving and turned back around. "Okay, Gideon. Looks like we're in the clear," I whispered with my head turning right.

"Huh?" Gideon also stopped moving and turned around, raising his eyebrow at me.

"Let's go find the missing princess." I walked away from Gideon. "I bet Melonia's not her real name. I think she's only using it to blend into the crowd and protect her identity. She has to be here somewhere."

"No, Mike, don't!" Gideon leaned his palm forward towards mine. "You heard what the man said! Let's go home and search for her tomorrow, okay?"

I quickly turned my serious, determined face towards Gideon. "I don't give a damn what that guard said!" I then turned back at my destination. "I'm not going anywhere without that princess! I want to get out of poverty as soon as possible, dammit! And we're goin' to keep searchin' for her, whether they like it or not!"

"'It's too dangerous to walk out here at night,'" I continued in a mocking voice. "My ass! They don't care about safety! They care about the money just as much as I do. And we're goin' to get it before those guards do!" I turned back to Gideon. "Either you search for the princess with me or I'll search for her myself! The choice is yours."

"Well, um…" Gideon put his head down and frowned as he struggled to come up with an answer.

"Because if you're not goin' to search for the princess with me, I'll jus' goin' to keep the money to myself-all of it."

Gideon widened his eyes and frowned at me. "Okay, okay, okay. I'll keep searching for her with you."

I smiled at Gideon. "Now that's more like it." I turned back to my destination. "Let's keep movin'!"

"Got it."

Once I walked forward, Gideon followed my lead wherever I went. We continued searching for the princess in the rest of Basilia, while the same man from earlier entered the alleyway from behind us with a vicious smile.