Steel once again visited Magnolia’s church of the blessed Illumin. On this day he was wearing his casual leather jacket, jeans, boots, gloves, sunglasses and of course his signature hero spandex. He never went anywhere without it if the situation didn't require more tactical clothing.
Upon reaching the church he saw a worried middle aged couple leaving. They were sobbing about something probably some lost relative or something of the like.
He opened the church doors and made his way forward. He had been sent a letter by Father Jerad to come to the church. He walked over to the priest’s office and slowly opened the door. Inside was Father Jerad and an unknown white haired girl with sad droopy eyes.

Father Jerad looked up at Steel from the edge of the bedside, since the priest’s office was actually Father Jerad’s personal room; it wasn’t unusual that priests lived at their quarters in the church. Father Jerad looking at Steel parted his lips to speak. “Ah, Steel! Just the man I was looking for. I understand you got the letter.” He looked over at the girl at his side. “This is Joanne, She is quite shy so you will have to excuse her behaviour.” Whilst he was talking Joanne slowly crept behind him. “I need you to help me escort this girl to the Crocus Cathedral under the false premise that she is possessed.” He had a stern look on his face. “Her parents are not the best kind and I do this to protect her from violence.” His expression lifted a bit from it’s previous bitter look. “She is skilled in light magic like you, and I have recommended her for training in the church of Illumin at the main cathedral in Crocus.” Father Jerad then went on to explain that for the purposes of training the clergy at Crocus were expecting her arrival within the week and that he could not let her go alone and so Steel was to guard her from all harm during her travels.

Joanne noticing that Father Jerad trusted Steel a whole lot slowly started creeping back out from behind the priest. She slowly got up from the bedside and extended her hand towards Steel as if acknowledging him. “P-p-p-please help me mister…” She had the other hand slightly raised in front of her face as she spoke. Steel smiled at her and extended his hand. “Of course I will help you! After all, I am A hero!”

WC 306/500 excluding speech

She took his hand and they both exited the church of Magnolia together. Father Jerad waved after them as they left as if giving her his last goodbyes. Quite a sad but happy scene really.

They had been given hooded coats so as to hide their appearance as they snuck through the streets of Magnolia they were also given a basket with food so that they would not go hungry during their journey.

A main road turned into an alleyway, the alleyway turned into a main road and before long Steel had even paid a horse cart driver to smuggle them out of the city gates and at least a kilometer out of the city so that they would be free of prying eyes.

After being taken out of the city and reaching the distance limit they had paid for. They got out from under the hay that had been in the cart and left the cart behind. The real travelling now began as they started moving across the rolling hills and small spots of forest in the area.

After about five hours of travelling together Steel noticed that the girl was starting to ease up around him. They laid down on a splash of grass at the top of a hill looking out over the area. A calm breeze cooled their resting bodies as the sun shone down from above. It had to be around dinner time because the sun had passed high noon when they left home and was about to settle behind the western horizon. They ate and then continued traveling for a while before setting camp under a small patch of trees.

Days passed on their journey and before long they had become quite close. Sharing stories and memories of course Steel did not share any of the bad stuff as he did not want to trigger her. She showed him some light spells and an orb of light that they used when travelling closer to night time. They spoke about Father Jerad and Joanne instantly started talking about what a great person the priest was and how he had pretended to exorcise her to help her escape her parents. After three days of travelling they arrived at the grand cathedral of Crocus, the capital of Fiore. There Steel spoke to a priest on behalf of Father Jerad and explained who the girl was.

The priest then took over custody of Joanne and handed Steel his reward.
[Exit]
WC total excluding speech  = 717/500