Chapter 2

"Mapapamura ka na lang sa lala ng reward!" halakhak pa ni Brody. "Wooh, let's go baby!

Natawa naman kaming lahat. "But do everyone loved the reward? We've known that lady for her whole lives and she just wants attention. No one would loved to be with someone who craves for attention and wealth. This Moira says it all. Kung tayo man ang makahanap sa kanya, then count me out of the carousel."

"Ang KJ mo talaga Nate," Ngisi ni Cameron. "You're not really after the fun, you know?"

"Baka hindi lang niya type si Moira." Komento ni Ryle.

"Either, Ryle. If she's my type, I don't I'll ever accept the reward. I'll go for the monetary but I'm not after that reward. Only those who think needs it can accept it, and no offense to all of you."

"Well, you're after the honor eh, ano nga ba ang magagawa namin do'n?" ani Duncan. Sumang-ayon naman ang lahat sa kanya at gano'n din ako.

I'm always after the honor and pride for this job. This isn't just a job, this is my life now. I've put my life from training to training for three years away from my family and graduated as a Silver Knight. I guess that's the biggest accomplishment I ever had in my life. Though one of the sacrifices I made was, I couldn't be with my family anymore. I can see them but I can't be with them as the duty aspire me to work far from my personal life. Mahirap pero kinakaya ko naman.

All the money I got from working, I transferred it to them so they know I still care.

"We should get to our work once we finished our food," Brody said.

As we finished our breakfast, hinintay na lang namin sumikat ang araw at makakapagsimula na kami sa paghahanap kay Moira.

This task of finding the heiress was just some kind of trouble, sa totoo lang. Some are excited to do this job because some are exhausted from the usual duty they have and for people like me, this just another bugger for us. But if this brought us money and honor, that's fine, kaya ko namang tiisin and we would do everything we can para mahanap 'tong babaeng 'to. I just hope we wouldn'e encounter Black Knights anywhere because that would be a challenge for us.

What differ us from the Gold and Black Knights, we have more things to do. Gold Knights are somewhat privileged. What the Royals can have, they can have it too but with less consumption or any beyond of too much. Black Knights are far from us, they simply called the neglected Knights who tried to stayed for their duty but was discharged because of violations or some didn't graduate and been recruited by the Black Knights. Hindi na maiiwasan iyon between three tiers of Knights pero kinakatakutan pa rin sila because they can start a war down to Royals and to it's people.

The three tiers of Knights are soliditary acts which serves the people and it's country. Napabilang ang Black Knights sa three tiers because they have a huge amount of recruits that can be a hurdle for the country's development. They go to a war before that the Royals immediately resolved because of making them part of the three tiers, after that, nothing bad happen but still we can't be confident that they are now keeping peace to everyone. They might be planning for something big and we're blind with it.

Ten minutes past six, maliwanag na sa labas. Naghanda na rin naman kami para lumabas. Napagdesisyon na rin namin na maghiwa-hiwalay upang hindi mahalata na dayo lang kami sa Baler. Kasama ko si Brody habang sumama naman si Cameron kina Ryle at Duncan. It was a good strategy for us, noong nagpunta pa nga lang kami sa bakery ay naagaw agad namin ang pansin no'ng tindera, and we should be more discreet about it.

"Wear caps, shades, anything that will hide our faces. Hindi naman malaki ang lugar na 'to and we still have two locations to search. Kailangan natin maunahan ang ibang Knights." ani Duncan.

Naningkit ang mata ko sa sinabi niya. "May karerang nagagap dito, Duncan?"

Tumawa pa siya, "Of course, there is, Nate. We need to find Moira as soon as possible. And... I also might want to take a shot at her."

"But we're not sure if she's here though," sagot ko.

"Boo!" sabay sabay nilang sinabi 'yon. They even gave me thumbs up for not supporting the idea of finding Moira here. I'm not being the bad guy here, sa lawak ba naman ng bansa, from North to South, hindi namin sigurado kung saan napadpad si Moira. And we're not even sure if on our three locations, makikita namin siya do'n.

"Brody, iwanan mo nga 'yan si Nate, he's not supporting us." ani Cameron.

Inakbayan naman ako ni Brody, "He's still with us, so let's just understand where he's coming from. And we wouldn't want a lone man on his duty, right?" aniya at sumang-ayon ang iba.

"Sure, let's get on it now." Ryle finally spoke.

I woke a shallow plain black cap and I think this would be fine not be able to notice by some people around. Nagsuot naman ng black wayfarer sunglasses si Brody. It doesn't look like he's going around but plainly, easily distinguished as visitor of the province. 

Pinauna naming lumabas ang tatlo at makalipas ang fifteen minutes saka kami lumabas. We noticed that they're already far from us and that would be easy for us to roam around. Magkikita-kita lang kaming tatlo ulit for lunch and we'll go find this lady again. Hindi kami magpapatumpik-tumpik pa. If the lady wasn't here, that would be fine. No worries. Or if she's not in the next two locations we will search, that would be fine because we're just doing what they've asked us to do and nothing more.

"What if we found her here?" tanong ni Brody.

Bahagyang napakunot ang noo ko. "Then our job is done, we'll be back to our usual duty. We'll go back patrolling around the First-Class Citizens area. Nothing less and nothing more."

"And if we really found her here, aside from the monetary reward, what would you do if there's no backing out of the other reward? Pa'no kapag ikaw ang pinili ni Moira?"

I smirked, "That wouldn't even happen. In her dreams, I won't fall for this damn reward."

"But dude! This can change your whole life! Hindi mo na kailangan pang maging Silver Knight! You'll be served by us, kung ako ang pipiliin niya which I'm very confident for myself, that'll be a good privileged."

"Then good for you, but I guess that what you called privileged is not for me. The honor and duty was already enough for me. Hindi 'ko kailangan ng ibang tao just to justify myself. I'm a man of my own word, hindi ko bibitawan ang pagiging Silver Knight 'ko. This is much more important than anything else."

"Kahit buhay mo pa ang kapalit?"

I chuckled, "Brody, we were trained to die for this duty so yeah, I would die for it."

"You're really such a serious person, Nate. But I like your attitude, and maybe you'll be promoted if you keep that, Nate." Tinapik niya ang braso ko at natuwa naman ako sa sinabi niya.

If anyone would come up against me if I don't want anyone else, a partner or a wife, hindi 'ko pa nakikita 'yon sa sarili ko. I'm just twenty-three and there's more to life than marriage. I've had relationships before I entered the training and they didn't all go to well. We tried but we can't go much further, may iba-ibang gusto kaming gawin at nagko-contradict iyon sa mga plano namin magkasama. It is hard to be in a relationship kaya ng makapasok ako ng training, it doesn't worry about my relationship or anything. I only care for my family and for the honor.

"Wait, pare, baka pwede natin matanungan 'yon." Tapik pa nito sa dibdib ko at tinuro ang mga nagkumpulang babae na sa tingin namin ay nasa forty pataas. 

Hinatak naman ako ni Brody lumapit doon.

"'Wag ka nang mahiya, they could be a good resources. More chismis, more chance of winning!" hagikgik pa niya at tumigil ng makalapit kami sa tatlong babae. Hindi naman agad nila kami napansin and that's a good thing, ibigsabihin effective ang disguised namin but for Brody, it might take a little too much. "Hi ladies!" He greeted.

Sabay-sabay siyang tiningnan ng mga babae, nakakunot ang mga noo at nakatusok ang mga nguso. They are all confused why a young man at his twenties would come at them at early in the morning. If this resource doesn't work, maybe there are other thing we have to look forward. May iba pang bagay para mapadali ang paghahanap namin sa babaeng 'yon.

As of now, we're still not sure if she was kidnapped or ran away. The information is still unknown.

"Ladies, me and my good friend here," turo ni Brody sa akin at binigyan ako ng mga babaeng ng parehong tingin na akala mo'y inuusisa na agad ang pagkatao mo. "Is looking for this beautiful girl." 

Brody put out the picture of Moira and handed it to the ladies. They all scoop in to examine the girl. Wala pang isang segundo agad silang nagpalitan ng kanilang mga opinyon at nagulat pa kami ni Brody dahil para silang tumutuka ng mga salita. Hindi namin sila maintindihan.

"'Yan ba 'yong anak ng mga Dankworth's?" tanong ng isang babae, tumango kaming dalawa ni Brody. "Ano namang gagawin niyan dito sa Baler? She has her own mansion 'di ba? Maraming pwedeng puntahan ang mga first-class citizen and they would never choose Baler as their first option. Wala siya rito."

"Oh, thank you lady for your input." Ngiti ni Brody.

"Sino ba kayo? Mga turista ba kayo?" singit naman no'ng isang babae.

Because it is confidential to share the information to the public, we didn't disclose as little as details from Moira's missing.

"Ah, yeah, we were just hoping we could find her here." Pagrarason ni Brody. "Okay, ladies. We need to go now, thank you for all your inputs. That's a big help."

Umalis kaagad kaming dalawa sa mga chismosa dahil baka magtanong pa 'yong mga 'yon. Brody almost slipped out at mabuti na lang ay nagawan niya ng paraan. 

"That's a tough one," he groaned. "But I wouldn't mind to do it again if they can give us information."

"Yeah, I agree but we can't just give information that she's missing. Magbibigay naman ng signal ang nakakataas kung pwede na nating sabihin iyon. As of the moment, make it private. Once this situation doesn't resolve for the given time, then they have to force to rule it out as emergency."

"Right, I know that, but I didn't know that this will be that difficult. It is a real challenge."

"Yup, maybe those ladies we asked already got the degree for gossips. We might acquired it if we passed this task." We both laughed with it.

As we continued, discreetly asking people around to know if they find Moira. Madali lang naman makilala si Moira and it will be too hard if she also disguised herself.

Moira Llyanna Dankworth is a twenty two year old, the heiress of the Dankworth Enterprises. She's an only child and her parents cared for her too much that the king made this an actual task for the Silver Knights. Moira's image when she's in public were normally like sheath, halter dresses, she stand five foot three inches and has her natural golden, blonde hair. She has a quite symmetric face, her lips is thin, really had a pointed nose and I think she never gained over forty kilograms. She's that thin. But she's unique, people mostly called her plastic-woman because of her physical features but I guess they are jealous of her wealth and all.

And that's the girl we are looking for. If she was kidnapped, it'll be too hard for us because it will associate with her parents and if not, it'll be easy for us. 

Just help us oh lord, this ain't gonna be easy.