Chapter 584: The Search
The old couple’s hopes had not been in vain, as upon arriving in Rockwell City, the capital of the kingdom, there was much more detailed descriptions of what exactly had taken place in the South-West Province.
Finding out the general situation and some of the specifics about what the kingdom was doing to manage the situation proved relatively easy, but trying to find information about a single family in all the displaced refugees proved to be a fruitless effort.
That said, there was one piece of information that brought the old couple great distress; their hometown, where their youngest son lived with his family, was on the list of settlements which were confirmed to have been completely destroyed or abandoned.
When they learned this, the old couple nearly fainted, but upon hearing that most of the residents of that town had been evacuated thanks to the heroic efforts of one of the kingdom’s strongest Generals, they somehow managed to regain control of themselves.
Since there was hope, they wouldn’t give up.
And so started a nearly 6-months-long search. Every time the trio arrived in a new city, they sought-out information related to their missing family members, but it wasn’t until they reached Iron Rock that they were finally able to find a real clue.
It seemed that a great deal of refugees from the old couple’s hometown had evacuated all the way across the kingdom to the South-East Province, specifically to Misty City.
Recalling just who exactly their youngest son’s wife was, and the name of the General who had swooped in and taken charge of the crisis, the old couple had a hunch where they might be able to find their missing family members.
Boarding a ship, the old couple and their grandson sailed from Iron Rock all the way to Misty City, landing in the grand harbour only an hour ago before they made their way directly to where they currently stood.
Now, however, they faced a new problem.
As was mentioned earlier, the old couple were just a former Baron and Baroness, while the young man was only the son of a Baron, so how exactly were they supposed to seek an audience with a Marquess-rank Family?
The Balfours were known to be both friendly and righteous, but three people with barely any status to speak of showing up out of nowhere and asking to search their compound for relatives they had no evidence were even there in the first place with was definitely not a request which would be granted easily.
"I guess... I guess we’ll just have to make a formal request to enter?" The old woman suggested. There was indeed a procedure they could follow as fellow nobles to request a meeting with someone from the Balfour Family, but that was a rather long and cumbersome process, one that would no doubt be very difficult given the enormous gulf in their ranks.
Still, there didn’t seem like much other choice.
It really was something they should have put more thought into, but throughout their journey, they had been completely focused on simply getting here while they had neglected to consider what they would do once they actually arrived.
"Don’t worry, Grandma, Grandpa, I’m sure if we explain ourselves, everything will work out," the young man comforted, trying to stay optimistic, which wasn’t exactly easy for him.
He was a naturally outgoing and upbeat youth, but after more than half-a-year of traveling, even he was feeling quite weary.
Shaking his head, the old man let out a sigh, "I guess we should find a place to stay for now. We can clean up, then submit a formal letter tomorrow asking for a meeting after making ourselves presentable."
"Haaa... I hope we have enough Silver left," the old woman fretted, "I’ve never been to Misty City before, but it definitely doesn’t look like the most affordable of places to live."
None of them had been particularly wealthy before they began this search, and all the traveling had basically drained their finances dry.
In fact, there were several times along the way that they had to stop to earn some extra cash just to support themselves.
Fortunately, despite being in the latter half of his 70’s, the old man was still an experienced Eighth Step Core Formation Realm Practitioner, so there was no shortage of quick gigs he could pick up.
The old woman wasn’t quite as strong as her husband, but she was a skilled Herbalist, so in terms of earning potential, hers was actually much higher than his, especially when they were traveling around the South-West Province.
With all the injured soldiers, displaced civilians, and wandering refugees, the demand for both healers and healing products of all kinds had soared dramatically.
Of course, making money from desperate commoners didn’t exactly leave a pleasant taste in the old woman’s mouth, especially considering her compassionate personality, but she comforted herself by helping those who truly couldn’t afford to pay for free and only charging the bare minimum necessary of those who could.
This definitely slowed their progress, but it was as far as she was willing to compromise on her principles.
That being said, while the situation in the South-West Province was definitely bad, it wasn’t nearly as dire as they had anticipated, something which came as quite a surprise to the old couple who had seen more than one big disaster in their lifetimes.
There were plenty of rumours about why this was the case, things like the high nobles acting swiftly and compassionately, or the royal family personally directing and funding the aid efforts, but as nobles themselves, the couple viewed these rumours with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Even the young man, who was honestly a bit of a meathead and didn’t have any talent when it came to managing a territory, found such tales to be pretty unbelievable.
Nobles who genuinely cared for the wellbeing and prosperity of their subjects certainly existed in the Rockwell Kingdom, but they were few and far between.
With little other choice, the trio’s shoulders slumped a bit as they turned around prepared to head back into the city to look for a cheap inn, emphasis on cheap, to stay the night.
Before they could go more than a dozen steps, however, a gruff female voice called out to them from across the street, "Little Edward? Amalia? Is that you?"