Alex finally got a moment to himself. So he layed down in bed and started untangling his mess of a head from the very beginning.
'My dream changed.' Thought Alex, he didn't know why, but his never-ending nightmare of destruction wasn't what he dreamed of last night.
Instead, he got quite a nice dream from what he gathered from the general's mood on the dream.
'What is a Mana control method?' he wondered as he had never heard the term in his life, but seeing how happy the general was, he understood it was something precious.
'Still, why did my dreams change?' he wondered, after all, for as long as he remembered, his past dreams were the same every night.
But something changed, and he didn't know what it was. The only difference between the last time he dreamt of destruction and the one previous to that was that instead of always looking forward, he actually paid attention to something.
'Does paying attention on the dreams cause them to change?' He thought.
'But it's not like I paid attention to everything, only to the strange symbol.' Thinking this, the image of the symbol came to mind.
Perhaps there's something I have to pay special attention to in the dreams. Okay, I'll try it tonight if I dream the same thing.' He finished the matter of the dream, still unsure if what happened was a one-off or permanent.
Next in his line of thought came the image of a girl.
'Ugh...' his body twisted with disgust at the mere thought of the girl.
'We can't rely on the authorities for this, but perhaps we can try with a knight or a mage.' He came with the idea, but knights and mages were not so common, and much less that free to be wandering in a village.
After that came food, and Alex simply thought of asking the nun about food that could last and was cheap to buy.
Alex did not give the orphanage a second thought, and when he was about to start thinking about what to do to make coin, from the other side of the curtain came the voice of Marc.
"Alex, you there?" He asked.
"Yes, need something?" Replied Alex.
"Yes, come out, please." Requested Marc.
Alex got up and walked to the curtain separating them and pushed it aside. On the other side Stood Marc with 3 other teenagers who seemed as young as them.
"Folks, This is Alex. Alex, these are Medric, Alonso, and Oscar."
Marc pointed to the 3 others, they had varying heights with Alonso being the tallest of them, and the 3 had skinny physiques.
Alonso and Oscar were pretty average in the look department. With brown eyes and green hair, they resembled one another.
'So they are probably brothers.' Alex thought briefly and then looked at Medric.
He, on the other hand, was on the handsome side with bluish hair and a pair of deeper blue eyes, accentuated by sharp eyebrows, a small nose, and thin lips.
If he were a little less skinny, he would have passed for a noble.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Said Alex, and shook hands with them one by one.
"Yes, pleased to meet you." Said Medric back.
"They stay in this room with us. I found them on the way back, and I wanted to introduce them to you." Marc said to Alex.
"Okay, see you guys later, I have something to discuss with Alex here." Marc turned to the other three and explained.
"Sure, see ya." Said Medric, signaling the brothers and leaving.
"So what do you think?" Asked Marc as soon as the others left.
"Hmm... I don't know, but uhh… whatever." Alex had a weird feeling but didn't know how to place it.
"Mm, okay…" Marc said suspiciously.
"We need to figure out food." Said Alex, changing the subject to more important things.
"I thought we could ask the nun about it and see what food is the cheapest and lasts the longest." Alex suggested.
"We could also ask Medric and the others." Marc also suggested.
"No, we are not telling anybody we have food, much less money." Alex immediately shut that idea down.
"Why tho?" Asked Marc, confused.
"Because we don't know them yet, and don't forget the homeless are supposed to be penniless, now what would you think will happen if the fact that we have money spreads?" Alex, knowing Marc's too nice a personality, patiently explained.
"Shiiit, I forgot that part." Marc answered as recognition filled his eyes.
"Okay, how about we start with the nun thing, then we go buy food?" Alex wanted to get going so they could be here by nighttime to test the dream thing.
"I also came with something regarding the girl and the noble." He continued.
Marc, hearing about the girl, turned pale quickly, his mind filling again with the scene that seemed an art from hell.
"Come on, I'll explain on the way to buy food." Alex said, trying to get Marc out to get some fresh air.
On the way out, they stopped at reception, where the same old nun stood and asked about the food.
"Ma'am, what is the food that can last longer without getting rotten?" Alex asked the nun.
"That would be bread or beef jerky, sweethart." The nun answered with the same kind smile.
"Bread is edible despite how hard it gets until mold grows on it, and beef jerky lasts months before going bad. They are both cheap as well." She finished explaining.
Alex smiled at the nun and thanked her.
"Thanks, that's a lifesaver." He said.
"Hoho, you're welcome, dear." The nun smiled wider.
Marc also gave the nun a nod in appreciation, and both the boys turned and left.
On their way to buy supplies, Alex explained the plan he came up with regarding that psychopath noble. Marc was dispirited by the fact that they had to rely on luck for justice, but said nothing.
After buying the stuff and going around to get used to the village, the duo returned to the shelter.
"Hey, you guys are back." Said Oscar, waving at them.
"Hi, yes." Said Marc in return.
"Come, sit here, we were planning something to make cash." Oscar said next to Alonso.
"Oh, what did you have in mind?" Marc, piqued by curiosity, said.
"It's something we were planning for a while, but we lacked people to carry it on." Medric finally said.
"Come sit and I'll explain." He gestured to Alex and Marc to sit next to the brothers.
As they did, Medric opened his mouth again and said:
"So… we are going to rob a house." Medric said with an ear-to-ear smile.