Chapter 14 — Investigation

Editors: PROCRASTINATOR & GREETER

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

After leaving Acantilado’s manor, we decided to split up to cover more ground. I took the noble and merchants’ districts while Luna took the residential district. 

 

She knows Falu better than I do, so that’s probably best. Either way, those weird cloaked people are still following me. Let’s try following one, this time from the merchants district. Well, once I find one to follow, that is.

 

For now, I’m walking around the merchants’ district. It’s surprisingly quiet, I would have thought there would have been people yelling ads everywhere. Well, I suppose I could go shopping while I wait.

 

“Hello! Welcome to my shop. Please let us know if you need anything.”

 

The first shop I decided to look at was a spice shop. They may be expensive, but hopefully they make food a lot less bland. Then again, I don’t eat anything half the time.

 

Surprisingly, this store has a lot of spices. There’s also some tea leaves, but I’m not interested in tea. I don’t need caffeine to stay awake, I just do.

 

I picked up two small jars of salt, around three cups total? I think? I bring them to the counter.

 

“Could I buy these please?”

 

“Two jars of salt? Sure thing. That will be one silver coin.” (A/N: $500, I have no idea how expensive salt actually was…)

 

“One silver?”

 

“Spices are hard to come by, young lady. If you can’t afford it, that’s fine.”

 

“No, I can. It’s just more expensive than I thought it would be.”

 

“First time, eh?”

 

“Yep.”

 

I paid and left. There was a cloaked person on the roof behind me as I left. How do I know? A mix of magic and sensing their presence. 

 

Oh, they’re running away. Time to chase them. I jump and use a bit of wind magic to propel myself onto the building. 

 

They haven’t looked back, so they shouldn’t be able to see me. I’d love to make myself invisible, but then I wouldn’t be blind, so all I can do is erase my presence. 

 

I followed them for a few more minutes before they dropped down a trapdoor. I’ll mark this place on my map. Oh… My map feature doesn’t have pins. Damn you ENTITY. I’ll just write down the address of the house.

 

Well, I should go find the other house again, since I forgot to write down the address. It was in a pretty weird place, so I should be able to find it.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Luna’s POV]

 

Ei said that we should split up, so I took the residential district. I practically know this place like the back of my hand, so I think that this is the best outcome!

 

“Hey, Vadina, could you take the western portion? I’ll take east!”

“I canst. What shalt I looketh for?”

“Look for weird hooded figures! If you can, follow them and find the places they hide in!”

 

“I shalt do that.”

 

Vadina leaves my body. It feels a bit weird, but I have spent most of my life like this. 

 

I wandered through the eastern end of the residential district. I’d say it’s a slightly worse place, but overall it isn’t horrible! I didn’t notice anyone watching me so I decided to visit some of the food stands in the area.

 

“Ho, Luna! How’ve you been doing? Come to buy any of my quality mushrooms?”

 

First I’m visiting this guy’s stall! He said his name is “fun guy”! (P/N Get it? Fun guy? It's funny…)

 

“I’ve been great! Anyways, can I get a few of the really small kind?”

 

“Enoki? Sure. Here you go. That will be 23 small copper.”

 

“LUNA! COME TO MY STAND TOO!”

Another vendor calls out from behind me! I wonder which one it is? I start walking over to the stand and I see that it’s a star throwing stand! But this isn’t a carnival?!

 

“Hi Amelia. Are you trying to get rich quick again?”

“Yep! This time I have an arrow-proof plan! I’ll provide entertainment through games! It’s only one copper per try!”

 

One copper?! That’s pretty pricey! Well, this seems interesting so I’ll give it a shot. 

 

“Sure, I’ll try once!”

 

I feel like Ei would be really good at this. Unlike me, who missed every time!! I can hit things with magic, not throwing stars!

 

“Nice try Luna. Better luck next time. It’s only one copper!”

 

“You’re just going to keep saying that until I get it!!”

 

“Obviously.”

 

… Nobody is watching me still.

 

“Maybe later! I have to go now!”

 

“Eh? Okay, take care.”

 

If nobody is going to watch me, I’ll just have to track them down myself! 

 

Ei and I passed through this place a bit earlier and there should be some traces of suspicious people passing through. Ei described their cloaks as “dark grey, a bit like a wolf’s hide.” If they are made of wolf hides, I should be able to track them!

 

This alleyway is where we saw the person! They left really fast, so there should be some tufts of wolf fur here!

 

I spent a few minutes walking around the area, and it seems there is indeed some wolf hair here! It seems to be following some footsteps, so I’ll follow those for now!

 

I keep following the alleyway until it reaches a dead end. Now it’s time to look for more clues! I think I see some mud stains here on the wall! There are some bits of wolf hair going up it too! Seems like this was the right path!

 

I climbed up the wall and jumped over it! This is a weird spot…  There’s a house in the middle of a clearing here! And it’s surrounded by walls! This seems like the spot! I’m writing the address down!

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Vadina’s POV]

 

I fly above the skies and looketh down upon the knaves below. Well not all of them are knaves. As I spirit, practically no one canst seeth me. Thus, these cultists wilt be found without their knowledge.

 

I seeth Ei and Luna running around. They seemeth to be doing well. I shalt watcheth the ants below as they scurry around.

 

I canst see several hooded knaves as they runeth around. I wilt follow them if they goeth to a place of interest. Fools, thou art being spied upon!

 

Ah. One hath entered a house. Thy house is very odd. What kind of a fool placeth a house in a clearing between alleys? Prepareth to be followed!

 

Thine walls canst not stop me, for I shalt phase through them. I seeth your foolish plans! Oh? They hath a map. I wilt be taking this. Farewell, knaves.

 

I ripeth the map off the wall and absorbeth it into mine body. Then, I leaveth and return to the sky. This map will be thine end, knaves.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

It’s time for us to meet up, so I returned to my tavern room. I have two addresses to share. I wonder what Luna got?

 

“Ei! I’m back!”

 

“Hello Luna. I have two addresses, what did you find?”

 

“I got an address and a map!”

 

“A map? How’d you manage that?”

 

“I…  uhhh stole it from a… uh cloaked person as they ran off!”

 

It was the spirit, wasn’t it?

 

“Alright. Anyways, here are the two addresses I found, are they on the map?”

 

“It looks like it! And mine are too! But there are like 12 houses marked here! How are we supposed to tell which one is the right one?!?”

 

“I’m not sure. I guess we could see what Acantilado’s notes say? I haven’t looked over them yet.”

 

“I’ll help with that!”

 

Taking a look at the notes, we saw several reports from the guards of witnesses saying they saw cultists or something. There was also a report about that area that was blocked off due to “cultist activities” previously. 

 

After looking over the notes for a really long time, we finally narrowed it down to three houses.

 

“Let’s go to Acantilado’s house to see what he thinks. Also, to see if we need a permit or something to raid houses.”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

“Halt! Who goes there? Oh, it’s you. Please, enter.”

 

It seems the guard recognizes us. That’s nice. Well, let’s hope we can find our way. I think I remember the path… if not hopefully Luna does.

 

We walked for a bit and made it to the audience chamber. Wait, how is Acantilado supposed to know we got here? Guard-san didn’t say anything about contacting him! 

 

I guess we’re exploring then. Oh wait, I have a map I can just use that.

 

“Luna, follow me. We’re going to find Acantilado!”

 

“Is it really okay to just barge into his room?!”

 

“We have clearance… I think. Well, let’s go!”

 

I followed the map through the winding passages of the manor. It seems I got an update to the map because it displays the names of people now… 

 

I knock on the door.

 

“Who is it?”

 

“Ei and Luna.”

 

“Enter.”

 

We entered through the very nice looking door. It was far nicer than the dungeon doors, and I thought those were fancy.

 

“I see you have somehow managed to find my study. Impressive, considering I never told you its location.” (Acantilado)

 

“That’s a good point! How did you even find this place Ei?!” (Luna)

 

“Magic?” (Ei)

 

““Why is that a question??”” (Luna + Acantilado)

 

“Ehhhh… It doesn’t really matter. Anyways, we’ve managed to narrow down possible base locations to three and we wanted your opinion on it.” (Ei)

 

“The first one is in the noble district, a bit close to your house! Second is in the eastern area of the residential district!” (Luna)

 

“And the third one… probably directly under this house.” (Ei)

 

“What do you mean when you say, ‘under this house’?” (Acantilado)

 

“There’s a house carved into the side of the hill that this house is built on. There’s a base there according to the map we obtained.” (Ei)

 

“A map, eh? You do seem to be meeting the expectations Jouh set for you. I can provide an opinion on this matter; I believe that the most likely location is directly under this house. The Cult of NULL has a tendency to assassinate nobles when possible.” (Acantilado)

 

“And how do you know that wasn’t just people saying that to get away with murder!?” (Luna)

 

“My sources are very reliable. Well, I shall give you permission to break into the aforementioned house. Please write down the address on this paper, and I will inform the guards of your plans. You may begin the raid tomorrow at sunset.” (Acantilado)

 

““Got it!!”” (Ei + Luna)

 

As we left the manor, even more hooded people were watching us… they seemed unsettled about something. That missing map, probably. Well, prepare to die, dumb cultists. Well, tomorrow that is.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

“So, Luna, what are you going to do until tomorrow?”

 

“Find out a way to get you up at sunrise! Because somebody sleeps in too much!”

 

“... I can get up early, you know?”

 

“Then why do I never see you in the morning?!”

 

“Because I don’t want to get up early?”

 

“*sigh* I’m still waking you up and if you think you can escape me, think twice!”

 

“Fine… but don’t blame me if there’s nobody in the room because I already left.”

 

“Argh! Ei!!! Fine, let’s just do some more commissions.”

 

But there aren’t any interesting commissions.

 

“Fine… but only if you can find an interesting one.” 

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[???’s POV]

 

There seems to be chaos around me, but the ritual must go on.

 

“I̴̺͋̀ ̵̠̱̺̊s̵̞̀̅̄̑a̵̛̬̫̋͜c̴̳̈̿͊r̵̢̛̼̹̎î̵͕̃̐f̷̢̙̀͜͝͠ï̵̜̞̾͆̽c̶̦̼̀̈́͝͝ȩ̷̠͚͊ ̵̠͋͒̔̕m̴̻͇̲̜̃͛i̵̹̟̍̓͘ń̴͎͍̠̰́̓͘e̴̤̝͖̥̋ ̷͙̲́̔̄̓s̵̢͓̈̐̊̊o̴̲̞̔̈́͠u̶͎͚͆͋l̴͎̮̄̔͆͝ ̶̢̬͒í̶̥ǹ̵̗͕ ̸͙͋͘ͅẻ̵͙̓̓͊x̴͈̗̜̰̂͗̈͑c̴̤͕͓͛h̴̦̝͗͋̅a̶̬̹̱̓̔́̚ň̷̝͛̏g̴̖͋e̷̦̟͐.̸̝̣̀.̵͉͚͚̙́̽.̸͖̬̮́̇̌̈́”

 

What? A map was stolen… This… could be problematic. 

 

“C̵̰̳͎̣̐̍o̵̩̝͠m̶͎̟̎͂̽̕ë̷̙̤̳̞́̇̚ ̸͍͈̑̆͑̓f̸̣̻̣̒̓͆o̶̢̼̦̗̒͛r̶̈́͌̈͜ť̸͙̭̘h̸͕̻̼̆̏̍ ̴͙̐̓̊͠g̶̤̤̅̐̔͝e̴̞͚̹͆̄̏̆n̶̡͔̔͆͑͗ͅͅe̸̖̲̍̌̒͝ȑ̷̪̩̯̣̓͝ḁ̶͛̋l̸̜̠̿ ̸̨̛̳͎͗̇̇ò̷̡͚̿͝͝f̴͖͕͓́ͅ ̷͔͚̹̝͝c̵̦̆̍́͝ḥ̴̱̌a̸̰̐͑̌o̶̝̰͊́̇s̴̫͇̻̿.̴̺͈̒͊̔.̷̰̩̩͛̀̏͑.̴͉̯̐”

 

Not that it matters… The ritual will be finished… in 30 hours…