LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 22: Investigation
Meal boxes, Snacks, Money, and a few necessities. Grey was giving Yuna a couple of things which could last her for a few days. He also gave her a few extras just in case of emergency.
"Is that all you need?" ［Grey］
"Un. This is more than enough." ［Yuna］
For reasons unknown to Yuna, Grey suddenly declared that he will be traveling alone for a quest, saying things like it was something confidential to prevent her from inquiring further.
Of course, Yuna was worried at first at Grey's sudden decision, but later decided that it was best to put her trust in Grey. After all, to Yuna, Grey was someone who wouldn't do something without reason. He was her most trusted person in the world.
"Alright, I'll be going now. Make sure to take care of yourself, drink lots of water, never eat late, andー" ［Grey］
"Don't go with strangers." ［Yuna］
Like bullets fired from a machine gun, Grey's reminders fired one after another, but before he could finish his sentence, Yuna completed it for him.
It wasn't the first time Grey had reminded Yuna to take care of herself. It was already the fourth time since they started the morning. It was to the point Yuna had memorized his entire statement.
While Grey only reminded Yuna of pure worry, it was just too much that they seemed like a parent sending off their child to a field trip. Grey was just too much of a worrywart that it might be annoying to other people.
"Haah... Then, I'll be back as soon as possible. Bye～!" ［Grey］
"Take care～!" ［Yuna］
With a wave of her hand and a smile blooming on her face, Yuna sent Grey off on his journey, wishing for him to return safely.
The moment Grey disappeared from her view, Yuna felt a sense of loneliness and gloom creep in her heart. She didn't expect she would be so saddened from being parted from Grey, even when it was just for a couple of days.
'No, no, no! I need to get a grip of myself!' ［Yuna］
Yuna shook her head as she realized she was feeling down, deciding to enjoy the days she has for herself, and wait for Grey's return. She could already imagine all the things she could do and all the sweets she could eat.
Skipping her steps enthusiastically as she hummed like a little child, Yuna went back inside to the "Rabbit's Den". She went back to her room, changed outfits, and came back out. She was ready for her solo exploration!
As Yuna started to explore the large city, Grey on the other hand was already treading at breakneck speed, covering kilometers of distance in a span of a couple of minutes.
While Grey might look calm on the surface, his heart was as troubled as a stormy sea. Mind wavering in each passing moment, heart racing like the raging waves, and strong winds of anxiety shaking up his vessel of reason.
The reason for Grey's solo journey all started a few hours ago...
"Is it about the Fang Wolf incident this afternoon?" ［Gaston］
The Guildmaster asked Grey as he put down his pen and set aside his paperworks. His eyes scrutinized Grey as he awaited for the young man's response.
But rather than words, Grey only nodded once as he approached the Guildmaster's table. Slow and silent, those two simple words described Grey's movements. It was so silent that one might think the Guildmaster was talking to himself.
"Haah... Look, Grey, it's already late in the night. Why don't we talー" ［Gaston］
Thuddd
The Guildmaster tried to change the topic, but before he could, Grey brought something out from his "Inventory", creating a loud thud as it fell towards the table.
Scarlet scales running along jet black lines, texture smoother than silk yet toughness surpassing that of iron. It was a small piece of the Magma Crawler's hide which Grey had defeated 3 years ago.
Seeing the unfamiliar material before him, the Guildmaster frowned his forehead in confusion. All he could see was an excellently tough hide which could be processed into good armor. He didn't understand the need for Grey to take out such an item.
"Almost three years ago, a Magma Crawler arrived at the Haltea Great Forest. It burned down a whole village to the ground and snatched away more than a hundred lives. It was a tragedy which I could never forget even if I wanted to." ［Grey］
"Grey, what are you talking aboutー" ［Gaston］
"That village was Yuna's home, and... she was the only survivor." ［Grey］
Silence swallowed the whole room in an instant. The Guildmaster who wanted to play innocent could no longer speak as he learned where Grey was coming from.
Even with the Guild's extensive network of information and connections, he never knew that such a tragedy had occurred. His eyes were wide open from shock when he learned Yuna's circumstances, not knowing how to reply to such a heavy topic.
"Guildmaster, I'll only ask you of this once, but if you know something about this, please, I beg of you... Please tell me about it. In exchange, I'm willing to cooperate in every way I can." ［Grey］
Silence.... Once again, the room was filled with silence. The only difference was that the atmosphere was much heavier. It was to the point that one might suffocate from the room's tension.
Although the Guildmaster felt guilty about the destruction of Yuna's village and not being able to send aid, his rationality kept him from acting irresponsibly and spilling a national secret.
The only thing that was troubling him was Grey's proposal. If they had Grey's, an S-ranker's, help, the case would undoubtedly progress much faster. There would also be less consequences if ever they were to conduct a raid against the perpetrators of the beast-related incidents.
But the problem was, if it would be worth it. While a powerful ally would always be welcome, the army of Alfrione isn't weak either. Would it really be worth it to tell Grey a national secret not even Galeria's lord is aware of?
"'Judgement'..." ［Grey］
"Hm?" ［Gaston］
Gaston was thinking hard when suddenly, Grey mumbled a single word in a low voice. Grey's words carried a very serious and desperate tone that not even the Guildmaster could ignore.
"That is the name of my ability. It allows me to know everything about anything I can see. If you tell me everything you know, I will spare no effort and use everything at my disposal." ［Grey］
Grey didn't even need to finish his words. The moment he described how his ability worked, he already got the Guildmaster's attention. It was the last push he needed to fulfill Grey's request.
Of course, Grey was still hiding the full extent of his abilities, but "Judgement" alone was able to shake the Guildmaster. That's just how important information is when it comes to national matters.
Possessing such an ability, not just strength, but even all types of information could be easily attained by Grey. It wouldn't matter how much one tries to hide something, they would always be revealed.
"If you don't believe me, we can perform a magic contract right here, right now." ［Grey］
"No, I believe you... After all, you could have used force to get information out of me, yet you took a peaceful approach. That is all the proof I need." ［Gaston］
The Guildmaster replied as he placed his full trust to the youth before him. He had never seen such starving eyes. Eyes starving for revenge and justice that has been long overdue.
Careful as to not make a sound, the Guildmaster grabbed a key from his drawer and slowly walked towards a metal safe. With his mana flowing through the key, he opened the safe, producing a heavy mechanical sound as its locks were released.
Inside the safe, there were only a few pieces of documents, a couple of crystals, and a few treasures. It was apparent that those crystals and treasures were to be used whenever the guild would have financial troubles.
As for the document pieces, Grey easily understood that they were of great importance. Be it involving the guild's profile, affairs, or national secrets, each one of them were invaluable seeing how they were placed inside a heavily guarded safe. Even B-rankers would have a very difficult time destroying it.
From those documents, the Guildmaster selected the leftmost one, on it the words "Case 0254" were imprinted in deep black text. It was also very thick compared to the other documents in the safe. Just one glance and one could tell that it contains at least a couple hundred pages.
"Grey, what we're about to talk about is highly confidential. Not even high-ranking nobles know of it. I can trust that you'll keep your mouth shut on this matter, right?" ［Gaston］
"You can count on me." ［Grey］
"Haah... Then I'll brief you as fast as I can. Listen closely..." ［Gaston］
Carefully yet quickly, the Guildmaster explained to Grey what the kingdom of Alfrione has been working on in the shadows for the past decade.
From the reports gathered, all the beast incidents started about 12 years ago. Reports from villages all over the kingdom of Alfrione and its neighboring countries about strange beasts started to pop up one after another.
From small to large beasts, there has been a frequency of foreign beasts entering the kingdom. At first the beasts were of ranks lower than F, but as time passed, the beasts reported gradually became stronger, with a couple of B-rank beasts being reported a couple of times annually.
In the past years, there have been reports of hundreds of foreign beasts being spotted in the kingdom of Alfrione alone. 3 of which were B-rank beasts which the kingdom had a hard time eliminating.
Of course, not all beast subjugations came without a cost. During the past decade, over a dozen villages have been destroyed and thousands of lives have been stolen. This is not even including the tragedy which occurred to Yuna's village.
If Grey and Yuna hadn't encountered the Fang Wolf by pure coincidence, the numbers would have surely risen. That's just how heavy the gravity of the situation was.
The more the Guildmaster explained, the more rage Grey felt towards the perpetrators of the incidents. A rage borne from the hatred of people toying with the lives of others.
"And the perpetrators?" ［Grey］
"That's... We have never found a trace of them. They were too clean with their jobs and made sure not to leave any clues behind." ［Gaston］
The Guildmaster said with an ounce of shame and defeat as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists from disappointment.
Even with the efforts of the kingdom, they still haven't located the perpetrator's base of operations nor did they know who were the masterminds behind the incidents. For all they knew, they had been dancing at the palm of their enemies' hands.
While the kingdom has captured some people related to the incidents, their organization has ways of making them silent. They have a way to kill them in a moment's notice if ever something went awry.
The situation was even more grave than Grey had imagined. He had initially thought that the kingdom had at least identified the masterminds but he was severely mistaken.
The only thing Grey learnt was that there have been countless victims to these beast-related incidents. If this is not to be stopped soon, there would surely be many more to be affected.
"I'm sorry, Grey. These are all the things we know. I am hoping that with your ability, we would be able to speed up this case... That's why, please lend us your help!" ［Gaston］
The Guildmaster declared as he bowed his head with conviction to the young man in front of him.
The Guildmaster didn't care about his pride nor prestige. If it was for the safety of the kingdom and the people, he was willing to lower his head no matter how many times it takes him.
While Grey was perplexed by how the usually casual Guildmaster suddenly lowered his head, he was moved by his conviction. It was not a mystery why he was entrusted with the case.
"Guildmaster, please lift your head. I should be the one thankful for this opportunity. With this, I finally have a chance to fulfill my promise." ［Grey］
Although the Guildmaster was puzzled about what promise Grey was talking about, he figured that it was something personal. Nevertheless, he was thankful to have gained another powerful ally.
"Then, Guildmaster, can I have some of the locations where these incidents occurred? I would like to conduct my own investigation." ［Grey］
"Y-You mean right now?" ［Gaston］
"Yeah. I would like to solve this as soon as possible. Also, I won't be taking Yuna along with me. Can you take care of her while I investigate?" ［Grey］
While the Guildmaster was surprised by how quick Grey wanted to take action, it also made him incredibly happy. An indescribable happiness which he had not felt in years.
'Maybe, just maybe...' ［Gaston］
Hope flowed in the Guildmaster's heart like an overflowing river, filling every corner and space it can occupy. He could finally see a sliver of light coming from the end of the tunnel.
"Here, these are the locations you asked for... As for Yuna, you can rest easy. I'll make sure that no harm comes to her." ［Gaston］
"... Thank you." ［Grey］
A lonely smile flashed on Grey's face as he nodded and left as silently as he came, leaving behind the Guildmaster to continue with his work.
In a single glance, Grey memorized all the locations in the piece of paper the Guildmaster had given him. He then burnt the said into ashes as to not let others get their hands on it.
It has been a few hours since he had met with the Guildmaster, and he had also given his goodbyes to Yuna. All that's left was to investigate the given locations and hope he finds some clues the kingdom had missed.
Using wind magic on himself, Grey boosted his current speed even faster, easily surpassing that of the speed of sound. As he traveled across the plains, all one would see was a blur, followed by a strong burst of wind.
In a few minutes, Grey arrived at the first location. The moment he arrived, he was greeted by a familiar scenery. It was a scenery he could never forget even if he wanted to. The scenery of a ruined village.
No matter where he looked, what greeted his eyes were broken houses, piles of rubble, or abandoned crop fields. It was a scenery which was sure to give sadness to the eyes of the beholder.
Deep in his heart, Grey wished this fate would never befall to another village once again. It also became a motivation for him to work even harder to prevent such tragedies from happening.
"All right, let's do this." ［Grey］
One after another, Grey activated his abilities to the highest degree, overlapping them with one another, and scouring every single detail he could find, leaving no stones unturned.
"Heaven's Eye" viewed everything within a few hundred meters of distance from above, "Perfect Vision" engraved each object and every single detail into his mind, and "Judgement" appraised all of which that could be seen, coupled with "Multitask" to process multiple information at the same time and "Perfect Record" which perfectly preserved all information he had gathered, he continued for a couple of minutes.
From simple stones, to trees, to insects which crawled slowly on the ground, every single bit of information flashed inside his mind. No matter how simple they were, everything was accounted for.
One could only imagine the amount of information being fed inside of Grey's mind. If it wasn't for his "Memory Bank", his brain would have bursted from the absurd amount of data going in. It was an amount even quantum supercomputers back on Earth would struggle with.
But even with his proficiency and efficiency in gathering all sorts of information, he did not gather anything unusual. There was nothing noteworthy in the first location, all he gathered was nature-related or about ruined materials.
"Looks like I'm done here..." ［Grey］
Disappointment evident on his face, Grey reluctantly departed towards the next location which was located a couple dozen kilometers away.
Mountains, rivers, forests, and even steep cliffs. Grey had traversed all kinds of environments and encountered all kinds of monsters and beasts as he investigated the locations the Guildmaster gave.
Like the first village, all other villages he had encountered were all ruined, devoid from any signs of people. He even found a few skeletons buried under the debris of the collapsed houses.
Of course, Grey gave the corpses he found the very least service he could give to them. He gave them a proper burial even when it was already far too late.
Even when it took more time and effort to give the skeletons of corpses he didn't even know a burial, he didn't regret his actions. It was the very least thing he could do to appease their grieving souls.
"This should be the sixth one." ［Grey］
The color of the sky had turned amber as Grey continued his investigation. He had already scoured 5 villages yet failed to gather any useful information. He now understood why even the kingdom was having a hard time.
Once again, Grey used his abilities one after another, stacking them up more efficiently than the first time. Now, he was able to use them consecutively without much trouble.
Stones... Weeds... Soil... Nuts... Earthworms... Burnt wood... Broken tiles...
The same information flashed inside his mind one after another. It has been the same results ever since the first village there wasn't anything noteworthy to be seen...
"Huh?" ［Grey］
... Or so Grey initially thought, but there was one item which caught his attention.
While some would easily mistake it as a simple piece of obsidian, Grey's "Judgement" says otherwise. It wasn't a piece of obsidian or any mineral but a fragment of something man made.
At breakneck speed, Grey hurriedly rushed towards the location of the said fragment. His heart beating furiously at the sign of something which might help out in the investigation.
Slowly, Grey picked up the fragment into his grasp. It was even smaller than he had imagined, only a little bigger than the size of a rice grain. Something everyone would miss entirely.
⟨⟨Appraisal⟩⟩ ［Grey］
As per Grey's command, a transparent screen appeared in front of him, and seeing the screen's information, his eyes widened in shock as his heart raced faster and faster with each passing moment.
"This is…!" ［Grey］
CHAPTER 22 END