CHAPTER LIX (59) - THE MISSING STUDENT
“You can’t stay here,” Finn whined. “You heard Mother. They aren’t supporting you.”
“I know, Finn.” Kizu massaged his temples with his thumbs.
Now that he had calmed down, he questioned his rash decision. His mother had at least one good point. He knew absolutely nothing about raising a child. He basically was still a child himself. Anata very likely would be better off with the tongueless woman in the woods. His parents had calculated the most rational response and already weighed out all the pros and cons. Meanwhile, he decided based on a moment of anger. But he couldn’t back down now.
“Then leave,” his brother said, as kind and friendly as ever. “And take her with you.”
Leave and go where though? Back to the academy and keep her hidden in his dorm? That seemed like a very unwise solution. He had no money to rent a room in town. And he couldn’t ask anyone for help, or word might get out about her. He thought about the town and all the places he’d visited so far. None of them seemed like a solution to his problem. But then his thoughts turned to the spawn living under the lady’s porch. Obviously, he couldn’t keep her under a porch, but it did give him the seed of an idea.
“You owe me,” Kizu said to his brother. “You owe me a lot in the allowance you’ve been stealing. You can start to pay me back by babysitting for the day.”
“I’m not paying you back! That is my money given to me by Mother.”
Kizu didn’t bother engaging with that argument. “You will, unless you want them to hear about that police debacle you caused at the beginning of the semester.”
Kizu guessed that his parents hadn’t been informed about the details of the situation, if they’d been told at all. And he took Finn’s immediate panicked fidgeting as a confirmation. Their mother hadn’t been happy about the allowance theft, but this was an actual public slight against their family name. She’d be livid and Finn knew it.
“I was going to stay home and study all day today anyway,” Finn grumbled.
Kizu paused. He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t truly thought he’d be able to get Finn to do anything for him. Even so, he decided to wait until Mort arrived before departing. Mort could keep an eye on Anata and report back to Kizu if anything happened. Not to say he didn’t trust his brother watching over their niece, but…well, yeah. He didn’t trust him at all.
When Mort arrived, the sun was starting to rise in the horizon. Anata still slept in the upper bunk bed. Mort just jumped up and settled in beside her. The monkey dismissed Kizu with a big yawn.
Trusting Mort to keep her safe, Kizu felt confident enough to head into the town.
The smell of warm baked goods wafted through the air as he passed by bakeries. Other than that and the fishermen departing from the docks, the town hadn’t fully woken up yet. It wouldn’t stay that way for long though. Most people likely slept in because it was a weekend, but soon students would flood the streets. Better for him to get ahead of the crowd.
Kizu bit his lip as he scanned at the quest board outside the constable station. There was a giant cockroach extermination listed at 7,000 Yennie, an enchanting commission for 3,500, a request for an onyx drake skin for 12,000, and a missing student with a reward of 20,000. He had no idea what a Yennie converted into. But he decided to try out the biggest offer.
The last time he’d used Ione to accept the job offer. When he had asked her about the reward money, she had mentioned using it to buy a satin pillow. If an entire job was only worth a pillow, he was in for some serious money problems.
He considered overlaying himself with an illusion, but decided against it. He probably needed to show his identity to claim any rewards. So he just entered.
“Good morning,” Kizu said cautiously as the door’s chime announced his entrance.
Thankfully, Constable Kimura sat at the front desk today. The human constable with the slightly better attitude. And while his eyebrows knit together and he frowned, he didn’t immediately kick Kizu out like his partner had previously.
“Kaga Kizu,” the constable said slowly. “Are you here to report a crime?”
“No,” Kizu said. “I wanted to accept a job from the quest board outside.”
“And which assignment were you looking at?” the constable asked.
Kizu blinked. He had expected to need to fight to get the information.
“Uh, the missing student one?”
“Hm.” Constable Kimura eyed him for a minute, as if weighing how serious Kizu was. Then he reached behind the desk and pulled out a folder. He leafed through it until finding a sheet. “A student was last seen in Hayashi Forest, east of the academy. She was wearing a standard issue uniform that appeared unmodified. It is suspected that she might have fallen into a cave or been assaulted by a roaming monster. For confirmation of her whereabouts, there’s an offered sum of 12,000 Yennie. If you bring her back safely, the reward is 20,000.”
“What’s the student’s name?”
“It wasn’t given. And the job was posted anonymously.”
“Then how will you hold the person accountable for paying?”
“There are channels to go through if the payment isn’t distributed as listed. Don’t worry about that.”
“Is that all the information offered?” Kizu asked.
“Yes. The job post is scarce on any details that might narrow down the search or identify the student.”
“Um, not to sound ungrateful for the job, but this sounds sort of serious….”
“Constables can only act inside the confines of their assigned district. This request is outside our jurisdiction.” The constable sighed. “Though, outside of my work hours, I do often accept jobs from the notice board as a third-party. I can’t always be everywhere.”
Kizu nodded, understanding. “Sorry. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
As he said goodbye, the constable raised a hand, stopping him.
“Wait,” Kimura said, almost begrudgingly. “Listen, over the past 24 hours we’re received several different notifications of monsters acting strangely and more active in the area. Be careful.”
Kizu thanked him. Despite obviously disliking Kizu, Kimura acted surprisingly professional. Not quite the complete opposite of his explosive partner, but close enough.
While walking out of the east side of town, Kizu decided to check out a menu listed outside of a pub. An ale was listed at 350 Yennies. That at least gave him something to compare to. He wondered how much a month of rent would cost for a place in town.
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As he traveled down the path outside town, his mind wandered to how he might be able to build a hut on the outskirts of the town. He used to help the crone with renovations and knew a little bit of woodworking. But it would take time to set up. Not to mention get the materials. He needed tools. And those cost money as well. Not super feasible at the moment.
The next few hours he scoured Hayashi Forest. The only obstacle he encountered was a mean-looking giant crab the size of a large boulder blocking a bridge, but Kizu simply jumped behind it and moved on. He saw no sign of the girl anywhere.
The constable had mentioned a cave system under the forest. Kizu wondered if it was possible the student might have fallen into a crack that led into the World Dungeon. That would be very bad news. He wasn’t keen on returning down there anytime soon.
Kizu yawned. His sleep schedule actually seemed a bit better after staying in the time dilation pod for a month, but he still felt incredibly tired. He sat down on a log.
He felt the wood under him fidget. Examining it more closely, Kizu lept to his feet. It wasn’t a log, but instead the body of a massive brown garden snake with a yellow stripe down the side. A monster. He prepared himself for a fight, before noticing a spark of intelligence in the snake’s eyes.
“Sorry,” Kizu apologized. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Not a problem,” the giant snake said. It yawned, showing its toothless gums.
Kizu’s eyebrows shot up and he relaxed his stance. An Awakened creature. Their intelligence went far beyond that of a familiar. He’d only ever encountered two before in his entire time in the Hon Basin. But neither of them had been outwardly hostile.
“You can speak?”
“Obviously,” the snake said dryly. It twisted, coiling around a tree to face him better. “What brings a Shinzou Academy student out this deep into the woods?”
“I’m looking for someone. Another student. She’s gone missing.”
“Unfortunate. I can’t help you. It’s been several years since I roamed this close to the academy.”
“And what brings you here? Anything I can help you with?” Kizu asked. Despite having so many other things to do, he prepared himself to leap into action to help the creature. Doing favors for Awakened beasts always paid dividends in karma.
“No. The scent of change is in the air. I simply wanted a better taste of it. I’ll likely remain on this side of the forest for a while longer.”
Kizu was about to politely take his leave, when a question came to mind. “Do you know of any cave systems nearby?”
“Yes.” It flicked its forked tongue. “Many. But perhaps you might want to visit southwest along the coast, there you will find an ancient Gnomish mine. It was abandoned long before my time. Look for a cliff shaped like the neck of a tortoise.”
Bowing low, Kizu thanked the giant snake. It dismissed him and slithered off.
Following the lead, Kizu started off to the southwest. It took a great deal of bushwhacking with his cane before he spotted an escarpment that looked vaguely similar to a turtle shell meeting the neck. A waterfall poured from the divot down to a cove.
The cove emptied via a deep, short river down into the sea, only a stone’s throw away, but it looked like fresh water, untainted by salt. The pounding of the waterfall created a mist that shrouded the area.
Kizu scanned the cliff face, looking for any sort of indent that would indicate a cavern. Nothing. He was about to move for a closer look, when he remembered his spellsense. He focused. But instead of the falls, something under the cove moved and caught his attention. It startled him at first, then he realized it was some sort of magical beast swimming. Likely nothing to worry about so long as he stayed above the surface. Bringing his attention back to the cliff, he finally spotted an anomaly. There was something magical behind the waterfall.
Fully expecting an enchanted door that led down into a forgotten corner of the World Dungeon, Kizu circled around the cove, mindful of the water, and approached.
He breathed in the waterfall’s mist. It felt refreshing. If he didn’t know about the magical creature lurking in the bottom of the pool, he might have been tempted to take a quick swim.
There was a moss covered slope Kizu was able to shimmy his way across to get behind the waterfall. His clothes were drenched by the time he managed to get behind it. The roar of the water blocked out all other noise and he couldn’t see more than half a meter in front of him.
As a result, he was completely caught off guard as he stumbled into a massive cavern. The opening was half a dozen meters wide but completely hidden behind the falls.
He rubbed the water out of his eyes and examined the area. It opened up into an enormous hollowed out area that almost rivaled the size of the academy. The majority of the space was taken up by a placid underground lake.
In the center of the lake, Kizu spotted a half sunken ship with tattered sails. The bow poked out of the water, but everything behind the broken center mast was submerged.
Curious, Kizu circled around the edge of the lake, trying to get a better view. As he walked, his cane hit against something solid that rolled slightly to the side. Kizu bent down and picked it up. It was dusty but he recognized it as one of the academy issued scrying orbs.
“Hello?” he called out, glancing around. “Anyone there?”
The dripping of stalactites overhead and the soft crashing of the falls behind him was the only response.
Suddenly, he felt incredibly alone. Maybe taking on the most expensive job posting alone wasn’t the best call on his part.
Just as he decided to take the orb and return to town for the lesser reward, he thought he saw movement aboard the ship out of the corner of his eye. Just for a moment, he spotted what looked like a person standing on the deck.
Kizu looked down at the orb. By all accounts, the student likely died down here to whatever was on that ship. Recovering a body made him the same amount as turning in the orb as proof. It made sense to just leave and report it. Full fledged mages could come and recover the student’s body. That would be the safe, rational choice.
Kizu jumped to the ship.
He immediately lost his footing on the lopsided deck, but managed to catch himself on the gunwales.
The figure which he had spotted from afar turned toward him. Red eyes smoldering like coals gleamed in the skinless skull. It held a rusty cutlass in its hand, which it immediately raised at him. But, if the skeleton wasn’t surprising enough, Kizu was caught even more off guard by the size of the thing. It barely reached his waist. The bones looked like that of a fully developed adult, but shrunk down in size. It reminded him of the collection of shrunken heads that one of the crone’s friends had built out of her dead enemies and failed apprentices.
However, the skeleton’s size did not stop it from swinging its cutlass at him. But it passed through the air as Kizu jumped to the left. He then cast his fire fist spell and slammed his knuckles into the skeleton’s rib cage. Unfortunately, his punch didn’t seem to accomplish much as the skeleton shrugged off the blow and came in for another swing. He really had had higher expectations for the spell back when he’d devoted so much time practicing it.
Switching tactics, Kizu just barely managed to catch the boney wrist before the skeleton’s blade cut through his ribs. Then he jumped, skeleton in hand, into the air above the lake. He let go of the skeleton and rapidly jumped back to the ship deck. He heard it sploosh into the water at the same time as he landed back on the ship.
Kizu leaned over the railing and watched the dark water’s ripples. It likely didn’t die from the fall. But the thing had no lungs or fat on it so it should sink to the bottom. He might have to worry about it on the shore, but it shouldn’t be able to get back on the ship. Once the water stilled, he finally let himself check out the ship around him.
The woodworking was unfamiliar to him. The ship didn’t look like the ones docked at the port near the academy. The wood was chestnut brown and it looked highly stylized, as if the sailors carved elaborate designs into the wood during their freetime. All the doors and structures looked to have been built for children. Only then did Kizu finally connect the dots. The ship had been Gnomish.
A leg of the skeleton still flopped around on the deck like a fish. Kizu hadn’t quite gotten the entire undead monster in his spell. He picked the leg to examine it. It proceeded to try to kick him. Grimacing, Kizu threw it over his shoulder off the ship.
He inspected the area, looking for any sign of the missing student. He hoped to find any indication she might still be alive. But, while he was here, he decided he might as well also keep an eye out for any magic items or anything worth money on board. He lifted up a trap door.
Below, sitting at a table with a deck of cards strewn across it, were four more skeletons. All present skulls swiveled toward him.
“Um, hello. How are you today?” he said in his best Gnomish.
They drew their weapons.