I woke up restrained to a chair and when I looked around me, I noticed the chair was hanging above a pool of water. I blinked a couple of times and saw someone in the room. They began walking towards me and stopped beside a crank that was near me. They suddenly started cranking it and the chair began to lower towards the water. I looked above to see rope coming out of the roof. In a panic I looked around to try and escape but was to no avail as every limb of my body was restrained and I felt weak already.

While I continuously searched for any means of escape, I felt my legs begin to dampen as they began to be submerged. I gave up on trying to find any means and all I could do was try and hold my breath before my head began to be submerged as well. As my whole body was completely submerged, the noise of the crank stopped. It didn’t take long before I couldn’t hold my breath anymore and started to grasp for air but to only be met with water entering in me.

I quickly closed my mouth back up and tried to hold it once more to only break out trying to grasp for air again but once again all that was met was the swallowing of water. As I struggled, I began to feel light headed and at the same time, the noise of the crank started again. Suddenly I felt my head break out of the water as I was being raised up. The instant I was out of the water, I began coughing out water continuously. By the time I was raised to the original position, the amount of water I was coughing up was lessening and I tried to catch my breath with the opportunity given.

After my breath started to steady itself, the noise of the crank started once more. When I realized I was being lowered once more, my breathing began getting erratic as I started to try and cherish every breath before going back under. Right before my head was submerged, I took one last breath before holding it. The noise of the crank stopped once more as I was completely submerged. I wasn’t able to hold my breath as long as the first time and broke up once again gasping for air but all that was met was water rushing inside of me.As I choked on the water, my vision began to fade.

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.

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I jolted forwards gasping for air and when I felt the air entering my lungs, my breath began to steady. At the same time, I felt a piercing headache as everything around me began to spin a bit. As the headache began to settle, I felt something wet begin riding up my face and when I opened my eyes, a long red thing began riding up my face once more. I quickly realized it was the tongue of the horse that I was riding on the way to Nishilon. When I realized that, I looked around me once more as the place around me began to stabilize.

The first thing I realized was that I was sitting up in a pile of hay with walls that stopped halfway to the roof on both sides of me. I then heard rustling from the area next to me and what came into vision first was a staff like halberd that had a monster with long fangs protruding from it. I quickly realized who it belonged to and it cleared up when I saw Suta come into vision who was rubbing his forehead with the staff in his hand and the other holding his glasses. When he stopped and put his glasses back on, he looked towards me “Crim? Are you okay? You were breathing pretty heavily there.”

I realized quickly that he probably meant when I woke up from the nightmare “Yeah, just felt short of breath.”.

“You must get bad hangovers.” He simply told me. My only response was a confused look towards him. “You know like when you drink lots the night before.” He explained after seeing my confusion.

I then think back to last night but the last thing I remember was when Brell got us all a fourth round of ale. “What happened after the fourth mug?” I asked Suta.

“You only remember up to the fourth?” Suta looked at me a bit surprised. “I’m a little surprised since you kept up with Brell up to the seventh mug before the guild's tavern closed for the night.” .

“And then what happened after that?” I asked him. I was a little worried if I mentioned anything I shouldn’t since I can’t remember most of the night.

“After that? Well if you’re worried you never mentioned anything about your magic but you kept on bringing up a name…” Suta then began furrowing his eyebrows. “I think it was something about Trusley? I don’t quite remember since I had to tap out early on. I can’t drink as much as Brell or Lin.” He told me as he looked towards me, fixing his glasses.

Stolen novel; please report.

I was worried since I mentioned his name so I questioned Suta “What did I say about it?”.

Suta then closed his eyes while he began rubbing his forehead “Uhh… Something along the lines of having something you need?”.

It didn’t seem like I mentioned too much and relaxed a bit but then I wondered what Brell heard and also since Suta mentioned my magic and looked to my right wondering if Brell was sleeping behind the half wall. “Is Brell here?”

I then looked back to Suta to see him shaking his head “No, after the tavern closed, his party members came and got him, probably bringing him to his room.”.

I then thought if Brell made it to his room then I wondered why both Suta and I were sleeping in piles of hay. “Why aren’t we in rooms?” I asked him.

“Well at that point of the night, we both were not capable of getting a room and so I wandered into here to go to sleep and you came with.” Suta explained. “The thing that surprised me though is that you said you don’t like to sleep and you also mentioned to me something like if you scream or something that it isn’t something bad.” He told me.

I wondered why I told him about that or if anything willingly went to sleep but I didn’t bother thinking about it too long and got out of the hay as well. When I was on my feet, I stumbled forwards but quickly regained my footing. “Whoa, careful there.” Suta told me as he got ready to catch me if I fell forwards. “Do you not drink often or something?” He asked me curiously.

After I had my balance and was standing up properly, I looked back down at the pile of hay and saw my sword. “No, I didn’t even know what ale was before drinking it.” I said as I grabbed my blade and placed it upon my back.

When I looked up to Suta, he had a surprised expression “Really? With how well you were holding it in, I thought you at least drank occasionally.”. He then started mumbling to himself “I wonder if people who constantly train their body can drink more…”. Even though he was mumbling it, I was still able to make out what he said but had no comment for it.

“Anyways though Crim, I don’t know what you’re going to do but I’m going to go see if I can find Lin again.” Suta said as he began walking towards the exit that was behind many horses.

When he said that, I completely forgot that Lin went missing. I would have joined to help him if I had nothing to do but I had someone to find here in Nishilon. “I have things I need to do here but I hope you find her.” I told him.

Suta looked back while we could still see each other and he had a small smile on his face. “Thanks, I hope you find what you’re looking for here.” He told me. He then turned around and before he walked out the doors “Hopefully you Lin and I can enjoy the fireflies mid merchants festival.”. After he told me this, he began walking off.

I stood there in silence after he left, wondering what I should do. First thing I thought of would be to ask around and see if anyone knows the name but then I thought if the person left little information when buying the book, it might not be best to do that. I then thought of what ways I could find out that is a bit more discreet but couldn’t come up with much.

While thinking about it, I couldn’t figure much about it until I remembered that it is Vaero’s surname and that Vaero was a guard for Chelsey. With that in mind, maybe if I find out more about Chelsey’s merchant family, I might also learn about Vaero’s family since she told me they were close. I then began racking my brain on where to start but couldn’t come up with much and decided to go into the guild and get something to eat while thinking about it.

When I left the barn full of horses, I was met by the blistering hot sun that was directly above me and instinctively raised my arm to block it from blinding me. After I adjusted to my surroundings, I realized I was at the side of the guild and began going around to get to the front entrance. Once I entered inside and began walking towards the tavern half, I saw some familiar faces.

One of them noticed me and began waving me over and I realized the one that was doing so was Brell. After I approached the table and began sitting down in the empty seat beside Howari, Brell then told me with a smirk on his face “Good morning there or should I say good afternoon. Either way, I was surprised you were keeping up with me last night, there's only a few people that can, Lin being one of them.”. Brell then looked towards the entrance of the building with a curious look “Speaking of which, where's Suta?” he asked.

I didn’t respond right away since I felt a bit uneasy sitting beside Howari since she was a water mage and it reminded me of the nightmare. “Hey, are you still hung over, Crim? You’re looking a bit pale.” Brell voiced out. “Maybe splash some water on his face, Howari. That;ll help wake him up.” He told Howari.

“N-no, I’m fine!” I suddenly said, slightly scaring the shy Howari beside me. “If you’re wondering about Suta, he already left to go looking for Lin.” I said, quickly trying to avoid splashing water on my face since the nightmare has me a bit afraid of water right now.

“He did? Well I’m not really surprised, he wouldn’t keep quiet about her last night.” Brell said. “Anyways we already ate some lunch but I don’t mind sticking around for a bit since we’re just here to enjoy the festival now.” He added on. “Also you should drink some water, it’ll help with the hangover.” He said as he gestured to the cup of water in front of me. Noticing that there was one in front of me, I also noticed four other glasses, the last one was probably meant for Suta.

“What about you? What are you planning on doing in Nishilon? If I remember correctly from last night you were looking for someone?” Brell asked me.

I hesitated at first to take a drink from the glass but then decided to just go for it. After taking a drink of water, I answered Brell “Yeah well, first I’m actually wanting to learn about a merchant family, I don’t know if any of you guys might have any information about them.”.

“Hmm that may be true, I don’t know much about merchant families really.” Brell voiced out. “What's the name though since you never know.” He asked me curiously.

I then thought back to what Chelsey’s surname was “Uhh if I remember correctly, I want to find out about the Hishtof merchant family.”.

When I said that name, the eyebrows of everyone around me were raised.