Chapter 4 watery grave part 2
As I was wandering through the streets I was thinking “How does the wolf eared woman know that something is off at the port? Intuition, deduction, evidence... a mix of all?”
“Does it really matter?” I scraped that thought and went on.
***
I finally arrived at the port it was busy as always, I guess even with these rumors floating around they still have to work to make a living. Luckily, I don’t~
I let my eyes wander from the busy port, with ships coming and going, to the beach…
“Found her” she was standing at the beach looking at the sea, deep in thought.
I sprinted towards her as quietly as possible and then jumped at her leg…
“Were you trying to startle me?” the woman said in amused tone and a dump grin plastered over her face saying “it’s my victory”.
*tsk*
“Mission failed. I guess she is not for nothing a guild master.”
“It was worth a try though… someday I will surprise her!” I thought to myself full with motivation.
“What are you doing her anyway?” she asked with an amused look “Were you missing me?”
I looked up at her with a “Are you serious face”
“Why do they all misunderstand me!” I screamed in my head, but quickly stopped caring and pointed with my paw at the open sea.
“Ah! Did you notice it as well? What an intelligent kitty you are!”
“…I’ve not the energy to complain anymore…”
*sigh*
She continued as she looked back at the sea “Something doesn’t feel right, my gut and experience tells me so.”
“I listened to the witnesses and checked their houses-”
“When did you do all that?”
“The sea water that the victim’s beds where drenched in, the foul fish smell still lingering at the scene…”
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“You are quite serious about that, what a rare sight.”
“I followed the smell and its trail ends here…”
“I didn’t think of smell, she is a beastman after all…”
“So, do you know what it is, I mean you are an adventurer so you would know right?” I asked in my mind while jumping around in front of her to get her attention.
She looked at me with a dead serious face “I’ve got no idea what it is.”
“For real even you don’t know… wait, are you a mind reader now?”
We stared at each other for a while in silence…
…
…
“We should ask around the port if someone saw anything at night!” we thought/said at the same time.
We nodded at each other and set off.
***
Exhausted, the wolf eared woman sat on a wooden box near the port, I equally drained laid on her lap like a wet towel.
I know, I know, spirits can’t run out of stamina… but that doesn’t mean they can’t be mentally exhausted…
*sigh*
We asked for hours countless workers if they saw something unusual, but all we got was a story about driftwood looking like a sea creature and the newest gossip, at some point I turned my mind off…
*sigh* both of us let out a big sigh.
“Excuse me” an old shaky voice belonging to an old man, that was more wrinkled skin than anything, rung out to us “I h-heard… you are… investigating the resent… incidents.”
“Yes!” The wolf woman jumped up almost throwing me down if it weren’t for my excellent landing skills.
“Do you have any useful information?!” she asked with new clamed vigor.
“I don’t know… if it will be of much help… or if you will even belief this old man, but a few nights ago…”
The old man proceeded to tell us what happened,
That night he was drinking at the port alone, when he heard strange bone shilling noises from the beach, he said it sounded full of sorrow and anguish…
He, not sure if caused by too much alcohol, hid behind a ship and peaked at the beach, to his disbelief in the dim moon light he saw humanoid figures wandering out of the water…
And one of these figures looked like…
“One of my old friends, e-even if it was dark I clearly recognized him! …He perished in a storm on sea 50 years ago!” the old mans voice filled with emotions continued “but what I saw wasn’t human anymore…” he looked like he would cry any moment now.
A brief silence overcame us.
Then “Do you know in which direction he went?” asked the wolf woman carefully.
“H-he went into the direction of his old house…”
“Maybe he wanted to sea his wife and child.” the old man now unable to hold back his tears continued “His wife died a long time ago but his child still lives there with her wife and children…”
“I-I didn’t have the courage to go after him that night… the next day I heard from their neighbors what happened.” He collapsed to the ground “I’m so glad that nothing happed to them if- if-“
While I looked at the old man my detective partner tried to calm him down, after a few minutes she asked “Why didn’t you report this to the guild?”
“Who would believe such an old drunkard like me…” he said while wallowing in self-pity…
I tug my partner at her pants “Let’s go.”
She nodded as if understanding what I thought “Thanks for sharing that valuable information with us.”
The man nodded and made his way to the pier, sitting down at the edge, beginning to drink with eyes full of regret looking at the blue sea…
A woman working at the port approached us while we observed the old man “He does this for 50 years or so now, always looking at the sea while drinking his mind away…
He used to be a sailor, but lost everything in a storm, his wife and child that were on board with him and his best friend and college, to this day he still seems to feel guilty for surviving.”
“…”
The wolf woman had a sad look on her face as if knowing how the old man felt.