Chapter 115: On the Trail of Blood

The team split with their delegated tasks. Sen was in charge of communicating with the officials and leaders of the community. The Arlang name held more local sway than Encio’s impressive but otherwise distant origin if his name was even known this far out.

John and Aliyah headed into the archives. Eufemia was usually his assistant, however her skills in investigation that she’s learnt from John as well as her ability to read the emotions of others was better used with elusive people than books that readily bared their secrets. She and Encio was the flirtatious face of the operation; neither had any compunctions using their looks to wheedle advantages or information from their unsuspecting and entirely willing victims.

Nara was on lookout duty. A body of Sage was dispatched to the morgue, the town hall, and to the most important location in town—the mining operations. The low limit of three bodies was unfortunate; she’d direct Sage to new locations as they identified areas of interest. Sage would keep an ear out for any gossip their arrival had stirred. The team was considerably more eye-catching than previous adventurers. Not only did they have the shining beauties that made you feel low-class just trying to talk to them, but they also had the wonderous performance Nara’s nebula flask had put on for them—a rarity of fantastical storybook magic, even in Erras.

A side benefit of Nara’s Soul Legion expanded the range of her Party Guide. Any of her familiars extended it’s benefits to a small area around them even if Nara was halfway around the globe. Wherever they were, Nara was too. Thanatos became John and Aliyah’s literal lapdog and radio. Chrome was less discrete, so he was stationed at nebula house. This was “their contract” and “not his problem” so he set out to do whatever he usually did in his free time (attempt to surpass Laius in cooking.)

On top of lookout duties, Sen had an alternate task for Nara; push as many of her abilities to bronze rank as possible over the next few days. Since she no longer had to be nearby for her communication ability to operate, she could intentionally seek out and hunt bronze rank monsters solo.

It was an unusual request from Sen, who didn’t like sending teammates alone, especially Nara after recent events. Sen had a feeling the investigation wasn’t so simple, and the team knew that Sen’s intuition was usually right. Regardless, pushing a few abilities to bronze was an important trump card of iron rankers.

*****

The disappearances had continued for a little over two years, perhaps longer. The townsfolk may not have noticed an issue for some time. The last few months, the disappearances had increased, driving the townsfolk into a panic.

Lu Yusi was the first disappearance that caused the town to take note of the problem: He worked as part of a transport team that traveled to Sanshi to deliver stone and crystal and was an ordinary day laborer. What was unusual was, he always spent a bit of extra coin to notify his wife when he arrived in Sanshi and when he left, for which he stayed for two weeks unloading and transporting cargo. At some point in this routine trip, he disappeared, and his wife never received the second letter.

The disappearances had been sparse. One person every three to four weeks, and that was if the established pattern held, as not everything could be perfectly recorded in a town of trade. In a year, around seventeen. The increase had shortened the interval to around once a week.

“That’s a steep increase,” John muttered. “Three times as many disappearances?”

“No wonder the town head is so anxious,” Aliyah agreed.

Once the town head had taken notice of the disappearances, he had instituted a policy that had every traveling townsfolk notify a record keeper at the archive library. At first, the policy wasn’t strictly followed, as most found it unnecessary and inconvenient. As the disappearances continued with regularity, the townsfolk feared for their loved ones, and committed to the policy.

“He’s been doing his best, poor fellow.” He sympathized with the town head that tried his best to keep everyone safe with limited resources. He kept his cool, but they could feel his anxiety in his aura, and the mix of hope and resignation.

According to the records, they had two days until another miner would disappear. Records indicated that the disappearances temporarily stopped when a group of investigative adventurers were in town.

“That’s not good,” John said, “That indicates intent and intelligence.”

“Yes,” Aliyah agreed. “A human enemy, not a monster. Thankfully, that means a silver rank monster is unlikely.”

“Aren’t infiltration silver rank monsters intelligent too?” John asked, “I’ve only heard about some records from my classes.”

“Their methods vary by species,” Aliyah said. “Most try to entrap adventurers and kill them before they notice anything is wrong at all, then take over their bodies.”

“That doesn’t sound good at all. That sounds absolutely terrible,” John said with mild horror.

Aliyah reassuringly smiled. “The fact we and the town head noticed anything is wrong at all means it is probably not that. So we won’t die unexpectedly in a few days to a trap. This is something that loses it’s nerve when others are around. The do or die desperation of monster doesn’t match up.” She paused. “At least, a silver rank monster still wouldn’t have the tactical intelligence to pause it’s activities when it detects adventurers, or…” she continued blithely, “It wouldn’t fear some iron rank adventurers enough to stop.”

“God save us all,” John muttered. John can’t say he appreciated the experience of being on a lower rung of the food chain.

*****

Before Nara was to go on a solo monster hunting rampage, she was to survey the town and their normal operations. She transitioned into full stealth, using her robe, aura control and aura strength, and adopting positions on rooftops to observe the workings of the town.

Business continued as usual. In the early morning, laborers had just begun their day. Some departed out east, towards the eastern seaports or west, towards the Blue Jade River. Stone, crystal, and jade was moved to workshops, where it could be further processed according to their client’s specifications. While the stone was often used for building, it was also used to create lampposts, furniture, stone fences, statues, tiles, jugs, and fountains.

She sleuthed towards the next hub of importance of the town; the mine shafts. She couldn’t investigate much from the outside—the stone blocked her aura. Even a bronze rank aura couldn’t push through that much solid stone.

She told Sen her findings over voice chat: “I didn’t see anything unusual in town, and if there’s a secret basement or underground bunker, I probably wouldn’t sense it. I didn’t see any outward entrances either.”

Crystal Quarry 6 wasn’t a bunker town; they instead evacuated to one before monster waves. The proximity to the river made large scale evacuation easy. The transportation hub at the river maintained large ships that would transport the residents to their assigned fortress city.

Nara continued, “The forest and the mine shafts are great places to hide something nearby. I don’t know how deep the mine shafts go, and it seems ripe for hidden evil lairs and secret entrances.”

“We can ask the mayor for a map of the shafts. Once we receive one, try to confirm if entrances match the map.”

“Can do.”

She headed into the forest for further investigation when an idea popped into her head. She astral jumped to Aliyah and John down in the archives.

“I need to borrow Thanatos for a moment,” she said.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“A penny for your thoughts?” John asked.

She crouched near Thanatos, “Do you have a good sense of smell?”

“Not a bad idea at all!” John realized.

Thanatos barked at her.

“I know you’re not a dog, but wolves have good olfactory senses too. Do you, or don’t you?”

Thanatos snorted.

“Were you always like this or are you picking up attitude from Chrome?” She said fondly.

Thanatos stood from his floor sprawl and slipped into Nara’s shadow.

“I’ll be back with him soon.”

If Nara served as transport, she could move her familiars across great distances. Only Chrome had a teleportation ability, but it was limited to line of sight and short distances. Thanatos and Sage both had their methods of quick movement, although both had restrictions in effectiveness. Thanatos could only travel quickly while subsumed in shadows, and Sage could always move quickly but a silver robe darting across an open street, even if Sage could become dim and transparent, was about as stealthy as a scarf flying in the wind. She wanted to keep Sage entirely secret for now, and opted against that.

Picking up blood trails in a forest when traders were the ones disappearing wasn’t the best idea, so Nara astral jumped towards west entrance of the village that led trade off towards the river. She would double back to the forest later. When she was around, everybody had communications, but once she left, she had to leave Thanatos with John and Aliyah. She didn’t want to leave communications cut off. John and Nara understood the importance of instantaneous communications better than most, and Sen had quickly integrated the ability into his strategies.

Nara called for Thanatos at the town’s edge, and he slinked out of her shadow.

“Can you smell anything?”

Thanatos sniffed the air, his ink nose twitching. He barked at her again.

“Yeah, we can head into town and try again. You think you can pick up blood?”

He barked an affirmative.

At later ranks, Nara’s own physical senses would become more sensitive, but at iron rank, the intrinsic characteristics of physical body such as Thanatos’ wolf form held an advantage in scent detection.

They headed back into town, Thanatos sniffing the air all the while.

He barked at her.

“When have I not giving you the food you wanted? Of course, you’ll have whatever you want after this.”

He barked again, tail thumping against her leg.

“So sassy, yeesh.”

The two weaved through the town, which was not large. She and Thanatos kept to shadows and alleys, keeping discrete. Since they arrived in town, she hadn’t shown her face outside the nebula house. Eufemia and Encio were their public investigators, and she’d be the private one.

*****

The six met back up at the nebula house to discuss what they had learned.

“Thanatos did detect blood, an abnormal amount of it. Nothing that a workplace injury would explain.” Nara reported. “Leading up to through the trade routes, which coincides with that we know about the disappearances. More importantly,” Nara tapped a spot on the map, “they lead towards the mines. Not the main entrance. There’s a side entrance somewhere, but we haven’t discovered it yet.”

“It may be concealed with concealment magic,” Aliyah postulated. “You’re unlikely to see through it.”

“Wouldn’t be much point to concealment magic if she could.” Eufemia said.

“But—” Nara held a finger up hushing the group, “—I don’t think the side entrance is in the mountain. I think the entrance may be in someone’s basement.”

“On what basis?” John asked.

“The scent trail didn’t lead directly to the mountain, but someplace at the outskirts of town.”

“Closest to the mountain?” John asked.

“Yes.”

“If that’s the case,” Aliyah said, “I have an idea to continue our investigation into this lead.” She pulled a book of external magic from her inventory, setting it on the table and opening it to a page. Aliyah had the book memorized, so it was to the benefit of the rest of the group. “The earth quality detection ritual is used to analyze the quality of earth in a small area, to determine its components and alternatively whether it is safe for construction. In our case, we can use it to detect for air within the earth and stone.”

Nara wondered if Aliyah’s new friendship with Jiro had brought this ritual to mind.

“To check for secret compartments?” John said, “Like basements?”

“Or the underground tunnel that connects to it,” said Sen.

“Exactly.”

“At iron rank, the range of the ritual is rather low.” Aliyah said, she traced her fingers gently over the map. “To cover the most likely ground, the far side of town, I’d need to cast it over thirty times.”

“That many?”

“It is a quick ritual, it’s no issue at all.”

Eufemia had a relevant question, “Can you detect the underground basements through the concealment magic?”

Aliyah’s expression was thoughtful, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“So, we can execute these rituals, but if we find nothing it may be a false negative.”

“Strange terminology,” Aliyah said, but she already deduced its meaning, “Is it from your world?”

“Yeah. A result that says something is absent when it isn’t.”

“Hm,” Aliyah mused. “I like that.”

The issue was tabled for now, for Encio and Eufemia to report.

“We’ve asked around the townsfolk,” said Eufemia. “I spoke mainly to the miners, for obvious reasons. Most were normal, worried—at typical levels you’d expect.”

“It’s the traders that have been targeted so far, not miners,” Encio added.

“There was one that was suspect,” Eufemia said. “Shifty eyes, nervous, sweaty—guilty. I know a liar when I see one.”

“You can sense liars,” John pointed out.

Eufemia snorted, “I didn’t need my aura reading to tell me this guy stank of guilt.”

“That or he needs some deodorant. Saved our middle school lives, you know. This world could use some.”

“We have deodorant,” Aliyah said slowly. “You think that lowly of our developments?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to use some flower extract to cover up rank smells,” Eufemia said, “It’s used a lot in Nekroz.”

Nara gave Eufemia a hesitant side eye over that comment, “…He’s just gross then. Or poor, I guess.”

“On my side,” Encio said, pulling the conversation back into focus, “there was a housewife that seemed strange.”

“Strange how?”

“Not happy that adventurers were investigating,” Encio said, “She distinctly lacked an enthusiasm that the other ladies shared.”

“You’re just unhappy she wasn’t immediately charmed by your looks. Did that remind you of someone?”

“Eufemia,” Sen said.

She rolled her eyes.

Encio chuckled good naturedly, not minding her jab.

“That is strange,” said Sen. “Even if previous adventurers have failed, they should be happy the contract hasn’t been abandoned by the Adventure Society.”

“They can do that?”

“They can,” confirmed Encio. “The Adventure Society may conclude that a requester is lying. It usually takes several failed contracts, and the requester will be blacklisted from the society. It’s a nightmare for normal folk.”

“Like crying wolf?” Nara said.

“They don’t know what that is here,” John pointed out.

“It takes a lot of failures,” continued Encio, “It’s not something that happens often. They’ll send a 3-star adventurer for a final investigation before blacklisting the requester. But this is iron rank. Multiple 2-star adventurer failures is closing in on the limit.”

“No one wants to be blacklisted,” said Sen, “Then you’re unprotected. Although, a higher rank 3-star adventurer may be the solution to their problems as well.”

“The Adventure Society doesn’t like it when they think someone is wasting their time,” said Encio. “The Society is busy enough as is.”

“The Society would not write off the whole town,” said Sen. “They may, however, blacklist the requester, in this case the town head.”

“That’d disqualify him from being town head,” said Encio. “He’ll try to avoid that no matter what.”

“It also gives reason for someone to try to encourage repeated failures,” John said, “And oust him from his position.”

“You think this is politically motivated?” said Eufemia.

“There’s a chance. He seems a respectable bloke that everyone in the town follows. May be reason enough.”

“Was anyone else suspicious?” Sen asked.

“Just that woman, Aira Hong. And the body odor miner was Tousa Di.”

“Do you have more details about the two suspects?” John asked.

Encio nodded, “Aira Hong, mother of Siyu Hong. Keeps the house and tends to a personal vegetable garden. According to other women, she’s been distancing herself from group gatherings, and seems uncharacteristically nervous when they do meet her. Siyu, her son, is in his thirties and is one of the miners. Unmarried.”

Eufemia continued for her subject, “Tousa Di, one of the miners. Married to Saya Fu, very distant relation to the Fenhu. No children yet between the two of them. With his body odor, his personality (or something else) must be enough to make up for it.”

A quiet chiding “Eufemia!” sounded out.

“How about the miners’ leader?”

“He’s Kisang Zho, the miners call him Boss Zho. Some essences, but not a full set—like the town head. He was helpful and cooperative. But…” Eufemia tilted her head thoughtfully. “Something was off about him too.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the miners were, really. They seemed unsatisfied with something. I couldn’t place if it was related to the case or not. Tousa stood out as more suspicious than the rest. Zho was in opposition to that.”

“I may have a reason for that,” John said, pulling out a stack of papers.

“They let you hold onto that?” Nara asked.

“I’ve heard Adventurers have a good reputation,” John said. “I’m finally seeing some of those mystical benefits in action.” It was reassuring to see the benefits that membership into the Society professed in action. Reputation was its own power.

“Financial report of the town’s economy?” Aliyah read from the papers.

“Yes. Here, it says that the bulk of money is generated by the traders.”

“The traders get paid more than the miners, and the miners are unsatisfied,” Nara concluded.

“That’s the ins and outs of it,” John tapped the document with his finger. “Since they’ve got a Healer priest in town, any ailments of mining can easily be cleansed. The mines are well-structured and controlled, and there’s little risk of earthquakes in the region.”

“Trading is the more dangerous job.”

“That’s right,” John confirmed, “They spend more time away from their families, and sometimes run into monsters on the road. The stone haulers are heavy, and they can’t outrun them. A few of the town’s partial essence users accompany them on trips, so usually nothing happens.”

John removed another paper from his stash, “But every few years, they get caught by a bronze rank monster and someone dies.”

“Traders won’t give up more of the profits.”

John nodded, “The town is small enough that the whole operation is effectively town owned, although quickly growing, which is causing some tension. The splitting of the profits has been determined from the very beginning. It’s all written up in the town’s charter.”

“When you sign up as trader or miner.”

John nodded, “For a long time, everyone was satisfied. But it seems like somebody has been riling the miners up.”

“Who?”

The conversation returned to Eufemia, who shook their head, “They aren’t saying. This is somebody they trust. I couldn’t push too far.”

“Then we need to find out who is instigating the miners.”