Just because I had secured a path into Dioshin didn’t mean all of my business was concluded. I still needed to know as much as I could. Pait would be a great deal of help, but I was still determined to speak to Figuro and learn a little more. It was also probably best that I didn’t put all of my hopes on Pait, just in case. Thus, I split off from Pait, agreeing to meet him at the traveling guild later. Then, Celeste and I headed to the slaver’s guild to speak to Figuro.

“He’s gone.”

“Gone?”

The receptionist nodded. “Figuro is on an expedition right now. He’s trying to find a path to enter Shie Gescar.”

“Shie Gescar? Isn’t that area kind of mysterious?”

Shie Gescar was a large country that took up nearly 1/3d of the continent, but no one in the five countries seemed to know very much about it. The entire country was blocked off by impassable mountains and rivers, and the place was quiet and never did much. They bordered half the demon lands with the Imperial Cloud Meadow, so they must be able to keep back the threat, but they were still a complete mystery. Allegedly, Terra’s parents had come from this place, but that was all I knew about it.

“Figuro does this every couple of years. He tries to find a safe passage into Shie Gescar.”

“A safe passage? Does that imply there are unsafe passages?”

“Several… but the results are that few ever come back.” He shrugged. “Those that have made it back half-dead don’t seem to remember anything about the other side.”

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That last comment was new. I had heard that the trip was seemingly one way. However, I didn’t hear about some making it back. It only added to the place’s mystery. It looked like even Figuro had some dreams and ambitions, although I couldn’t get myself excited about a slave trader breaking ground in a new location. In my opinion, it probably wasn’t a matter of the journey, but the destination. Whoever lived in Shie Gescar didn’t like trespassers. I hoped Figuro the best. He had made it back before though, so he’d probably be fine.

However, those thoughts didn’t help me in my current situation. “I needed some information on Dioshin.”

“Ah… we’re not an information guild. We have to protect our clients.” The receptionist shrugged.

“But… I need to know about one of my slaves.” I sighed helplessly.

“A slaver? Ah… so you are a client then.” The tone of the receptionist’s voice restored a bit of my hope.

“Do you know about Miki?”

“Ah… I can look up information about slaves you’ve purchased. We keep thorough records of all previous sales. If you own someone, you have a right to their personal history. Is there something I can look up for you?” As he said this, he also held out a hand.

I didn’t even care that it cost quite a few gold. At this point, I didn’t worry about money all that much. I immediately paid the cost and told him what I wanted to know. He wouldn’t give me personal information about Dioshin, which violated some international noninvolvement treaty. I had heard about a similar thing in adventuring guilds. Since they transcended borders, they wouldn’t provide aid or information that would benefit one nation over another. However, they were happy to give me the name of Miki’s hometown as well as mark it on a map.

“Jun. The city of Jun.”

Although I wasn’t able to speak to Figuro, I had found a path into Dioshin and a place to start. I knew that this trip wouldn’t be easy. I had lived in Aberis all of this time and had still only seen half of it. Dioshin was every bit as large as Aberis, and I had to find a single foxkin girl amongst a sea of beastkin. Furthermore, she could be in trouble. I had to get moving.