“Hey, I’m outside the inn. Let me know if Fuyumi is on her way. She hasn’t responded to my messages yet.”

Shin made his way downstairs and out the door. Nightingale sat beside the inn on a bench. Carts full of goods were shuttled down the street by the NPC slaves.

“What a sight to behold first thing in the morning. Isn’t it awful?” Nightingale said, flipping through his codex.

“Nothing we can do about it unfortunately.”

Shin sat down beside his friend. He felt a nudge on his side.

“So, how was your day with Fuyumi? Seems like you guys got a little closer!”

Nightingale had a mischievous grin on his face.

“Come on, this again? Nothing happened. I guess we got a little closer though. She took me out to dinner to thank me.”

“Thank you for what?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Anyway, how nice of her! Doesn’t really seem like something she would do.”

“You don’t think I’m capable of repaying my debts?”

Nightingale’s face went pale as he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“H-hey… Fuyumi! Good morning!”

“I’m not helping you.” Shin whispered.

Fuyumi slapped the back of Nightingale’s head with a rolled-up piece of paper.

“Ouch!”

She dropped it on Nightingale’s lap. He unrolled it to find a map of Dragonfall.

“Oh, nice find.” Nightingale said, as if forgetting what just happened.

His eyes rapidly darted around as he scanned the map. Shin tilted his head over to take a look himself. Meanwhile, Fuyumi closed her eyes to see through her clone’s vision. It was quickly running across the rooftops, jumping over the gaps between the buildings in search of Geoff.

Nightingale sighed as he rolled the map up.

“Hmmmm… I don’t think there’s an appraiser here in the city. At least not according to the map.”

“Could it be that the map is outdated?” Shin asked, leaning back on the bench.

“Shouldn’t be, I just got it not too long ago from the general store down the street.” Fuyumi replied with her eyes still closed.

Adventurers walking past them gossiped amongst themselves. They stared at the white-haired girl with closed eyes and a concentrated face.

“Fuyumi, you’re drawing a lot of attention here.” Nightingale cupped his hands, whispering toward her.

“I know, shut up.” She whispered back.

Nightingale turned to Shin who tilted his head toward the passing players in an attempt to eavesdrop.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“Aside from looking ourselves, I think there’s not much we could do. Can’t players appraise things themselves?”

Nightingale paused, trying to remember.

“It’s not something that I’ve ever heard of... Although to be fair, I haven’t looked into professions all too much though. It wouldn’t hurt asking around in the tavern.”

Fuyumi interjected, catching their attention.

“Found him.”

She studied the area through the clone’s vision before opening her eyes.

“I’ll keep my clone on him, you two continue looking.”

“Aye aye, let’s go Shin.”

Nightingale got up from the bench and started walking across the street. Shin stood up but turned around to find Fuyumi lost in concentration. He grabbed her hand.

“W-w-ah, who? Shin?”

She slightly jumped backward in reaction to her hand suddenly getting grabbed.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

He guided her toward Nightingale who was already on the other side. She walked unsteadily as she tried to focus on her clone. Nightingale held the door open as they walked inside the tavern. Inside were some of the usual customers. They hung around the counter, talking with the bartender. Shin sat Fuyumi down at one of the empty tables and followed Nightingale up to the bar counter.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“So we’re going tomorrow?”

“Yeah, hopefully, this time we’ll get to at least the 18th floor.”

Nightingale waved as he leaned into the group of adventurers.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. Do you guys happen to know an appraiser around here?”

“No, I got nothin’.”

Two of the other men beside him nodded. The bartender tilted his head in the direction of a lone girl at the end of the table before winking at Nightingale. She turned away when she noticed Nightingale staring at her.

“Thanks anyway.”

Nightingale gave a thumbs up to the bartender before pushing off the counter and walking toward the girl who caught his interest. She had an olive-colored cloak over her head, covering her messy brown hair. Nightingale tried the same approach again, leaning toward her.

“Do you happen to kno-”

“No clue.”

Nightingale was taken aback by her blunt and immediate response. He lifted his finger and opened his mouth to ask again but was interrupted by Shin who put his hand over his mouth.

“I’ll pay you.”

She turned around to face them, staring dead into their eyes with a raised eyebrow. She lowered her mug onto the table. She had a black eyepatch covering her left eye.

“How much we talkin’ here?”

“1,000 silver.”

“Deal.”

Nightingale’s eyes opened wide as he faced Shin with his mouth wide open.

He mouthed the words “what the fuck?”

Shin took out a small pouch and emptied its contents on the bar counter. She picked up each coin, examining it before stacking them beside her. She lifted her eyepatch to get a closer look at one of the coins. Nightingale tilted his head to get a look at her eye but she noticed his gaze and put her eyepatch back down.

“Back off.”

She picked up the stack of coins, sandwiching it between two fingers, and held it up beside her face.

“Looks right to me.”

“So, where is the appraiser?”

The mysterious girl put her hood back on and stood up from the bar.

“Follow me.”

Shin went back to the table to grab Fuyumi and they followed her out of the tavern. Meanwhile, Nightingale flicked a coin at the bartender on the way out.

She didn’t have anything else to say as they walked in silence. After five minutes, she turned the corner and into a dark alley. Drapery hung from ropes strung between the two buildings, blocking their path. She pushed through the cloth and guided them through one final ornately decorated curtain. Inside was a dimly lit room with a candle on each end of a table. She went behind the desk while gesturing for her guests to sit down in the chairs on the other side.

“Somethings happening.”

Fuyumi lowered her eyebrows in concern.

“Be careful, we’ll try to finish up on this side.”

Shin turned back around to face the girl.

“So, where is the appraiser?”

“Me.”

She took out a small box from under the table and placed it between them. She inserted a key and turned it, causing the box to open up. Inside were four rotating gears on each corner, cranking a lever that raised a small platform with a round slot in the center. A mechanical arm with a magnifying glass came up from the side of the box. It automatically adjusted itself, putting itself a short distance away from the empty slot.

“Give me the gem.” She said, holding her hand out.

Nightingale took it out of his item pouch and placed it in her hand. She placed it in the middle of the contraption, causing the gears to spin.

Mechanical rings began to surround the gem, which suddenly cracked. A faint blue energy began to seep out of the cracks in the gem and were absorbed into the mechanical rings. When the gears stopped spinning, she put her face to the magnifying glass. She lifted her eyepatch and closed her other eye.

“Hmm…”

Nightingale and Shin leaned closer in anticipation.

“Looks like this one increases your magic attack by ten percent if you stand still for five seconds.”

“Oh?” Nightingale’s face lit up with excitement.

“Sounds great but something is about to happen.” Fuyumi spoke up from the back of the room.

“If you’ll excuse us.”

The three of them stepped out of the room and into the alleyway.

Fuyumi closed her eyes and began to describe the events as they happened.

Through the clone’s vision, she saw Geoff and three strange figures that she hadn’t recognized before. The clone was hiding in the shadows a few meters away from them, spying on their meeting in an alleyway in the southern district. The buildings were more run down than usual. Heaps of trash and gunk were all over the floor. They exchanged a few words before Geoff handed over the orb to the man in front and shook his hand before leaving.

“What do you think?” Nightingale asked, scratching his chin.

“We should follow those three. I’m sending my clone to trail them.”

Fuyumi opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and she winced in pain, putting her hand over her eye.

“Ugh.”

“Fuyumi?!” Shin said troubledly.

“This is n-normal. My eyes start hurting if I focus on my clone for too long.”

“Should we follow your clone?” Nightingale asked.

“Y-yeah, let’s get going.”

Shin went back inside to tell the appraiser that they were leaving and to retrieve the orb. She waved back nonchalantly and told them to come again if they have more money.

Shin came back outside to find Fuyumi and Nightingale standing along the wall of the buildings, staring up.

“This seems good.” Nightingale nodded.

“Stay close.”

Fuyumi and Shin stood beside him. A green magic circle began to form underneath them. It glowed as more magical scripture formed along the edges.

“[Gale Ascent].”

A powerful current of wind pushed them over the buildings and landed them gently atop the rooftops.

“The southern district is this way.”

Fuyumi started running first with Shin following closely behind her. Nightingale struggled to keep up as the other two were far more agile than him. He yelled out to his allies who left him behind.

“I guess I’ll just see you guys there! Assholes!

“Hurry up!” Shin yelled back to him.

“Tch, fine!”

“[Gale Current]!”

Nightingale began leaping over the gaps between the buildings as currents of wind pushed him forward. The three of them ran toward the southern district at a breakneck pace.