The evening came. Most of the returning adventurers were joyously having their dinners. I was at my table, handing out pouches of clinking coins to the adventurers who had completed their missions. Some pouches were big and some were small, with a few having silver coins while the others were filled with copper ones. So the value couldn't be guessed just from their outer appearance. The highest difficulty of missions here didn't go past the rank of silver in most cases, and that was also why there were fewer than a few who were seen with visible injuries. The time ticked, and the night fell. The guild that was bustling with people a few moments ago had gone into silence. Shea cleaned all the tables and washed all the utensils by herself. The last customer of the day put one copper coin on his table, got up from his seat, and walked towards me. I put away the few documents on the table in the last drawer. He sat on the high stool opposite me as Shea went and locked the entrance of the hall and went inside after finishing her work. The man checked the entire hall before revealing his face under the cloak. A small, rugged man with a tan skin tone, pointy ears, and a young face that looked old due to the static facial features present on it. A mix of dwarven and elven blood. Dwarfelkin.
He took out a document from under his cloak and handed it to me. "It's been long, Digit." I greeted it as I opened it and looked over its contents. "Is this true?" I asked in surprise, and he nodded in response.
"Should we request everyone in the area?" As one of their own was involved in the matter, they wanted to use the guild's cooperation to its best.
I pulled out a few documents from the first drawer and looked at the adventurer ranks and the locations of their assigned missions. "We still don’t know the entirety of the situation, and gathering all of them will take time." Most on the document pages were experienced but bronze-rank adventurers, and very few were in the city for immediate contact. "I will personally send a request to the few silver ranks," I said as I separated a few individual documents from the bundle.
He thought about it for a moment before opening his mouth. "As part of our information network, an ex-rank is staying in one of the inns nearby. We thought of contacting him, Autumn."
We didn't keep any information above the gold rank, but I had an idea who he was referring to. But I asked anyway. "And who might that be?"
"Lark Holloway." With a sigh, in the document he handed to me, I stamped the seal of approval along with my sign on top of it and handed the document back to him. He put back the hood of his cloak, got off the stool, and exited from a small entrance back into the hall. Why him of all people? I thought as I wrote a bunch of letters to silver-ranked adventurers that I selected along with a few bronze-ranked ones, providing information about the situation regarding Misty Grove and requesting their assistance on the matter, vaguely describing the rewards according to the contribution. The scene this afternoon came to mind. The three adventurers, who went on their first mission expecting a guild license, Their faces, which showed a bit of enthusiasm and disappointment along with a sense of self-motivation at the same time after they heard the contents of the mission, were something I couldn't get to see in recent days. I hope they are found alive.
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There was nothing to sit here for, and I have been walking left and right, waiting outside his room for an hour now. Lark and the woman who went inside still didn’t come out. I should have booked another room. My feet were getting tired, but the energy of the people inside remained the same. I closed my ears to block the light sounds of lustful moans reaching them. The room was located in a corner on the second floor of the inn. They were normally reserved for certain kinds of famous people to maintain their privacy. And the privacy of the people inside was well maintained, except for me, who felt like I was intentionally spying on them. Even though I was his close friend, at times I felt more like his personal attendant. What kind of life am I leading? As I was thinking, the sudden sound of footsteps made me look to the side. A man of small stature came into my sight as he quickly walked towards me. "I’ve been looking for you, Carter." It was a familiar voice, and when he revealed his face under his cloak, it made me greet him back.
"Digit? How have you been? It's been so long since we met."
"Four years, to be exact." He said.
"You really helped me during that bandit mission, man. It went on for a few months that I lost all hope of subduing them."
"It was an order from above, so I only did what I was asked." He was still as stiff as ever. With a face that showed no particular expression and a body that looked the same after all these years.
His eyes were darting into the few rooms on this floor. "You seem to be in a hurry. So, what did you want from me?" I asked, getting to the point.
"I need to speak with Mr. Lark. I heard you both are travelling together. Could you tell me where he is?" I noticed the sounds from Lark's room stopped when Digit came to me. "Is he inside?" He peeked at the door behind me.
I was hesitant to answer him. "You can tell me, Digit. I’ll be sure to tell Lark when he comes out. He was tired as we returned this morning. You know how it is. This line of work has never been easy." I was half-bluffing a person from the information network of the guild. That alone made me wonder why I was covering for that person.
"I understand what you are saying, Carter, but let me tell this to him myself."
"I think he is not in the mood for any sort of discussion. Can you see if you come a little later? Or I could reach out to you when he is ready." I suggested it to him, but that didn't change the situation.
"It’s a matter of grave importance, and we already wasted enough time as it is. So please move aside; I won’t take long." He tried to push his way through.
"It’s really not a good time." I tried to get in the way of the door, which was not locked for no good reason, and hold him by his shoulder to stop him from entering the room, but he slipped through the gap between my feet with his small stature and opened the door with a loud bang. Oh god. I shut my eyes, as I couldn’t look at the embarrassing situation inside.
"Mister Lark. Allow me to—" He cut his words short. Still trying to resist the urge to look, I opened my eyes to find a very normal, unenthusiastic scene of a bed with a red-haired woman sleeping on it, hidden mostly under the white blanket. A not-so-bright light emanated from the lamp on the desk at the other end of the bed. And the person in question, Lark, stood near the window, butt-naked, with his back facing us. The trail of smoke coming from the cigar he held in his hand covered half the room. He slowly turned around, his full front facing us. "What are you doing, Mister Lark?" The little man observed carefully, especially the lower part, and asked in the same tone.
"I tried to stop him, Lark, but he didn’t listen." I wanted to know the answer too, but I put that aside for now. I came and stood before Digit, trying to take him out of the room. "Please, Digit, listen to me. Let's come after some time."
"I think I have seen you somewhere. Where is that?" Before I could pull him out, Lark asked from behind us.
"Mister Holloway. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Digit, an information broker from the Information Guild, affiliated with the Iceheart Guild. I came bearing urgent news, requesting your assistance." He pushed me to the side and repeated the same thing he had been saying to me.
"From the information guild? Now, that can't be small, can it?"
"I see you understand."
"But I just returned today after completing one of my missions. You know I am tired and need rest." My eyes glanced at him and the woman, who was still sleeping on the bed, when he said that.
"I understand your situation. But if you hear what I will say next, you won't be able to decline."
"Yeah, yeah. Putting aside the so-called urgency, what’s the reward?" Asking casually, he walked to the bed, picked one of his night garments on the side, and wore it loose, tying the strap near his waist. His chest was still visible, and when he sat on the bed, facing us with his legs crossed, the contents that should have been hidden by his clothes were clearly presented before our eyes.
"Befitting of the results." Digit said in answer to Lark.
"That’s a little vague for the graveness of the situation you are describing it to be. Is that how you make a request? Are the people of the guild low on funds or what?" Even though he was just twenty-seven, he had an air of control about him. Slim yet chiselled body and sharp facial features with golden brown hair that only complement his overall look. And an imposing demeanour filled with his free-bird personality was on complete display here. And it didn't affect Digit in the slightest, which only made my admiration for the little man grow even further. "There is no need to answer my question. It’s decided, then. I will accept whatever it is, but I want another one of my companions to be with me. That's my only condition." His words didn't allow for rejection.
"Who is it?" Digit asked, throwing a glance to my side. I didn’t know that Lark, the self-centred man, still held me in high regard.
"Luna. I think you know her." I gulped down my saliva in surprise. Putting aside the fact that he didn’t take my name, he said that woman's name out of everything that could come out of his shameless mouth. I hoped Digit would reject the idea and stared intently at him, who didn't bother to find my piercing gaze.
"If I am not mistaken, you are talking about Luna Winters, the Riverdale Viscount’s daughter, right?"
"Bingo! That's an information broker for you."
"We were already planning to ask her but decided against that when we found out you were also here, Mister Holloway. I heard both of you were working together on your previous mission in the capital."
"We were." He said, a wide smile forming on his face. I wouldn’t exactly call that working together. She was on the verge of killing Lark more than a few times, and I wouldn't blame her for that.
"That’s great news. Excluding the fact that she is an adventurer, she is also the Viscount's daughter. And we didn't think it would be good to alert them before we gathered any conclusive evidence. But if we approach her through you, it makes things easier for us. You can talk to her, Mister Holloway. I’ll give the briefing of the mission in twenty minutes in the down hall. Now, if you excuse me, Completing what he had to say, he bowed and turned back to return. "We shall meet again, Carter."
"O-Okay?"
"Wait there. I never told you to leave." Lark said, still on the bed.
Digit turned again, facing him with a confused expression. "If it is about the reward, as I said earlier—"
"The reward. I’ll have that no matter my so-called contribution, but I am talking about asking Luna to be my partner in this mission."
I looked at Digit, who had a perplexed expression. "I don’t see a problem there. We all agreed to that, didn't we?" He looked at me as if he had misunderstood any of his words.
"So go and ask her. If she doesn’t agree, that's going to put me in a very bad mood." This is not going to end well.
"What do you mean? She is your friend, isn't she?" For a person in the information guild, he lacked too much of what he shouldn't have.
"I don’t like to repeat my words. I will give you thirty minutes. Meet in the hall as planned. Now, Carter, shut the door." He got up from the bed and turned to the woman, who had just started to open her eyes. He slid one of his hands under her half-worn dress, and she accepted with a teasing smile and responded dearly. Not wanting to imagine what would happen next, I urged Digit outside, shutting the door behind us.
"Digit, we should probably go downstairs," I instructed him, and we both made our way to the stairs. I could hear the forbidden sounds rising from the inside of the room, with each of her steps distancing us from that place. I shook my head of any unwanted thoughts.
"What does he mean by that?" Digit, who was beside me, asked as we descended down to the first floor.
"You mean Miss Luna?" Even if one is an expert at gathering information, it doesn't guarantee each and every piece of information regarding a person and their relationships. Even if it did, having access to it all depends on their rank and influence in their own guild. No, when even the one closest to him has no idea of the complete character of the person named Lark, I wonder what new information can be hidden within the records of the guild. He was a man of many things. And there could always be more. Not all are welcoming. Only a few are known, and only a few will be known. It not only applies to him but to everyone, unless they are people of great contribution in both bad and good light. "You will understand when you meet her." Truth and lies alike, I didn’t want to spout my frustrations before Digit. With Lark’s attitude, one of these days his actions will surely come back to bite him.
I tagged along with Digit. Somehow, I felt guilty. So, I couldn’t leave the man alone. We went out of the inn and walked across a few streets. "So, Digit, what is the matter that you want to request, Lark? An ex-rank, no less." Lark was too powerful for his own good. A perfect example of might makes right. He didn’t answer my question but looked into the distance as we walked. "If it is some secret, you really don’t have to say."
"It’s not like that. The more, the better, actually. If they don't spread the word, that's all we ask for. It’s about the missing adventurers in the Misty Grove." That didn’t seem like something that required an ex-rank. "It was a simple bronze rank quest. The party of three, who were given the mission, went missing. It was also their guild license qualification test."
"So they weren’t adventurers yet?"
"No, but this is where it gets ominous. We suspect another group of troublesome criminals followed them. But we can’t even find their whereabouts. The person assigned to follow them also went missing. That's also the reason the Information Guild had to get involved." He was one of them, but I couldn't feel the urgency he was trying to convey.
"Do you know the identities of the criminal group? What was the mission the party was assigned in Misty Grove?"
"We have our suspects and can only narrow down from there. It was an investigation into monster findings, which was also a rumour, so the guild sent them knowing they wouldn’t be faced with a challenging situation." Misty Grove is a safe area with zero monster habitats at present. It has been like that for more than a few years.
"But even then, an ex-rank seems more than necessary, don’t you think?"
"We found a half-eaten monster corpse. A fresh one, oozing out with blood that didn't dry out." In Misty Grove?
"It’s a mistake, right? Some people travel through there, and Snowspell and Riverdale are connected to it directly." It was not a question but a concern that seeped through my words. Monster is a word that is unrelated to Misty Grove.
"We hope the same, Carter. But the matter isn’t something that can be ignored just on some baseless hope."
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"I will come with you too. I know I can’t contribute much, but I can’t sit at home after hearing what you said." I need to be sure of my sister's safety more than anything. It's better if I were part of this mission.
"What are you saying? I thought you were already on the board. Don’t you need to serve Mister Lark?" He asked as if it were a thing.
"Digit, I am his friend! Not a servant. Friend!" He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Damn it, Lark!
He looked at me for a second, as if I were trying to joke with him. "If you say so, I mean, it's okay if you think that way. You worked under him for what? Three years? That's long enough to call him a friend, I guess."
"I worked with him, Digit. Not under him. Do I really look like his servant?" He nodded as we stopped in front of an inn that looked similar to ours. We both went inside, and I went and sat at a table, ordering a non-alcoholic drink for me. Digit spoke to the lady working there. A plump, giant middle-aged woman. He then went upstairs and came down a few minutes later, joining me at the other end of the table. I ordered another drink for him in the meantime, but he refused to drink even when I insisted. In another few minutes, a man came to us, giving a signal to Digit, and we went to the second floor of the inn and stopped near a door. The man knocked twice and opened the door as we followed right behind him.
There were three chairs arranged in a circle, with one of them occupied by a woman. A woman of age, a beauty as cold as ice yet filled with grace. The blue, braided hair extended down to her waist, with pale skin and sharp features that seemed to have been carved from marble. Her piercing blue eyes were cold and calculating, reflecting the steely determination that lies beneath her calm exterior. Her lithe, athletic frame only added to her overall beauty. Dressed in a tight white dress, she sat, crossing her legs. We got seated in the empty chairs. The man went out, closing the door behind us.
"I am glad you agreed to meet Miss Luna." Digit spoke, starting the conversation.
"It’s an official request from the guild. How can I say no?"
"I have already explained most of the things regarding the situation at hand, but I would like to add one more thing to it."
"If it is about reward, I will accept whatever the guild provides me."
"We won’t make you work for free, Miss Luna. We are already grateful that you are willing to help. We also requested your partner, and he is willing to join the mission if you are part of it. I didn’t know why he would ask for such a simple thing as a requ—"
"Partner?"
"Mister Lark Holloway."
Her eyes narrowed when he said the name, and I felt she glanced at me for a second. I could feel a cold chill run down my spine, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy. "Digit, I think I will need to use the restroom. Call me when you are ready, okay?" I tried to leave, but my legs felt numb.
"Are you feeling okay, Carter?" The fact that I had to suffer because of his actions was already annoying enough.
"Where is he now?" The voice has more coldness to it than the coldest regions of Icemere.
"He was tired, Miss Luna. It’s better to not disturb him." Better not let them meet at this time.
"He is on the second floor of the inn nearby. At the last room to the corner." He answered as if that was his thing. Digit, you son of a—! "It's better if we hurry. We don't know the gravity of the situation yet. And Miss Luna, the estate of Viscount Nathan, your father, is also near the area." The chilliness and the heaviness subsided with those words. I could see a kind of tension in her eyes, replacing her previous calmness.
"When do we start?" She asked with a sigh.
"Early morning, before the sun wakes up."
Nodding to Digit, she looked to my side. "I won’t be patient this time. Tell him to take it as a warning. Now if you will excuse me." As she insisted, we came out of the room and left the inn.
A letter was delivered to him through a bird, and after reading its contents, he burned it to ashes. "It will be a party of nine. Miss Luna, her guard, Mister Holloway, you, me, and three bronze ranks and a silver rank. The meeting place has been decided."
"I will inform Lark of the mission contents."
"Thank you, Carter. By the way, what was Miss Luna talking about at the end?" Digit asked me suspiciously, not understanding the meaning behind her words.
"You are better off not knowing. Trust me." Ignorance was truly bliss. I sighed internally at the little Dwarfelkin man, who wasn't the brightest in his line of work, and we went in opposite directions.
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It was early in the morning. My eyes were still tired, and the window glass was foggy, with droplets of water dripping from time to time. The mornings started to feel colder than usual. I opened the window and made a sound that no one could hear. A greyish, white bird flew to me, and I handed it the letter I had written for my sister. In it, I asked her how she was doing while also mentioning my current whereabouts. I didn't go into any more detail, and I also didn't expect an immediate reply, but I was really eager to see her after the one-month trip to the capital. Maya. After getting ready and packing a few things, like food and spare clothing, I went to Lark's room, only to wait another thirty minutes to hear his reply. Thank God he didn't spend the night ravaging another beauty.
We currently reside in Snowspell, and everyone decided to meet at the city centre, near the grand fountain with Baron Caius Blackwood's statue in the middle. There were a group of people already waiting there, fully dressed in their battle attire, and two horse carts just beside them. We were the last ones to come, and I got cold stares from everyone because of Lark's actions.
Each cart was pulled by two horses. Women sat in one and men in another. The only exception was Lark, who sat in the women's cart with no shame whatsoever. Opposite me were two men. Digit was seated to my right, with Miss Luna's guard to my left. He had an agitated expression but tried to control his dissatisfaction with his arms crossed. The atmosphere nowhere resembled that of a party, so I was the one who broke the ice. "Hello, I am Carter, a silver-rank swordsman." The two in the front looked at me.
"I'm Jasper White, a silver-rank swordsman like you." It was the red-haired boy who spoke. He wore leather armour, with breast and shoulder plates. A similar, long sword as mine.
"Drevin Long. A bronze-rank mage." The boy to his left said it in a cheerful voice. He was an average-looking boy who barely reached the age of twenty. He wore leather armour, which was torn in some places. A common wooden staff was behind him. "My two twin sisters, Halia Long and Kiera Long, are in the other cart. Even they are mages of the same rank as me." He added. I only looked at them briefly near the fountain, so I couldn't remember their faces well enough.
I turned my head to my left, and my eyes met with the guard's. "Ahem!" He corrected his posture. He was the same age as Lark's, but with less definitive features. The thin-plate steel armour he wore had a certain build to it. Even the sheath of the long sword he carried had the finest leather. "I am from the house of Viscount Nathan of Riverdale. The protector of Miss Luna Winters, Torian Sunward. A silver-rank swordsman." He said in a heavy voice.
I was startled by the sudden rise in his tone but turned to the last person in the cart. His face was hidden under his cloak. "I'm Digit. An information broker." He raised his hand, finished that small sentence, and the cart became silent once again.
I waited, but none seemed to want to open their mouths. Drevin tried to say something, but he resigned himself, seeing that would bring no results. "Let's talk about you two. Where are you from?" I asked, directing my question to the ones in front.
Drevin took this chance and spoke up eagerly. "I am from Snowspell."
"You are a native?"
"I don't know where I was born, but I grew up there along with my sisters, Kiera and Halia. We are a year apart and lost our mother at a young age. So, we kept on moving every few months and settled there once I started to earn." His face went dull for a moment.
"That's sad and great, Drevin. You are responsible at such an age." I said, sympathising with his situation.
"Thank you, Mister Carter. But we are nowhere in that past now. Once we became adventurers, we were happy with what we were doing. Even if we don't earn much., The face of sadness he made while thinking about the things he went through lightened up again. "Leave about me. Where are you from, mister Jasper?" He looked to his left, peering his face into Jasper's.
Jasper distanced himself a little and spoke. "I am not much older than you. So there is no need to address me like that. And I am from Lumin."
"The lawless city?" I and Drevin asked at the same time, and Jasper, looking at both of us, nodded.
"I didn't know there were people like you from there, Mister Jasper," Drevin said, observing Jasper closely from top to bottom.
"What does that mean?" Jasper questioned, narrowing his eyes. "And don't address me like that, please."
"What I mean is that the city is famous for troublemakers who do whatever they want and never leave that place. Even the kingdom's military lost hope in that. I also heard the Baron of that place takes bribes to cover up things. So, I didn't expect someone from there to be as dignified and calm as you." Drevin concluded.
"Not everyone is like that. Like everywhere in the world, even that place has both the good and the bad. But people tend to concentrate on the latter one more." Jasper turned his head to the other side.
"Then—-"
"Do you have any siblings, Jasper?" Drevin was about to continue, but I interrupted him.
"No." He said, turning his head again to look at me. "I am an orphan."
Drevin didn't pursue the matter any longer. "I am from Riverdale, myself. I grew up there along with my sister. I don't know about Digit here, but as you all know, Sir Torian is from Riverdale too." I said, pointing my hands. Neither of them tried to expand on that, which only made it awkward.
"So, we are all from Andor province, then?" Drevin concluded.
"It seems like it," I said, and Jasper nodded.
Later, Drevin and I continued to converse about what we had been doing for the past few days, our hobbies, and what types of fighting styles we have, including our strengths and weaknesses in the use of Mana and Aura. He was the only Mage here, so it was good to directly hear from him, who was rather humble than some arrogant guy I know. Jasper didn't involve himself in the conversation actively but answered whenever we asked him a question. We familiarised ourselves with each other, and soon, the cart stopped on reaching the destination.
We got off the cart. It was at one of the entrances to Misty Grove. After dropping us off, the carts returned to the city. We talked to a few locals here. Most of them were merchants and people with small jobs, and Digit took the lead in asking for any recent disturbances near the area while also showing them the sketches of different individuals. They were nice enough to share the things that were going on in Misty Grove recently. It matched most of the rumours but added more detail to the information we already had. According to one of the merchants, apart from the monster sightings, the atmosphere surrounding the forest became denser, and during the nights there were screams and cries of unknown creatures. Most thought it to be some sort of ghost and others to be monsters, but they were human screams. Every night, at a particular time, it echoed throughout the forest. The screams of people in pain. It was already noon, and along with a few bags of luggage that we carried on our backs, we started walking at the edge of the forest, eventually making our way in. "Are you sure what they were saying was the truth? I still think they were mistaken." I asked Digit, who walked beside me.
"If one were saying that, I would have thought otherwise, but most of them repeated those same words. All I could see was fear that wasn’t fake. Won’t you think the same?" It’s also true that they had no benefit in spreading a false story and pretending to be afraid, but the current situation felt all too sudden. Something that was thrown out of nowhere. "I didn't talk about it, but they also confirmed one other thing. The recent tremors in the area. They were light but became more frequent, as they said."
"Digit, let me ask you in the face. What do you think happened with those few?"
He stopped and looked at me. "You mean whether they are alive? I hope they are. We can have a better grasp of the situation that way." That’s not what I mean.
Our pace remained the same, with me and Digit walking in the front and Lark, Miss Luna, and her guard Torian at the very back. The other four were walking in the middle, with twins Halia and Kiera in between and Jasper and Drevin on either side. Jasper glanced at one of the twins at times, and I didn't know which one it was as they both looked alike. I glanced at the very back. Are they fine? The question was not intended for their physical state, as both of them were strong enough to turn half of this forest upside down. I hope Lark is behaving. I prayed to the formless god, looking above. The tall trees blocked the sky along with the light that came from the sun. The time shifted from noon to evening and evening to night, faster than we could think. We came to a stop at one place that was a little more open. "Everyone, we will rest here for the night and start our investigation early in the morning. So, put out the tents, and I will brief the situation in thirty minutes." Digit instructed us all.
We made groups of four tents, with one in the centre being a bit bigger. Some helped, and others went to gather firewood and make a bonfire to the side. In all this, Lark just sat leaning on a tree. After we were done setting up everything basic, we all went inside the bigger tent. The makeshift tent had a ball of crystal emitting light floating in the middle and a small round table at the centre with nine seats surrounding it, made of rock. Digit’s chair was higher than all of us as he was smaller in size. We all got seated and introduced ourselves once again, except Lark, whose eyes were fixated on Miss Luna and the other two women, before Digit pulled out a large piece of parchment out of the bag hung to his side and spread it on the table, gathering everyone's attention. "Here is the map of Misty Grove. It has details from the intertwined paths to specific areas even locals don’t know of." Even without him saying that, one could tell just from the look of it. The detailed information was collected over some time.
"Isn’t that worth a few hundred gold?" It was Drevin who couldn't contain his surprise as he peered into every detail on the map.
"Why is he showing it to us?"
"Because the situation demanded it?" The twins whispered to each other. And the remaining ones, including me, waited for him to continue.
"I think I don't need to remind you all how valuable this information is. If it falls into the wrong hands, it could be misused. From intercepting merchants to hiding in the forest, they go unnoticed. It will result in blocking the ins and outs of this forest entirely. So I suggest everyone here never betray the trust we have in you." He gave a glance at everyone, and we all nodded in understanding. That warning was directed at the young four. "Now getting into the topic at hand, we have four people missing here: Kaiden, a swordsman. Eveline, an ice mage. Lyra, an archer and one of our own, was assigned to observe them till their mission was completed." He handed out their details for everyone to see. They were second-year students at Millies Academy in the Capital. They came to Andor province to apply for a guild license as part of their curriculum. All were fourteen years of age and from different hometowns. Though the one from the information guild looked almost similar to Digit here, a Dwarfelkin, "And the final set of information we received from him was that the three were being followed by three twins who looked similar to each other, with axes as their weapons. From his descriptions, we made a sketch." It was a rough sketch of three similar-looking bald men. I didn't know them, and when I looked at everyone here, they had similar expressions as mine. "We suspect them to be the Masked Three." Everyone's eyes grew, recognising the name they heard.
"The notorious group of slave traders?" Drevin pointed it out, and Digit nodded.
"Then won't these sketches be of no use?" Miss Luna spoke, putting the paper on the table.
"That's true. But we don't have anything to go with here other than that." He pointed to the sketches. "Other than this, we have another situation related to the monster sightings."
"I still think they were nothing but rumours." Jasper voiced his opinion.
"We found a corpse. A fresh corpse of a kobold with half of its body missing." A moment of silence spread all over us.
"Did you find out how it died?" Miss Luna asked, putting both her hands on the table and clasping together.
"There were bite marks on it." Digit looked at all of us, gauging our reactions. "And they belonged to a human."
"A human?" It was Lark who spoke for the first time. He narrowed his eyes, his usual playfulness gone from his tone.
"Yes. And I didn't want to mention this. Very few are aware of this matter, not because it was a secret but because it wasn't something of importance. Misty Grove, the foggy, dense forest, also houses a fallen ghost dungeon. The Dungeon of Insanity. We believe it is connected to that. The recent tremors, the monster's corpse, and the wailing sounds that are said to be coming from the forest. And it puts our missing people in even more of a dangerous situation." He concluded. This explains the formation of this last-minute party. They needed a handful of people powerful enough to encounter any unforeseen situations.
"So what do we do?" One of the twins asked, a kind of worry shown in her face.
"We have three places we need to look into." The map was already marked with three spots, and he continued. "The first is the entrance to the ghost dungeon. A small cave of sorts."
"I will investigate there." Miss Luna suddenly raised her voice in agitation. We all looked at her, but she immediately composed herself.
"Then, you will be accompanied by Mister Torian and Miss Halia." She and Torian nodded in agreement. Not to mention, he would follow her even if Digit didn't mention it. "Mister Lark, we will investigate the area where the corpse was found, and Miss Kiera, you will accompany us." Both twins looked at each other and nodded in confirmation. "Finally, Carter, Mister Jasper, and Mister Drevin will investigate the place where the party of three was last seen." He pointed to one of the marked spots. All three places weren't far from each other. "You all rest for now. We will start our search at the earliest tomorrow morning and meet at this spot by evening. If any group fails to do that, we will consider it to be in danger, and please send a signal through your mages at those times." That was the reason for a mage to be present in each group.
All understood what they needed to do, and when we stood up to go out, Drevin spoke. "Huh, Sir Digit, can I exchange places with Kiera? I am Mage myself, so it shouldn't be a problem." He thought for a second, glancing at my side and nodding in approval. I could only imagine the impression Lark made for him to say that. Sighing to myself, I went out to help with the dinner. The silent forest was accompanied by a sense of eeriness. A premonition brewed in my mind. The long night started without us knowing what was happening inside this dark, misty place.