“Honored guest, I have to ask you to please leave and go back to your lodging,” said the shaky auctioneer who was clearly shaken up from whatever he had seen.

For a second time that day, the majority of guests in the large tent sat stunned while a few hurriedly chatted with others around them.

The rest of Akira's guards who had been sitting in the normal seating area, hurriedly moved to the VIP box to wait for Akira's further orders. They had also smelled the blood that was coming from the man.

“What's up with you dogs?” asked Gen the gentleman when he saw all of the werewolves in the VIP booth acting strange.

“I'll meet up with you later Burkin. I need to do something first,” said Akira as he walked down the stairs of the VIP box and headed for the front auction stage.

When he reached the stage Governor Scoit was already finishing up trying to talk to the auctioneer in order to figure out what was going on.

“Make sure you check everywhere for clues,” said Scoit as he turned to leave. When he did come face to face with Akira and his guards.

“Sorry, I can't talk about trading right now since something has happened. I'll have to take care of this first,” said Scoit in a tired voice.

“I wasn't coming here to talk to you about trade. I and several others were able to see and smell the blood. So I have come to offer my help to you. Our noses can be a great help to you in finding clues and maybe even the killer,” said Akira.

“Haaa... So you noticed that someone killed the assistants. By now everyone probably knows that the mega item was stolen. This will ruin our reputation greatly,” said Scoit with a sad sigh.

“What was the mega item? If we come across it or see someone using it we can try to retrieve it or at least let you know who has it,” said Akira.

“There is no point in doing something like that. It is a special one-time use item which is extremely rare that it might as well be one of a kind. Whoever stole it must have used it already or they will have already left and are now on their way to whoever they stole it for. I have too much on my plate right now, so if you can help me find the culprits I will reward you as well as allow you to negotiate better terms in the previously arranged agreement,” said Scoit. With a tired wave of the hand, he left the stage with his own guards trailing behind him as he went to take care of other urgent matters.

Ding!

New quest! Mega hunt!:

Your task? Find the person who killed and stole the mega auction item!

Reward: A better trade agreement and a stronger relationship with Jerora and its governor. With the possibility of military help in future.

Akira turned to Dolph and Vilkas who were more experienced trackers, “Either of you want to take a crack at finding the culprit?”

“I can,” said Vilkas as he transformed. He silently walked ahead of the group and sniffed the bloody print on the stage before he moved to the curtains and walked to the other side.

Akira followed him into an area that was filled with several hundreds of boxes and items that had been shown off earlier in the day and were waiting for their bidders to pay for them.

“Hey what are you doing back here?” asked the surprised auctioneer who was sitting on one of the boxes. He had been staring at a spot on the ground before he felt that someone had entered.

“The governor has given them permission to find the culprit,” said one of the extra city guards who were now guarding the curtains on guard to stop another disastrous event from happening.

“Whatever,” said the Auctioneer who returned his dazed gaze back to the spot on the ground.

Vilkas moved towards the spot and stopped. There they found a large patch of slow drying red blood. The bodies of the assistants had already been removed and the blood had been sloppily cleaned up.

Vilkas sniffed the area for any scent clues, the other werewolves all stood back to allow him space to work.

When he was finished he turned to the dazed Auctioneer and waved his large paw in front of him to get his attention, “The bodies, what state were they in when you found them? Were they in one piece? Any bite marks or noticeable stab wounds.”

“They... they... the head...arms and legs... all cleanly severed from their bodies,” said the stuttering Auctioneer as his eyes looked up as he clearly remembered the image of their bodies.

Vilkas continued sniffing the surrounding area and found something that caught his attention leading him deeper into the maze of boxes.

He stopped in front of a large wooden box that had its side open only a crack. He pulled on it and found that it easily opened up revealing the inside of the large box. It was completely empty.

The scent that had caught his attention was now extremely strong clinging to the wooden box. Every werewolf even those with the weakest nose could understand that someone had stayed inside the box for an extended period of time.

“So this is where the culprit hid. All we need now is to find out how they got in and who and where they are,” said Akira as he looked at the large box.

Vilkas raised a hand to ask for quiet as he stepped back and forth inside the box as if testing something.

He bent over and knocked on the ground only to hear a hollow echo bellow. It was not what they were expecting.

Stepping out of the box he roughly shoved it aside and knocking over other items that had been stacked nearby.

“What are you doing!” shouted the startled auctioneer as he stood up and started to stumble over to them with weak legs as if he were drunk.

Vilkas only pointed to the ground and waited for the auctioneer to arrive.

“Oh...” said the auctioneer as he looked at the open hole that led to the sewer system below.

“No wonder he had such a strong smell,” said Klyn who stood next to Akira with a scrunched nose.

“How did you not notice something like that?” Akira asked the auctioneer as he pointed to the large empty box.

“We were too busy working on keeping everything running smoothly. But I'm certain that we inspected each and every box before it was placed inside the tent,” said the Auctioneer with a puzzled look on his face.

“Klyn, please take Fluffball and go with Zundar, and the other guards to take care of gathering the items that we bought,” said Akira.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“And what are you going to do?” asked Klyn.

“I'll be taking Vilkas and Dolph down into the sewers to see what else we can find,” said Akira.

“But the sewers should have many iron gates to stop people from roaming around down there,” said the auctioneer.

“Well obviously it didn't stop whoever killed the assistants and stole the mega item,” said Akira as he hopped into the hole after Vilkas and Dolph.

***

Neither Akira nor his two guards were pleased with having to walk through the underground sewer. Luckily for them, it wasn't overflowing and they were able to find some dry icy ground on the sides. The smell was far worse than above and Akira could feel the stink sinking into his body.

Akira and Dolph walked behind Vilkas who was following faint tracks and traces of someone who had passed by not that long ago.

The only light in the sewers came from the random openings in the streets above their heads which all had melted slush draining into the sewers. Even that light was fading as the dark night was coming on in full force and was only staved off with torches and lanterns.

As the assistant said the sewer tunnels did have many barriers to block one's path but someone had already cleared a path to the central trade plaza where the auction was taking place. The large cuts to the metal gates looked to be clean and sharp just as the auctioneer had described the dismembered bodies of the assistants.

The tracks and faint scent led them to another large manhole. The half-frozen metal covering showed signs of scrapes on the edges as well as ice on other parts having been knocked off from being pried open recently.

The three quickly climbed up and exited the sewer to find themselves in a dark back alley standing in front of a large shabby pawn shop.

“I can't get a good scent... and with all the activity that has happened around this area...” Vilkas said as he sniffed around and scrutinized the hundreds of footprints in the mushy snow that was now slowly freezing in the cold night air.

Akira could night blame Vilkas for losing the scent as he thought his own nose would be broken for at least a month after only walking through the horrid sewers, and that was while he was not transformed which would have amplified the sewers smell.

Akira walked across the dark street and pushed open the pawnshop's door entering the pawnshop. He found himself standing in a small room that had a large counter and several shelves all full of broken junk.

Akira caught a glimpse of two scaly Ramia disappearing behind a curtain at the back of the room.

Akira's attention was brought away from the curtain by an angry voice.

“Were not open, can't you read the sign on the door?” asked the female human who sat next to a large pile of junk behind the counter.

A muscular man walked out from behind the curtain and only took one look at Akira before speaking.

“The general store is next door.”

“Did anyone acting funny or smelling like sewer come in here to sell you something or pass through?” asked Akira, ignoring the angry female’s glare.

“The only strange and stinky people are you three mutts. Get your stinky butts out of here or I'll call the city guards!”

Ding!

[Akira's bad feeling] has leveled up to level 4!

Akira was unsure what the message and what his stomach was warning against but he knew that it was not a good idea to stay so he left the pawnshop along with his two guards.

Another hour of fruitless search brought up nothing new. The trail had truly gone cold :p, so they reluctantly headed back to their camp to clean up before reporting to the governor on what they had found.

***

“What do you mean he isn't here?” Akira asked the three idiot brothers after having cleaned up.

“Several Ramia came and were talking to him like they were old friends. They led him somewhere else. I thought they were friends so I didn't think it wasn't a big deal,” said Oib.

“You idiots. I told you to watch over him and make sure nothing happened to him and you let him go off with strangers,” said Akira exasperated.

“Hey! At least we know where they went,” said Yib.

“And where is that?”

“The black market! They said that he should come with them and spend the rest of his money there,” said the middle idiot.

“Yeah, they said that sometimes the black market sells items they get from demigods. Supposedly the demigods have special stores back home where only they can buy these items,” said Mib.

“And where is this black market?” asked Akira.

“We don't know,” said the three brothers all at once with an indifferent shrug as if to say ‘How should we know?’

“Lord, what about those two we saw entering the back room of the pawnshop?” asked Dolph.

“Right. Let's go and bring him back,” said Akira as he left the camp with Fluffball and his two guards following him.

Bam! The pawnshop door was knocked wide open.

“You again!? I told you we are closed. If you don't leave I will call the city guards,” said the flustered female.

“Go ahead. I am sure they would love to hear about the black market that is hiding inside this large building,” said Akira as he walked towards the back of the room.

“Wha... What are you talking about? Sir! You can't go back there, only certain customers are allowed,” said the woman as she tried to stop Akira.

“Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble with you guys. I am just going to bring back someone that was led inside,” sad Akira as he pushed her to the side.

“Who is it I can go and see if I can find them for you,” said the flustered woman as she tried to stop Akira from entering the back room.

Vilkas smacked her reaching hands away from Akira and stood between her as Akira passed into a dark hallway that had no lighting.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he could see that there were many doors in the hallway most of them closed. The man from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

At the far end of the hallway was a set of stairs that led up.

Akira waited a few seconds for Dolph and Vilkas to join him. The female stopped at the entrance of the hallway and was quietly hissing at them to stop and come back.

They could hear several voices and different conversations coming from many of the rooms as they passed by. They stopped for a few seconds to listen for Ferem's voice as well as sniffing the air for his scent.

Akira was surprised when he heard the sound of Ground Elder Dùghalls voice causing him to pause and listen.

“It's a shame that Akira's grandfather was killed by demigods during such a trying time,” said Dùghall.

“His city seems to be doing well. Do you really think they would agree to a trade deal with us?” asked Grandelder Brod.

“He is not like that stubborn Erock or Tormoid. I believe if we genuinely asked him we would have no problem negotiating something,” said Grandelder Dùghall.

“I'll leave that to you then,” said Grandelder Brod.

Akira noted in his mind that it seemed that Dùghall and his allies were not anyone that he should worry about. If they wanted to form a beneficial relationship between their cities then he would accept.

When they quietly moved to the stairs Akira felt an even stronger discomfort in his stomach.

Ding!

[Akira's bad feeling] has leveled up to level 5!

You Better be careful!

Akira held up his hand and stopped the two behind him when they reached the stairs.

“Wait in one of the empty rooms here. I'm going to go check on something,” said Akira as he pulled out a cape that he had not used in forever. He had almost forgotten all about it.

“Yap!” said Fluffball, unhappy at having to wait and not join Akira.

“Lord, I smell traces of the target from earlier. The scent is old but it seems they were here within the last few days. They might even still be around,” said Vilkas as tried to stop Akira from going forward. But as soon as Akira put on the cape he disappeared from his guards' sight.

The invisible Akira silently walked up the stairs and found that two Ramia guards were lazily leaning against the wall of the second-floor hallway guarding the entrance.

Akira quietly squeezed by the two not alerting them and continued walking down the hall towards the first room he heard voices coming out of.

“How are the plans coming along?” asked a raspy Ramia voice.

“We are not ready yet. We will have to gather everyone when we get back,” said the familiar voice of Erock who he had just met today.

“Hmph, you guys are always slow. It's the reason why the demigods got the mega item before we could,” said the raspy voice.

“We said we will be ready so we will be ready when the time comes. We will join you and the others. But you have to follow the agreement to split the profits when we take his city,” said grand elder Tormoid.