98. Gathering Information

Isaac walked on instinct, turning around curved corners and striding across the twisting streets in long steps. He gripped the tablet tightly in one hand, mind buzzing. More than once he stopped and told himself to calm down, but while the earlier anger had faded to a simmer by then, his surroundings still felt sharper than usual, as if every noise was louder, every color brighter. Every little motion was enough to make him twitch. He could already feel a headache coming on.

Up ahead, the winding road narrowed as it squeezed between two gothic-style buildings that nearly brushed against each other from how close they were. The sky on the other side was only visible as a thin red line, and only one person could fit through the artificial “gate” at a time. Isaac strode through without pausing, and in the process he stumbled backwards when he promptly crashed straight into someone on the other side.

“Hey, watch it!” yelled a rather rough voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

Isaac took a second to rub his arm, which had hit the edge of one of the buildings during the collision. He mumbled an apology mostly out of instinct before looking up. His eyes met another human’s, who raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, you’re the other Traveler.”

The tablet screen pulled up the man’s stat sheet just as Isaac’s eyes widened in recognition.

NAME: CEDRIC

SPECIES: HUMAN

LOCATION: SOLONELL CITY, SILVER LINE

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ATTACK: 17

SPEED: 11

SKILL: 12

DEFENSE: 12

INSTINCT: 15

INTELLIGENCE: 13

STAMINA: 13

CALCULATED LEVEL: 21

He was the one who’d fought Villard, Isaac realized. It had been the very first match of the tournament’s sparring section. His eyes immediately drifted over to the large sword strapped to Cedric’s back. When it wasn’t wreathed in green flames, it looked rather mundane (save for its size), but its presence alone was enough confirmation of identity. He recognized that handle. Isaac frowned, tensing slightly.

“Yeah, I am. You’re Cedric, right?”

“Huh, didn’t think you’d remember who I was.” The man scratched his head. “Well, sorry for running into you, I guess. But you should really watch where you’re going.” He turned to leave, but before he could step away, Isaac suddenly called out.

“Wait.”

Cedric glanced back, eyebrow raised. Isaac paused, taking a moment to think through his words. His eyes kept flicking over to the sword, which, on second glance, seemed to have a greenish sheen to its metal in the light.

“Have you heard about the… the deaths?” he finally settled on.

“Oh, those? Yeah, figured everyone had.” The man’s voice was casual, but he suddenly paused. “Hang on.” Cedric turned to face Isaac fully, frowning. “You don’t suspect me or something like that, do you?”

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Isaac winced. He would be lying if he said the thought hadn’t briefly crossed his mind, given the man’s slashing weapon and previous clash with Villard. Those flames, too, could potentially have a property that caused the internal explosions Rosalinde had spoken of. Those were enough similarities to be wary of. But no, his level was too low. Not only that, but he didn’t seem to have any speed based skills that would’ve allowed him to travel faster. The fight against Villard had taken long enough on its own.

“I did think about it,” Isaac admitted, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Since Villard was one of the victims,” he clarified.

“What, you think I’d stoop that low?” The man snorted. “Nah, I lost that match. I was planning on challenging him again after the System was gone, though. But I guess I can’t really do that anymore, if I’m getting what you’re implying.”

After the System’s gone. Isaac frowned. Those three demons had said something similar. Thinking about the earlier conversation still made his blood boil, but amidst that anger was a growing sense of unease. They all sounded so sure that it would go away, that it was just temporary. To them, it was a question of “when” and not “if.” He heard Fable’s lazy drawl ringing in his mind. Everything goes to shit eventually. Isaac shuddered and shoved the thoughts aside, forcing himself to remain focused on the issue at hand.

“Do you know anything about the other victims?” Isaac asked instead. Considering how little information he had to go off of, he was better off questioning everyone he could right now.

Glancing down, Isaac swiped over to the list of names on his tablet and held it up for Cedric to read. The man leaned forward slightly, brows furrowing as he scanned the screen, though he still maintained a fair distance from the device. Once he was done, he stepped back again, expression thoughtful.

“Huh, so those were who the other victims were,” Cedric said half to himself. “Good riddance I guess.”

Isaac frowned. “Good riddance?”

“Ah, damn, I probably look like an asshole.” Cedric scratched his hair. “Uh, it’s kind of complicated, but most humans kind of hate those guys. I swear it’s not just me. I didn’t think I’d hear about them again, though. Last I heard they moved out of Solonell City, probably knew they weren’t welcome,” he added with a snort.

That would explain why they were in the Inferno, at least. “Who were they?”

Cedric heaved a sigh. “You know about the old Solonell City rebellion? Before the Collapse? Well, they were part of the old government, and most of us were part of the rebels, or at least we supported it, so you can guess why people don’t like them much.” He shrugged. “If you want more details you’d have to ask someone higher up. I was a pretty minor part of the whole thing, mostly just joined for the thrills to be honest.”

Isaac’s mind whirred with the new information. That would give a motive for someone in Solonell City to have targeted them, but at the same time, it didn’t narrow down the suspect pool nearly as much as he would’ve liked. His grip on the tablet tightened. He would have to ask Mortimer; he’d been fairly high up, Igor had said. The idea of questioning the half-undead man made him more uneasy than he thought it would. He didn’t think Mortimer had done it, definitely not, but just the mere act of asking him felt like it was suggesting the possibility nonetheless.

Throughout his silent thinking, Cedric stared at him, studying his expression. “I’m guessing you think that’s the motive or whatever,” he said bluntly.

“It might be.” That, or those humans had gotten caught up in the killings since they were in the Inferno at the time. There was still the demon angle to look at, after all. There were still a lot of things he didn’t know yet.

Cedric just hummed in vague interest. He didn’t seem particularly invested in the issue, Isaac noted. It was a sentiment he admittedly struggled to understand. Maybe it was because he’d known Olzu, maybe it was because he’d seen one of the bodies, maybe it was because of his former perception of the Underside. Whatever the reason, it felt impossible for him to simply move on from this.

“Well, I don’t know anyone obsessed enough to have kept tabs on them after they left the realm, but it’s not like I know everyone.” Cedric shifted his weight, one hand moving back to adjust his blade in a motion that looked like it was out of habit. The human coughed. “So, uh, can I go now?”

Drawn out of his thoughts, Isaac nodded. “Thank you,” he added. Personal opinions aside, the information had been useful. Cedric just waved casually as he turned away and hurried past, soon disappearing down the street.

Isaac watched the man’s retreating figure, his blade even more obviously green tinged from a distance. It caught the light like a flickering flame, he thought.

For a few seconds, he simply stood there after Cedric had vanished from view. Finally, after a moment of hesitation, he clicked open the tablet screen. Scrolling over to the notepad, he opened a new note and quickly typed Cedric’s name, then added UNLIKELY, WRONG LEVEL right next to it.

Isaac stared down at the screen and the vast expanse of the blank page below it. He began to type other names, but would always stop when his fingers hit the keys. Finally, he tugged the tablet back into his pocket. Turning away, Isaac left to go find Mortimer.