Chapter 34: Searching

The door was unlocked.

When they stepped into Irving’s home, the man in question sat at the table, the blinds still shut, his eyes staring listlessly in front of him. Leo frowned, and Spade shut the door behind them.

“You forgot to lock your door.”

The man looked up, and he still had some of that distant cloudiness in his eyes. He didn’t respond to Leo, staying silent for a moment before muttering half to himself, “You told your friend to heal Tom.” He bowed his head. “Thank you,” he said, voice a little hoarse.

Guilt formed a lump in the former [Thief]’s throat, and he shook his head. “No, it was my fault Fergus got so close to begin with. You should be thanking Allan and Spade for actually keeping his wounds at bay.”

“I just gave a bit of guidance,” the [Executioner] said simply. She cocked her head. “I assume Fergus was asking you about the tides.”

Irving’s lips thinned. Leo studied the man closely. He did a fairly good job at hiding it, but he was still clearly shaken from what had happened—understandably so. He guessed Sonia had purposely killed Fergus in such a violent way for precisely that purpose.

The question was just how shaken he was. Enough to tell them the tide patterns tomorrow?

Leo’s eyes scanned the kitchen and living room, searching for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing that he could see right away, but he’d need to do a more thorough sweep later when Irving was asleep.

He stepped forward. The pot of tea had long grown cold, but he poured some into a cup and handed it to the man, who accepted it gratefully. He didn’t seem to have any issue with the taste.

“…So Sonia’s from Clearside?” Leo asked carefully. Irving finished his sip and nodded.

“She is. She and her sister used to live here. Sylvia, her name was. Never the most extroverted, but they were fairly well liked I’d say.” Memories clouded the man’s eyes.

“Even back then, I could tell Sonia was too ambitious for this village, but she did seem to care for Clearside. I never would’ve thought she could threaten it, but I suppose it’s been decades.”

Leo hadn’t known the Hounds leader had a sister. He frowned. Sonia had claimed both she and Irving had “lost people to the lake.” Considering he hadn’t heard about a sister until now, he guessed she’d been the one lost.

He studied Irving carefully. Part of him had the urge to ask who he’d lost, but he knew it would be rude. His home—the dusty, empty bedroom and the too-large table and silverware sets said enough.

“Are you going to tell them?”

Irving laughed hollowly. “There isn’t much of a choice now, is there?”

Leo and Spade exchanged looks. Leo turned to Irving again.

“Why don’t you take a break?” he suggested, attempting to put on his best Allan impression. “You fell earlier, and the whole situation was…stressful. It might be good to take a moment to rest before making any decisions.”

Either Leo was getting better at being convincing or Irving was too tired to care. Regardless of the reason, the [Fisherman] nodded wearily and slowly rose, gripping his cane and setting his cup down.

“I’ll take you up on the offer,” he muttered. His eyes shifted to the closed door and the front windows, where some Hounds had gathered on the street.

They were moving Fergus’s body, Leo realized, and sure enough he could just barely see Flora at the front directing the other Hounds.

“We’ll keep an eye out, don’t worry,” he attempted to reassure the man. Irving nodded, and with a final glance at the windows, the man disappeared down the hall with slow steps.

Leo waited until he heard the sound of his bedroom door closing before he exhaled.

Spade glanced at the front windows and raised a scarred eyebrow.

“Are you planning on closing the blinds?”

He shook his head. “No, that would draw too much attention.”

Stepping forward, Leo carefully opened the cabinets, pretending like he was searching for silverware in case anyone looked in. The [Executioner] watched him for a few moments.

“I assume you believe there’s something here.”

Leo answered without pausing his search. “Irving kept trying to go back here when Fergus was threatening him even if it was safer to go the other way. It’s like he was trying to hide something.”

Spade hummed. “Sounds reasonable enough.” Her eyes lingered on the hallway, and Leo didn’t need to check the party stat sheets to know that she had [Vigilance] equipped. “I assume we’re on a tighter time schedule.”

Leo pursed his lips and didn’t respond. There was nothing in the cabinets.

He bent down to look at the drawers next. He doubted if Irving really was hiding something that it would be somewhere so easy to find, but he had to cover all his bases, especially since he couldn’t look too suspicious in broad daylight. That night, he’d come back and check everywhere he’d missed.

As Leo searched, he brought up the party map, confirming that Allan’s dot had stopped at where he assumed the infirmary was.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

According to his stat sheet, the [Healer]’s mana had gone back up to 14%, but that was still very low. He hoped the man would try to take it easy, but he was almost guaranteed to overwork himself.

“Allan’s at the infirmary,” Leo remarked.

“I thought so.” Spade cocked her head. “He seems to be learning a fair bit if the amount of experience the party is gaining is any indication.”

[Progress towards next level: 63%]

That was a large jump. The repeated use of [Mend] had undoubtedly been a large part of that. As Leo stared at his stats, the percentage ticked up to 64%.

“You look worried.”

“He always overdoes things,” Leo muttered. In those first few years especially.

Grey eyes studied him impassively. “You two seem quite protective of each other.”

The former [Thief] paused and glanced back, brows furrowing. “Did Allan say something?” He rarely saw the two interact; Allan seemed to dislike the [Executioner] or at least heavily mistrust her from what he could tell.

Spade chuckled. “He threatened to kill me if I made a wrong move,” she said casually.

She cocked her head. “I was honestly rather impressed. I imagine he could be quite intimidating if he wanted.”

Despite her words, she didn’t seem remotely bothered by the apparent threat. It probably unnerved Leo more than it did her.

He released a long breath. “Did he seem…mad?”

Spade raised a scarred eyebrow. “Only about as much as I’d expect for the situation. Why?”

Leo didn’t respond right away, mind churning. Caution was normal; he himself had been very suspicious of the [Executioner] and was still careful around her. It was probably fine.

He belatedly realized he’d let the silence go on for too long, because Spade spoke again, grey eyes seeming to pierce through him.

“I thought you trusted him quite a bit.”

“I do,” Leo interjected without hesitation, voice firm. He realized he’d gotten louder and lowered his volume again, but none of the conviction left his tone.

“I trust Allan with my life. I can’t even count how many times he’s saved my ass.”

His voice slowed, frowning a little as he eyed Spade. “It’s just…well, I guess if you’re traveling with us now you should know. It’s not bad or anything,” he quickly added. “But Allan’s not always the most… stable.”

He winced a little at his own wording, but he wasn’t really sure how else to put it.

Spade hummed. “I assume this is related to that personal skill of his?”

Leo shifted uncomfortably and moved on to the next drawer. “Maybe.”

The woman looked amused. “I assumed the two of you had known each other a long time. Do you not know what his personal skill does?”

His silence was answer enough. Leo’s lips thinned. It was true that he didn’t know everything about Allan the same way the [Healer] didn’t know everything about him.

But in some ways, that was probably why they’d managed to build up so much trust. Neither of them ever pushed when the other didn’t want to speak about something.

It was freeing, in a way, to be able to relate to someone purely on present terms without having to worry about his past coming back to haunt him. Leo knew it was probably weird, but that’s just how their friendship worked. Allan didn’t know exactly what [Judgement] did either.

In the last five years, Leo had never once seen [Wrath] activate—or at least he couldn’t confirm that it had. And he would admit a small part of him didn’t want to know what it did.

Straightening, Leo moved to the living room next, and Spade walked casually behind him, partially obscuring him from the view of the Hounds on the street.

A memory rose, one that was still crisp in his mind even after three years.

It had been a cloudy day; the overcast sky made night seem to come sooner. Allan had been out late, and Leo left to look for him before the sun fully sank below the horizon.

He didn’t know what had led up to it or what the exact circumstances had been. All he knew was that he’d come across Allan’s rickshaw parked in front of an alleyway. And when he peered inside, he’d seen the man, back facing him, half cloaked in shadows with bloody fists standing over limp bodies.

Leo never told Allan what he’d seen, but after that he’d been acutely aware of any shifts in the [Rickshaw Puller]’s moods. Not out of fear, but more a heightened awareness.

And, if he was being completely honest, some of it was probably cowardice. He liked his current relationship with Allan. He was the first friend he’d ever had, and he didn’t want to ruin it. Not by poking into the [Healer]’s past, and certainly not with his own, either.

Allan’s dot didn’t move from the infirmary. He would probably be there a while, Leo thought. He straightened, giving the living room another sweep.

“Nothing?”

Leo shook his head and turned back to the kitchen. “Let’s try again tonight,” he said.

—

Allan still wasn’t back by the time night fell. After some discussion, Leo decided to search the house while Spade stood watch in the hallway, where she could hide in the shadows without immediately being seen by the Hounds’ night guards.

Leo carefully crept along the floors, avoiding squeaking floorboards and being sure to keep himself hidden behind furniture as he moved. [Fade into Background] was active, and he tapped lightly along the walls, shifting furniture in search for any hidden compartments.

He must’ve been looking for hours at that point. It was possible that there was nothing after all and Irving was just overly attached to his home, but Leo refused to give up so easily. This was the first real lead they had.

Just when he was beginning to lose hope, he knocked into a pot in the corner. Leo hurried to right it before it could make too loud a noise, but he paused. Its weight distribution was off; it was too high up, as though the bottom was hollow.

Heart racing, Leo carefully rose, pressing his back to the wall to remain hidden. A scraggly young tree stuck out from the top of the pot which went up to his waist.

He attempted to pull it out from the base to get to the bottom, but to no avail. There was indeed a layer of dirt covering the pot’s base. Breaking the pot would be the easiest way, but that would be too loud.

Before Leo could try again, Spade strode over. One hand holding the vase down, she carefully pulled at the tree with the other. She had to move slowly to avoid snapping the trunk, but eventually, both the plant and a layer of dirt wrapped around its roots came loose.

Some stray dirt landed on the floor, and Leo eyed the windows carefully. The shadows of the Hounds guards hadn’t moved.

Slowly, he reached down into the pot. A dirty false base sat a few inches above the true bottom, and he carefully popped it off. Underneath, some dirt had fallen through, but he searched methodically.

His fingers closed around something cool and hard.

Leo yanked the object out and stared down at his open palm.

Sitting there, still speckled with dirt, was a pendant. Its vibrant azure stone shone in the dim light streaming in from the window, and the inside of the translucent gem swirled and undulated—rippling like waves.