A piece of broken brick hit her face, curving a moon-shaped curve on it. She bled from the cut as she was dragged onto a nearby field.
BLAM! Jamie blocked the assassin’s boot with her forearms as it slammed down onto her face. She sliced the mana thread around her ankle. She rolled away to the right and bounced to her feet.
Jamie flung a beer mug at the assassin, who blocked it. She took that spilt second to leap onto the assassin’s shoulder. She quickly jammed her dagger into the assassin’s throat, and the mystery assassin fell to his knees and died.
Another assassin was there and slashed at her with a Claymore sword. The sword got hit by a mana ball thrown by Benny and was bent.
“I got it!” Benny shrieked.
The second assassin created a shield to dodge small mana balls thrown by Henry, as they ran onto the fields to help her.
Fine mana thread wrapped around the second assassin’s body, and he fell to his knee.
“We have questions for you,” Master Edwards said, but then the second assassin’s head exploded.
“He's over there!” Jamie shouted and pointed at a third hooded assasin escaping in a transport portal from the clouds. “He killed his own.”
“Someone really wants you dead Jamie,” Master Edwards said as he headed back to the tavern. “I’m going to handle the tab. We’ll head to the cabin after.”
“What? When are we going to investigate who is trying to kill me?” Jamie said as she flung her hands in the air.
Master Edwards stood by the tavern, he held up his palm and created a transport portal. “I don’t see feet moving!”
***
“Let me know if you need anything,” the old woman with purple hair said. She flicked on the lights with her palm. “Default code for everything is 5-4-3-2-1.”
“Got it, thank you,” Jamie said as she held Henry in her arms.
The old woman held up her palm to create a transport portal and shortly vanished.
Master Edwards fell onto the comfy leather couch as Jamie walked to her room with Henry in her arms, and Benny following.
Jamie laid Henry on the soft mattress and pulled the comforter over him. Benny got on the bed as well. Jamie turned to walk out. “Where are you going?”
“I want to take a walk,” Jamie said.
“Okay.”
Jamie watched her pup crawl under the bed and immediately dozed off. She smiled and quietly stepped out of the room. Master Edwards was already asleep on the couch. She tapped him on the shoulder. “Master Edwards, my suitcase.”
He mumbled and pulled her suitcase from his right side, the suitcase fell onto the wooden floor, then he went back to sleep. She grabbed her suitcase and took out a brown leather-bound notebook and a quill.
Out on the porch, Jamie sat on the rocking chair. She started to write in her journal.
—------
[ Jamie’s Journal Entry ]
Hi there,
So…… not sure what to say. It’s been more than 3 months since I came to this world. I made it to round 2. I even have a pup and some kids that I do training with…
What else to write? Well, I’m stronger now, but I have to be careful. I find myself getting more confident but if I’m too confident I could overestimate my abilities.
I’m still not sure why, but there are assassins who want me dead. I don’t get it and no one will explain why. I need to figure out why but before that, I need to find the missing girls and whoever killed Mila’s parents.
Anyway, I don't know what else to write, but this is it for now. I thought I should start logging my experiences. When I make it back home, would be cool to read about my adventures.
Day 94
—---------------
Jamie closed her notebook and placed it in her small portal. I can make my portals a bit bigger now, Jamie thought. Which means my mana is more stable now.
She walked along the garden path in front of the row of luxury cabins, similar to the cabin they were renting. Unlike the Veinham garden, these had glow-in-the-dark flowers, they were daisy-like flowers with seven big elongated white translucent petals and the center was bluejay blue. Jamie bent down and touched one, the illuminating petals curled up. She tapped a few more flowers and observed with a grin as they all curled up in a domino effect manner as she descended the line.
She came upon a house without the glow-in-the-dark flowers that caught her attention. The doormat had the olive-clover grass symbol on it. She looked around to see if anyone was around, but noticing no one was, she quickly snuck up on the house.
She hid under a lit room and could faintly overhear the conversation a man and woman were having.
“Now what do we do?” the man said.
“Keep your voice down,” the woman said.
Jamie used mana to enhance her hearing abilities.
“We shouldn’t have done anything. If we’d given them money, that might just work,” the man said.
“But what if they just keep wanting more and more? What we did was right.”
“I’ve heard that they sent a detective from the Center here.”
“What, why would they do that for some peasants?”
“Connections, some Lord rented a place here and they liked the couple. They heard of the death and had enough clout to send someone.”
Someone slammed their hand on the table. “Owww!”
“You are so weak. Also, the village Chief told everyone Lord Edwards was to arrive today.”
“We should run for it. Let’s go to the rogue district and lie low.”
“If we do that, then that’s admitting we did something wrong.”
Did I already find the killers? Jamie thought. This was super easy. But why did they kill the couple?
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Footsteps approached, forcing Jamie to retreat to cabin #32. On the way, she noticed more of the glow-in-the-dark flowers and stopped once more to admire them.
“Pretty aren’t they?” a man asked.
Jamie vanished and appeared behind the skinny man, she held the dagger to his throat.
“Who are you?”
“I’m renting the cabin directly behind you,” he said calmly.
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“Right. People call me Sir Issoton, I’m a detective for the Center. One of the folks that rents a cabin here wanted additional eyes for the murdered Heartys.”
“I didn’t sense you coming.”
“You are not knowledgeable of how detectives for the Center work. The minimum qualification is a Level 2 mage. That’s 10% of the population in Mander. I can fight you should you wish.”
“Where is your badge?”
“Badge? If you follow me inside my cabin, I can show the case scroll with the letter from the royal family.”
She released him. “Okay, let’s see it.”
“Didn’t I say to rest and we’ll begin again tomorrow?” Master Edwards said.
Jamie jumped. Where did he appear from? She thought.
Master Edwards grabbed Jamie’s arm. “Sorry, Sir?”
“Issoton, you’re Lord Edwards.”
“Yes, my apologies for my disciple here. We’re working the case and she’s gotten close to the victim's kid. We’ll be on our way.”
The skinny man pushed his glasses up his skinny nose, and said, “I understand, it is hardest when kids are involved. Have a good night. Pleasant dreams.” He said and briskly retreated to his cabin.
Jamie noticed he wore black leather shoes with bright yellow outsoles.
Is that a type of raindragon boots? She thought.
“Can I not leave you for one second? Why are you out here?!”
“Sorry, I wanted fresh air and he scared me. Didn’t feel his presence at all, like he was trying to conceal it,” she said quietly and looked at Master Edwards.
“Yes, mages are taught to conceal their presence as a daily training regime. Come, let us return.”
Once they were back outside the cabin, Master Edwards held up both his palms. He closed his eyes and whispered a strong barrier spell. A thin white glob bursted from his palms and spat onto Cabin #32’s exterior, the wooden roofs, the log walls, and the wooden door looked especially shiny until they all returned to normal appearances.
“That should do.”
“I overheard-”
“Tell me tomorrow, I am tired.”
***
Jamie walked into the shower. It was similar in design to the Veinham’s, the whole bathroom was tiled, even the ceiling.
She held up her pointer finger above her head and water rained down. She massaged her scalp with calendula soap. She pointed at a tile beside her and gently puffs of steam omitted from it.
That detective, something is off about him as well. At least now we know what to look into. She thought.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Lord Edwards! Miss Jamie! Lord Edwards! Miss Jamie!” someone shouted at the door.
Jamie turned her head in the direction of the commotion. She could hear Master Edwards answering the door.
Then her bathroom door opened, “Get dressed, they found the body of one of the girls.” He looked at her. “You look nice.”
She blasted a fireball at him and slammed the door.
Jamie quickly rinsed off and met Master Edwards at the cabin entrance.
The teen boy gleefully smiled at her, dark brown hair with rather protruded ears, he was pale with a sweet boy look to him. He blushed when he saw Jamie. “Hi Miss Jamie, Grandpa Ivan told me to fetch you two.”
“Can you use transportation magic?” Master Edwards asked the boy.
“No, but it’s only a five-minute walk from here, less if we make haste.”
“Let’s go.”
As they made their way on the dirt pathway toward the river, the teen boy helped Jamie navigate the rocky terrain.
“Thank you, what’s your name?” Jamie asked.
“I’m Aldo. My mom found Alice and ran home to tell me to go to our Chief.”
“Did you know the girls?”
“Yes, all four of them. My mom dyes Grandpa Ivan’s wool and the girls help her. They’re like my sisters.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m 16 years old. So do you think a shapeshifter took them? I have friends in the neighboring town. They all think it's a shapeshifter that took them.”
“We don’t know yet, we were planning to look at the site tomorrow morning, when it is easier to detect mana residue.”
“She was over there. Sorry, but could I stay here? I rather not see her like this.”
“Did your mom mention anything else?”
“No, she just couldn’t sleep so she went here with a lamp to see if she could find anything.”
Jamie walked over and looked at the pristine body of the 17-year-old Alice Wright, she was sitting on the rocks and looking out at the sky.
“What is this?” Jamie looked at Master Edwards. “Do shapeshifters do this to their victims?”
Master Edwards raised the girl's hand and let it drop. “No, they want them alive to bear the children. She feels and has the weight I expect from a girl her size." He turned to Jamie. “Inspect her.”
Jamie walked around the girl and inspected her. “She looks alive, not dead, her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are normal looking despite the no blinking part…” She held her palm in front of the girl’s chest. “She has a heart, but something’s off, I don’t know how I know, but it is like the heart never beaten.”
“Very good. The off you’re feeling is old magic, a spell that would fool most mages. I haven’t seen this spell in a long time. Can you detect where her seam is?”
“Seam?” Jamie turned to the girl. She hovered her palm around Alice. “Nothing strange that I can tell.”
“Use your mind’s eye.”
She turned to the girl once more. “I can sense that her forehead doesn’t have the same feel as the rest of her.”
“Very good. Shot your mana into her forehead. The same velocity as if you were to hit a target 50 meters away.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
“What if we’re wrong? I would destroy her head. Her poor family.”
He gave her a look.
“Right.”
Jamie stood in front of the girl, she raised her palm and shot mana at her forehead. The girl’s body shook violently, then it turned into straw.
“You still lack confidence.”
“Working on it. Aldo come here! It’s not a dead body!”
“Okay, coming!”
Master Edwards inspected the straw doll. “Someone’s tapering with our investigation. Do you sense anything here?”
Jamie closed her eyes and felt for any mana traces of magic users.
She opened her eyes. “Not a trace of another mage, but I don’t know how to describe it, but I do sense a faint scent of a shapeshifter”
“Excellent, you will be a great mage if you’re able to harness your mind’s eyes gift further. Besides the shapeshifter, does it make sense that we cannot detect a mage?”
“What do you mean?”
“All magic besides transport portals leaves a little magic trace depending on how long ago the spell took place. This body was recently discovered which means, we should sense magic but we didn’t. This doesn’t make sense. If I were to do this, I would bring the straw doll here and then transform it here or else…” He looked at Jamie.
“Or else it would be heavy to carry, unless I used a spell to carry her. But if I transformed her here, I would leave mana residual and I would leave residual if I used a spell to carry her.”
“Exactly. The person used a transport portal here while meanually carrying the girl and then positioning her body here like so. Which means, they hid their mana residual.”
“Why would they do that? It’s not like we can tell who it is.”
“Not necessarily. All mages have magic signatures, like a fingerprint, the more advanced ones can conceal it but someone like myself can detect it. It depends on how long ago the magic was cast and the type of spell. You might be able to detect as well with your mind’s eyes.”
Heavy breathing was heard as a woman ran toward them. “Help! Help! There’s a shapeshifter in town. The men are trying to fight it off but it’s trying to get another girl!”
Jamie looked at Master Edwards who had already opened a transport portal.