Chapter E8: Finding The Sister Known as Vidya

(Effinshia's POV)

Luth E’ll. The city of dreams. This is the place where merchants either rise to the top or fall down to the deep depths of bankruptcy. The administrators of this city give warrants and edicts to new merchants to help them set up and bring the city to new prosperity. Though, it is nothing more than a trap to bring more money into the city. To lure the young and naive into a false dream only to strip them dry and then tossed aside. If you aren’t street smart around here, expect to get a knife on your back sooner rather than later. 

People may call me pessimistic, but what is an economy where there is only supply but no demand?

Doesn’t matter what the city this is though. I’m here for Vidya and I wasted no time getting into action. I got Torarias to fly low but just high enough to not get spotted by people. I wanted to do this as low-profile as possible. Things will be much harder for me if the city guards got involved.

It might be presumptuous of me, but I had little hope that Vidya was still alive. So the first thing I needed to do was to confirm whether the person in question is in fact still alive.

It’s a long shot but I asked Torarias to fly pass the roads from Cezza to Luth E'll. Carefully checking the long stretch for any signs of dead bodies or damaged transports. If Vidya did indeed travelled to Luth E'll by normal means, then there might be a chance that she has already fallen prey to the monsters that live in between the two locations.

A sense of relief awash me when I spotted no bodies or any signs of attack happening. Though, that in itself doesn't mean much. She could have either died and the body simply recovered or eaten by the monsters. What did interest me was the sight of closed carriages along the road. Each of them heavily guarded.

I wanted to investigate it further but I was short on time. I tucked the encounter to the far depths of my mind and went ahead with my second step. I landed a distance away from the city in one of the cemeteries near the city. Covertly without letting anyone or anything spot the big white eagle with tiger stripes. Once down, Torarias let out a cry and reverted back to the form that I know the best, a white cap.

I thanked Torarias before putting the sleeping tiger once more on the top of my head before heading out in the open. Without much effort, I managed to find the grave keeper of this cemetery. I asked him if there were any unknown bodies being buried recently. I even gave him Vidya’s details to see if he recalled burying such a person.

He only replied that there haven’t been any burials for the past few weeks. Thanking him for his assistance, I quickly went on to the other cemeteries. Each one of them I asked the same thing. If there had been any burials and if any of them resembled Vidya. Results this time faired better, there had been burials recently but none of them matched the description of Vidya.

The next thing I did was to visit all the morgues. There could be a chance that the person in question simply have not been buried yet and was awaiting identification. Just like with the cemeteries, I went in and asked if there was anybody matching the description of Vidya. There were a few that matched, but upon having a closer look I can safely say that they weren’t Vidya. Having the fairy giving me her exact look helped quite a bit here.

The conclusion was simple. Vidya was still alive. Or at least, it’s a high probability that she was still alive. If that was the case, then my next step was simple. I am to travel to the nearest guard station and asked the officials if there has been any missing person report.

Missing people are often found along with other missing people so I took note of every single missing individual in the past few weeks. Their faces, their last known area, their traits and their background. Everything that I thought could be helpful I wrote down and I memorised it. So far the only pattern I could establish from all the missing person report was that there was a staggering amount of females missing from various shopping districts.

Having noted down all that I could, it was time for me to file my own missing persons’ report. I could do it at the guard stations but I got my mind set on another place. In a city fueled by greed like Luth E’ll what better place to file a report than the Adventurer’s guild?

I wore a cheap mask and tried to keep my identity hidden as best I could and gave the details to the receptionist in front of me. A request to find a missing person. Sounds normal at first, but what really caused the receptionist to flinched was the amount of money I had on the table. It was no small amount definitely. It was all the money I had on me. A whole bunch of gold and silver coins, but more importantly.

A platinum coin. 

A coin so rarely found in distribution. A coin that holds value throughout the entire continent in many different countries. Having one of these means that you could buy an entire mansion. Anywhere. Excluding taxes and the cost of the land of course. It wasn’t an almighty amount but it’s enough to get the word around. I’ll turn the city to its heel if it means finding Vidya. I made a promise to the boy and I’m not sparing any less.

“Are you sure about this Ma'am? This coin just to find a single person?” The pretty young boy spoke to me in hesitation.

“Yeah, I want posters of this girl and her description spread across the entire city,” I said as I gave him my best portrait of Vidya. I was not that great at drawing, but the silly paper I gave to the receptionist will have to suffice.

“I got it. I will consult with the guild master about this.” He said.

I just nodded to him and left the area. My first day of trying to find Vidya was not as fruitful as I wanted it to be, but it will have to do. I retreated to the nearest park in the city and sat down onto one of the benches. That entire night was spent consolidating all the missing person reports and planning my next move.

 

* * * * *

 

On the dawn of the second day, I enacted my next move. If Vidya did indeed reached Luth E’ll then her first act would be to find Kruu Leaves to cure Korva. There were a few places one could obtain the leaves in Luth E’ll. The marketplace, the apothecary and in a damp cave to the west of Luth E’ll where the leaves grow in abundance.

I’ve already checked the cave out yesterday when I was scouring from above. No traces of anybody being there for weeks.

I got up from the bench and stored my notebook into my bag pouch. I then made my way to the apothecary. All of them.

Results were disappointing, to say the least. There had been an increase of Kruu Leaves being sold recently and most of the shopkeepers couldn't possibly recall every customer that bought them. Every single apothecary that I went to said the same exact thing. A lot of people had been buying said leaves and that they couldn’t remember if there was a person who matched my description ever buying it from their shop.

Still, an increase in Kruu leaves being sold huh? Could it be that the ‘Purple Skin’ was running rampant in Luth E’ll as well? I made a note to myself to destroy the source of the curse if I ever ran into it.

Having left the final apothecary I shifted my attention to every shopkeeper that sold Kruu leaves in this city. Something tells me that the result is going to be just as disappointing. It’s worth a shot though.

 

* * * * *

 

It was the dawn of the third day when the posters and descriptions of Vidya could be seen on the walls of the buildings. I could see adventurers and people all over looking for Vidya. This includes all the merchants as well. Big and small alike.

Some of the authorities also caught wind of the generous reward and conducted their own search. I could see an increase of several city guards making their patrols around the city.

I’ll leave it to them to find her in their own ways. I moved around the city swiftly to execute the next phase of my plan. Assuming she stayed over for at least one night in Luth E’ll then that would mean she would need a place to stay.

I spent the entire day and searched almost every inn, motel and hotel in the whole city. I even searched through all the shelters in the city.

If Vidya is any likely to still be in this city, then I would find her real soon.

 

* * * * *

 

The fourth day came and still no news from the Adventurer’s guild. My effort yesterday bore no fruit. I’ve searched high and low for her and I still haven’t found a trace of her existence in the city. Did the fairy lie to me? Did Vidya ever come into the city?

The only other explanation that I could think of was that she got kidnapped. The question is… where?

If she got kidnapped in Cezza then I’m looking in the wrong place. But if that’s the case then the fairy would have known about it, wouldn’t they? The fairy kept an eye on them the entire time and he even had all those other fairies in the city that would tell him if there was something wrong. Of course, this was all just assumptions on my part and the fairy may not have known about it.

Though, there could be a high chance that she was kidnapped here in Luth E’ll instead. The increase in missing females around the city came to mind. All missing around the shopping districts of Luth E’ll. 

I took to the streets of the shopping districts and tried to find any suspicious groups around the area. I carefully tailed several young women and searched around for any suspicious activities. My eyes caught the sight of several ruffians eyeing the woman around but they didn’t act. It might just be me being paranoid of things, but I drilled their faces into my mind regardless. I got a feeling that something was off about them.

 

* * * * *

 

The fifth day came, still no good news.

I shifted my attention from missing person reports to finding the source of the curse, It took me a while to confirm but there was indeed children in Luth E’ll being cursed by the purple skin. Though it was an easy matter for people to cure it seeing that there was an abundance of Kruu leaves around, I decided that I don’t want to take any chances.

A curse like this where it only infects children. Where best to place the source if not where children gather around. I searched high and low around daycare centres, playgrounds, schools and kindergartens. I even searched around orphanages.

My efforts paid off when I found a strange-looking bauble near one of the shops that sell children’s toys. It was a strange-looking trinket that was being held by a statue of a monster. An Arachne to be exact. Half-human half-spider. The untrained eye might not be able to see it, but I can. A black shroud circling around the statue. I pumped extremes amount of mana into the palm of my hand and grabbed the moving shroud. I then crushed the shroud with all my strength.

*Crash!

The bunch of smoke broke into multiple pieces akin to glass breaking. The spell breaker skill. ‘Dist to Rapt’ was used again and unlike the first time with the shroud flying over Korva’s leg, this one never came back.

Still, I secretly stole the bauble before destroying it, just in case. I then bury the remains in a place far away from the city. The children should be safe from the curse now. Or so I hoped.

I didn’t want to spend any time doing something other than finding Vidya, but I decided to search the city for any other baubles like this. I also made yet another note in my mind to destroy the source of the curse in Cezza when I get back there.

* * * * *

 

Maybe I shouldn’t have made that promise to Korva after all? Day and night of searching and I’m nowhere close to finding Vidya. I’m pretty much out of leads at this point. Maybe I should redouble my efforts on the underground scene instead? If Vidya was being kept by merchants against her will, then they would have cough her up to get the platinum coin by now.

So could it be that she was being kept by someone who couldn’t risk having her identity leaked out to the public? Slave traders perhaps?

I followed my instincts and kept my eye on the ruffians that I memorised a few days prior. I also took note of dubious merchants and practices around the city. 

 

* * * * *

 

It was the night of the sixth day when I finally got an actual lead. It was the group of heavily guarded closed carriages that I saw on the first day. Trade records that I liberated from various companies and merchants say that this was a regular shipment of Kruu leaves from Cezza. How funny considering that Cezza had no Kruu leaves up until a week ago. It was only after I went to the cave that Kruu leaves were available again. And I’m pretty sure the number of leaves that those kids carried out of the cave would not be able to fill several wagons full.

Then there was the question of why does a bunch of Kruu leaves needed to be so heavily guarded? What kind of profit was there to gain by doing this?

Even funnier, that the shipment was being guided in the middle of the night by the very same ruffians that I memorised a few days ago. The same ones that were observing young women in the shopping districts. 

Their Ineptitude was astonishing, to say the least, but who am I to complain? If they were perfect, I wouldn't have gotten the lead that I need.

I sneaked from rooftop to rooftop and followed the carriage until they stopped at a certain building in the city. It was plain, to say the least. A very inconspicuous building hidden by the sight of other buildings. 

Interesting.

I would have not found this place if I wasn’t actively looking for it. Too bad that I am though. I laid low and observed the ruffians as they opened up the carriages and unload the true identity of what was inside.

My skin tightened, and a sour and bitter taste of disgust developed in my mouth. 

As I expected. Slave traders.

Young and beautiful looking girls were being led out of the carriages, one by one. Some of them just followed orders without resistance. Some others tried to fight back but were beaten down by the heavily armed escorts.

It wasn't just humans either. I could see other races in the mix as well. Demihumans of many types. Dragonewts, Elves, Angelkin folks(Ten’hims),demonkin folks(Ak’hims), dwarfs and many more. There were even some sirens among them, carried around in a tub full of water.

This is one hell of a smuggling operation. To be able to capture all those different types of races without getting caught. I wondered how long have they been doing this.

I took a deep breath as I got ready to sneak inside the building. Conflicting thoughts appeared in my mind.

On one hand, I hope that Vidya wasn’t one of the numerous victims of this slave-trading operation. On the other hand, if Vidya wasn’t involved, then I’m afraid I would have to go back to Korva empty-handed.

Everything makes sense if Vidya was involved though. I thought about how it was dumb of her to travel to Luth E’ll by herself, but what if… she didn’t? What if she was kidnapped at Cezza instead? That would explain why there wasn’t a single trace of her appearing in the city at all.

 

It would also explain her sudden disappearance without any warning. How the house was empty of any valuable possessions. How Korva must have thought that Vidya had abandoned him. How there was no news of her in the two weeks she went missing. A shipment of Kruu leaves from Cezza to Luth E’ll? It could be entirely possible that she may have noticed these regular shipments and got too close to the fire in an attempt to cure his brother.

I made one last note that night. Once I’m done with my matter with Korva, I’ll make sure this operation never see the light of day again.