Chapter R9: Strange Request

(Ride's POV)

 

Luth E’ll, the city of merchants. Everything I’ve ever heard about this city was that it’s a haven and thriving place for new and old merchants alike. The government gives generous grants and loans to new and upcoming merchants so that they are comfortable in setting up shops. A large commercial guild was established and acts as the main hub for all merchants in the country. Anything you could hope to find in Rydark, you can find here in the great merchant city of Luth E’ll. It also acts as a great place for adventurers experienced in escorting to find jobs, as the merchants often require grand escorts into places unknown.

We arrived there that evening, at the end of our seven days journey from Cezza. Well… the entrance to Luth E’ll at least. Currently, we were being held up near the gates to Luth E’ll by some army personnel. In front of me is some heavily armed guardsmen looking through the carriages for any suspicious signs.

Hamza himself had carried many a suspicious thing to Luth E’ll but it seemed like he has a permit for each and every single item. Being a guild master probably helped with that. He and his assistants were quick in sorting through the paperwork with the guardsmen but it seemed like it will take a little bit longer before the guards will permit us to enter.

“All good. Open the gates! This carriage passes through on an urgent business!” A yell from the nearby guard rang out. 

I looked towards the direction to see the strange carriage that the demonkin Aattroo Phia was escorting had been allowed entrance to the city. She sat down next to her carriage-driver and beckon the man to move the carriage once the gates have been opened. Looks like the guards couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Well, the carriage only looked strange on the outside, doesn’t mean that the things inside are suspicious.

“Don’t close the gate yet! This carriage passes through on an urgent business as well!” A guardsman from my side yelled out.

“Come come, we need to get this carriage to the guild house young Ride!” Hamza implored me as he got up to the carriage and sat next to me.

Nodding in response, I held the reins to the horse and guided them to enter the great city of merchants.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild house of Luth E’ll. It wasn’t as grand as the one in A’bell before it got destroyed, but it was comparable alright. Large open doors and a large hall full of table and chairs. Receptionists waiting for request and paperwork. Behind the guild house was a large wide training area and a storage facility. A standard adventurer’s guild if I ever saw one.

“Over there will do young Ride.” Hamza directed me to an empty corner near the storage facility.

“Are you sure? I could guide the horses further inside if you want.” I asked.

“That will not be necessary. It will just attract attention. You might not understand now being so young and all, but attention while good is oftentimes very very… restrictive. Not good for a merchant. No good indeed.” The Cezza’s branch leader advised me.

Alright… I guess?

Seeing no reason to object, I just guide the horses to the spot that he pointed out before getting off and untying the horses to bring them to the nearby stable. The others dropped down from the carriage as soon as they noticed that this is the stop. All carrying down our luggage.

“Ahh young Kranis, come come!, Let us discuss payments,” Hamza beckoned to Kranis as I guided the horses away to the stables.

The stables of the adventurer’s guild are always located next to the training area, so I guided the horses there while taking a look around. Taking in the sight of adventurers of various ranks training in the training ground and the sights of various citizens and receptionist walking about the area. As I was doing this, I caught sight of a poster hung up on a pillar along with other posters. However, unlike the other posters, this one was bigger and clearly hung up in such a way that passersby will witness this poster first before the others.

It was a missing person’s poster. On the poster was a crude yet accurate black and white drawing of a girl with twin braided hair that flowed to her front. She wore a wizard's robe and a pointy wizard hat. Although beneath the robe looked to be some cheap clothing rather than the equipment that adventurers wear. What really caught my eye was the reward for finding the said person. A whole platinum coin for those who can bring the said person to the adventurer’s guild or give information that leads to the finding of said person.

A platinum coin just to find a person?

“The requester of this request must be a very influential person. To be able to obtain such a coin is not easy. To give it away so easily would mean that the person is of great importance as well.” All of a sudden, a cold but mature voice spoke out to me, giving me a jump to the heart.

It was the petite figure of Aattroo Phia—her hand still holding a carrot— looking at the poster.  The direction of her eyes didn’t stay long on the poster as it soon shifted focus onto me. Her eyes staring directly into mine as if trying to stare into my soul. I felt like this has happened to me before. It wasn’t as bad as Effinshia’s stare when I first met her but my body still shivered from the action and my body hair stood on its end.

“Name?” She asked me.

“...Eh..? Oh! It, it, It’s R-Ride. Ride A’bell” I stammered, unable to talk properly for some odd reason. Must have been tired or something.

The petite demonfolk girl with the mask closed her eyes and mumbled my name a few times. Probably to commit it to her memory. The shaky feeling in my legs immediately stopped the moment she closed her eyes.

She then opened her eyes after mumbling my name for a while “You must be an adventurer are you not? Let me see your card.” She asked, no, she demanded me.

“Um, ah, okay,” I replied hastily as I took out my card in order to show it to her. The silver glint of the letter B shined.

She examined it for a moment. “And yet so weak? Your strength does not reflect your rank Ride A'bell,” Aattroo Phia said to me.

“Well…” 

“It is best if you grow stronger Ride A’bell. Stronger, faster and more courageous, unless you want to be consumed by the coming storm. Learn to make peace with the other dwelling within and you might survive.”

“Huh?”

“This will not be our last meeting. Until then, I bid you farewell,” Aattroo Phia said to me before turning around and departing away.

What was that about? I scratched my head in confusion. 

The sound of the horses neighing snapped me out of my thought process. Oh right. Need to get these guys into the stable.

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“What took you so long man?” Kranis asked out to me when I returned from the stables.

“Sorry, I kinda got lost finding the stables” I replied to Kranis “How’s the pay by the way?”

“You need to ask? The guy is loaded”

Of course…

“Where are the others by the way?” I asked Kranis about the lack of the rest of the party members at the guild house.

“They updated and left before us. They say they wanted to find a nice looking inn with a big wide room or something.”

“A big nice-looking Inn huh? Sounds expensive”

“We’re loaded Ride. Like it or not, we need to get rid of the excess."

“I don’t know, don’t you think it’s a bit wasteful?” I asked back to the greed extraordinaire.

“Eh, just once in a while is fine,” Kranis said as he started to walk towards the desk of the guild’s receptionist.

“Well if you say so. How is the bank by the way?” I answered as I walked beside him.

“Yo, so check this out. That Hamza dude has connections everywhere! He recommended me to one of his friends. Says he'll give us a good offer.”

That’s good. Least we don’t have to worry about carrying around a large sack gold around.

“Welcome to Luth E’ll’s Adventurer Guild branch. How may I help you today?” said a feminine sounding voice.

I looked towards the source of the voice only to see a short yet pretty looking person behind the desk. The way the receptionist held her hands and how she extruded feminine power. Could this be it? The female receptionist I’ve always wanted to see?! Finally! 

I came closer to the desk to tell the receptionist my purpose here only to see her in male clothing. The one which the male receptionist wears.

Why is she wearing the males?

“Update our credentials will you?” Kranis handed over his adventurer card to the receptionist.

The receptionist accepted it and then looked towards me, waiting for me to hand him/her the card.

“Sir?” The receptionist asked me with a tone that will break down even the toughest of men.

“No-nothing” I handed him/her my adventurer card.

The receptionist then took the cards and inserted it into the all too familiar box.

“I have received and updated your credentials successfully. Welcome to Luth E’ll and enjoy your stay.” The receptionist gave a polite bow.

Still a little bit shocked, I took back my card and started to leave the area. All of a sudden, Kranis rested his arms over my shoulders.

“I know what you are thinking, Ride. Don’t think too much about it. Sometimes people are born with the wrong gender. Best if you don’t get tangled in that side of the world. Nothing good comes from it, I would know” Kranis said in confidence.

Why do I feel like there is more to this story than he is letting on?

 

* * * * * 

"For an expensive Inn, the service is pretty bad. You guys sure did a great job getting that deal," Kranis said to the party as we hang around the lounge of the adventurer's guild. The sound noisy and busy adventurers echoed all over the place. 

"The bed was hard… Sleeping on the floor was probably better. Was that really the best inn in Luth E'll?" I added on to the conversation.

"Swindled was what happened to us if you ask me" Kranis commented.

I looked towards the three culprits across of me. Scorch and Tyle were just looking away as Kranis ranted to them. Sweat could be seen flowing down their faces. Lanarya, on the other hand, was just looking down with her shoulders slumped. The energetic attitude she always had—gone as if drained entirely.

"You guys even booked the place for the rest of the week! What were you guys thinking?" Kranis asked, dissatisfied about the matter.

"I'm sorry guys… I didn't think it would be that bad. That man said all sorts of nice things about the place and I sort of…"  Lanarya spoke in a dejected. Her shoulders slumped downwards even further.

"This is what happens when don't bring around a swindler to deal with swindlers. Now see what y'all got us into," Kranis scolded the rest of the guys.

Scorch, Tyle and Lanarya all look downwards without answering back.

"Think we could just book another inn?" I asked the group.

"We've already paid for it, might as well get our money's worth, Kranis said.

I let out a sigh upon hearing that. The Inn although spacious as advertised, was really bad in quality. The bed especially; I couldn't even get a good night's rest. It was like sleeping on a bed made out of needles. Room service was bad too, the shared bathroom is a mess and their food is bland at best. How were they still operational, I may not know.

"I'm so sorry guys," Lanarya said once again in a dejected tone.

"Don't worry too much about it Lana. Just be more careful next time. You two especially." Kranis said to Lanarya before looking over to the other two culprits. Scorch and Tyle.

“Ummm yeah… sorry about that. I should have checked.” Scorch apologised.

Kranis then looked towards Mr Safe.

“In my defence. I did say to wait for you before booking so…”

“One hundred gold pieces. Ten nights” Kranis said. “Dude, how did that not right any alarm bells? You paid for ten days! Also, one hundred gold? That’s like how much some people earn in months!“

It's rare to see Kranis so angry like this. Well, he does like money after all. Wasting it is a surefire way to make the rogue angry. Tyle could only look away from the rogue, unable to reply back. Kranis’ rage lasted quite a while when suddenly a feminine voice came from behind me and interrupted our conversation.

"Um… is this perhaps the party 'Providence'?" 

It was the voice of the female looking receptionist that we've met the day before. I talked around a bit with the other adventurers in Luth E'll and confirmed that he is, in fact, a male. I don't know what to feel about the revelation honestly.

"Yeah we are, is there anything you need? We are in the middle of something." Kranis said to the receptionist. You could hear the annoyance oozing out of his voice.

"Ah! No no. It's just that the guild master would like to have a meeting with all of you." The young pretty man said to us in a pure soft voice and the attitude of a maiden.

“The guild master? Why?” I asked the receptionist. 

He came close to us before whispering in such a way that only the party could hear it. “The branch leader of Cezza has recommended that you to the guild master regarding a special request. I’m not allowed to say any further." He whispered right next to my ears, the smell of his rosy breath entered my nose.

I could only blush in response.

“A request? Let’s get to it then,” Tyle hurriedly responded in an exaggerated gesture.

“Wait, we aren’t finished yet,”

“Come on, if the guild master wants to see us then it’s got to be important." Scorch got up from his seat.

“I wonder what is the Luth E’ll guild master like?” Lanarya saw the cue and got up as well.

Looks like Lanarya is adjusting quickly to the party huh.

“Don’t know, rumours say that he's a merchant,” I replied to Lanarya’s question.

“This way please," The receptionist walked away to guide us.

”Oi!” Kranis barked out.

Ignoring the greed extraordinaire behind me, I followed the receptionist with the others. Kranis could only grumble as he followed behind.

 

* * * * *

 

In a room much like the guild master’s room in Cezza lies the party ‘Providence’ just sitting down on our own couch of choice. Inside the room were two other people. One sitting down on a similar couch next to us with his assistant; It was Hamza and the very good looking receptionist from Cezza. The other was a person sitting at his desk while sorting some papers. A dark-skinned man with long hair—and an eyepatch over his left eye. He has this very wild and rough look, small scars could be seen all over her body. Despite all the scars on his body, he still manages to look decently good. 

I assumed that this person was the guild master of the Luth E’ll’s branch. He took out a specific piece of paper over the many others before walking to sit with us near the couches.

“To start things off, I am Latham.” the man introduced himself,  “I’ve brought all of you here regarding this matter. I’m pretty sure you must have seen this already.” He said as he puts the paper he was holding onto a table in the middle of the room.

It was the same picture that I saw yesterday, a picture of a witch with shoulder-length hair tied in braids. The person with the one platinum coin bounty. Vidya was it? The name that was mentioned with the poster.

“This is… the missing person’s posted that was all over the city.” Scorch said.

“Yeah, we’ve definitely seen this one alright.” Kranis exclaimed as he took the paper to examine it, “What about it?”

“Hamza had told me you were a reliable and resourceful bunch.” Lantham looked towards Hamza who gave back a mischievous wave, “So I’m asking all of you to assist with the search for this person."

“With all due respect sir, but I don’t think we are fit for this request at all,” Tyle argued.

“Yeah, maybe hire a detective instead? I’m not so sure if we are the right choice," I asked the guild master, not believing that we could help that much with the search.

“Under normal circumstances, I would have, but this matter goes beyond that. I need some competent adventurers out there in case of… something bad.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tyle inquired.

“First, let me ask you. What do you think a platinum coin is worth?” Lantham asked us.

“A platinum coin huh…” I muttered.

“I heard only noble uses it and that it’s worth thousands of gold coins. You can buy quite a lot with it," Scorch replied to the guild master on our behalf.

“That’s half of it. There is another nature to the worth of the platinum coin” Latham explained.

“Another worth?” What other worth could it have?

“I’m sure you’ve heard of it, that a platinum coin is legal in many different countries,” Hamza said after a short silence

“Ahh!” Lanarya raised her voice out suddenly. Did she get something out of that?

“I see the young Lanarya have understood. When I say countries, I don’t just mean human countries. Yes yes, while you could buy a mansion here, this coins intrinsic value is worth so much more than that.”

“There something special in the coin that even other countries put value in it? Is that what you are trying to say?”

“Exactly young Tyle. The coin could you make you rich in any country. The fact that someone offered this coin as a reward could only mean that this witch is a very important person to a very influential person.”

Wait... That’s exactly what Aattroo Phia said to me yesterday. 

“Either that or said person must have gotten the coin by sheer luck.” Kranis retorted.

“While that may be true, I don’t think any normal person will waste it in such a way,” Latham replied.

“I see… The requester made a request right? Any idea who the person is?” Kranis inquired further.

“I don’t know. All I know is that it was a female and that she came in a disguise and wishes to remain incognito. She filed the request about a week or so ago and has come back at specific times every day to see if there was anything new,”  Latham stayed silent for a while. “Up until yesterday at least.”

“Yesterday?” I asked.

“Yes, the said person stopped coming to the adventurer’s guild for any findings,” Latham replied.

“Could it be that she’s just busy?” Lanarya asked the guild master.

“No… It’s too sudden and she never left any other way to contact her. I’m afraid she had gone too deep and got caught in the middle of things” 

“Caught in the middle of things? What do you mean?” I asked Latham.

“It was an event that happened on the night two days back. An event that happened in the middle of the city. A massive tornado suddenly appeared and destroyed a few buildings. There were a lot of injuries and quite a number of deaths.”

“A massive tornado?” Tyle questioned.

“That’s horrible,” Lanarya remarked.

“Yeah, it was a horrible sight indeed. Luckily, no innocents were involved in the accident. Further investigation on the matter actually revealed that those involved were illegal slave traders. Part of a larger slave ring group. Many captives were freed that night, but from the reports, it seemed that a good chunk of captives was evacuated before the authorities arrived. We are currently investigating if they have any other hideout other than this one."

Illegal slave traders? And a whole group of them too. Slave trading is not banned in Rydark unlike the country up north, but it is certainly not every popular. Nobles are the ones that usually buys and uses slaves. Either for forced labour or for other nefarious purposes. Identified by the collar on their necks and the collar on their hands that seals their mana flow. There are a few contracts embedded in the collar that must be fulfilled, and if the slave doesn't comply the collar will choke them to death.

Usually, the government will handle slave trading and it usually only applies to convicts and people that go too far into debt. Illegal slave traders are different in that they abduct any kind of people to sell them without the government's knowledge. Most of these groups come from the neighbouring country below of Rydark, Lazarus where slave trading is widespread.

“It was the following day that the requester stopped coming into the guild house.” Lantham continued.

“You mean to say..?” Kranis asked.

“I believe this is no coincidence. This request and that slave trader group and the disappearance of the requester. It must be interconnected somehow. Due to the circumstances and the dangers involved, I can no longer treat this request as just a normal search and found anymore. I’m bumping this request into a high-rank request and I obviously need High-Ranks which is where you guys come in."

I looked to the others to see that they too have a hard time deciding on whether we should accept the quest or not.

“Of course you aren’t the only party that I am requesting this from. However, seeing as Hamza here personally vouched for you, I might as well extend the offer. It’s an open offer so you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“Hmm, just one question. About the rewards...” Kranis asked Lantham. I could see the greed in his eyes.

“Of course. You can keep the platinum coin if you manage to complete this request."

 

* * * * *

 

In a wide spacious room with an uncomfortable bed lies the party just sitting around in a circle. On the table that stands in the middle of us was the poster of the missing person 'Vidya' and her descriptions.

"This is clearly out of our league. I can understand going to caves or eliminating monsters, but this detective work is clearly not our strong point." Tyle was the first to give his opinion on the matter.

"I actually agree with Tyle. I don't even know a thing or two about finding missing people. But I got to admit, the thought of leaving slaves and the requester in the hands of slave traders do make me feel a little bit uncomfortable." I said my piece in favour of not taking up this request.

"I think we should help anyways. We might be able to help that poor girl." Lanarya said her piece.

"Yeah, we should do it. Who knows how many more innocent people did those traders abduct" Scorch said his piece as well.

A tie. All of us looked towards Kranis who was still thinking with his eyes closed. It was rare of Kranis to be so deep in thought like this. Well, he's probably going to refuse anyway, he doesn't really care about slaves or whatnot. That's just how he is. 

"Let's accept the request," Kranis told us his opinion. "The guild master said that there's no penalty for not doing anything anyways. We might as well ask around and see what we can find," he said in a confident tone.

"Huh?" I voiced my surprise. "That's… unexpected. I definitely thought you were going to refuse".

"When I think of all those poor people stuck behind cages. I just feel like I have to do something you know?" He said to us with a straight face.

Am I hallucinating? Did Kranis really just say that?

"Yeah right. You are just in it for the money," Tyle remarked.

"I'm hurt that you would think of me like that dude. I want to help those people, I really do." Kranis responded with a smile on his face.

Right… The money. Of course, it's about the money.

“Come on now my dear brothers and sisters, let us be off on our quest to help those poor people,” He said bombastically, sarcasm mixed within.

Kranis then got up from his seat and started walking towards the exit of the spacious room.

“No wait, you come back here right now. We aren't finished.” Tyle demanded.

“Aye Aye Sir!” Lanarya just went with the flow and got up from her seat to follow Kranis. Scorch follow suit right after. 

I just gave a shrug and followed behind them as well.

“Ugh. Don’t blame me if this doesn’t end well.” Tyle got up to follow us as well. Dissatisfaction plastered on his face. ”Tell me you got a plan at least,"

“Don’t worry about it, I got the rogues network, these guys know everything that’s happening in the city, we’ll be done in no time,” Kranis replied with a confident answer.

“And if they don’t?” Tyle questioned back.

“Well we could always check around the city and talk to people, some of them got to know something right? Don’t worry about it guys, we got this.”

 

* * * * *

 

In the city, quite a few days after our meeting, lie myself and Tyle in front of a bunch of guards guarding the entrance to building somewhere east of the city. It was the site where the large tornado appeared. There really wasn’t a point to investigating this area, to be honest since most of the clues had probably been confiscated by the guards. Still, Tyle thought that it might be worth to come here and ask a few questions to the guard.

I looked towards an alleyway where the guards said was the origination of the tornado. Tons of rubble from the nearby buildings just lying around. One could see the marks of slashing on the buildings as if it were hit by dozens of wind blades. On the floor were lines that moved in a circular motion—the scouring marks of a tornado. What was odd to me were the missing marks in the middle of these lines. One could almost make out an oval shape if they looked closely.

“I’m sorry kid, we’ve been investigating this ourselves since the day that poster went up. If there was anything new we would have known by now.” A guard told us.

“I see… I’m sorry for disturbing you doing your job sir," Tyle apologized to the guard and he went on to do his duties.

Contrary to what Kranis said, things were not going well at all. Talking to the people around the city got us nothing. Some of them even scolded us for asking them; seemingly sick and tired of people asking about this case. It didn’t occur to me before but now when I think about it, shouldn’t it be obvious that there were tons of other people searching for the girl in the missing poster from day one?

There were probably people with better skills among them and yet none have anything to show for it. Even Kranis’s prided rogues network had nothing on the case. And if they do, they seemed to be unwilling to share the information with our party.

“Still nothing huh.” I struck a conversation to Tyle.

“Yeah. We really aren’t good at this” He said as he walked away from the area. There wasn’t anything else we could hope to find here anyway.

“Do you think they could have gotten away already?” I asked Tyle, walking next to him.

“Impossible, the army and the guards are checking everything that is coming in and out of Luth E’ll. There is a high chance that the slave traders are still in the city,” Tyle answered.

“I see.”

“...”

“...”

“Hey, Ride?” 

“Yeah?”

“What do you think about Lanarya?”

What is this about?

“Lanarya huh? I guess she’s okay. I think she fits in well with the team. What about it?”

“No, it’s just that… Have you ever wondered why she’s willing to hang out with us?”

“Hmm,” Now that Tyle mentioned it.

“Like, she’s pretty, strong and competent to boot. She could have joined any other party, why us?”

“I don’t know… Maybe it’s because of the raid I guess? The other parties rejected her and we are technically a high-rank party. Maybe she just sees an opportunity in us?” I gave Tyle my thoughts.

Tyle adjusted his glasses and looked towards the skies “I don’t think so. I don’t feel like she’s that shallow of a person. Even then, I don’t see why go through all that effort to travel alone with four guys. It just feels off to me, the amount of trust she put in us.” 

“Hmm… I think that’s just how Lanarya is. A trusting go with the flow type. If you are so curious about it, why not ask her yourself? I’m sure she will give you a proper answer”

“...One day I guess.”

“I see."

“Although, I can think of one reason she’s sticking around,” Tyle said as he looked at me.

“Oh? What is that?”

“It’s nothing. Come on, the others are waiting for us” Tyle said, dodging the question as he started to walk faster.

“No seriously, what is it?” I matched my pace with Tyle.

“It’s nothing, serious”

If you say so … Ignoring the curiosity within, I continued to head towards the meeting point.

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After a short while of brisk walking, we arrived at a very suspicious-looking tavern. Kranis, Lanarya and Scorch were already there just talking among each other.

“Hey, guys.” I entered their vision.

“Hey Ride, hey Mr Safe” Lanarya gave us a small wave.

“Yo, what took you guys so long?” Kranis asked us.

“The site was a bit further than we thought.” Tyle answered Kranis, “Is this the place?”

“Yeah, the rogue network said that this guy has information on everything that’s going around in the city. I’m sure we can get what we need here.”

“It’s probably another dead lead," Tyle quipped.

“Whatever dude, come on, if this guy has nothing then everyone has nothing," Kranis entered the bar.

The rest of us followed. Not without a little shake to the head of course. 

The tavern was nothing out of the ordinary. It was a well-lit place that smelled like alcohol with dozens of tables and chairs neatly arranged within the public space. A large bar directly facing the entrance of the establishment and a bartender just wiping a glass with a piece of cloth. There were a few people in the bar just sitting down quietly and drinking elegantly from a cup and there were a few other people just talking shadily in the corner. It was one of those cosy and quiet taverns where people don’t talk much. 

Kranis walked right up to the bartender and rested his body on the bar before giving the bartender a smile.

“I heard from people that you ar-”

“Get out.” The bartender interrupted Kranis before he could finish his sentence.

“Wait what?”

Bartender scowled at us. “I don’t deal with outsiders get out.”

“Look here, all we want is information, is there no-”

*Brrrpp

The sound of the chairs scraping against the floor could be heard as the room suddenly went silent. I turned around to see several big men standing up from various seats around the shop. What have we gotten ourselves into?

“Umm, Kranis, these guys don’t look too friendly” Scorch nervously said.