Ding-a-ling—
The clear bell rang through the tavern.
When the wooden door of the Puchi House opened, Bianca was hurrying past with a stack of freshly washed mugs. She accidentally bumped into the newcomer and cried out as she fell, the mugs nearly slipping.
“I’m so sorry, customer! It wasn’t on purpose!” Bianca rubbed her reddened forehead and apologized repeatedly. She felt like she had walked into a steel wall.
“Are you alright?” A gentle voice. The person helped her up and rubbed her head.
Bianca only caught a glimpse of a tall back as she looked up. She quietly wondered if the customer was wearing armor under their robe.
Dylan, checking accounts behind the counter, noticed the light blocked and looked up with a beaming smile. “Brother Norris! What wind blows you here?”
Norris, in human form, leaned against the counter and gave a tired smile. “I asked the Boss for leave. Gotta come topside once in a while, or I’ll forget I’m…”
He didn’t finish, but Dylan understood.
Seeing the deep dark circles under Norris’s eyes, it was clear work below had been tough.
“Come topside to relax! I’ll give you a top-floor room with a little balcony perfect for sunbathing!”
“Thanks!”
*Ding-a-ling—*
The bell rang again. This time a familiar adventurer party entered.
“Hey, Bianca!” Vera greeted the waitress first before heading to the counter. “Brother Dylan, any more of that Wind Whisperer brew from last time? The effect was amazing. Want to stock up a few bottles.”
The beautiful elf Cirian nodded in agreement. “In all of Mushroom Capital, only your elven potions are the real deal. Some I’ve never even seen. Really curious which fellow elf potion master settled nearby.”
Dylan naturally wouldn’t reveal that “trade secret.” He quickly placed several bottles of Wind Whisperer brew in front of Vera. She paid cheerfully.
Filing stepped forward, happily stashing the potions in her belt pouch; the brew was for an archer like her.
After some more small talk, Vera’s party left.
Only then did Dylan notice Norris still standing by the counter.
“Whoops, my bad for forgetting to take you to your room! Come, come!” Dylan grabbed the key and led Norris upstairs.
Back at the counter, Bianca quietly sidled up. “Boss… who was that just now?”
“Norris? An… old friend, I guess.”
“Oh, boss’s friend…” Bianca nodded, then slipped back to the kitchen.
Dylan gave his little waitress a strange look. Thinking of Norris’s appearance, he suddenly understood.
Dylan had never seen Norris from his miner days, when he was skinny.
He only knew the current Norris was a tall, muscular, handsome guy; at least in human guise.
He shook his head, sighing that young girls were too easily fooled.
But it was someone else’s business. Dylan had no intention of meddling. To him, this was just youth.
And… it probably wasn’t possible anyway…
…
The Puchi House was unusually lively today. After seeing off several customers buying potions, Dylan was unexpectedly visited by official personnel.
At first his heart clenched, thinking some captured demon spy had ratted him out.
But then he realized: if that were true, the Boss would have warned him first.
Suppressing his unease, Dylan put on his innkeeper’s signature enthusiastic smile and hurried to greet them.
He quickly realized they weren’t after him.
Wings of Judgment’s Sorarin, accompanied by several government officials, spread several portraits before Dylan.
“Have you seen any of these people?”
Dylan studied them carefully and shook his head. “Not in the shop, at least.”
He wasn’t lying; he truly didn’t recognize the faces.
“My lord, if I may ask, what happened?” Dylan probed.
Sorarin and the others clearly had no intention of hiding it.
“Missing persons cases,” one explained. “These are residents who vanished recently. If the owner learns anything later, feel free to report to the city lord’s mansion anytime. If the information is solid, the reward won’t be small.”
“I see! Of course, of course!”
Amid Dylan’s bowing and scraping, Sorarin and her team left the Puchi House.
Dylan’s smile faded. He sat back behind the counter, remembering the thugs he had met at Bianca’s home. Though none of the portraits matched them, Dylan still wondered if these disappearances had anything to do with the Boss.
…
With Fisherman’s Sail Port officially adopting Mushroom Capital’s Puchi master regulations, the city’s security had greatly improved. Wings of Judgment’s mission there was complete.
Now her new task was assisting Farr in investigating a string of disappearances in Mushroom Capital.
Farr worried it might involve demons or cult activity and had specially invited the Church to join the investigation.
Sorarin had repeatedly stressed that her [Truth Vision] was hard to use in fungal-mat-covered areas, but the higher-ups, with the attitude of “better to have it than not; maybe it’ll help,” assigned her anyway.
Sorarin could only do her best.
But effort didn’t always yield results.
After days of door-to-door inquiries, though many residents recognized the missing persons’ portraits, no one knew their final whereabouts.
The only clear clue: almost all the missing were scum and thugs.
Those providing tips had either been bullied by them or heard of their misdeeds.
This discovery made Sorarin suspect a zealot of extreme justice was “protecting” Mushroom Capital’s peace in their own way.
There was precedent, though that “precedent” had been sloppy and quickly caught by authorities.
Of course, cult involvement couldn’t be ruled out; using society’s dregs was their classic tactic.
Demon involvement, ironically, seemed least likely.
If they wanted captives, they would operate on the border. Sneaking deep into human territory to kidnap random civilians was pointless.
Regardless, the case had to be investigated. Sorarin’s head ached at the lack of progress.
And that wasn’t her only headache.
After finishing another household interview, she had just stepped onto the street when she suddenly stopped, looking meaningfully toward a narrow gap between two buildings.
Sure enough, that Puchi shimmering with rainbow light stood in the crevice, wriggling enticingly.
Sorarin forcefully suppressed the stirring in her heart and stared silently at the dreamlike creature until it turned and vanished around the corner.
She had experienced this scene too many times. Whether with teammates, friends, or even superiors, every search ended in nothing.
That rainbow Puchi was like it had never existed. Over time, not only others but even she began to think it was a hallucination born of her Puchi obsession.
The Puchi disappeared. Sorarin took a deep breath to steady herself and continued her seemingly fruitless visits.
Unexpectedly, this time she actually gained a potentially useful clue!
A blacksmith shop owner suddenly remembered seeing one of the missing persons late one night, drunkenly muttering about “going north to the ruins tomorrow for some fun.”
(End of Chapter)
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