Chapter 54: Chapter 54
Three people in a black cloak jumped from the windows. “Where’s the target?” one of them asked. The smaller one scanned the room, only finding Amelia and Monty, “He’s not here”, he said calmly. “Where did you take Mr Ken?” Amelia roared; she hastily attacks one of the people in black cloaks. The man managed to dodges Amelia’s attack, “You know Mr Ken? Where is he?” he menacingly asked, taking out a dagger from his back. “Stop playing dumb. Hand over Mr Ken immediately and surrender yourself,” Amelia charged on; she threw a kick towards the man holding a dagger.
“Amelia, stop! Don’t be hasty”, Monty barked, but Amelia wasn’t listening as she continued her attacks. “That ginger-haired bimbo”, Monty click his tongue; he prepared his daggers to support Amelia. “Since you know Mr Ken, taking you should suffice”, the short man said, pulling out a stick from his pocket. “Extend!” he said as the stick turned into a magic staff. “A mage!” Amelia exclaimed; she changed her target into the short man wielding a staff. “Foolish girl”, the short man smirked; he swiped his staff as a wind blast followed the trajectory of the staff.
“Kya”, Amelia screamed; she got blasted away by the wind blast, nearly crashing into a wall. “Amel!” Monty shouted; he kicked the dagger-wielding black cloak man as he launched himself between Amelia and the wall. “K-argh”, Monty spit blood, “Are you okay?” he weakly asked the ginger-haired woman. “Monty!” Amelia shouted. “By that tone, I reckon you’re alright”, Monty chuckled; he got up slowly before wiping the blood on his lips.
“Don’t move around too much”, Amelia said with concern. Monty helplessly shook his head, “I’m fine,” he said.
“But….”
“Listen!” Monty barked, “As we are, we don’t stand a chance of fighting a mage. So, run! Bring in reinforcements here. I’ll try holding them as long as I can”, he brandished his two daggers before rushing out at the three black-cloaked men. Amelia tried reaching her hand at Monty before steeling herself, “Right, hang on, Monty!” she said before jetting away from the place.
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“And after that, I came here”, Amelia sipped the water from the glass on her hand. “I see”, Andre calmly rubbed his chin. After listening to Amelia’s story and watching her and Andre reaction, Eru was confused. “So if you hurriedly come here asking for reinforcement, then why are you all calmly sitting here and sipping water?” Eru asked, his eyebrows twitching. Amelia jumped from her seat, spilling water all over the place, “You’re right! Hurry guild master!” she said.
Andre heaved a sigh, “Calm down, will you? The fact that they let you go means they needed you to spread the news. And you tell me earlier that they were looking for Mr Ken, right? Seeing how the situation is, they wanted to use Monty as a means to get to Mr Ken.” Amelia sat back down, “Hmm, you’re right. How are you so smart, guild master?” she tilted her head. “It’s common sense, you idiot!” Andre’s face twitched. Eru winced, watching the two bicker, ‘No, it’s not common sense. And why are you returning to your seat, sipping water as if nothing happened!?” he thought in his head.
Andre lightly coughed, “Anyway, let’s go to Mr Ken office. We’ll comb for clues there.” Amelia stood up, “Aye, aye, boss”, she saluted the middle-aged man. “Not you!” Andre lightly shouted, “Go to the garrison and report the incident. Me and this guy here will go”, he said, pointing his finger at Eru. “Me?” Eru pointed himself, “Why?” he said in exasperation. Andre pulls Eru’s hand, “No time to argue! We’ll meet up here when we finished”, he said to Amelia before dragging Eru away from the Adventurer’s Guild.
At Mr Ken’s office, Eru looked at the mess that was in this room, “You’re right, mister, there are no bodies here”, he said while crouching down and touching a unique dagger. “Yeah”, Andre expression sunken, “Here, read this”, he chucked a piece of paper at Eru. Catching it in mid-air, Eru read what it says, “Bring Mr Ken over to the pier at night, or the hostage dies.” Eru frowned, “Who’s Mr Ken, again?” he asked. Andre walked closer to a nearby cabinet, examining it while saying, “A huge businessman in the city. He owned several establishments inside and outside of the city”, he picked up a cup, “And a really nice guy to boot. I mean, the guy was liked by everybody. I don’t even know why people are looking to kidnap him.”
Eru had no experience in this sort of thing, but being a person from a modern Earth, he watched enough mystery pop culture to know that something was up when two different factions went after the same guy. Eru picked up a photo of Mr Ken from the desk, “Somethings not right with this guy”, he said, frowning. “How so?” Andre curiously asked while combing the room more thoroughly. “No businessman can be successful without making a couple of enemies”, Eru said, speaking from personal experience.
Then Eru put away the photo, “Don’t you think it’s weird? Some businessman suddenly got kidnapped by some party, and another party come straight after looking for him?” Eru walked closer to the door, “And besides, did we jump into conclusion too early declaring Mr Ken was kidnapped? There’s just too many possibilities here”, Eru explained. The middle-aged man looked at Eru strangely, “Are you sure you’re from Borea City? You sound just like those trained investigators from the capital that called themselves ‘Detective’.”
“Detective?”
“Yeah. Those smacks liked to be called that. You sound smart like them”, Andre smirked. “I’m just observing, that’s all. I’m sure there’s something I’m missing here”, Eru said modestly. Andre chuckled, “Yeah, there was”, he said without beating over bushes. “Your analysis was spot on. No way a businessman can rise to Mr Ken’s spot without making a few enemies” Andre lips curled up, he pointed at a scratch mark right under the cabinet, “See here? There’s a hidden passage behind this cabinet”, Andre said.
Eru approached the middle-aged man, rubbing his chin, “You’re right! How come I didn’t noticed that? It’s basic knowledge from mystery pop culture”, he murmured. “Pop culture?” Andre raised his eyebrow. “Uh, it’s nothing. So, what do you think happened?” Eru asked, diverting Andre’s attention. “That’s what we’re here to find out”, Andre said while pulling back the cabinet with force. “There we go”, Andre heaved a sigh, “Be careful”, he warned while pulling out his sword. “I know”, I said, unsheathing my sword.
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Andre and Eru slowly walked down the dark tunnel with weapons in their hands. “Why is this passage so dark and long?” Eru sighed. “Yeah. This is strange. To make a tunnel of this size requires a considerate amount of money, manpower and time”, Andre said. “I’m guessing that Mr Ken has all of that, right?” Eru said. Andre nodded, “Right”, he sighed, “And to build this tunnel inside the city without the guards knowing? Either he bribed the guard, or he must be very patient.” They walked through the tunnel until they eventually ended up on a giant cave shaped like a dome.
“What the hell is this?” Eru said with mouth agape. Andre’s expression was not much better; he too had his mouth opened wide, “A hole this big below the city? What the hell….” Eru then found out that he can see well inside the cave because of bioluminescent rocks scattered around the cave. When Eru glanced at the centre of the cave, however, he found an injured man lying unconscious. “Who’s that?” Eru pointed his finger. Andre’s eyes went wide, “That’s Mr Ken. Come!” he waves his hand.
Eru shook his head, “Right”, he followed Andre down. “Mr Ken, are you okay?” Andre feel up Mr Ken’s pulse and sigh with relief, “He’s still alive”, he said. Suddenly Mr Ken’s body twitched, and he slowly morphed into something. Scale formed on Mr Ken’s skin while his body got larger. Large wings sprouted from his back, and his face turned reptilian. The transformed Mr Ken stood up with his two hind legs, his arms turned claw was pointed at Eru and Andre and his reptilian’s head roared.
Eru and Andre jumped backwards simultaneously, “Readied up, little brother,” Andre flared up his aura. Eru held his sword upright; Eru coated the black sword with his raven-coloured aura, “You’re up, Buddy!” he said. The black sword vibrated with power, roaring to kill. Andre watched as Eru charged headlong towards the transformed Mr Ken, “Don’t, little brother! That’s a Draconian!” he shouted. Eru ignored Andre’s words, brandishing his sword towards the creature.
The transformed Mr Ken, the Draconian, roared, his scaled hand clashed together with Eru’s black sword, causing sparks to fly all over the place. The Draconian and Eru goes toe to toe against each other, with no one getting advantages over another. Andre’s expression was filled with disbelief, ‘How can someone so young be on par with a Draconian,’ he thought. Eru jumped, trying to slash the Draconian at his chest. The Draconian blocked Eru’s strike with his arm before flicking Eru away. Eru does a flip in the air, landing safely near Andre. “Come on, Mister Andre, back me up here”, Eru sarcastically said before rushing again at the Dragonian. The middle-aged man smirked, “Bastard”, he said as he followed Eru’s lead.
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