Chapter 401:
What’s Our Next Move?
“SO, WHAT IN THE WORLD do we even do next?” my father asked Zinal’s and Nalgath’s parties.
The situation was bad. Very bad. According to Zephyr’s investigation, just about all the adventurers in Hataka were under the spell. And the summoning circle—the source of all the problems—had yet to be located. Since the guild master was under the spell, he wouldn’t be any help. In fact, he might be our enemy. The captain of the village watch was sick in bed at home, and the investigation had revealed that his second-in-command was also under the spell.
“Quite an interesting puzzle,” I agreed, feeling a little awestruck. When you’re surrounded by enemies, you can’t even lift a finger. We were, as they say, bogged down.
“Now’s no time to be impressed, but I do agree it’s a perfect predicament.” The last member of Cobalt whose name I hadn’t known earlier was called Arly. He was the oldest at thirty years old, and his long bright-red hair was his distinguishing feature.
“Should we start by splitting into two groups and gathering intel?” Fische suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement. We definitely didn’t have enough information, and that reminded me…
“So, um, we know that the adventurers are all under the spell, but what about the villagers?”
Monsters were just outside their village, yet there was no tension among them. Would it be safe to assume they were all under the spell, too?
“We don’t know that. Villagers tend to react less to news and more to the behavior of the adventurers around them. They probably don’t think they’re in danger simply because the adventurers are acting completely normal.”
So that’s why. I guess the villagers would assume the adventurers had everything under control if they were acting confident. That’s right, the townsfolk were a little nervous when the survey team came back, and they were all wondering what was going to happen next. So I guess when they saw that the adventurers just went back to life as usual, they thought everything was safe. But wait, the gatekeepers immediately amped up security when the adventurers were attacked. If they were under the spell, wouldn’t they have left the village border alone?
“Are the gatekeepers under the spell?” I asked.
“The gatekeepers? You mean because of the way they behaved after the adventurers were attacked?” It looked like Garitt remembered the day we met.
“Yes, sir. I just figured they would have left the border alone if they were under the spell.”
“They could have just been following procedure, but you’re right, we should look into it.” Zinal seemed to remember it, too.
Thank goodness I have them both on my side now.
“Did anyone here spot anything else worth checking?” Fische asked the group.
“I did notice something, but we can’t look into it the way things are right now.” Nalgath sighed. The other members of Cobalt nodded grimly.
“Our most important question of all is: Where is the summoning circle?” Fische said.
Everyone nodded. Unless we found the source of the problem, even if we freed everyone from the spell, they might fall under it again. But where could it be? Zephyr had found out that just about all the adventurers were under the spell, so the places where they usually gathered were key. The places adventurers always went were the front gate, Main Street, and…the inn? But there was also the plaza, so that wouldn’t cover everyone. So maybe there were summoning circles at the plaza and at the inn? But surely somebody would notice them…
Come to think of it, why were the children in the tent next door the only people in the plaza not under the spell? Do I remember anything that would help me? I heard them say a lot of things, but…oh, what could it be, I could have sworn I heard them say something… Oh! Yeah, while we were eating breakfast, they asked their father if they could come to the adventurer guild with him. But for some reason, their parents wouldn’t agree to it. Then after a while, they sulkily stayed behind to hold down the fort while their parents left. If this was an example of people under the spell versus people not under it, wouldn’t that mean the source of our problem is at the adventurer guild? But I’m sure Zephyr would have looked into that.
“What is it, Ivy? If you’ve thought of something, just tell us,” Zinal said grimly.
I didn’t know what would be our breakthrough and what wouldn’t, so I figured I might as well say it. “Have you checked out the adventurer guild, sir?”
“The adventurer guild? That was the first place we looked. It was the most suspicious to all of us, you see. But we didn’t find anything. What made you think the adventurer guild was a possibility, Ivy?” Zinal had a strange edge in his voice. I hoped I hadn’t offended him, but I couldn’t take back what I said, so I decided to tell them about the children in the plaza.
“Ivy’s story definitely holds a clue if the parents were under the spell and their children weren’t.” I was relieved when Arly agreed with me.
“But we’ve already searched inside the adventurer guild,” Zinal said, giving Garitt a look for backup. Garitt nodded in agreement.
“Surely you didn’t give it a thorough search, though?” Nalgath asked.
“Well, I guess not. We used a magic item, but those things do have their limitations,” Garitt agreed.
Wow, so they have magic items that can detect summoning circles? I didn’t know that.
“I don’t think we’d fare any better,” Juggy said.
So not even Hataka’s elite adventurers could find the summoning circle. Hmmm, I guess we just have to get someone powerful on our side. The guild master? No, maybe the sick captain would work out better for us. I heard he’s at home trying to get better.
“Maybe we should all storm the captain’s house,” my father suggested.
Everyone other than me looked startled.
“I was thinking the same thing, Dad. He’d be easier than the guild master.”
“Yeah, and his house is far away from the village center.”
“Is it?”
“I looked into it already.”
“Smart man!”
If his house was far from the village center, it would be easy to breach. Even if somebody else was home, Zinal and his party could hold them off somehow. Then, while we had our window of opportunity, we’d force him to take one of Flame’s potions. The only concern was that we didn’t know what exactly his illness was. I just hope Flame’s potion can cure him…
“Wait just a minute! Why are we going that direction?”
My father and I gave the dissenter a curious look.
“Why? Because it will be easier for us to make a move if we have someone powerful on our side. Am I wrong?” My dad’s tone was matter of fact, but everyone sighed heavily. Was there a problem with his idea?
“Well, that is true, but the captain is sick. He’s bedridden at home. It’s a very serious illness!” Juggy said angrily.
“We know, but that’s not a problem,” my father said. “We can just cure his illness.”
For some reason, all seven men gasped and made the most amusing expressions. My father and I exchanged confused looks.
“Why are you so shocked?” my father frowned. “He can’t move around with us if he’s sick.”
“Um, were you listening? He’s sick. The doctor even said nothing can be done for him!” Juggy yelled, jumping out of his chair. We’d really made him mad…but why? If the captain was sick, all he needed was one of Flame’s…
“Oh!” my father and I both gasped.
Did we forget to tell them about Flame? Oh no… We didn’t tell them? I don’t remember. But judging by their reactions, I guess we didn’t.
“Um, so you see, sir, there’s a little something we forgot to tell you.”
“Uh-oh… I’m almost scared to hear what it is.” Piarre, one of our newest contract-signers from a little while ago, was visibly on edge.
“But we’ve never told you anything scary before, sir…”
What was he so afraid of?
“Ha ha ha ha…”
Aaand now he’s laughing tiredly back at me. Well, whatever. I guess I’d better tell them about Flame.
“Oh, Flame, come here a sec.”
At the sound of my voice, Flame stopped jumping around the house and came bouncing over to me. I picked it up and rested it in the palm of my hand.
“This slime can make disease-curing potions, so let’s try one out on your captain of the watch.”
“Ugh, I knew it…” With a heavy sigh, Piarre clutched his head in his hands.
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