Chapter 203: Where Are the Victims?
As we stepped outside the building, we found the con artist sprawled out in front of the entrance. It looked like Rio had dealt with him, but at first glance, he didn’t seem to be injured.
“Good work.”
“Did you finish up over there?”
“Yeah. I made sure to return the arrow right into his thigh.”
“Hehe.”
I’m done over here.
I see. Nothing happened at the back, then…
I conveyed the message to Ivan through telepathic communication as I returned to the front of the shop.
“So, what are we going to do now? Should we inform the Guild?”
Ivan, who had just come back, asked about our next steps, but I realized I hadn’t thought that far ahead. The city guards were around, so that could work too.
“What should we do? Honestly, it sounds like a hassle, and I’m hungry.”
“Hey, come on…”
Ivan looked exasperated, but that was how I truly felt.
“I’m so hungry!”
“Woof!”
“Yeah, I might be a bit hungry too. Can’t we just wait until tomorrow?”
“No way! We can’t just leave a man lying in front of the entrance!”
“Alright then, let’s head back to the inn for dinner!”
Since Rio was also suggesting we wait until tomorrow, I decided that was the best course of action. Yes, that sounds good.
““Alright!””
“Woof!”
“Ehhh…?”
And so, ignoring Ivan’s protests, I headed back to the inn with everyone who agreed with my call.
“…Wait, aren’t we going to the Guild!?”
The next morning, while I was holed up in our inn room crafting a katana, Ivan burst in with a loud complaint. After returning to the inn yesterday, we had shared the information about the opponents we faced.
“I finally got to analyze a real adamantite katana, so I want to try it out before I forget!”
“Same here.”
After my words, Rio chimed in without even turning to look at Ivan.
“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”
It seemed he had run out of things to say and was now wearing a serious expression.
“I’ll make you an adamantite spear later, Ivan.”
“Really!?”
“Yeah. Just leave it to me.”
Now he was raising both fists in joy. He sure was a busy guy.
“I’ll do my best too!”
Phonia was also gripping some iron ore tightly, focusing hard. Magic power was seeping into the ore, causing it to ripple and move. It seemed she was making good progress.
After a moment of celebration, I glanced around at the three of us engrossed in our metalwork, and then I put my hand on my chin, deep in thought.
“Well, I’m free, so I think I’ll go gather information with Nil at the Guild.”
“Woof?”
Nil tilted her head, but I figured it would be a better way to pass the time than just watching us work with metal.
“If you’re willing to go, that would help. I’ll keep our telepathic link open, so let me know if anything comes up.”
“Got it… Alright, let’s go, Nil.”
“Woof!”
With Nil wagging her tail in response to my call, Ivan headed toward the Guild.
Hmm… Just to be safe, I should keep an eye out for any presence detection around Ivan.
“Hmm, maybe I should go mine for more adamantite.”
“Yeah, if we’re going to make a scabbard too, we’ll need more materials.”
Now, two days later, we were struggling with a shortage of materials. I thought we could use other metals for the scabbard, but after visiting Ruigentz’s workshop a few times for advice, I learned that an adamantite scabbard would be the best option.
I also learned how to use the small amount of orichalcum we had gathered. It was best to carve grooves into the blade and pour the orichalcum into them for optimal magic power conduction.
As for mithril, it was soft and had good magic conduction, making it unsuitable for weapons but perfect for accessories or as a catalyst for staffs. Magical steel was simply treated as iron with slightly better magic conduction.
“Honestly… you guys are so carefree…”
Ivan sighed as he watched us engrossed in our sword-making.
“Well, what can we do? We didn’t find any leads, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
It seemed Ivan had been gathering information about the mysterious organization and the victims of the poison user incident, but the results were not promising. He had recently returned disheartened after learning that thieves’ guilds and assassins’ guilds were common in any reasonably sized city, including branches. While they didn’t know the location of their hideouts, it seemed that many were aware that the members of the thieves’ guild in this city were involved.
“I never thought we wouldn’t be able to confirm any victims.”
That was true. Based on the reaction of that poison-using woman, I didn’t think I was mistaken, but no one had come forward to search for the victims. However, I figured that if the victims were adventurers passing through, that might explain it.
“The river in the valley wasn’t that shallow either, so if someone was poisoned and thrown in, they could easily be swept away and never found.”
“Yeah…”
As I scratched the back of my head, I felt that there was little more we could investigate. We couldn’t analyze fingerprints or blood like they do on Earth, so this was probably it. We might be able to do something magical, but it didn’t seem necessary to put that much effort into it.
“I don’t think there’s anything more we can investigate.”
“Yeah, I got curious and started looking into it, but I don’t owe any obligation to a stranger to go this far.”
Ivan shrugged at Rio’s words.
“Well then, let’s head to the mine today.”
And so, our plans for the day were set.