Chapter 45: Inquiries
In a well-furnished living room, Kurt and Victoria sat opposite each other with thoughtful looks on their faces.
"So where should we go first?" Victoria asked.
Kurt thought for a minute before responding, "I met him in Vossier Inn; maybe we could ask the people that knew him if he showed any strange signs."
Victoria nodded immediately and got to her feet whilst wiping her hands. "Well, let’s go." She urged.
Kurt sighed lightly and followed Victoria out the door.
Walking through the market square close to their house and coincidentally the same place Clark bought the accessories, a thought crossed Victoria’s mind.
"Why don’t we ask the vendor who sold the rings to him first?"
Nodding, Kurt trailed behind Victoria as she followed her memories and traced the location.
"Mister Kurt and Valentina, what a pleasant surprise." The woman greeted with a smile.
"How are you doing, Nera?" Kurt asked in return.
"I’m doing very well, thank you for asking. What can my small shop offer to you?"
Glancing at Victoria for a moment, Kurt replied, "Actually, we want to know about someone."
With confusion written all over her face, she replied, "The information hall could provide you with the information of this person, no? And with your standing, I doubt anyone would want to make things difficult for you."
Shaking his head lightly, he answered hurriedly, "He’s not that important for them to know about; we’ll just describe him to you, and you’ll tell us whether or not you remember him, okay?"
Sensing the urgency, she nodded with a serious expression.
"He came here two days ago and bought an earring and finger ring. Tall, blue eyes, speaks with a weird accent." Kurt described.
Nera thought for a moment before her eyes lit up in realization, "I remember him! He somehow didn’t know the average greeting pattern of people!" He bought a red earring and a matching finger ring, yes?"
Although taken aback, Kurt nodded and asked, "Did you...notice anything strange about him?"
Nera shook her head. "Apart from the fact that he didn’t know how to greet properly, there was nothing particularly strange. He just looked like an average boy who wanted to get something for his girlfriend."
Kurt and Victoria turned silent with dark faces. "Are you sure he looked in love?" Victoria asked.
She nodded with a proud smile on her face. "I’ve been in this business longer than you’d imagine, Mrs. Victoria; the eyes never lie."
Victoria didn’t respond and just went behind Kurt silently.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Nera asked with a frown, "Is something the matter?"
"N—no, we’ll take our leave now. Have a good day, Mrs. Nera, and greet your husband for me." Kurt waved as he left hand in hand with Victoria, who had a sad expression.
"O–okay." She responded as they vanished in the distance, "How strange..." She mumbled.
Entering a carriage to get to Vossier Inn, Kurt broke the silence: "Clark never told us about any girl."
"That’s because there isn’t any!" Victoria replied immediately.
"Is anything the matter?" The coachman asked.
"It’s fine; just activate the sound barrier system." He ordered.
"Sure thing." The coachman replied and tapped on a small magic circle engraved on the side of the carriage, causing it to glow with a light blue hue.
Sighing lightly, Victoria apologized, "I’m sorry; I tried to steel my heart in case things go awry, but this boy is just too pitiful."
Pressing his palm against his head, Kurt replied, "It’s not your fault; who knows how lonely he must’ve been to fall this deep into an illusion he created?"
Victoria’s eyes lit up as she heard his words, "Maybe he’s not crazy after all; a succubus must’ve cast an illusion spell on him." She suggested.
"The high-ranking succubi don’t come out till the fourteenth day of the month of Seniel, and the ones who disguise themselves as humans aren’t strong enough to cast a spell of that caliber, and neither is Clark powerful enough to alert any of them." Kurt rebutted.
Silence fell in the carriage. Only the occasional bumps from the road and voices from the guild recruitment team prevented the silence from being too deafening.
"We’re here." The coachman announced.
Stepping down from the carriage and paying the fee, Kurt and Victoria walked down the peaceful path to the inn.
"Welcome to the—, Mister and Mrs. Valyn, a pleasure to see you!" The receptionist spoke hurriedly.
Gesturing her to calm down, Kurt and Victoria sat on the empty chairs placed close to the wall and beckoned her over.
"How may we help you today? Should I call the manager? He’s currently busy, but I’m sure he could make time for both of you, or do you want to book a room? That’s strange; your home—which is very beautiful, by the way—isn’t too far from her. Oh, I know—"
If Clark were here, he would cough out blood whilst watching Rose lose her cool so easily. Then again, he might not show any reaction due to his current state of mind.
"Rose, calm yourself." Kurt cut off with an exhausted expression.
Belatedly noticing her blunder, Rose took in a deep breath, and her trademark stoic expression returned.
Nodding in approval, Victoria took the lead and asked, "I’m sure you remember Clark Thompson—the man who stayed here a few weeks ago, before my husband brought him to his home?"
Rose nodded with furrowed eyebrows. "He paid up front for a few Zynths, and I was meaning to return the remnant of the money but never had the chance to since he never came around here."
Victoria nodded and inquired, "We wanted to know if he showed any strange behavior during his time here."
Rose thought for a while before answering, "Not to come off as rude, but he acted pretty strangely as far as I know."
Victoria’s heart sank, and she spoke hesitantly, "H—how?"
Placing her hand under her chin, Rose stared at the white ceiling and answered, "Well, for one, he always had varying expressions even when no one was talking to him."
Kurt clenched his fists, and Victoria had an unreadable expression on her face as she listened.
"Whenever I knock on his room to ask if he needs anything and probably deliver any mail he has, I usually hear mumblings or full-blown arguments or conversations. As if he were there with someone else."
"At first, I thought he brought his friends over, and I wanted to inform him about our rules and regulations concerning that, but I watched him for a few days and noticed that aside from going out to train as he informed me and coming back at a time not too strange for adventurers, he never brought anybody back with him."
She continued as her face had a weird expression as she recalled the pieces of information she had ignored before.
"The only thing he’s brought back was a fairly matured wyvern, which—at his level at that time—he shouldn’t have been able to kill. But apart from that, I think it’s safe to say he didn’t have any friends."
Victoria wanted to refute the last part of her statement, but even she couldn’t come up with a reasonable argument.
Kurt held her hands tightly and urged Rose to continue with what she was saying when he noticed her hesitance.
"It’s not uncommon for people to have spiritual beasts, but they have to be a D-level beast tamer to even handle a low-level one." She explained, "But as far as I know, Clark is closer to a warrior or a mage than a beast tamer."
Kurt nodded in understanding and rubbed Victoria’s shoulder softly as he addressed Rose, "Could you take us to his room?"
"Sorry to ask, but is Clark okay?" Rose inquired with a confused expression as she watched the dark expressions on their faces.
"Everything is fine; we just want to be sure of a few things before we take any actions." Kurt stated.
Sighing softly, Rose spoke, "Although he was very weird, Clark would never hurt someone as far as I’m aware. You should’ve seen the look on his face when we sliced open the wyvern he brought when we wanted to eat it." Rose chuckled softly in an effort to lighten the mood.
Unfortunately, neither Victoria nor Kurt was in the mood to hear about the buffet event Clark hosted during his time there.
"Could you take us to his place?" Victoria asked again.
"S–sure, it’s still unoccupied since the amount of time he paid for hasn’t run out yet". Rose explained with hidden nervousness as she led them upstairs.
Occasionally nodding from time to time to avoid getting her worked up, they eventually reached the room where the Clark stayed.
"We’d like to be left alone". Victoria spoke as they entered the modest room.
Rose nodded seriously and stepped outside at once, "If you need anything, ring the bell on the wall behind you and I’ll send someone over immediately". She explained.
Humming in response, Victoria smiled politely and slowly closed the door.
"You’re being more emotional than I expected". Kurt commented.
Scoffing, Victoria rebutted, "I wonder if you’d say the same thing if it was Densdor who was going through all this".
Kurt coughed lightly and defended, "I’m worried as well, but I’m also clinging to the hope that somehow, Clark is a very talented battle mage and beast tamer".
Staring at him, deadpan, Victoria spoke, "Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?, that’s like expecting an Alchemist to also be a knight. We can’t have it both ways".
Smoothing his blonde plaited bears, Kurt replied, "Why did we come here anyway?"
Taking a deep breath, Victoria answered, "I want to see what he was up to before we came along".
Feyns= hours
Zynths= years.
Stay In school, boys (☞ ಠ_ಠ)☞