The Lone Wanderer

“What do you mean you can’t find anything?” Deimos’s voice boomed, the entire room shaking.

The idiot in his grip trembled as he was held by the collar, not even daring to blink as the spittle splashed all over his face.

“S-Sir, we’ve searched the settlement inside out. We’ve already interrogated all the registered alchemists too. Nobody knows anything about this Aurora Dew. Or well… at least nothing they’re willing to share.”

Deimos felt his blood freeze at the mere thought of returning to his father empty-handed. Hermes might have given the rest of Remior the impression of an easy-going eccentric, but Deimos knew the truth about the fickle god. If he failed to deliver the elixirs, his father might just beat him to death.

“Look again! Leave no stone unturned! Interrogate everyone from the most senior alchemists to the lowest Red-born trash selling junk food on the streets! Don’t show your ugly mug to me again, unless you have something useful to report!!!” he yelled, tossing him out of the room.

The fool was lucky he still needed him.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Deimos then walked out of the temporary lodging the Guild had so “kindly” bestowed him, eager for some fresh air. At least the mana density was rich here – the only silver lining in a mission too troublesome to be worth it. Walking along the cobblestone road, he breathed the colourful motes in, trying to calm himself down.

A few minutes later, he reached a grand building – one of the largest in the settlement – climbing up its stone steps. Upon seeing him, an attendant in a green robe rushed to greet him, but Deimos just waved him away.

“I know the way.”

“No meeting is more important than this. Your elders know that too.”

Without even waiting for the man to reply, Deimos walked past him, making his way to a large chamber. The door had been left wide open – he could see the five old alchemists locked in a heated discussion from here. Though no sound escaped, as the room was clearly warded. Another attendant was stationed outside, the man looking at him in hesitation, probably considering whether he should try stopping him. But Deimos didn’t care, ignoring him as he entered the hall.

The elders went silent upon noticing him, their features twisting into a grimace following his “rude” entrance. Dressed in their violet robes as they were, it had probably been centuries since the last time anyone dared to treat them this way. But he wasn’t afraid of the old coots. Their status was no higher than his given the circumstances. One of them was about to speak, but Deimos beat him to it.

“How the fuck have you managed to miss something like this happening right under your noses? Somebody comes up with a one-in-a-million-years recipe, pumping out some miracle elixir next door from you, and you’re the last people to find out?!”

Deimos’s voice shot up again, crushing against the warded walls like a tidal wave, the power of his blessing nearly shattering the soundproofing runes.

But the elders didn’t seem rattled by his outburst. Unlike his minion earlier, they merely unleashed a sliver of their own presence, shielding their bodies from the annoyance. Next, the oldest of them – a short man with black hair that had begun to grey around his temples – spoke.

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“Deimos… Have you ever considered that people might be more willing to give you what you want if you ask them nicely?”

Listening to the old man’s patronizing tone, Deimos felt his rage bubbling up again. But he pressed it down. The only thing that mattered here was finding those elixirs, and snapping at these fossils wouldn’t help.

“As I see it, you have exactly two options in front of you.” he said. “Either you find out how this happened, or you figure out the recipe yourselves. And you better do it fast, or my father might come here personally and ‘ask us all nicely’.”

This time, all five of the elders – their leader included – shuddered at the god’s mention, their expressions turning grim.

The two sides discussed for another ten minutes, before the alchemists assured Deimos they would continue to do everything in their power to get to the bottom of this. Then, he handed them one of the vials that Talos guy had sent, asking them to work on the recipe. Of course, everyone involved knew that figuring the base ingredients out from the finished product was a tall order. That said, it was something they had to try, in case they failed to locate its maker.

Once he was done, Deimos returned to his place, finding the blond kid waiting outside. His features eased slightly, as he knew the boy was the most capable of his subordinates. Hopefully he’d done a better job than the other morons.

“Since we couldn’t find anything about the elixirs directly, I looked into other strange happenings over the past few days.” Jason cut to the chase.

“And?”

“A popular gambling den closed a few hours after we arrived. It didn’t open the following day, and nobody has seen the owner since.”

Deimos gave the boy a questioning gaze, not knowing what a random gambling den had to do with any of this. Still, he knew Jason wouldn’t have approached him with this if he didn’t have something more. ꭆ

“The owner was a girl from the Veritas House. She’s only been in the Guild for a few years, but she’s made quite some money in that time.”

“Veritas…?” the name did ring a bell, but Deimos was having trouble placing his finger on it.

Jason shrugged.

“I didn’t know them either, so I asked around. Apparently, they were affiliated with the Asclepius until they got the shaft right around when the girl joined. She has a Truthseeker bloodline.”

Deimos’s eyes narrowed at the revelation. Indeed, a girl with a good business sense, the ability to detect lies, and a possible connection to the Oblivious Agents just vanishing out of the blue was a bit conspicuous. Of course, people in the Guild died all the time while hunting – it wasn’t exactly the safest job. But something told him the girl didn’t spend her days on the giant mushrooms. And nobody could have left the settlement the normal way either due to the lockdown they’d imposed.

“I trust you’ve already followed through?”

The boy nodded, before snapping his fingers. Another man in a green robe approached them at the sound of that.

“Tell him what you told me.” Jason commanded, prompting the guy to swallow a lump of saliva.

“Y-Yes… I was on guard duty at the gate leading to the hunting grounds on the day of the message. I remember her going out that night, but I never saw her return.”

Deimos raised an eyebrow.

“Are you bullshitting us, or do you memorize the faces of everyone who goes through?!”

Startled, the man took a step back at the outburst.

“N-No, sir… I-I remembered her because I’m one of her r-regulars… It made an imp-pression because I’ve n-never seen her go h-hunting b-before.” he stuttered, his words an affront to the ears.

“If he’s telling the truth, the girl must be hiding on the Spire. Scan every level with the others. Get one of the elders to help you search the top level.” he said, before scratching his head. “Not that she would have survived surrounded by Blue beasts… But look there too, just in case. I want to know what happened to her, and I want to know it yesterday.”

Jason nodded before taking off.

‘The girl must only be a piece of the puzzle…’ Deimos reasoned, rubbing his chin.

Based on what they’d learned, there was indeed a high likelihood she was involved with the distribution of the product, but she wasn’t an alchemist. She couldn’t have been that as well. So, whoever came up with the recipe was somebody else entirely. Probably one of the veterans in the Guild – maybe even one of those five coots themselves. Chances were, they got rid of the girl too, disposing of her body to hide their tracks.

But Deimos shrugged.

‘Oh well… It doesn’t really matter. Now that we’ve got an actual lead, Jason will sniff them out with his little trick…’

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