Tales Of New World: The Magus 43 Missing

As he leaves the inn, he could see the three guards that will follow him until he arrives at Reginald residence. He ignores them as he greets any pa.s.serby that approaches him.

Volya starts to walk and this time he looks around the village as well. He notices that the building in Lerwick is higher than the building in Ironforge as Lerwick was created on gra.s.sland and without the roof of the cave above it.

The distinctive part is most of the building at Lerwick using wood as the base material and they use the rock as the foundation. Those differences are enough to catch Volya's curiosity.

As he continued to walk, he arrived at the market area of Lerwick. The type of commodity that they sold is identical with the one at Ironforge, but the number of the armouries are less than the one at Ironforge's market.

He continues to look around until he notices two familiar faces coming out from one of the shops. One of them is a man wearing black armour and a morning star on his belt. While the other one is a woman wearing beige cloth, leather armour, dark brown pants, and a leather belt with several small pouches at the back of the belt.

They are Alfred di Manfredi and Anna Frederikstand, two adventurers that join Markos' team. Alfred is well-known as the 'Stonewall' as he will stand still even when he is wounded greatly. While Anna is well-known as the dagger user that could kill someone from afar and even on close range.

Volya smiles at them, run towards them, and says,

"Morning Alfred! Morning Anna!"

"Huh?" said both of them as they look behind them to see that Volya is running towards them

"It's a rare occurrence to see both of you here," continues Volya

"The one that should be said is us... Ahahahahaha" replied Alfred as he laughs at Volya

"What did both of you do here?"

"Oh... I just accompany Anna to buy some of her poison material," replied Alfred again

"And what are you doing here, Volya?" asked Anna

"Ah... I just want to see this village with more detail. It's been a week, but I still lost sometimes," answered Volya as he scratches his cheek.

The three of them laugh together until Anna remembers something. She looks around and notices that the guard vision is blocked by the villager. She then whispers to Volya,

"Volya, have you heard this message?"

"Message? What message?" asked Volya

Anna looks at Alfred and from there both of them nod. Alfred starts to walk with Anna following him. The surprised Volya tried to ask again about what the meaning of that question, but Anna already says,

"Follow us... Markos is waiting for us at Reginald's mansion."

It takes around 30 minutes to walk from the market to Reginald's mansion. As soon they arrived at the mansion, one of Reginald's knights welcomed them curtly. Before Volya replied the knight, the knight shouts,

"Where have you been? Hurry up, Lord Lawrence has something that he needs to tell all of you!"

"I already told Markos..." replied Volya that the knight in front of him cuts him with,

"I don't care about your reason! For what reason do I hear reason from a lowlife like you? Come in!"

The guards that follow the three of them immediately push the three of them to follow another guard. The three of them don't have any choices other than follow them.

As they walk inside the mansion, Volya looks at all the statues and paintings in the hallway. For commoners, they will think the owner is a kind, fine, and refined man. But, Volya already knows the man and he feels disgusted with it.

The guards lead them to a room and order them to wait there until they are called. Volya only sighs and notices the other members of the team already gathered in the room.

Volya could see a distressed face from Markos and Helena, while Gracia tried to calm them. Meanwhile, Romain is talking with the other three members.

They are Valeria Asimov, a well-known archer from Ostonorid, Frida Vargas, a dual-wield swordsman that excels in one-on-one combat, and Miklos Kovac, a spearman from Ostonorid.

Volya pa.s.sed them with Alfred and Anna, and then asked Markos,

"What happens, Markos?

"..."

"Hey... Markos!" shouts Volya

"Ah... Volya... You already come..." replied Markos

"What happens?"

"About that..."

"We didn't find Dominik's whereabouts since he left our party last night," said Helena

"Dominik?"

Volya observes the people inside the room and notices that the person called Dominik is missing. Dominik Mistratel, the missing man, is Markos' best friend and last night he gets a sudden mission and left the party.

Volya peeks at Romain and gets a nod from him. So, he takes a deep breath and asks,

"Have you checked this building?"

"Yes, I am," replied Markos

"Do you find anything?"

"Yes... A cracked stone" replied Markos

A cracked stone is a code devised by Helena and Markos to tell the team that Reginald was surely involved in one incident. Volya then continues,

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes... The sign is there..."

Volya then tried to remember what Dominik said before. He mentions that the guard needs help to protect Reginald as the killer seems to start to make its move.

He can't conclude anything for this situation and he could see that both Helena and Markos also stumbled upon the same roadblock. But, the three of them agree with one thing,

'How Reginald knows that yesterday the killer is making its move and targeting him?'

That fact is enough to raise suspicion from Helena, Markos, and Volya. But before they could brainstorm and a.s.sess the situation more, the door opened and the knight shouts,

"Sir Reginald called all of you to his dining room! Move your sorry a.s.s now!"

All of the adventurers in the room can't hide their disgust, but they can't do anything about it. Right before Volya walks, Markos taps Volya's back and whispers,

"I think... this is the best situation..."

"To throw the bait? Are you sure?" asks Volya

"Yes, this is our opportunity..."

"But, are you sure to use your friend's missing incident as the reason behind it?"

"I know it's wrong, but I believe he will forgive me if it's for collective good."

"So be it."

Volya then makes a small gesture to Helena and she nods at them. Right before the knight shouts again, all of them start to walk to Reginald's dining room. And at the same time, three people are preparing their bait for Reginald. As they arrived at the dining room door, their battle started now.