Chapter 60 – Investigating.
"Thanks. Please come again." – said goblin merchant named Mario.
"Yea. Thanks." – replied Phantasia while walking away.
(Damn.)
(All it took was for 1 guy to suddenly go missing to make this entire city go ballistic.)
(Still…. Should I do something?)
(The kidnapped person was a legendary blacksmith.)
(He wasn't killed, but its unknown if he is alive or not.)
(Was it somebody from the city?)
(Mario said that dwarf had many enemies…. No.)
(If they did anything to him their lifes would be ruined.)
(So then, an outsider?)
(But if so, what is their goal?)
(If their goal was to destroy his place, I would also go and kidnap the dwarf instead of killing him in order to spread chaos.)
(But, he isn't only an high standing figure, but an legendary blacksmith of this city.)
(Its quiet obvious that the kidnappers may have taken him away in order to force them to make something, but what?)
(….)
(Honestly, I don't like this.)
(Who is the motherfucker that is disturbing MY peace!)
(….)
(There are many reasons why they would kidnap or harm the dwarf, but the list of suspects it's too long.)
(…. For now, let's get back home and start doing improvement with my arms.)
I quickly went back to my current base and once again began the experiments as well as did some improvement.
I didn't add any special modification, just adjustment, but it made the arms bit more smother than before.
"…"
"Fuck. I can't stop not thinking about that dwarf guy."
(If I knew that there is some sort of legendary blacksmith in the city that may take you as discipline, I would have even begged on knees for him to teach me.)
(….)
(Should I try to rescue him?)
(If I do rescue him, he may have taken me as discipline.)
(Not only that, it would calm the city… It's extremely big win for me if I did that.)
(…)
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(Okay. It could work.)
(If I rescue him as the wood mask as well, my reputation will also increase and in turn my business would get better.)
(Not only that, his teaching could help me drastically with my cyborg research.)
(But how I would rescue him?)
(….)
"Is he still in the city?"
"Anybody who would leave the city during the night or after that guy disappearance became known would be poetical suspects."
"But what if the culprit is right now still in the city, with the dwarf?"
(There is chance they are waiting for an perfect opportunity to use to escape.)
(….)
(Or they may be already gone.)
(Merchant and nobles. Either could bribe the guards to let them go unchecked.)
(And its not like I'm some sort of person with huge influence in this city or anything like that, so I cannot make guards tell me everything they know.)
(There is also the fact that there is way too many suspects.)
(Mario told me about some of the more well known people in the city that may want to do something to him, but then again, they will be the first suspects and everything and if even an single hint is shown, they would be fucked.)
(Each and every enemy of the dwarf will be investigated…)
(…)
(Can I even do anything?)
(I really want to be the who rescues him, since I may end up being accepted as his pupil.)
"…."
"Fuck it."
I left my workshop and headed to the location where dwarf workshop is located.
"Sorry, but this is a crime scene and all non-authorized personal have no right to enter this place." – said the dark elf guard.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"I should have seen this coming…. Bye." – said Phantasia before walking away.
(Well, that was quite obvious. Still, it didn't hurt to try.)
(The entire area is currently being guarded by a bunch of guards… There is no way to even sneak in.)
(It would be nice if I could at least get one of the disciplines to tell me stuff…. But apparently, they are also suspects.)
(Not only that, they may feel in danger as well, since their master ended up disappearing.)
(I doubt I would be able to talk with them.)
(Fuck.)
(I can't do anything?)
(No leads. No support. Nothing.)
(All I know that the dwarf maybe in the city OR that the culprit had bribed guards to keep quiet about the kidnapping.)
(But again, no evidence to support either theories.)
(….)
(There are also other ways to leave the city. For example, the mine carts that are carrying ores from the mines to the city and out.)
(I can ask Mario for help, but its not like he owns every mine operation in here or any mayor companies. He is more of lackey.)
(He may not even be able to issue a search as well…. Fuck. This may also be dead end.)
"…."
Phantasia took rest in the random alleyway.
(Okay. Maybe I should think it simpler.)
(Let's say that nobody from the city OR any of the dwarf enemies did that.)
(I don't know how big of a chance that is, but its better to first confirm if the culprit is from the city or not.)
(If I was an outside…. I would use the mine carts, but that would mean inside connection.)
(However if they don't have any connections and work alone, then they wouldn't have any way of leaving the city undetected, since they would have to force their way through any of the heavy defended entrances to the city. But the guards would already found about this.)
(Then…. If outside who somehow infiltrated the city and kidnapped the man is either still inside the city…. Or they have a different way out.)
(Hiding and waiting for perfect opportunity to escape is one thing, but if they have secured different means of escaping the city while not ending up detected, then they may have already left the city.)
(The question is how?)
(How they would escape?)
(The dwarf disappeared in the night…. There was nothing or anything. Guards would have spotted something or some drunkards roaming around in night.)
(Does that mean that the culprit had plan made before hand?)
(If so, the culprit shouldn't have any ability of leaving that place unnoticed.)
(Unless he is either hiding nearby or has the escape route somewhere here.)
(The traitor discipline who made escape route inside the workshop?)
(…Nope. They would definitely find the escape way sooner or later.)
(That means that the escape or hiding spot is outside the workshop range.)
(But the guards would have looked around and searched around…. That would leave an escape path the only option.)
(However the escape path shouldn't be too obvious or too easily spotted, since it would ruins the plans way too early.)
(A quick but well hidden escape path that could be access from somewhere around the workshop.)
"…."
"!"
Phantasia looked down and saw a manhole on the ground.
"…."
"The answer is so obvious that its straight up too stupid to be truth, eh?"
Phantasia grabbed the manhole with his mechanical arms before then slowly lifting it up and then moving it aside.
"Damn! This thing is way heavier than it looks."
(Still… Lets see what we are dealing with, shall we?)
Phantasia climbed down the latter while also making sure that the sink hole is covered.
"…."
"Nice."
Phantasia found himself in the large underground system located under the city.
(Well… At least its not filled with monster rats or stings that badly as Min city sewers… That a an up.)
(Still, this place is both an perfect hiding spot, since you can get here from the workshop quiet fast.)
"And if there is an escape path in here, the culprit could have used it to leave the city undetected."
(If there is no escape paths here, then it confirms that the culprit was somebody from the city and not outsider.)
(And this will give me an huge progress in research.)
After coming up with the theory of the culprit using the sewers for his advantage and maybe having an secret way out of the city, I began inspecting the entire place in hopes of finding any leads.
It took a bit of time to navigate through those sewers, but I found something.
"…"
(Why is there dirt on the ground in this specific spot? It's not like small amount or anything as well….)
(The sewers are filthy and all… But there is way too random for so much dirt to be in that kind of place.)
(And…. Why these bricks look bit new?)
(Did they repaired the wall?)
(…. No.)
(If they did, they would have removed the dirt or just toss it into the sewer water to get rid of it if they were lazy bastards.)
(By any chance…. Was it not the workers who repaired the wall?)
"…"
Phantasia summoned his giant rabbit bear.
"Crush that wall."
The chimera attacked the wall and easily made it fall apart without much effort.
However, as Phantasia suspected something was off about that wall.
As soon as the wall collapsed, it revealed a tunnel that was straight up digged out.
"Fuking knew it!"
(They destroyed the wall and then rebuilded it in order to hide the path… But their stupid asses makes the wall look too NEW and it made stand out too much!)
"But. That at least confirms something."
(I don't know if the culprit is really an outsider or not, but considering the situation, but with the current evidence and how the culprit may have operated shows that he or she may have been outside.)
(And right now I'm the only one who knows as well as existence of this hidden path!)
"…"
"Well then, shall we see what we got here?"