[A few hours later, in the Royal Capital of the Aurora Empire, The city of Aurorus]
A carrier Coras arrived at the Royal Cathedral of the Church of Humanity, flying in through a secret entrance specially designed for these birds, leading to the administrative part of the building.
[A coras is a four winged bird with a curved beak. It uses two of its wings to fly at a time, leading to less muscle strain while the two wings are used to carry food which the coras can eat mid-flight.
Much like dolphins, it can continue flying in a straight direction while only using a part of its conscious brain, letting it sleep mid-flight as it alternates the parts of the brain that are active and the ones that are resting.
It is smarter than the crows from Earth and can even use rudimentary tools.
If a being is smart enough to use tools on Midor, then it can also use magic]
The large, long winged bird made its way through the series of tunnels and then dropped down into the office of one of the Teacher Assistants of the Cathedral, Lady Corsense Bronze.
She hails from the southern parts of the Aurora Empire, near the Minaran Desert. Her skin was a light caramel brown and her dark gold hair was tied into a bun. Her impressive figure was covered by a short sleeved light purple blouse and a pair of tight leather pants and a pair of black leather shoes.
She was in charge of all messages sent by the Western churches. It was currently very late in the evening, with the 13th day bell's echoing ringing still being audible deep within the impressive marble building.
[Cities measure the time by using two bells, the night and day bells. The Day bells toll from 6 am to 6 pm while the night bells toll being from 7 pm to 5 am. Cities are separated in two sides, with the people that work and do their business during the day living near the Day Bells while the ones that work and do their business during the night live near the Night Bells.
The Day Bell's 13th ringing thus happening when it is 6 pm.]
Corsense slowly picked up the coras, and while she used one of her hands to carefully take the message that it was carrying inside its back satchel, she used her other hand to give feed it a mix of berries, dead bugs and nuts.
-"Let's see what news GreenWood village brings today."
The young woman, who was currently in her mid-twenties, had a pleasant, slightly melodious voice. While her dark green eyes studied the letter written by Teacher Fabian, she slowly petted the coras that delivered the message, with the bird's tail wagging from happiness.
"It seems that old Fabian had received another audience with the Great Teacher, good for him. Hm let's see...Oh my! He even received a Divine Mission!"
Lady Corsense stopped petting the four winged bird and then took out a piece of paper from her desk drawer along with a quill pen and a canister of high quality ink. She was happy that Fabian managed to receive a Divine Mission as he was now entitled to a reward, and it was bound to be an impressive one as this was a mission from High Teacher Campbell!
'Lucky old man....judging from the contents of the letter the mission wasn't even a difficult one, simply some information about what happened within the last 3 years in GreenWood village.'
She continued transcribing the exact words of Campbell along with the information given by Fabian. The fact that this mission was related to Enos and one of their mistakes, and the fact that
Fabian requested for an investigator to be sent in order to find out what happened to Mirelle, a high level investigator was to be sent out immediately to interrogate the people that the abducted young lady had interacted with ever since she entered Aurorus.
That meant the Sunset Trio, the innkeeper of the inn that she was living in, any close friends or relatives that might be living nearby and any previous or current employers.
'Unless if it is revealed that the abduction is related to a high noble...'
While the church had a large amount of influence inside the Aurora Empire, it was only relegated to the minor nobility, as-in, those lower than Counts.
[The nobles of the Aurora Empire had many names but the most commonly used were among the following:Baronet,Baron, Count, Marquis, Duke, etc., with only a few kingdoms having different names for the ranks. For more information on these ranks, check out the chapter called "The nobility of Yvon")
There was once a time when the church had much more political power but this led to clergymen getting corrupted and abusing their power, and so the church can only freely investigate and meddle with the lower nobility, requiring permission from the Grand Duke/Duchess or the
Emperor/Empress in order to do anything against high nobles.
It wasn't a fair way to do things but it was what was decided to be fair by the powers that be so Corsense couldn't complain about it.
After she finished feeding the coras and then writing a letter to Fabian that detailed some of the recent news of Aurorus, a few pleasantries and about how his request for an investigation was approved, with the costs being covered by the Cathedral.
The only reason why the Cathedral was covering the costs was because the investigation request was related to a Divine Mission given by Great Teacher Campbell, the church wasn't so kind that it would cover the costs for every request sent.
Once she stamped the letter with a wax seal, the design of which being an open book and quill, she put the letter inside of the satchel along with giving the young coras some mid-flight snacks.
"Remember to peck that old fool on his thick head once you go back alright? Really, what kind of self-respecting Head Priest can't give his coras food in case their flight gets interrupted?"
The young coras decided to not reveal the fact that it was given food by Teacher Fabian and ate it while on its relatively short journey for two reasons. One of them being extra food while the second one was:
Corsense then gave the coras a small kiss on the top of its head, after cleaning it of course, and then sent it off while the bird happily wagged its tail.
[The following day]
Detective Taylor was a well-renowned genius detective with an over 90% success rate. He was a middle-aged gentleman in his mid 50s, using a Vamas wood cane with the head of a vicious looking
Letos sculpted on its handle, a stylish 3 piece suits, a golden monocle and an old fashioned top hat.
He was clean shaven with a rather attractive face and a spry body that caught the attention of many noble ladies that sought his services.
This morning he had woken up like usual by the first Day Bell, having a light breakfast consisting of a three-egg omelette, two slices of High-quality commoner bread, a cup of slightly sweetened coffee and one crisp apple that he had bought the day before.
He had cooked this meal himself, slightly overcooking the slices of bread that tried to brown over the pan and when he tried to bite into the apple, expecting a crunch, he instead got a mushy, slightly taste piece of apple in his mouth.
-"Blegh, and to think that I paid 10 coppers for a bundle of these, no wonder that old bat was smiling so widely while she sold me these."
After spitting out what he bit into into his small garden alongside the mashed remains of the apple, Detective Taylor heard a knock at his door, and while he went to open the door, he was wondering what kind of job he will be getting today.
'Maybe it will be to find the lost necklace of a Count's daughter or the missing ancestral sword of a dashing young knight...Or maybe a visit to a lonely widow in need of company'
However once he accepted the letter from a rather exhausted courier and seeing the design of the stamp, his excitement quickly died down.
"Ugh, what do these bastards want from me now? I'm still having nightmares over having to see them torture 'heretics'"
He spat out the word 'heretic' with great vitriol. He wasn't a man devoid of faith of course but had seen too many good people get killed over simple misunderstandings or just some church member feeling like they have too much power.
The Gods are only kind to the forest and their favorite trees while letting the bushes and grass to rot or burn, only caring to put out the fire only once it had already burned countless.
Once he unceremoniously opened the letter using the same knife that he used to cut his omelette, he slowly started reading the contents with a bored expression which slowly changed to an intrigued one.
"Oh? This handwriting...it is one that belongs to lady of great beauty, this I am sure of! Let us see....a young lady working as a mercenary that joined a job that the mercenary company called 'The Sunset Trio' was abducted when she went inside GreenWood forest...Hmmm, GreenWood forest, GreenWood forest"
Taylor started rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression as he tried to remember the location of GreenWood village.
"It must be that small village west of here that is ruled by Lord GreenWood. Humble man, even if he is just a Baron. I do not really know why I have to find this lady Mirelle when the most plausible conclusion is that she simply fled with the money she got as advance payment but whatever, either way I get paid and I might even be able to find the beautiful writer of this letter."
Taylor grinned to himself and put the letter in his pocket after he had finished memorizing the needed information and the possible leads, and after quickly finishing his small breakfast he realigned his monocle and left his house. His destination was a 'quaint' little inn called:
"'The Emerald Windu' huh? That is certainly some name for such a...modest establishment"
Detective muttered to himself as he stood in front of The Emerald Windu inn. To put it kindly, it was a small inn situated in the corner of the Night Bell side of the capital that could use some improvement. To put it bluntly:
'This place is worse than a shithole.'
The gentleman detective was standing in front of one of the cheapest inn available in all of Aurorus.
It was made out of cheap Vintu wood and the street which it was situated on was home to vagrants, low-rank slave houses, desperate alchemists and the dregs of society.
It was a rather pleasant place to stay at when compared to similar places in other cities or towns as there were no criminal organizations, drug pushers or known black markets.
Taylor's outfit alone would be enough to rent a room at this inn for a whole year so he was getting eyed by many of the passing people and the people inside the inn.
He slowly tightened his grip on the cane he used mostly because it complemented his outfit and then slowly walked inside, making sure to use his cane to open the door just so that he wouldn't dirty his gloves.
Most times he would disguise himself and not make himself a possible mugging target but he had already dressed himself in order to go to his favorite restaurant and he wasn't feeling like changing outfits repeatedly in the same day.
Yes he was lazy, and he was proud about this part of his personality. He always said that true innovators are simply people that were lazy which found an easier way to do things.
Once inside, a deluge of scents assaulted his nose, but due to having visited worse establishments, he only cursed the unwashed patrons a few times inside his mind.
The rhythmic 'thud' of his cane hitting the creaky wooden floor could be heard throughout the entire building, drawing even more attention to himself as he slowly walked towards the innkeeper.
She was a woman in her late 50s, wearing a cheap blouse and skirt along with a dirty apron that was probably white in color a long time ago. She had a few scars running across her face, possibly self inflicted in order to avoid being taken advantage of, possibly done in her younger days, and a large, muscular body.
Her messy, oily and greying dark blue hair was tied up in a loose bun and her eyes were a clear sky blue. She was currently staying at the 'bar' of the inn, serving cheap, diluted liquor to her customers.
Taylor could hear sounds coming out of the back kitchen, probably caused by the innkeeper's child that was in charge of taking the orders and cooking the food for the customers.
He slowly sat down on the cleanest chair he could find, put his hat on his lap and slowly placed his golden monocle into his suit pocket.
"I would like a glass of the most expensive drink and a few minutes of conversation."
Taylor knew that in order to get more information out of the innkeeper, he had to first butter her up, and so that's what he did. Only instead of trying to compliment her, he instead decided to buy what was the most expensive drink available.
This let the innkeeper overcharge him and then if she isn't willing to answer some questions, he can reveal that fact to her and then report her to the guards for trying to sell products way over their price.
Guards usually didn't listen to the words of the vagrants living inside these parts of the city, if anything they would be thankful if all of them disappeared, but if a refined, well-dressed gentleman were to complain to them about being scammed by an unscrupulous innkeeper?
Well, getting a fine would be the best case scenario.
The innkeeper suspiciously eyed the silver fox detective and then slightly cleared her throat before speaking, her voice being unpleasant to listen to due to her years of smoking.
-"5 silvers, one glass. If you want to talk then it depends on the topic."
Taylor suppressed a nervous cough after hearing the price of a single glass of the drink and managed to maintain a nonchalant expression.
-"It is nothing serious I assure you, let me drink first and then we can talk."
The innkeeper didn't bother to indulge the man more than she had to so she took out a small stool and then grabbed a bottle of alcohol resting on the top of the shelves.
It was a 10 year old whiskey if one were to trust the labeling on the bottle. It was from a rather small brewing company called Stephenson Whiskey situated only a few cities away from Aurorus.
The sight of the bottle and the opening of it caught the attention of many of the people inside the inn, with some eyeing it with hungry eyes while others were eyeing Taylor as he slowly took out his purse and handed 5 silver coins to the scarred woman.
Once the drink was poured into his glass, a rather pitiful amount at that, the innkeeper waited until he drank it all before they could start their conversation, hoping that the alcohol will end up getting him drunk and make him either ask unimportant questions or make him pass out.
The detective slowly brought the glass to his nose, wanting to savor the aroma but once the scent hit his nose, his face almost crinkled in disgust. It had a sour, vinegar-like smell and he could now see a few small things within the liquid as he slowly swirled it around, although he ended up regretting that decision as that only made the smell more powerful.
-'By the Great Teacher's book this whiskey smells horrible. I think I would've liked it more if she just served me diluted beer and called it whiskey than...this. No wonder she managed to get a bottle of this with her, most probably meager, funds, this thing has gone bad!'
He slowly put the drink away and then beckoned the innkeeper over, and the woman only let out a tired sigh as she slowly walked over, now sitting in front, and towering over him.
-"Speak, I have other customers to tend to."
That was a bold faced lie as the other customers were currently drinking, drunk or eating their meals. Detective Taylor decided to first open the conversation by asking more innocent questions before going straight into it, letting her bring up the topic.
-"How has business been lately? I expect that the droughts from the South must have caused some problems for your establishment."
-"Problems? Bah, it brought me disaster upon disaster. The cost of grains, meat and even alcohol had started to increase over and over since that damned drought. I do not understand why we aren't using the royal magicians to conjure up some rain but that isn't really my business."
She was very clearly displeased with the drought, but only because it had increased the costs needed to run her establishment, she didn't really feel much towards the starving people and the nobles that had to empty their coffers to feed their territories.
Taylor slowly leaned in and lowered his voice but still made it so that some of the other customers could listen in.
-"I have heard from some credible sources that this might be related to the Rain kingdom's rebellion."
-"How so? The Rain Kingdom is to the West while the drought is happening in the South."
-"You didn't hear this from me, got it? I hear that the Rain kingdom's rebellion was secretly funded by the some of the Sultans and this drought is the crown's way of punishing them."
The innkeeper slammed her fist against the bar and then not so subtly yelled out.
-"I knew those damn Shitskins had something to do with it!"
['Shitskin' is a slur used by the citizens of the Aurora Empire towards humans of darker skin tones. Most times it is used against the people that come from the southern parts of the Empire and even towards some dwarves.]
An awkward silence fell upon the bar as some of the bar patrons slowly left the building, some of them also 'coincidentally' being of a darker skin tone.
The innkeeper didn't seem to mind while Taylor waited a bit until the woman calmed down before he spoke again.
-"I can hear noises coming from most of the rooms at your establishment but I cannot hear anything from that room over there, is that one free to board or is the owner away?"
Detective Taylor pointed at the door that led to Mirelle's room. The rooms of the inn were on the second floor of the building and had very poor sound-proofing, as in none at all.
-"Ugh, don't get me started with that one. Some mercenary bitch was staying there and after news came of her disappearing a year or two ago people stopped renting it, calling it haunted."
-'Bingo.'
"Oh well that's rather unfortunate, how did people come to learn of her disappearance anyway? Plus, couldn't she have simply run away or left the city? That sounds much more plausible."
-"Oh believe me, I tried explaining that to the Sunshit Trio but they wouldn't listen. Talking about it being suspicious that she disappeared when they were attacked by some Letos'. So what if they were attacked? Those things are mindless animals, of course they would come to attack people that were loudly chopping tree's in the forest.
Plus I am pretty sure that girl just ran away. She wasn't really 'mercenary material'. I can still remember her staying cooped up in that room of hers and when I decided to bring her some food out of the kindness of my heart, she didn't even give me a 'thank you'!"
The innkeeper shook her head and let out a 'tsk' sound repeatedly while talking things like 'Kids these days'.
-"'Sunshit trio'? Do you mean the Sunset Trio?"
-"No, I meant the 'Sunshit trio' because they kept shitting all over my hard work, leading to me now having even less customers due all of this 'curse' nonsense."
-"Oh I see, could you perhaps tell me where they are? If possible I would like to try and dispel this 'curse' nonsense that is plaguing your business."
The innkeeper had a look of mild surprise on her face and nodded as she secretly handed Taylor 4 silver coins as she explained the whereabouts of the mercenaries.
-"They should be in the Day Bell section of this part of the city, they took the girl's belongings with them when they came here searching for 'clues', though I think they just wanted to take any valuables of hers in order to recoup their losses. They are staying at the 'Singing Coras'."
Taylor grabbed his hat and gave the innkeeper a polite bow as he then slowly put his hat and monocle back on and then started walking towards the 'Singing Coras'.
-"Thank you kindly miss! Have a blessed day and may the Gods be with you."
-"I would rather have some customers with me than the Gods but thank you anyways!"
[A few hours later, in front of the 'Singing Coras']
-'Well I have only been mugged 5 times as I went through that neighborhood and my clothes haven't been dirtied by the blood so it wasn't all that bad.'
Taylor was currently sitting in front of a much better looking establishment, the 'Singing Coras'. It even had a Coras singing carved into the sign and he entered, his nostrils weren't violated by the scent of unwashed vagrants.
He slowly looked around, trying find the Sunset Trio, but after he remembered that he has no idea of how they look like, he slowly went to the innkeeper that was currently cleaning his bar with a damp cloth.
He was a slightly portly man with a long beard and a receding hairline. He had slightly tanned skin, black hair and light brown eyes. He had a small necklace with a small silver book hanging off of it.
Once he spotted Taylor come towards him while dressed like a man about to meet a noble, Jordan put away the cloth and cleaned his hands.
-"Welcome to the Singing Coras, what can my humble establishment offer the famous Detective Taylor?"
-"A glass of water and some information. Could you tell me where the Sunset Trio mercenaries are? I am here to ask them a few questions by the order of the Church."
The Detective decided to reveal his intentions clearly as he saw the necklace that the innkeeper was wearing, with the Book being the holy symbol of the Church of Humanity.
-"Oh certainly sir! Anything to help the Teachers."
Jordan lightly kissed his silver book necklace and then poured Taylor a glass of room temperature water out of a jug. The man's large arms had some veins bulging out as he balanced the heavy jug over the glass without letting even a drop spill.
"You are in luck sir, they are currently preparing to leave for yet another mission by tonight but they are still preparing. If you go and knock at their room door and explain why you are there then I bet the door will open before you even finish speaking."
The portly man let out a small chuckle and then waved the Detective off after he pointed towards the room of the Sunset Trio. The Detective gave an appreciative nod and then quickly chugged the glass of water before slowly going upstairs, his cane that had earlier broken the hands of his would-be muggers now letting out soft 'thuds' as he walked.
[Meanwhile, inside the Sunset Trio's room]
-"Alright, let's go over the plan one more time just so that we are all up to speed.
We have been hired to escort a merchant caravan to the Eastern border and drive away any bandits.
Vladimir, you will be in the front with half of the scouts on horse-back and will alert us if you see anything that feels like danger.
Bianca, you will be staying in the Caravan leader's carriage and make sure that they remain safe along the journey. You don't have to talk or humor them, just protect them.
I will be sitting near the carriage's carrying the goods along with the other mages and swordsmen to make sure they stay safe over the journey.
We already got 50 silvers as advance payment and will be receiving the rest once we get to our destination."
Alexander explained the plan in more detail, showing the routes that the caravan will be taking, the possible dangers and environmental hazards and other things over a map of the Empire.
The map was of high-quality so it had many cities, towns and village's that other maps wouldn't typically show. It was a copy provided by the Caravan leader to all of the mercenary groups that will be guarding his items and they will be returned once they join the caravan.
Maps in the Aurora Empire are typically separated into four types. Commoner maps, Merchant Maps, Noble Maps and Military Maps.
If you were to be in possession of a Noble map without being a noble above a baronet, and you were caught, then you would have to pay a steep fine.
If you were to be found with a military map without permission then you would be executed for treason against the crown.
The members of the Sunset Trio weren't the same ever since Mirelle's disappearance. Vladimir got a scar over his right temple due to being ambushed by another Letos as he tried to find Mirelle, Bianca had stopped joking around as much and Alexander was now hesitant to hire any more temporary members.
When Mirelle disappeared they thought that they could find her, maybe tease her about managing to get kidnapped on her first mission and then have a laugh over a round of drinks.
When Bianca and Alexander saw Vladimir return empty handed with a bleeding wound on his temple, they decided to quickly return to the capital and give the carpenter his Vintu wood.
They didn't bother asking for help as they knew that it wouldn't be taken seriously. A noble caring about some unknown mercenary disappearing in the forest? If anything they would be put under suspicion and possibly arrested as bandits that forged a permit in order to plant one of their members into the village in order to later pillage the village.
It had happened a few times before and when they also considered the less than stellar personality of Baron GreenWood, they did not say anything.
Once back in Aurorus, they tried to find some clues inside of Mirelle's room but when they tried to give an explanation to the innkeeper they got yelled at and then had to hurry while taking as much of Mirelle's belongings from her room.
Ever since they tried to ask for help but it instead descended into them being called fear mongers and worrywarts. The inn that Mirelle once lived in had now started being called 'haunted' and 'cursed' and all that they managed to find out didn't help them.
They managed to find Mirelle's journal hidden away under her bed mattress. Turns out Mirelle wasn't even her real name and she was instead Lady Catherine Ferus. Daughter of Count Ferus.
After coming to learn more about her, how she was really scared about going with unknown mercenaries into a forest, about how she had to see her lover get decapitated after failing to run away together and many other things.
And so they simply decided to accept that she was most probably found out by her father and then taken away without any witnesses so that they wouldn't get shamed for having a noble daughter that spent her time in a desolate inn and had to even stoop so low as to work with mercenaries.
It was a bitter potion to swallow but they could do nothing but chug it all down and then hope to wash away the taste with time.
Just as they were about to get their weapons they heard a polite knock at their room door, followed by the deep voice of a gentleman.
-"Pardon me for interrupting you but I am in need of some answers. I am Detective Taylor and I have come to investigate the disappearance of a Lady Mirelle by the-"
Vladimir quickly went to the door and then swiftly opened it, surprising the monocled detective before a small smile formed on his face.
"Would you look at that? The innkeeper was right."
[One explanation later]
As the members of the Sunset Trio all finished recounting the series of events leading to Mirelle's disappearance, along with what they came to learn from her diary and giving it to the Detective in order to verify its authenticity, they waited with bated breaths.
As Detective Taylor finished reading the diary and making sure that it was truly the handwriting of a noble lady, he let out a small, defeated sigh.
The faces of the mercenaries fell as they already knew the Detective's next words.
-"I am truly sorry but this isn't something that I can involve myself in, and neither can the church. If her father had been a Viscount then maybe, but our hands are tied."
-"Can we really do nothing? Not even try and find her?"
Vladimir's scar throbbed in his mind as he said that. He prided himself for being a talented scout and yet he could not even find someone that disappeared for only a few moments.
The other two remained silent as they already knew the answer but still deeply hoped that there was some other way.
Taylor just sighed once again and wiped his monocle with his handkerchief.
-"Unfortunately, no. Her father has most likely assigned guards to the new monastery that she is probably in along with making sure that no one is to find out about her very short time as a mercenary. If anything you three are very lucky to have not been silenced for trying to spread news about her disappearance.
You are lucky that the capital has had many cases of mysterious disappearances over the years."
And so the short investigation into Mirelle's disappearance had ended the very same day it started.
The Sunset Trio politely thanked Taylor for at least trying to find their former companion and then left for their assignment while the Detective went to the cathedral and reported his findings to a rather disinterested Assistant Teacher, getting compensated for the 5 silver coins that he spent at the Emerald Windu along with a 15 silver coin reward.
Taylor decided to not mention that he was given back 4 silver coins because he did not get to see the lady with the beautiful handwriting.
And so, this investigation was wrapped up as simply yet another case of a noble child rebelling against their family and then getting taken back and punished.