At some random point in the night, Keane woke up with a stiff back. For a few seconds, he just stared at the ceiling of the narrow alley above him before remembering where he was.
'Right.' He thought to himself, his mind almost dull.
He had decided sleeping outside was safer than staying in an inn connected to an organization of assassins.
Apparently, that decision came with the added benefit of sleeping on much harder ground, especially after enjoying the softness of the Inn's beds, it was a sharp change.
He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, 'Good thing I have 99 Constitution I guess. Without it, I probably would not even be unable to move.'
The sky above Valewind was still gray with the early morning light. The city had not fully awakened yet, though there were already people moving through the streets in the distance… How did sleeping in the open at the mercy of thieves and all sorts of people become something to be considered??
'At least there no attempts on my life.' He thought to himself, standing up and brushing some dirt off himself.
How could this be the life of a transmigrator?
With that in mind, his plan for the day was simple, as he had planned the previous night.
Register with the Adventurer's Guild and get some kind of identification that didn't involve relying on Elara, just in case a problem would come up from that end, then find somewhere outside the city's political mess where he could start testing his abilities properly.
He still had too many unanswered questions of his own and about his own life that he needed to deal with, his attributes, his lack of elemental affinity, the strange energy he'd felt inside himself; and, most importantly, how much stronger he could actually become.
The fact that his attributes had stopped at 99 bothered him. It was clearly some kind of limit, but he didn't know whether it was a limit imposed by the System or simply the highest value the interface was willing to display. He hoped it was the former.
Either way, he needed more information.
With that decided, he had just started walking when he heard hurried footsteps approaching him.
Because of the recent expositions, he had become sentisive at the edges, so even something like that got his attention, especially as the sound was approaching from behind.
He became alert immediately, turning to see who it was, and to his surprise, it was actually Joren.
Keane almost didn't recognize him. The man looked like he'd been running for a while. His clothes were disheveled, his hair was out of place, and his breathing was heavy. There was none of the controlled expressions he'd normally have on. One could even say he looked panicked.
"Keane." Joren said, nearly stumbling as he reached him.
Keane watched him catch his breath with his hands on his knees, genuinely unable to speak for a moment.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Lina."
Joren swallowed.
"She never reached the safe house."
Keane immediately remembered their discussion the night before. Joren had mentioned sending Lina away for safety.
"The escort was supposed to bring her there last night..." Joren's voice shook. "They were supposed to arrive before midnight."
"Let me guess, they didn't." Keane said, his voice somewhat dry.
"N-no." Joren answered. "I waited for feedback of their arrival, but nothing."
Keane's expression remained neutral as he spoke, "So she's missing."
Joren nodded hesitantly, as if not wanting to believe it.
"I think she's been taken."
Hearing that, Keane looked away,
There it was… The exact situation he'd been trying to avoid.
His face showed a particular expression of a man who just found himself in-between a rock and an annoying place.
The night before, he had decided to stay away from Elara and everyone connected to her, face his life, get stronger, gather information, and figure out how to survive in this world without becoming someone else's pawn… now this…
"No." Keane said, his voice clear and aubidle.
Joren stared at him, frozen.
"What?"
"I'm not getting involved." Keane said.
The words sounded colder than Keane intended, regardless, he didn't take them back.
"You said it yourself. You used Lina to spy on me. You sent her away because you were afraid she'd been discovered. Now she's missing, and you want me to fix it?"
"I know, b-but…"
"Then you understand why I'm not interested."
Joren's face tightened. "Keane, please."
"I owe neither you nor Lina nothing." He said.
He watched Joren flinch slightly at those words, and for a moment there, he actually felt sorry for the girl, after all, she was nothing more than a pawn in all of this. He was starting to doubt if their time together in the market was also staged by Joren, perhaps for times like this… Everything seemed irritating the more he thought of it.
That aside, getting involved meant stepping back into the exact web he had spent the night trying to escape.
"I have my own problems," Keane said.
Joren lowered his head.
For a moment, Keane thought the man was going to argue, instead, Joren whispered, "She's all I have."
He was just about to leave when those words reached his ears, and it quieted his soul. 'Cursed enhanced senses.'
Joren raeched out and grabbed Keane's hand, his own hands were shaking. It was such a small thing, but it stood out more than anything else.
Keane couldn't tell if he was just very good at acting and faking it, or not. He looked at him, and there was no calculation in his face anymore, seemingly no attempt to manipulate him… Just a man who was terrified that someone had taken the person he cared about.
'Ahhh, damn it.' After briefly consoling himself with the fact that the girl had also tried to warn him once she realised what was going on, he pushed through it.
With a sigh, he asked, "Where?"
Joren looked up.
"What?"
"Where did she disappear?"
…
After some explanation, Keane had a clear suspicion in his mind, but decided to keep to himself for the time being.
"Who knew about the route?"
"No one, except me and the escort."
"Anyone else?"
Joren hesitated.
"I don't know."
Keane looked at him.
"I swear I didn't tell anyone."
"I didn't say you did." Keane said as they continued walking.
Without thinking or planning, keane has left without a mount, and Joren followed. Now, Joren was struggling to keep up, and they had already gone a considerable distance, too far to turn back now for a horse.
'This might be a bad idea.' Keane thought to himself, after all, they had no idea how far they'd need to travel.
Noticing how Joren was struggling to keep up, Keane had to consciously slow down to match his pace.
Keane was thinking the entire time as they traveled.
'If someone wanted Lina gone, Sylvi makes the most sense. Or at least, she'd be directly involved in taking care of business.'
"How long ago did they leave?" He asked.
"Several hours."
"Mmm… Let's hope they didn't get far."
They continued in silence.
Eventually, Joren pointed ahead.
"There!"
Keane looked and saw a horse lying by the side of the road.
On closer inspection, they found out that the horse was still alive, probably just knocked out.
Just then, Joren went pale.
"No..."
He rushed forward towards a bush, and as Keane looked, there was the body of a man, his throat cleanly cut open, deep enough that his head hung on half of his neck.