Taking the request form, Statiw and Elfman found the client's house according to the address on the form.
The client was an elderly woman with a head full of silver hair. Seeing that the two were still children, she first warmly entertained them, and then began to talk about the quest.
"That ring itself isn't valuable; it's just a very ordinary ring. But to me, it's different," the woman said, sitting in a chair with a sweet, reminiscent smile, "Back then, I was still young, and my old man was just a poor boy…"
As she spoke, her voice gradually grew softer and softer until she was completely lost in her memories. Statiw and Elfman exchanged glances. Just as Statiw was about to interrupt her reminiscence, Elfman immediately stopped him. When Statiw turned to look at him, he didn't explain, merely shaking his head slightly.
The two waited for a long time, until the sun was already setting, before her memories ended. Only then did she remember that she was introducing the ring to them, and she chuckled, saying to Statiw and Elfman, "I'm sorry, when you get old, you tend to reminisce about the past."
"It's alright, we haven't waited long," Elfman, not wanting the old woman to feel guilty, immediately shook his head and denied it.
However, this woman had, after all, experienced many years of life, so how could she not know that Elfman was lying? Thus, she smiled and reached out to stroke Statiw's and Elfman's heads, saying, "You two are truly kind children. That ring is my wedding ring from when I married my old man. Although it's not valuable, it holds special meaning to me."
"Then, ma'am, when was the last time you saw that ring?" Seeing that she could finally answer normally, Statiw immediately sought confirmation.
"Ah, that was a few days ago, before dinner. I was going to make dinner, so I took the ring off. The next morning, when I wanted to put it on, I forgot where I had put it the night before. Alas, I've already searched the places where I usually put the ring, but I haven't found it. That's why I posted the quest; I just wanted to ask you to help me find that ring." Seeing Statiw ask, the woman recounted the story of the ring from beginning to end.
"So, the ring is in this house and hasn't been lost anywhere else," Statiw realized after hearing her explanation. This would make it much easier to find.
Following that, Statiw asked, "Then, ma'am, what is the layout of this house? Where do you usually put the ring?"
"This house has two floors. The second floor has four rooms, two of which my son and daughter used to live in, and the other two are guest rooms. On the first floor, to the left are the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet. To the right are my and my old man's bedroom, a study, and a utility room for miscellaneous items. As for the basement, it's used to store things we don't usually need, and there's also a wine cellar," the woman said with a smile, explaining the layout of her home to the two, and then added, "Normally, I have a habit of reading before bed, so the ring is usually kept in the bedroom, and occasionally in the study."
"I see," Statiw nodded. "You've already searched the places where you usually put the ring. So the bedroom and study are the least likely. Then, what did you do and where did you go during the time before dinner that day?"
"Oh, that," the woman hesitated, recalling, "Before preparing dinner, because I suddenly remembered that the upstairs rooms hadn't been cleaned for quite some time, I simply tidied them up a bit. To clean the rooms, I got the cleaning tools from the utility room. After cleaning, I was a bit sweaty, so I took a shower. After resting for a while, I started making dinner. Oh, and while making dinner, because I needed wine, I also went to the cellar to get a bottle of wine."
Upon hearing her words, Statiw's mouth twitched. According to her, she had basically been to all parts of the house during the time before dinner. So his question was almost as good as not asked. However, this was fine; it just narrowed the search area even further. At this point, seeing that Statiw had asked everything he needed to, Elfman stood up, ready to begin the task.
"Wait a moment, Elfman," noticing his movement, Statiw immediately called out to him, "Most of the previous quests were handled by you. This time, it's my turn."
"Huh? But with such a large place, how long will it take for you to find it alone?" Elfman said, somewhat confused by Statiw's words. "It would be faster if we both searched together."
"Don't worry, I'm already a C-rank Mage now, so of course, I'll use magic to solve the problem. Come with me, I'll show you my magic." With that, Statiw pushed open the door and went out onto the street. Then he set up an easel with a chair and, stroke by stroke, drew the woman's house on paper.
"Oh my, that's a very good drawing, quite impressive," after a few quick strokes, the house quickly appeared on the drawing. At this moment, the woman stood beside Statiw, smiling and praising him.
Elfman watched Statiw finish drawing, then asked, somewhat puzzled, "And then? What do we do next?"
"Then…" Statiw put down his paintbrush and activated his magic power. After a magic circle flashed across the paper, the house in the drawing connected with the actual house. Then, under Statiw's control, the entire drawing began to move like a first-person perspective game.
First, under his control, the entire view entered the house, then turned left into the kitchen, searching every corner. In less than a minute, the entire kitchen was thoroughly searched.
"It seems the ring isn't in the kitchen," Statiw said, then controlled the view to move into the bathroom. There weren't many places to search in the bathroom; basically, everything could be seen at a glance.
Next, he moved into the utility room. The utility room was cluttered with items, making the search more time-consuming, but even so, it only took less than ten minutes to search the entire room.
After searching the second floor and the basement, it still only took half an hour. However, while the search was quick, not a single trace of the ring was found.
"What's going on? We've searched everywhere we should have, why can't we find it?" Statiw immediately became puzzled.
"Could it be in the study or the bedroom, just fallen under the bed or under a cabinet?" Elfman guessed at this point.
"It shouldn't be. The ma'am should have personally searched under the bed and under the cabinets," Statiw shook his head slightly after hearing Elfman's guess. At the same time, the woman also nodded, confirming Statiw's statement.
However, immediately after, Statiw added, "But an elderly person's eyesight is sometimes not as good as when they were young, so perhaps something was indeed overlooked. To be safe, let's search again."
With that, Statiw manipulated the view to search the study and bedroom.
Indeed, it was completely absent from the obvious places, and also not under the bed or under the cabinet. However, when the view moved the entire bed and nightstand, he found the ring wedged between these two pieces of furniture.
"So it was in the gap between the bed and the nightstand," seeing the ring on the floor in the drawing, the woman suddenly realized, and at the same time, the memory of where she had put the ring that night reappeared in her mind.
The ring had been found, and the woman happily signed the quest request.
After leaving the drawing with her, Statiw and Elfman bid her farewell and returned to the guild before dark.