“Are you certain it was him?” A man rushed towards the open-gated entrance while putting his brown robe on. He was woken up urgently by one of his subordinates. Therefore, he even forgot his brown top hat at his temporary residence.
“Yes, it was definitely him.” A White Inquisitor fast-walked beside him. “Your “Soul Scent” tracked him to Yatagarasu, and now he must’ve wanted to leave the city but saw us in the entrance.
“Therefore, he decided to do a quick escape when we least expected it.”
“Well, there is one way to find out.” The Brown Inquisitor said and saw that the open-gated entrance was closed for now. Angry players and NPCs could do nothing except wait patiently until they had finished investigations.
The Inquisitors had the power to close off the entrance to a major city and even mobilize its Watchmen. They were infamously known for their strict and harsh ways of maintaining the safety of civilians.
“Sir!” The White Inquisitors saluted, standing at attention with their hands held firmly to their chests.
“…” The Brown Inquisitor nodded in acknowledgment and then looked at the impatient-looking line of players. Then he nodded to his subordinate, who brought him a wooden bench. It was a bench often found in parks.
He then sat on the bed, cross-legged, and closed his eyes as if he were planning to meditate.
The players and NPCs looked at him strangely and almost shouted their frustration out. They thought that now that the “boss” had arrived, the investigation would move faster, but instead of doing anything, he sat down and began meditating!
Swoo—the wind suddenly stopped.
Everything became eerily quiet.
The world stopped moving; its rotation was frozen in place. Time seemed to stand still. A pedestrian who kicked a pebble on the sidewalk had his leg frozen in place while the flying pebble stopped mid-air. The silence was deafening.
The Brown Inquisitor slowly opened his eyes. He couldn’t move his head, but his eyes scanned the motionless surroundings.
He then focused his gaze in front and whispered. “Soul Scent!”
Even though the world was frozen and he shouldn’t be capable of talking, he managed to utter a few words!
Transparent, light-blue waves appeared in the sky. They looked like waves in the ocean, but they weren’t very high and they didn’t move. However, those waves mimicked the movements of people around him.
He then focused his attention on a single wave. The wave broke through the entrance and went far into the distance.
The strange thing about this wave was that it wasn’t near the ground like others. Instead, it was around a meter in the air.
‘That is his Soul Scent. He was riding on a horse, explaining why the wave was higher in the air.’ The Brown Inquisitor then took a deep breath and whispered painfully. “Show!”
A screen appeared in the sky. It looked like a floating television screen, but it was transparent and only showed a scene of a young man riding a horse through a thick, leaf-heavy forest.
‘He escaped to Nether Forest.’ The Brown Inquisitor then took a deep breath, and the world began to move once again. He looked at the White Inquisitors and said, “Nether Forest. Are horses ready?”
“Yes, sir!” The White Inquisitors echoed. While they waited for their boss to arrive, they brought more horses for the chase.
The Brown Inquisitor received his horse and then mounted it. “At full speed, go!”
The dozen horses thundered out of the Yatagarasu, starting their chase.
One of the White Inquisitors tried to slip his brown bounty poster back into his bag, but the wind suddenly picked up, causing him to lose his grip on it.
“Cursed!” The White Inquisitor looked around but saw the brown bounty poster drift back to the Yatagarasu. He shook his head, not planning to go after it because time was of the essence and he didn’t want to slow others down.
The brown bounty poster floated through the entrance and landed on the ground. A shadow appeared over the poster.
“Hmm?” A sinister-looking man picked up the brown bounty poster. His face was pale and thin, like a ghoul. “A brown bounty poster. Reward, 7,500 silvers. Ambrose… Ambrose… huh, it’s him.”
“Ambrose, isn’t Zahhak after him?” A skull-masked man walked to him. “A hint of whereabouts is 5,000 silvers.”
“Haha.” The sinister-looking man chuckled. “So, 7,500 silvers to either kill or capture this Ambrose, and then another 5,000 if we tell Zahhak his location. Who knows math? 12,500 silvers transferred to the crown?”
“1,250 crowns.” The skull-masked man said.
“Hehe, that is pretty good.” The sinister-looking man said and turned his head around. His group, consisting of ten strong-looking players, looked at the sketched image on the poster.
“That would already be enough to cover my rent. Let’s do it.”
…
Tap, tap, tap—Emma rushed down the stairs and saw Bella scribbling something in her notebook.
“Bella, good morning~”
“Ah, good morning.” Bella smiled gently and accepted the hug from the energetic little girl.
“Hmm, where is my brother?” Emma looked around. “Has he not come online yet?”
“The thing is… he already had to leave.” Bella explained sadly. “However, the weather is very nice. Do you want to go out?”
“He already left?” Emma lowered her head in disappointment.
“However, he told me that he plans on taking you out some day, back in reality.” Bella crouched and smiled at the little girl.
“But you won’t be there.” Emma lifted her gaze and looked into her red eyes. 𝑜𝒱xt.𝗰𝑶𝕞
“You spend the morning with him and the day with me; doesn’t that sound nice?” Bella giggled, grabbed her by the hand, and led her towards the door. “I’ll close the store for today. It would be a waste not to enjoy such good weather.”
“Nn.” Emma nodded with a smile and left the bookstore with Bella. They walked on the sidewalk with sunlight on their shoulders and wind ruffling their hair. They looked like a pair of sisters.
They continued their stroll, grateful for the opportunity to bask in the warmth and beauty of the day.
“Hey, Bella, are those the new bounty posters?” Emma excitedly pointed at the public board. After seeing her excitement, Bella walked there with her and checked out several bounties out of curiosity.
“Huh?” Suddenly, Emma’s expression fell. “B-Bella, isn’t he…”
“Hmm?” Bella turned to the bounty in the question, and her mouth opened in shock. They saw a sketched image of somewhat-familiar looking person.
‘Ambrose…’ She quickly checked her friend list, and as she expected, there were two players—Rabbit and Ambrose.
Rabbit was Emma’s in-game name, while Bella’s was Dawn.
“Why does he have a bounty?” Emma asked while tightening her grip on Bella’s hand.
“Because…” Bella looked at the little girl and playfully squeezed her cheek. “People like him very much. See, it says Wanted, therefore he is very popular!”
Emma looked at her before giggling. It sounded ridiculous, but she acted along and nodded. “Yes, I like him very much too. He is great brother!”
Bella smiled, showing her cute dimples. “Should we take it with us? Something to remember him by.”
“Ah, that sounds good!” Emma giggled and tore the brown bounty poster off the public board, then hid it inside her inventory. She then grabbed Bella’s hand and ran away with a mischievous grin on her face.
After running far enough, Emma smiled and asked. “What about you? Do you also like him?”
Bella’s eyes widened before she giggled and pinched the little girl’s cheeks. “Yes, I do. Don’t tell him though; his ego might get too big.”
“I promise!” Emma replied with a mischievous grin.