It’s a beautiful day outside. The sun is out shining, and the cool breeze is really nice in the hot weather. I never thought I would say this, but walking to work really is one of the highlights to my day. Coming up on Baron Wisefang’s mansion, like I do everyday, I see Noelle standing outside looking around frantically. Huh, that’s weird. She’s never outside the front entrance like this. Whenever she goes outside, it’s in the garden.

“Kiaran, there you are! I’ve been waiting for you!” She seems really worried, and that’s also causing me to worry, so I run up to her. 

“What’s wrong, Noelle? What happened?” 

“It’s the magic stone that father was selling to Pitiful’s men, it’s gone.” What? Just what? How the hell could that have happened?

“Pitiful’s men didn’t steal it, did they?” 

“That wouldn’t be like them. Besides, there’s no way they did it. They were all accounted for when it would’ve had to have gone missing.” 

“I see…” Thinking, if all of Pitiful’s men were accounted for, unless there's some sort of magic that allows for making body doubles, then they’re not the ones who stole it. According to my understanding, Baron Wisefang has no reason to hide it. I don’t know how it was handled, so the idea of a servant misplacing it by mistake and leaving can’t be waved away… There’s also the possibility that one of Pitiful’s enemies stole it to interfere with her… no, too little information to be thinking about that kind of thing right now.

“Noelle, what is everyone doing right now?” 

“Baron Wisefang and all of his servants are assisting a few of Pitiful’s men search everywhere in the manor for it.” Even Baron Wisefang’s searching for it? Just how valuable is this thing? 

“Do you know when it would have had to have gone missing?” 

“Father says anywhere between 1 and 7 in the morning today.” It’s still recent then. 

“Who was the last one to see it, and who reported it missing?” 

“Virginia is supposed to make sure it’s there every night, and Father was the one who first found it wasn’t there.” Virginia then?

“Noelle, where is Virginia right now?” 

“I don’t know, somewhere in the mansion. She’s definitely searching for it now.” 

“What about your father? He’s searching for it now, what did he do when he found it missing?” 

“He started panicking and crying like a little girl. He told everyone in the manor to search while he went and apologized to Ruse. He’s back now and helping search. A few of Pitiful’s men also came with him to help.” I didn’t need to know all that, but knowing that Pitiful’s men are here helps me.

Alright, I made my mind up. “Is Ruse here?” 

“Yes, he is.” 

“Alright Noelle, listen to me.” I kneel down to Noelle’s level and place my hands on her shoulders. 

“I’m going to go and find Virginia so I can ask her a couple questions. You go and find your father and Ruse, and tell them that I want to speak to them. Can you do that?” 

“Mhm!” 

“Alright.” I stand up and give Noelle a thumbs up. 

“I’m counting on you, Noelle!” 

“Right!” Then we both bolt into the mansion, heading in different directions. We’re both looking for different people, after all!

><><><><

Running around the mansion, it’s clear that its seen better days. Paintings have been taken off the walls, rugs have been rolled up, every single door and cabinet has been opened and gone through, even some of the walls have been broken into. Just how valuable is this damn stone?! Given how the servants are treating the mansion, it might even cost more than the mansion. Crazy stuff.

After running through the halls for a few minutes, I spot long, flowing, magenta hair next to a huge pile of random stuff that seems to have been gathered from several rooms. No mistaking it, no one else has hair that blindingly obvious! 

“Virginia!” She turns around to look at me, her face and her clothes are all dirty. 

“Kiaran… you aren’t in uniform yet…” 

“As if that’s important right now! Besides, look at yourself!”

Virginia looks down, looking all sad and stuff. “You’re right, I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…” 

“Don’t worry, we’ll talk later. Virginia, I need to ask you a few questions. Please answer them?” 

“Alright, alright. Go ahead. It’s not as if I’m doing anything of use anyway…” I begin my question rundown.

Q: Where was the magic stone hidden?

A: A secret compartment in an area of the basement.

Q: What security measures were in place before it disappeared?

A: It’s kept secretly behind a wall, there’s a super complex lock in place and only one key, and there’s two guards down there at any given time

Q: What condition are the security measures in, currently?

A: The lock was opened with no signs of struggle or damage. The key to the lock has not been moved since Virginia last saw it, and both the guards were decapitated.

This one really shocks me. Shouldn't Noelle have mentioned this? Wait, no, she’s ten, it wouldn’t make any sense if anybody did tell her that happened. That also means there’s no way the thing was just replaced. This confirms that it was stolen.

“Thank you again for answering all my questions, Virginia.” 

“It’s no issue. If I’m of any service at all, I will gladly answer.” 

“Kiaran! Kiaran!” I suddenly hear from the entrance of the room. 

“Oh, Noelle! How did it go?” 

“Father’s waiting for you in his office. I still haven’t found Ruse.” 

“Thank you Noelle! Sorry Virginia, I have to go.”

I leave right away, but when I get out of the room, Noelle tugs on my sleeve. “One important thing though, Kiaran! Father’s in a really bad mood right now. I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk to him right now. It would be much better for us to both look for Ruse.” 

I pat Noelle on the head. “Sorry, but I really have to talk to him. Keep looking for Ruse, I’ll be fine.” 

“Alright… if you say so…” Noelle looks really worried, but runs off anyway. Alright, time to talk with Baron Wisefang.

><><><><

The vibe in Baron Wisefang’s office is totally different to how it usually is. It feels really heavy. Looking at Baron Wisefang, it’s obvious that he’s super stressed out. 

“Kiaran… my daughter said that you wanted to speak with me…” He sounds 30 years older than he usually does too! 

“Yes sir, I do. It’s about the stone.”

“Of course it is. What do you want, Kiaran? Don’t tell me you have information.” 

“Sorry, but not anything you don’t already know.” I answer honestly. Baron Wisefang puts his head in his hands, all depressed-like. 

“What do you want then?” Noelle wasn’t kidding when she said he was in a bad mood. Still though, I can’t give up, so I try to keep my voice as happy as possible. 

“I would like to take another servant with me around Heafdes to help search for the stone.”

Baron Wolffang looks at me, with an expression I can’t quite tell the meaning of. All I know is that it isn’t happiness. After a long silence, he finally opens his mouth. “Take Heather with you. Do what you want…” 

“Thank you sir, the two of us will find the stone, you can count on us.” I say before leaving his office. Alright, first order of business done, now to go and grab Heather..

><><><><

I had intended to find Heather first, but if I come across Ruse, it’s not like I can just tell him to wait. What I come across while looking for Heather is Ruse and Noelle arguing in the halls. Noelle is shouting at him, while Ruse looks like he really wants to be doing anything else. “Oh, hey Kiaran! I found Ruse!”

I quickly run up to Ruse. “Thanks, Noelle!” 

“Alright, fine. I’ll listen to you for a second. What is it that you want?” Ruse says, extremely annoyed.

“I want to help you find the magic stone.” 

“Not interested.” He replies instantly. 

“How rude! Doesn’t having as many heads working on the problem as possible raise the chances it’ll be found?” 

“Look, kid. Just leave it to us. This is far too dangerous of a situation for you to be getting involved in.”

Dangerous? What is he talking about? Oh right, the two guards did get their heads split off, didn’t they? That completely slipped my mind… And if the thief was trying to get in the way of a royal selection candidate… 

“Even then, I still want to help.” I say. Ruse looks annoyed. 

“Why?” 

“Because of what you told me yesterday. You were right yesterday, about me. At my core, I really don’t know what kind of person I am. But the least I can do is help people out wherever I can. I wouldn’t mind turning out to be that kind of person, I think.”

Ruse narrows his eyes at me. “You wanna be a hero, huh? Will you keep helping out wherever you can, even if your life is in danger?” 

“I would like to figure that much out, sir.” Ruse turns his head. 

“Screw it, do what you want.” 

“Does that mean you’ll let me search with you?!” 

“Don’t put words in my mouth, kid. Do as you please, but don’t expect help from me. If you die from poking your nose where it shouldn’t be, so be it.” 

“Alright, I understand, let’s go Noelle.” 

“Right…”

Noelle and I leave Ruse. That could have gone a lot better, but if he won’t interfere with me, then that’s OK too. “What are we doing now, Kiaran?” “We’re going to search for Heather. Your father gave me permission to take her wherever I need.” 

“Alright, I understand.”

><><><><

“Hello sir? This might be really reaching, but have you seen anybody enter the Wisefang manor from 1 to 7 in the morning? No? Could anyone else you know could’ve seen that? No? Alright, alright, I apologize for taking your time.” And then they shut the door on me. That was the sixth person I’ve asked. 

“Kiaran, I’ve asked five people and no one’s said anything.” Says Heather. Clearly she hasn’t had much success either.

“We’ll cover the rest of the houses that have some sort of good view of the mansion, and if nothing comes up, we’ll try something else.”

After a few more houses I finally got something. The person I asked lived on the scond floor of a rather large house right in front of Baron Wisefang’s mansion. He was a tall bir man with white and blue feathers. He used his wings to open the door. Even though he wasn’t a human, I could tell that he was really tired and groggy. I had probably just woken him up. I feel kind of bad about that, but he gave me the first useful piece of information so far.

“Oh, yeah, I saw a woman with pitch black hair walk into the mansion at around 2… she came out no more than 20 minutes after that and left.” 

“Other than the hair, did you notice any distinguishing features?” 

“Hair that black is really rare, that should be distinguishing enough. Other than that though, she was wearing a dark grey coat made of feathers.” 

“Alright, I understand. Thank you for your time.” After that, I ran over to Heather, telling her we have a lead. 

“Huh, finally?” 

“Yeah. Our main suspect is a woman with pitch black hair and a coat made out of feathers. I heard that this kind of hair is rare, what can you tell me about it?” 

“Pitch black hair? That’s usually associated with the vampire queen… Any race can have it, but it might be an indication she isn’t human. She doesn’t have to be a vampire though.”

Pitch black hair means that they might not be human? Azariah has it, so I know it’s not impossible but given what Heather’s said, humans having it seems really rare. I also need to keep in mind that Azariah had her appearance changed when we were summoned. That probably has something to do with how her hair turned out.

Thinking more about it, other than Azariah, I don’t think I’ve interacted with or even seen anybody with hair like that, and I’ve seen a lot of people. That means this is probably a super rare trait, which goes along with what Heather said. It should make her really noticeable. For now though, I want to focus on her race and anything that might give it away, since we think she might not be human.

“So not human then? Would that help with picking the lock? Do you know of any races that would likely be able to do that?” 

“There’s tons of different races, and being able to pick a complex lock and find a secret compartment really doesn’t narrow it down very much.” 

“Alright, I understand. Now I’ll head to the city gates and ask if anyone’s come through looking like that recently. You go to the Knight’s Order Headquarters, and ask for any criminals that have that hair. Given how noticeable that sort of thing should be, it should be easy to get that kind of information.” 

“Alright, I will.” Heather and I then split up.