Quendest is a nice place all in all, quiet, peaceful, even a bit quaint in a good way. It's known for its top-quality silk and clothes, coming from the large population of a type of spider-like monster that produces not only beautiful silk but as well extremely sturdy silk that lives close by. Such, you can understand how it's gotten its reputation, I can, at least.
As well as being a place filled to the brim with quality silk, there's a number of talented blacksmiths that work in Quendest, making quality tools, weapons, and armour. The surrounding walls were sturdy and as well, Quendest is a part of Draila territory almost guaranteeing your safety while staying in the place.
Such, it's not exactly a mystery why Quendest is such a popular place, and why we're currently staying here. Though, I do have one complaint...
There are too many people here.
Honestly, this place is almost as crowded as The Capital, and that's saying something. Quendest is the second most populated human city in the entire world, right next to The Capital of Draila in terms of population. You can get how having so many people in one place can lead to... some problems. You know, the more people, the easier people get distracted and don't notice certain things, such, a lot of crimes happen in Quendest. Kidnappings, thievery, murder, all things that happen here. What, I said it was peaceful? Sure, it is, on the outside...
Why are we actually staying here, you ask? See, for that exact reason, all the crime. We received a sort of message from that King that summoned us... and by message, I mean a person dressed in all black came out of nowhere and told us, and I'm directly quoting what they said here:
'There's been a recent spike in criminal activity in Quendest, stop them. As well, his Majesty wishes to see your progress in the next tournament, make sure to be back in the Capital in ten days.'
Honestly, that was a lot of information to take in at that moment, and it was also a bit irritating he didn't give us any more information other than that... How exactly are we supposed to do that? If it was some sort of organization then we could just track them down and take them all down... I'm hoping it's that since he mentioned it was a sudden increase, not a slow one.
Well, we did get one thing that could help us, an emblem. Or, what I would have to assume is some sort of symbol showing that you are a part of their organization. It's a small thing, maybe an inch tall and the same wide. Its main shape is of a circle with a line stretching across its middle, a dark gray in colour. A simple design, but easily recognizable with its middle being a dark red.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, we're currently just staying in our inn after getting our new equipment... Well, Togeshi is out doing something or whatever, but Akane is with me, just leaning against the wall, thinking.
Hm... I believe she has a skill that could help us here.
"Akane," She turned to look at me, raising a single eyebrow, "You have a skill called 'tracking,' right? Could you remind me of what it does?"
"Huh? Yeah... I think I do, I got it when we were trying to track down a group of bandits, remember? You think it could help us with our current task or whatever?" She questioned my motives of asking, not actually answering my question.
"Yes, I do. What does it do?"
"Oh... it's sorta like a dog's ability to track with scent, you know? I can determine where an item has come from when activated, though, sometimes it can get a bit complicated considering it can come up with a lot of places."
I stood up, walking over to her and handing the emblem to her, "Use it on this."
"Huh...? Oh, right, if we the tracking skill on this emblem thing, we can find out where it came from... Not sure how I didn't think of that, guess you're the smartest one out of all of us."
"Hardly, now...?" I held out the emblem to her closer.
"Right, right." She took it, seemingly activating the skill, remaining motionless with her eyes closed for a full fifteen minutes. During that time, I merely waited, staring at her.
Her eyes blinked open, obviously quite concerned.
"H-hey," She stuttered, "Where did Togeshi go to again?"
"What is it, where did the badge come from? And I'm sure Togeshi is still in town, you know him."
"I know he is, but where exactly did he say he was going to?!" She raised her voice, obviously becoming more and more worried.
"The... Blue Bear Tavern, I believe. He wanted to learn more about Quendest and the surrounding area. Seriously, what's the problem." At this point, her concern was rubbing off on me, what exactly is going on?
"Well, that's the problem! This thing has been to a lot of places, but there's one place this thing has been to more than anywhere else."
"... The Blue Bear Tavern." It finally clicked.
"And what exactly do you think he'd do if he saw anything suspicious? You know how vigilant he is."
"..." I stayed silent for a moment, "We need to get there as soon as possible."