After Soren and Kavenza left the DT duo behind, they decided to continue their hunt for a bit longer, but that proved to be fruitless, since now the lights were starting dim slowly, so they started making their way back. Thankfully, Soren had made a few landmarks on some the trees, so they didn't have much trouble getting back, but they did have one final encounter with a lone wolf that they finished swiftly.
After making their way back to the east gates of Crystalia City, the duo noticed that a woman in blue was standing in front of the city gates.
"Hmmm... I wonder for what or who is she waiting for?" Soren said casually. After reaching in front of the gates and showing the ID, the two of them made it into the city and started making their way back towatds Rohan's home to rest.
As the duo were on their way home, the woman also entered through the gates and started to follow them as well. Their first stop, for starters, was the Adventurer's Guild since they wanted to check if Rohan was waiting at the guild. The one to meet them though, was Jay.
"Soren, Lavenza, what is bringing the two of you here? I thought you would be still outside and setting up your camp." Jay asked with a hint of suprise.
"Hey Jay, we were checking to see if Rohan was waiting here in the guild." Soren said casually.
"Kyuu~?" Lavenza had a confused expression.
"What were you looking him for?" Jay asked curiously.
"Well... In reality there is a big monster crab, at the east outskirts of the city. So we thought to report it Rohan, but since you are here, we can just report it to you." Soren explained.
"Big monster crab? Can you describe it?"
"Let's see... First, it was around 2 meters tall and 5 meters wide. Second, it had a brown shell that was covered in barnacles. And last, it had two big claws and six legs." Soren explained.
"I see. Did you manage to check its status?" Jay asked.
"I did, actually. The monster's name was Geis Crab and it had an abnormally high amount of Vitality and Strength, while everything else was on the low end of the spectrum. It also knew earth and water magic, with the water magic having the higher level. Also it has some resistance against earth, water and physical damage, as well as the ability "hardshelled" which makes it resistant towards slashing and piercing attacks, while making it vulnerable against blunt attacks."
Once Soren finished his explaination, Jay and the adventurers who were listening, all looked at Soren with a shocked expression. The first one to speak was Jay.
"Ho-Hold it, just a second, Soren. You said that the monster's name was Geis Crab, right?" Jay asked anxiously.
"Yes."
"And you saw it, near the eastern outskirts of the city?"
"Yes."
"Have you told anyone else about it?"
"Hmmm... Well the only people who would know about this, would be me and Lavenza, the Double Trouble party and probably some of the staff of the Adventurer's Guild who issued the investigation."
At that moment, one of the adventurers who was holding a cup, dropped it after he heard Soren's explaination. Actually, everone was shocked by the Soren's explaination. The fact he managed to come close to the beast without getting noticed and the fact that there was one party ahead of everyone, made them completely furious. After that, everyone started swimming out of the guild, as if they were in a hurry. Seeing this situation, Soren couldn't help it but ask:
"What... is up with everyone right now, Jay?"
Jay first sighed and then said:
"The Geis Crab that you just mentioned, was actually a rare hunt that was issued around a year ago. At the time, the crab itself was worth its weight in gold coins and the status that you just gave was exactly the same as it was one year ago."
"Why was it, a rare hunt in the first place?" Soren asked curiously.
"Because of the customer. The man who issued that hunt, had put a reward of 150 gold coins, which was clearly overkill for a monster that would give trouble for rank D adventurers and below. Of course, at the time, it caused a lot of trouble for the newbies back then and for the business as well." Jay sounded like he was having a headache.
"Then who was the one who issued the-" Just as Soren was about to complete his question, Jay put his finger on Soren's mouth, closing it and said:
"Shuuuush! Classified. We can't say it under any circumstance." Jay said seriously.
"Then what about Rohan's request? How could you tell me that, when it was prohibited to say in the first place?"
"That's because the customer himself revealed it. Not us. If a customer wants to reveal their request, we won't stop them. We can't reveal it. They can."
"I see. Then can you at least say the reason for someone to put such a request in the first place?" Soren asked.
"We don't ask for reasons. We only do business. If they want to put up a request, they are free to do so, regardless to what ends it might be bringing." At that point, Jay had a cold voice, which unsettled Soren a bit.
*sigh* "Soren, it's better to not overthink things, alright? Some people do things, the way they want to, because they want to do them in that particular way. For today, just take a break. Tomorrow is a big day, so don't bother coming to the guild. Come at the day after that. Take care." Jay said, before he entered a door.
After Soren and Lavenza left, they decided to sit at the plaza that was near the guild. The place itself was filled with people entering and leaving shops, holding bags and whatnot and overall, it was a pretty cheery atmosphere. Soren himself though, was anything but cheery. That crab talk made him feel discomfort and was starting to think about the things Jay said. Lavenza on the other hand, was constantly seeing towards one direction only. After Soren noticed that, he also checked towards that direction and saw the woman in blue, staring at them from afar.
"Is she... looking for something in particular, or ...?" Soren felt a bit uneasy with the woman staring at them.
In the end, Soren decided to check something and said:
"Lavenza, let's go." After the duo left the plaza, the woman herself also followed behind them.
The sky had already darkened quite a bit, so the majority of the lights came from lantern poles and the nearby shops. After a bit of aimless wandering, Soren figured out that the woman was definitely stalking them and maybe she has been stalking them for quite a while, maybe even before returning to city, since she was waiting outside. This made Soren very uncomfortable, while Lavenza only had a look of confusion with Soren's weird actions.
"Lavenza, stay on my shoulder and hold on." Soren said quietly.
"Kyuu~?"
"Just trust me on this."
"Kyuu~."
Lavenza then landed on Soren's shoulder. At that moment Soren suddenly sped up and took a sudden turn to the left. The woman was suprised and tried to follow, but by the time she turned, she saw the duo disappear and when suddenly a hand toucher on her right shoulder from behind. The hand itself belonged to Soren and he was looking at the woman with an angry expression and said:
"May I ask what kind of business you have with us, since you have been stalking us for quite a while."
The woman herself was panicing a bit, since she had been found out, but kept her composure and said:
"I was minding my own business, of course. Can't help it, if our paths coincide." She said nonchalantly.
"Really? Well, here is the thing. I have been doing circles around the street and this circle, I have done it at least, three times, so I can't buy the fact that you just "happened" to have the same path as us." Soren said with a smug grin, while still having and angry expression and voice.
"Well I was looking for a friend of mine. Can't help that as well, trying to look for her in this city." She said with a slightly sad expression on her face.
'So you won't admit it easily, miss? Then let's how much she holds out.' That was Soren's thought.
"Well, if you were looking for your friend, wouldn't you have made a rendezvous in the first place, instead of having to look for them in the ententire city?" Soren said seriously.
"We had but, something came up and she couldn't make it there, so she told me to find her in one of the places she usually spends a lot of time, but no dice." The woman had a sadder expression than before.
"Then couldn't you contact her through her phone or something? Instead, why are you going all over the city?" Soren asked.
"I tried, but *sob* She didn't answer and ... uhh... Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!" She started to cry uncontrolably.
'Crap, did she really start crying? Better calm her down and quick!' Soren started to panic. a bit and decided to back off and calm her down.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. Look, sorry if I was badgering at you and looked like a scary guy. I won't ask anymore, you had to look for your friend and we somehow had the same exact route. If you want, I can help you look for her." Soren said nervously.
"It's alright. *sniff* I can do it myself. No need to worry about me." The woman started to calm down.
'This woman is deifinitely a handful.'
"Anyways, the only thing I can say is to not give up, alright? Take care and sorry for this mess." Soren said apologetically and then left with Lavenza.
The woman started swimming towards the opposite direction for a bit, before she continued stalking the duo again but much more cautiously.
'Too easy to trick you kid. But how did he catch me off guard, in the first place? Maybe the kid has more skill than I give him credit for?' The woman thought to herself before continuing on with following the duo.