Atlier set off in search of the suspicious character that the group of women in the town square had mentioned. A tall, lanky male with piercing blue eyes, black hair, a slight accent coupled with a deep voice in a pale pink suit should be extremely obvious. He made it his mission to find him by the end of the day. Pink was not the color of Saphia, and it was not commonly seen. It was equivalent to a giant flashing neon sign saying, 'Here's your guy!'. Atlier didn't want to risk waiting until the next day where the individual could potentially be wearing something much more subtle or have skipped town all together.
As he walked through the streets, he eyed a young woman who was looking around nervously. 'Possible victim?' Atlier thought as he made his way over to her. "Hello my dear, you seem troubled. Would you care to share your worries?" he gently grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, smiling and locking his gaze with hers as his lips met her flesh.
Judging by her clothes, she came from wealth. Her brown hair was done up with a few frontal curled strands cascading down the sides of her face. They created a frame of her youthful features and drew more attention to the red hue that painted her cheeks.
"H-hello," she said nervously, "thank you for your offer but I couldn't possibly burden a stranger with my worries." Atlier stood straight and smiled brightly, "Well, as it turns out, today I am making a special offer," he looked her up and down, "for such fine beauties. I am counting no such thing as a burden."
The young girl giggled and broke eye contact, staring off to the side in embarrassment as she brought a hand to her cheek. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and began to fan herself in an attempt to cool off.
"Well, you see. I was leaving the café when this strange fellow approached me telling me that I had been specially selected for a prize. When I inquired further, he tried to have me follow him to another location. I said to him, 'Sir that would be most inappropriate for a lady such as myself to follow you unsupervised!' and as I tried to walk away, he began to follow me! I had to make so many quick twists and turns to get him off my back, but I'm worried he may pop up again."
Atlier smiled at how quickly the story came out, it seemed the nerves she had initially was just an act for him. His mind began to wander from the task at hand as he wondered if Mia would ever do such a thing. It didn't last long though as he quickly snapped himself back to reality. He shook his head and proceeded to ask if the young woman if the man was wearing a pale pink suit.
She nodded, "Yes, he was. He also had a peculiar accent and black hair. His eyes! Oh, his eyes! If only he wasn't such a strange man, he was quite attractive!" This confirmed that he was indeed the same man that Atlier was searching for, although he couldn't entirely agree on the attractive part of her sentiment.
After parting ways from the young woman, he continued to search the streets, keeping his peeled for the man in question. He stopped a few times to ask around to see if anyone else had encountered him. Some of the said no, but majority said yes. One older woman provided extra information stating that the man didn't seem like he was native to Saphia. She also stated that she lived in Saphia her entire life and knew all of the locals and knew of many returning guests even if she'd never met them herself, which Atlier knew must be true since she knew he was Duke Montz, although she didn't know of this man at all.
'Not native to Saphia' Atlier mentally added the note to his profile of the suspect. He continued to search until it was almost night fall.
The sunset created a beautiful orange hue over the city and the streets began to thin out as people returned to their homes and shops began to close. Atlier's eyes began to sting from the amount of strain he put on them while sifting through the crowds.
Just as Atlier was beginning to lose hope, he spotted a pale pink blob dart into an alley way. Atlier chased after it, this had to be the man, it had to be! As he entered the alley way, he kept his guard up, not knowing if a trap or a mob of men lay ahead of him.
Atlier breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the end of the alley way and saw only the tall lanky man in the pale pink suit with about a dozen bouquets of vibrant blue flowers. Atlier cleared his throat, causing the man to turn around. The man's hair was black, and he had piercing blue eyes.
"Sir?" Atlier asked. The man looked nervous, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong, but at the same time he did not look guilty. "Y-yes?" The man answered in a deep voice.
"Are you aware that you've made many women uncomfortable today?" Atlier stood tall with his chest puffed out, complete confidence and power emanating from his very being. The man looked down and sighed, "I just wanted to promote an event my shop was having…" Slight accent, check. This was definitely Atlier's man.
While he looked harmless enough, Atlier still kept his guard up. He eyed the bouquets and wondered to himself, 'Poison? Perhaps in the thorns or dusted over the flowers? Or something that will render them unconscious?'
"What event could there be that you would attempt to lure women here, to this back alley?"
The man sighed, "I have just moved here from Uniska. I spent my life savings on this shoppe," he motioned to a door that led into the building next to them. It was run down and looked like an abandoned storage facility that one of the other nearby shoppes probably used at one point. "I believed I was getting a deal on a space, but no one comes down this way. I decided to do an event where I would tell women they won a prize and bring them to my shop. I would give them a discount on any of their purchases and gift them one my bouquets in hopes that they would spread the word about my shoppe. I can't afford to keep it if I continue like this."
Atlier felt bad for the man, it was clear by his expression how much he was negatively affected by the situation. "May I look inside?" Atlier asked, motioning to the door. The man nodded excitedly and quickly opened it up for him, holding the door open for Atlier to enter.
The door itself looked as if it was on its last legs of life and the interior walls also looked like they had seen better days. However, the man had obviously put a lot of work into decorating the store itself. Shelves neatly lined the walls and products were neatly placed and organized atop them. A beautiful rug sat in the middle of the space and there were flowers and greens filling up the areas where merchandise was missing.
If it were in a different location, the shoppe would definitely be a hit with customers. Atlier cautiously entered and browsed through the merchandise. "You have quite an array of items." He stated. The man followed him in and excitedly stuck by Atlier's side. "Oh yes, my brother in Uniska runs a mine and he sends me everything they do not use. I take those materials and turn them into products!"
Atlier picked up a stone horse sculpture, its eyes were made of rose quartz and its mane and tail were made of onyx. "They do not use these materials in Uniska?" Atlier found that peculiar, as both rose quartz and onyx were of high value in Baska.
"No, they are not, these are thrown away usually, but I find them beautiful, so I've discovered ways to turn them into something of worth." The man seemed pleased and excited at Atlier's interest in his work. Atlier continued to examine all the different sculptures. The craftsmanship was impeccable, each item looked like it could come to life at any minute.
"If you would really like for people to come into your shop you should put a sign by the alley and take your wares to the street until you build up your reputation, so people won't feel that a shop in the alley way is a scam."
The man looked dejected, "I have no money to invest in a sign. I spent the last of my budget on these bouquets."
"Then I will take this," Atlier picked up one of the sculptures and handed the man a large sum of money, "Use the money to invest in a sign. Oh, and raise your prices. They are much too low." The man got on his knees and burst into tears of joy, "Thank you sir, thank you! Thank you!"
Atlier left and returned to his room at the hotel. He would have to do more investigating. Surely that couldn't have been the man from the lead he was following.