On his way back to the hotel, Silas once again saw the protest in the plaza. This time, he had a bit of understanding of their goal—they were seeking justice for their relatives who went missing and were later found dead. This reminded him of what Finn told him, about how this similar event led to a Witch Hunt.
'Finn knowing about these things makes him suspicious,' he thought as his eyes roamed the plaza.
A figure in white and golden robes caught his attention—the Lightservants were watching the commotion just a few meters away from the protesters. They seemed to be in the middle of discussing something. It bothered him. He stepped back and put a hat over his head. The urgency of this quest had finally dawned on him.
'If I ever fail, this will escalate into a situation that might endanger me.'
Their shouts receded behind him as he joined the crowd. 'If Tirash went for the worst, the first ones suspected would be strangers, people who weren't part of the city's local residents were bound for suspicion.'
As he walked in the alley, a girl carrying a gray cat in her hand stopped him and raised her free hand.
"Bless you, good sir. A Shield for a poor soul and her dirty cat, please? Our bellies ache with hunger; we have not eaten for almost a week."
As if to prove what the girl said, the cat meowed at him. Silas handed coins to her. Perhaps he had given her more than she thought she would receive, for the girl kept thanking him.
'And when they're done with strangers like us, it will be their turn.' He glanced at the homeless in the alley, staring at him with empty eyes. The thought of it made his stomach retch. He hurried back to his hotel.
Once he was in his room, he opened the [Questbook]. The stakes of the quest had pushed him to create a plan. He couldn't just rely on what the System told him. [Quest I] asked him to investigate a number of streets, but seeing that he wasn't expected to look for something would only mean that this was a [Patrol Quest]. It was a type of quest that tasked players to wait for a specific event to unfold and intervene with it.
"But intervening alone is not enough," he paced before the window, overlooking the busy street below. 'I might as well do something that wasn't in the quest when that time comes.'
He closed the [Questbook] and laid on his bed, soon he found himself blinking in sleep.
---
He woke up to the sound of a horn coming from the street below. Silas turned sideways and looked at the clock attached to the wooden walls of his room. His room was simple—a single bed, a varnished bedside table beside it, and a brass chair in the far corner that looked out of place. Looking at his room from this direction made him think he was in a prison.
It was eight in the evening when he finally decided to have his dinner. They served him roasted beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, and a dessert similar to ice cream with fog pouring out from a small cup.
The hotel didn't present any merriment after dinner, unlike what most small inns offered. He ended up spending the next hours sitting on a chair as he read a day-old newspaper. But it seemed even the journalists in Tirash agreed to hide what was happening in their city.
He folded the newspaper as soon as he heard the bell toll. Outside, the moon was nowhere to be seen. A number of clouds and smoke from the many chimneys of both houses and factories had blocked its blue glow.
Across the street, nearly half of the shops were already closed, while the others were preparing to shut down for the night. He opened his [Map] and located the direction of Tirash Commercial District. He decided he should start first with the street he was already familiar with.
Unlike the street where his hotel was, Tirash Commercial Corner was still very much alive even at this time of the night. Small stalls that he didn't see in the morning were now standing right before the bigger stores. Each stall sold their own products: foods, amulets, small automatons, and even books! It was like a night bazaar. He went to those places with his friends after spending their day grinding in Heroes of Destiny.
Brightly lit lamps of different colors covered the street. Silas saw yellow, blue, green, and even violet, which he found hard to look at. He gulped at seeing the sea of people that filled the street. He wondered what was intended for him to discover in this street.
Soon he found himself in the section of the street where people sold divination services. Three tables with red mantles and a ball of crystal at each center stood side by side, the fortunetellers of each table dressed in elaborate robes and thin veils which added an ambiance to their services.
A stall selling different colorful amulets and talismans made of thin wooden blocks caught his attention. There was a note in the store saying that the owner was a known artificer of amulets and talismans. For a moment, he thought of showing him the necklace he got from Arachne, but a running kid bumped into him.
Silas crouched down to help the kid, but he caught himself listening to the conversation between two men across the street.
"We must do the next deed tonight."
The speaker was a tall and sturdy man with broad shoulders. Even from this direction, Silas could see a visibly white scar that ran from his nape to the right of his face. The man beside him was in contrast to how he looked. He was thin, sickly-looking, making him appear as if he was malnourished. As he turned to the tall man, Silas saw his protruding cheekbones.
He spoke a reply, but the sudden shouts of running children in the streets rendered him deaf.
"We can't be late. We must find a one-armed person before this night ends. I have a doll. We don't need to cut her just like last time."
Something about how serious they talked told him that they were not talking about dolls. Silas crossed the street to where they were and pretended to be inspecting the amulets being sold three stores away from them. His attention was caught by a simple amulet with a circular red stone enclosed in an intricate brass embellishment.
"How much?" he asked the little girl sitting on an old wooden chair.
"Grandma sells everything for 150 [Shields], the red ones are for… knowing where a person is. I forget the right word."
Silas smiled and paid 200 [Shields] for the red amulet. "The 50 [Shields] is for you, use it however you like."
He felt amused at how everything seemed to be going his way. The suspicious man left the shop and was now heading towards his direction. They passed through a blue streetlamp and for a moment, he met eyes with the sickly man. He averted his gaze as his heart drummed in his chest.
When they were already too close to him, Silas took a sharp turn as if he was just rushing to get to the next store. His body slammed against the shoulder of the tall man. He found himself hissing from the pain he felt as he fell to the ground.
He looked up and saw them watching him.
"Watch where you're going next time," the man said as he walked past him.
Someone in the street offered to help him. He looked back as soon as he was on his feet. The relief he felt at that moment was beyond anything he had experienced.
"Boy, are you okay? You seem pale and stricken," the woman who offered her hand asked him.
He frowned at her only to realize that his hands were indeed trembling. He nodded at her and walked without saying a word.
[The investigation of Tirash Commercial Corner is complete.]