The days flew by as Diane taught Folorunsho Revel Reinforcement. The young man was a quick learner and was able to strengthen himself using the energy of the universe after a week. However, he was yet again limited by the amount of Revel he could use, limiting the extent to which he could reinforce himself.
"As long as you can master reinforcement, then you Revel can come later," Diane said during their last training session. "There exists a way to increase your capacity, but it might not work, and even if it does, it will not be by a huge margin,"
Folorunsho did not let these words linger in his mind. Right now, he had a job to focus on. Alice had handed him a photograph that morning when he came into the UFLO. The picture showed a young woman with a kinky afro and caramel skin. Her hazel eyes were barely visible from underneath her mass of hair. She was smiling widely in the shit, revealing a dimple on her left cheek.
"That's Lola," Alice explained. "She's the daughter of the Mayor of Meiden, a town not too far from Raudis. She was kidnapped a few days ago and the UFLO and police have been tracking her nonstop but to no avail,"
"Why are you giving this request to me?" Folorunsho asked. "I'm not a tracker,"
"I know, but I'd thought you'd want a shot at the money being offered for finding her. It's half a million Durl,"
Folorunsho's jaw dropped. With that kind of money, he could move from his dingy apartment, and get a new hovercraft and even a small aircraft.
"So you're taking it up?" Alice asked.
"Duh!" He replied as he put the picture in his pocket.
"Just so you know, there's a time limit for this request. The kidnappers have asked for a ransom that will be delivered tonight. You'll have to find her before then or no dice,"
The hovercraft Folorunsho was in came to a halt. He quickly paid the fair and stepped out to Meiden. This was the third residential area he had visited since he had been in Pedtro, and was by far the worst looking. All the buildings were either rusted or faded, with paint peeling off the walls. The architecture of these houses was so old, one could have mistaken it for something that came out of the Second Age. The roads were in no better condition, with concrete and asphaltic being scattered around the floor in sparse patches all over the light brown dirt that the people walked on.
The people were in no better condition than their town either. The roads were brimming with individuals all doing a myriad of things, from selling food or getting to work or even trying to get passengers on a vehicle without flight capabilities. Their clothes all seemed old and faded, emphasising their poor quality of life.
Folorunsho could not help but wonder how the Mayor of Meiden could afford to pay a freelancer 500,000 Durl when his people were living in abject poverty. Though the matter piqued his interest, Folorunsho was not being paid to let the Mayor know how to run his town better than it was. He took out the photo he was given and began to search for the Mayor's daughter.
Reactions were mixed among the people when he showed them the girl's picture. A good portion of people were seemingly apathetic about the ordeal and often ignored Folorunsho when he tried to question them. Another set of people seemed sympathetic to Lola's plight, describing her as a helpful person who often gave aid to those in need. The larger portion of people could not care less about her, outright calling her a horrible person.
"All those wealthy bastards are the same!" One man yelled before spitting on the ground. "They only care about themselves and their wallets. The only time you'll see one of 'em here is when it's time to line up their pockets! I hope that bitch gets killed!"
"You're not going to make much progress like that," A voice said from behind Folorunsho.
He turned around a tall man leaning against a wall. His salt and pepper hair fell short around his shoulders and his beard was neatly trimmed. His face was covered in faint wrinkles, especially around his dark brown eyes and on his forehead. Folorunsho could tell from the way he carried himself that he was also a freelancer.
"Are you here for the kidnap request?" He asked.
"Was," The man replied. "But I was getting nowhere. The locals aren't that helpful either,"
"Some seemed to care,"
"Yeah, well some of them are the ones who took the girl in the first place, and I doubt they'll be willing to rat each other out to a stranger. I say you should quit while you're ahead. I'm taking another job,"
The veteran freelancer walked off, being swallowed by the crowd the further he got. Folorunsho did not heed his advice though and continued his questioning. By the time the sun was setting, he was no closer to finding her than when he had started.
As he made his way down the streets, Folorunsho became painstakingly aware that he was being followed by a group of people. From what he could tell thereby were no less than 5 of them. He recognised 2 as people who showed their disgust towards Lola when he asked about her. Whether or not they had a connection to the kidnappers or had just gotten sick of seeing Folorunsho around asking about her was not important. He could not afford to be caught by them.
Folorunsho steadily increased his pace but his pursuers followed suit. He tried to blend in with the crowd but he stood out like a sore thumb. Even his attempts at manoeuvring were foiled by the large number of people present and his unfamiliarity with the roads. Folorunshglanceded back. They were almost upon him, pushing further to get to him.
Just as the closest one stretched out his hand to grab the back of Folorunsho's shirt, the freelancer took a sudden turn and stepped into a building. Once in, he made sure to lock the doors behind him. He peaked through a window to see if they would come inside as well. However, they seemed reluctant to enter the building and eventually decided to leave.
Despite his pursuers being gone, Folorunsho was not about to step out yet. They had probably gone to wait for him to come out, so he was either going to wait them out or find a different exit. But before he could do any of that, he had to figure out where he had just gone.