Chapter 63: The Fox Beetle
"What can we do for you today lord Kaijuu?"
I take out the card and hand it to him.
"I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about this, if you don't mind"
He takes it and examines it. He's wearing a grey suit no tie and black shoes.
Corporate 101. Neat hairstyle short.
"It could be one of ours, we don't usually give out client information, lets see here."
He takes it to a table and holds it under a self standing magnifying glass with a light.
"This was made by one of our companies, The 7th street branch called Kilter Graphics."
"How can you tell?"
"This work was done by Stephen Milky, the design I mean. Look"
I walk over. He hands me the card and points to the bottom right.
"Have a look."
I examine the spot he pointed out. can barely make out the words 'Designer: Stephen Milky'
"Do you know this Stephen?"
"Not personally, no, I bought out all the other signage shops in Vincent and kept their names as is, most of them still have the original owners running it for me, you see.
Jeanette!"
A brunette woman comes in and bows.
"Yes sir"
"Please supply lord Kaijuu here with the address of Kilter Graphics."
"Right away sir."
She leaves.
"Will there be anything else?"
"No, but thank you."
Jeanette comes in, he walks past me and takes the note she wrote. he heads over to his desk and takes out a stamp. Then stamps the back.
"Just show Johnathan this stamp when you ask about that card, he'll help you once he sees this."
"I understand, thank you again."
I take the note.
I leave.
Jonathan is going through his records with Stephen I assume.
"Ah here it is!"
he puts the book in front of me and points to a name:
'| KV489 | CT | Kevin Yamada | Logo Design and Business Cards | Pickup | |2049-09-15 | PAID |'
"I apologize but this is all we can do for now"
I look at Stephen:
"Do you remember anything about him perhaps?"
"I'm sorry sir, I remember the design but not the guy"
"Thank you"
I take a note and write down his name. 'Kevin Yamada'
I leave.
It's getting dark, let's call it a day. I head home.
"How was your day?"
Felmina asks over dinner, everyone's there including Elizabeth.
"I made some progress but, I'm not sure how to find someone I'm looking for."
"Who are you looking for, can I help?"
Milly looks up as she asks.
"I may need your help soon, but for now I need to find this guy first."
"Why don't you just use the Kaijuu bears to help you look?"
Roka chimes in.
I put my fist on my palm. Why didn't I think of that.
Elizabeth looks up:
"Excuse me, Did this person perhaps do something bad?"
"You could say that."
"Then perhaps have your men tell the people they ask that he won something, you might scare him off otherwise."
"That's a great idea, thank you both."
"So you guys head into town and find me this Kevin Yamada, tell the people you ask that he won a voucher for a free dinner at Lorenzo's for 7. But you need confirmation before you hand it over. Then bring him here if you can. Don't be too pushy once you find him. Just report back to me with what you find."
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""Yes, Sir"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Now go!"
Gregory Miller one of the Kaijuu Tardigrade bears reports early afternoon the following day:
"I've found him sir. He's working at a flower shop in the commercial district. I didn't approach"
"Good, we'll head there tomorrow and you can point him out"
"Yes Sir"
That evening I tell the troops we found him. They look kind of discouraged. I dismiss the normal bears.
Only the Tardigrade bears remain.
"As a reward for your hard work I'll tell you about the next stage of your training. Gregory."
He steps forward.
"Yes sir."
"What's your level right now."
"215 sir!"
"I'll give you guys a head start, you may leave as soon as tomorrow. You are to collect the slabs you made before hell week, and drag it all the way to the Moonlight district. The point of this exercise is to drop your levels until you reach 100, once there you real training will begin. I'll see you there once I'm done with my honeymoon, Good luck!"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""Yes, Sir"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I take Milly with me the next day, we wait about 30 minutes and approach the guy Gregory pointed out earlier.
"Kevin Yamada, I presume"
"Yes, we are already closed sir please come back tomorrow."
I look at Milly, she notices and grabs his arm.
"Wait what are you, I don't have any money."
She turns to me:
"It's him."
"I see, Please come with us, I'd prefer not to use force if necessary. Ah I don't want to rob you either, I just have some questions for you."
He takes a step back.
"Please this way."
I gesture to a carriage that pulls up, Sebastian is driving.
He slumps his shoulders forward and looks down.
"Fine"
He gets in
We do too, I unroll the encryption cloth and say.
"Please insert some mana here so we won't be overheard, whatever you tell me will remain here."
He does what I ask. He looks kind of scared. I would be too given the situation.
"I need your help, I personally don't care what you do in your spare time but a client of mine wants something you stole back."
I take out the illustration, he looks at it and jumps.
"I-i've never seen that before."
"Look I only want it back, If you can produce it I'll let you go. There's no need for you to be handed off to the guards, maybe even executed."
He goes white.
"He's from your world Ryu, he once saw a anime of a notorious thief and--"
"STOOP!!, She'll ruin my side of things. I'll tell you, I'll tell you!"
He crosses his arms as he stops Milly.
"Go ahead."
I sit back.
He calms himself.
"Just tell me one thing, how did you find me?"
"Yo--"
Milly touches my arm, stopping me. She shakes her head.
I see.
"I'll tell you after we recovered the necklace."
He crosses his arms and sits back.
"Fine."
"So Fox Beetle-san where are we headed?"
"The Black Lagoon Seafood Grill, to the east of town."
"Got it."
I Knock on the carriage 4 times. We premade a signal with Sebastian after I locked the carriage door. 1 - North, 2 - West you get the picture...
We're moving.
"If you want to tell your side of the story I'll listen but I can just get the details from her later."
He holds up his hand
"No, I'll tell it, I have a feeling she'll ruin it. Where to begin?...
Ok so In our old world I was a real thief, Until I got caught that is, I was in prison for 2 of my 5 years when I suddenly woke up here one morning. You know the drill, I went to find employment and started as a florist, It's what my mom used to do. Anyways I noticed the lack of police and the lax security everywhere, It's like they where begging me to take their things. It started small, shoplifting items here and there, then I remembered this anime I used to watch, I can't remember what it was called, but the thief sent a calling card beforehand. I had some cards made, I ain't stupid so I used cash and made sure to disguise myself. I sent the first one and I was Ignored, so I stole what I set out to, the second time I was ignored too, so I did it again, by the third They started wising up, so I played a little trick, I wrote at the back of the card that I'd already replaced the item with a perfect forgery, I stole it the following night. Ah by the way that necklace was my second theft. For my last job I sent a card to the place and they hired permanent guards, so I broke into that same duke's other collection next door and took something else."
I listen closely, he's bragging, maybe he wanted to tell someone and get some recognition.
"Are you done?"
"I am, so what do you think?"
"I think the way you went about it was correct, however I still caught you, so there's that."
I take out cuffs from the box next to me.
"If you don't mind, I can't have you running off on me."
He gives me his hands, I cuff him. and hold the chain.
We sit in silence
...
The carriage pulls to a stop. I unlock and open the door.
"Sebastian, head to the Blue Lagoon Seafood and Grill"
"Right away Sir"
I get in and lock it behind me again.
"You'll let me go after I hand it over right boss."
"Yes, the client just wants it returned."
"What about the other stuff I took from her?"
"Keep it, sell it, I don't care."
We pull to a stop. I hear two knocks.
"We're here."
I open it.
"After you, Milly stay here, lock the door behind me."
He hands me the Necklace, It was behind a fake wall, this place was run down, It didn't even have a front door.
I hear the door unlock as we approach again.
We get in and start heading back.
I secure the necklace in the lock box and uncuff him, I then use the cuffs and lock one side to the floor and the other to lock the case.
"Now as promised I'll tell you where you messed up, but first tell me have you ever played a computer game before?"
"No why?"
"Where you aware that we all have stats and levels and so forth?"
"I think I saw something like that when I first woke up here, why?"
He lens in super close to my face.
"Cool your jets I'm getting there, I think you let your guard down since there's no DNA analysis or fingerprints in this world, Long story short the place that made those cards for you used appraise to get your name for their records"
He looks up and taps his finger on his cheek:
"Now that you mention it they never asked for my name, I even came up with a fake one. Thank you next time I'll use a stand in. This has been very educational."
...
We get back to his workplace and drop him off, before I open the door. I decide to check the case just to be sure. It was still there.
I open the door.
"You're a cautious one, I never got your name."
"I never gave it."
I close the door.
We leave.