A lavish town with beautiful architecture, adorned with many trees and lush green scenery. The sky was dark, and the air was cold, but even that didn't take away the beauty of the place.
In the air above the many houses were many fireflies that lit up the sky like small lamps with wings. This was the infamous place known as Firefly Town.
Two guards were stationed at the gates of the town, dressed in heavy armor with a guild symbol visible on their chests.
The sound of wheels grinding against the grimy road got the attention of the guards. They looked ahead in front of them to see a grand carriage pulling up toward the town.
The guards' eyes widened as they recognized the grand exterior of the carriage, which could only mean that this person was of great importance. The carriage pulled to a stop, and the driver jumped off before opening the door of the carriage.
Out of it came a cute young girl, dressed in her adventurer's uniform. Her long golden hair was as bright and beautiful as the sun, her expression serious and commanding authority.
A golden hawk was perched on her shoulder, its keen eyes scanning the surroundings. The bird exuded a powerful aura that made the guard swallow hard in nervousness. This girl was a Beast Tamer.
The symbol of the Bolorius guild immediately caught the guard's eye, as he knew it was the symbol of the strongest guild in the Royal Capital.
The young girl thanked the driver, and the carriage took off in the opposite direction. She then began to walk toward the guards and waved her hand in a friendly gesture.
"Greetings," Liora greeted with a kind smile, "I hope the night is treating you well."
"O-oh, thank you, I hope you'll enjoy your stay," the guard stammered nervously.
"A-are you perhaps from t-the Bolorius guild?" the guard asked.
Liora nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I am. I'm here on a very important quest, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way," Liora said as she casually flicked a silver coin to the guard before walking past them.
As she continued to walk through the street, she noted how beautiful the sky looked with the fireflies above them. They made the sky look brighter than it was supposed to be, but that wasn't a bad thing.
'Alright, the first thing I need to do right now is look for a good source of information. And what better place to get information, if not at the pub!' Liora thought, before realization set in.
'Oh... wait a minute. I'm not even an adult yet, so I can't enter that place. That only leaves me with the adventurer guild as an option.'
Liora then scanned the area a bit before finding the adventurer's guild in the distance. She quickly ran up to it and entered the building.
The guild was bustling with adventurers everywhere. Many were partying, and some were taking on quests this late at night.
'Alright, now... where do I begin?'
Liora's eyes began to scan the tables in the adventurer's guild, looking for the ones that seemed more likely to give out information. After a few minutes of observation, Liora began to ask around the tables of adventurers.
She asked if they had seen anything weird happening in the past few days, particularly a large number of carriages moving somewhere. Liora didn't find anything useful, as most of the adventurers were either too wasted, or they hadn't seen anything.
Just when she was about to give up and start searching for clues herself, a very familiar voice called out to her:
"Young Mistress!"
A cheery voice called. Liora turned around to see the adventurer she met before taking on the goblins' quest.
Her short black hair, sword at her waist, and broad shield brandished on her back made Liora recognize her instantly.
"I didn't expect to find you here. Uhhh... what was your name again? I'm pretty sure you didn't give me your name the last time we met," Liora said.
The girl chuckled. "I apologize, my name is Vira. I arrived here a few days ago with my party," Vira said before grabbing Liora's hand and dragging her toward the table where her friends sat. "Come, let me introduce you to them."
"You're awfully casual. You do know I'm of noble lineage, right?" Liora asked with a sigh, but Vira just laughed it off.
Liora then sat down at the table with the other members of Vira's party. There were about three of them, Vira included.
One wore a green hood and carried a bow, carved beautifully in crimson wood. Liora couldn't see their face, but the long strands of hair cascading down their shoulders suggested they were a girl.
The other was a boy with black hair. He wore long robes suited for sorcerers or mages. He held a bright purple spellbook in his hand and carried himself well.
"This is Brad," Vira pointed toward the boy with black hair. "My brother and our party's mage," Vira said before continuing. "The one in green is Salisha, our archer. She's a quiet one."
Then Vira pointed to herself with her thumb. "And I'm Vira, the party leader," Vira said proudly with a smug smile.
Liora nodded, finding the party to be a balanced one. They didn't have a healer, maybe because they didn't need one.
"I'm Liora Rohart, and I've got something very important to ask of you," Liora began before continuing:
"Recently, there's been a mass disappearance of women from the Royal Capital, and the suspects were last seen riding in a large number of carriages.
Have any of you perhaps seen any suspicious carriages?" Liora asked.
Vira placed a finger on her chin as she began to think really hard.
"Suspicious carriages, huh? Well, before we arrived, we ran into a similar group of people. They wore really big robes, so you couldn't make out appearances," Vira said before turning to look at Liora. "What were the suspects supposed to look like?" Vira asked.
"Goblins," Liora replied simply. "The suspects are said to be goblins."
"Goblins? Are you sure? They looked very human to me," Vira said with a confused eyebrow raise.
'This is strange. There's obviously something bigger going on here,' Liora thought.
"Anyway, did you see where these 'people' were going?" Liora asked.
"Oh, they were moving toward the Ruby Mines. One of them told me that they were miners or something like that," Vira said.
'Bingo,' Liora thought with an excited glint in her eyes as she finally had a place to start investigating.
"Can you tell me where the Ruby Mines are?" Liora asked.