Glenn

Glenn and Chelsea completed a search through nine more houses without further incidents. Some of the owners were home, but no one else Glenn encountered was female, trial age, and topless. It was the small blessings that truly counted on a day like this.

Once they finished with the final home in their quarter of the city, Chelsea sighed. “That was a lovely adventure.”

“We do have those,” Glenn agreed.

“So, that’s houses. There’s also the grain storerooms in the town wall on the west side and the public storage shed off the front gate. I see no reason for us to both wander around those structures when it’d be faster to split up, so which do you fancy?”

“Hold on,” Glenn said. “Coleman said we needed to do the search with a partner.”

“He said we needed to search the houses with a partner,” Chelsea corrected, with a small edge of mischief in her voice. “Those were his orders. Last I checked, grain and public storage aren’t houses, except perhaps for the mice.”

Chelsea might be able to give Scott a lesson in getting around the mayor’s decrees. Still ... Chelsea was absolutely right, technically. It was already past lunch, and this foolish search was taking forever. What Chelsea suggested made an awful lot of sense.

“I’ll take public storage,” Glenn said. “It’s always interesting to see what’s in there. If you don’t mind.”

Chelsea thumped him on the arm. “All yours. Once you’re done, assuming you don’t end up being a hero again, we’ll meet back at Erika’s house and head to the town square.”

Because it wouldn’t do to wander into the town square individually. That would suggest they hadn’t followed the mayor’s orders. “Understood,” Glenn said. “Good hunting.”

Chelsea waved. “I’m sure the mice are already quivering in their little nests.”

They headed off in separate directions, with Chelsea headed west and Glenn headed south. He passed several Adventurers as he headed to the public storage house off the main gate, all of whom looked to be exploring every nook and cranny they could find. Everyone was on Leo’s Quest now.

Glenn reached the public storage building and found Jacob Crosshollow leaning on his counter as he always did, looking bored. The counter had an opening leading into the public storage building off the gate where Adventurers could stow items and belongings for a small fee. While it wasn’t perfectly secure, it was better than leaving things in the open. Adventurers often had no desire to carry around every random piece of loot the found when adventuring in Grassea.

Still, seeing Jacob always made Glenn feel a little depressed. Though Jacob had chosen the class of Merchant, he’d proven exceedingly poor at it. After years of failing to truly progress, Jacob had accepted a job from Mayor Coleman to check Adventurer Items in and out of storage.

The experience for working here wasn’t great, but it technically qualified as Merchant work, so Jacob was progressing ... slowly. It wasn’t a job Glenn would ever want, but Jacob, at least, didn’t seem to mind. Experience was experience, though Jacob was almost thirty and only Level 10.

Glenn approached and waved. “Morning, Jacob. How’s business?” Since he wasn’t on the gate, there were no official rules about whether or not he could freely speak with people.

“The same,” Jacob said. “Though we did have someone check in a broken [Goblin Axe] today. Where do you suppose they picked that up? Still no Goblins in Grassea, right?”

Glenn certainly hoped not. “I need to take a look inside. You mind opening up?”

“Sure, no problem,” Jacob said. “Just stay right there.”

A moment later, the big door beside Jacob’s counter opened. Glenn look one last look around to check for anyone who might be attempting to slip in behind him—no one was anywhere close—and walked inside.

Jacob closed the door and walked back to his counter. “Take as much time as you need.”

“Shouldn’t be long,” Glenn assured him. “Unless you’re letting people check in fugitives?”

“No one’s checked in a hot blond Auracaster today,” Jacob said. “That’d sure make my day brighter.”

Glenn decided not to comment upon that. He turned and walked away from the counter to explore the multiple rows of shelves inside the building. Each was marked with worn numbers designating lots, and each lot held a single woven box. Inside those boxes were all sorts of things.

On any other day Glenn would have been eager to look, just to satisfy his curiosity, but he didn’t have time and also, he was a Town Guard. Looking through Adventurer belongings was far beyond his duty, not to mention rude. He did a full walkthrough and verified no one was hiding anywhere in here. He’d just started back to Jacob when he noticed his [Guardian Mace] felt warm.

Glenn stopped and frowned. How could even feel such heat through his armor? He reached back for his mace and, upon pulling it out, confirmed it now bore a faint white glow. After a moment, it took his brain to process why his mace might glow.

A [Guardian Mace] glowed white when in the presence of a Demon.

Glenn spun and instinctively raised his mace with one arm, then pulled his shield off his back. He saw no Demon, yet Demons could enter shimmer and go invisible, and yet ... Demons couldn’t enter Wolfpine. There could be no demon in this storage shed, so why was his mace hot?

As Glenn remembered Zack’s claims of a man who could unleash Demons on suspecting Adventurers, a suspicion grew in his mind. He raised his softly-glowing mace and held it before him like a torch, then walked slowly past the shelves he’d passed. The glow grew brighter with each step. When it began to fade again, Glenn stopped and back up. Again, the glow increased.

He turned and slid the end of his mace in front of the various boxes sitting on multiple levels of shelves, each with a Lot number. Each put in storage by an Adventurer. It wasn’t long before he spotted a box with the number for 49 on it. When near that box, his mace glowed absolutely white.

Glenn tapped the box with his mace, then pulled it off the shelf and jumped back. The box fell and tipped over, spilling the pouch onto the ground. It seemed to be nothing but an ordinary [Leather Pouch], but the end of his [Guardian Mace] glowed brilliant white when he held it over it.

Glenn once more stowed his mace and picked up the [Leather Pouch]. He knelt beside it and grimaced. It took no effort at all to spot the glistening black crystals inside.

These crystals ... something felt very wrong with these crystals. It was almost like Glenn could feel ... evil, inside them. How could he feel evil inside something so small as this? The answer, given how his mace glowed in their presence, seemed all too obvious.

Some Adventurers purchased crystals that could trap defeated Demons. Some Demons could be sacrificed as rare reagents in powerful spells, but transporting such a crystal came with risk. If poorly handled, a Demon crystal might shatter and release the Demon trapped inside.

And if such a crystal was thrown at the ground intentionally...

Glenn carefully brushed the crystals back into the [Leather Pouch], then picked it up. He closed the pouch and debated only a moment before carrying it back to Jacob and his counter. Every moment he held the pouch he felt like worms were wriggling up his arm, even through [God Armor].

Someone had brought these crystals in Wolfpine. Someone had left them in a public storage house expecting them not to be disturbed, and had Leo not ordered the search this morning, a Town Guard would never have been inside one. They couldn’t have anticipated this search.

Once Glenn returned to the counter, he found Jacob leaning once again on his counter, staring out in the town. He lightly placed the pouch on the counter. “Hey, Jacob.”

The man glanced his way, and at the sight of the pouch, his eyes widened. “Did you find contraband? What is it?”

The man sounded more excited than Glenn expected. Perhaps some contraband would be a highlight, given how Jacob’s days normally went. Once again, Glenn pitied the man a little.

“Lot 49,” Glenn said, as he thought back to the number of the bin. “Who checked this in?”

“Is it sweetleaf?” Jacob asked hopefully.

Glenn took a moment. “No, it’s not sweetleaf, and if it was, I’d simply confiscate it.”

“Oh.” Jacob visibly sagged. “Right.”

“Lot 49,” Glenn reminded him. “Who checked it in?”

“Right, let me check my book,” Jacob said.

He pulled a worn ledger from the shelf beneath his counter, flipped it open, and ran a finger down a page as he peered closely. “Got it. Lot 49, checked in yesterday by ... Jahid Rockhollow, Level 26 Mindbender. He’s been here a few times in the past few months. Nice man. Always tips well.”

A Mindbender, here? In Wolfpine? And multiple times over multiple months? Glenn frowned at how unusual that was.

Mindbender was one of two Evolved Classes a Guilecaster could choose once they reached Level 20. Unlike the Delusionist, who took the illusions a Guilecaster could create and vastly improved upon them, a Mindbender followed the path of the Guilecaster’s more mental spells, such as [-Charm-] ... but their mind-altering Skills were vastly more powerful.

Mindbenders, if they managed to obtain Consent, could even [-Charm-] mortals, not just Monsters. If Glenn remembered correctly, the Rare Skill was called [-Beguile-]. Such a Skill could make a person do anything the Mindbender wished, which is why almost no one ever agreed to duel them.

A Level 26 Mindbender had no business in Grassea. No business at all. There was nothing here that was remotely high Level enough to give an Evolved Adventurer experience, and even any low Level Quest they managed to obtain would grant next to nothing compared to Quests in zones more appropriate for their Level, like Leafside.

Glenn had nothing against Mindbenders in general. He wasn’t about to judge someone based on which Class they chose. But these facts combined—Jahid’s absurdly high Level and this [Leather Pouch] filled with unidentified and sinister-feeling stones—felt important. They felt dangerous. Was it possible he had just stumbled across whoever Anna’s brother had sent to abduct her?

In that case, he had to find and arrest the culprit before they could do further harm, and not just to protect Wolfpine. If he could get Jahid to admit his part in hunting Anna, assuming the man was involved, perhaps he could even convince Jahid to testify against his employer to ease his own considerable prison sentence. Glenn had a chance now he’d not had before.

And given how little time he likely had before someone found Anna, he couldn’t delay.