{-Casrane-}

She’d been expecting some kind of resistance when they’d gotten to Anthalas City. She wasn’t expecting the full extent of it, though; she would’ve thought it to be abandoned, were it not for the brief glimpses of people closing doors or shutting windows.

“This is a bad way to welcome people,” the Lady mumbled, nervous. She stepped closer to the Lord, who in turn was a bit closer to Casrane than he’d stayed earlier.

“Do you know why they’re like this?” the Lord prompted. There was something in his tone that might’ve suggested that he didn’t know if he wanted to know; a fear of what the answer might be.

“The beast we saw wasn’t the only one,” Casrane explained simply, “and with the reemergence of runes… there’s good reason to be hesitant of outsiders.”

That much was something they would’ve been able to gather if they’d talked to some of the townspeople. But that would’ve meant that they needed townspeople to talk to—no one was here at all, not like she’d been led to believe that they would. Perhaps things truly were working better than she thought they would.

She knew, though, that there was one person that had to accept them. They wouldn’t be able to do anything if she didn’t.

Casrane slowly opened the doors to the inn, gesturing for the Lord and Lady to join her inside once she saw the innkeeper.

The innkeeper, once she noticed them, put on a bright smile as if nothing was happening at all. “Well, hello there! Welcome to the Anthalas City Inn, what can I do for you today?” She motioned for them to get closer. “Don’t act like strangers! Come on in and have a seat. I’m Cahacu, by the way.”

“Casrane,” she mumbled back. “These two are the Lord and Lady.” She walked up to the counter but there was something odd about the whole thing—she contributed it to the silence since no place in Nafrius had been this quiet. “Can you tell us about what’s been going on recently..?”

“You must be talking about how wary everyone’s gotten,” Cahacu said with a nod. “It’s a shame you had to come when they’re all on edge like this. They’re usually a rather nice bunch, if circumstances had been different, they may have even welcomed you with a celebration.”

“Why are they on edge?” the Lord asked, trying to remain close to the subject at hand.

“People have been going missing recently. No one knows what it is—one minute, they’re hanging out with everyone else, the next someone realizes no one’s seen them in a while. At least, that’s what it feels like. We don’t know what we’re supposed to do; we’ve tried everything that just the townspeople could do. There’s no sign of who took them or where they might be now… there’s nothing to make it certain to know if they’re even alive or not.”

The door burst open behind them, making Casrane jump. “I’d beg to differ on that one.” She recognized that kind of look, the way he seemed to be on their side when terrible things were going around inside his head; she never pointed it out, though, knowing that’s what they needed to do… and she wouldn’t mind the chance to talk to him.

Cahacu smiled. “Oh, you’re back! Guests, this is one of the few adventurers that live around here, Shemle. He’s been investigating the missing people cases since they started cropping up. If anyone has a chance of figuring something out, it’s him.”

“You flatter me,” he laughed, walking up to stand beside Casrane. “Really, though, I’m at a bit of a loss myself. The only thing I know for certain at this point is that they have to be alive. I’ve actually come by with the intention of asking if anyone’s come by recently that might be able to help me out—if my team’s a little bigger, we might be able to start finding people soon.”

“Well, why not these three?” Cahacu offered. “They just came in. They look like adventurers like you. I bet they’d be able to handle a couple of fights, at least, if you get yourself into them.”

He looked Casrane over. “I don’t know… they seem a little—” He paused when he noticed something. “Hey, what’s that you’re carrying with you?”

Ignoring the fact she wasn’t actually carrying something, she opened up her Inventory and took out what she knew he meant. The rune-covered plate. “Are you talking about this?”

Shemle nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was looking at. Where’d you get it?”

“We fought a machine on our way here. I found it in its remains and, figuring it was something important, brought it with us.”

“If you could fight a monster like that and win against it… then maybe you will be able to help.” He nodded. “I didn’t want to see you guys get hurt, but if you’re able to handle something like that, then this should be a piece of cake for all of you.”

“You think with their help you’ll be able to bring everyone back?” Cahacu asked, a kind of excitement unable to be hidden.

“We’ll be able to make a lot more progress with some extra help,” Shemle confirmed confidently. “I’d say this mystery is about as good as solved. But it does open up a new mystery: what are the names of my new partners?”

“I’m Casrane, and these two are the Lord and Lady.”

He quizzically glanced at them. “That’s it? You know, you look kind of familiar, but I really won’t be able to tell unless I know who you really are…”

“That’s all you’re getting,” the Lord said. “We’re not supposed to be sharing our names with strangers.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Shemle remarked with a shrug. “Names are the first step of getting to know each other, you know? Addressing you by probably-self-given titles… it puts distance between the two of us.”

“Not knowing names doesn’t have to stop us,” the Lady pointed out. “With or without them, that doesn’t change the fact that we’re just able to talk to each other.”

Casrane, having similar feelings of her own, nodded. She knew, though, that they had to move along with the actual point sometime. “So, Shemle, where should we go first?”

“There’s not a lot we can do right now,” Shemle explained. “I planned on trying to figure out who the next victim was and then deciding the rest from there. It will take the rest of the day, but I think it’ll be easier if I do it on my own—you guys can just relax and I’ll come get you when I’m ready.”

“What are we going to do when we’re done?” the Lord prompted. It was still part of the script, really just meant to tell the player what they needed to do to continue.

“Well, probably, we’re going to go have a stakeout near the home of whoever’s the next target. That way, we might be able to catch the culprits in action and follow them back to their base. No matter if I can figure something out, though, we’re leaving after dark. I’ve got some other ideas we can try if I can’t find the next victim, but it’ll all need the cover of night.” Shemle shrugged. “You can stay here and rest here first, but make sure that you’ve gone to the shop and make sure that you have everything you need. Once we get started, there’s no turning back.”

Shemle waved and mumbled a few things to Cahacu; from the sounds of it, asking for a room and paying her for it. Then he left, a reassuring smile meant to keep them from worrying or dwelling on his means for too long.

Cahacu watched where he’d left for a moment, eventually saying, “Keep an eye on him, alright?”

Casrane, unable to tell whether this was a moment borne of independence or code, couldn’t help but ask, “Are you familiar with him?”

“I was, a year ago,” Cahacu mused, a wistful sigh escaping. “We used to be pretty close… but, one day, he started focusing more on his work. I wouldn’t have considered it a bad thing if it wasn’t for the fact he drifted away from everything else. He never told me what it was that he was doing. I’m all for a mysterious man, if I’m honest, but not knowing anything about what he did when we were apart…” She shook her head. “Either way, we haven’t really talked to each other before people started going missing. That, though, is more out of a necessity than anything else. I see he still hasn’t changed.”

She brightened up remarkably to add, “While you’re here, would you like to rest? I’ve got plenty of spare rooms, and for you it’s on the house. Once you’re ready, I can point you in the direction of the shop. There might even be a couple of townspeople who’ll be willing to trust you with helping them once you tell them you’re helping Shemle.”