'Since its still morning, i think i'll go to Hayville now to avoid the sun's heat.' Syla thought.
She was about to go outside the guild when she heard something that caught her attention, from a few meters away from her, Syla accidentally overheard a conversation from a group of adventurers, there were 3 with 2 of them being a girl and the other one a man.
"Are you sure that Koste isn't just passed out drunk on the street and hadn't woke up? That's something he usually do.." One of the girl said, from her appearance, Syla could tell that she was a warrior with her well-developed muscle and the short daggers on both of her waist.
"I know he's always drunk, but you think he'd be drinking on the day before a quest!? No matter how much of a bastard he was, he won't do something like this!" The only man on that group tried to tell the two girls while spewing his saliva everywhere, it seems like one of their friends have gone missing, and they were wondering where he could've gone to.
"Th- that's true– But seriously, are you sure the last time you saw him was yesterday on the inn!? He slept right beside you right!?" The other girl tried to find a reasoning while also calming the other two. Her outfits looked more elegant compared to the warrior girl and the man, and she also held a magic staff in her hands. "How could that guy disappeared in one night!?"
"How should i know!? You think i always checked on him every 3 seconds!? Agh!! Just before we were about to go on a quest.. That bastard, Koste– Once i find you i'll fucking beat you up.." The man frustration seems to almost burst, he scratched his head like someone in distraught.
"Hey– Do you think he got kidnapped?" The mage girl suddenly said, making the other two looked at her in disbelief.
"What are you talking about, no way– He's a B-Rank... Wait, maybe you're right, Mai, you know about the missing poster that we saw yesterday right? The one about Laurel Egèr- eger that." The man said, he asked the warrior girl, Mai, if she remembered about the poster they saw, and coincidentally that poster was also the same one that Syla saw on the alleyway.
"Hm? Oh.. Yeah, huh– Now that i think of it, that woman Laurel was also an adventurer isn't she?!.." Mai responded as she covered her mouth, she realized that her missing friend might have been caught by the same perpetrator.
'Another missing person?..' Syla thought, carefully watching from the distance and not making any moves that might caught some attention.
As she continued to overhear the group's conversation, Syla began to realize that there might be something wrong within the town, she discovered that there had been a kidnapping incident for the past week, from the information she got out of the adventurers, there has already been 3 cases of kidnapping, including their friend then makes it 4.
'What is this? a continuous case of kidnapping and there's yet any clue as to who the perpetrator might be? Could it be that this is the work of a secret organization!? No way!? My first time being a wanderer and i already ended up in a place with secret society in it..' Syla said to herself, her feelings was mixed between excitement and worries.
While Syla was devising a plan as to how she would deal with the organization incase if she ever get involved in it, she was approached by a tall man with a cloak.
"Hello." The unknown man said, his voice reverberated inside of Syla's ears.
The man towers over Syla as her head only reaches to his neck, Syla looked up to see the man's face and saw an emotionless frown beneath the hood.
"Is there something you need?" Syla asked, she was a bit confused by the man's sudden approach, but she kept a fair cautiousness to him.
"Do you have a party yet? I have a quest that i need to do with someone else." The man said, his tone was bland and sounded as if he didn't even have a slight interest in anything he said.
"Uhh, sorry, but i also on a quest right now, im about to go after this." Syla responded, she kept a straight face while talking to the mysterious man.
'I don't like the vibe in this guy..' Syla thought when she noticed a long sword on his waist.
"Is that so, that's unfortunate.. Thank you for the time— You're beautiful by the way." The man said for the last time before leaving Syla alone, he then went to another adventurer that was sitting alone on one of the chair in the main hall and asked the same thing.
"A- ah.. thanks?" Syla said with a half smile on her lips.
Thinking that she doesn't want to deal with that guy anymore, Syla then left the guild while the sun was about to reach its highest peak.
"That came out of nowhere.." Syla said as she walked on the street, she remembered the compliment from that mysterious man and felt a bit embarassed when thinking about it.
After a few minutes of walking, Syla then arrived at the place where she was dropped off from the carriage when she entered Direwell for the first time.
Syla saw a few carriages in there, each of them having a sign that tells her where they were going, and fortunately, one of the carriage had a sign that says they were going to Hayville. Syla quickly approached the carriage and asked the driver for the price.
"1 silver." The driver said.
Syla paid the fees and was left with only a silver and 5 coppers in her satchel, because of yesterday's spending on street food, she had less money than she expected.
'I need to complete this quest..' She thought.
Syla waited for approximately 10 minutes before the carriage left the parking spot, at the time she left Direwell, Syla was sitting with other 4 people who also wanted to go to Hayville.
Among the 4 people that was with Syla in that carriage, 3 of them looked like a merchant, while the other one was an adventurer like her, seeing that he carries an axe on his back.
'Hm, that's unusual.. I thought people who used axe as their weapon are the ones that are barbaric or muscular, but this guy isn't that big compared to what i usually see from someone that wields an axe.' Syla thought as she observed the adventurer infront of her.
The ride went on for 5 minutes without anyone talking, while Syla and the adventurer was watching the scenery outside, one of the merchant suddenly opened his mouth and talked to the other merchants in the carriage, at first he asked about what the other merchants were selling before introducing himself.
"My name is Rugel, and im currently searching someone that are interested in establishing a partnership with me" He said.
'Partnership? like a mutual benefits?' Syla thought, she was curious with what Rugel meant by partnerships.
"Hooh? What are you offering?" One of the merchant that heard Rugel seems interested.
Then, Rugel pulled his large backpack on his back and opened it infront of the others, a few moments later he took a clear crystal ball that has some sort of writing symbols in it from his backpack, he showed the small crystal that was fit to hold in his hand to the others and they wondered what it was.
"This, i call it the MTA or Magic Transmitter Artifact." Rugel said proudly, the crystall ball immediately caught everyone's attention for its eccentric name.
Syla also couldn't help but became interested with the artifact.