"Woohee?"
I stand still while Sakura gently pokes the fairy awake.
"Waaah.." Woohee yawns before turning over and going back to sleep.
"Just keep poking her." I say. We're at the end of our patrol and I don't want to carry the unsuspecting fairy out of the woods. I'd thought about just placing her down while still sleeping but that doesn't seem like a good idea either.
"Hi!" We all jump when Hai appears out of nowhere.
"Jeez, you scared me."
"Sorry," she giggles, revealing her insincerity.
"Hai, this is Sakura and Josh. Sakura, Josh, this is Hai."
"Hi!"
"Hii, Hai!"
"Hi."
"Hi, hi!"
"Now that everyone is acquainted, would you mind taking Woohee? We need to get back to town." I turn back to Hai, revealing the sleeping fairy on the scruff of my neck.
"Woohee! Time to go!" Hai flies up and knocks Woohee on the head a couple times which causes her to make a strange gargling noise. "Up, up!"
Hai eventually picks up Woohee under her arms like a limp kitten while Sakura and I stifle our laughs.
"I wasn't really paying attention this time. Did we get anything good?" I ask as we walk the long road back to town.
"Just the usual." Sakura replies. "Oh! I did find more Fairy Tears!"
"Neat. What are those used for anyway?"
"I don't know, I just think they're pretty!"
"They are incredible to look at." I hold one of the soft flowers by its stem and look at the deep black and blue petals. The treeline was sparsely populated today like I was expecting; either the goblin extermination has been mandated to an extent or the quest is lucrative. I'm inclined to believe the latter as the treeline probably wouldn't have had anyone there.
I see groups of adventurer's standing around manholes along the way back. Their spirits seem high, reinforcing my initial assumption. The town seems to have largely recovered from the storm damage. I can still see a few piled ruins here and there but but for the most part all the buildings have been repaired. I heard some people gossiping about how most of the deaths were from those living in the slums, and that their bodies had been washed back across town as the storm ended.
I'm not really sure how many people live in this town but about half of the homes along the north road seem uninhabited. There's likely red lining practices that segregate classes and races and cause the excess housing. That along with the fact that the town is slowly dying. Nick explained to me that it was originally built before the first Fairy War as the base of operations for the advancing human forces. A lot of money was spent on constructing a clean and efficient town as Brava was seen as the door to the wealth of the forest. Multiple attempts had been made to turn that dream into a reality but the resources feeding the town had begun drying up after each consecutive failure.
The North western corner of the Murusade confederacy is largely infertile and relies on animal husbandry for most of it's food and revenue. Large prairies make excellent fields for shepherds and their flocks but it's to dangerous to keep a large group of animals so close to the forest. One of the reasons the forest has been such a target is due to the fact that this corner of the nation is so heavily reliant on the import of goods for its survival. Gaining control of the forest and exploiting its resources would give the Duke more power and leverage in his dealings with the other clans.
I daydream about how these facts interweave with my experience in the world so far as we make our way to the guild.
"Most of the sewers have been cleared but we still can't find the dungeon." Travis explains to Jezabel by the receptionist desk.
"I figured that would be the case. The only explanation is that it's hidden away behind one of the narrower pipes that we can't reach; one large enough for the goblins to get out but small enough that we can't get in."
"What can we do about that?" Travis asks but Jezabel just cranes her neck over his shoulder and looks in our direction.
"I guess that means we're up." I smirk as I walk up to them. "Team us, reporting for duty. Oof."
Jezabel kicks me in the stomach and I crumple to the ground.
"Knock it off. This is important."
"Right, my bad." I cough as I stand back up.
"There are several sewer pipes that are too narrow for most people to get through so I want you to check them. You are only to find the source of the goblins, retreat immediately if you find anything. Do you understand?" She says as she glares at me.
"I understand." And turn to the other two people in my team who nod along.
Jezabel appraises us as if to gauge the wisdom of sending children on such a dangerous mission. She closes her eyes and sighs, seemingly having made up her mind.
"We've been dealing with these goblins for the better part of a year so I'd really like this to be handled properly. Goblins aren't particularly threatening so you shouldn't have any problem escaping. Any questions?"
I shake my head, hoping to avoid another kick to the stomach.
"Good. Travis." She looks at muscular man standing next to her and then walks away.
"Alright, let's get started," he says with his usual bright attitude.
Travis takes us to a manhole near the Noble District. Elaborate manors spread out across the clean, paved street.
"You heard the lady; if you see anything run. Got it?"
""Yes."" We all respond.
"Good." Travis drops down first and then we follow after. The smell is putrid. I struggle to catch my breath due to the fumes but the others seem lees bothered by it than me. Travis holds a bright orb similar to the one Tyrion had down in the cave and hands one to each of us as we reach the bottom. "This here is where the smaller pipes begin."
A ceramic tube about two feet wide lays at his feet.
"There are a couple others around town but this one is the biggest so we'll start here. Josh, why don't you go first since you're the biggest."
He nods and gets down on his hands and knees but can't fit his shoulders through.
"That's what I was worried about. I guess it'll just be the little ones." Travis chuckles.
I take a deep breath and get down on my hands and knees. This is by far the most disgusting thing I've done in my life. I hold back my vomit and squeeze my way through the small pipe. It runs straight for about fifty feet and then opens up into a small cavern.
"What are they supposed to do if these clog? I suppose I'm an example of the lack of child labor laws I guess that explains it."
"I'm through!" I shout down the pipe.
"Okay, I'm coming!" Sakura replies.
While I wait, I look around at the cavern. Three more pipes extend in each cardinal direction. The one opposite the tube I came through is the largest of the three so I imagine it leads to another similar cavern. Before we got here, Travis explained that this section of the sewer leads to the Noble manors on this street.
"Gross." Sakura spits as she exits the tube and wipes herself off.
"It's probably best to both go down the same pipe but I don't think you want to have to do this any longer than I do." I say.
Sakura looks around the room and nods.
"Yeah, besides, you stink worse than the sewage."
"Ow." I'm caught off guard by her sudden jab. She laughs and heads over to the pipes on the left. "I'll do these ones and you do the ones on the right."
"Okay." This pipe is even smaller. I hold the orb out in front of me while carrying a dagger in my mouth. Our personal weapons wouldn't be useful in this narrow environment so we were each given one before we left. I squeeze my way through and come out into a similar cavern on the other side.
Nothing.
I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm looking for but I figure I'll know it when I see it.
I meet back up with Sakura in the previous open area after looking around for several minutes. We move down the line and check two more branches before we reach the end.
"Looks like the last one." I say as I feel the wall opposite the one we just exited in case there's a hidden pipe.
"Let's get this over with." Sakura groans and crawls down her pipe. I do the same while thinking about the long journey back.
I come out into a cavern that looks just as empty as the others. A yawn escapes my lips as I turn to leave but something catches my eye, a small crack on the far corner.
I move closer and see a little light shining out from the crack which is only a few inches wide.
"This must be where they're coming from." I take a deep breath and exhale as I squeeze through the narrow passage. The dim light grows until it fills my vision. Once through, I see familiar looking fungus on the sides of a narrow tunnel. The air tastes heavy and metallic.
"Gaah!"
A pale green goblin jumps at me and I swing my dagger down without thinking. As the blade pierces its skull, I feel a euphoric rush greater than anything I've ever experienced before, greater than the one time my 'friend' tricked me into smoking heroin.
"Ahh!" I shout. Power wells up my limbs. I'm invincible. I look around and see three more goblins cowering by a bright glowing orb in the wall. I dispatch them without a second thought, my blade shimmering like stars burning across the sky. Each kill makes me feel more powerful than the last. My eyes dart around looking for the next target but none appear.
"Stop!" I hear in my mind. Nick's voice temporarily snaps me out of my mania.
"What? What's happening?"
"You killed some goblins and freaked out."
"Right. I did." The images of me slicing up those creatures without a second thought filter back into my mind as the high fades. I feel disgusted, but I want more.
"Wow, a dungeon core!" Nick says. I'm assuming he's talking about the baseball sized glowing orb in the wall based on all the books I'd read.
"What's that about?" I ask as I try and regain my composure.
"They form around the exposed roots of the world tree and release mana. Apparently that's what attracts the goblins. We should tell Jezabel about it."
A streak of panic slices through my chest.
"Or, we could keep it a secret."
"What?"
"Look, we took care of the goblins so they won't be a problem anymore and we can come by and check occasionally to make sure there aren't anymore." I say, having completely forgotten the awful journey I had to make to get here.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"It'll be fine, and we'll get more levels." I know I should tell Jezabel but the thought of leveling up is too enticing. My soul craves it.
"I don't know."
"You'll see, it'll be fine." I lie.
I brush off more of Nick's complaints as i make it back to the cavern.
"What took you?" Sakura asks with her arms crossed.
"Oh, I just was double checking everything you know. Can't be too careful."
"Whatever. Let's go."
We all meet up back at the sewer main and tell Travis that we didn't find anything; he's noticeably disappointed. We spend the rest of the day checking the other small pipes and of course those all come up empty.
"I don't know what to say. I guess we'll just have to try again later. Maybe we missed something."
Travis explains to Jezabel as we all stand in her office. We cleaned up in a washroom downstairs as soon as we walked in.
"Is that right?" She says coolly. "Thank you for your help Travis, you can go."
He nods and walks out with his shoulders slumped. Seeing him so sad is just one more dagger through my heart.
"So, you didn't find anything?" She asks as she looks us over.
"Nope." I reply. My heart rate slows as I lie. It's just another trick I picked up courtesy of my home life. My brother would gaslight me and even make things up to get Dad on his side. It was always my fault I got hit. It didn't take long before I started lying back. My brother would still hit me of course, but at least there was a chance Dad would intervene if it got bad enough. Honestly, I probably wouldn't even blink if someone put a gun to my head; well, maybe that's a bad analogy considering how I got here.
"Sakura, Josh, you two head home as well. I need to talk to Nick privately."
"They leave and I maintain steady breaths so my heart rate doesn't quicken. I know she's suspicious but I'll need to stay calm if I'm going to talk my way out of this one.
As soon as the door closes I'm lifted up into the air by my neck and slammed against the wall.
"If you lie to me again, I'll crush your throat."