Chapter 11: Missing Persons

“Perhaps we should’ve taken the cleaning quest. It’s absolutely foul in here,” Mori said, covering his nose. Milim trailed behind them. When she’d climbed after them it had taken Sen by surprise. When Oliver had run off promising to get help, that had been a bit more expected.

The sewage tunnel was large enough for them to walk in comfortably. Comfortable aside from the stench of waste, the rats scurrying about, and the darkness. Luckily, Sen could address each of those problems. He tweaked Encapsulation to keep the smell from reaching them. A simple ‘moving barrier’ spell acted as a bridge so their feet didn’t seep into the waste, and the rats could sense his Mana Aggression and hurried off as he approached. Mori conjured a floating sphere of light that illuminated the tunnel, solving the last of their problems.

Milim reacted in such shock to each new display of power that Sen almost found it hard to believe she attended the same magic academy that he did.

“Tutor, can you track Ilm? Or find anyone who might have taken her?” Sen thought.

[I cannot locate Ilm for some reason; something powerful is masking whatever’s going on here. I can, however, track that powerful something. Vaguely. We’re moving in the right direction for now.]

Sen picked up his pace. The markings that Mori had protected him, but Ilm’s were only cosmetic. If something happened to her, if something could breach the wards on her attire or overcome her magic, her life could actually be in danger. There wasn’t any time to waste. He hadn’t created Ilm, but he’d asked Mori for the memories of when he did. Sen felt a connection to her as if he had given her life himself. He would not let her fall in some wretched place like this.

“Who do you think would do this? Kidnapping a student of Bright Sail would risk a lot of attention. The school faculty, not to mention the mayor, would come down hard on someone for this,” Milim said, talking as much to fill the silence as to keep herself distracted.

Sen felt the mana inside Mori’s body twist in a silent rage. “I don’t think they’ll have to worry about the faculty or the mayor. They won’t be alive to do that,” he said factually.

Normally Sen might advocate restraint, but in this case, he agreed. This was a slight against him. The culprits of it would pay dearly, and he hadn’t had the opportunity to try out Maxima in combat yet. Look at that, the universe aligns for divine punishment once again.

They reached a crossroads, a group of three branching tunnels, and Sen looked in each direction.

“Should we split up?” Mori asked. “There’s a path for each of us.”

Milim’s swallow echoed in the tunnel’s silence. It wouldn’t be wise to send her off on her own. “Tutor, which paths are most likely?” he asked aloud.

[Left and straight. I think.]

“Mori, go left. Milim and I will keep moving forward,” Sen instructed.

Mori half-bowed before taking off down the left tunnel. Milim let out a grateful sigh of relief.

He led her straight down the tunnel, picking up his pace as they moved. Hopefully she would be able to keep up. He’d opted to move cautiously at first, but the longer they went without finding Ilm, the more worried he became. Finally, the tunnel came to an end, or, more of a drop than an end. He flickered a finger; the light he’d created to replace Mori’s floated downward, slowly descending. The drop was long. It went straight down as far as the eye could see, even with his enhanced eyes. He didn’t think that was usual for a sewer.

Milim leaned forward to peek down it as well. “What do we do now? Do we turn back?” she asked.

“Are you still sure this is the way, Tutor?”

[My senses haven’t changed. Though I’m not sure jumping into that hole would be wise. Oh, you’re doing it anyway.]

“Apologies, but I can’t leave you here.” He turned and scooped Milim up in his arms, then jumped.

Mana Encapsulation was the only thing that kept her screams from echoing throughout the entire sewer. It did very little to protect his own eardrums. He released Mana Aggression so as not to squeeze her to tight, and activated Mana Protection. As durable as his wards were, he didn’t want to break both legs upon landing. This hybrid stat would help prevent that.

They landed thirty seconds later with a satisfying crunch. A crater appeared beneath him, and Milim scrambled out of his arms. She got on her hands and knees and gasped for air.

“Calm Maxim.” He felt a twinge of guilt realizing he could’ve done that before traumatizing her, but he was distracted by his worry for Ilm. Sen turned and looked around.

They were in a wide, rectangular room. Someone had placed torches at perfect intervals along the wall, illuminating the grand space. There were boxes of varying shapes and sizes, tables with mutilated corpses of magic beasts, and large tubes filled with some strange blue liquid. The equipment and boxes were too new. The corpses too fresh. “Someone’s working down here. This is…some kind of research facility.” He hurried over to a box and whispered a quick spell. “Undo.”

The author’s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The box split apart, and several colored spheres rolled around on the ground. Low-tier magic essence spheres. Sen’s eyes lit up. If these boxes were all filled with essences or other magic materials, it would be too his advantage to take as much as possible. But he’d worry about that as soon as Ilm was safe.

[Then we’re raiding this place like a bunch of bandits.]

“That…is aptly put.”

There was a door at the opposite end of the underground warehouse, and Sen led the way. Milim pried her eyes off the glowing essence spheres and hurried after him. She had an eye for the finer things as well, it seemed.

Before opening the door, Sen knelt and put his ear to it. There was talking on the other side, just a couple of people from what he could tell. The room wasn’t nearly as large as this one, but if he was careful, he should be able to get in without warning the people inside. He turned and put a finger to his lips to quiet Milim.