I Have a Task Log

Just as the Hundred Eyes Gang’s intelligence had suggested.

After wandering aimlessly through the slums for several hours, Karen Stone Heart returned to the city proper and entered his apartment building.

Colin and the others waited downstairs for a while. Once they confirmed Karen Stone Heart wasn’t coming back out, they moved several streets away to discuss their next move.

"Do you think we’re overthinking this?" Orelia said. "Mr. Stone Heart doesn’t seem to be doing anything strange."

Dorn spoke up. "I don’t think he spotted us. Unless that guy in Full Plate Armor can secretly cast Magic like you can."

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve only watched him for one day. We’ll see what happens over the next few days," Colin said, glancing at the sun. "It’s still early. I’m going to head into the slums and ask around, see if I can find anything new."

"You go, we’ll follow," Dorn said.

Colin said, "It might actually be less convenient if you guys come with me..."

Orelia insisted, "We can just keep our distance, Mr. Colin."

The group talked as they walked, arriving once again at the slums.

Colin was the first to enter one of the alleys.

Seeing him, several women who were sewing by their doorways immediately stood up and went inside their houses. A few men who had been chatting muttered amongst themselves, then quickly walked out of the alley.

"Hello, excuse me..."

Colin tried to start a conversation, but the two men ignored him completely and hurried away.

The group moved on to another alley.

Colin saw another woman sitting by her door, sewing. He quickly approached her. "Have you noticed anything strange around here lately? I’m with the City Watchers."

"No, sorry."

"This matter is a bit..."

"Sorry, please, don’t ask me anymore. I don’t want any trouble." The woman shot to her feet, scrambled into her small home, and slammed the wooden door shut.

A moment later, the other two came over.

"Seems like it’s not so ’convenient’ for you to be alone after all," Dorn remarked.

Colin turned to the other two and shrugged. "Looks like the people here see us as ’outsiders.’ Or rather, they don’t think we can solve their problems, and might even cause new ones."

It was an unwritten rule of the slums.

Most of the poor were more willing to trust the gangs than the City Guard. After all, the City Guard didn’t even patrol here.

"Besides, no one in the slums is going to see an Adventurer in Plate Armor as one of their own," Dorn said. "It’s not like they read the papers. They wouldn’t know you’re the recently famous Dragon Slayer."

"Enough of that," Colin said. "Let’s pay the Hundred Eyes Gang a visit first."

With that, he led the other two to the Hundred Eyes Gang’s barbershop.

The barber, who was sitting in a chair reading a newspaper, saw them enter and immediately stood up, giving a slight nod. "Sir, how can I help you? Is it about the intelligence..."

"The intelligence was fine, but I wanted to ask the locals some questions. They don’t seem to trust me, so I came straight here," Colin said. "Also, have you noticed what Karen Stone Heart, the man I had you investigate, has been doing in the slums?"

"One moment, sir."

The barber went behind the counter and rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a notebook.

He flipped through the notebook as he spoke. "He comes here every day, then returns to the city proper two hours later. He goes to a different place each day, just wandering aimlessly. We don’t know what he’s up to either."

"So, has anything strange been happening in the slums recently?" Colin asked.

The barber flipped a few more pages in his notebook. "Only the recent disappearances, but those started before Karen Stone Heart began showing up."

"Are they happening around here?"

The barber said, "Actually, they’re happening all over the slums, mostly concentrated in the last half-month. Ruthless gang members, crooked merchants who sell counterfeit goods, and some thieves... The victims are mostly these sorts of unsavory people.

If we found bodies, we could figure out who the killer is. But since they’ve all just vanished, it’s very strange."

Colin stroked his chin, lost in thought.

’This disappearance case should be under investigation by another team. Could Karen be involved?’

’Even if he’s not connected, his behavior is definitely suspicious.’

’Also, since there are kidnappings, this could be related to Demons or Cultists. But Orelia didn’t sense anything strange on our way here...’

"Have you recorded the times of the disappearances and where the victims lived?"

"Yes, sir." The barber flipped two pages in the notebook and handed it over.

Colin took it and looked. A simple map of the slums was drawn on the page, marked with many small crosses. Next to each cross were the victim’s time of disappearance and their identity.

After taking a deep breath, Colin began to slowly piece together the information in the notebook.

The earliest disappearances all occurred in the area near the city wall.

A few days after the first disappearance, Karen Stone Heart started wandering the slums, and the cases began to occur in other parts of the slums as well.

Colin took a closer look.

The disappearances usually happened on the main thoroughfares of the slums, and the victims were all the less-than-friendly types.

Since these people were the source of a large portion of the crime in the slums, some of the poor assumed it was a gang kidnapping or something similar.

They didn’t want to get involved, so they did their best to stay clear of it.

After the cold snap began, disappearances and deaths were nothing new in the slums. Refugees flocking in from all directions and immigrants from the south would naturally fill the vacancies.

Of course, it wasn’t just these so-called "bad people" who vanished.

Colin looked carefully and found a few victims who didn’t seem to deserve their fate—a woman who lived near a sewer outfall, a Ratman who trained rats, and a sewer cleaner who lived in the city proper.

Colin asked, "What’s the story with the Ratman?"

"He was a therianthrope, the kind that could turn into a giant rat. On the surface, he was a blacksmith’s apprentice, but he secretly provided intelligence to a thieves’ guild by talking to rats. As you can imagine, he got taken out recently, which is pretty good news for us."

The barber continued, "The thieves’ guild hired some Adventurers to look into it, but they came up empty-handed in the end."

Colin glanced at the area where the disappearances had first been concentrated.

It was mostly near the city wall, and also close to the sewer outfalls...

A woman living near the sewer, a Ratman who trained rats, and a sewer cleaner who lived in the city proper.

"Then the problem must be in the sewers. Something is hiding down there, and it’s eliminating anyone who might have noticed its presence," Colin said. "I still don’t know what Karen Stone Heart has to do with any of this, though."

"Maybe the guy really is innocent," Dorn said with a shrug. "Then we could just go collect our pay."

"It’s also possible Karen Stone Heart is gathering intelligence for that new resident of the sewers," Colin said, closing the notebook. "Nothing is certain yet."

"So what do we do now?" Orelia asked.