Chapter 61: Inventory
The two ladies soon reached their destination, but were met with a shocking surprise.
A group of people were standing around where the metal rods were stored; their eyes filled with confusion as they scratched the sides of their heads.
Seraphine approached one of them and asked:
"Hey, what’s going on? Are you guys all here for the rods as well?"
"Were..." They clarified. "Somehow we had run out."
"Huh?! But there were so many stored here, the last time I saw!"
Someone else then spoke up from the side.
"We’re not sure how either. Apparently it was like this since the moment everyone woke up. It’s like, either we just all used it up yesterday, or they had all just... somehow vanished. You guys think someone stole ’em?"
"There’s no way," Another answered. "Carrying that many out would definitely make some noise. Someone would’ve definitely noticed. And what’s the point of stealing metal rods, besides making something with it?"
As theories continued to fly around on what could’ve happened to the metal rods, Nadia was brewing up one of her own.
Hilda was missing, and nobody had seen her once. The rods were gone, and nobody knew why or how.
These two things felt connected.
Could it be that Hilda had actually taken the metal rods without anyone noticing?
But there were two things that made the connection implausible.
Why would Hilda need metal rods? And... how had she taken them without drawing even the slightest bit of attention towards herself?
Nadia continued to rack her brain, which, as a result, led her to think back to the mysterious blanket she woke up to.
Could it be that was Hilda’s doing as well?
For once, Nadia didn’t huff or scowl at the idea of Hilda helping her, for she was grateful, nonetheless, for the blanket. Plus, it wasn’t like her reacting to it now was going to get a reaction out of the German, considering that the woman wasn’t even here to see it.
’Hilda...’
With half-lidded eyes, she murmured the woman’s name inside her mind in a partial daze before being woken up by Seraphine.
"Hey, since there are no rods here, let’s go find some kind of alternative."
"... Okay."
They then turned and left to look for an alternative. But throughout the process of trying to find one, Nadia couldn’t help but continue to think about what Hilda could possibly be planning.
She was worried, concerned, and cautious about what the German could be brewing up. But she would be lying if a part of her wasn’t just a bit curious about the plan she was cooking up.
...
"Yawn..."
’I knew I should’ve slept a bit earlier.’
Hilda was sitting on the ledge of a rooftop, her eyes filled with a sluggish indifference. Even if she hadn’t expended much of her Vitality yesterday, it wasn’t a good thing to lose out on precious sleep.
’But I suppose learning more about my Dame is a good trade-off,’ Hilda chuckled in delight, briefly recalling the face Nadia had while asleep, before summoning the System.
She watched the floating screen manifest in the air and quickly swiped to Inventory.
[System Inventory: Military Cap, Metal Rods (x30)]
Yesterday, she had done a little experiment involving the System’s Inventory and her cap. She had wanted to know whether it was only items given by the System that could be stored inside Inventory or anything she could get her hands on.
And to her amazement, it was the latter. The experience of storing her cap inside Inventory and watching its image appear inside its slot was the exact same with the Glock 17 that she lent to Seraphine.
Albeit with a restriction, being that she couldn’t store anything that was bigger than the System screen itself, which she found pretty reasonable.
’There’s most likely more, though, but I’ll figure that out another time.’
Figuring out how the System worked wasn’t as important as what she planned for today.
After Hilda gently pulled her cap out of Inventory and put it on, she looked down at the group of twelve people and a Predicament cautiously making their way down a street.
It was Elias and his group.
Since the moment they left Rusty Den, Hilda had been tailing them from behind, or more accurately, above them for the past half an hour.
So far, she had been able to remain undetected.
"Achoo...!"
Though that almost changed when she suddenly sneezed.
"Who’s there!" Elias twisted his head around, looking in the direction of the sneeze.
Hilda, in an effort to remain undetected, had laid herself completely flat on her back — lying down on the rooftop with a wry expression on her face.
’To confidently look towards where I was... his senses are sharp,’ Hilda thought with an impressed look in her eyes before rubbing her nose.
’Did spending time outside last night cause me to catch a cold?’ She wondered.
She didn’t usually sneeze... and it wasn’t very easy for her to get sick either, much less catch a cold. In fact, it was almost impossible for her to become ill under normal means.
Hilda hummed slightly before giving a lazy smile.
’Maybe someone’s thinking about me.’
In her mind, there weren’t many people that she believed would think so intently about her. Maybe, besides that irritating woman, or possibly her adorable Dame, who should be awake by now.
"Hmm... meh."
She soon became disinterested in the thought.
’They shouldn’t be suspicious by now, right?’
Once she ensured that Elias’ group were no longer looking in her direction, she sat up and continued observing the group from afar.
Then, when they got far away enough, she sneakily chased after them.
Since tailing them, Hilda had not once seen them engage or stumble upon a single Predicament in their hunt. It was an unusual thing to happen, especially in an area that was infested with Predicaments.
But that was to be expected.
Hilda tilted her nose towards the sky and drew in a deep breath of the air, finding it to be heavily laced with a metallic smell. The stench of blood was heavy, much heavier than it was when she was still at the warehouse.
She had already deduced that a Poison Jar had occurred in Calais, given what Roxy had said yesterday about what the Predicaments were up to. And the heavy metallic scent in the air only further confirmed her suspicions.
’If I assume the recon team had done a good job, with how many Predicaments were killed in the past two days, Calais isn’t infested with enough Predicaments to produce more than one Soldier.’
And yet...
Hilda glanced at the System screen.
[Minor Intel]
"..."