Thundering Blade: Adventuring Heroine In Another World

"Good morning... You’re up early again," Hotaru remarked whilst walking into the dining room.

Fumeko took another spoonful from the half-empty bowl of corn flakes, milk and dried apricots while she still was not done chewing the last. Her eyes wandered up.

...

"...Rude," the redhead muttered, and glanced into the kitchen where Tiffany was chopping dried apricots into a bowl. Her crimson ears bristled up, "Is everything okay...?"

"Fine as it ever was," Fumeko took the next spoonful.

"Oh, sorry, Morning," Tiffany made awkward eye contact and looked back to the chopping board.

...

"I’ll ignore how Tiffany suddenly found a knife for now," Hotaru’s eyes glazed over before she pulled out a chair for herself and sat opposite to the brunette.

"There’s a series of tunnels under the orphanage that’s still in use, most likely by the cult," Fumeko revealed.

Hotaru hummed in understanding. "Nothing hurt you two, I hope. Sorry, I headed to bed a little earlier than usual."

"None of the cult laid so much as a hand on us, however in terms of hurt..." the bitter voice of the pale blonde carried over from the kitchen.

"You wanna explain yourself?" Fumeko said while chewing.

"...Forget I said anything."

"Ah. Alright..." Hotaru shook her head. "There’s a series of tunnels there... I’d say I’m surprised, but it feels like something the detectives would’ve known before."

Tiffany sat down at the table, "We have reason to believe that whatever was investigated was most likely reignited. Much of the pathways seemed to be magical in nature."

"At least the exits and entrances," Fumeko corrected. "The one in the orphanage was walled up; I doubt the orphanage itself is involved though."

"I’ve already cut up the fruit, so take as much as you fancy," Tiffany uttered.

"Thank you, but what happened in the tunnels? What all did you two find?"

"Other than people, probably cultists, using them, not much. It was pitch black in there and we didn’t have a light, so we just relied on Tiffy’s echoes."

"Someone was not able to produce a glow," Tiffany took a shot.

Fumeko side-eyed.

"So, are you up to continue learning for today?" Hotaru folded her arms on the table.

’...Is Sobi’s company really not enough for you?’ "Not really. I’m gonna go find Mrs Aetherton and corroborate what I found. I’ll have to find Ms Ward and Alicia too."

"I can come along!" Asobi’s voice chimed in from upstairs.

"She’s been up for a while," Hotaru’s ears flickered.

"I figured," Fumeko then looked up. "I’m fine on my own."

The magician hopped down the stairs, "What if you need to fight the dark this time?" her wand glowed, before the entire house was blinded by white light to a point it blasted radiance out the windows.

The light faded, but their vision did not return for the next few seconds. Tiffany switched her eyepatch position and Hotaru put a hand of faint glowing water over her eyelids.

Fumeko’s squinted eyes continued to stare with her shrunken pupils at the elf who stumbled down the stairs. "The tunnels would’ve been a breeze with me around silly," she talked to the coat stand by the door.

"...I think I prefer my judgement," Fumeko closed her eyes.

Hotaru fixed her vision and viewed the world around her. "Well, it’s not like Asobi’s not capable."

"I’m not going anywhere dangerous."

"Even so Meko, you don’t need to be alone," Hotaru argued. "You’ve been through a lot... it’s not healthy to just do everything on your own."

"I went with Tiffy yesterday, I met with Ms Ward and Cheshire, I met Alicia, Jotou’s friend too; I’m hardly doing things on my own."

"You know what I meant Meko."

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do," Hotaru leaned forward, her hairs spiking up. "You’re miserable. I’m here- we’re all here. You can talk to us; even yesterday morning you told me you-" Hotaru’s eyes unintentionally fell on Tiffany, but she shut her mouth right before.

Fumeko carelessly scraped the spoon at the bottom of the leftover milk pool.

"I’m worried about you, alright."

’Now that Jotou’s gone, you’re so obsessed with me? If you can’t help twiddling your thumbs about it, then you do something!’ "You said the same to me yesterday, do you think I have something to tell you?" Fumeko furrowed her brows.

Asobi readjusted her sights, "Why are we arguing...? I just wanted to come along to help."

"Considering all that I have learned about your party thus far," Tiffany realigned her eyepatch. She sighed, "It honestly feels like the only reason you two even tolerate each other was because she was around."

"What?" Hotaru’s ears folded back.

"Why would you ever think that?" Fumeko’s glare switched over towards the pale blonde.

"I don’t ’tolerate’ her, no; that sounds so wrong," the wolf-girl sat back.

"I care about her a lot more than you could-" Fumeko’s gaze fell back onto the redhead. She swallowed her own words... and sat back with a more composed visage.

Hotaru avoided eye contact, flushing a slight red for a moment before she cleared her throat to break the sudden silence.

"...Fine. You can come with me Sobi," Fumeko did not bother to finish the milk.

"Uh..." Asobi’s head continued to tilt to the side. "Will you be alright Hotaru?"

Hotaru scratched her forehead, "I’ll go get some fresh air; I’ll be fine."

"I may well join you. I believe you will prefer some corners of Dolpool hardly travelled by tourists," Tiffany stated.

Hotaru feigned a smile, "Yes. I’d like that a lot Tiffany."

"Then it’s settled. Don’t get into trouble," Fumeko advised.

"Same goes for you two," Hotaru replied.

_

Fumeko looked at the business card, and back up at the three-story building cramped in between others of varying heights.

Asobi had her eyes on the park, where people were on their morning jogs or walking their dogs. At its centre was a statue of a woman with her hands clasped in some form of prayer, while a compass with an eight-pointed star floated before her face.

"Who’s Genevieve?" the elf queried.

"Someone worth making a memorial park over," Fumeko answered and stepped towards the building. Asobi shortly followed behind.

The foot traffic was certainly surprising; what she thought was going to be a relatively vacant building, had at least over a dozen people walking and waiting in the front foyer.

Two doors on either side of the building seemed to lead to the adjacent structures she saw before. A flight of stairs sat to the left going up, and a water closet on the right.

Behind a rounded front desk attached to the wall in the centre, was a woman on the phone, writing down things while she held the receiver under her chin.

Fumeko and Asobi approached.

"Where’s Morgana Aetherton’s office?" the brunette asked.

"Sorry please hold," the woman moved the receiver away and tapped her pencil on the desk, "Aetherton? P.I.? What’s your business?"

"Just wanna talk to her about a case. She knows me."

"Alright, I’ll check if she’s in," the receptionist put her pencil through the rotary dial of the candlestick telephone, and scanned over a little sheet of numbers before dialling.

’Could’ve blinked up through a window by now...’

"Hello, just checking if you’re in, there’s a..." she moved away the mouthpiece and furrowed her brows at the two, "Sorry, what’s your name love?"

"Fumeko Namora."

The receptionist took a breath to speak into the mouthpiece, but then gawked back to the brunette, "Fumeko Namora? As in? Oh, this is business then... I’m sorry for your, hm?" it seemed she heard something over the phone.

Fumeko attempted to overhear, however the phone was kept under the desk in a separate compartment, specifically to prevent eavesdroppers in the first place.

The woman gave a nod, "Go right on in love, second floor, down the hall, fourth door on the right."

Fumeko moved on, while Asobi gave a quick, "Thank you!" before they departed up the steps.

Following the directions, Fumeko did not bother to knock on the door she entered. ...Smaller than her bedroom, the four bleak white walls had just enough space for a desk, two chairs and a few cabinets to store some files.

Morgana sat with her fingers tented up to her nose, while she watched the brunette survey the office, "It’s temporary kid."

"How long’s that exactly?" she replied.

"Until they fix the company building."

"Lady Pinberry couldn’t even give the greatest detective in Burnetrout a better place to work?"

"This was what I can get on such short notice; give it some time, I’m sure I ain’t going to be here for more than a month."

"Hello Detective Aetherton!" Asobi tried to skip in, but paused realizing she might smack into a wall by even attempting to do so.

"Hello Asobi."

"Where’s Kira?"

Morgana twisted the blinds open and through the window, she pointed to the park. "Top of a tree, building a nest." There the bird was, on top of the highest tree she could find. "Any particular reason you two came in here for?"

_

Morgana was sat back in her chair, one leg over the other and arms folded while she was lost in thought.

"You’re not gonna tell me off for breaking into a place I shouldn’t’ve been in?" Fumeko was sat as well, while Asobi stood making illusions on the wall.

"Kid, the entire city’s on edge, we ain’t got time for permits."

’Now she’s loose with the rules all of a sudden.’ Fumeko rolled her eyes. "But speaking of permits, that place was investigated before it was auctioned off, right?"

Morgana tapped a couple of fingers on the bridge of her nose, "It’s been a while. But the case was closed and the building was auctioned off, so I can say with certainty that it would’ve been investigated thoroughly. No authority in Burnetrout would take a chance with the cult."

Fumeko held a hand to her chin, "So it was investigated proper, and not just overlooked for so many years. The cult renewed its usage, and since no one would care to check after everything was so renovated and changed, it got overlooked the second time around."

"Overlooked’s a bit much. It’s slowly coming back to me, but most of them were dead ends and any exits were investigated. Not a single crumb was left anywhere to be tracked. Although, that adds up with the Deuctus Cult."

"The main problem we kept hitting our head against was how the cult was able to travel so easily without being noticed; not even the Department of Arcana were keen on that case.

So, an entire underground system of tunnels was not thought of by a single detective in this city?" she glared.

Morgana came out of thought as her piercing green eyes stared daggers right back, "What exactly did you find in there again kid?" her voice raised ever so slightly.

"...Big long tunnels and a bunch of people running around..." Fumeko’s gaze faltered.

"A bunch of?" her eyebrow ticked.

"...About five or six."

Morgana continued glaring.

Fumeko’s eyes went to the side.

"Maybe you’d have a point if the tunnels were some vast networks under Dolpool—that’d be an oversight. But if I remember, the tunnels barely spanned over a few kilometres in any direction.

And if there was some magic hogwash over the walls, it weren’t there when it first got examined. Anything you found would’ve been strapped back together under our noses," her voice raised even more.

Fumeko quietly gulped.

Morgana huffed, "You’ve got every right to be mad at the world kid, but don’t bring that tone and that dirty look to me, got that?"

"Sorry..."

"Whatever the case, you did good kid. This’ll be useful information. I’d advise you not to go in there again for now," Morgana compromised. "We’ll investigate it, and you’ll be there."

Fumeko nodded.

"What about the magic and the people? I mean, if there’s a bunch of magic in there and people who saw Fumeko and Stella, wouldn’t they be prepared?" Asobi queried.

"It’s why we got to move carefully. They already know," Morgana answered. "What are you doing next kid?" she looked back at the brunette. "Where you off to?"

"Don’t know yet. I’ve been looking over dad’s work for the past few days. I also thought I should pay Alicia a visit."

"Alicia?" Morgana cocked her head to the side.

"She’s hopefully investigating into the gangs to figure out how they’re gonna contact the cult; plus, the Scorching Inferno was chased by them, so I’ll have to get him too."

"I wouldn’t bother Alicia right now kid," Morgana reached beneath her desk and pulled out the newspaper which she slid across.

Fumeko sat up and caught it, before she opened it up to read, "...She published this?" She furrowed her brows and read through the initial text on the frontpage, which previewed the article further in.

It mentioned of Jotou’s and Kineko’s kidnapping, the gang’s involvement with the cults that was still being investigated, the Scorching Inferno’s encounter and escape after the death of Green-Fillet Johnes.

Most of the relevant things that were close-kept to the chest or only discussed in small circles were out in the open for anyone with a few copper pieces to read.

"That’s a lot of info," Asobi stated, craning her head over the brunette’s shoulder.

"Is she crazy!?" Fumeko looked up from the paper. ’I could count on my fingers of how many things she left out!’

"I know you like her, but she’s a magpie through and through. I’d be careful," Morgana frowned pitifully at Fumeko.

’...How can I tell her anything? Doesn’t she realize the cult can get their hands on this easily? ... ... ...!’

"Doesn’t this feel off to you?" Fumeko questioned. "Alicia is a journalist and will report whatever she can find, but it doesn’t mean she’s incapable of lying or omitting details."

"That you thinking she got replaced and this ain’t her, or are you suggesting she did this deliberately? It’s a thought that crossed my mind, but go on, why that thought?" Morgana entertained; however, she was still leaned back in her seat and hardly lifted an arm.

"I don’t know, it seems stupid," Fumeko scowled. "This is all now public, why do this for no reason?"

"Hmmm, isn’t it kinda her job? That’s a pretty good reason," Asobi nodded to herself.

"It doesn’t feel like Alicia, it doesn’t make sense. If she did put this all out there, she must have a reason for doing so," the brunette attempted to justify.

"If you have a hunch, by all means. I’ve given my advice," Morgana sat up and folded the newspaper.

’... ...!’ "You said yourself that Alicia is the one thing that can always get the jump on dad. She’s doing something," Fumeko held a hand to her chin.

"I ain’t overlooking her kid," she sighed. "Over the years, the entire company’s tried to guess where that hectic hummingbird’s head’s at, but she can’t be predicted."

Fumeko furrowed her brows in an attempt to connect red strings together in her mind...

"That’s why I said don’t bother her. I ain’t denying she’s up to something, but let her do her thing," the detective in blue continued.

’... ... Dammit.’ She came out empty.

"How have you been?" Morgana asked.

Fumeko crossed her arms, "Fine."

"You sure?" the detective raised a brow.

"Yes," she said through teeth.

"I’m here if you ever need to talk."

’Talk, talk, everyone wants to let me fucking talk. I’ve got nothing to say; I’ve got no clue, and I’ve said what I found!’ Fumeko got up from the chair and turned. ’...I’ve got something to say I guess.’ "Mrs Aetherton?" she looked back.

"Yes?"

"It’s a vague memory at this point, but I remember a talking crow and a boy, who I think was about my age now. Your son, right? Where is he?" she asked with a blank stare.

Morgana sat up; her usual unwavering demeanour and poker-faced expression seemed like they melted off. "...Yes. I’m surprised you’d remember... Makalo. He’s... gone. Been a while now."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," Fumeko’s eyes waned. "What about your spouse?"

"..." Morgana looked up and studied Fumeko’s expression, before her tense face went back to being impassive. "Is that all kid?"

"...Yeah."

"Then I’ll see you at the funeral," Morgana bade.

Fumeko walked out the door, leaving an elf lost and confused. She looked to Morgana and said, "Uh... bye!" She followed after the brunette and closed the door.