Night Patrol II

Dawn broke out across the horizon, signaling to Kies that the night was over. He stood from the top of the colosseum, staring at the rising sun. "Already?"

The night had gone by so quickly and he barely managed to find anything. After returning back to the scene of the crime, he discovered nothing useful. To make matters worse, he couldn't go inside the building that the kidnappers had been hiding in since the guards were called and they were all around the area, making it impossible for him to enter without getting caught.

Due to that, all he could do was go around the city and try to find anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. He even went as far as to go back to the ruined hideout of the Black Fang, or whatever it was that they called themselves. He went back down into the basement and through the hidden passageway that was supposedly an emergency exit.

Kies almost got impaled by spike traps, shot by arrow traps, and even roasted by a flame trap, but even going through all this hardship, he didn't find even a clue as to where the criminals ran off to. The tunnel led to an alleyway, which in turn led into the middle of the city, meaning that they escaped by blending into the crowd. There were no leads to be found from this.

"What a pain..." Kies sat down, hanging his legs over the side of the colosseum. He peered down, seeing that there were already people at work down in the arena. They were walking around, moving boxes and other things. They were too busy to notice that there was someone watching them from afar.

It was a normal start to the morning... Though, Kies did find it a little strange that there were only three people doing all that work. Was the tournament so stingy that they couldn't hire more people? Furthermore, they were all wearing face coverings for some reason. We're they moving hazardous material? And lastly, given the fact that it was this early, a time where most people were still asleep... What were they doing?

Very strange indeed... Kies continued to observe the three, even using his wind magic to eavesdrop on them while they worked. They were quiet for a while, busy with their work, but they eventually started talking. The sun was barely out, but it was already blazing hot. Of course, it was nowhere near as hot as it was in the noon when the sun was at its highest, but it was still crazy hot. Well, that's the desert for you.

"Phew. This is gruesome work." One of the men wiped the sweat off their brow and sat down to rest for a second, but he was immediately scolded by one of the other workers.

"Get off your a*s! We need to finish this job! We don't have much time left!" The second man kicked the first in the leg.

"Argh! F*ck! What's the matter with you!?"

"Get up! We don't have the time for this!" the second man yelled, pointing at the sun which was rising.

"Cr*p..." It looked like that the first man only just noticed it and he quickly got up to his feet. He picked up the box and stood up. The third man stared at the two, rolling his eyes. It seemed that he was used to seeing. He ignored them and continued on with the work. He carried the box out of the arena and all walked into one of the gates.

The other two followed his lead and also went into the tunnel. Kies tried to see where they were going but it was too dark to see into it. But that didn't matter. He could still hear them from his current location.

"So, we are told to wait until the end of the fight, right?" It was the first man's voice. He was asking a question to the other two.

"You idiot... Did you not hear what the boss said?" The voice who answered him belonged to the second man. He sounded ticked off and tired. There was fatigue in his voice and his words were slow and heavy.

A third voice entered the conversation, which Kies could only assume belonged to the third person that was with them. If not, then it meant that there were more people inside the tunnel. It was low and hoarse and almost sounded like the man was ill. "We start the party after the tournament ends," he answered the first man's question.

"Oh... Got it. Also, we're done moving the boxes now, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we can leave now, right?"

"Yes."

"Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go!"

The conversation ended there. Kies didn't hear anything else other than the footsteps of the three men as they left the colosseum. Looks like they were just normal workers. Nothing to be concerned about. And speaking of leaving... Kies looked up at the sky. It was still too early for people to be up and about, but it was about time that he headed back.

Leaving Sirks to take care of the two girls when he was also injured and tired wasn't the best decision he made in his life, but since Nyana was right next door, he felt safer. There were very few people in the city that could fight toe to toe with the elf.

The winds responded to Kies and enveloped him. *Woosh!* He jumped into the air and was taken away by the wind, like a feather being guided by them. As he traveled across the city, Kies saw that there was almost no one on the streets. This was good for him since it meant that he was less likely to be seen flying across the city.

The winds roared in his ear, deafening out most other sounds until he reached the inn. He landed on top of the building and opened the window that led to the attic. He hopped down onto the dusty wooden floor without a noise. The winds made him lighter and also quieter than a mouse. He dispelled the magic and the winds flew out of the window and back into the skies where they belonged. Just like any other normal day in the desert, the skies were clear with no clouds in sight.

Kies carefully walked down the stairs and arrived at the second floor. The inn was a two-floor building and was not the most efficient in design in terms of serving its purpose. Kies saw from the outside that the building was very wide to make up for the lack of floors since it lacked space to accommodate all its guests. Kies walked over to his room and stood there. He heard snoring from the inside. It was probably Sirks. This meant that Sirks and the two princesses were still asleep. Since opening the door might wake them up, Kies chose to go downstairs to the first floor instead. It wasn't like he had anything he needed to get from the room anyway.

The first floor of the inn was a mess. The tables and chairs were all over the place. Did a party happen last night? Kies walked to one of the tables that were on its sides and examined it.

It reeked of alcohol. The other overturned tables also smelled of alcohol. Yep, a party most likely did happen last night... A drinking party that is. Kies felt bad for the employees who had to clean up this mess.

"Oh, a customer?"

Kies turned around and saw an old woman standing beside a door.

"I'm very sorry," she apologized, bowing her head. "If you're looking to eat breakfast, I'm afraid you have to wait a little bit. As you can see... We can't exactly serve you right now," she waved her hand to show Kies the situation of the room in case he hadn't known or seen it already.

"It's no problem. I can just go find food elsewhere," Kies told the kind, old lady.

"Thank you. Once again, I'm very sorry. I should've cleaned this up earlier, but I wasn't expecting someone to be up this early..."

"Don't worry. I'll be on my way now."

"Okay. Take care." The old woman went back into her room, not closing the door behind her. There was some rustling and what sounded like a bucket and mop being dropped.

"Oh dear..."

Kies pitied her. She was this old and yet she had to clean up all of this herself. Those idiots that created this mess last night were too drunk to have cleaned up after themselves.

"Well, helping her wouldn't hurt..." Kies let out a soft whistle from his lips and. A breeze entered the room despite the door and all the windows being closed. The winds picked up all the chairs and tables and returned them to their original positions in a matter of seconds. They were still dirty with alcohol and food stains, but Kies couldn't do anything about that. The old lady would have to take care of it. This should already be enough to help her out.

Satisfied, Kies left the inn before the lady could come back with the mop and see what happened. Without thinking, he started walking. He knew where his next destination was. With plenty of time to spare before his match, he had something he wanted to do... Like paying those mercenaries a visit.

Next stop, the mercenary guild.

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