Missing Miners

It's been around three days now since I finished my training in my realm, and now I'm just roaming around Liyue Harbor with Shenhe since we didn't have anything to do. Now you might be wondering, why don't I just go to school? Well, I requested Jean to tell the Principal that I'm dropping out a few days ago. This was because I'm going to Inazuma and even farther after that. The Principal quickly accepted it since I wasn't really a student.

When we passed by the Liyue Branch of the Adventurers' Guild, I stopped in my tracks and stood there thinking. Should I just accept a commission to kill my boredom? Or maybe better, Katheryne might have a commission that's fit just for me. And so, I went inside the building with Shenhe.

As soon as we entered though, a lot of people immediately looked towards Shenhe. She was still wearing her clothes that Cloud Retainer gave her and ooh boy you don't know just how hard I tried to convince her to wear something else. Alas, she didn't agree. Well, not until I buy her clothing that is.

We walked towards Katheryne and she smiled.

"Ad astra abyssosque! Aether! Just the man for the job."

"Oh? You got a commission for me?" Damn, I really didn't expect her to actually have one.

"Yes, it's a commission for a man named Uncle Dai from the Huishan Hall. He was hoping for the Adventurers' Guild to lend some manpower. Before you ask, it's workers."

"Oh, we'll take it then." I looked behind me and saw Shenhe nod in confirmation. I looked back at Katheryne. "Yep, we'll take it."

"Great! Please just report when you both are done with it."

We nodded as Katheryne told us to head to the dock to meet the man in question. We did as she told and quickly saw the man as we arrived there. When he saw us, or rather me since I think no one here knows Shenhe, his eyes widened.

"The Adventurers' Guild sent THE Traveler?"

"Mhm, and we're happy to help."

He explained to us what we were gonna do and he mentioned his assistant that will come and help with the appraisal and geological analysis. Hearing that, an idea popped into my mind. If it comes to rocks and knowledge, he should be a professional in this field.

"Just wait a sec, I need to find my own assistant if you will."

Without another word, I teleported away. Zhongli should be at Third-Round Knockout around this time. And I'm glad that my assumptions were right.

"Ah, Aether. What brings you here?"

"I need you for something. To be specific, your knowledge."

"Wha-"

Before he could ask for confirmation, I dropped some change on the table and teleported away. I feel like I'm turning into an instant transportation service all of a sudden. Meh, fuck it. I don't really lose anything by doing this a lot.

"Aether, why didn't you bring me?"

I felt my whole spine shiver when I heard the voice behind me. I know that Shenhe has an apathetic tone but holy fuck I can feel the slight irritation in her voice. And it's fucking scary. I looked towards Shenhe and smiled nervously.

"W-well, I was pretty quick right? Even if I brought you, it will only be for a bit so I just decided not to."

Shenhe didn't look convinced at first, but just decided to accept it. Good, my life is safe…for now at least. I look back at Uncle Dai and introduce Zhongli. He really tried being humble, but I know your capabilities young man. Damn, I really sound like a really old man huh…

As we were talking, I heard someone talk as they were getting near us. I looked to the side and saw a man, but what caught my interest was the elemental energy within him.

'He's possessed.'

"Ah, speak of the devil. This is Kun Jun, my assistant."

At that moment, I saw both Shenhe and Zhongli look at him with narrowed eyes. They've caught on too. Shenhe was about to do her thing so I raised my hand to prevent her from doing anything rash. I stepped forward with a smile and introduced myself along with Shenhe.

"And this man here is Zhongli of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."

"I feel like I've seen you before… Have we met at the parlor? Wait, I haven't gone to the parlor…"

Oh? The one possessing this man knows Zhongli? Or rather, does it know Morax himself? Just who is this person…

—

After explaining to us what happened, and a small match between the two appraisers, we set off to The Chasm. Well, the entrance to The Chasm at least. However, the mine was still huge.

"Six days ago, a group of us left the site to attend to other matters. However, when we returned… the four when we'd left disappeared. I led a few men around the mines, but no luck. There were no traces of the four. So, that's why I enlisted help."

"So four miners have disappeared. Workers in this trade are usually in their prime. Could they have just left for another mine?" Asked Zhongli.

"Unlikely, there is no other lodging for miles around and we didn't pass any other mines on the way over."

"Such a large mine… are you really sure you searched everywhere?" asked Kun Jun.

Uncle Dai said that they did search all around, not even leaving any stone unturned. They continued on talking as I tried piecing together on what truly happened to the four men. Could they have been running away from something? No, that can't be possible since I can't see any traces of elemental energy. Hell, there weren't even any traces of Abyssal Corruption.

"Aether?" Shenhe called out, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hm? Sorry, I was just thinking of all the possibilities. Do you need something?"

"Yes, Kun Jun here suggested that we split in investigating so that we can cover more ground and gather more clues." Shenhe says. I could see the hint of worry in her eyes so I decided to reassure her.

"Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine."

"If you say so. Well then, let's split up." Shenhe said as she began her search.

I shrugged and went the opposite direction. While I was searching, I brought out my Stand to help me with the searching.

"Sora, try to find any clues and report it to me immediately." My Stand nodded and started roaming around. This was actually one of the features that I really like about this Stand. Unlike the others I saw, mine seemingly has no range limit.

I continue walking along, trying to find whatever will give us a clue. Then I saw some clothes, ten to be exact. Not only that, there were also daily necessities. However, something else caught my attention. And that was the pickaxes.

"Aether!" I hear Zhongli call out to me.

I looked behind me to see them walking towards me, they had a look of disappointment. I don't even know how I knew Shenhe felt that way though. Seems like no clues from them and no communications from Sora too.

"Haah… Sora! Come back."

Just as I said that, Sora came flying towards me at high speeds. Shenhe already knew about my Stand since I showed him to her, but the same can't be said about Zhongli. Hell, I didn't even know that he could see him.

He took out his spear and tried striking Sora, but without me even commanding him, he actually stopped time.

"...You do know that he can't really hit you, right?" I deadpan at Sora.

He just shrugged at me and returned inside. After the limit of 5 seconds, time resumed once again.

"What…?" Zhongli said, confused at what just happened.

"You can't actually attack my Stand. Only a Stand can attack another Stand. Also, sorry about that. He just decided to stop time without me actually saying so."

"Excuse me? Did you say that you're capable of… stopping time?"

"Why yes, only for 5 seconds though."

Shenhe just smiled, a rare occurrence, while Zhongli looked at me in shock and disbelief.

"Anyways, let's head back to Kun Jun. I have some clues already."

"Oh?" Shenhe raised an eyebrow.

I told them about the clothes and daily necessities that I saw and that they weren't even touched. However, the pickaxes were since there were four of those missing. They both nodded, seeing what I was getting at.

"So… they had time to get their pickaxes but not the other items…" Zhongli thought out loud.

"Or rather, they purposely didn't take it."

That's really weird, could they have been in a situation where they completely forgot about their other things? But, I already ruled that out since I didn't find any type of energy relating to a monster, which is mostly elemental. Wait, could it be…

"Do you think they got kidnapped?" I asked, having come to that conclusion.

"That could be a possibility. We need more clues to make sure that your train of thought is correct."

Me and Shenhe nodded as all three of us headed towards where Kun Jun was.

—

When we arrived at where Kun Jun was, we saw him crouching down while looking at an ore of Cor Lapis.

"So, did you find anything?" I asked, looking at him with a confused expression. 'The fuck is he doing observing a rock while investigating?'

"There's an ore here, this can help us with our investigation."

…

"Eh?" How is that supposed to help us?

"Oh right, I still haven't explained what I meant. You see, I have this strange ability that helps me perceive an ore. Oh and uh… I'd like it if you'd kept this a secret."

That's… not all that weird to me now actually… Damn, I've really seen a lot of powers by now huh? I mean, even if that was weird to me, I have no say in this. After all, I'm also an abnormality with my Gluttony and borderline immortality with that revival incident.

"Hm, that's truly most interesting."

Kun Jun just nodded and crouched back down. He began concentrating heavily and I could see the elemental energy that was being gathered. Hoh? After a few seconds had passed, Kun Jun began describing what he "saw".

"I see the four men… following someone out of the mine… it seems like a child?"

The hell is a child doing in a mine? Wait no, the hell are the men doing following a child?

"All of them seem…dazed?"

"Dazed?" Shenhe said out loud. "Could they have been possessed or maybe held against their will?"

"You mean like a puppet?"

Shenhe nodded when I said that. What the hell does this person need miners for? Kun Jun stood up again and dusted himself off. When I looked closer to the ore, I finally noticed that it was actually a Cor Lapis. Damn, how the hell did I not notice that before?

"That's all the information I could get, sorry."

"Nah, that's a lot of help already. Thanks."

"Stone-seeing… What a fascinating ability." Zhongli mumbled.

"Hehe, thanks."

We decided to look around again and when we did, we saw another miner roaming about. We looked at one another, all having the same thought in our heads. What was that thought? Well, it's easy really…

"Lasttoraisetheirhandaskshim!" I say all in one breath.

Shenhe quickly caught up to me and Zhongli followed, having finally realized what I said. That meant only Kun Jun was left. He sighed and walked towards the man. I feel bad for him, but it is what it is. We waited a bit for him to return and when he did, he just sighed.

"Haah… no lead huh?"

"Correct…" Kun Jun replied.

"Well, let's just report back."

They all nodded and we headed back to Uncle Dai. When we got to him, we told him our findings and truth be told, he was also curious on why someone would kidnap miners. He was even more shocked when we told him a kid took his men. Zhongli then told him that the men followed the road north, believing that they headed to the ruins.

"Haah, me and my men will spread out to the few settlements around here and give an inquiry while you four continue investigating. If we don't see each other, let's reconvene at Wangshu Inn tomorrow evening." And with that, he left.

"Well, let's-" I was about to tell them to get ready to go, but then I noticed that we were missing someone. "Where's Kun Jun?"

"I believe he went that way to continue investigating." Shenhe then pointed to the direction Kun Jun went.

I nodded and we headed towards where he went. When we found him, he seemed like he was looking for something.

"Yo! What are you looking for?" I called out to him.

"Ah, apologies. I was just doing a quick search for my own benefit. I'm searching for a precious stone called Dragonfall."

"Dragonfall?" Zhongli questioned.

What in the absolute hell is Dragonfall? It sounds like an RPG game… After seeing my reaction, Zhongli then explained what Dragonfall was. When Zhongli asked Kun Jun what he needed it for, he answered nervously.

"I… actually don't know. I've been rather absent minded lately. Name and address aside, I can't really recall other things easily."

Well, it's either he has shitty memories suddenly or he really is possessed… Bah, who am I kidding, of course he's possessed. I can already tell just from his energy. It was even confirmed more with what he said after.

"I also have this feeling… like I have something I have left unfinished…"