The ride is quite bumpy. I don't understand why we haven't managed to establish a train system between each town. Having to sit in these red Swedish buses, they are not suited for the rough roads in Paladin Woods. My head hit the handrail, and Brackinator had a smirk on her face, without noticeable cleavage from the clothing change, hm...if she is nice, maybe I can get laid, but perhaps that is risky to sleep with a Valiantian.
"So...Hanna-a-a-h! What type of experience do you have in the field of investigation?"
Smooth Zark, keep going, I can get into her...unattractive black pants that look exactly like mine.
"I work for the Princess of Gan Vollden as her closest guard."
Ah, Hell no, I am getting close to her. The freaking Vollden family just wants to kill off the Van Polans.
"Oh! So interesting!" I said without caring a single shit about the guards. I need to get rid of her.
The bus stopped at the third town when the Octopus bus driver kept repeating 'blop' that other civilians probably understood. I need to get a translator earpiece.
We got off the bus right in the middle of a marketplace, where a mixed crowd of goblins, demi-humans, and demons. The demi-humans resemble humans, but with a red color on their skin.
"How did they expect us to find the child here? It is way too crowded."
"The information gathered two hours ago said she was in the central marketplace in a cafe. It is at a roundabout."
I looked at her because I thought she was a smartass or a 'knows-it-all' chick.
"Mhm! Okay!"
After a couple of minutes of walking right into the center of the market, a couple of really hot demi-humans really caught my attention on the way, as it had been a long time since I had been in the third town. It was only goblins here ten years ago. It looked modern by today's standards, even though all the shops around reminded me of the street vendors who had set up temporary stalls with tools. As we approached the center of the roundabout, I saw a goblin statue with a goblin holding a sword, pointing upward to the heavens. The surroundings around the roundabout consisted of small buildings that rose several floors high, with open markets at the base, and a large number of civilians moving in all directions throughout the area. I was surprised by the change in ten years, that they have managed to build buildings, and they looked like they had scraped the wooden cabins. I still couldn't figure out the statue, though. Did the goblins have a hero of some kind? That shit wasn't there ten years ago.
"Eh! The statue, do you know what it is, Hanna?"
"That is the residence leader of the Goblin army, Sevantus. He was the one who led the Goblin army into battle against the half-angels living in the seventh town five years ago. A half-angel was found dead in the third town, the body mutilated, and the head cut off. The angels reacted negatively to the poor investigation and attempted to invade the third town, but Sevantus defended the town with several goblins and held the angels at bay. The Valiant Kingdom and the Silver Coven interwened, but Sevantus fell during the battle together with the goblin soldiers. The statue was placed here in honor of his bravery, as the angels never managed to invade the town."
Huh! What a badass who fought for his people.
"Was it true, though. I mean, the mutilated body, was the perpetrator a goblin?"
"That is a question many want answered. The investigation stopped indefinitely until a neutral private investigator could review it. Still, I do not think they will reopen the case, as parts of the evidence disappeared during the invasion."
That was interesting, though, as it pointed towards the need for a freelance private investigator. Someone was causing a lot of noise in one of the buildings to the right, and I saw a little girl with a pigtail in a black suit standing on one of the tables and screaming.
"That looks like Jacqueline! In the cafeteria over there."
I tried to look in the other direction because I didn't want to have any connection with the pigtail.
"Look over there, Zark, to the right!"
I nodded, but kept looking at the buildings to the left.
"Where Hanna! I don't see her...at all."
She grabbed my jaw and turned my head to the right in the direction of Jacqueline.
"Oh! She does not stand out so much, I must have completely missed it!" I tried explaining sarcastically. Hanna's facial expression looked dissatisfied with the answer.
I walked to the cafeteria while the little brat was yelling to the crowd, who were laughing and cheering her on. I walked into the cafeteria and grabbed her blazer, then dragged her down from the table. The brat got angry with red cheeks, staring at me. Beneath her feet, something green started to shine.
"Eh! I am Zark Van Polan, and you are Jacqueline Hernandez, right?"
"Pft! Why did you interrupt my fun time with the people here? Am I not allowed to have any fun at all?"
I knew this moment in my life, babysitting and big-chested stalking Hanna would fuck up my life.
"Look, Jaq! Can I call you Jaq? I am supposed to train you. A private investigator doesn't attract crowds of people when they have an assignment. It is like announcing to the perpetrator that you are there and that they should escape." Damn brat.
She turned away, throwing one of her pigtails back like she was not listening to anything I just said to her.
"Do whatever you want! I don't care!"
I wonder if Veronica would notice if I just killed her and buried her in the woods. I would probably get wanted all over Paladin, but it is the thinking of just killing her off that is the key. I should let any enemy just kill her off, so I can just blame the assignment was too hard or something like that.
I looked out at the roundabout and thought that I should maybe go back to the Coven and tell Veronica that I am leaving, and then try to sneak back into Paladin and go solo so I don't have to carry the baggage. A girl with white hair walked towards the statue, but her clothes were all ripped apart, covered in dirt, and both her hands looked like they had burn marks. I stepped out from the open space in the cafeteria and walked towards her when she turned and faced me directly. With my right eye, I noticed Ragnar, one of the Toadia brothers, as he stood on the other side of the statue. Ragnar was distracting me, but I needed to check on the child who looked like she had gone through torture of some kind.
"It wants to go home! It wants to go home!" She kept repeating as I tried to focus on her, but tried to keep a check on Ragnar as he moved away into one of the alleys between the buildings.
"W-W-What! Are you okay? What is your name?"
She kept staring at me when she cried silently as her tears ran down her cheeks. Something is really off here.
"It wants to go home! It wants to reunite, it wants back to Perfidia."
Perfidia, what the flying crap is Perfidia? Her whole body started to glow red, and she suddenly screamed as she caught everyone's attention. The skin began to change color back and forth between her human skin and a deep red as she continued screaming.
"Aw! Fuck me!"
I ran back towards the cafeteria and kicked Jaq. Hence, she slipped under the tables, and I pushed Hanna behind a wall as a strong wind of an explosion threw me to the other end, and I felt the damn coffee machine hitting my back as I saw with my eyesight the body parts of the girl all over the ground. My ears kept ringing as I couldn't hear anything at all, and I slowly made a half attempt and jumped over, taking the cash register with me. I moved towards the exit and saw a lot of dead bodies, when suddenly the ringing stopped, and with a swoosh, my hearing came back.
"Call it in to the Coven of a terrorist attack!" I told Hanna, who looked shaken.
"HANNA! ARE YOU HEARING ME? Report to the Coven of the terrorist attack!"
She nodded, and I started to move with pain in my back and a lot of dust on me towards the direction of where Ragnar went. Was this a terrorist attack by the Toadia brothers? Stealing is their thing. They wouldn't kill civilians, or is there something else going on here?