章 114: Chapter 114 - Investigation: Divided
The guild known as Returning Heaven was more mysterious than the others. It was clear that they were formed from three different gangs during the last Duke's reign but there's little information on their current leadership. On the surface they appear to be a legitimate mercenary guild and they would accept requests like normal but they're responsible for causing the disappearances of many people. The Scarlett Mansion report on Returning Heaven concludes that they're likely working with the illegal slave markets but mentions that it's just their best guess.
The exact numbers in the guild are unknown but the report mentions that they're almost certain that it's under twenty people. Gren read through some of the other entries in the report but they all had exact numbers and profiles for the different members. Why did Annie give him the only group that had uncertain numbers, few profiles, and no concrete information on their crimes? Was it because he was the only member of the guild that had the abilities that would allow him to adapt to different situations?
The target guild had a small transportation hub that would rent out carriages that came with mercenaries to escort them. It was those carriages that led to the people disappearing with some of their clients not showing up at their destination or supposedly being abducted by bandits on the way despite the mercenaries not showing any serious injuries. They have been able to get away with it thanks to the fact that there was no actual evidence of the crimes but it was pretty clear that they were profiting from the disappearance of these people. It was mostly individuals or families moving to other places that went missing and their possessions were kept by the guild to be sold since nobody was alive to claim them.
They made sure to hide their misdeeds as well as possible but the watchful eyes and ears of Scarlett's family still kept track of what was going on. Carriages would leave with people and return with their stuff so they didn't seem to have any external bases. They rarely went on these trips outside with the carriages and the next scheduled one was going to be in several days. They didn't say how they got the information but it was pretty easy to guess how it got leaked given the nature of the Scarlett Guild. One of the people in the guild must have went to the brothel and leaked the information that way.
There were over thirty mercenaries to choose from and Gren didn't know what Jasmine would need so he would have to talk to her about it. She was just waiting in front of the Old Town Inn for him to return from dropping off Armand and Emile at their place. Their group was still drawing a crowd but the people were less interested now than they were when their people had just arrived.
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Jasmine seemed to be fitting in with the other mercenaries as she was laughing while talking to Yuna, the bear beastman that was forced to hibernate in the winter. It was rare for Gren to see what she acted like when he wasn't there so he didn't know how she got along with the other members of the guild. Gren almost didn't want to interrupt her but he needed to continue with the mission.
"Sorry to bother you, Yuna, but I need to discuss things with my wife." Gren tried to be polite but it was still rude to interrupt someone so it made sense that she would be annoyed.
"Your husband is here so I'll go chat with the others now. Remember to think about my proposal." Gren was somewhat curious about what the proposal was but needed to focus on the mission.
"Will do, Yuna. If I need a day away then I'll let you know." A day away? Usually people only talked about things like that when they were getting stressed out. "How did it go, Gren? Are those boys back home?
"Yeah, but I still need to think about who to take on the mission. I looked through the papers but it's all vague and, besides knowing the location headquarters, I know little else about their guild." Gren really wished that he was given more information. "Are there any people you plan on bringing along with you that you don't want me taking?"
"Definitely Eliza. I feel like she has been avoiding me lately so I'm hoping that we can start talking again." Gren was aware of Eliza not going on missions but he had been too busy so he didn't know that she was avoiding Jasmine. "They own a pretty big piece of land so I'm thinking that I'll need at least half of our remaining mercenaries. If I want to use my flames then I'll need Aqua to come with me; even if water magic isn't her specialty anymore, it's better than nothing."
"I'm the only magician needed on my side so feel free to take Aqua with you. As for the others, I'm looking more for close quarters fighters since all signs point to us needing to fight them inside of a building. You don't mind if I take Shenzi, do you?" Gren needed someone that was at least decent as a scout since Annie wasn't going to be there. "There's so little information that I need someone that can move quietly and help us take out enemies before they notice us."
"To be honest, I was hoping to take her with us. There's nobody faster than her that's with us and I've got a lot of ground to cover. If you need her for stealth then that's more important." Jasmine looked back down to her papers and flipped through to the page with a rough drawing of the layout of the warehouse she was getting ready to raid. "I suppose if I have more people then I can make do without her speed. I might need Kuroa to help with providing an eye from above though."
As rude as it would be to think so, Gren thought that Kuroa would be useless indoors anyways so he never planned on asking for her. "Alright. You might as well take Inari as well while you're at it. I've thought about it and I really don't know if I can trust her to not stab me in the back while we're on the mission." Gren wasn't sure if she would actually attack him but he didn't want to bring a liability with him. Not counting the vampire, of course. Gren was the only person that was able to sort of communicate with her so far. "I don't know what her problem with me is but almost every time we hold a meeting she ends up confronting me. Even when giving Judy a task she had to open her mouth and criticize me."
"I haven't really had any problems with her. Maybe you did something to her without realizing it." Gren thought of that possibility but went through his memories and couldn't find anything. "I don't mind having her with me but this is her first time on a mission so she'll need to be partnered up with people that can protect her. She gets along well with Dhalra and Eliza so I'll take the trio with me. You're looking for people with melee combat skills anyways, right?"
"I only need a few archers just to be safe and I planned on bringing Rory and his girl friend along so I just need a couple more. There are some with the mercenaries that Jessica hired so I'll take a couple of them with me." Gren heard the tap on his pauldron and turned around to see a somewhat annoyed Zell.
"You know, a few of the other mercenaries can hear you guys. They're getting a bit disturbed by your speech since it sounds like you're trading them." Neither of them really thought about how their talk would sound to outside listeners. "If you're trying to figure out who goes with who then why not bring everybody else into the discussion? It's much better than forcing them into joining you."
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Following Zell's advice, Gren and Jasmine decided to discuss the squads with the mercenaries that were there. Gren didn't need to worry about Inari after all since she quickly volunteered to be on Jasmine's squad before they even got to explain what each squad would be doing. It should be no surprise that Gren's vague objective wasn't popular with the others and only one person volunteered to help him. Rodge was serious about his job of protecting Gren while Herman and Sven both sided with Jasmine since it seemed to be an easier job.
Gren couldn't help but take the lack of volunteers personally. "I guess it'll just be us." Although Gren gave a small laugh after his comment, he wasn't actually amused. The idea of facing an unknown group of enemies with just a couple of people wasn't a nice idea. Well, there was the vampire that had to come with him but she had never been of use before so it was basically just two people going in there.
"Wait." Gren was planning on just leaving with Rodge and the vampire when Jasmine stopped him. "I don't want the three of you going alone. Shenzi, Rory, Nina. Go with him."
Although Gren was happy that his wife was looking out for him, he could see that they didn't actually want to go with him. "It's fine. Just take them with you. Remember what Zell said, it's best not to force them. Besides, I should be able to do this on my own like I did with the last guild. I'll be okay."
"Gren, don't be like this. You need the extra help." Jasmine was worried about him going in with so few people, especially in his current mood that he could sense. "Please, just take a few more people with you."
"Everybody has already made their decision. Just think about what you have to do next and complete your part. We'll meet you at the fountain when we're done." Gren walked off with Rodge and the vampire towards their target. He wasn't at all confident that they would be able to finish the mission without any incident but there was nothing he could do. After getting far enough away, Gren sighed. "Sorry that it's just the few of us, Rodge. If you want to go with them then I'm fine with that. You don't need to worry about me."
"Saying that only makes me more worried about you. Somebody needs to stay with you and make sure that you stay out of trouble." Gren was glad that he had Rodge with him since even Gren himself knew that he was prone to getting into trouble.
"I guess it's a good thing that you're with me. I often do stupid things when I'm alone and I don't think the vampire would be able to stop me since she can't speak the common tongue." Gren gave another hollow laugh as he thought about what just happened. "I wonder if that's why nobody else wanted to go with me. I can't wait until my mother wakes up so that maybe she can fix my head. I've already tried and it doesn't work." Gren wasn't joking. The headaches were still there sometimes and he didn't know why he always made stupid decisions.
"I don't think it's a problem with your head; you just need to be more patient. You don't seem to think much before you act. I had the same problem when I was a child before I started my training to become a knight." Gren felt better about opening up to Rodge when he heard that. "You should consider training up north in the Land of Healing Light. It might help you like it helped me."
"I'll think about it after this mission is complete. I need to do something about this before even my family decides to give up on me." Jessica was always telling Gren to grow up and he really wanted to do so but it wasn't as easy as he hoped it would be. "At the very least, it'll make my wives happy."
クリエイターの想い 
Darth_Gizmo
Darth_Gizmo Both Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty hectic so I didn't get much work done. I still managed to come up with a chapter even though I'm not 100% happy with it.
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