Missing persons and Story Quests

I didn’t notice at first considering that the town’s population seemed to stay the same, but under the radar there were a few missing people. It all started when I was in the market, Granny Becca was crying about her missing granddaughter. I went over and told her everything would be fine, but that’s when she told me it had been a week since she went missing. Henceforth my main objective at the moment, solving the case about the missing girls. Especially after what Lena told me.

****

It was around the time I first showed up in Pewter, around my second day touring. It was ironically the same day I tried to appease Granny, that was the day I met Lena.

“Hm, Granny Becca, are you okay?”

“Oh Lena! It’s terrible, just terrible. My poor Grandbaby, where could she have gone?”

“It’s going to be alright Granny, let's get you back home for now.”

I didn’t notice it back then, but Lena calmed her emotions using that ability of hers. After she took her home, I decided to do some more snooping until one of the fruit carts close by collapsed. I would’ve stolen some of the dropped fruits like everyone else, but that would defeat my purpose of being here. I instead decided to seem like a good samaritan, I helped the owner set his cart back up and got fruit back from the kids who stole it. The owner was pleased by my help and gave me some Jewel for my troubles, Lena was back by that time and was glad to meet another kindred spirit. She decided to make it her mission to show me around town, since I was obviously new. Not gonna lie, I found her persistence annoying at first. After a while though, we became inseparable. That’s when she let it slip.

“Sorry if I seem a bit clingy, it’s just…”

“Hm, are you alright Lena?”

“You see Opera, some of my friends have gone missing lately.”

****

That’s when I decided to take a deeper look into things, here’s some of the information I already know. First, there are currently seven girls missing and they’re around my age. Two, all seven of the missing girls knew Lena. Finally, the girls in question always went missing in the forest. The lord has clearly been overtaxing his people, but there’s no connection between that and the girls. The bandits in question are located in the mines, which are on the other side of town. To put it specifically, the Pewter Forest is located on the left side of the town. The mines are located to the right side of the town, and a few hours away from the lord’s manor. Henceforth why I think Twigo is in cahoots with them, as for the girls…

“There’s no decisive proof tying him to the missing girls, but…”

I continued munching on fruit while going over my notes, realizing it wasn’t enough I ended up making a sandwich. I noticed my fruit cores were piling up, which reminded me of what I recently found out. While I was picking up ingredients for the bar, I overheard a shopkeep complaining

Damn pests! I swear those goblins in the forest are gonna be the death of us!

There we go, the girls went missing due to goblins! I admit, I didn’t know much about monsters at first. However, after being affected by the mirror, I learned some stuff. For example, goblins being pests that love to harm women. Missing girls, goblin sightings, and a strange forest filled with danger. This is a story quest setup, it’s practically sitting right there. This is perfect for my plans, after all I can’t meet Calypso like this. It’s one thing for her to be in Sapphiren territory, but the forest that Calypso inhabits is known to have some serious baddies. Henceforth my reason for coming out here, your girl needs to level up. For example, as a hero Zeke is level 15 and due to his class enhancements he’s strong. However, other classes can’t compare, in order to keep up people like me have to train hard. My class is Princess, so before going to meet Calypso I want to double it or at least get as close to level thirty as possible.

“It’s time to begin, The Princess Super Power Up Plan is a go!”

Luckily goblins are weak, this’ll be the perfect chance to score some easy exp. I hope there’s a lot of them, that’ll make the grind worth more. All that’s left is to figure out how to draw their attention. As I took a sip of water, my eyes ended up falling on my work uniform. Not exactly a slutty, but the frills make me feel like some pluckable daisy.

…Wait a minute, pluckable? That’s it! I’ll use this to my advantage, I grabbed my uniform and tossed it on. Time to begin the leveling spree.

****

There I stood, after sneaking past the gate guards, I managed to enter the forest. Then I stood, with a basket filled with raw meat and a bottle of whiskey in my other hand. I sighed knowing the next part was gonna suck, but I gotta commit to character. I pulled the cork out using my teeth and drank a little of the whiskey. Just enough for it to be on my breath, I then doused my clothes with a bit and covered the meat in the rest. After that I tossed the bottle in front of me and pretended to stumble. I moved like the old drunks I’d see in the alley, and hobbled through the forest.

“*Hic* I shouldn’t have drunk so much…*hic*What if some group of baby sized lunatics comes to take me?”

I waited for a response, but there was nothing.

“...I said, what if a group of baby sized lunatics comes to take me?”

“...”

There was no response again, not even crickets.

“...What if a group of lazy small savages tries to kidnap me!?!”

“....”

….Those motherf***ers are just gonna sit out there and ignore me! I know they're out there, this is ridiculous. I covered myself in booze that didn’t even taste good, the meat is rotten and attracting maggots, and the heat in this damn forest is making me itch. This sucks, I wanna go home…No, I gotta level up somehow. Am I missing something here, what happened to those girls that’s not happening here. What step did I forget?

While in thought I began to walk forward, leading me to make a terrible mistake. Unbeknownst to me, the bottle I tossed into the bushes ended up rolling its way back. Like a cartoon character, my foot caught the bottle.

“Eh? Wahhhhh!!!!”

I soon found myself doing a trapeze act on top of it, you’d think it would break after a while. Instead, the bottle turned into a makeshift roller blade. I found myself getting sent through bushes, a river and even a bat filled cave. My once whiskey covered uniform now looked like it was strewn with bullet holes. At least the slight tears in my skirt made it easier to move around, but I didn’t have time to appreciate the freedom because I was fighting for my life. Eventually my ride led me to a cliffside, I finally managed to stop myself. I began breathing heavily as I assessed my damage, I wasn’t hurt so bad but my stamina was drained. Not to mention my clothes went through the armor break mechanic, I ended up chucking the damn whiskey bottle in frustration. Only for it to ricochet off a rock, and slam into my head. The impact sent me tumbling back, and right off the cliff.

Eventually, I felt a heavy impact break my fall. My body was surrounded by this cool feeling, as I opened my eyes I realized I was lying in a small lake. I began to make my way out, only to realize where I was. I somehow ended up in Gomed grasslands, that cliff I fell off was a serious shortcut. However, now I had a problem, I was technically a week away from Pewter now. Not to mention I had no rations or camping equipment, as well as the concussion I just received. When did I turn the difficulty up to hard mode, oh I get it.

“Th-this is your fault isn’t it, you douchebag…”

I found myself cursing that creator jerk, as I fell motionless on my back.

****

There she laid, unaware of the danger lurking right around the corner. Despite that, Opal enjoyed her unconscious slumber and as she did so her intended visitor finally showed up.