The deceit flowing through the Tavern

Lena? What does Lena have to do with any of this? Before I could ask, Kiara froze on the spot. It was like watching a child get caught by their mother, she then feigned a cough and recollected herself.

“She may not look it, but Lena has some good sense when it comes to makeup. Whenever trouble’s brewing, I have her give me a little touch up, like drinking a shot to calm your nerves.”

“I see, still just a little makeup is all it takes to get into the hearts of those men?”

“You wouldn’t understand, it’s kinda our little secret you know. Anyway, I gotta go, bye bye now.”

Kiara tried to look calm, but clearly she was unsettled by something. She sprinted out of the room, as if she was running from something. Maybe she had to use the bathroom? I turned my head to ask Penma what she thought, but her mind was somewhere else.

“Uh, Penma?”

“...”

“Penma?”

“O-Oh, sorry I was just thinking of something.”

That’s strange, Penma’s a bit of a muscle head. Watching her think about something is actually a rarity. I was about to ask her what was wrong, and that’s when she shared a bit of interesting information.

“Lena has magic hands?”

“Something like that, I tore some muscles in my arm once. Lena noticed and said she’d massage it, after that I was all healed.”

She healed torn muscles with a massage, that shouldn’t be scientifically possible. There’s gotta be some kind of secret there.

“Did she ask you to do something strange before massaging you?”

“Well, she asked me to close my eyes, I had no idea what that was about though.”

So she did do something, something that required Penma to have her eyes closed. Something tells me Kiara knows the truth and is hiding it from us, but then again it’s none of my business. After that, me and Penma made small talk. Eventually, Penma’s break ended so she left. I was finally free to get back to work, but that topic from before was really on my mind. I guess curiosity like this must run in-

“...Actually let’s leave it right there.”

It’s not like my family heritage matters anymore, after all my immediate family is gone. I decided to stop wasting time and get back to keep the check book. However, that’s when I noticed something was off.

“Where did all this come from?”

****

“Who is it?”

“It’s Whitney, Boss, there's something I needed to confirm with you.”

After frantically knocking on Boss Stahn’s office door, he finally opened it with an irritated look on his face. After we both took our seats, he began to interrogate me as to why I was there.

“So, to what do I owe your visit?”

“Boss, I was analyzing the check book so I wanted to check something.”

I pulled out the check book from my waistband, and explained the discrepancy.

“Last week, based on our customer count, we should’ve brought in at least 400 jewels. Correct?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. You know my motto, sell cheap and sell alot.”

“Right, so explain to me why I found this banknote for five times that amount. Where on Theia Terra did you get all that money?”

The boss’ eyes looked away from mine, so something is wrong here. Sure 2000 jewels doesn’t sound like that big a deal as far as business earnings go, but things work differently here. Our humble town is going through poverty and high taxation, a week’s earnings for a good business would usually cap out around 500 jewels. What’s more is that the receipt I found wasn’t for checking his balance, it was for a deposit. Why does Boss Stahn have so much money, and why leave the evidence there of all places?

“...I don’t need to defend myself.”

“What? Boss, are you withholding our earnings-”

“Not one more word.”

I wanted to fight him on this, but that look he had in his eyes. I’ve never seen the boss look at anyone like that before. It was the look of an executioner, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. As I sat there struggling to absorb air, Boss Stahn broke his silence.

“Nothing leaves this room, do I make myself clear.”

All I could do was nod, after that he told me to get out of his sight. When I left the room I ran around the corner and fell to my knees. What’s going on here, what’s this man hiding from us? As I sat there, he exited his office and threw something into the waste bin. He muttered to himself as he did so. I knew I would regret it, but I checked the waste bin to see what he threw away.

“What!?! Why go so far?”

It was the burnt remains of the receipt I found. To go so far as to burn it, just what is this man hiding?

****

I’d been keeping a close eye on Bo- No, on what Stahn’s been up to. I refuse to call him boss when he looks like he’s committing a crime. Following my heritage, I’ve been investigating him and paying attention to any signs I didn’t notice before. Previously, whenever I was working late, I would notice Stahn wandering out towards the Pewter Forest. Why would he be out there? There’s gotta be a connection right? While I kept an eye on Stahn, I also started keeping an eye on Lena. As his daughter she’s bound to know something, and that thought process led me to a huge discovery.

While following Lena to the storage room, I caught her and Kiara together. She put her hands on Kiara’s face and her face started glowing. A moment later, the bags and crows feet she had were gone, Kiara looked like a new woman. Lena looked exhausted afterwards, but Kiara simply patted her on the shoulder and told her good job. There’s no mistaking it, Lena used magic just now and it restored Kiara’s complexion. I hid until they left, once they did I began to consider my next moves.

“Maybe I should bring this up to Penma? Wait a second…”

As I muttered to myself, I realized something. Penma’s arms must’ve received the same treatment too, she’s got the same service Kiara has. Does that mean she’s in on this too? Thinking about things that way made me distrust Penma, even though she was my best friend. I started to distance myself from Penma, and focus more on my investigation. Eventually, while following his movements, I discovered a chest Stahn had hidden. I picked the lock and examined its contents.

“Why would he have these?”

There were mana stones inside the chest, they emanated a sinister purple hue. Alongside them was a note, and it read, “I’ll meet you in the forest for the handoff.” So that’s why he’s been visiting the forest at night, then and there I made my plan. I was gonna tail Stahn into the forest, and find out what he was doing. Once and for all.