Chapter 30 - Infiltration!
All of us eventually reconvened at the center of the village, but the square had quite a few people there so there was some problems with finding each other. But when we did, we all followed Vanessa back to the hotel she had chosen for us to stay at for our time here.
Maybe due to that pharmacy that I heard about, but there has always been a lot of traffic into this village so they had multiple inns for us to choose from. Vanessa had chosen one that was not of the highest caliber, but was good and clear all around.
After dividing the rooms up, we all gathered together to talk about our findings together as a team. After compiling our info we were able to come to a simple conclusion.
"There is something wrong with that place."
Indeed, after compiling all of the information that we could we found that that place was then only suspicious point in this whole investigation. Looking into it, around the time that the disappearing children started to get noticed the pharmacy had just arrived and due to the influx of people the situation has been mostly neglected.
There is also the fact that according to Mellie, information in the church about this Doctor Sorens is rather scarce and no traces of any type of learning and education could be found. That on its own would not be suspicious, but there is also the fact that when investigated the people sent to investigate have not come back yet.
It was over a week ago and soldiers are usually required to report every three days so the church assumes that the folks sent to investigate are lost and have been trying to contact the outside churches for help but have not heard any replies.
"This town is simply held together by strands of threads and will collapse at any moment. The only thing holding it together is the unreactive officials and the fact that people are constantly arriving for medicine." Luke said. He then put a hand on his sheathed sword and closed his eyes.
"My sword can feel it too. There is trouble in the air."
The two girls Vanessa and Mellie sighed, but then Mellie gave off a small chuckle and responded.
"As always, where there is trouble there is a hero isn't there?"
"You got that right!" Luke responded.
But then Wendy poured cold water upon their shoulders.
"But how will we find any information about them?"
Her question was rather reasonable and so they all thought together. Normally most of their previous missions were more overt and destructive, but this time if they tried something like that they would involve too many innocent lives. Thus they had to take a different approach to this goal.
Slowly turning their heads, they all turned to stare at the one person who has not spoken up as of yet.
"Me?" Felicia asked.
"Yeah you. We don't really know your capabilities in missions like these so if you don't have the ability to or can't do it at all, just lend the invisibility cloak you used before." Vanessa commented on the side.
That idea would not be that bad. The invisibility gifted by the cloak is nothing special and is only visual. Such an effect would be seen through by anyone competent let alone Alice so Felicia decided that it would be fine to let them borrow it for now. Of course, she had to get it back in case Alice were to ever change her mind and need it on a whim.
So she took out the cloak and handed it to Wendy before explaining more about it and how to use and operate it. After a few moments she nodded and tried it out before sharing it with the others.
"Come one, let's go!" Wendy said dragging me into this.
"H- Hey! You said you just needed the cloak!" Felicia replied.
"Come on, this is the first mission we are all doing together! Do you really want to always be sitting on the sidelines while we simply ask for your tools without letting you see what we do first hand! Isn't that right guys?" Wendy then turned to ask to the others
To this Luke nodded happily. Mellie politely invited her in while Vanessa scoffed but ultimately relented.
Although this seen was a little weird as they were using her own tool to invite her to do something like infiltration, this sense of camaraderie and acceptance was quite new so she simply let Wendy puller her towards them and followed along with their ideas.
With their goal decided, they all chose to start infiltrating now. Normally you would expect to sneak in at the dead of night, but only during the day would there be an easy opportunity to enter the vicinity without getting noticed.
The invisibility on the cloak may not be that strong for anyone powerful to hide from, but for the simple guards around the pharmacy it was more than enough.
Entering through the door carefully the group all finally were able to sneak in by following along with a big caravan of adventurers who arrived to resupply here.
By following them the group were able to get a close up look of the whole place and even got to be up close with the titular Doctor Soren of the pharmacy.
The man most certainly looked the part as a doctor with a leaner and more lanky physique with what appeared to be glasses. Looking at the documents on the wall, I could see some of the errors that would lead to the church questioning the doctor's capabilities. There is also the environment here which does not seem sterile and clean enough for effective medical treatment.
Although this is just a pharmacy so that may have something to do with it.
Following along the doctor all day today, we found that he truly acted like a benevolent doctor during the day. Of course, the true test would be once it reaches nightfall and the store closes.
Only at that time in the most private of settings would a person reveal their true colors.
And so we waited as night fell and the pharmacy closed up. With our current stealth state we quietly stayed hidden as we watched the doctor in the darkening rooms clean up the place rather thoughtfully.
Although it was strange that the man did not hire someone to do the cleaning and instead opted to clean himself, maybe he is simply more inclined to clean himself or he does not trust the people here to be able to clean without attempting to steal or rob the place.
That alone was not enough to serve as evidence.
Instead in the deep of night when he had already finished writing something in his notebook and blowing the lamp by his bedside to prepare to rest did we finally leave our previous state.
Judging from his actions it seemed like he was indeed just a benevolent doctor. Perhaps he does not have the official certifications but as long as he is truly helping the people than his problems would be less than the benefits of keeping him here.
The scene stayed like this till the end of the night when the sun was arising. Taking turns to stay up had given us the time to watch him the whole night and seeing no changes in his actions brought me to the conclusion that he was probably safe.
But Luke did not buy that. Nor did Mellie or Vanessa.
They decided that we would continue to watch him for another day so that is what we did again and again and when it finally reached the 6th day and I was getting tired of their over suspicion of the guy a change happened.
In the dead of night the doctor suddenly sat up from his bed and stood up and tiptoed out of the guest room of the pharmacy. carefully checking every step of the way, he had no idea that his actions were under the gaze of a group of five people.
"See, I told you he was suspicious." Whispered Luke who quietly patted my shoulder and gave a thumbs up to me.
I clicked my tongue at the realization that this doctor had fooled me and that I was indeed wrong. But I simply acknowledged his victory in my mind as we quietly followed him to his destination.
Heading to the office of the room, we watched in surprise with a simple turn of a few objects scattered throughout the room that a sudden hidden entrance was revealed in the office that we had no idea about.
It was perfectly sealed with no gaps so even my spatial perception could not scan through it so I was quite surprised at my oversight.
But now that the entrance was opened I could easily scan the inside of the hidden area. And what I found sickened me to my core.
"Felicia, Felicia. Wake up!"
Quietly shaking me was Wendy who had noticed that I had spaced out for a moment and shook em awake as the hidden entrance to the space was closing behind that doctor.
Unlike Wendy who was simply worried about us not keeping up, Luke and Vanessa who saw the changes in my expression firsthand quickly grew solemn and had their hands to their weapons ready.
Anything that can make this girl frown is absolutely not a good sign.
Indeed what was found their in this hidden chamber heading underground hidden in the office of this unassuming pharmacy was rather sickening.
In this space was a group of people all in chains and tied up in various ways. Although there is no substantial amount of blood sprayed around or anything like that, it can easily be presumed that something similar must have taken place in a place like this.
Looking at the scene and that doctor with new disgusted eyes, Felicia then turned to see the fuming four hero party members. When they saw her equally disgusted gaze Felicia could feel their sense of lingering wariness towards her dissipate further. Especially Vanessa's unexplained hostility.
If even she can't bear something like that from a different race like us humans, then she likely won't end up like the current demon king and his attitude towards humanity. It might not translate fully to the daughter of the demon king behind her, but at least while she is with us we don't really have to worry about her doing anything too inhumane.
Although they wanted to let loose and destroy this sinful place, Luke held the two angry ladies back and calmly explained that we had to understand the full situation before taking action.
Quietly calming the girls down, he then prepared to silently follow the doctor around. Suddenly, the doctor stopped in place and looked around and spoke to the air.
"I say, are you going to stop following me secretly now? I can tell you are here."
After he said that the five of us held our breaths and simply waited there. The chances that this doctor could see through this disguise is quite minimal as even Luke could only somewhat sense that something was wrong and that was with him being exceptionally strong. So we waited and that doctor seemed to get impatient and several silver needles appeared in his hands that he tossed at a direction slightly off of us.
When Felicia turned to scan that area with her spatial perception carefully she only then noticed a figure hiding in the shadows there.
"Shadows... Could it be?"
Before she could voice her thoughts to the group the one hiding there in the shadows revealed himself and caught those flying needles with a gloved hand.
"Do you need to be so alert? Aren't we old pals who have been working together for a long time? After all, you need someone to do your dirty work. Our Shadow Serpent is just the right fit for the job."
From the shadows in the room, a familiar figure emerged and as they did Vanessa started shaking in excitement at the opportunity. Mellie quickly held her back as the perfect time had not yet arrived. After all, they were still at a stand off so even if they are currently hidden the both of them were rather cautious in this state.
Because of this, jumping out at this point would simply warn them of impending danger and allow them the opportunity to escape. Luke might still be able to salvage the situation, but as before this was an opportunity for their team to learn and grow. After all, they only recently learned of Luke's hidden strength and they did not want to become a burden upon him as the final battle approached.
While they were doing all of that, Felicia paid attention to listen in on their conversation. With a new spatial spell that Alice had developed for low level space magic, she was able to sense the physical vibrations in the bodies of those two. they were not blocking their voices so she was able to clearly listen in on their conversation.
"Your Shadow Serpent is indeed quite the help for our operations. But surely you do not need me to tell you about the excessive number of missing folk. The villagers have started to worry about me and my cover might be blown off because of your unauthorized actions."
"But haven't you received some of my stock as well? After all, as a doctor the best way to understand and cure diseases is to understand the bodies of humans. While beast folk have added animalistic traits, they still mostly resemble humans. Your medicine making skills have certainly increased in the time that we have provided of you."
"... You have lost your group haven't you?"
With his words, the room then fell silent.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter