"But you are-"
"Remi, I need to go. They'll get suspicious if I don't hurry back to the Imperial Palace."
Remi nods and the woman rushes to the lift. I look at Remi. "Whew, she turns to us?"
"Yeah," Remi says as she walks to a massive building. "Stupid, massive budget cuts everywhere for some reason. You know shit goes down when budget cuts are too large."
"Didn't she cut military spending for the infrastructure?" I ask, following her.
"Well, they say so. Levington isn't even fully rebuilt, so ...." Remi crosses her arms. "You know, strange. I betcha my dad is involved in this."
We enter a training centre. Just as we enter, a flash of lightning appears before my eyes.
"Lightning Bomb!" Elaine holds an orb of lightning, thrusting it upon the ground. Revan dashes backwards, dodging it by a feet. The silver haired girl raises a lightning blade, swinging it at Revan. He conjures a lightning sword of his own, blocking it.
The prez and vice prez of Class 1C of Plywood?
"Hey, Revan, Elaine!" Remi greets.
"Oh, Ms Remi!" Elaine replies.
"Huh? They're from Plywood, right?" I ask.
"Yup. Levington's not rebuilt yet somehow, so these two are homeless," Remi says. "Madam Fron's agents did their thing and brought them here."
"I see, I see. You've been laying low, too, right? What are you doing then?" I ask.
"Me? I've been teaching these kids," Remi says. "Mostly Plywood students, tho. Most of them are left homeless now that Levington was destroyed."
"Hey, Ms Remi. Come to think of it, Karov hasn't returned since yesterday," Elaine says.
"Karov? He hasn't returned from purchasing potions in Mirakarta?"
Elaine nods. "Who's Karov?" Lita asks.
"One of Plywood. Pretty strong too, Class III mage," Remi says. "Okay, in that case–"
"I'll help find him. Just give me the characteristics," Lita offers after briefly raising her eyebrow.
"Hey, Lita," I whisper, "we're supposed to lay low."
"Oh come on," she whispers back, "you don't expect to stay in the shelter all time, do you?"
Well, I was kinda expecting that, Lita, but if you insist ....
"And this modus operandi of kidnapping strong mages ... I'm familiar with it," she whispers again. I nod.
"He's got black skin, a bit bald. Think of Mr Charles but young version," Remi says.
"Hmm ... okay. Let's go, Lita."
"Huh? You're coming with me?" Lita asks. I nod vigorously.
"Careful out there," Remi advices, "I can't bail you out if they got you, kay?"
Lita and I ascend from the underground bunker with the lift. Just as we leave the structure, we come face to face with two men, both talking nervously to each other.
"John? Joe?" I ask.
"Oh, Vio, Angelita," John greets, his voice very heavy. "What are you doing here?"
"We're told to lay low. What about you?"
"We want to move my mother's grave because this area floods so often," Joe answers, "but ... her bones are not there."
"Huh?"
"John and I are investigating this. See you," Joe says as he and John walk away.
Whew, what a strange occurrence.
Lita and I walk into Mirakarta wearing thick clothes, our swords concealed. Mirakarta's a mess: tens of thousands of tourists flood its historical museums and its gigantic amusement park. How are we going to find one person among them?
"You said something about the modus operandi. What do you mean?"
"They love eliminating them before they become too powerful later. Offer them rewards or prizes or manipulate their egos to compel them into defecting, or outright assassinating or kidnapping them. I fear one of those is what has happened to this Karov guy."
Hmm ... Lita sure does have some inner knowledge from her time in the Empire.
"Hey, Lita, your sensory skills are better than mine are, right?"
Lita scratches her head. "Only if I have encountered them before; I can detect and remember the mana signature, so to say. To me now, this all feels like a flood of unknown auras."
"Well, you can still detect their levels, right? Just find for Class III ones."
Lita nods repeatedly. She looks up to the sky. "There are two there, near the ferris wheel in the amusement park, with one Class IV mage. And then another group in the western outskirts."
"Okay. I'm checking out the amusement park. You'll check the outskirts," I say, throwing her a communicator.
Lita dashes through the busy streets as I rush to the amusement park. The ferris wheel sticks out like a sore thumb. I activate my ability discreetly, so as to not alert the long line of people awaiting their turn to ride the wheel. It points to a police outpost, strangely enough.
Hmm ... the police are under Queen Seira, and Karov is a member of the Order's secret loyalist army. Don't tell me they arrested him!
I enter the outpost. The man who used portals earlier is there. Three other police officers accompany him. I glance at the wall briefly; a wanted poster with my face (with long hair, luckily) is stuck there. "Can I help you?" the man asks as he tears off the poster.
"Do you see a young bald man with black skin?"
"Yeah, well, this guy?" The man points at one of the officers.
Kh! Damn it. I should have known; there must be a ton of people with those characteristics.
"His name's Karov, former Plywood student, Class III mage."
"Hmm ... we never saw him. What happened?"
"He went missing."
"Okay. We'll search. Now get out before anyone sees you."
I leave. "Hey, Lita, there's nothing on my end. How 'bout you?"
"Same. It was a reunion meeting between veteran mages," Lita replies. "I'll meet you at the ferris wheel."
"Okay. I'm waiting."
Lita rejoins me half a minute later. "Whelps, what are we gonna do? That's our only lead."
"I met with some policemen, they said they were looking at it," I say. "But we can't stay idle like this.'
Suddenly, the ferris wheel stops. With cranking sounds, it begins to collapse.
"Watch out!"