A knock on my door woke me. According to the state of the sun, it was barely morning. I wondered who could want something from me at this hour. Then I remembered what happened yesterday. Father had given me the task of investigating the kidnappings. Could this be Christoph’s report?

My voice still wavered from sleepiness as I told Teresia to enter. In her hand, she held a pink memory crystal.

“Good morning, Alicia. I bring you the report of the kidnappings. I hope you don’t mind me waking you at this hour.”

“Morning Teresia, no it’s fine, I wanted to be informed as soon as it arrived.”

She handed me the crystal. If one inspected it close enough, one could see tiny runes engraved into its outside. These crystals were used whenever information needed to be passed around securely and when leaving a paper trail behind was too risky. Memory crystals were expensive because they had to be made to only display their content to specific people.

After passing a strand of mana into it so it could inspect my mana signature, the crystal displayed its content. A virtual book popped up in front of my eyes, only visible to me. With gestures, I could switch between pages.

I read Christoph’s report and became thoughtful. There were far more cases than I believed. In the last two months, there had been 60 kidnappings more than usual. There seemed to be no connection between the kidnapped. The only thing they had in common was that they were poor and unimportant. It seems to me like someone is trying to keep the kidnappings below the radar, by only taking people that are unimportant to the powerful.

According to the report, three victims were found on slave markets in Anardin, rescued and brought back. This was why the committee believed Anardin to be involved in the crimes. It was denying any involvements so far, but that was to be expected.

The report didn’t say much more. There have to be more traces. You cannot kidnap this many people without anyone ever escaping their capturers. You need places to hold the abducted and you have to get them out of the city without anyone noticing. Also, there had to be people in charge of this criminal enterprise. If I can find them, I will find all the answers I need. Especially which of the great families is supporting them.

Also, how do they get them across the border? Every wagon leaving for Anardin is searched in the border towns. If they bypass the towns, they may be able to make it without getting caught by a patrol. With the number of kidnapping cases, there had to be at least one transport per week. Them all passing the border without any ever getting caught seems improbable. Especially since they have to stay on a road if they use a wagon.

They have to pass through a border town that has corrupt guards. Otherwise, most transports would get caught. If I know which border town they use to cross to Anardin, I can find out which officers are bought. Knowing them I can shut down the whole organization. Also, they should know who pays them.

The other possibility is to catch the people doing the kidnapping in Gloomchester and get information on who hired them. It is unlikely they know it. Inspecting the border towns seems more promising. The rescued slaves may know the border town. I’ll have to have them questioned.

Two hours later I had the answer to my inquiry. All the rescued captives remembered hearing ‘Evinsgate’ being said multiplies times, while they were brought to Anardin. Evinsgate was a border city with about 10,000 inhabitants. It’s lucky for me they chose this city since Evinsgate is also a dungeon town, and my family has great influence in any dungeon town in the country. The Hell of Memory was a B-rated dungeon with about 30 floors. Nothing special level-wise, but an excellent source of botanicas.

In the evening I stood in front of the portal leading to Evinsgate. I talked everything over with father and he ordered me to take guards with me. Eric and Amalia were both skilled, having multiple years of combat experience and they were well equipped. They accompanied me to keep me safe. As my father told me, my magic may be strong but I had no experience in actual combat.

Together we crossed through the portal and arrived at a large plaza. There weren’t many people walking around. Evinsgate was very different from Gloomchester. Everything appeared to be larger and cleaner. The dungeon and Evinsgate’s position as a border town had made the city rich. And it showed. In the middle of the plaza was an enormous fountain. It used an intricate runic system to make the water take shapes as it was sprayed through the air. Sometimes it mimicked a sirene, sometimes a mermaid and sometimes something completely different.

There was, as always, a dark side to the city. The riches the city amassed was built upon the lives lost in the dungeon. Adventurers, some desperate, some too cocky, and some just unlucky died in the dungeon on a daily base. These deaths fed the dungeon the mana it required to grow. Adventuring was a profession where you became wealthy fast or died trying. It was nothing I was interested in.

It had taken three days of nonstop observing of the city gate. Then finally we found our target, a wagon with a concealed storage area that showed signs of life inside of it. The guards didn’t search it.

The cart was a magus vehicle and therefore required mana to move. It couldn’t float like my carriage but could reach 30 Km/h with ease. The speed depended on how much mana the wagon got supplied. Since there was no mana grid in the wilderness, it had to be provided by the driver and the ambient mana. Even though horse-pulled carriages are seen as old-fashioned, they are much cheaper and in most cases just as fast. They must be doing quite well if they can afford a magus vehicle.

We followed the wagon as it left Evinsgate again, this time through the city gate towards Anardin. I had remembered the guards who let them through. I would investigate them later, rescuing our people took precedent. I had to do it unnoticed though, so the corrupt guards weren’t warned.

I planned to walk up to the carriage to search it but was promptly stopped by Eric. He and Amalia proposed to me it may a smart idea to set up a trap, just in case they had someone proficient in fighting. I listened.

Two hours later I found myself hiding behind a tree close to the street the wagon would take. The road was in bad shape. The stones were cracked and the trees’ branches hung over the path. A few hundred meters ahead of us the Rainwis flowed. The wide river marked the border between Anardin and the Laumanian Empire. We needed to stop the kidnappers before they could pass the bridge which spanned it or we would need to attack them in foreign territory.

Before I could see it I heard the wagon. Then it came around the corner. A few more meters and it would enter the range of my spell. I had prepared a large scale sleeping spell, which would ensure everyone in and around the wagon would fall asleep in an instant.

But just before they came in range the wagon stuttered to a halt and two people jumped from the driver’s compartment. Because of the forty meter distance between us, I couldn’t make out their features. They were alert and watched the surrounding trees with caution. I held my spell ready. Only two or three steps closer and I was in range to hit them. Then their gaze fell on me.

Suddenly I couldn’t see them anymore. Well, to be more precise, they were hidden behind a large fireball racing straight towards me. My eyes went wide as I realized what was happening. They are trying to kill me. What to do now? Against a fire-based spell, water is most effective. But there is no water close enough, so I need to draw it from the air or create it with mana. Both options aren’t ideal. Then I realized the fireball was almost at my position, and I still had no protection.

Concentrate! What should I do? By now the fireball was close enough I could feel its heat. It seemed to fill my whole view. Is this how I’m going to die? Defeated by some second class mages, only because I was lost in thoughts?. I powered up my magic shields, even though I knew they wouldn’t help much against this attack.

A transparent wall of water rose in front of me. When the fireball hit it, it just sizzled out of existence. I completely forgot I wasn’t alone. It was Eric who saved me in the last second. The shock of almost dying set in. I couldn’t move. This wasn’t at all how I imagined my first real battle to be like. I thought I would wave my hands casting magic too complex for my opponent to even perceive and showing them my strength. I hadn’t considered my lack of any practical experience.

“Damn it, Lady Lachester, they are still firing at us, get your act together!” Eric shouted at me.

I saw Amalia standing in front of us casting spell after spell to defend us or using her magic shield to block the incoming attacks. She was skilled, I couldn’t deny it, but so were our enemies. I had to move, had to get involved in the fight.

“Sorry, Eric, Amalia, I’m fine. Give me a few seconds.”

And with that, I concentrated. My mind formed a spell more complex than anyone here could manage. The spell’s variables slit into place, my body supplied the mana and the spell exploded out from my hand.

I had to use a spell that wouldn’t kill anyone. I didn’t want to hurt the abducted and I needed the kidnappers alive. My spell was a silver blur of magic. It moved at a speed barely perceptible to the eye and crashed straight into their magic shields. Nothing happened, only the branches hanging over the road started to move slowly, seeming to be caught in a weak breeze. The two criminals at the coach continued firing their magic at us thinking they deflected my spell. Just as planned.

Everything happened fast. The branches and roots of the trees surrounding them came alive and rushed forwards their goal being our assailants. They tried to cast flame spells at the wood but to no avail. The kidnappers screamed as the branches and roots caught them and dragged them against the stem of a thick tree. There they hang tightly bound and gagged by thick branches. The wagon stood there as if nothing happened.

“Holy shit,” Amalia exclaimed, “what was that?”

“The spell I cast animated the trees in their surroundings and ordered them to bind anything that used magic. This way only the kidnappers got attacked.” I had to admit, I sounded a bit proud.

Seeing my display of magic made them forget I froze during the start of the fight. But I couldn’t forget it. Without Eric and Amalia, I would be dead. Also if the assailants were stronger or more, my indecision could have killed all of us. I needed to get better at fights. Well, or take a larger escort.

Eric’s words distracted me from my thoughts. “Let’s ascertain we’ve got kidnappers and not some merchant just trying to defend their wares. Though I have to admit, I find it unlikely to be someone else, given their immediate aggression.”

In the wagon below the cloth, we found four people, two men, and two women. They looked… actually, they looked fine. I expected worse. But it makes sense. The better the slave looks and the healthier it is the more money you can make with it. We questioned them and the kidnappers and brought everyone back into my family’s manor in Evinsgate, the kidnappers we kept bound, of course.

I sat across the table from an elderly woman. I had gotten cleaned up and had changed into formal attire for this meeting. The gray-haired mayor of Evinsgate watched me with a sharp and calculating eye. Yes eye, no plural. She had been an adventurer. During one of her delves, a caustic alraune had shot acid into one eye destroying it beyond repair. Because of her injury, she switched to politics.

“Hello Mayor Ven, it is nice to see you.”

“Evening Lady Lachester, you are here on family business? What do the Lachesters want from the city?”

As my family was heavily invested in dungeon mining we had a strong influence in most dungeon towns. I had met Mayor Ven before. Back then she had been nice to me which made what I had to do harder. Still, it had to be done.

“It’s not family business, I’m here because I’m interested in wares going through here towards Anardin. Wares that are alive and human. Wares that should not be allowed to pass through here since everything going into Anrial should be checked.”

She realized what I meant at an instance. “Human trafficking through my city? This is impossible, we check everything. Who told you this?”

“We caught kidnappers after they left this city. They told us their contacts and which guards were bought. Afterward, we investigated the guards and asked who paid for them. And I’m sorry to tell you, they all accused you.”

Before her face had been red from anger, now it turned pale. With a stutter to her voice, she replied: “That’s ridiculous, you have no proof.”

“I don’t need any. The accusations are enough to get you questioned with truth serum. It will reveal your guilt.”

She jumped to her feet raising an arm, about to cast a spell. I kept sitting, this time I was prepared.

“I wouldn’t do that. Before coming here I requested assistance. The whole building is surrounded. Try to cast anything and it will get dispelled. You are caught.”

And like this, my trip to Evinsgate ended. Ex-Mayor Ven, the kidnappers, and the corrupt guards were taken to Gloomchester and immediately questioned, both by my family’s specialists and by the city guard. Both came to the same conclusion. The corrupt guards were paid by Ven. Ven also hired the kidnappers. She reported to Devon Hashot, the third son of Lord Hashot.

Now there was only one question left which no one could answer: Who led the kidnapping in Gloomchester. We only knew from the victims they were caught by street thugs and then locked up in a building. From there the kidnappers took them. But who was responsible for hiring the thugs and providing the houses? It needed to be clarified or Hashot might escape repercussions. It was likely Hashot already knew they were found out and now trying to erase their traces. I had to work fast to find all the hints.

But not now, it was already past midnight. After reporting to father I went to my room. Just as I lay down on the bed, Teresa came in with a message from my mother.

“Your mother wants me to inform you that there has been a kidnapping attempt on Senna’s daughter and her friend. Both escaped and are fine. This case may be connected to yours.”

First I felt worried when I heard someone tried to kidnap Ari, but it turned to relief. “I better visit her then.”

“You should take a rest, let Christoph take care of it. As the head of the family’s information network, it is his job after all. You can visit your friend tomorrow.”

I wanted to protest, tell her I needed to see the kidnapping case through and make sure Ari was fine. In the end, I couldn’t find a valid argument of why I needed to go instead of letting Christoph handle it. Also, I was dead tired. That’s why I decided to stay in my bed. I was asleep in an instant.

The next day I sat across from father. A memory crystal lay in front of him, containing all the information Christoph had collected last night.

“I just read the full report. It states he found the house Ari and Myra were taken to. He then searched for its owner, it turned out to be a poor merchant family. He questioned them and they revealed the house actually belongs to an individual called Matilda Harrison. Lady Harrison’s daughter is married to the second son of Lord Hashot. We cannot question her directly without hard evidence, as she is part of a powerful family. But I think we can conclude all hints lead to Hashot. You have done well in figuring everything out. I want you to present your findings at the next committee meeting.”

“What? I’m to present it? Shouldn’t you do it?”

“You need to be recognized as a potential and important ally. Don’t forget, you will lead the family and need to build your power base.”

I felt nervous about the prospect of talking in front of the most powerful people in the kingdom, but I also relieved as well. I caught the kidnappers and prevented more kidnappings from happening. It was only a small thing in the big picture, but it was a step in the right direction. A step to improve and protect the lives of all citizens of the Laumanian Empire.