Chains

- “Dude the hell is this newspaper? A princess of great Kolnich Nation marries a peasant for love, who would do that?” – Hiro said mockingly.

- “It shows her feelings for him are real though, I think so at least… She is brave, yeah I think that is a better way of putting it.” – Echo said with a faint smile on his face while munching on breadsticks and drinking tea at the same time.

“Oh yeah? Well I would have to think she is facing a lot of troubles right about now, without her families support.” – Hiro said while looking at newspaper with an unchanged face. But soon his face turns into shock.

“Hear this. Some drink called ‘Coffee’ which is supposed to energize you costs over 30 silver coins, which is highly bought and sought after by Nobles. With this money you could sleep and eat at a tavern for a week and maybe even more.” – Hiro said while clenching tight on newspaper and soon after he opened his mouth again. – “Are we going to finish the job today? The missing girls incident, it could be related to your dilemma. But if that is not the case, it could also earn us some traveling money.”

“Hmm yeah but we have no clues besides that the missing girls disappear late in night, 1st incident happened in Baku-something street, eyewitnesses say a fog appeared and the next moment they heard a scream, 2nd one had happened in an urban area with no eyewitnesses, 3rd and currently the latest one happened in some alley way near the main street where a guy got beaten up, got mugged and got his girl taken away, they even cut his finger off while he was unconscious… So I see no connection, honestly this case seems impossible.” – Echo said in kind of pissed off tone.

“Perhaps you are right that there is no connection, my theory on this one for now is that this is not a one man job, but what I found weird at first is that these guys seemed to vanish in thin air, 1st case and 3rd case are the ones I worry about the most. The second incident is probably this groups best work yet, no eyewitnesses, no testimonies, the only thing we know is that the girl was seen around the area before she was taken away. Now to get back on 1st and 3rd case, even with fog I wonder how no one saw these kidnappers, 1st case happened on Friday and Bakurat street is one of the busiest streets in kingdom, so there should have been around 100 people passing through there. For 3rd case it is believed that guards came very quickly considering that it happened very close to the main street, which I also believe though I cannot get around them why cut the guys finger off… So-“ – Hiro explained in a very calm voice almost until the end, his voice started getting more shaky and excited as he wanted to continue to blab about what he thinks.

“Okay so what’s you point Hiro, great observation but what can we do with this?” – Echo said, with serious look on his face.

“Alright, alright I am sorry for prolonging this, I will just get to the point. I think these guys use Cloaca Maxima.” – Hiro said with closed eyes

*For the reader, Cloaca Maxima is basically sewers*

“Okay…and?”- Echo said, “Do you not know what Cloaca Maxima means?” - Hiro

“I do but I cannot put it in words, if I must say it has something to do with- “ - Echo

“It’s okay if you don’t know, I was just teasing you, it’s a very obstruct way of calling what I talked about Cloaca Maxima, you know? Do not sweat it.” – Hiro said teasingly

“I do not know.” – Echo said shyly while looking at the table as if thinking hard

“It’s sewers, we go before night falls.” – Hiro said as he starts to get up.

*I wanted to tease him more but we have no time for fun right now* - Hiro thinks to himself.

Hiro starts going to the counter to pay the bill, and Echo thinks of something and says

- “Hiro do you remember when-“ – Echo tried saying something embarrassing about Hiro, but to his surprise there was no Hiro at sight to embarrass. He hopes no one heard him and heads to leave when he spots Hiro at the door.

The street is filled with chatter, there are a few carriages passing through, kids on the street playing rock, paper, shoot, few stalls selling things from bread to lumber, but also from lumber to accessories, books, various clothes, pillows and so on and on.

The street has a stone paved path, this street is called Pavil street. Hiro starts walking down the street

- “Hiro you almost left me, why did you leave so suddenly?” – Echo

- “I told you, we are going to sewers did I not?” – Hiro

- “Yeah… you may have mentioned that… I think” – Echo

- “Before nightfall we got to find these kidnappers, before another girl gets swept into this mess.” – Hiro said

*I hope we find a clue about my sister… Where could you be? *- Echo thought to himself

Boys go through the busy street and head towards an alley way, this alley way is not only empty by itself. It also feels empty, there are people here but they also feel empty, lowest of society gathers in these alley ways, away from ‘humanity’.

*I always forget this exists everywhere in the world, these people that are broken, not sure where to go or what to do. Pisses me off when I look at the main street and see this. Damn it all! I do not want to agree with Echo but if I did this is the thing that makes me hate Towns…* - Hiro thought to himself before stopping for a moment, he sees a mother and a child. Mother seems to have fresh burn marks and scratches on her arms and legs. They were both beastman.

“Man I hate seeing this can’t we just go already” – Echo said while making a sad, worrying face.

Hiro does not register Echo and just kneels down – “Who did this to you sister?” – Hiro said

*What’s going on he never does things like this, he always chooses to ignore them* - Echo thought to himself genuinely.

The lady looks at Hiro but says not a word and just shakes her head as if saying “Do not bother”

which makes Hiro angry for a moment but he quickly cools himself down and goes to touch woman’s hand.

Her kid who recognizes this act as a threat scratches Hiro with his claws. Hiro as if nothing happened starts healing himself with another one of his hands “Heal” – Hiro said and scratches disappear in an instance “Now, it’s your turn, give me your hand”– Hiro, the woman listens and calms the kid down before letting Hiro heal her, in just matter of 5 minutes she is fully healed.

Mother and the kid are happy and thrilled, hugging each other, they mutter few words which Hiro and Echo assume is way of saying “thank you”, cause of course they spoke beast tongue.

Before anyone seems to notice they leave for the sewers.

They enter Cloaca Maxima and instantly get a torch lit up .

“Hey Hiro, why did you help that woman there. Do not get me wrong, I am proud of you, but usually you would turn a blind eye”- Echo said while trying to catch a glimpse of Hiro’s face.

“God damn it Echo can man not act out of his character once and you just let it be, maybe I wanted to do something good for a change, you know cause of the hell and all.” Hiro said.

“You and Me both know you aren’t scared of such things, so just tell me why.”- Echo said.

“I saw it…” – Hiro

“Saw what? You mean…” – Echo

“Yeah I saw a bit of my past life, before I became what I am today. I was horrified back there thinking of my past actions hurting so many people…” - Hiro

*Hiro, a boy I travel with and love as my own brother… We met 6 years ago, the version of him before we met is wanted for many and many crimes. He has yet to know the whole truth… Though I hope everything goes okay and he never does* - Echo thinks to himself

“Dude, Echo you zoned out. You good man, if not we can head back for now” – Hiro said concerningly.

Echo has a slight smile before saying “You worried about me now? I am all right for now, if something goes wrong I will let you know.”

“Than I guess we keep going for now.” - Hiro

They walk in sewers for while till they get to a crossroad, and now there are 2 paths.

“So, what now? I guess we split here, right?” – Hiro

“I honestly wish we didn’t, we could go at one way at a time” - Echo.

“Though we could, I do not want to give these guys more time to do god knows what.”- Hiro

“All right than if that is what you want, I will take the left path and you take the right one.” - Echo

“But how do we know if the other one found something, we would be leaving each other all alone with no help.” – Echo

*He is right, I wish to take these guys down as soon as possible but what if Echo chooses the wrong path and has to fight them all alone. He is capable but I think it’s better if I were to fight alone* - Hiro

“We meet back here in 30 minutes, doesn’t matter if we found something or not, if both of us come back and it turns out we found nothing, we search together from that point once more. If both of us come back and either one of us finds something we go and deal with that. If the person does not return within the limit we start heading to their path. Caution and Stealth that’s what this mission will be, got it?” – Hiro said

“Hmm, doesn’t sound so bad, I’m in, let’s try and see how it goes. See you in a bit Hiro” – Echo

“Mhm, See you Echo.”

Echo goes on his path first. *He really needs to work on his vision, if he did he would know that the right path has more enemies, he is probably heading to hostage place, whilst it’s not safe at all, it will not be as tough. I got to test my luck now* - Hiro

“Damn, I hate the sewers.” – Echo said while thinking about Hiro *Hiro, whatever you do, don’t do something I will regret*