Chapter 9: Girl, Baits

 

 

 

Chapter 9: Girl, Baits

 

SEASIDE Blue had two ports: a seaport and a port built into the cliffside.

Nichika’s jaw dropped when they arrived at the cliff port that had been out of sight from atop the hillock looming over the city. A scene so fantastic it completely overturned everything she’d imagined when the port had first been described to her unfurled before her eyes.

“Ooooh!”

Countless planks and buildings jutted out from the cliff, and many winged creatures were berthed within. Nichika was shocked by the array of species.

“Ch-Chickens? Pigs are flying! Wow, what is that? A rabbit?!”

All of the animals were large enough for people to ride and were outfitted with saddles as if they were to be used like public transportation. Pointing at the various creatures flapping and grooming their wings, Nichika repeatedly smacked Oswald on the shoulder.

“This is so awesome! Are they alive? They aren’t machines, are they?!”

“Ow! Don’t hit me, moron!”

Telling her not to be excited was impossible. She watched a man mount a winged chestnut horse and take off toward the sea—this was what it meant to be in a fantasy world.

“So cool! I wonder if I can ride one too?” Nichika breathed, lost in awe of the sight…until she noticed a crowd of people aggressively shoving their way onto the largest loading dock. “What’s going on over there?”

“The large ferries for long-distance travel haven’t been taking off. Today marks the third day of rising tempers from passengers who want to cross the sea…” Oswald abruptly tossed the newspaper on Nichika’s face. “Goes to show that reading the paper comes in handy sometimes.”

“Bwah!” Nichika pulled the newspaper off and unfurled it. She was greeted with monochrome pictures in motion: a middle-aged man in a uniform was apologetically bowing over and over again to passengers. She couldn’t read the letters, but she got the gist from that. “Large ferries? Did they break down or something?”

Looking around the port revealed a distinct shortage in creatures big enough for transporting large amounts of cargo or people in one go. Ignoring her question, Oswald briskly set off toward the angry crowd.

“As I have stated, we are terribly sorry, but all transfers remain undetermined at this time… We can unfortunately offer nothing to those who may be in a hurry besides the advice to either take a detour by traveling by land or by boarding a boat—”

“Don’t give us that load of crap! Who the hell would choose those dangerous routes?!”

“Seriously! Krakens are showing up and attacking boats, you know!”

“And I get terrible seasickness! I throw up unless I travel by air!”

As the travelers continued to jostle the crewmen around, Oswald slid between them and smoothly caught one of the young uniformed men by the collar. Slipping into an overly polite tone, he asked, “May I ask you a question? I’m terribly sorry to take up your time, but I am in a rush. I’ll lose out on one million gems if I’m late to business negotiations with the Cherry Blossom Kingdom over a spice deal…

“Now, it wouldn’t be strange for the aviation company to cover some of the damages for a loss caused by their inability to properly operate their business, would it? By the way, what is your name? Oh, I see it on your nametag there. Jim, is it? I’ll remember that. I’ll make sure to mention you should the need arise later. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Please don’t!” The young crewman cried out.

“……” Nichika narrowed her eyes on Oswald.

What are you, a loan shark? Swallowing back her impulse to say that aloud, she silently watched their interaction unfold. It didn’t take long before the young crewman was tearfully apologizing.

“I-I’m so, so sorry! P-Please relay your grievances to our headquarters. I’m sorry, I’ve only joined this company half a year ago. I am in no position to take responsibility, really!”

Seeing the crewman’s shaking fingertips, Oswald snorted and let go of his collar. Turning to walk away from the screaming mob, he grinned evilly. “This might be an unexpected chance to make some money.”

“What are you going to do?” Nichika asked.

“Witches earn their keep off of trouble like this. Remember that.”

Nichika had a bad premonition about what was to come. Regardless, she went on following him anyway.

They left the harbor and hiked up the cliffside a ways until they reached a building with an orange roof.

“Whale Aviation Company” was written on the signboard hanging from the building built on top of the steep cliff—or so Nichika was told.

“It’s super inconvenient not being able to read…” she muttered.

“Why don’t you learn from Wolfie? Having a teacher of his caliber is just right for an idiot who’s forgotten how to read our common language.”

Nichika snapped. “Seriously, why do you only speak in offensive ways?! You keep on calling me idiot this, moron that—my name is Nichika, you hear me?!”

“Uh-huh. Pipe down.” Despite the angry shouts at his back, Oswald casually pushed the orange door open and headed straight for the reception desk. Leaning forward, he placed both of his hands firmly on the desk, startling the receptionist.

“W-Welcome. What business do you have here today…?”

“May you be so kind as to inform your president that a passing witch interested in solving all your problems has graciously dropped by?”

The woman gasped at his thinly veiled irreverence. Nichika brought her hand to her head, cringing.

Rushing to her feet, the receptionist nearly tripped over her chair on the way out of the room as she fumbled over her words, “P-Please wait just a moment!”

But Oswald ignored her and simply barged into the president’s office. Casually taking a chair without an invitation, he leaned back, crossed his long legs, and rudely propped his feet up on the low table in front of him.

“Wh-Wh-Who are you people?!” the president stuttered. Naturally, he was flustered. Watching him repetitively wipe sweat from his head with a handkerchief as his eyes darted between them, Nichika sympathized with his plight. She really was starting to hate her master.

“How do you do? I’m Witch Oswald. I’ll dispense with the tedious greetings and cut straight to the point. I have the power to resolve all the problems your company is currently facing.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Allow me to confirm the situation first: your large-scale ferry ‘Whale’ suddenly disappeared one day, throwing your operations into disarray ever since. Is my assessment correct?”

The president couldn’t afford to show any weakness after the media had gone and written whatever they’d wanted about the situation. He cautiously surveyed Oswald with a stiff expression and replied, “You don’t have to…point out what I already know. We are in the middle of a wide-scale search as we speak.”

“Judging from the circumstances, the Whale couldn’t have gone far yet. There aren’t many places to hide such a large vessel, after all. How about it? Won’t you try entrusting your troubles with me? I will be sure to locate it right away and bring it back before that mob out there decides they would be better off lynching the man in charge than wasting their time with crewmen.”

The man paled, wiping more sweat from his head, his beady eyes instantly seeking out the room’s only exit.

Nichika was wowed by how adept her master proved to be at the art of casual conversation and threatening. He’d cunningly ensnared his opponent in the palm of his hand and was now quickly advancing the negotiation. She could only watch his ploy develop with wide eyes.

“C-Can you really do something about it?!”

“I can. In three days—no, two days—I should be able to make everything turn in your favor. As for my fee…”

“I’ll pay it! It’s a pittance compared to the profits I’ll save if you resolve this issue!”

“Then our negotiations are complete. Oh, and I don’t mind if my compensation is contingent upon success. Well then, I shall report back to you once there is progress.”

The negotiations had been settled in less than five minutes since Oswald had rudely barged into the room. And now, after tossing some sort of paper roll to the president, he briskly exited the room. Nichika hastily bowed her head in parting and ran after him.

“You can really resolve this in three days? How?”

“I don’t even need three days. But if I said I could solve the issue right now, he’d see that I’m taking advantage of his pathetic situation and jacking up the price, so I said three days. I’ll solve the issue immediately and tack on an extra fee for it.”

“Then, you already know exactly what to do?”

“As if. I’m going to start my investigation now.”

“You’ve got no plan at all!”

I have to tip my cap to his shameless ability to take his confidence this far. He’ll live on as a conman even if he makes all witches go out of business.

While Nichika was internally marveling over his abilities, Oswald pulled some suspicious witch contraption from his pocket. It was a black and charcoal-like object in the shape of a misshapen bird. Poking it with his fingertip, he ordered, “O birds, O wind, O spirits, become my eyes, for I am one without wings, and open the door to the world.”

The charcoal contraption shuddered to life and suddenly soared into the sky. As they watched it rise, Oswald gave Nichika a basic explanation. “That’s one of the tools of the trade and part of my merchandise, Bird of Vision. It can’t do anything but fly above a region and produce a record of what it looks like, but it comes in incredibly handy during investigations like this.”

The little bird flew high into the sky until it ran out of energy and fell back down. Plummeting toward the ground, it crashed smack into the parchment Oswald had spread out right below it.

SPLAT.

Nichika grimaced. “Yuck.”

The bird splattered black liquid across the parchment and stopped moving. The liquid oozing from it acted like ink, dyeing an image on the parchment. It was a rough monochromatic sketch of a bird-eye view of the area, like one you might capture with an aerial camera.

Feeling cold sweat trickle down her back from the disturbing spectacle, Nichika had to ask, “…Couldn’t you have made it work in a less grotesque way?”

“It falls within the realm of reason and logic, so what’s it matter?”

Oswald pinched a wing of the bird’s corpse between his fingertips—at least, that’s what it looked like to Nichika—and disposed of it. Then he studied the map made from its guts and began gleefully making inferences about where the Whale could be hiding.

“I sincerely doubt that such a ridiculously large transportation vessel would be able to go far in only a few days. With that in mind, we should look for places nearby that could hide something of that size… That narrows our search area down to vast forests or caves. See here? This cliff has the ideal cave system. It’s done well in hiding the vessel, but you can see traces of a giant creature moving around the area. And there’s a lake nearby, so it doesn’t have to worry about drying up. In all likelihood, the Whale is here.”

“No way…!” Surprise swept across Nichika’s face. She didn’t think he’d be able to pinpoint its location with a single picture. His confidence hadn’t been a bluff.

Oswald yawned, then removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “How boring. The transport vessel most likely got sick of its work and is going on strike. We’ll go find it tomorrow, tranq it, and finish the job. Let’s go back to the inn for today and sleep.”

“Tranq it? How?” Nichika asked, already getting the feeling that he was up to no-good.

Oswald glibly responded with a rather heinous answer. “With a brainwashing potion, of course. Just the other day, I managed to complete the perfect medicine for it. It paralyzes the brain into complacency, so that the subject won’t think of anything other than obedience. That’ll ensure it’ll never even think of going on another strike again.”

“There’s a limit to how cruel you can be, even when forcing someone into submission!”

“By the way, using this on humans turns them into mindless zombies—”

“You’re forbidden from EVER using that on me!” Nichika stressed, internally vowing to never ever consume anything Oswald handed her again. “Didn’t this Whale run away because it had good reason to? It’s horrible to brainwash it without learning why it left!”

“You’re really loud, you know that? Stop spouting lines like you’re the heroine of a trashy pulp-fiction novel.”

“Well if that’s what I am, then you’re the Demon Lord of All Evil!”

Their loud quarrel started to draw attention from the people around them. Noticing their stares, Nichika impatiently held up her index finger in front of Oswald. “One day! Please give me a single day! I’ll make sure to find a solution that benefits both the president and the Whale.”

“Oh, will you now?” Oswald snickered mockingly as he directed a perversely entertained gaze down on her. “I’m not unwilling to wait, but what are you going to do if you fail to solve anything after running off that big mouth of yours? Hm?”

“Uhh…” Giving up after coming this far wouldn’t fit her personality. Determined, Nichika balled her fists and stoked the flames by declaring, “If that happens, I’ll do any one thing you ask of me!”

***

“OH my gosh, I’m such a big fat idiot! Why’d I have to go and say that?!”

Nichika had parted ways with her master to investigate on her own and was now walking along the seaside port smacking her head over her rash decision making.

“I have no idea what that sadistic witch will order me to do if I fail! I really have no choice but to solve the issue by myself!”

She resolutely lifted her eyes from the ground, deciding to begin her investigation by locating the perfect partner to help her out. She took a good whiff of the air.

“Smells delicious—this should be the one I’m looking for…” Spotting a food stall grilling freshly caught fish, she approached it and was half-exasperated to find a young boy “sitting” in the fragrant billowing smoke with drool trickling down his chin. “…Wolfie.”

“Eh? Oh? Nichika?! Wow! What a coincidence!”

“Y-Yeah. I guess you could call it that?”

“Miss,” the street vendor addressed her, “would you mind taking that crazy boy away with you now? He’s been sticking around drooling like a dog for a while, making it difficult for me to get customers.”

“Ahahaha. Sorry about that!” Nichika apologized and quickly snatched up Wolfie’s hand to drag him away from the food stall. But no matter how hard she pulled and pulled, she barely inched forward.

“Noooo!” he howled, “The baby kraken BBQ! My crockpot shellfish!”

“Wolfie, C’MON!”

Laboriously digging her feet into the ground with each step, it took all her strength to pry him away. Finally, after she had succeeded, she turned to scold him with a fierce face.

“For heaven’s sake, you worried me! Don’t go off on your own like that!”

“I’m sorry. I was just wandering around following the yummy smells!”

Nichika sighed and pulled a strawberry candy from her pocket. “I’ll give you this, so control yourself!”

“Yippee!”

Cheerful mood restored, Wolfie eagerly ripped off the packaging and threw the candy in his mouth. Rolling the round hard candy from side to side on his tongue, a radiant smile broke upon his face.

“It’s really sweet! Super tasty!”

“There’s something I want your assistance with, Wolfie. Will you help me?”

“Mm? Only if Master says it’s okay.”

Wolfie and Oswald were familiar and master—did they have some sort of contract in place? Surprisingly, Wolfie was difficult to win over. But Nichika had nothing to lose by persisting. Pulling another candy from her pocket, she dangled it in front of him.

“…I can give you another one if you help me, though?”

“I’ll do it!”

Why is he so easy to understand? Nichika wondered as they walked to their next destination. My life is so much easier because he’s such a gluttonous wolf.

On the way, she overheard some fishermen complaining. Intrigued, her feet stopped.

“It’s no good. I heard a kraken appeared at the southern fishing harbor too.”

“Why have they suddenly increased in number out of the blue? We’ll lose our livelihoods if this continues.”

“Rumors say that the world’s been thrown out of balance because the Spirit King has passed…”

Spirit King? As Nichika pondered whether something like a king of spirits existed in this world, Wolfie called out to her.

“Nichika! What’s wrong?”

He’d run on ahead and was waiting for her to hurry and catch up to him.

“Oh, sorry! I’m coming now!”

***

“…SO there you have it,” Nichika concluded, finishing her summary, “I want to investigate the Whale’s circumstances.”

“Ooh, so that’s what you guys were doing while I was gone?”

Now with Wolfie at her side, Nichika had returned to the cliff port. It was time to commence gathering information from the locals.

She approached one of the resting two-person aviation vessels classified as “Tomnpa,” and tried speaking to it. “H-Hello?”

“Oink?!”

The pig-like creature spun around, startled by her voice, and warily observed her before prudishly sticking its nose up at her. Its skin was baby pink, and it had the same white wings folded on its back as all the other vessels.

“You’re a living creature after all…right? Are you all born with wings?”

“Oink! Oink!”

“I was born and raised as a Tomnpa, miss—or so it says.”

“You understand what it’s saying, Wolfie?”

Wolfie rubbed a finger under his nose and proudly puffed out his chest. “Sure I do! After all, I’m a member of the Long-eared Tribe, Hasse. I understand most of our languages. Ehehe.”

“Hasse?”

“It’s the classification for species that look like animals but can shapeshift into human forms.”

So he didn’t transform into a boy by using one of Oswald’s Witch Items? If he can shapeshift, why didn’t he just go to town as a boy instead of staying in wolf form? Wouldn’t that have stopped people from being scared to death of him?

Tomnpa oinked loudly before Nichika could question Wolfie further. Shoot. I’ll ask Wolfie about it later. Either way, having an interpreter on hand is great!

Nichika filed away her questions for Wolfie and resumed asking the questions she had for the waiting Tomnpa instead. “I heard Whale has been gone for about three days. Did it say anything before disappearing?”

“Oink! Oin! Uah!”

“‘She said nothing at all. She has always been the reticent type who will not say more than is strictly necessary.’ Or so he says.”

“Whale is female then? In that case, were there any drastic changes before her disappearance? Any information helps. Like, was she acting funny?”

“Oiiinnnnnn! Oink! Kikipuuah!”

“Really?” Wolfie raised his voice in surprise.

“What? What did he say?”

Wolfie interpreted Tomnpa’s words for Nichika. “Whale’s rider—basically, her partner and helmswoman—was clinging to her, crying, the night before Whale disappeared. He says she was saying, ‘At this rate, all three of us are done for.’”

“Three of us? Whale, the rider, and then who?”

“No idea,” Wolfie relayed.

***

THEY left Tomnpa to enjoy the rest of his break and continued walking around the cliff port asking questions until evening. All of the creatures serving as flying vessels reported that they had noticed, even if only slightly, that Whale’s behavior had been odd.

“I was right; something had to have happened. No matter how I review the information, Whale must have had a reason.”

“Like dissatisfaction over food?”

“Whale isn’t you, Wolfie,” Nichika replied in exasperation.

They had arrived at the inn. Before opening its door, she went over their plans for the next day.

“At any rate, I’ll head to that cave before Oswald tomorrow. It seems like I wasn’t wrong to think Whale is facing some serious problem.”

“You’re leaving the city, right? I’ll come with you, since it’s dangerous.”

“Thanks.”

Nichika finally opened the door and went inside the inn—and froze. The very Oswald they had been talking about was sitting in the corner of the room facing them on the first floor, in the section marked for dining. He was in the middle of his evening meal.

“Yo, detective. Is your investigation coming along swimmingly?” He greeted, grinning as he waved his fork with lettuce on it at her. He obviously believed it was impossible for her to solve the case.

Pouting, Nichika yanked the chair out across from him and noisily plopped down. “It’s going quite perfectly! Unlike you, I’m aiming for a diplomatic, peaceful solution, so it’s naturally going to take more time.”

“Hmph. Then why don’t you show me what you’ve got so far?”

Crap! I don’t even have any solid clues yet! I can’t let him know that, even if he tries to force it out of me! Nichika tightly grabbed hold of a roll in the basket on the table, careful not to make eye contact with the man sitting opposite of her.

Already finished with his meal, Oswald stood to leave. “I’m heading to my room now, but…Nichika? Come to my room before bed.”

The butter knife slipped from her fingers.

“It’s medicine time,” he said flatly.

I forgot! …I wanted to keep forgetting about that accursed parasitic weed…