The mystery was still ongoing so Baston needed to explore further. The first clue he got came from the little girl and it led him to the town mayor. Supposedly, another clue about his quest should reside inside the
mansion so the next thing he had to do was to sneak into it. Of course, this fat body couldn't do that directly because he would be soon hacked if someone found him. Regarding this mission, it was better to use rat as the method.
Since every household had this little creature as intruder, no one would find it strange. Not to mention the rat was small enough, it also
didn't emit a trace of magic since it was only a puppet. In the end, people would think it was a real one and not a product of magic used for reconnaissance.
At the new day tomorrow, Baston went closer to the mansion and deployed all of his three puppets to sneak secretly. As always, the place was guarded heavily, even though it wasn't like yesterday when people gathered for disguised dinner event. He released the transformed puppets to the mansion from far which each of them headed to different directions. At first, it might be kind of hard to control all the puppets at once, but when he got used to it,
he could accomplish it casually.
One rat went to the mayor's room, one went to the underground room, and the other one checked the others. In this old mansion,
there were many hidden holes so the rat could explore with ease. The first one had reached its destination. After looking for a while, he was sure the mayor wasn't inside the mansion and no one dared to barge ahead to this room. The rat then went to the cabinet before it magically transformed into a hooded person.
At first, Baston didn't know it could change in the middle. He thought it could only transform into other thing once he summoned the puppet back and confirmed the next form. When he tried to change it outside the book, there was kind of restriction. It made him felt pain in the head, so he thought it really couldn't. Yet when he advanced his level on magic, he started to feel something different. Right now, he felt the connection between him and the
puppets was strengthened. It also made him able to transform the puppet easily outside the book whenever he wanted. The premise was he had to make sure no one noticed it.
The puppet then opened the cabinet, starting to look for important clue. Baston didn't dare to rummage much because he was afraid the mayor noticed that his room had been compromised. There was nothing inside the cabinet, so he went to another drawer beside. He thought his effort would be in vain, but when there was a sound of click, he felt there was a secret compartment inside the drawer. The puppet then turned into the rat once again because the hole was too small and he also worried it would trigger unexpected mechanism. The rat then found a piece of paper and with a dim light, Baston began to check the content.
"I as the mayor of this town did something terrible. At first, I thought as long as I never hurt anyone, it was perfectly safe. That man didn't mention anything and only asked for some people to give a test of the potion he made. I was wary and anxious, but on other hand, it was such a disguised miracle. They didn't have to die and could live as long as they drank the potion. Still, I don't know what happened if someone noticed something
strange in this town. The man only ordered people here to help him caught all the criminals that bypassing here. I doubted and hesitated, but since we also did the good by apprehending all the bad guys here, then we all relented to it. As long our lovely person could still live, we would like to make a contract with the man…"
"Is this like a diary or confession?" Baston was pondering.
Just like his premonition before, the juice from yesterday was very suspicious. It seemed it had tight connection regarding the quest. Even though so, there were still some unanswered questions about the identity
of the mysterious man, the purpose of the captive, and the effect of the potion. Controlling the rat, Baston then quickly fled from the room after making sure nothing changed on it.
In the meantime, the rat who went to the underground found what Baston was looking for. The place was small and it was transformed into a jail. There was only one person in it and the man seemed restless, even though there was a big food beside him. It was unlike cruel prison where the food was only a damp bread with many rats lurked around. From the puppet's sight, he could see the plate was clean and the food looked good. The place was also tidied up so no mess around it.
"This person should be the one mentioned on that paper…"
Baston wanted to set him free, but he hesitated since he already knew beforehand what was the identity of the man. The piece of paper talked about these kinds of people as the criminal which deemed as bad one for
society. If he released him, would it become a menace once again to this town? He
didn't know what sin this man had. Perhaps, it was a robber, thug, or killer. The fat boy really didn't have an idea so the hesitation filled his mind.
The rat stood still while Baston was deciding something. If he asked him directly, the man must be lying so he had to make a little drama performance in order to guess it. The rat then took position in the dark before it transformed into a hooded man. He then walked to the man behind the bars of the jail. The man looked at him warily before he glared at the puppet.
"What do you want? I already told you everything."
"I think you're misunderstood. I'm not from this town. My employer gave me a job to find you. He said to bring you to him as soon as
possible in one piece."
"What? Who is it?"
The hooded man only answered with smirk, "You already know him."
"I did?" the man was dumbfounded before thinking about someone, "That's it! My boss must be your employer. He knew I can still benefit him much!"
The hooded man didn't comment and after he tinkered with the lock, he shook his head helplessly. Seeing his savior gave a sigh, the man knew it was bad. Still, he didn't want the hooded man to give up because locked down here spelled doom in near time.
"How about it? Can you get me out?"
"It's hard. This lock isn't simple. I wonder why you have been jailed in this place personally. Have you just killed someone?"
"No way! I was just stealing things. Because I didn't know the house came from a noble, my punishment became the harshest. I thought I would die quickly, but then, I was transported here without any information to
me."
"Are you sure you only did that?" the hooded man doubted, "By the way, did you stay here alone or actually, there were somebody else?"
"I swore I only did the stealing. Besides, it was my boss who ordered me to do so. He said someone took something from him without paying, so I needed to take it back. If not, my wage might be less than usual…"
the man seemed crying, "I shouldn't do it, but there was no other way. As for your next question, there's no one beside me. I have been staying in this place for one week. I was just alone before until the present."
Baston frowned because he detected something strange on the statement. It seemed by playing a little drama here, the man finally uttered what he wanted to know. The fat boy didn't know whether there was something more, but the man should speak truth by now. Certainly, he found something
wasn't right.
The old book stated the quest to set the people free. The meaning of people here should be more than one person, yet the man spoke to him that he was the only one here for one week. Baston didn't believe the quest spelled the typo on its order because it seemingly could read what his circumstance at present. In the end, what he thought to be simple quest might be hard in reality. The quest didn't mean for this person, but someone else.
After promising to go back here, the hooded man then left the room before it transformed into a rat again to explore the surrounding once again. There must be another clue here and the third puppet unknowingly met with the wife of town mayor once again. The rat didn't encounter her directly, but looking at her from the hole of the attic. Even though the mansion was big and she could swim in luxury, her expression didn't tell she was happy right now.
"This can't go on or the town will be the sinner forever…" the woman sighed, then walking to the cabinet, "I have to destroy that statue before my husband goes back home."
"No, madam! You can't!" the maids quickly blocked her, "Your husband will be mad at you!"
"It's better than nothing. At least, he could kill me then forever! Rather than living like this…"
"Madam, I'm very sorry about this…" one of the maids injected something to her hand, making the woman went angry but slowly, she felt asleep.
By the time the woman didn't struggle anymore, the maids then hurriedly brought the wife to her room and locked it. They sighed, shaking their heads about this woman. While they were talking about something, the rat went nearby to eavesdrop them.
"Why is Madam like this once for a while? We already gave him the potion, yet it seemed she would always remember something about her condition."
"Yeah, I wonder why. Anyone other than her looks fine. Only her that shows this kind of symptoms. No wonder her husband won't let her go out from the house easily."
"I really wonder why she insists on dying. She can live forever, but instead, she choses the other way. Does she know that her husband loves her very much? That was why he made a deal with dark wizards. If not, she
would be already dead while her husband would cry every day. Also, she stood by her decision because she believed what she did was to set people free from the prison."
"Hey, don't speak about it! It will be bad if someone hears us. This is a deep secret in this town. If there's someone who leaks the news, we will be deemed as the traitor forever."
"Of course, I know. Don't you worry about it! Everyone here in this mansion already know about it. If I'm staying outside, I will never
dare to talk like this."
Baston was shocked after listening to their conversation. Not to mention the deep secret of the mayor and this whole town, he realized what the old book meant by the given quest. The words uttered by the maids
about the woman finally opened a big hole of this quest which eventually ending in such a big conspiracy.
The people of the quest actually were the one who drank those strange drinks at here yesterday. No wonder only a few of people here took it. Only the already dead one must drink it while it gave no essential effect for the one who was still alive. After stalking the maids for a while, Baston finally found a relationship between the clues. It looked a simple quest, but deep within it, there was a big choice he had to decide sooner or later. To set them free would be the same as to kill everyone. This matter was very complicated in Baston's heart.