CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Investigation. Assumptions. Ambush.

Some people thought that it was harmful to eat late at night. I didn't agree: I slept like a log until almost noon. Kurbacht had told me to keep his silver fork—because everyone needed to carry tableware with them so that they didn't have to eat with their hands.

I also needed a new bag as mine was almost completely clogged up, in spite of that, I'd laid out all the emanationed things beforehand. There were less than fifty slots, and this wasn't enough. So, I needed to throw something out or come up with something else.

The village was indeed rather big. In the sunlight, it looked very cozy and peaceful. Kids were running after each other, and their mothers were looking after them. A blacksmith was repairing a plow, and a butcher was cutting a carcass. The innkeeper was cooking in his kitchen. Everyone was busy. I wondered if all the innkeepers in this world cooked themselves, or did they do so only in villages?

"Do you have any ideas?" the gatekeeper distracted me from my thoughts. "Where could a werewolf live?"

"Let's walk around a little. There are so many traces that I can't see the werewolf's easily."

How wrong I had been when I had said that I would immediately find the werewolf. There were so many traces that I couldn't understand which house was his, and my eyes ached. The werewolf had entered almost every house.

"I see that you are a little confused," Kurbakht said. "It often happens to newbie detectives. It's okay. I've talked to Nolg and found out something interesting: the dead man's name was Nars, and he lived on the outskirts of the village all alone. Let's go to his house and carefully examine it for a start. Maybe we'll find some clues."

I'm an idiot! Why didn't I think of chatting with the innkeeper? What a silly failure. Well, let's continue to play detectives. Most likely, the werewolf must be a big guy, like the blacksmith.

Although, according to many films and books, even people of a rather frail physique could become seven-foot-tall wolves, so I couldn't reduce the circle of suspects.

At first, I hadn't paid attention, but the werewolf's traces were highlighted in gray. They became human, but they didn't lose their color. Hmm… that gave me an extra advantage. I also found out that I could see traces from more than a week ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't see older traces because of my low-leveled skill.

Indeed, the werewolf had visited many houses. So, if one of the people here had had the Pathfinder skill, at a high enough level, he would have immediately recognized the monster.

I could conclude that there were no such people in the village—or the werewolf had eaten them all. There were about two hundred and fifty houses in the village, and there were from one to six people in each of them. The average number was three—I was trying to make it easier to estimate—so, there were about seven hundred and fifty people living here.

Hmm, a few too many, and we had only a couple of days, if I'd correctly understood Kurbakht. If we didn't find the werewolf, he would keep killing. And what if there was a whole family of werewolves?

No. Then the traces would have been of different sizes, but they were the same. So everyone who lived alone came under suspicion. We'd check them first. I hoped that the werewolf wasn't smart enough to get into someone else's house and confuse the traces.

In the meantime, we approached Nars' place. It was a nice house, neat and decorated with carvings. The windows were shuttered, the wall was covered with some kind of mortar, and the door was slightly ajar. It was strange, but this house had none of the werewolf's traces at all.

"Well…" Kurbakht squinted and entered the house, then he looked around the space around him. "Everything is clear. There are no traces, except for the owner of the house."

"They're rather strange," I said. "They loop as if the owner of the house always carried a bag of cement or was drunk."

"Cement?"

"It's a kind of heavy sand for construction of buildings," I explained. "Look, the traces are uneven, deviating in different directions. There is no a single chain of tracks."

"You're right. But Nars has a fairly good reputation," the royal gatekeeper muttered. "I don't like all this. Let's inspect everything here."

We probably wandered around the house for a couple of hours before I noticed the trail which suddenly ended—as if a person had teleported without going any farther. But everything turned out to be much easier: under the carpet, there was a descent to a bas.e.m.e.nt.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, having seen a dozen different traces, which showed that their owners sat on benches or went from side to side for a long time.

Have we stumbled upon a den? What a twist. Honestly, I didn't expect this in this game.

"Strange. I can't determine what they did here and how they got here, because there are only the owner's traces at the entrance." Kurbakht didn't descend, and neither did I.

"Maybe there is a portal somewhere?"

"Hmm… that would be too much for a villager," the gatekeeper frowned, and he answered the question that I hadn't asked. "No, he wasn't a mage and had nothing to do with such a thing—otherwise, I would have felt it. I mean, not me, but this amulet," he showed me a talisman in the form of a wolf, its mouth grinning, which looked quite menacing and somehow familiar. "The amulet doesn't twitch, so I can confidently say that there was no magic here."

"Well, then, let's go farther and explore the village," I suggested. "I am very interested in the people who live alone. While we are checking them, we'll discuss why an ordinary inhabitant has such a bas.e.m.e.nt, and how people get there."

"Hmm… that's not a bad idea. Let's go."

***

There were not many houses with only one tenant, but unfortunately those that existed were all located in different parts of the village, so we had to run around.

We could find nothing, not even a trace, so there was no one to ask about anything. It stumped me, and I pondered all we had learned so far.

I returned to the reality just before the penultimate house, when it was already getting dark. The gray footprints repeatedly came out and went back inside the house.

"Here it is!" I pointed to the traces. "Should we speak to a werewolf's friend and ask him some questions?"

"Maybe, but not now. It's worth watching this house. The werewolf often visits it. Perhaps he'll come today."

"Or he has already visited it, so spending a lot of time on an ambush would be too inefficient," I grunted, disagreeing with the royal gatekeeper's decision. "It's worth frightening the person inside a little. Let's say that we are already on the killer's trail and will soon find him. I think then this person will lead us to our destination."

"Very clever. But still let's wait first. An ambush is one of the most time-tested ways."

I just sighed and agreed with the gatekeeper's obstinacy. "That's great."

Skill 'Observation' increases, current level: 9

Skill 'Pathfinder' increases, current level: 11

I'd worked and examined everything quite well today. Now, though, I had to sit and wait.

It was very boring! I'd studied the description of all the skills and abilities, and the achievements and items in the inventory, but only a couple of hours had passed. No one had come to the observed point, and the owner of the house hadn't left the place.

"Okay, let's try your plan," Kurbakht said after listening to my arguments.