"I hope she's right about this." Kazuma whispered in the air thinking of a certain grey-haired mercenary he had gotten closer with this past few weeks. "If this turns out to be a disaster, she's so gonna get it from me." He thought of why he standing here in this river in the first place.

Yesterday, the usual daily training he had with the girl was canceled due to his fundings running low again. He told her about it and she recommended a quest she heard about that was rumored to pay a lot and can help you raise your Endurance. Kazuma though, had doubts especially after seeing the client was some weirdo living in his own fantasy world. Before he could turn it down however, his past client assured him that he was harmless and his antics were cute in a way. He didn't believed it one bit but after the said girl showed him a pout and began to explain to him that the upside more than compensates for the slight downside, he knew he couldn't do anything about it anymore. So he begrudgingly accepted.

"I wonder where this weirdo is, so that we can get this over with."

No sooner than he said that, a loud girly shout was heard from somewhere really near him.

"There!" He declared before sprinting towards the direction where the shout came from. He expected some kind of fight going on, he expected some pervert molesting someone, he even expected some drunk wreaking havoc around the place. But he did not expect seeing a guy, dressed in something he deemed as a stolen wardrobe of Sherlock Holmes crouching down on one leg and gently rubbing some girls shoes and then smelling it afterwards. The girl then kicked the guy in the nose before stomping her feet loudly as she left.

He looked at the guy exhaustingly before sighing.
"I guess that's him. He's much weirder than I thought." He sighed again before walking towards the would-be detective and helping him up.

The guy touched his nose for a few moments, seemingly checking to see if it's broken before giving him a grin once he confirmed that it isn't.

"Thank you mate. I'm Dex, Dex Miller. The best detective in town." The guy said in a sloppy British accent.

'Great. Not only will I have to deal with his Detective Fantasies. Now, I also have to deal with his annoying accent?' He was seriously ticked. 'Seheda's definitely gonna get it from me now!'

He was brought out of his mind though when he noticed Dex looking at him from top to bottom while slowly rubbing his chin with his right hand resting atop his crossed left one.

"What?" He asked, Irritation clearly evident in his tone.

"You don't look much for a Mage. I was hoping for someone more.." the guy paused, thinking of his next words carefully. "Experienced..? you might say."

"Well sorry. I'm all you've got. Now off to business, what seems to be the problem Sir?" He took a deep breath, calming himself in his mind. 'For the Jewels' He kept on repeating.

The guy then shrugged before telling him his story.

"You see, I was investigating the disappearance of millions of dogs around town-"

'Yeah right.' Kazuma thought

"W-when suddenly I saw i-it." The fear in his voice certainly got the Mage's attention.

"It?" he asked. The would-be Detective nodded before explaining further.

"A blue ball of light. There by the river. It radiated so much sorrow and anger that it is impossible to not feel the same. I know! I definitely know that it's the culprit!! We have to catch it-" Dex stopped and furrowed his brows, unsure of what to call him before the man in question understood.

"Kazuma. And I hate to burst your bubble but how are we gonna manage to do that?"

"When night falls, it will show itself again. Then we would approach it and catch it using our hands!" The guy posed with one finger pointing to the sky while his other hand grasping his hair in a cool (at least for him) fashion. Kazuma then deemed that it was useless reasoning with this guy so he decided to just go along with it. Soon night fell.

"So that's it?" Kazuma said, cautiously approaching the blue ball of light while his client stayed close behind him. 'At least he was telling the truth about the ball. And about the feelings it radiates.' He realized this as he was now standing directly in front of the blue ball. Something inside of him was telling him to touch it. That he should give in to it's beauty and maybe if he did, maybe if he gave it a try, he would see something connected to his lost memories. So he did but as soon as his palm grasped the blue ball, memories of a house burning, a woman asking him to leave her behind with tears streaming down her face, and a man fighting some mob rushed onto him. Soon, a really painful headache began to follow that caused him to howl in pain.

"No!!" He shouted before the ball of light began to  spin around wildly and exploded. The force of the explosion pushing him back along with his client. Kazuma got his bearings a while later and saw that his companion, unlike him who only got minor injuries, was now unconscious. He thought quickly and decided that bringing him to the hospital was the best course of action, so he did. A few blocks along the way, Dacol Lubex, an important town figure noticed and helped him. They both waited for Dex to wake up and after a few hours, the guy eventually did.

Kazuma approached him and bowed his head. He gritted his teeth due to frustration before sighing and saying something. "I'm sorry, I was supposed to protect you but then I got you hurt instead. I-"

He wasn't able to finished because Dex suddenly grabbed his hands and gave him his reward. The guy felt disgusted, he didn't deserve this. Not after what he put the man through. He was about to retort when Dex suddenly put a reassuring hand in his shoulder.

"I don't know what you saw but it wasn't your fault. Actually, it was more of mine. I should have made a better plan before engaging that criminal. You did a good job though, you protected me from the blast at the last moment, if it wasn't for you..." The detective said while doing his signature thinking pose.

Here he was, muttering his apologies for a mission failed while his client was praising him?

"But if it wasn't for me..!" He began to retort before feeling another hand replacing Dex's on his shoulders.

"You should take it and rest kid. I'll make sure this guy doesn't get into too much trouble. You've done enough already." The look on Dacol's face made him realize that there is no arguing this time.

He sighed before facing his client with a determined look on his face.

"Thank you for this, I definitely won't let you down next time." He said before leaving.

Dacol faced Dex after Kazuma left.

"Tell me everything that happened."



Outside the hospital, Kazuma clutched his head before looking forward with confusion evident on his features

'That Vision, what does it mean?' He wondered.
--------------------------------------------------------

1326 words