It was a different morning. Not the one you would expect from a town close to mountains. Usually, there would be massive amounts of wind, followed by rain or some other ilk related to bad weather. However, today it was unusually sunny. Something that would make someone look up in the sky and wonder exactly where they were. Yet, here everyone in the town was, bustling and going about their business, each with a bright smile.

Here was Axel. An 18 year old man who recently joined the Lamia Scale guild, and who also recently started his first ever quest. It was crazy to him to think that just a year ago, he had no idea what he was going to do, and now he was here in Orchidia, working. A dark memory crept through his mind before Axel shoved it to the side. He had a mission today. Axel was walking down the street, searching for the location he was going to meet this person. Dex Miller. An interesting human being, someone who wants to show Axel the ropes to becoming a detective. It was quite curious that someone just wants to show how to be a detective, but Axel did not care. He was in it for the money, and the experience.

He wanted to become stronger, and it meant going through the trials and tribulations of everything around him. This quest would be the first on his steps towards greatness... and revenge. But the dark thoughts were once again pushed out of his mind. He didn't want to cloud his day with negativity already. He wanted to start new, fresh, and happy. Or at least, as happy as he could be, seeing as he wasn't truly a happy person already. The bad history crept into his mind, as he sobered up for a bit from his fake positivity, and went straight into the coffee shop he found.

The man was waiting for him already. He was a bit odd looking, with a massive head of hair that seemed to envelop his appearance. The rest of his face was just... average. Axel took one look and shook his head. There seemed that there was something off with the man, but it was put to rest as he sat down in front of Dex, as per instructions.

Axel stared at the man for a second before greeting him. He had no idea what he wanted to say at first, but decided to go for the cheesiest, easiest thing he knew.

"Hey there. I'm Axel. You requested a partner for a day?", Axel said, his hands talking just as much as his mouth.

"Yes. Axel...", Dex said staring at him for a bit too long. There seemed to be some sort of inspection occurring. A few very long seconds later Dex seemed to be done. Or so Axel thought.

"Blue hair... red eyes... face matches description... nothing too suspicious. No weapons, doesn't match profile... hands move a lot, maybe deflecting from his lying eyes? no.. no... ", Dex muttered under his breath, seemingly going through some sort of process to determine if Axel was trustworthy. It was an interesting process, and Axel had absolutely no idea what was going on with the man.

"Yes, you're good.", Dex said, nodding to himself.

The whole exchange left Axel a little too confused. The start of this mission was... interesting. But, he would roll with it. This man WAS a detective, after all.

"Should I call you Dex, or Detective Dex?", Axel asked the man, hoping to get started with whatver the man wanted him to do.

Dex looked completely frightened as Axel mentioned his name. Dex slurped up the rest of his coffee, left money on the table, then grabbed Axel and went to a side alley close to the coffee shop.

"SHHHHH. He could be listening. He is always listening. Just call me DM. Don't say anything else.", Dex said, muttering through clutched teeth towards Axel. He looked genuinely afraid of his name. Axel just shrugged and nodded his head. What else could he say at this point? This man clearly did not want to be in danger.

Dex (or, DM) just motioned for Axel to follow him. Axel just started walking with DM, The man seemed to frantically look around, trying to find something for his journey. DM stopped suddenly, staring at a food stall. Axel started looking around, trying to help this guy by spotting any danger that might befall him. But everywhere he looked, there was nothing but the citizens minding their own business. He saw some casually glance at the pair with a look of worriness on their face. Axel didn't make much of this look. He looked back at DM, and saw that the man was going through every single part of the stall, from the fruits to the vegetables.

"What are you looking for?", Axel said, turning his attention to the man, hoping to help him with something. It seemed that Axel was just doing nothing.

DM put his hand over Axel's map, with a finger to his lips. He just pointed at a random person close by. He motioned for Axel to come closer to the random person, who happened to be a woman who was reaching her twilight era.

"WHERE IS HE?", DM yelled at the woman before she ran off, as if this same situation has happened many times before. DM then did the same thing to many more different people, from random women, to even children. Each outburst from DM was even worse after each one, and it seemed this investigation was going nowhere. Axel only knew from reading the quest that they were investigating a murder, but it seemed that it was completely random. However, the looks on everyone's faces told Axel something he didn't think of- there was no murder scene. There was nothing around here. It was just people indulging DM in his fantasies...

However, Axel thought he just will follow without saying anything. He just wants to finish this quest quietly. It was a pretty easy mission, and he was getting paid after it.

After following DM for several hours, turning over food stalls and scaring random citizens, DM finally turned to Axel, finally recognizing the man's place in his "investigation"

"Thank you, stranger. You helped me today. I am so close to catching the serial murderer, thanks to your help. I am done with you now. I may call on you again sometime in the future.", Dex told Axel as he waved him off, turning around and walking down the road.

"You're... Welcome?, Axel said hesitantly, wondering what the hell just occurred all day. It seemed it was just a random quest, but he finally finished it. With that, he shrugged, and went on his way. Time to collect the rewards.

WC: 1184