The first foray

The terrain around Nachtville was mostly made up of flat grasslands, which eventually gave way to an increasingly-dense forest as one continued to travel away from the city. Fortunately, the area that Dia, Risti and the two members of the Dusk Daggers were going to scout wasn't all that far out. From what they could tell with their eyes and from the map, the undergrowth in that particular area wasn't all that dense.

It was probably a calculated choice on the part of the murderer, though. Throwing spears from within a dense forest canopy would definitely have an effect on their accuracy.

Birds sang and insects made all sorts of noises as the duo trekked onwards. As discussed, the two groups of searchers would not head directly towards the target location; Risti and Dia felt that their chances of success would be higher at night, when they returned under the cover of darkness. This round of searching was to simply lower the murderer's guard, which was probably raised by now.

After all, the chances of being spotted the moment Clairvoyance or some other reconnaissance skill was used was very high in the day, especially since none of them were actually hiding their approach. That said, Dia was ready to use her artefacts at any given moment; their current method of approach was literally asking for the murderer to try their luck.

"What's the chances of us being attacked?" Dia wondered quietly.

"Less than ten percent, unless the murderer isn't actually as cautious as I thought he or she would be," Risti replied, in an equally quiet voice. "I'll let you sit on my head if that happens, though."

"Better not." Dia rolled her eyes. "Still, being sent out on an assignment is kinda fun. I feel like I'm actually a member of the Folders' Association or the Mercenary Guild."

"Aren't you a member of the Mercenary Guild?" Risti asked.

Ah. Oops. Dia cast around quickly for a good answer, before deciding to fob her off. "Well, I was attached to a mercenary for lessons, but I never really got around to registering."

Or rather, the mercenary was attached to her in the form of an Experiential Potion, but Risti didn't really need to know that. The fact that she had gained lots of valuable experience and skills from downing some liquid was not one she wanted to tell anyone, lest they somehow connected some dots and figured out her true identity.

"Well, I guess it would look bad if a bodyguard was to become a mercenary…" Risti shrugged. "I think I said this before, but the Moon Lords do feel like a complementary organisation to the Folders' Association. The fact that we're actually carrying out assignments is really neat, and we also get some form of legitimacy."

"Maybe we can transform our Moon Lords into a branch of the Folders' Association." Dia chuckled. "I'm just kidding. I'm quite sure there's a reason why the Folders' Association only has branches in dukedom and sovereignty capitals."

"Yeah, there is. But it's nothing you need to care about. The Association and the dukes are supposed to mutually restrain each other — both parties are appointed by the Emperor, and they ensure that the other doesn't try anything funny." Risti shrugged. "Nothing like that has ever happened, though. We're too fat and lazy to actually plot against the masters of plots."

Dia didn't quite know what to say in response to this sudden self-abasement, so she decided to check her equipment instead. Her defensive artefacts were all ready to be used at a moment's notice, and a quick examination of her psyche showed that she was ready for a fight. After all, every single scrap of evidence thus far had showed that the killer wasn't a mana-user, just someone whose skills and training had coordinated together to form a terrifying combination.

In fact, she couldn't even begin to fathom just how throwing spears could be honed to such an aspect. Throwing spears was, to Dia, an art of exquisite perfection. Unlike swords, the moment the spear left one's hand, she could not conceive of any method to change its trajectory. The moment the spear was thrown out, its accuracy was guaranteed.

How was such a thing possible? Sure, reconnaissance skills and skills to disable the target had been used, but even scoring a perfect hit against unmoving targets across a long-distance was improbable to her. In fact, one would probably either need Moon-shaking talent in throwing spears or decades and centuries to train up such a feat.

"Decades and centuries…" Dia repeated that last bit out loud.

"Huh?" Risti, who was looking around carefully, glanced at Dia. "What of decades and centuries?"

"I was just wondering about how such spear-throwing skills came to be," Dia replied. The beginnings of an answer were taunting her, floating just beneath the surface of her conscious mind. Before she could grab hold of it, however, that particular idea scattered, and she made an annoyed noise.

"What's wrong?" Risti asked.

"Lost my train of thought," Dia replied, miffed. "Anyway, is it really possible to be so accurate with bows and spears? I can't fathom being actually able to do that, though."

"Just as how they can't fathom wielding a sword like you," Risti replied. "Everyone has their specialties, right? I can't even think to use the sword the way you do. That's just how it is."

The two walked to the edge of the forest. To be honest, calling it that was a misnomer; Dia couldn't quite identify where the grassy plains ended and the forest began. The means in which she distinguished between plain and forest was the feeling that had abruptly set itself on her, a feeling of danger. It was the danger that felt whenever she entered a forest, when the threat of wild monsters imprinted themselves on her mind.

"So, as planned, we'll head straight, check for any signs of life, and then" —Risti lowered her voice— "prepare a path for us to enter the marked-out area."

Dia nodded. Right now, under the forest canopy, it was unlikely that the murderer could spot them properly. However, if he or she had been watching, the culprit would probably arrive at the conclusion that the two searching groups would not stumble upon the culprit's hiding spot.

All these, however, was something Risti had thought of. Everything, in order to lower the culprit's guard…as expected, virtually every member of the Moon Lords had a schemer in their hearts. If she hadn't left on this assignment with Risti, Dia would never have found out about this side of her.

Passing by trees and shrubbery alike, Dia noted other traces of life around the place. All sorts of animals had clearly passed by the place, leaving all sorts of tracks behind. As they moved, Dia shifted branches and bushes aside with her drawn blade, cutting off anything in her way.

"What are you doing?" Risti asked.

"Making a small track for us later on," Dia replied quietly. "Since our second foray here is supposed to be a stealthy one, removing anything that might give away our position — like random leaves and branches. Besides, we're not supposed to be stealthy for this first exploration."

"Mm…makes sense."

The two continued to move on in the straight line. Dia glanced at the right, where their true target was. However, stepping into them would probably alert the murderer, so the only thing they could do was visually make sure that there weren't any nasty traps around.

Pushing on for a few hundred metres, the two of them stopped at a nice large tree and looked around. There was nothing much special about the tree, save for the fact that it was probably the best landmark for their expedition at night.

"This place looks good enough," said Risti. "We'll head here again later on, and then go straight into the suspected area."

She took out a skillstick and snapped it into two. Her eyes seemed to see through everything for a moment, and after ten seconds, she pocketed the two halves of the stick and nodded. "Yes. We can get to our destination from here."

Dia wanted to ask what she just did, but it would be rude to enquire. "Are we done here for this afternoon, then?"

"Yes, we are." Risti rubbed her shoulders and looked behind her. "Well, at least we have a very obvious track right now. Good job, I guess? I'm just worried that the murderer might notice it…but again, we didn't really hide our long walk, did we?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I really want to check out the wildlife here, but we should be returning now. Let's go look at the birds here after we settle this entire murder thing, okay?"

"Oh, uh. Sure, I guess." Personally, Dia wanted to return as soon as possible, but she too was a bit interested in learning the ins and outs of observing animals. After all, whatever Risti did to observe animals probably wasn't going to be too different from what she did to observe Princess Dia.

The fact that she was comparing birds to herself was an odd thought, but Dia couldn't be too choosy about things.