The strange Orphanage Mission part 3

*badump, badump... heartbeat increases*

"Wha-what happened here?" Art still really shocked at the state the corpse is in. "This isn't the work of a human, is it? That had to be a monster, but why in broad daylight? Thi-... damn, this doesn't make any sense." A breeze blew through Arthur's pitch black hair with dark brown tips. It helped him cool his head of for a moment. Art calmed down a bit, even though he thought all this happened in a few seconds, yet it felt like an eternity... The shock was huge, but after he came to his senses, Art looked around. "The wounds seem fresh, not much time has passed since he died... Ahead there is nothing and neither to the right mayb-". While Art looked around for some clues that could bring him closer to solving that mysterious death of Jack, eyes, he felt watched, so he turned to where he felt those eyes from. "Someone is watching me! "From behind" *He turns his head and body around* "Isn't that man in the robe Anthony the librarian?"Art dashed while not making a single sound and concealing his presence from Anthony. Not until pretty late did the librarian notice Art dashing at him and barely managing to get around the corner. Art accelerated and made an abrupt break while sliding on the ground with one hand touching it, ready to dash forward again and having one hand on his old dagger. " Once I catch you, I will have you answer all my questions; Anthony! Around the corner... *huff* and I´ll catch yo-" *makes it around the corner* "Wh-where is he?! Where the heck did he go?!" Art didn´t know what happened, but it seems that the librarian has vanished into thin air or disappeared from the face of the earth. Art looks obviously puzzled and cannot explain to himself what he just witnessed. "Hmm..." Art rubs his head and hits the wall with his fist, "Dammit!" It is pretty hard to figure something out, but he has no idea what he is doing... he is lost and stuck. "I-I think that I should search for the librarian. Arghh... what do I do now, I am stuck!" Art leans against the pillar and slowly, yet safely, slides down to the ground till he sits on it with his back leaning against the wall. "I'm still lost in my thoughts, unable to focus on anything else."

To his surprise, only a few seconds passed. At most a minute later, the director came out in a hurry, sending the kids to a psychologist in order to give them some counseling because of this incident. I mean, nobody would want to have a traumatized child. "I hope the children will be fine... I hope so." Goodwill is calling for the guards to dispose of the janitor's corpse "An orphanage with guards? That's unusual, but I guess there are many monsters nearby, so... it kind of makes sense... I think..." Art was surprised by an orphanage with guards. In his journey through his endless thoughts, he stands up and walks towards the director. While Goodwill was talking to the kids and giving out instructions to the guards, he sighted Ley, and walked towards him. *huf... huf, hufff...* "Y-young man... Le-y, ar-are you fine? Do you know what happened here?" The director leans with one hand on Art and the other on his knees in order to not fall down. He seems to be out of breath and exhausted. "No, I don't know what happened here, I also only saw the corpse and dashed over here in order to search for clues. I am sorry about what happened. If you could excuse me, I would like to go to my room, please. " Arthur replied to the director's question. "Of course, huff... you can go and rest. This must be something disgusting for you, because your face is pale. Take a good rest, young man." Art nodded and thanked him, then he left for his room... He let himself fall into the bed and get lost in his thoughts before falling asleep.

*close, really close* a strong and very powerful voice resonated in his head, but Art was too tired to pay any attention to it

[After waking up]

*Yawnn...* He woke up, it was time for dinner. He changed his clothes and took his dagger, hidden under a sweater, down with him. He no longer felt safe, but instead even more uneasy than before. "Well, at least the food is not poisoned." This thought rushed through his head and gave him a shiver down his spine... just thinking about it. Then the image of the corpse crossed his thoughts and Art unwillingly connected it to the monster he took a glimpse at in the forest during the raging blizzard. The sunset view one could see through the dining hall s big windows was breath-taking and calming. Art relaxed his mind, closed his eyes, and basked in the warmth of the sunrays on his face. It was magical.

After enjoying this comfortable feeling for a little longer, Art decided to stand up and bring his bowl and cutlery back to the kitchen and then wander around a little. While aimlessly wandering past many different rooms, he came across the library. "I think Anthony should be inside." Maybe I will need to kill him?" Art thought seriously and was even prepared to fight if things got heated up. *squeake..., creak...* It's impossible that Anthony didn't hear the door open, it's way too loud. But not a soul in sight, far... and wide... "Strange... indeed." Art's suspicion grew stronger towards the librarian, which is understandable.

"If I can't get an answer from Anthony, maybe I will find something in his library. I don't know what, but I hope I do. Hope dies last." Art tried to encourage himself in this seemingly endless mission with no end in sight...So he started aimlessly searching here and there, but nothing. He found nothing. That's when he decided to raid Anthony's office. "Perhaps I'll find something in his desk. Let's not feel too guilty about it..." And so he searched through the desk, hoping to find a clue, that would lead somewhere useful. Roaming through some drawers, he discovered something resembling a list with some strange inscriptions... not very useful for art."Is there really nothing that can help me out?" He moves a pile of books, but stumbles and falls down. "Aghh! Just my luck! - huh? What's that?!" Something resembling a letter fell out of a book, which fell down. "Jackpot" Art starightened up and jumped out of joy, like a little kid getting his favourite toy as a present. full of anticipation. Art opened the letter and couldn't believe his eyes. The contents of the letter provided secret information about what this orphanage could be, as well as its layout. "What's this? Why does it have some hallways where there is nothing and leads to a dead end? What's the meaning of this?" Art read the contents of the letter, which gave him a whole lot of information about the orphanage, about activities in town, and when merchants would pass through this city. It also contained information about how many children disappeared and when... and a bunch of other stuff. "Now I am certain, that Anthony has something to do with the disappearance of children," *reads the rest of the letter*. They will meet up tonight, in an hour and a half, outside the walls . I need to hurry up. " Art was relieved that all of his armor, weapons, and belongings were safely stored in his necklace dimensional storage. Before getting dressed, he used his aura sense and scanned his surroundings. *suprised face* "There seems to be a secret passage behind that bookshelf. He realised that the inscriptions were book titles. He used the order of the books written on that paper he found previously. The door opens up slowly while the whole library shakes and vibrates. The stairs behind the door lead down into darkness. "I think I am using Aura eyes now. A torchlight would draw their attention to me, and there would be some pointless fights that would prevent me from arriving at their meeting point on time.Ohh... and I am definitely not scared!" *obviously scared* Art decides to follow the stairs, which seem to lead into an unending darkness.

The air inside, as well as the ground, walls, and ceiling, were moist. Water was dripping on the ground. The stairs were overgrown with moss in some spots. "I need to be careful if I don't want to trip." Art followed the tunnel, and at some point he could feel a light breeze of wind in his face and through his hair. "So nice... *enjoys the breeze* but I need to go further and find out where it leads. Let's keep going. " He once again cheered himself up to push further. After a while, he hears some footsteps somewhere pretty far in front of him, and his heartbeat starts to race. Fortunately, there was some sort of pillar behind which he could hide. Unfortunately, he was too far away to listen to their conversation. As he tried to move in order to catch on their conversation, he moved a little forward, just a little- *crack!!* There was a stick which broke and made a loud noise. Art´s heartbeat was racing even faster. It was so fast that you could say it wanted to jump out of Arthur's chest and flee from the scene... Art holds his breath, and tries to calm down, because his fast heartbeat is extremely loud. That's what he thought... but it was silent. "Damn, and I thought I could catch up to their conversation... why is it so silent? *step... step...* ohh.... nooo.... footsteps, and they are coming closer and closer, wha-why is it suddenly so silent, there is no noise." One of the guys put his hand on the pillar and leaned forward... about one meter away from Art. At this point, Art still held his breath, which he could do for about 15 minutes, but the seconds that passed felt like hours and he wanted to catch some air, panicking about what to do. Should I just stab him? What about the other guys? What if they're stronger than me? " The guy that leaned forward is slowly turning his head in Art´s opposite direction, but he knows that he will eventually get caught and gets ready to kill him. As he slowly and quietly draws his dagger, ready to kill—*squeak* a rat emerges, and the guy begins to laugh uncontrollably.Apparently, he thought the mouse made the noise, not knowing that he was just a second away from getting killed. The unknown person finishes laughing and turns around, fortunately in the opposite direction of Art, without noticing him.

Then a voice, known too well by Arthur, Anthoy's voice, tells them to move out and get back as he will complete his mission without fail. The other guys were getting ready to leave, but before that they petted Anthony's shoulder. "I think they wish him good luck with something, but what?..." and then they finally move out. Art waits a few seconds longer while making sure that the librarian is alone. With his dagger in his left hand, he is slowly making a few steps and getting ready to dash forward. *dash, swosh* With his strongest and fastest dash, he is like a bullet fired from a gun, but still not fast enough... Aura, he circulates aura through his whole body and uses another skill called acceleration, which if used without aura can destroy your muscles. Now his heartbeat is unusually calm too... With his dagger in his left hand, Art strikes at Anthony, who barely manages to block his attack, which gets him pushed back and hits a tree hard. "Ley! What do you think you are doing? " "Eliminating you," Art responded very calmly. "So you are the director's lackey! I thought you were a wanderer. *activating eye of thruth* Art activates a skill which lets him distinguish between truth and lies. Anthony, to his surprise, wasn't lying. Anthony notices Art's mental absence and attacks him, going for the kill. *dodge you fool* a powerful voice commanded him to do so, and Art did, to some extent, manage to barely dodge his sword, attacked again, and a fierce fight between those two started. "That voice saved me again!" Art trembled, "How many times does this make-uff another close call, I really need to concentrate on the fight right now!" And it went on and on... There was a full moon who seemed to watch then, but after around an hour, they finally stopped. From one of the cuts in Anthony's robe, his ID fell out: "Anthony Mercenary Rank-C+, Age: 50, Race: Elf,... and so on." Behind the ID, Art found a paper with mission details written on it, and to his surprise, Anthony had the exact same mission as he did. "Yo-you have the same mission as me!" Art turned to face Anthony, who replied, "Are-, huff..., you really only a D-Rank Mercenary?" while holding his ID in his hand. "Y-yes," Art, who was obviously shocked, responded.

"What have I been doing till now? Whom do I need to investiga-" Art suddenly realizes something "The director's lackey!!" Art slowly turns to the moon and gazes at it realising a lot of things...