Chapter 11: Heirloom
"Hm? You want to learn about heirlooms?"
Ying was cooking a noodle dish in the kitchen. It was comprised of the fat of a Malian Boar, pasta noodles, an egg, and cheese from a Yvali mountain goat.
"Yeah, I've been curious about them since the last mission."
Damn, that smells good…
Ying plated the delicious pasta and began eating the dish on the small coffee table.
"Well…heirlooms are…kinda difficult to undershtand."
"Could you talk when you finish chewing please?"
Ying swallowed his noodles and put his fork down. "Sorry about that. Back to what I was saying, heirlooms are objects imbued with spirituality. And I'm not just talking about what we do with our weapons, the item is permanently etched with spirituality."
"Heirlooms can be just about anything, but most of them aren't created on purpose."
Derrick's eyebrows rose at the odd statement. "On purpose? What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that most heirlooms are created from the strong emotions of their users. The constant stream of emotions can accidentally cause their spirituality to leak out and concentrate on the object. Things like magic mirrors, genie lamps, or even a cursed toothbrush could all become heirlooms."
"I see…so the notes from King Gordou could have been the result of his spirituality slowly etching itself into his notebook, resulting in the valuable heirloom that's still intact today."
"Possibly. It's hard to get any information on King Gordou or the Ressurection Era in general. Studying would take you too much time, and you don't even officially exist anyway."
"So the next best option I have is The Hole right?"
"Exactly. You don't have much of a choice in the matter if you want to find the truth. Legal means are always inconvenient."
"I see what you mean. I'll head over to Old Caroline now."
"Good luck with that." Ying waved Derrick away as he peacefully enjoyed his noodles.
___
Alone in area five was a young woman with brown hair and emerald green eyes. She hastily moved through the slums of The Hole as she tried her best to avert any unwanted attention. She dressed in baggy construction clothing with a large hat to conceal her hair.
She buried her face in her map of Area 5 that she received from a local store a mile back, but the confusing and intertwined lines had made her lose her way.
"This place is like a labyrinth...how am I supposed to navigate this place? There isn't even a public transportation system."
She nearly lost hope of finishing finding her destination, until a young Wraith boy with black hair appeared on the road.
It was the same boy from the library!
Why'd he be here of all places? Is he a shady person in his private life? I guess it's inappropriate of me to make such assumptions about someone I only met once.
She approached the young boy from the library. "Excuse me, can you help me with these directions?"
"Hm? Library girl? What are you doing here? It's dangerous, you'd probably be better off leaving here."
He completely ignored my question…
"Well, I'd prefer if you didn't call me library girl, my name is Elizabeth Abraham the Fifth."
"That's a pretty verbose name you've got. I'm Derrick Foster. You don't seem like a dangerous person, so I'll consider your request."
Elizabeth Abraham was almost offended at the remark. Not a single person in her entire life considered her "dangerous" before.
Was The Hole truly such a dangerous place that a maiden such as myself could be perceived as a "danger"?
"Thank you, but is danger the first thing you think of when gazing up at such a cute girl?"
"Anyone and everyone exists here in The Hole. Appearances are the last thing you could trust down here, so of course I thought of the potential danger of talking to you. It's not a personal matter, it's simply common etiquette here."
Elizabeth Abraham looked at Derrick with apprehension. "You sound like a shady person."
"Well…I suppose I cannot deny that accusation…"
"It's fine. You could consider me a shady person too. It's not like I've come here with noble intentions or anything, I'm doing this only for myself."
Derrick sighed at the assertion. He knew she would be a handful the moment she said such a thing. "If you can say something like that so confidently, then you'll probably fit right into The Hole. Come with me, I'll show you where you need to go."
___
Derrick navigated through the streets of Area Five with Elizabeth Abraham. The journey took significantly longer than usual. Elizabeth would frequently trip over pipelines, stumble into dead ends, and nearly fall to her death by leaning on broken fencing.
"Why is everything here so illogical?! Why do some roads have random dead ends or loop in pointless circles?! I wanna go home!"
"Would you stop whining, please? We're just about here."
Derrick pointed at a dilapidated bar with a gorgeous witch mistress and a Beastman bartender. The broken neon sign at the top of the bar spelled out "Old Caroline".
"Good evening, Derrick," Sylvia said in her soft, icy-cold voice. "What job are you looking for today."
"Ah, about that." Derrick pointed towards the exhausted, confused Elizabeth and replied, "It looks like you've got a new client."