"Found anything?" I asked Jonah, he shook his head. Blonde, short hair and brown eyes. That wasn't Illusion Magic. No shimmer, no mana distortion. Just cheap dye and contact lenses. He's a bounty hunter, of course. He doesn't wear a mask.
So I guess he must like constantly updating his appearance.
"Nothing. It's like the place I went to never even existed."
I could only shake my head. No luck so far. We've been here for only twenty minutes. If we can't find anything else, we might have to leave.
"You said you got here using Teleportation Magic, right? Can't you just open up the same portal again?" I ask. Jonah thinks on it, then shakes his head.
"They've scrambled the location through their own Barrier Magic. I can route the access there, but it wouldn't work. At that point we would only be heading into a one-lane portal,"
Ah, I see. Nodded my head aftweards. Since Teleportation and Barrier both fall under the same "Dimensional" Magic Tree, they often coincide and link together well with each other. This implies that wherever we are headed is safely guarded with Barrier Magic.
So, even if Jonah were to make the same exact portal there, he couldn't arrive because the Barrier Magic there is blocking him. Which, blocks all magic. I'm assuming the only way to get there is by physical means.
That we have to come across it.
We are, but at the same time we aren't.
It's like we are above and they are below, almost.
And yet, beneath the floorboards…nothing. No draft. No mana.
I crouched. Thinking again wouldn't help my case. Just lead to more speculation. Let's throw in a…Objection! In there for the fun of it, right? Right?
I sigh. This is getting irritating. It's like as if this was purposely sealed off for Jonah and I. I'm this close to finding it. I can feel it in my tail.
Standing up again, my tail touched the wooden floor. Scraping against the wood with each step I took. Jonah look towards me, annoyed.
"Can you stop dragging your tail, please?"
I waved him off. "Would you rather me drag my feet?"
He cracked a half-smile. "I would very much prefer that."
"Yeah, yeah. This is why we don't let you make the decisions—"
What interrupted me was the feel of my tail being held back. The Dragotanium tip of it was caught on a nail…no, not a nail. Actually…what is that?
Backtracking, since I couldn't turn around or feel my ass being pulled off, the tip of my tail got lodged between two nails. Not entirely nailed down. So much for it being a "construction" store, yeah?
Couldn't even do the job right.
Crouching yet again, I attempted to pluck my tail from it. Not sure if I wanted to do it too violently. This isn't hair that I'm plucking out, but a third limb with nerves as well.
With extreme care and a great sleight of hand, I managed to do so. And went back to walking away…althought it sounded different. Something's off.
I doubled back to the same spot. With the tip of my tail, I knocked on wood three times. It gain the sound that metal hitting wood should sound like.
Then, I knocked on this particular spot with the two nails three times.
It didn't sound like wood—no. It sounded like…
"Metal on metal," The realization came from my lips. The sound itself lingered a bit more than it should. Echo'd. I could feel the vibration stem from the Dragotanium into the rest of my tail.
Wait, so that's not…wood?
I pressed my hands against that blank. No, it didn't feel like wood. Not even the texture. It just…looked like it. Cold, smooth. Even when I dragged my tail I must've not noticed the difference.
So…does that mean this is a hatch of some sorts? This is fake wood we are dealing with. Which means there is no creak, or give. In a world with magic, it would be too obvious to sell anything with magic unless you were insanely strong.
Aurea Islands has a lower magical index, so in terms, for low-level to the rare and occasional mid levels. Even the receptionist back at Bortabelle was surprised to see an Ascendant like me.
But…there's no hatch. Nothing to prop this open with. I could try to pull it out with my bare hands, and see if that works.
So I did. Slowly but surely, more than planks began to give—an entire hatch peeled upward. It was an entire hatch, slowly, and slowly. Not creaking, but metal whirring. Jonah came into the aisle, surprised.
"Woah…you found it. Great going, detective." He takes a deeper look into the hatch, not one I could see since I was using some strength to even open the thing. It weighed. A lot.
It didn't flush against the floor, but stopped at a certain angle. I sided with Jonah, and we looked down. It was dark. A staircase descending into the unknown.
He and I looked at each other, then back down, then back at each other.
He went first, "This…isn't worth my troubles." He turned around and slowly started walking back. Seemingly given up.
"You don't get to leave just yet," My tail turned him around by the waist. Surprised to see he was right back into the same spot.
"You aided with them, sided with them. You are lucky I have enough compassion not to treat you like them." I say, he only shrugs.
"I'm a bounty hunter, what did you think I was going to do? I've done my fair share, anything you do to these terrorists are not on my hands."
"Well, yeah. You two aren't collaborators anymore, are you? Think of it like…a bigger contract."
Jonah scoffed, "What? You are giving me a contract?"
He seemed to laugh at the idea, before his face straightened.
"What's the clauses and details." The line came out so practiced and measured it no longer even sounded like a question, just one of the things that I would have to give over to him.
It's like the only language he understands is contractual employment…which, makes total sense he's a bounty hunter for crying out loud.
I think to myself. If I want Jonah to at least help me down there…it can't be for free. But I don't have money to give him. No currency. And I wouldn't there taking some out of Vaniti's purse just for this…
…but he's with the Underworld, isn't he? Maybe currency isn't all to it. Maybe…there's more. Where anything, can be currency.
"Fair. You like chaos, don't you? What if I gave you information that would shake the entire nation?" Jonah looked at me, then at his watch on his wrist. He didn't believe me, not initially, but upon another look.
It started to creep in.
Not doubt.
Possibility.
"Ryuuzen…unless you are the second coming of the Sovereign of Calamity—"
I am.
"...what could you, of anyone have that makes the nation shake? Exposing Sultan? Let me guess, he launders money?"
I laugh. "Good attempt. But I don't work on pre-dealings. You either agree to help me with this, or you don't."
Jonah thinks. Looks down into the hatch, weighing his options. After a couple of more minutes, he gives out an aggravated sigh.
"I…have a big feeling no matter the decision you are going to bring me with anyways."
I smile.
"You're a quick-learner, you know that Jonah?"
He takes a few steps downwards, already going before me.
"You aren't the first to tell me that."