World Keeper

Chapter 1033: The Game Is Afoot

Maya walked around Ashtanu after having gotten off work when her father came to the store. There was a bright smile on her face, enjoying the new, simple life of living with a genuine family. However… in the back of her mind, Maya knew that there was something else that she had to be doing.

Cici might not have put the void beast in right away. With the settings I asked for, it’s hard to say what level of monster I’d be dealing with. Although I didn’t give myself any extravagant powers, I did put myself partially in charge of a magic shop, which gives me access to a large variety of spells.

Even though Maya was enjoying this family life, she couldn’t forget why she was in this simulation. Not because she wanted to clear it and leave, but rather just the opposite. As long as the unknown void threat was out there, there was the chance that it would manifest by attacking one of her family members.

Because of this, she had to get ahead of it, look for anything odd in the city that could potentially impact her life, and identify the rules behind the void beast. One wrong guess would mean that her new family would disappear, so she also had to be extremely careful. Cici, are you listening? She called out in her mind, not sure if the digital entity would monitor all of the players, to wait for them to submit their deductions.

That’s right. Cici’s response came less than a second later, surprising Maya. Do you already have findings to submit?

N-No, I just wanted to ask you a question. If a player discovers the appearance of a void beast, and contacts a temple to ask for a fallen god to deal with it, does that count as clearing the simulation? This was something that Maya had considered doing as soon as she found the threat, but she needed to confirm the validity of her idea.

If the void beast is destroyed, you will have one chance to make your submission regarding its rules. If you answer correctly, the simulation is cleared. However, answering incorrectly will result in a game over.

Maya bit her lower lip at that, realizing that her idea was equivalent to cheating on the test. The whole point of the simulation was to discover what void monster was lurking in the world, and how it operated. It made sense that getting outside help to defeat it wouldn’t work.

She thanked Cici for the answer in her mind, turning her attention back to the city around her. Maya strained her ears, listening for any conversation that might hint at a void monster. Someone was talking about how their car suddenly broke down, or how their terminal was on the fritz. Either of those could potentially be the answer, but she wasn’t sure how that would impact her own life.

With a sullen sigh, she ended her day by making her way back home, concluding that it was likely that the void monster had not become active yet. There was no point in searching for something that wasn’t there, after all.

As she turned the corner to head home, however, she saw a man creating a holographic sign along a blank piece of wall. This was a rather common act nowadays, whether for advertising, or even graffiti. Because the sign wasn’t permanent, it was easy for the police to remove it. However, this sign didn’t seem big enough for either of those situations, so Maya walked over curiously.

When the man walked away, she saw that it was a missing person’s sign, and her body stiffened. The person missing was a young kitsune with brown hair and blue eyes. Maya immediately turned to the departing figure, rushing to catch up with him. “Sir! Sir?” The man turned around, listless eyes watching Maya.

“Yes?” He asked, his voice as somber as his expression.

“Can you tell me about her?” Maya asked, pointing at the picture. A trace of light entered the man’s eyes.

“Have you seen my Cinder?” He asked, though Maya quickly shook her head.

“No, but I want to help look! The police don’t know the area as well as the people that live in it, right?” She asked with the best smile that she could manage. Missing people were, admittedly, oftentimes the result of a normal incident. However, when you know that there is a void beast in the area, there is a high chance that anyone going missing is related. “Besides, I work at a magic shop, so maybe I can help make a spell to find her if I know more about her!”

The light in the man’s eyes dimmed slightly, but he nodded his head. “Thank you for caring. Cinder is my daughter… She went out with some friends a couple of days ago, and hasn’t come back. When I asked her friends, they said that she never showed up. Please, if you do find anything, let me know.”

Maya’s eyes widened, now certain that this was related to her void beast problem. A normal monster would have left obvious traces in the city, or at least a body. A kidnapper would have called for a ransom. As for traffickers… well, there was always the slim chance, though she would much rather believe that a void beast was involved. “I’ll do that, mister! Where was she supposed to meet them?”

The man hesitated to answer, before apparently deciding that there was nothing to lose. “They were going to the theater, and then planned to head out to get something to eat.”

Maya nodded her head, thanking the man again, before turning and running off. However, she only ran far enough to turn the corner, glancing back and watching the man leave. In order to retrace Cinder’s steps, she had to know exactly where she left from. Thankfully, the man didn’t seem to notice her, still going around and posting the missing person signs. He did this for nearly an hour before making his way back to an apartment building three blocks down from where Maya herself lived.

Now that she had a lead, Maya sent a message to her mother to let her know that she’d be late getting home. Afterwards, she used her terminal to find the nearest theaters to Cinder’s house. There were three in the area, so it was hard to say exactly which one she went to. After all, people often didn’t plan their outings according to efficiency. Thus, Maya would need to trace each path.

Once she had her destinations, Maya searched back through the weather and traffic history to two days ago. If there was an accident on the road, she may have taken a different path, or she may have gone in between buildings if it was raining. While she didn’t find any reports of an accident, the weather report did indicate that it was raining for a large portion of the day.

Maya chewed gently on her lip as she pulled up a map, drawing out the most likely paths that Cinder would have taken. She started to walk along the first path, making sure to keep an eye out for any alleys or awnings that would have offered a dry path through the rain, as well as any suspicious buildings.

Maya was certain that Cinder would have gone straight to her destination, since there would be no need to take a detour for food when they already planned to eat after the movie. Thus, she followed the path, retracing her steps to take any side paths she saw along the way, and then repeated this for the other two theaters.

Maya didn’t see any trace of Cinder, or any indication that she had simply been abducted. With a sigh, she made her way home once again, having spent three hours on this fruitless endeavor. When her mother asked where she had been, she simply answered that she had been taking a walk around the town. That wasn’t really a lie, as she had been doing a lot of walking around town.

While her mother let the matter drop there, her sister teased her that she had been secretly meeting up with a boy, causing Maya’s cheeks to flush red. She wasn’t used to being teased, and so she stammered out a reply before rushing to her room.

The next day, when Maya left to head to work, she saw that there was another missing person’s poster sign up. Now she was certain that it was related to the void beast, and that she was running out of time. Still, she had to avoid drawing attention from her family, so she went to work after memorizing the number on the sign.

While she was at work, in between customers, she called the number to ask for information as she had done with Cinder. Thankfully, the wife of the person missing was more than willing to help anyone who wanted to look for her husband. Once she was done with the call, Maya thanked her for the information and hung up. Now, she had two paths, and could narrow down the range of the void monster.

However, what Maya found alarmed her. The paths of both Cinder and the missing husband did overlap in an alley, one that she had previously investigated. More to the point, both incidents happened around noon. So… the void monster has a limited activity window, as well as range of motion.

The worst part was that this alley could also be used as a shortcut when Maya traveled to and from the shop. Michelle… Maya’s eyes widened when she realized that her sister was the first likely target, if Maya didn’t act quickly. Michelle should be home long before noon, but Maya didn’t know how early the void beast’s activity window lasted, only that it was gone by the time she got off work, and didn’t appear when she was on her way in the morning.

As soon as she realized this, her face paled, and she hurried to call her sister. When it didn’t connect by the third ring, Maya was about ready to panic, only for Michelle’s voice to suddenly speak up. “Hey, sis. All good? Didn’t forget your lunch or anything, right?”

“N-No.” Maya said, letting out a long sigh of relief. She was glad to hear that Michelle was okay. “Hey, would you mind switching shifts with me, starting tonight?” Maya asked, knowing that this was the easiest way to keep Michelle safe, while also giving herself time to investigate.

“Huh? You want the graveyard shift? Everything alright?” Michelle’s voice had a touch of worry to it.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I just thought it’d be a nice change, is all.” Maya tried to sound as confident as she could, but Michelle’s voice turned more playful.

“That so…? You know you can’t have boys over with the late shift, right? No matter how empty the store gets.” Michelle teased, causing Maya’s face to go bright red.

“I-It’s not like that! Really, it’s not!” She hesitated for a moment, swallowing thickly before deciding to be honest. “‘Chelle… I think that there’s a void monster nearby.”

“What?!” Michelle’s voice immediately lost her playful tone, turning deadly serious. “Maya, what are you talking about?”

“The last few days… two people have gone missing. I did some research, and both of them were last seen on a path that has them use that alley you sometimes cut through on your way home from work, around noon. The posters are practically right outside our house. I’d just like to swap shifts with you, just for some peace of mind, okay?”

There was a long moment of silence from her sister, before Michelle let out a sigh. “Okay, I got it. It might be a coincidence, but we can switch if it makes you feel better. Though, I am going to tell the church about this, okay?”

Maya gulped, knowing that it would be suspicious if she asked Michelle not to. There was no reason why Maya wouldn’t want the church to know about a void monster abducting people. “Got it.” She nodded, knowing that she was on a timer now. It would take at most two days for a fallen god to be dispatched, after they verified the evidence. Maya only had until then to make sure that she knew all of the rules that she needed to complete the scenario.