Chapter 199 The Search Begins

After using [True Prodigious Equipment Attribute Awakening] multiple times on his spear, having to take a break every once in a while to replenish his mana, Valyr eventually awakened all of the possible attributes on the True Tideblood Spear, a wide grin adorning his face since all of the awakened attributes were near the highest values obtainable for an Uncommon rarity weapon.

Placing his spear on his back, he then went outside and headed to a nearby general store, buying a few cleaning supplies as he decided that he should make use of the remaining time he had to clean the building in preparation for its eventual opening, keeping in mind that the time when Tryndall and him had to make a move regarding the Clossbay Killer was nearing.

Paying for the supplies he bought, he eventually returned to the somewhat empty feeling building before taking a deep breath. Letting out a light sigh, he bitterly smiled at the thought of his clothes getting dirty, only to discard it soon after as he began cleaning the building's storefront.

As there was only a thin layer of dust over everything in the storefront, Valyr was able to make considerable progress by the time the sun had set. Nevertheless, since he was only one person, he could only do a rough cleaning of the storefront at most, focusing most of his attention on the tools and items he would use for forging instead.

With that, it was no surprise that the forging tools and items were spic and span by the time it was sunset, looking as if they were only used sparingly. In comparison, the walls and floor of the building's storefront looked as if there was still a faint layer of dirt on it. However, compared to before he started to clean, it was noticeably cleaner than before.

Wiping off the sweat slowly dripping from his forehead, Valyr heaved out a long sigh as he took note of how much cleaning he still had left, only for his attention to shift towards the notification sound that resounded in his mind.

Finding out that he had obtained a message, he commanded the system to open up the chat function, swiftly reading through the message Tryndall had sent him.

"See you in an hour. Make sure to wear dark clothing. Meet me at this location."

Taking note of the location that Tryndall had sent him, Valyr inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he placed all of the cleaning items to the side and left the building, making his way back to the inn where he had been staying at for the past few days.

Heading straight to the room he rented, he went ahead and took a slightly long shower, making sure to wash the dust and dirt that stuck to his skin while he was cleaning. After double checking to see if he was truly clean, Valyr then changed into a set of dark clothing, just like what Tryndall told him to.

Then again, even if Tryndall didn't tell him to wear dark clothing, Valyr would've still worn dark clothing either way, considering the fact that their presences had to blend with the darkness of the surroundings due to their current undertaking. Naturally, colorful or bright clothing wouldn't help in that regard.

Deciding to buy a piece of dark fabric along the way to cover his mouth, Valyr eventually left the inn, making a swift detour to a fabric store before heading to the location Tryndall told him to head to.

Surprisingly, by the time he had arrived, Tryndall was already there, seemingly waiting for him to arrive for quite some time now. Just like him, Tryndall wore dark clothing from head to toe, with the lights radiating from the mana-powered street lamps making him stand out from his surroundings.

Making sure his presence was noticed as he moved closer, he and Tryndall eventually talked about what the other side was up to during the past couple of days, with the latter being pleasantly surprised to hear that his friend was in the process of opening up a smithy. After promising Tryndall that he would have a spot ready for him to request a custom weapon once the smithy was up and running, Valyr asked the important question at hand.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?"

"We'll have to wait for a few more people," said Tryndall in response, to which Valyr nodded as he knew which people Tryndall was referring to. Thankfully, the two did not have to wait long for the people Tryndall mentioned to arrive, with a group of five people in black garbs appearing in front of the two of them.

"Let's save the introductions for later." Once the five had arrived, Tryndall took a step forward to make sure both sides had his attention. "For now, let me introduce the person who will be working with us."

Gesturing towards Valyr, Tryndall looked at the five people. "This is Valyr, a friend of mine, as well as someone who accepted the same quest as I did. If not for his advice and suggestions, this current situation wouldn't be possible."

After that, he gestured towards the five before looking at Valyr. "These five are people from the Adventurer's Guild, all of them having stealth-based variants of the Assassin class. They're the ones who have been keeping track of the movements of the five possible suspects for the whole day, as well as the ones who will be helping us track their movements for tonight."

Seeing as everyone's attention was still on him, he continued. "To bring everyone up to speed, we're going to track the movements of five people we suspect is the Clossbay Killer, the man that Valyr and I have been tasked with to find their whereabouts for our quest."

"With that, I'll be having the five of you separate and tail each of the five suspects, making sure to update the others regarding each other's actions from time to time." Tryndall looked at the five, who nodded in response.

"To accomplish that, I'll be creating a party chat where everyone can message each other at real time, though Valyr and I will stick with one of you five, accompanying you on the tracking."

"Who's fine with having us stick around with them?" As this question came out of Tryndall's mouth, the leftmost person among the five raised his hand, prompting Tryndall to nod in response.

After that, he created a party chat through the chat function wherein he, Valyr, and the five other people were included.

Once everyone confirmed that they could access the party chat, Tryndall then told the five to split up, with Valyr and him accompanying the person who had raised his hand earlier.

And with that, the search for the true Clossbay Killer among the five suspects began.