Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 68: The Village On The Brink.
Year: X759. 25 years till Canon begins.
Cade POV:
It had been an hour or so after my near-death fight with Jones and I had made sure to get some rest as I waited for the train to get closer to Claymore Village.
Thankfully my right hand was feeling a bit better, but it was still quite sore due to the knife wound it received. I could breath a sigh of relief that the injury wasn't any worse.
As we were approaching Claymore Village I did a rather sneaky manoeuvre as to not be caught as the one that ended up destroying the carriage that I had fought Jones on.
As we were beginning to slow down, I jumped on the next carriage ahead of me and destroyed the stone that was holding the back carriage with the next one that was undamaged. This separated the two carriages from each other, with the destroyed one now lagging behind the train.
This would hopefully mean that the train conductor wouldn't even know that the train was missing a carriage for a few minutes. By the time he did I would be long gone. The last thing I wanted was paying for property damage while I was on this job.
When it came time for the train to stop at Claymore Station, I made sure to immediately jump off the train and head into the village and find somewhere to sleep for the night.
Night had now fallen, and only the bright streetlights in the village was able to light the way forwards.
From what I could see, Claymore Village wasn't that big of a village. I counted around a hundred houses that had people living in them, with several other buildings around the area that served the basic needs of the villagers here.
From what I had discovered while visiting so many of these villages on jobs, was that the much more bigger and populated towns and villages were like that as they were often the hub of previous trade activity in the past due to their location in Fiore.
Magnolia was the way that it was as it was on the coast, meaning it grew quite quickly when trade was a huge thing in the past. Perhaps the Trade Wars that had happened years ago had prevented that – they were wars that I only knew of unfortunately.
Many other villages and towns were as big as they were due to many other rich resources that were lying around. Also many places with a Wizards Guild could help with that growth quite a lot.
I knew that Claymore Village didn't have a Wizards Guild, and it wasn't anywhere near the coast or any mountains, so such little growth from the village was to be expected.
After I had finished wondering about things like that, I had found an inn that I could stay in. It was of decent size, so there should be rooms available. I needed some sleep after that harrowing fight there.
I entered the inn and found that there were a few people sitting at the tables and drinking some beer to themselves, while some were chatting away to others.
I made my way over to the counter and waited for the innkeeper to come and see what I wanted. He came after serving a customer a beer.
"Yes?" He asked when he came up to me.
"Good evening. I'd like to rent a room for the tonight." I requested kindly.
"Sure thing. That'll be 10,000 jewels." The innkeeper said he turned away from me.
"What? 10,000 jewels?" I blurted out with astonishment.
The innkeeper turned around and gave me an abrupt look. "What?"
I had only now just released that I had blurted that out without thinking. Oh dear.
"Well… I mean… don't you think that 10,000 jewels is a bit much for a room for a single night?" I questioned carefully not wanting to offend or anger the man.
While I could easily pay for that with the money that I had on me, I knew that was far too much for a 'common man' to pay for.
Sure, I had grown up in a life where I could have gotten anything I wanted, but I had spent enough time with the people in Magnolia to know how the price of certain things looked for the average person in town.
The price of 10,000 jewels for a single room in an inn was too much. That was clear.
The man in question gave a troubled look. "Well that's just how the price for a night here." He said as he went back to cleaning a glass.
"But the average person wouldn't be able to pay that price for a room. How come the price is so high?"
The entire room of the inn went quiet when I said that. Everyone in the room turned to look at me with some distasteful expressions. The innkeeper gave me a grit of his teeth.
"You want the room or not kid? Last chance." He said with some small anger in his voice.
Realising that I may be treading some dangerous waters here with the people here, I made sure to just take the room while it was still available. I wanted a bed to sleep on tonight instead of the soft grass outside.
"Alright, alright I'll take the room." I said as I pulled out 10,000 jewels from my Requip storage and handed it to the innkeeper.
The inn seemed to be a bit more relaxed when I gave that answer. The people in it went back to drinking beer and talking amongst themselves – yet I couldn't help but feel that I was now the topic of conversation between them.
The innkeeper counted the money, before pocketing it and pulled out a key from his other pocket. "Upstairs, first room on the left." He explained to me as he moved to hand me the key.
I went to take the key, but as I did so the innkeeper pulled me forwards a bit and whispered into my ear.
"Mind what you say around here. The people are rather sensitive to things like the prices." He hissed, before he handed me the key and let go of me.
I simply nodded before immediately heading upstairs and to my room like the innkeeper had told me to do so. When I got to my room, I unlocked it and headed inside before closing and locking the door behind me.
I sat down on the bed that was there and thought about that scene downstairs.
'Well… This village seems to be a bit on edge.' I thought. 'I've never seen the prices that high for a room in an inn before. Even Crocus had lower prices than this!'
I sighed before lying back on my bed. 'Well it's bad that things are like that, but I don't think there's anything I can do to help the villagers here. Tomorrow I'll just get the location of the abandoned building from the innkeeper and head there as soon as I can.'
I then began to prepare myself for bed that night, ready for what was to come in the next day. I doubt it could be any worse than what I had experienced today right?
When morning came, I made sure to get up quickly and had a shower to clean myself up a bit, before getting dressed and heading downstairs.
When I got the main floor of the inn, I saw the innkeeper behind the counter cleaning some glasses. He turned and looked up to see me as I came downstairs, his eyes watching me.
When I reached the counter, I put the key that he gave me on it. "Here. That's the key there."
"Appreciate it." The innkeeper said as he took the key and went back to cleaning some glasses.
"Hey, just before I go there is one more question I want to ask you." I asked with a kind tone.
The innkeeper raised his eyes and his head slightly. "It depends."
I gritted my teeth before answering. "Well I've heard that there's an abandoned building around-"
"Oh that?" The innkeeper said as he fully raised his head to face me. "What do you want with that rotting piece of a mansion?"
"Well I was – hang on. Mansion?" I inquired with surprise.
"Yes. It's a mansion. Did you not know?"
"I didn't – argh, just please tell me where it is." I said getting annoyed at how this conversation was going.
The innkeeper gave me a huff. "No need to ask where it is. Anyone can find it on the hills outside of town. But tell me something. What do you want with that building?"
"Well I'm on a job and I need to get something inside of it." I answered.
"Well tough luck kid. The mayor here has banned anyone from entering the building. You'd have to get his permission if you want to head in there." The innkeeper said as he went back to cleaning his glasses.
I nearly groaned when he said that. "Great… Well thanks for the heads up on that." I said before I left the inn and closed the door behind me.
When I came back out onto the outside of the village, I realised something rather odd. I had just noticed this now.
There was a large lack of activity around this village. Hardly any people were moving around the paths in the village.
'That's strange. It's not that early in the morning. I would have thought there would have been much more people walking around.' I thought with a strange curiosity.
I then walked along the village to see if I could find the mayor's office and request entry into the abandoned mansion. As I walked, I did feel my stomach grumble a bit, so perhaps it was time for some breakfast.
I looked at the many buildings that were here and tried to find one that had some food available. Eventually I found a small store that sold some food.
Upon entering the store, I moved to take some food that would fill me up and took it to the counter to pay for it. The woman that was there checked the food and stated the price to me.
"That'll be 9,030 jewels." She stated as she put the items in a bag for me.
My jaw nearly dropped when I heard that price. What's wrong with this village?!
I was able to quickly calm myself when remembering what the innkeeper said to me last night. It might be best if I try to avoid mentioning the high prices to everyone.
"Ah, yes of course!" I said with a fake smile as I got the jewels from my pocket and handed them to the lady. She gave me a skeptic look as I said that, but she still accepted the jewels and allowed me to leave with the food I had bought.
When I left, I had sat down on a bench and had begun to eat away at the food that I had bought in the store there, as I did I tried to think more about the conditions of this village.
'It doesn't just seem to be the inn that had the huge price. That store had some large prices as well. I have a bad feeling that all the stores in this village are like this. If that's so, how do the villagers manage to get by here?' I thought.
As I finished thinking that I saw a rather bizarre sight. It was as if fate decided to answer that question I had just then.
I saw a small girl that was poking her head out of an alleyway that was ahead and to my right. She was what… ten years old? It looked like she was watching me with some interest right now.
I looked around to double check if she was definitely looking at me or someone else. There was no one else around, so it was me she was looking at.
Feeling curious at the sight of that, I beckoned my hand to the girl.
She looked rather surprised to see that from me, but she did slowly emerge from the alleyway she was in and come over to me slowly.
She wasn't that tidy or clean. I could see some dirt on her face and clothes. She also looked quite sad, and she kept her head down from me. I had a terrible feeling about this.
"Umm… hi." She muttered lowly still looking at the ground.
"H-Hello." I said with some sadness at the girls position right now. What had happened to bring her to this position. Did she have no parents?
"Um… Mister? Can I… have a bit of your food there? I'm… hungry…" She said in defeat and shame.
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. "Alright. You can have this sandwich I bought." I gave an internal sigh as I pulled out the sandwich from my bag.
The little girl immediately whipped her head upwards to look at me. Her eyes shined at the sight of the sandwich before her as if it were a gift from the heavens.
"But I need you to answer some questions for me." I said before I handed her the sandwich.
The girl then looked a little surprised by that. "Questions? Um, I can try but I don't know if I'll be any help to you…" She replied back.
I gave a shrug as I handed her the sandwich. The girl then began to devour into it at a rapid speed. She left no crumbs or crust in her path and she was done in less than two minutes.
"Wow thanks Mister! That was nice!" The girl beamed.
"No problem. Now take a seat here." I gave the seat I was on a pat. "There are some things I would like to know. Think you could help me?" I said with a smile as I looked to the girl.
She gave a happy nod, so I began with my questions.
"Right here's the first question: How come the prices for everything in this village are so high? Don't mean to offend but things seem quite expensive around here."
The girl turned her head as if to think about that. "Um… I don't really know… I think I remember my parents saying that something happened here that caused things to go bad for the village."
'Well that much was obvious.' I thought with a grimace.
"Do you remember what exactly?" I asked, with some doubt that she would know.
"I think I remember hearing that some big company here left due to an incident years and years ago. That's all I know about that…" She said with some sadness.
'Hmm, that does make some sense. For a town this size, it's normal that a large company would support it quite heavily.'
"Oh it's ok." I assured her. "Anyway, here's the next question: Do you know where the mayor's office is?"
"Yeah it's down that way!" She said as she pointed to her left. I leaned forwards and saw that the main path continued in that general direction for quite a bit. "It's a big building. A lot bigger than the others!"
"I see… Here's the last question I have for you: Are… er…"
"Erm…"
'How do I say this next part!?'
"Are you… doing ok? Like… are you… getting enough to eat?" I asked with a bit of fear as to what her response would be.
The girl looked a bit sad when I said that. "Oh… Well I'm often hungry during the day. I normally get something to eat before bed. My parents often end up working all day to try and help me. But I still get hungry and end up out here trying to see if I can get some food."
My heart nearly broke when she said that. "I'm… sorry to hear that…"
"It's ok… I'm feeling fine after that sandwich you gave me!" She girl chirped. "I have to go now, thanks Mister!" She said as she jumped off her seat and ran off.
I sat there in the seat for a while thinking to myself.
'Goddammit. Is everyone in this village struggling like this? I didn't think that they were any places in Fiore that were this bad. The worst part is that I want to help them, but I have no idea how to do it!'
'I can't just give them money, that would be a short-term solution for a long-term problem. Has the mayor not done anything to try and save the village?'
I have a grunt as I stood up. 'Well I can ask him myself I suppose.' I thought as I began to follow the path to hopefully find the mayor's building.
It was hard to find with the simple description that the girl I met gave me, but after following the path for a good few minutes, I eventually came across what looked to be the mayor's building.
It was a decently sized building, definitely larger than the others in the village. It looked a bit nicer than the other buildings as well. There was a set of double doors that led into the building.
I made my way over to the set of doors and knocked on them to see if anyone was in. After a minute of not getting a response, I tried the doors and saw that they were already open.
Pondering this for a moment, I eventually chose to enter through the doors and saw that there was a small reception area that had a man working behind it. I moved forwards and made myself known to the man there.
The man looked up as he saw me coming. "Yes?" He said with a dull voice.
"Hi. This is the mayors building right?" A nod from the man confirmed that. "Well I would like to see him. It's about the abandoned building you have around here. I'm a wizard on a job and it involves that building."
The man pushed a buzzer on the wall and spoke into a speaker. "Sir you have a wizard on a job wanting to see you about the abandoned old mansion." He spoke dryly.
"I'll see him just now." Came the voice from the speaker.
The man then turned to me. "Just up ahead. It's the double doors down the hall." He then went back to doing whatever it was that he was doing before I came in here.
I followed the instructions he gave me and headed towards the set of doors were. Upon making it to them I saw a small plaque on the door that was titled 'mayor's office'.
I knocked on the doors, and this time I got a response.
"Come in." Came the voice from the other side of the door.
I opened the doors and came into a small and tidy office. In front of me was a desk that had a few pieces of paper on them, and behind the desk sat a middle-aged man that was looking rather down in the dumps. He had some well-tuned clothes and was bald.
"Good evening. You're the mayor of this town correct?" I asked as I moved into the room and closed the door behind me.
The mayor sighed. "Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately…? How?"
The mayor waved his hand. "Ah, it's nothing. P-Please take a seat." He moved his hand to the seat that was in front of his desk.
I thanked him and took a seat in the chair. "So sorry to bother you, but I need something from you I'm afraid."
"Yes I heard over the loudspeaker. You want access into the abandoned building right? Well it should be ok. If it's for a quest you are on then I'll let you in." He gave a slow nod of his head.
"Oh! Why thank you sir." I was surprised that it was that easy to get in. Though that did get me thinking.
"Say. What was stopping me from directly entering the abandoned mansion without asking you?"
"Well we have some cameras that are monitoring the area. We would have seen you entering and had to charge you for trespassing." The mayor answered.
"Ah, I see… Wait. Why monitor an abandoned building? What would be the point?" I asked with confusion.
"That would be because of the previous owners of the building. When the building fell out of commission, they asked me to watch over it and let them know if anyone would enter it. I have done so for the last ten years." The mayor explained.
"So the building just fell out of commission? What happened to it?" I questioned.
"Well ten years ago one of the family members in the house ended up murdering another person. This caused all the family living in the manor to be forced out. They got a horrible reputation from the people here and were slandered because of it. I believe they all moved out to escape the slanderous rumours and ordered that the mansion be locked up and monitored to make sure that no one would come and steal their valuables." The mayor explained.
'Wait… ten years ago…'
"Hey, this murder that occurred. Was it the murder of a reporter by any chance?" I asked with suspicion.
The mayor's eyes widened. "What?! How do you know that!?"
"So it was him?"
'I don't believe it! To think that the reporter that Trillo killed ten years ago was the reason that the family was forced to leave their home and village.' I thought with shock, as I moved to explain.
"Well it's all about the job that I've taken. Basically the person that killed the reporter has requested that I recover an item from him from the mansion." I tried to sum up the story as quick and easy as I could.
"I don't believe it… Trillo Woods actually put out a job request? And he wants something from the mansion?" The mayor struggled to believe this.
"So you know him?" I asked with curiosity.
"Ah allow me to apologise young man. I haven't told you the whole story of what happened here ten years ago. I just gave you the quick and less detailed version." The mayor then cleared his throat.
"Ten years ago this village was a prosperous one, with good trade and wealth coming in despite the size. Admittedly, we all owe that to the company that was once here – The Woodfield Foundation. As you know, Trillo Woods would kill the reporter that found out he was illegally siphoning jewels to him. After that murder, Trillo was arrested and his family that were living in the manor were faced with harsh slander. The mayor grimaced as he continued.
"The Woodfield Foundation was also accused of several things and were forced to pull out of this town thus damaging the villages economy. The family eventually were forced to leave the mansion they lived – each of them taking lots of money to live elsewhere. Of course, the owner of the mansion asked me to watch over their home and make sure that no one would enter it."
"That's what really happened?" I said with disbelief. "Had no idea it was that detailed…"
'So that's why the village here is struggling with the high prices. The economy had been wrecked due to not enough businesses here.' I realised.
"Do you have any idea why the Master of the house asked you to seal it up?" I asked.
"If I were to guess, it's because many of the things in the mansion are incredibly valuable and prized. They could make a man rich if he were to sell them." The mayor answered. "Yet… that makes my situation all the more frustrating." He growled.
"How so?"
"If I was able to be allowed access into the mansion then I could sell off everything in there and try and help the town with all the money earned! Everyone here as been struggling to meet means ends and there is hardly anything I can do to help them!" The mayor proclaimed in anger.
"But why not?! You're the mayor! You must have the right to do what you want with the building!"
"Gah, it's some ridiculous old law that the family made sure to remind me of when they left. Basically I can't do anything as long as they still have some legal ownership of the house." The mayor grunted as he folded his arms.
'That must be horrible to go through. The mayor truly does want to help his people, yet he is trapped by some ridiculous outdated law.' I thought with sympathy.
"So why are you letting me in the mansion?" I was curious about this after what the mayor had told me.
"Well you are on a job correct? I feel it's best to not get in the way of that. Besides, the person asking you to go in was a previous member of the family – even if he was a horrible and evil person."
"He still is." I spoke back. "All he did when I saw him in jail was talk about how such sacrifices are necessary in life to succeed."
The mayor scoffed. "What a nutcase… Anyway, I've given you permission to enter the building. I won't charge you for entering now. Feel free to enter when you wish. Just follow the path up the east and you'll find it on the hills."
"Thanks sir." I smile before I stood up from my seat. "I do hope that things improve for you and the village here."
The mayor gave me a thanks, before I exited the office and shut the door behind me.
With nothing stopping me from reaching my destination, I headed east throughout the village towards where the abandoned mansion would be.
As I walked, various thoughts about what the mansion would look like crossed though my head. Would it be very big like my home? Would it be a bit smaller in size?
Eventually I came to the outside of the village in which I saw a few hills that the path led up to. On top of those hills stood a once-grand building that loomed over the village behind me.
Making my way up to the building, I could see it spanned a good few dozen meters across the hills. The building had several floors with a few different chimneys coming out of the roof. The glass windows were fancy and well designed. Around the outside of the building, vines grew up and around the walls that made the building look like it was taken over by nature.
As I came up to the top of the hill, I saw a giant spiked iron fence that was stopping many people from entering.
Grinning to myself, I casted Soft and Soar on myself and leapt over the huge fence and landed on the other side of it. Now I was facing the huge wooden doors that lead into the building.
I walked forwards and opened the doors, with them opening slowly with a loud creaking noise.
Daylight poured into the main hall of the mansion, illuminating everything that was there.
As expected, the entire interior of the building was completely worn down and abandoned. The wallpaper on the walls was peeling off, with ugly yellow stains behind them. The once-smooth wooden floor was now cracked and broken. Dust was everywhere in the room, from it being layered as thick as a cat's fur across the furniture and other objects in the room. I could even see bits coming down from the sky.
'Damn. This place must have really nice once upon a time ago.' I thought with some sadness.
I entered the mansion and closed the doors behind me. When had walked forward into the room, I saw that there were pieces of paper scattered all across the floor that I failed to notice earlier.
I then spied the staircase that led upwards into second and third floors of the mansion.
I moved to climb the stairs upwards to the second floor to find what I was looking for. As I was climbing I thought about where I had to go to find this photo album.
'Where was it again? The smallest bedroom on the second floor and I have to find a button on a lamp?' I felt like it was a bit too easy and also a bit strange as to why this was hidden in the first place.
When I reached the second foot I saw that there was a few corridors I could go down to try and find the 'smallest bedroom'. Considering that this was a mansion of huge size, figuring out what the smallest bedroom out of them all is might be a challenge.
This proved to be true, as I had explored many of the bedrooms and found that they were all huge in size, with double beds and lamps in them all. I searched hard and found that there were no secret buttons in any of them.
I had now found myself in the final bedroom where I was seeing a very small double bed and nearly broke down lamp on the floor of the bedroom.
'This is the last bedroom. If this lamp doesn't have what I'm looking for, then I'll be realllllly angry.' I thought as I moved to examine the lamp.
I picked it up off the floor and inspected it from all sides. I found nothing in the first few minutes, and I was beginning to feel a pit of dread form inside of me.
To my surprise and relief I saw a faded red button that looked like it had been fitted onto the lamp long after it had been constructed.
"Bingo." I whispered with delight as I pressed the button.
No POV, Mayor Cameron:
Mayor Cameron of Claymore Village was sitting at his desk doing some boring paperwork, while thinking about more ways that he could help his village.
He gave a sigh as he moved on of the pieces of paper he had off the table and into a drawer to his side. As he moved back to his desk, the door to his office barged open with a loud thud.
The mayor quickly looked in shock to see who it was that opened the door like that. Who on earth would-?
Then the mayor saw who it was, and his face paled.
"Y-You! What do you – urp!"
The mayor was cut off as the man that had entered the room had grabbed him by the neck and had lifted him up off the ground.
The mayor began to struggle for freedom as his oppressor held him. "What…. Why are you here…?" He croaked.
"Didn't I tell you? I don't want ANYONE entering that old home of mine." The man reminded as his grip tightened slightly.
The mayor was able to form a small scowl on his face. "After all I've done for you… Kept your real identity a secret from everyone… If it were anyone else you would have been finished…" The mayor grunted.
"I didn't even tell the person about you… They have no idea…"
The man had an expression of fury. "You think that changes what's happening right now?! You've let a person inside that building. If they find what I was looking for, then you and this pit of a village are done for!" He snarled as he threw the mayor into the wall of his office.
The mayor let out a cry of pain as this happened. He then coughed intensely due to the pain on his throat.
The man that had thrown him adjusted his clothing a little. "I can't have pests like that ruining my well-built reputation. I've spent years trying to bury the past. Tell me where I can see the security footage of the mansion!" The man demanded.
The mayor had a stern and raging look. He wouldn't budge.
"Hmph. Alright then, I know that you're a man that won't succumb to desires like money – So I'll rephrase what I said: Give me the security footage or I'll buy out this village and burn the houses to the ground leaving your people homeless!"
"You… You would never!"
"Oh I would. I'm one of the richest men in Fiore. This would be nothing for me. But I'd lose much more if this truth got out."
The mayor gave a cry of sadness and defeat. "You're a monster…. To think that the public see you as a man of art and talent with what you do. A man with millions of fans…"
Cade POV:
*pop*
'What the?' As soon as I pressed the button I heard a strange noise from my right. I turned and saw a small compartment open up from the wall!
'No way! Is that it?' I thought with curiosity as I quickly moved over to see what was in this compartment.
When I got to it, I looked into it and saw that there was a small dark red album inside of it. It was small and well preserved with some nice engravings on the side of it. There was also a strap stop the album from opening accidentally.
I slowly pulled it out and blew some of the dust that was on it off. After a cough of getting some of the dust on my face, I looked back at the album.
'I think… this is it. The album that Trillo wanted me to bring back to him. It looks so… ordinary.' I thought as I examined it.
Then an important thought crossed my mind. 'I should probably open it and see what's inside of it. Then I'll have to tell Warden Jameson about it.'
I undone the strap and turned the first page of the book. It was then on the pages I saw…
Regular photos.
Wait what?
With surprise at what I just saw there, I quickly began to look through the many other pages of the book to see what else was here. They can't all be photos, right?
Every page that I skimmed showed more and more regular photos of who I assumed were the people that lived here. Groups of children and parents lined up smiling at the camera not knowing what would happen to them in the next few years.
Before I knew it, I was at the end of the album.
"That's it? That can't be it!" I exclaimed in shock as I made to the last page.
'There's no way that ALL of these are regular photos! There must be something off about them!' I thought with a bit of anger as I flipped back through the book.
I gave a scowl as I continued to flick through the pages at a quick speed. I was here thinking that there would be a secret spell or something else that was sinister.
As I was flipping through the pages, something caught my eye.
'Wait, wait, wait! What was that?!' My mind immediately caught onto what I saw as I began to run back the pages.
I think I had made to the page that caught my eye.
It was a photo of two boys at the front of the mansion – both of them smiling innocently. I think I recognised one of them. Was that… Trillo? He looked like him in some weird way. Weird in the fact that I doubted this kid knew that he would go onto kill someone in his future. The other boy was about his age and had platinum blonde hair and blueish eyes.
Argh, what was strange about it?!
I examined the photo a bit more and saw nothing inherently wrong with the photo itself.
But then I saw it. A small white edge poking out from the top corner of the photo.
Curious about this, I reached into the folder that held the photo and pulled it out to get a better look at what it was.
I was stunned to pull out a second piece of paper that was stuck behind to the photo! It was folded up and had been placed behind the photo to not be seen!
'Ah ha! What do we have here?' I thought with a big grin as I unfolded the paper to see what was written on it.
—
"I am writing this letter because I realise that I am currently going to be in some rather hot water in the next few years. I have just killed a snoopy journalist who found out what I was doing in the company. There's really no way that I can get out of this, so I'm going to have to hope prison treats me well. I can hear the authorities coming so I don't have long.
Anyway, with me about to be locked up soon, I'm guessing that the whole town will be on my family's asses after this. With that and the fact that the company will probably pull out of this town, it's going to be downhill for the town in the next couple of years. With me losing control over the family fortune after this, it'll be my smart-ass brother that'll be getting it all. I suppose he'll use it to jumpstart his writing career. Then again, he'll have issues with that considering the fact that he's from a soon-to-be family of murderers. Doubt he'll get a good name anywhere."
—
I was aghast at what I had just read. This was a note written from Trillo before he was arrested!
It felt really weird and uncomfortable reading that knowing THAT was what he was thinking after he killed a man.
As I moved the letter back from my face a little, I noticed something on the other side of the paper. Was the paper double sided? With interest, I turned over the paper to see what was on the other side.
I saw that there was a printed graph of sorts which had some sort of family tree detailed on it. There was a special printed mark on the bottom of the graph to show that it was official and not made up.
I actually knew this was true as mother had told me that was what some really rich people chose to do. Simply for the fancy design.
I saw some quickly scribbled writing that was written at the side of the graph.
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"Just in case the smart-ass gets any ideas about trying to use me and the company in some way. This'll bomb his reputation all right."
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Looking at the graph I saw some people's faces and names that I didn't recognise at all. At the bottom of the tree I saw Trillo who I recognised easily.
But then I saw someone's face who I DID recognise. But... that can't be right? That face belonged to-
Then I remembered some of the things I had noticed in the last few minutes.
The smart-ass brother, how he had some writing career in his future, how he wouldn't be successful with the fact that Trillo was about to be classed as a murderer, the fact that he would be inheriting the family's fortune after Trillo would go to jail… and his face.
A chill went down my spine as I put the piece of paper that I had in my back pocket and pulled out a book from my Requip storage, still holding the photo album in the other hand.
It was a book that mother had decided to give me after carefully reading it for some reason. I didn't bother reading it, so it did nothing but be at the back of my mind; until now.
I flipped to the back of the book and went to see the small biography that was always present at these things. While I had never paid that much attention to them in the past, they were now absolutely crucial for me right now.
I looked at the face that was present and compared it to the one on the family tree graph that I was holding in my hand.
A perfect match.
"What the hell?! This guy is-"
"Cadewell? What a… pleasant surprise to see you here." Came a calm voice from a man who I had entirely forgotten about until now.
I whipped my head around and saw the man in the photo that I had.
He still had his blue-greyish blazer and white shirt underneath it, along with his smooth blue jeans and white glasses were still sitting comfortably on his nose.
Christopher O'Conner the author was here in this room.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
And that's another chapter finished and done with. Feel free to leave a review of your thoughts!
Just when things look like they are making sense, life has to throw a curveball your way. Such things are natural for a wizard in Fairy Tail – especially poor Cade.
With this weird new discovery that has been discovered, just what will Cade do? And what does Chris want after all these years?
You will find out next week dear viewers, I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next one! Toodles!
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Nagisa Akabane0 - Well, if I were to give an honest answer, it'd be because it's kinda hard(?) to not make Cade sound way older than he is, because I'm way older than he is (at least right now). I haven't been intentionally trying to make him sound wise.