We exited the cave together and went back to our lodging.
Just like what I had expected before, Isabelle was truly directionally challenged. Not too bad to the point she wouldn't know a direction, but she had already forgotten the way back and almost disappeared into the maze.
Thankfully, I could guide her while thinking about something else.
When we arrived at our lodging, Garcia had already woken up and cleaned herself. She was inside her own room instead of mine, whispering that she tried to clean my room but still wasn't able to get rid of the smell because there was no air freshener in there.
I said it was okay and asked her to accompany Isabelle. Taking our eyes off her right now was a bit dangerous. She might look calm outside, but I had pushed her too far to make her tell the story she wanted to forget.
At least I managed to find a clue about the source of her trauma and could probably fix it. For now, I just needed time.
What I wanted or needed to do in the future wasn't affected by the fact that Isabelle was Tristan. I just wouldn't actively pursue her, and it was too late to act like a goodie two shoes in front of her after what I did to Rania in the training ground that day.
As a matter of fact, I still wasn't sure what to take on this matter. I did love Tristan in the past, but that feeling had faded and only resurfaced a while ago. If she didn't mind me having a lot of girls, I would then pursue her.
'I need to remember that I am in my bonus stage right now. I will cure her trauma and try to confess once.'
That was enough for me to part from my past. Still, I was hoping she would accept the new me at that time.
Night had arrived.
We went to have dinner at the tavern in the lobby of our lodging. The atmosphere was rowdy, with many sailors from various Races drinking together around one big table.
To avoid confrontation, we chose a small table at the corner of the room, near the stairs that led us upstairs to the lodging area.
The dinner was pleasant, but Isabelle kept silent and put up her cold expression. She had reverted back to her normal state. This normal state was fine. At least I knew she was okay and didn't push herself.
And when the dinner was over, I put down the fork and knives and looked at Garcia and Isabelle.
"Can I trust you girls with something tomorrow?" I began. Their attention was focused on me, so I continued. "I want to conduct an investigation alone, and I need you girls to map this port city for me, noting some places that can be used as hiding spots for some shady people."
"Why?" Isabelle asked, "Is it related to the mission, or…"
"It's related to the mission." I immediately replied, looking at her with a smile. "And it won't involve any monsters either. What I want you to find are people."
"Someone like those people from before, Sir Arthur?"
Garcia was fast to understand what I talked about. She had seen those pirate siblings before, so she understood what kind of people I was trying to find.
"Yes. Report to me if you find any prospect that fits their criteria. Also, don't involve the church. It's our private investigation. We will move subtly."
"For what reason?"
Once again, Isabelle asked curiously.
"Just as I explained before, kingdom Knights are also here to investigate the strangeness. We don't want to get involved with them, and I certainly don't want King Cassius to get news that I am here to use me. He hasn't paid the debt he owed me yet." I replied, smiling softly.
I still remembered his promise. The one he failed to deliver and made me solve that problem myself even after we had that agreement.
Another reason was I wanted to use this chance to move separately from Garcia and Isabelle as I had something to do.
Rounding up those thugs who would make the first event troublesome could be left to the two of them. If it wasn't against monsters, Isabelle was a force to be reckoned with. And Garcia wasn't weak either, seeing her status and high Level.
Meanwhile, I would deal with the second most troublesome thing: those pirate siblings.
"From my investigation with Garcia yesterday, I found out something near the port. That's why I wanted to investigate it alone tonight until tomorrow."
As I finished my sentence, I looked at Isabelle and continued.
"We should divide our tasks to make this investigation easier. And before you misunderstand, I want you to report to me the locations you think are suspicious and not destroy the people in that location. If you were attacked, just round them up and call the kingdom knights or the guards, okay?"
"But you said…"
Before Isabelle could finish, I interrupted her.
"I did say not to get involved with the kingdom knight, but that's only for our investigation. They won't know that you're a church knight, and you can always say that they attacked Garcia, a nun, and subdued them in self-defense."
Seeing both of them nodding their heads in understanding, I nodded back and smiled. My instructions should be clear enough this time.
An on-site investigation was needed for something like this. I could see many suspicious spots on the map on my radar, but I couldn't make sure they were the spot those thugs used to hang around.
My plan required me to find some of those thugs who would be interested in joining the pirate siblings' scam.
That was why I asked Isabelle and Garcia to scout the area. Besides… That would also give me time to move alone and prepare what I needed for my future plan.
"And so, good night, girls. I might not return tomorrow, so hope you have a good dream."
I stood up after leaving some gold coins for them to pay for their meals. I waved at them while walking out of the tavern, putting on my [Shadow Cape] to infiltrate some places.
No one would be able to touch them in that tavern, even if I left them alone. Even though her cheery personality was gone, Isabelle was still the Tristan I knew. If someone dared to get close to her, then…
'I feel bad for that person.'
Anyway, I made my way to my destination. I had already put a marker on the pirate sibling's dots, and currently, both of them were away from each other. It was my chance to score a point with one of them.
The man, Crane, was currently in a building deep inside a dark alleyway. That was probably an illegal brothel, seeing how there was another dot overlapped with his at the same spot and in the same room.
'That guy is having sex with a prostitute, huh?'
And the woman, Cecil, was currently in a tavern not far away from the port where they docked their ship. Many dots surrounded her, but none was close enough to touch them.
From the position of the dots surrounding her, she probably drank with her friends or some sailors, building relationships for her scam to run.
My target was decided then. Meeting a person who was having sex in a brothel was something any normal person would avoid doing. And so, I decided to stalk Cecil, the female minotaur.
Besides, she was only drinking in a tavern and was easy to approach in that manner. I'd rather follow a woman rather than a man.
'And she's also my target anyway, so I'll use this chance to get close to her.'
In Sins Paradise, it was mentioned that a pirate was the one who caused the strange monster's activities with a magic item.
The only pirate that was related to the event was Crane and Cecil, so I planned to infiltrate into their ranks to find what they had been hiding.
'And the best way to infiltrate is to act like an innocent boy and pretend to be obedient to Cecil. I remembered she wanted an errand boy, so she will get one.'
And the errand boy she wanted was probably also one she slept with. I could train her to be unable to live without me again even when I was infiltrating. That was a win for me.
After deciding, I used the [Shadow Cape] effect and disappeared into a shadow.
