WAP 48

Aiko got a celebrity escort around town after that, garnering introductions to everyone important and hearing about anything remotely unusual that had happened in the area for months. She paid attention to it all.

“The Lord and his mountain goddess in the walls have recently hired many new retainers,” explained Matsuda-sensei, after they said goodbye to a local potter. Aiko momentarily stumbled over the archaic term for a rich wife. The only thing that dragged her back to reality was that his tone implied this hiring spree was scandalous of the couple. “Ten young people from the town last month, not including little Eri-chan. She was invited to join the staff about half a year ago.”

Eri, a full grown woman, puffed up a bit with wounded and thoroughly impotent pride. Her lips thinned to almost nothing and she sniffed to herself. “Some of the lady’s companions are unknown to me,” she reported. “Rather fine ladies.” She was sort of like an offended kitten.

“All with dark hair?” Aiko asked idly. It wasn’t definitive proof, especially because dark hair was the most common in Fire Country, but Hyuuga had a look about them.

“That’s right, dark and long hair.” Eri looked at her askance, something sly creeping into her tone. “All of them are quite young. The staff hasn’t been able to clean their quarters as we usually would.”

And that- that was suspicious. Obviously, it was beyond weird not to want your rooms cleaned. Everyone spied on everyone all the time, that was life as nobility. Banning the cleaning staff was short-sighted for nobles, because that would just influence your enemies to focus on infiltrating the higher levels of your household. No, what bothered her was that anyone had gotten away with that request. Anyone who was influential enough to affect the normal running of the household was extremely suspect.

Aiko hummed and nodded, thinking that over. ‘I bet Izuna was right– Hyuuga plants in the household. But that far back? That implies there’s something set up here. Wait. A month ago, were the Hyuuga even… Hmm. Did they really move that fast?’

Something didn’t seem right to her. Either she was misinterpreting some information, or there was more than one issue at play here. “What was the timeline for local children disappearing?” Aiko asked. “Does it line up with the Lord hiring new servants and the Lady’s new attendants appearing?”

“No, the first one was a year back.” Eri’s voice had shrunk again. It was hard to hear her over the sounds of the town they were walking through. “We thought- we thought there was some kind of accident. That they wandered off and were eaten by boars, or drowned in the river.”

“But it kept happening.”

Eri nodded. She looked away. And then she inhaled deeply and lifted her head back up, clearly steeling herself. “7 children, so far.”

Matsuda-sensei nodded along with a frown, a hand on his jawline. “7 children.” He looked at Eri with an expression that Aiko couldn’t quite read.

Aiko nodded and let the conversation move on, but she wasn’t going to forget. Something about it didn’t sit right. “Can I talk with all the families?”

Matsuda-sensei leaned forward and nodded enthusiastically. “I can show you,” he reassured. “I would be extremely grateful to have you look into the matter.”

Eri twisted her hands together and took a moment to answer. “Do we have time for this?” she asked. “It’s just– your companions were concerned about your absence at breakfast. They may be quite–”

“I won’t bring you into it,” Aiko assured her. “If anyone tries to get you into trouble, I can make them forget the day.”

Probably. She might also make them forget their entire life. Sue her, she was a blunt instrument with genjutsu.

This, contrary to intention, served to make Eri-san look even more alarmed. “Excuse my forwardness in advising you, Priestess, but are you not expected at the evening meal with the Lady?” she tried.

“...It can’t be noon yet,” Aiko said, fascinated. She cocked her head to the side and concluded  that, yes, something was wrong with Eri. Why was she so insistent on cutting the investigation short? Was it that she didn’t Aiko to find out what had happened to the kids, or was it because of something going on at the grand manor?

Mean boss? The head of the kitchen staff had seemed like a good manager, but that didn’t mean there was no one else in the hierarchy who could make problems. Was she involved with the conspiracy? If Eri-san was working with the Hyuuga, it would explain how nervous she was to be around Aiko. Everything she had said could have been misleading.

Eri worked her mouth for a moment and didn’t come up with a good answer. She was obviously flustered.

‘I think I want to ditch her and talk to Matsuda-sensei alone,’ Aiko decided. ‘He’s less likely to be a tainted asset, since he isn’t working inside the manor. What is he a teacher of?’

“Alright,” she said out loud. It was absolutely child’s play to make a clone and hide herself in the eaves of the house they were passing. The clone continued the conversation seamlessly. “I understand. Thank you for all your guidance. I am interested in this situation, but I don’t want to cause trouble for you with your work, Eri-san. Will you guide me back now?”

Eri was so relieved that Aiko almost felt bad for the trick. She shadowed Eri and her clone out of town for a while to keep the connection. Once she was far enough away to be sure that Eri would continue back, Aiko backtracked to find Matsuda-sensei. He hadn’t gone too far since she had left him. The middle-aged man was leaning against a wall, looking defeated. 

“Excuse me,” she said.

His eyes went wide and he stood up.

“I decided to prioritize this,” Aiko said. “Eri-san has returned to her work, as she was concerned about her duties. Tell me about the missing children.”

It was the right call. Matsusa-sensei took her house by house. The butcher’s child had gone missing first, a ten year old girl. She had been sent out to gather plants and never returned. There was no trace of anything wrong. 

The second had been another girl, 7 years old. The third was 11. The fourth was the first boy that went missing, and, as Matsuda-sensei reported bitterly, the first child that the local Lord had agreed to send anyone out to look for. 

“To no result,” he said, once they were outside of that family’s home again and the mother had gone back to her tasks. “There was no information. The boy was simply gone, taken from his home while the family slept.”

Aiko hummed noncommittally. “How recent was the last one?”

“...Two months ago,” Matsuda-sensei decided. He turned and pointed. “That family lives further out of town. Shall we go to them now?”

“No, I don’t think there’s going to be any clues there.” Two months– the trail was cold. “But I have a question about your interaction with Eri-san earlier.” From the way he stiffened, Aiko thought she was on the right track. “It seemed that you were implying something when you mentioned there were 7 children missing.”

He balked. “I don’t know if it’s…. I don’t know anything.”

“I won’t be quoting you,” Aiko said dryly. “But anything you suspect might help me find the truth.”

Matsuda-sensei dithered over it. “It’s only that Eri-chan’s two younger sisters haven’t been seen for months.” His face twitched. “Since about the time she went to work at the manor. At first the parents said they were sick, and then they said that they had sent the children to stay with another relative who could afford to care for them.” He didn’t offer any of his personal opinions, but he didn’t have to. His opinion was clear: the children were gone, and the parents were covering it up.

“Thank you for telling me that,” Aiko said, keeping her calculations off of her face. But that– that sounded like the foundation for a theory as to how one of the lowest-born women in society had snagged a job in the local estate. It was a bribe. 

‘The kids are probably taken for some kind of industry, they’re cheap labor. It’s probably local. I doubt it’s within the estate walls– kidnapping children isn’t the type of degeneracy that the nobility gets involved in for cheap labor, they can take advantage of adult peasants. I doubt it’s within the town walls, either, because any kid who could cry or shout might be heard. So. Some business or industry nearby that needs lots of labor, that doesn’t require physical strength, might prefer dexterity and small hands– that’s something... Delicate. A craft, not something like fishing or hauling.’

“…I think the kids are at the silk farm,” Aiko said blandly. “Want to round up a mob to raid them and get the kids back?”

Matsuda-sensei looked at her with wide eyes. “I think we can do that,” he said. “Please wait a moment while I gather some companions.”

A few hours later, the raiding crowd delivered her to the pathway up the mountain, cheering and bowing in her wake. Aiko waved over her shoulder a few times to be polite. She made it back to the estate by 2 pm or so. Izuna pounced at her in the entry hall with wild eyes. “Priestess.”

She pried his fingers off of her arms. “Try to look cool,” Aiko advised him. “You are not coming off well in this moment.”

“Where have you been?” He hissed, ignoring her good advice. “We thought you’d been assassinated, or kidnapped.”

By whom?

Aiko scoffed and then looked around to see if anyone had noticed that bit of rudeness. “Calm down.” She raised a brow at him. “I couldn’t tolerate sitting around here.” 

“And so you went….?” Izuna made a circling hand gesture, prompting her for more details. 

“…To shut down a kidnapping scheme,” Aiko admitted. It had taken her a couple of hours to track down the missing young people. “Not far. Turned out to be a work farm. The cost of silk is going to go up a lot, by the way.” She pursed her lips. That was probably relevant to Izuna’s interests, actually. “I’ll write a report with more details, in case it’s relevant later.”

Izuna stared at her blankly. 

“I met a lot of people,” she changed the subject. “Preached. Solved a few problems. How was your day?” She finagled a hold on his arm and was towing him inside before he had the wherewithal to resist. 

“We had a brief meeting with Minister Tani.” She saw the moment that Izuna gave up on scolding her and decided to just go to dinner. “Ah, I suspect they will ask you to leave the spiritual health of the locals in the care of the local shrine.”

Aiko hummed and made no promises.