A round of outbursts erupted as several other patrons of the tavern realized that they too had been robbed.

  The little monkey monster hadn’t gotten to everyone, but there were about a dozen victims, including both Verrill and Ridgeley.

  “That… thing took my watch,” Verrill said, his outrage overshadowed by shock and despair. “It was my son’s… I— I have to get it back!”

  “My faculty token!” Ridgeley snapped, expressing nothing but anger at the discovery.

  Sebastian’s mouth slacked. The manual… It’s in the bag! Damnit, I need to find that monkey!

  Most of the tavern cleared out, those who hadn’t been

  robbed didn’t feel safe to stay so many of them returned to the train.

  Everyone who had lost something crowded the bar, shouting at the owner

  to do something.

  Sebastian, however, ran after the little monster that stole his bag, and his cultivation manual.

  In the chaos, it had managed to sneak out the back. The

  fact that it was invisible made it so that no one other than Sebastian

  could actually see it, and nobody had been able to stop it.

  He rushed past the bar and into the small hallway leading

  to the back door. Almost tackling it open, Sebastian burst out onto the

  alley outside. Turning every which way, there was no sign of the

  creature. Then he cursed under his breath and activated his [Mind’s Eye]

  again. Even when the alley and the surrounding area came into view of

  his spiritual sense, the thieving monkey was nowhere to be seen.

  With no other options, other than running around blindly, Sebastian returned to the others.

  They were still shouting at the tavern owner to do

  something, as if he could magically bring their stolen belongings back

  somehow.

  The large bearded man looked more annoyed than concerned.

  Having had enough, he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, loud

  enough that everyone shut up and covered their ears.

  “I understand your frustration, those little shits have

  been a thorn in my side for a long time, but there’s nothing I can do.”

  He pointed his thumb to a sign on the wall behind him which said,

  {NOTICE Beware thieves, we are not responsible for loss or theft of

  personal property.} “Pick-pockets and thieves of all kinds are a common

  occurrence, especially on train days. At the end of the day, you are all

  responsible for your own belongings. If you have any complaints or want

  to submit any reports regarding your loss of property, talk to the town

  guards.” With that, he was no longer open to listen to anyone’s

  concerns.

  As the people dispersed, Sebastian stepped up to the bar.

  “Sir, I have some que—“

  “No,” the owner said. “Like I just said, talk to the

  guards.” He picked up a glass and wiped it down with a piece of cloth.

  “Unless it’s a drink you want, I’m not interested.”

  “No, I don’t want a drink, and I don’t want to file a

  report with the guards. You said that this monster has been here before,

  robbed people before? Do you know where it goes, where it takes the

  stuff it steals?”

  Both the owner and his fellow travelers looked at him, dumbfounded.

  “You intend on going after it yourself?” The owner

  scoffed. “No offense, but even with that rusty sword on your waist, you

  don’t exactly scream ‘fierce warrior’. It might just be a thieving

  little creature, but I doubt it’ll go down easy.”

  Sebastian stared at him with an unshaken resolve. “It

  took something important to me. I need to get it back, and I don’t have

  time to wait for the guards.”

  Verrill took a step forward. “The same is true for me. It took my son’s watch. I— I can’t leave town without it.”

  Shaking his head, Ridgeley said, “I could get a new

  faculty token, but the cost and consequences are something I’d like to

  avoid, if possible.”

  “Oh, so now there’s five of you going monster hunting in

  town, including a little kid?” The owner shook his head and sighed.

  “It’s a waste of time, but it’s your time to waste, I suppose. There’s a

  rumor that a group of these creatures, cebids, live over by the old,

  shut down lumber works. The guards have searched the place a bunch of

  times, though, and they’ve never found anything.”

  Sebastian nodded. “I’ll start there then, thank you.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Verrill said, his eyes displaying a resoluteness betrayed by the subtle tremor in his hands.

  “Are you sure?” Sebastian asked. “Like he said, we don’t

  know how strong these creatures are. For all we know, they might be of a

  pretty decent level.”

  Balling his fists, Verrill nodded. “Although I might be

  older now, I faced my fair share of dangers in my youth. I can take care

  of myself, and William.” He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulders.

  “And you two?” Sebastian asked Ridgeley and Marcel.

  The student looked at his professor, giving a look that

  was difficult to decipher. He seemed to both be terrified and terribly

  excited at the same time. Although he hadn’t lost anything to the

  creature, unlike his professor, adventure called to some deep part of

  him.

  Professor Ridgeley on the other hand just sighed, and

  nodded. “We’ll come. I do hope you know how to use that sword of yours,

  though.”

  The lumber works were located a forty minute walk away, on the other side of town.

  They had walked as quickly as they could. Verrill even

  carried his grandson at times, to the boy’s disapproval. The town was

  bigger than expected, and they had a limited amount of time to work with

  so haste was a necessity.

  It wasn’t just the town that was larger than expected,

  the lumber works covered a fairly large area, with several buildings

  spread out across the wide property.

  “This is going to take a long time to search,” Professor Ridgeley said.

  “Agreed,” Sebastian said. “We need to narrow it down, somehow.”

  Marcel turned around, looking back down the street they

  came from. “We crossed some residential houses not too far back.” He

  looked back over his shoulder at the others and shrugged. “Maybe we can

  ask them? The barkeep did mention rumors, and who better to keep track

  of those rumors than the people who live close by?”

  Professor Ridgeley nodded approvingly. “Good lad, that

  could work. Best we split up, cover more houses. Marcel and I will go to

  the houses on the left, and you guys can take the houses on the right.

  We meet back on the street in fifteen minutes.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Everybody agreed, and they went to work.

  Sebastian, Verrill, and young William hurried down the

  street and to the first house on the right. None of these houses were in

  a straight line along the street, instead they were more like the

  summer homes around the area where Sebastian’s family had a cabin in his

  childhood. There were winding access roads leading to plots of land

  with houses on them. Each house had a decently sized piece of land.

  They made their way down an access road and stepped up to

  the door to knock. A man opened, took one look at the trio, and offered

  a simple, “Fuck off!”, before he slammed the door in their face. They

  didn’t even have time to ask their question.

  “Well, that was rather rude,” Verrill said. “Let’s try the next one, shall we?”

  A few minutes later, they approached the next house. An elderly woman tended to a garden outside.

  “Excuse us,” Verrill said, putting on the calmest, most

  disarming tone of voice he could. “Sorry to bother, but we were

  wondering if we could ask you a quick question?”

  The lady stood up and rubbed her hands together to get

  rid of the worst of the dirt on them. “Oh, certainly. It’s not often I

  get visitors out here, especially not from a handsome gentleman like

  yourself.”

  Verrill was taken a little aback, but he remain focused

  on the matter at hand, though his cheeks reddened. He cleared his

  throat. “Uhm… Excellent, much appreciated. We are looking into the old

  lumber works, heard rumors of monkey monsters, called cebids, living

  around there. Have you seen or heard anything about that?”

  She grimaced. “Foul creatures! I had the misfortune of

  seeing one them on one of my walks a few weeks ago.” Her gaze glanced

  over to the sword on Sebastian’s waist. “If you’re here to rid us of

  those monsters, I’ll help any way I can. They are certainly around here,

  that much I know for certain after having seen one myself. Rumor has

  it, they have infested the storage barn up on the northern edge of the

  property.” Shaking her head, she continued, “Guards have been up there

  several times, turning the place upside down looking for them, though.

  Never found anything. I hope you have more luck!”

  Sebastian and Verrill shared an optimistic look before

  the old man turned back to the woman and said, “Much obliged, and best

  of luck with the garden.”

  Having learned what they needed, they returned back to

  the main road. Ridgeley and Marcel were already waiting for them. When

  they came closer, Professor Ridgeley said, “We should check out the

  storage barn.”

  “Yeah, we got the same information, the storage barn on the northern edge of the property,” Sebastian said.

  They hurried over, their footsteps crunching as they

  moved across the old, persistent layer of saw dust still on the ground.

  When they got close to the storage barn, they slowed down and hid behind

  a nearby building.

  “I don’t see anything,” Verrill whispered.

  “You wouldn’t, they have some Stealth Skill, remember?” Professor Ridgeley commented, keeping quiet as well.

  Sebastian closed his eyes and activated his [Mind’s Eye].

  Its range wasn’t particularly long, only about 15 meters, but it

  covered the distance to the storage barn. He could only see a corner of

  the inside of the building, but most of the path outside.

  They waited there for a while, trying not to attract any

  attention or scare any potential cebid away. After ten minutes or so,

  they began to lose confidence. They became antsy, worried about wasting

  time standing around waiting for something that would never happened.

  Then it did.

  A small, invisible monkey monster came into Sebastian’s

  range, moving toward the storage barn. He held up a hand to stop the

  others from making noise. Carefully, he watched the cebid as it came up

  to the barn door, and then it kept going past it.

  Worried he was about to lose it, Sebastian stealthily

  followed after, desperate not to get noticed or to scare it off.

  Luckily, the creature didn’t even register them, even as the group of

  five clumsily followed behind it at about a 10 meter distance.

  They followed it past the edge of the property and into

  the forest behind the lumber works. Sebastian had expected the area

  around the lumber works to have been deforested since they had

  apparently moved operations and opened up a new one elsewhere, but the

  forest was surprisingly lush.

  After about 15 minutes, they reached their destination.

  The monkey hobbled up to a large house on the hill, hidden in the forest.

  “That’s not exactly what I was

  expecting, but it does explain why the guards never found anything when

  they searched the lumber works. They only ever passed through, on their

  way here,” Sebastian said.

  “Sure,” Professor Ridgeley said, “but it doesn’t explain whose house this is.”

  Verrill shook his head. “It’s likely some foreman’s

  house, abandoned when they shut down the lumber works. These cebids must

  have moved in, and they started robbing the townspeople and visitors

  from the train. I don’t think it matters, truth be told.”

  “Agreed.” Sebastian nodded. “Regardless, our stuff is in there, let’s get it back.”

  They crept up to the side of the house. Once they reached the wall, they looked in through a window, hoping to see something.

  Surprisingly, the house didn’t look abandoned. Inside was a lounge, or a living room with clean furniture and a burning hearth.

  Sharing some uncertain looks, they moved to another

  window. They found the cebid, its Skill deactivated so it was visible to

  all of them. It was one of about a dozen strewn about the room. In the

  center sat a man, about thirty and clean shaven, who accepted a purse

  from the monkey. He said something, but no one could hear him, no one

  but Sebastian through his spiritual sense.

  “Well done, Arrio.” He opened the purse and perused its contents. “A good haul, you’ll eat well tonight.”

  Arrio, the cebid, jumped with excitement and went off to

  play with another monkey. The man stood up and walked over to a

  bookshelf by the far wall. He did… something, and the bookshelf glided

  over to the side, revealing another room. A walk-in-safe. Inside was

  Sebastian’s bag, and the others’ belongings along with a whole

  collection of other items. He threw the purse inside and closed it back

  up.

  Sebastian deactivated his [Mind’s Eye], having had it

  active for too long already, and he and the others moved down from the

  window.

  They huddled up to plan.

  “What do we do now?” asked Marcel.

  “We could get the guards, now that we know exactly where

  our things are and the truth behind the thieving cebids,” Professor

  Ridgeley said.

  Sebastian touched the handle of his sword. “We’re already here, might as well get out stuff back and call the guards afterward.”

  Verrill nodded. “I’m usually not a reckless man, but I fear the worst if we leave here without our items.”

  “Alright, so we burst in and force him to hand over our

  things?” Ridgeley said. “What if he’s higher leveled than we are? If

  he’s level 25, I wouldn’t be able to do a thing to him. Also, what about

  those cebids? We don’t know what level they are. Even if they are

  likely fairly low leveled, they could still be dangerous.”

  Sebastian looked over toward the door. “I’m level 24.

  Though I’m just guessing here but it feels rare to find someone

  approaching level 30, especially at a town like this. If he was that

  strong, why would he need these monkeys to steal for him?”

  “Agreed,” said Verrill. “He appears to be a [Tamer]. I

  haven’t dealt with many [Tamers] in my days, but they usually aren’t

  terribly dangerous. As far as I understand it, they either go for one

  quality monster to tame or a large quantity of weaker monsters, so the

  cebids likely aren’t very high leveled either.”

  “Alright, it’s decided. We go in, get our stuff back, and

  then we report him to the guards,” Sebastian said. “I’ll go first, you

  guys follow after.” His eyes turned to little William, but he didn’t say

  anything. He didn’t have to.

  Verrill had William stay outside, and Marcel would stay with him.

  They got ready, and they moved to the front door.

  Sebastian tried it, and it was unlocked. He looked back at Ridgeley and

  Verrill, who nodded, and then they went inside.

  Sebastian, Verrill, and Ridgeley sneaked

  through the foyer and into the room with the safe. The man was nowhere

  to be seen. Neither were there any cebids in there.

  Just as Sebastian was about to reactivate his [Mind’s Eye] to find them, a voice called out from the lounge behind them.

  “I didn’t expect to entertain guests today. Welcome.” The man sat on the couch, one leg over the other.

  Sebastian went first, sword in hand. “We came for our stuff. Your creatures stole things that are important to us.”

  “Give me back my watch, thief!” Verrill shouted.

  The man laughed. “How brave, coming all this way, without

  any guards. I’ll admit, I’m no fighter, but my cebids are more than

  capable of defending me.”

  “If you think those little monkeys could do what a nest

  of kobolds couldn’t, you’ve got another thing coming.” Sebastian gripped

  his sword hard, ready for any monster that might jump him.

  “Oh, I don’t need them to fight you in order for them to defend me.” He looked out, toward the front yard, and grinned.

  Marcel came rushing in, panicked. “Professor! Guys! The boy, William, they took him!”

  Everyone turned to look at the student.

  “What do you mean? Where is my grandson!?” Verrill shouted.

  “I don’t know… The monkeys… they— they came out of

  nowhere and pushed me out of the way. He just vanished. One second he

  was there, the next he was gone.”

  “What the hell did you do, you—“ Verrill turned back to the man, only to find an empty room.

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