A mage is an individual who studies and practices the art of magic. During their stay at the magic academy, they are taught the basics through the four elemental magic: wind, water, fire, earth. Most graduates would become magic researchers or magic engineers and use their knowledge in magic for the betterment of the masses, some who have the luxury become scholars, and very few would become combat mages. Those who become combat mages are only those who have a sense of justice as the pay for becoming one isn’t worth the risk; whether they join the military or become an adventurer. 

The investigator mage used to be a scholar. After graduating from the magic academy, he spent most of his time and fortune researching and developing magic for his own improvement, as most scholars do. Sure enough, his effort paid off as he was able to create his own magic; Chrono magic. A magic that revolves around time, a rather complicated magic that only he can use.

Within this Chrono magicka is a kind of spell that helps him investigate a specific location. The Time dislocation is a spell that can only be used inside a barrier, and any movement done in the past inside that barrier can be reviewed in real time; like watching the events playback. The only limitation to this is that it can only show the movement of the objects present both in the present and in the past, meaning the people he’s searching for will not be shown in this Time dislocation spell but the things they moved directly or indirectly will be shown.

With the help of this spell, he was able to determine that the missing party never got passed by the chamber he was investigating. It was a mid-sized room with old bookshelves, tables, chairs, and a fireplace. Most of the objects like old books and utensils have been moved almost simultaneously indicating that there have been people searching in that area. But the movement suddenly stopped and there are no traces of them leaving the room which gave him three possible conclusions:

First would be that the party activated some kind of a space warping trap that sent them somewhere deep inside the dungeon.

Second would be that the party just decided to retreat. After deeming the dungeon to be difficult to finish with a party comprised mostly of low ranked new adventurers, they decided to withdraw from the quest but something bad happened to them as they returned.

Third would be that they were taken by someone to a different place, and are either being held captive or have been sold to slavery.

The investigator mage pinches the bridge between his nose trying to analyze his findings as he continues to remain seated in front of a pile of documents next to his breakfast at the adventurer guild’s canteen. Though the canteen was crowded and he’s sitting in a set of chairs and table meant for four people, people seem to avoid him as he’s letting out a heavy atmosphere due to pressure. All of a sudden, the sound of a metal plate with food in it coming in contact with the wooden table emanated in front of him and without even looking, he could tell that someone just sat in front of him.

“Can you please go sit somewhere else?” The investigator mage requested with an irritated tone.

“Where?” A familiar voice said with a confused tone.

The investigator mage looked at him with an annoyed look on his face.

“Oh it’s you.” He said while looking at the farmer who’s already seated and was eating his breakfast.

“So how’s the investigation so far?” The farmer inquired.

“Smoothly thanks to the young miss with you.” The investigator mage replied, emphasizing how the young cleric’s light miracle spell was so useful that it sped up his investigation on the underground ruins.

“Where is she anyway?” He added.

“Most likely sleeping. After being used as a light source by you for hours yesterday then hiking back to the inn on foot, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’s all exhausted.” The farmer explained.

“Hey! Don’t make it seem like I’m the bad guy!” The investigator mage argued back. As soon as he takes a good look at the farmer, he notices something missing.

“Where’s your stick anyway?” He asked as he was reminded of how the stick was able to dispel his lightning magic.

“Huh? Oh, you mean this?” The farmer pulls out the sacred cudgel, now the size of a baton, and puts it on the table.

“What? Are you kidding me?!” The investigator mage was a bit skeptical. Though it looked the same, as if it was shortened, it was far from the staff that he saw yesterday at the dungeon.

“Well, It gets in the way if it’s that long so I made it shorter.” The farmer replied.

“What?! What is this thing anyway?” The investigator mage looked flabbergasted at the farmer’s reply.

“The young miss told me it’s the Sacred Cudgel, or whatever.” The farmer replied looking uninterested while continuing to eat his breakfast.

“I see… no wonder it could dispel my magic.” The investigator mage said, looking relieved. In his mind, if it was a sacred relic then it couldn’t be helped as some are indeed overpowered, the sacred cudgel being one of them.

“May I take a look at it?” He curiously asked with the farmer just nodding. The investigator mage touched it, trying to analyze its existence to no avail. Even with his vast knowledge about magic and the old runic magic, it was just too much for him. He then tried to lift it but it was too heavy, as if it didn't want to be wielded by someone other than it’s master. 

“It’s heavy.” He uttered. The farmer, seeing this, takes the cudgel then lifts it with his three fingers.

“Okay, now either you’re really strong or that it can only be used by it’s master.” The investigator mage said before the farmer put the cudgel back in his pocket.

“Do you even know how powerful the Sacred Cudgel is?” He asked. The farmer paused for a bit, thinking about his experiences with the cudgel so far, before answering.

“Well, I know that it can extend or shorten depending on how much I want to, I know it’s incredibly durable no matter how much stress you put on it, and from the events from yesterday, it can dispel magics.” The farmer answered truthfully.

“I see… That’s part of its power I guess.” The investigator mage replied with a serious look on his face.

“What do you mean?” The farmer curiously asked.

“There are old records about the Sacred Cudgel that dates way back during the first and in one of those records depicts the first hero to subjugate the demon king of that time using the Cudgel, but it was used not as a staff but a big weight to seal the demon king’s movements. Another depicts the staff being used to cut the river in half… and another to stop a giant rock, the size of the kingdom’s continent, from crashing towards the world from the sky.” The investigator mage narrated.

“And there are many more stories from the previous era that depict the cudgel having different powers depending on it’s master…”

“This has drawn me to the  conclusion that the Sacred Cudgel’s power is dependent to it’s master’s power.” The investigator mage explained.

The farmer paused for a moment before resuming to finish his breakfast.

“Well, I only learned it’s name when the young miss told me about it a few days ago.”

“I see, that’s understandable…” The investigator mage replied.

“Where did you find it anyway?” He continued.

“From a monster trying to invade my farm.” The farmer replied with a stone cold face. The investigator mage could feel the animosity behind those words.

“That must be one hell of a farm for a monster of that caliber to try to invade it, and for you to risk your life for it…” The investigator mage remarked.

“Well, not really…” The farmer muttered.

“What?” The investigator mage asked, not hearing what the farmer said clearly.

“So what are you planning to do today?” The farmer awkwardly changes the topic to stir away from his farm. The investigator mage turned his gaze towards the farmer before handing him the documents he was reading.

“What are these?” The farmer confusingly asked.

“Those are the information on the people I’m looking for.” The investigator mage said in a quiet voice.

“Is it really okay for me to see these? Aren’t these confidential information?” The farmer remarked.

“Well, they’re most likely dead anyway.” The investigator mage replied.

“So, what do you think?” The mage asked as the farmer looked through the files.

“Well, they have a scout, warrior, cleric, and a spellcaster. Their party is pretty balanced…” The farmer remarked as he continued to read through the files.

“Wait, the spellcaster is the only veteran? The three were just beginners?” He looked surprised.

“What was their quest again?” He asked as he turned his gaze towards the investigator mage.

“Hold on…” The mage replied as he started to browse through the documents, looking for what the farmer was asking for.

“Here… A supposedly simple dungeon exploration.” The mage said as he handed the file to the farmer.

“Simple?” The farmer looked bewildered at the mage’s definition of the quest as the party turned up missing.

“Well, it should be simple as that underground ruin was just recently discovered and they’re the advance party sent to check the difficulty of the dungeon.” The mage explained.

“Shouldn’t that be done by the guild itself?” The farmer asked.

“That’s not how the guild ranks the dungeons.” The mage replied.

“When a dungeon is discovered, obviously it’d be a rankless dungeon so they’ll post a dungeon exploration quest on it with little to no penalties upon failure. Beginner adventurers usually take these kinds of quests to get some experience with dungeon exploration, of course they would need at least one experienced adventurer in the party for them to be permitted to take the quest…” 

“Should they be able to conquer it then they are entitled to the treasures inside the said dungeon plus the rewards for the quest, they would just need to make a detailed report on it with the treasures they found.”

“Should they find the dungeon overwhelming, they can just retreat and make a detailed report to the guild on the traps and monsters they found and they’ll receive the reward for the quest. Based on that report, the guild will then assign a difficulty to that dungeon.” The investigator mage explained before taking a pause. The expression on his face suddenly changed to a more serious one.

“Here’s the thing… normally, they would just automatically assign a ranking on the dungeon should the party taking the dungeon exploration quest doesn’t come back after a set amount of time. They would just assume that the party members died inside the dungeon and give a ranking based on the average rank of the adventurers who partake in the quest…”

“But they requested my assistance… and by they, I mean the guildmaster.” The investigator mage paused, taking a few more documents on the pile in front of him.

“And here’s what I think is why…” The mage handed the files he collected to the farmer. The farmer looks at them carefully, trying to see what he meant.

“I don’t follow… What are these anyway?” The farmer replied as he continued to look through them.

“Those are records of quests that have been deemed completed and failed…” The investigator mage replied.

“If you check at the adventurers who took those quests, you’ll find that almost everyone was either reported dead or missing… with exception to one.” He continued.

“The veteran spellcaster?” The farmer looked at the investigator mage for confirmation.

“Ever since I took on the request, I kept wondering why would they request for me… and this morning while going through those files, I realized that the guildmaster is already suspecting that spellcaster…”

“But since he’s still missing in action, the guildmaster couldn’t question him so he’s requesting me to track him down under the guise of investigating their disappearance.” The investigator mage narrated.

“Wait, but why wouldn’t he just ask the military for this?”

“Because it would look bad for the guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild to suspect one of his own… So he’s leaking information to me indiscreetly.”

“Wait, is it really okay for you to be telling me all of this? I mean, I’m not affiliated with the guild.” The farmer looked confused, a bit nervous that he might get in trouble.

“First of all, if you guys are gonna help me with this case, I need at least one of you to be informed of what’s happening regarding this quest…”

“Second, it is because you’re not affiliated with the guild that I can tell you this, at least I know that you wouldn’t be biased.”

“And lastly, unlike the young miss, I can tell that you don’t have a strong sense of justice.”

The investigator mage explained.

“Okay I’m not gonna dispute the first two, but what do you mean by me not having a strong sense of justice? I mean, I am part of the party tasked with subjugating the Demon king right?” The farmer replied. Though he may seem frustrated, he is curious as to how the investigator mage judged him.

“It’s not surprising for the young ones to have a strong sense of justice as most of them are still innocent from the harsh reality, the older one becomes the more cynical they become. This is why most that become heroes were recognized when they were still young.” The investigator mage explained.

“See, the older one gets the more they adapt to the crisis. For example, the Demon king had already been there since we were young and up until now, even to this day, we have yet to experience directly the threat of the Demon king. Hence, we lost the sense of justice we had as a kid.” The investigator mage continued as the farmer tried to reflect on it.

“I see, that makes sense.” The farmer uttered, realizing how different his views on the world were when he was still a kid than now when he’s an adult.

“So, what are we gonna do now?” He asked as he looked at the investigator mage sorting out the files in front of him.

“Track him down, obviously.” The investigator mage confidently replied, as he already had a plan in mind.