A Journey through Kingdoms

CHAPTER 11- THE LOST GOOSE

"Ugh, I really have to think about the things I say sometimes," Tetsuga says as he walks the streets of the Veridian kingdom. Although he has a bit of an irritated vibe to him as he has yet put himself in another situation,. It had been 3 days since the bandit incident over at the quaint village that he and Derrick were in. After an escapade like that, there was only one thing the man could think of doing:. which was to spend the rest of his time at the tavern to drink. And drink he did, as he did so two days in a row but a particular conversation transpired while he was heavily under the influence. "God, man, I really can't believe I lost him. This is so bad!" One of the patrons exclaimed as he worried about losing someone. This worrying, however, did not go unheard as the mighty ears of a drunken Tetsuga picked it up, which prompts him to approach the lad In question.

"Whoa there, my man! What seems to be the problem with you?" Tetsuga drunkenly slings his arm around them in an attempt to be friendly. "Mr. Katsugoyo, gosh, I really don't want to bother you with it. It's simply my fault," he says, trying to be polite. But Tetsuga didn't really budge from it, as he kept on prodding. "Ah! Nonsense! You know, I defeated a whole bandit group all by myself!" The drunken Tetsuga starts to brag as he hiccups from all the booze he drank. "Didn't you say that the Derrick kid was with you as well?" However, he gets corrected by the bartender as he speaks up from behind the counter while he polishes a glass mug. "How would you know, eh? Bartender man?" Tetsuga inquires. "Because it's the only thing you can talk about now." The bartender bites back as he makes Tetsuga back off of him.

"Well, regardless! I doubt I can't handle his story seeing as I did so much with the bandit thing!" Tetsuga points out before taking a seat across from the lad. "So tell me thy woes, bro! What has you troubled?" Tetsuga pops the question as he sips on his boozy drink. "Awfully kind of you... well, it's just... I kind of lost a duck I was taking care of, and now I don't know where he went," he explains as he lowers his head onto the table in sorrow. "I really don't know what to do without him! He's been there for me since the beginning!" He says, remembering the times he had with his pet duck. But while he did so, Tetsuga burst out into a chuckle as he commented on it. "Hahaha! That it? Well, if that's the case, I can just find him for you! Lickidy split, I'd go so far as to say!" Tetsuga says with a big grin, which inspires a bit of hope in the lad.

"Really!? You would!?" The lad couldn't believe it. "Sure, I'm sure! How hard could it be?" Tetsuga says with the utmost confidence. "Yeah right." Now we bring ourselves back to the present as Tetsuga looks over at a sheet of paper in his hands, which was information written by the lad, who agreed to help. "Well, at least I'm getting paid for it," he says as he looks back up to see the townsfolk walk by him as they go about their day-to-day lives. "Now how am I going to find a freaking duck in a big ass place like this?" he says as he questions himself as to where he should start looking first. Though someone seemed to have already had the answer as they responded to him,. "If you're looking for a butcher, it should be north-east from here!"

"Aah!!" That, however, startled him as he jumped away, only to see Derrick standing there with an innocent look on his face. "Geez! Could you not sneak up on me!?" Tetsuga complains as he regains his composure. "Ha! Ha! Sorry, sorry. I tend to do that sometimes," Derrick admits as he rubs the back of his head. "So, are you looking to eat duck, Mr. Tetsuga?" Derrick asks since all he heard from Tetsuga's rhetorical question was something about a duck. "Duck does sound good... but no. I kind of accidentally agreed to a thing, and now I need to find a duck named Gerald. Speaking of, have you seen any running about?" Tetsuga explains before taking his chance to ask Derrick about it to know if he had seen anything like it. "Hmmm... nope! I haven't!" Derrick exclaims as Tetsuga sighs.

"Whelp, there goes that shot," he says with an unamused tone as he pockets the paper back into his satchel. "Though, if you would like, I could help with this!" Derrick proposes as he flashes Tetsuga a smile. "I don't know... this quest is kind of dangerous and complicated," Tetsuga says with sarcastic intent, which flies way over Derricks' head as the boy tilts his head in confusion. "I hardly believe finding a duck would be dangerous. Though I have yet to be corrected!" He says, completely losing the point of Tetsuga's bit as he looks at him with a disappointed expression. "Fine, you can help. Just help me figure out where to start first." He gives up the bit and just accepts Derrick's offer as the boy jumps in Glee. "Ha! Ha! Mr. Tetsuga and Derrick Barnes are on the case!" The boy exclaims.

"So, Derrick, the alchemist, how do we find a duck in a crowded city?" Tetsuga asks as Derrick immediately starts thinking. "Well, the best course of action is to ask as many people as we can!" Derrick exclaims, much to Tetsuga's chagrin as he groans a bit at the idea. "I hoped it didn't have to come to that," he says as he prepares himself to ask the same thing over and over again for who knows how long. "Then let's meet back here once we get our needed information!" Derrick says as the two split off to ask people about a duck roaming around the streets. Minutes turned to hours, and the hours turned to a while as both came back somewhat the same from before, as Tetsuga was a lot more exhausted than he was previously, and Derrick... still the same as he was.

"You got anything at your end?" Tetsuga asks first as they begin the sharing. "Well, a little. Most of the people I tried talking to either ignored me or ran away. Odd," Derrick announces, which surprises Tetsuga. "You... okay, alright. Leaving it at that then," he pauses but decides not to pry since he is already tired of asking questions. "How about you, Mr. Tetsuga?" Derrick now asks him as Tetsuga just lets out a sigh. "Nothing too definite. A lot of vague directions, though they do share a common area," Tetsuga recounts as he explains it to the boy. "That's good! Now we have a lead!" Derrick exclaims in excitement as they finally have a lead to go off of. "Then lead us to it, Mr. Tetsuga! Our duck will surely be there!" Derrick says as he urges Tetsuga to lead them to the common area according to their gatherings. Seeing as he had no other plans, he shrugged and walked with him to the location.

After walking a fair bit, they gradually reached the area where most of the people Tetsuga asked saw the duck. "This is it, I think," he says, a little unsure as the sight before them was not what one would expect since before them lay an abandoned-looking house almost as big as a mansion. Complete with cobwebs and vines crawling all over. "ah, the house of Solomon! Personally, I don't really believe in the supernatural but I'm glad they haven't taken it down yet," Derrick says as he drops a little tidbit fact about the place and himself like he always did, but one thing struck a chord in Tetsuga as it piqued his interest, one might say. "Supernatural?" Tetsuga repeats as Derrick looks at him questioningly. "You haven't heard of it? Well, Solomon was this old grumpy guy who lived here. Pretty well known back in his day but later passed on by a heart attack!" Derrick explains but does so like it's a fun fact.

"That's morbid," Tetsuga comments, to which Derrick agrees. "It was. But now, people say that due to Solomon's grumpy old attitude, his spirit now resides within the home! Like an apparition. Or a poltergeist in specific terminology," Derrick exclaims. But looking over at Tetsuga, he notices him looking at the house with a blank stare. "Mr. Tetsuga? Are you alright?" Derrick tries asking as he pokes him on the arm. "Are you saying there's a ghost in there?" He says with a subtle shake in his voice. "Personally, I don't believe so but I'm open to speculation!" Derrick tells him as Tetsuga just slowly looks back on the house with a slight hint of dread. "Anyways, let's go in! The duck awaits us!" And without any warning, Derrick barges right through into the building, leaving Tetsuga behind. "Wha-kid, wait up! You can't be barging in like that! What if the gho-I mean, what if you hurt yourself-now that would be bad." Tetsuga says but shortly corrects himself as he tries to play it low-key while following the boy in.