"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"  Valeria was rudely woken up from her rest by some very disturbing words.

"Ahhh!  Shhh!!  I'm a private detective!  Of course I would know who you are and your background.  I have to, or else I wouldn't have a very good reputation now, would I?"  This shifty little intruder pleaded with his eyes, even though the trench coat and the cigarette did little to improve her representation of him.

Valeria leapt over to him and grabbed him by the collar.  "What's a private detective?  All you look like to me is a hentai pervert, why should I believe anything else?"

"I can tell all of your past, and I'm not just talking about your work with the Toran government.  You really want to know who killed those kids in Highland, huh?  Your village was burned down in the Grasslands, and when you moved north, the Great Forest was threatened, so you petitioned with the elves to help you, but they didn't believe you and jailed you, and their great elm got toasted anyways.  Your house almost got burned again, too.  You have a rival who wants to best you, Anita, and you both were raised under the same master.  You are one of the six generals from Toran, mediator betweeen the elves and kobolds and humans, sent here to find out who would do such a inhumane thing.  I know who really did it, as well." The trench coat was now smirking, now that Valeria's grip on him receded.

By now, Valeria went from suspicious to curious.  "You know so much about me, but what about you?  How come you know so much?"

"The name's Richmond, dame.  I knew who you were as soon as you stepped off that boat from Banner.  You were staring at your competition, and you didn't even realize!  I found that to be a riot.  You want to know who really did this?  It was a ploy issued by Ruka Blight-one of the royal family in Highland." Richmond looked completely serious now, which made Valeria even more uncomfortable than the fact that a complete stranger was talking chatting to her.

"How can I trust you, still?  You may know a lot, but you might lie about some or all of the facts used!"  Even though Richmond was a smart man, Valeria didn't know if he was a HONEST man.

"Do you trust one of your fellow comrade-in-arms?  You know, one of your fellow warmates?  Another one of the 108 Stars of Destiny?"  What's this guy planning to do?  Drag in McDohl or Lepant and make them tell her who dunnit?

"Yeah.  I guess I will.  I mean, who're you going to let me talk to?  I already saw Hix and Tengaar on my way in, but I don't think they know what I need to know."  Valeria was a lot more open with this "private detective" now.  It's not like she could have any secrets from him, by the looks of it, so she might as well come clean with whatever she knew.

"I know.  They were brought here by Shu.  He's the dicsiple of Mathiu, but was expelled because he was too arrogant for him.  He needed a deal done, and everybody came out happy in the long run.  That's usually how everything turns out when he's around.  No, I wasn't talking about Hix or Tengaar, but this guy actually ran from the Highland army itself!"

Now this wasn't making any sense.  "Who is this guy?  Where is he, and when can I meet him?"

He's probably the fastest elf alive, and one of the fastest on this continent.  He saw what happened to the kids, and he'll tell you what you need to know.  Those kids were from the Unicorn Youth Brigade.  That's so you know those kids had a name. . .before they were executed by the hundreds.  The witness will tell you that."

Valeria had a very good hunch who this person was now.  There was one elf who decided not to stick around for the rebuilding of the Great Elm, because "he had to become the fastest person in the world."  But why wasn't Richmond saying his name, then?  "You should know this elf's name.  Why don't you call him by his name, instead of a witness, or an elf?"

"Because," Richmond started, "He hasn't even reached Radat yet.  He's still running from those Highland soldiers.  He'll be here by tommorow morning, though I doubt you'll get a chance to talk to him because I think he'll be worn out.  You'll probably be able to talk to him that night.  He saw what happened, remember.  Highland has given up on him, but he won't stop 'till he reaches here.  I don't find out specific names, just details, unless I get paid to do so."

Suddenly Valeria was very attentive of his words, especially the word paid.  "Are you going to charge me?  How much?"

"Nothing for this little bit of information.  You can have this one for free, since I did come into your room uninvited.  Now that you know me, though, I'm sure you'll have more buisness jobs for me.  And you're loaded too, so don't worry about my prices.  I'll charge you only. . .20,000 potch for each commision.  And with my services, you could find out whatever you wanted.  Where Anita is, who was your master, where is your dad now. . ."  Richmond was grinning gleefully as gloated about how many secrets he could offer to indulge to Valeria.

Valeria just smiled back.  "Then I guess you'll just run out of food, won't you?  You knew how much I had in my wallet, and also knew I was going to haggle the price down.  I will only pay you 20,000 potch if you'll be my slave for the rest of my life.  Otherwise, I'll pay you. . .10% of what you were charging, 2000 potch per case you do for me.  I know that somehow you have all the answers, in any case, that is my final offer.  And if you'll now excuse me, I must get ready.  Can't be going with too much fatigue, it gets on my combat nerves."  She ushered and pushed Richmond out, against his
surprised mutters and grunts.  "Yes, yes, whatever, I'll talk to you later.  And if you come into my room again uninvited, I'll torture you. . .excruciatingly."

At this statement, Richmond blanched, and just said, "Good night."  Then he recovered his balance, flipped his coin, and walked down the darkened stairs of the inn.

Hours passed.

Valeria soon rose again to the streaming light of the sun that was flowing through her window.  She stretched, and explored the gist of the town and the surrounding area.  She came to see Richmond standing outside the appraisal shop, flipping that darn coin.  "It's like his habit or something.   He's so easy to pick out of a crowd!  With that trenchcoat and coin, why didn't I see him sooner?"

She decided to see if he could get some more knowledge.  "Hey, Richmond!  Got anything to tell me outside of my room?" She knew she shouldn't be doing that, since he knew so much about her, but she still felt a little pissed about unauthorized intrusion.

"There's now a person in Muse petitioning for some help from the City-State.   He's a pretty good warrior, and apparently beat up the leader of the Mathilda Knights.  Be careful, I don't think you want to go against him.  He could prove to be a valuable ally for your cause, though.  He feels the same as you, about murdering children, although he has different motives.  He's seen the kid's deaths, so if you'll tell him that, you stand a good chance of getting on his good side.  He won't be able to talk to Anabelle, so maybe you could talk to him.  You can reach Muse by heading through Toto, which is west of Tenzan pass.  That's where the Unicorn Youth Brigade was stationed before they were killed."  Richmond was smiling the whole time through.

Valeria, though, was starting to feel her blood rise.  "How can you say this without any feelings, no remorse.  Kids have died, and you're not doing anything to help!  How can you just sit here giving people information, smiling all the while?"

"I'm telling you what you need to know.  You'll go up there, right?  I can't consider sending you up there doing nothing.  Information is power.  And right now, I'm probably one of the strongest persons when it comes to information.  It is much better to be discreet for my line of work, so I let other people know who will do any job well.  I still need to keep my identity secret, like yours.  It works out much easier.  Besides, this is probably the last time you'll drop by here for a while."  Smile.  Why did he always smile like that?

"Why is that?  You expecting that I won't come back here alive?"

"There's no reason to.  You can get Stallion to take you directly to Muse.  You might be able to talk to Anabelle.  She probably won't listen to you, however, after that incident in Matilda.  It'd probably be better for you to go in unrecognized.  And as well, your rival awaits you there.  Don't forget that you do have a person you can rely on in there.  He'll be dressed in a Samurai garb, and he'll also try to talk with Anabelle.  He'll be easy for you to pick out."

Ouch!  He knew where Anita was.  So now she was forced to go directly to Muse, for two reasons:  She needed reliable back-up, and this person sound pretty sturdy.  She also wanted a piece of Anita.  She hated how he could be so smug AND right all the time!  It was like he had all the answers!  It was so...Infuriating!  "Alright.  I guess I'll have to go to Muse.  And with Stallion, it'll be a short trip."

Richmond just stood there, palm outstretched.  What did he want?  Oh, yeah.  Meekly, Valeria counted out 2000 potch from him, and gave it to him.  Her only regret was that he couldn't get more information at the same price.  Richmond turned about, flipped his coin, and walked off.

Valeria muttered under her breath, then exited Radat to see the other towns in the distance.  She couldn't go far, of course, because if she did, then she would miss Stallion's entrance, and then it would take her forever to go to the site of the massacre.  "Kids.  Why kids?  And why burn it down?  It's all just a big waste."  To the distance, she saw two approaching figures, but they were too far off to see details.  They were men, by the looks of it, but that was all she could tell.  She headed back into her room at Radat to wait for nightfall.

Night came soon afterward.  She left her room quietly, to avoid disturbing the other patrons, and waited patiently outside the inn.

Sure as a black night, there was a panting elf with blue hair.  By the looks of it, he was in good enough condition, but was still hesitant of something.

"Stallion!  Don't run, it's Valeria!"  She called to him.

"Wha?  What's that?  Ohmygosh!  Hey?!?  What are you doing here?  Didn't I leave Toran years ago?  What are you doing here?  Don't tell me I made a wrong turn and have just been running in circles!  Where-"

"Don't worry about it!  Give me a chance to explain."  And it was in the midst of night, centre of Radat, that Stallion was brought up to speed about Valeria's purpose for being here and the important events that occured in between.

"So, now that I've brought you up to speed, in information's terms, could you tell me what were you running from?"  Valeria bore right down to details, because time was beginning to shorten.

"I was running from Highland.  I was coming from the north, from Harmonia, and I passed through L'Renioulle, the capital, and I heard from some guards they were going to regain all of Highland's lost glory, or something like that.  They said it was already starting in the south, so I ran down there,
and there was inconcievalbe carnage, until now!  Valeria, they were kids.  They died of fear, not from the enemy.  Fear of betrayal.  A few moments later, there were some Highland guards, who chased me without asking any questions, and did their very best to kill me, let me tell you.  They were working with people who looked like Muse soldiers, but their accents all sounded Highland-ish.  But now I'm here, so I should be safe for a while, right?"  Stallion blurted everything out in a rush.

Valeria was just trying to listen to his story.  This basically confirmed what Richmond had said, but she had to make sure.  "Stallion, I need your help.  Your mastery of the True Holy Rune could help cut my travel time by a lot, and I need to see this.  There might not be much left, but I need to
witness this.  I'll escort you there, so could you please accompany me back?   I know you just ran from there, but you don't have to run from those soldiers.  Between your arrows and speed, and my sword, we can take everyone who stands in our way down!  I need your help."

Stallion looked at her for a moment.  ". . .I know that this is foolish.  You're not going to like what you see.  But you are one of the Six Generals of Toran, and the mediator between the elves and humans, so I guess I'll help you.  We'll leave immediatly.  They won't expect to see me so soon
again, and if they do spot us, it'll be the last thing they see.  Let's go!"

Stallion used his rune, and they were both off.  Everything was flashing by at unbelieveable speeds, and the only one she could really see clearly was Stallion.  Everything else was just a blur of shapes and whizzing colours.  It seemed like minutes, and then, abruptly, they were there.

"How did you get me here so fast!  It took you days to get to Radat, but it only took a couple of minutes to stop!  Why is that?"  Valeria was suspecting, that this wasn't the real place.

"No!  This is Tenzan pass, where the "Ambush"  killed hundreds of children.  It's just that the Highland soldiers wounded me when coming down, and I couldn't run as fast as I usually could.  Now that I feel a little better, I can use this rune slightly more effectively.  Now look.  Most of it's been blown away, but...." And Valeria lost the rest of Stallion's words.

For now she had come to see why this place was called a massacre.  The rancid odors of putrid flesh stung her nose, as she walked around.  The forest was blackened by the fire, and eveywhere she stepped she seemed to be stepping on ashes.  Occasionally she would see a body that was blackened, with it's head or another extremity missing.  The raucous smell of blood tinged her mouth with the flavour of copper and iron.  It sounded like a cold desert, with the only sound her crunching of the dirt and death beneath her foot, echoing around the children's graveyard.

Valeria wanted to throw up at this scene of carnage.  The only thing that saved her was her desensitization.  Even with her experiences of war, death, and violence, however, she managed to retch a couple of times before she regained her sense of composure and balance.

"You say you saw who did this?" Valeria's tone was quiet, strained to hear, but all those who heard felt rage in her tone.  None but Stallion could hear her, and he was greatly relieved to still be her ally after this scene of destruction.

"I saw most of the aftermath.  Guys in brown and green, Muse soldiers, scattering the bodies and broken bones around.  There were some guys in blue, Highland's people, and they were doing the same thing.  There were also some guys dressing up.  They were taking off their blue uniforms and getting into those green and browns.  I think they wanted all of the people to believe that the City-State killed mere children, so the people of Highland would get angry and declare war on their neighbours.  It sure explains why they chased me out.  Why else would Highland soldiers dress up like their enemies?"

Why, indeed!  Stallion's words were barely reaching her brain, her thoughts.   She could only think of one thing to do, through the red she was envisioning when the night of the attack took place.  "You will accompany me to Muse.  I was told by a associate that  would have buisness there.  You may leave, afterwards, since you have done so much more for me, getting me here so fast.  I will explore Muse alone, and I need to keep my identity hidden.  Do not worry about me.  Instead, pray for those who have burned here."

Stallion said nothing to her.

She could already feel the bloodlust aching in her to be released.  She would be ready for anything that opposed her now, in her search to find this monster.  This villian will pay.  Severely.

Return to Valeria's chapters Return to the chapter archive Return to the Suikoden 2 RPG main page
"Valeria" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami. This chapter was posted on December 10, 1999