Chapter 496 Tragic Lovers, Part 1

"What Crest? I never got anything like that." Lee Seng checked his pockets and person for a Crest but found nothing. The large woman glared at him as she scanned him. It didn't take long for her to point it out.

"Your necklace. Give it to me." The large woman motioned. Lee Seng pulled his necklace off and handed it to her. She looked at it for a while, slowly studying it when she suddenly stopped. Her eyes grew wide. "Y-y-y-your… Your master really is… Lord Cain!" She shouted so loud, people began to turn to look at him. "How is this possible? Lord C-Cain would never t-t-take a C-Collector!" The large woman's entire body shook as she continued to deny the truth.

Ping!

Lee Seng raised his watch up, looking at it. It was a message.

"I hope you're not having a hard time. I'll let them know now." Cain wrote. Lee Seng slipped his hand back into the leather jacket. He watched the large woman continuously shake her head as she held the necklace. The necklace started to glow, catching Lee Seng and her attention.

"I figured something like this would happen." Cain sighed. A holographic form of him appeared from the necklace. It was a miniature version of him. "Dolores, please let my Debt Collector through. We don't have much time to waste. I need him to do his job."

"L-L-L-Lord Cain!" Dolores stuttered. "F-f-f-forgive me! I thought it was merely a joke, again! I-I'll do it at once!" The image of Cain disappeared and the large woman slid the necklace back, grabbing a pen and scribbling the rest of the information down. Once she was done writing down his Lord, she slipped the paper down underneath the counter.

Ping!

He lifted his watch and looked at the new message.

[You've been registered as a Debt Collector. Your current job: Lovers]

"Y-you're all set to go…" Dolores whispered. She wanted to hide her embarrassment and try to embarrass him but his ears had caught everything.

"Alright." Lee Seng nodded, looking up. "Anything else I need to know?"

"The coordinates are on there. Follow them and you'll get to the Spirit. Gather information and…" Delores bit her lips as she turned away muttering "why she had to be the one embarrassed."

"And?" Lee Seng pushed for more information. Delores turned back, letting out a sigh.

"And travel to Earth. Do you know how to travel?" Delores asked. She folded her large arms together. Her eyes had regained the spark like she was going to put a newbie in his place when he didn't know how to travel to Earth.

"If it's like Realmwalking, I can do it." Lee Seng answered. He watched her eyes and smirk disappear. "Thanks for your help." He waved at her before turning.

***

Lee Seng glanced at his watch. He was nearing the spot the GPS had told him to go to. He was in some weird desolate forest city. He had donned the Fox Mask when he stepped out of the building and most things kept a safe distance. The watch beeped, telling him he was where he needed to be. He looked around and didn't catch anything with his eyes.

"Are you here because of my request?" A male voice asked. Lee Seng turned, revealing the Fox Mask. The spirit was slightly taller than him. His eyes looked like he hadn't slept in days. He wore a dirty white button up t shirt and black slacks. He wore torn business shoes and parts of his outfit were gone.

"You want to contact your lover?" Lee Seng asked.

"Y-yes." The man replied. He seemed shocked by the Fox mask. "I, uh, don't want her to be sad. She, uh, was waiting for me to come home and I never did… My body was never found in the city. Could you find it and bring it to her?"

"Where do you live?"

"Room 1024 at the Plaza Apartments. If you could bring my body to her, I would be grateful." The man told him. Lee Seng scribbled the information down.

'Bringing a dead body to her would scare her more than comfort her. It would give the wrong impression to everyone else… I'll have to drag the police to his body so she can see it and find some comfort…' Lee Seng thought.

"On my body." The man grabbed Lee Seng's hand. "I have a necklace. I was going to give it to her for our anniversary but…" His eyes drooped down. Lee Seng nodded.

"I do this for you and you can rest?" Lee Seng asked. The man nodded, wiping away tears. "Alright, I'll do my best. I need to ask you one more question. Where's your body?" The man's form flickered. It flickered about. Growls grew loud and Lee Seng realized what he had done.

'Note to self: Asking the dead where they died isn't the best thing to do.'

"I know it brings a lot of bad memories, but this is for your wife." Lee Seng told him. His form still shook but there was some fight in his eyes. The man desperately fought against the pain. He began to move quickly, not even checking to see if Lee Seng was following. Lee Seng followed the spirit with ease, navigating through the forest city until he eventually left it and entered a forest. They went for a while until the sporadic spirit stopped.

"Here?" Lee Seng asked. The man simply pointed. Lee Seng nodded and looked around. It was just forest and he wasn't really familiar with it. "One last question." He spun around. The spirit had disappeared. Lee Seng let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head. His watch chimed as he swiped it.

"Hello?" Cain spoke.

"Hello? Cain?" Lee Seng raised the watch up.

"How is the investigation going?"

"I know where the spirit's body is. I just need to get it to the place his lover is." Lee Seng reported. "I just have no idea where I am. This place blends with all sorts of different places."

"You have a feature on your watch that will tell you that. It'll also point out where the place you need to go is if you have the information."

"Ah." Lee Seng nodded.

"Settling the spirit's last wishes is part of your job. The way you handle it is up to you. I would refrain from asking where the dead died. Some of them are…"

"Sensitive."

"So you know." Cain chuckled. "Are you going to Earth?"

"Yeah. Can I Realmwalk in this state?" Lee Seng asked.

"For us it's Realmwalking. For the other Debt Collectors, it's… More complicated. Do what you need to do and come back after you're done. If you're gone for a certain amount of time, I'll be notified and have someone look for you."

"I won't run away." Lee Seng smirked. "I'll do my job and get out as soon as possible." There was a moment of silence as Lee Seng looked around.

"Alright. Good luck, Lee Seng. And remember, you don't come back after your watch registers you've done the quest, I'll come looking." Cain reminded him.

"Yes, m'lord." Lee Seng nodded. The watch hung up, leaving Lee Seng to himself. He lifted himself up into the sky. "Any landmarks?" He looked around for a while until he noticed the forest city as a tiny speck in one direction. He sighed, floating back down to the ground. "Let's hope I get teleported here. I walk among the kingdom of the dead. I wish to walk among the land of the living." The energy swirled and fractaled all around him. The next thing he knew, he was standing near a broken and overgrown road.

'Crap, I forgot it pulls me to the nearest gate.' Lee Seng thought. He poked onto the road and looked both ways. 'I don't know this road.' His eyes went to the sky. If he was near a city, it would've had large buildings clumped together, right? When he didn't see anything of that sort, he started to lift himself up into the air.

He rose above the forest and found the forest city much, much, much closer to him. The gate had pulled him really close to it. He spun around trying to figure out where he needed to go. He eventually let out a sigh of frustration, landing on the ground.

"Was there anything I passed while following the guy to his body?" Lee Seng whispered to himself.

"This way! I saw someone over here!" A voice shouted.

"What's someone doing all the way over here?" Another voice asked.

"What if they're here for our loot?" A third voice asked. Lee Seng pulled himself into the shadows, watching himself disappear. He didn't think he could be seen by people. A small group stepped into the road, guns pointing around as they scanned.

"I swore I saw a guy over here. He was flying in the air. You couldn't see it?" Guy 1 asked the group.

"Dude, I think you're just seeing things, again." A new voice spoke up. Guy 4 motioned around them. "There's nothing here. If there was anyone here, they would know not to stick out above the forest. There's things that would take advantage of that."

"Let's just go back to the base." Guy 2 patted Guy 1's shoulder. "We got another haul to do tonight."

"Let's prepare ourselves for that, 'kay?" Guy 3 nodded.