~Part 2-2~     After reviving Lina from shock, they ventured forth into the town and learned that, to no one's surprise, the great, mysterious treasure of Lina's imagination had already been found and used to bring about the town's beginnings. Apparently, a retired knight had also heard of the treasure, some four decades before Lina had and had taken it upon himself to find it. And he did, only to pass away of old age just after he had hired a contractor to build a city and appointed a mayor. It took a long time for it to sink in (in Lina's case, at least) and even longer to convince her to actually go into the offending town. The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing the market place, after a short and violent struggle of dragging the hesitating, black sorceress into the down town area.
    Kagemi came across an intriguing pair of jade hair clips, but she realized she couldn't afford such luxuries at the moment... sighing at that, she saw some nice daggers, some interesting weapons that seemed original in their designs and lots of wardrobe components for sale. Other than that, nothing else interested her. Amelia and Naga were accompanying Lina while Gourry went to nap in a haystack or something and Filia wandered about, looking at antiques and various samples of the town's selective pottery. Zelgadiss disappeared, as he usually did, without notice and didn't return until everyone had met at the pre-arranged destination- the square fountain.
    Lina sported some cash she received from selling some loose bits of the last thief-den she had visited. Naga flashed a new, pink handkerchief and a new tiara. Amelia was busily munching on a yummy-looking pastry and Gourry wandered in late, yawning. Zelgadiss was already waiting for them when everyone else arrived and Filia looked more than happy she had found some interesting specimens for her memory to store.
    There was a brief uproar of talking down the street as a crowd accumulated around a street vendor, "Help! I've been robbed!"
    Kagemi instantly, perhaps an automatic reaction, jumped at the opportunity. Arriving at the shop after some pushes and shoves, she recognized the shop she was looking at before, with the jewelry and hair pieces. She scanned the table and display, "What was stolen?" she asked the frantic, old man.
    "There was a gold necklace and I know I didn't sell it today- and also a pair of jade hair clips!" the senior man pointed to the empty slots on the display table where they used to be.
    Kagemi immediately remembered the hair clips she was examining earlier, "I'll keep an eye out for them, sir," she shook hands with the vendor, "I am Hunter Kagemi."
    "Do you really think you can find the thief? I can't offer too much of a reward, but-"
    "No, no! That's fine. I can't guarantee I'll find the thief, but I'll look out for those stolen objects anyway."
    "Thanks, I hope they're found. They're actually worth quite an amount..."
    Kagemi nodded and turned around, walking right into Amelia, "Sorry."
    She was smiling like there was no tomorrow, and there wouldn't be if Kagemi had to look at her bright and smiling face for too much longer, "You were so hospitable to that poor, old man!"
    "Uh oh..." Kagemi thought internally and tried desperately to get away from the scary, little sugar consumer.
    "I'm so glad that someone cares as much about others as I do! Have you ever been to Saillune? Do you know The Saillune Code of Justice by heart, like me!? Doya doya!? Can we be best friends and stand up for Justice in the name of Saillune!? Huh, huh? Where did you learn how to do that and how long have you been protecting the innocent and helpless like that!? I really wanna know!" the princess continued, so full of enthusiasm, that she didn't even notice Kagemi had left in a hurry to rejoin the others and possibly seek refuge behind something big... like Gourry.
    "Oh ho ho..." Naga chuckled as Kagemi marched up. Naga's eyes were suddenly drawn into following some blond guy that happened to walk by and she followed him without anyone noticing she left, which is quite a task.
    "Did you find out what's going on over there?" Lina asked as everyone else watched the crowd slowly dissipate.
    "Yeah... someone was robbed. Nothing of worldly importance to us tho'," Kagemi shrugged.
    "Well, I'm hungry," Lina bluntly stated with help from her growling stomach.
    "Yes, as am I," Filia contemplated her own appetite.
    Gourry's eyes brightened with reflections of many edibles, "Hah!"
    "I suppose we should go somewhere, then," Zelgadiss began leading the way to the restaurant that displayed a bright, attractive sign, "We can figure out what to do now that we know this treasure no longer exists."
    "Aw, Zel, just let things be 'till morning!" Lina carefully whacked his shoulder.
    "Zel?" Kagemi meant to say to herself, "That's cute!"
    Amelia popped herself out of nowhere and shot an evil glare at her, but Kagemi didn't notice.
    Finally, as everyone finished up eating, as it was approaching twighlight, Naga waltzed in, looking rather pleased. She had definitely accomplished something of importance. It was written all over her beaming face, "Hi everyone!" she plopped down into an empty chair at the table and grabbed something off Lina's plate without asking.
    "Naga!" Lina suddenly realized she had been gone and forgot about her stolen food for the moment, "Where were you!?"
    "Oh? You want to know? I feel so important all of a sudden!" she touched her hair lightly with a gloved hand, slightly adjusting something green up there.
    Kagemi stood up and went over to the bikini model, "Where'd you get that?"
    Naga looked at Kagemi blankly, then removed the object carefully, as to avoid sending any single strand of sable hair out of place. It was a jade, finely crafted clip. It was a dainty thing about half the size of Naga's hand as she held it.
    "That's stolen property!" Kagemi announced in a none-too friendly way towards Naga.
    "Well... Naga couldn't have taken it. Amelia and I were with her all afternoon- that is until after that guy was ripped off," Lina leaned back into her chair, working on her teeth with a minty toothpick.
    Amelia simply nodded in agreement.
    "Where did you get it?" Filia gained some interest in the matter.
    "Oh, some guy gave it to me as a gift. I really think he liked me!" Naga blushed.
    Kagemi took the clip from Naga's open palm and set it on the table, proceeding to examine it, "Hmm, nothing really special about it..."
    "How can you tell?" Lina wondered how she could state it. She couldn't imagine a hunter with that much magical ability... conflict of professions. Usually hunters and magic wielders didn't get along very well, mostly due to competition in the business. Hunters relied more on physical skill while sorcerers preferred the metaphysical approach.
    "There's no irregular aura, as far as I can tell," Kagemi provided and sat back down after returning to her seat between Gourry and Amelia.
    "Hm," Lina became slightly suspicious of both Kagemi and this guy that supposedly gave Naga this clip, "Do you know where this guy went?"
    "Uh... yeah.. I think he said he was staying at the inn tonight..."  Naga picked up the clip again, replacing it in her hair.
    "I guess we're staying there as well," Zelgadiss brought up, "Perhaps we can still apprehend him."
    Lina sat up with renewed interest, grinning.
    "We can get that reward after all!" Kagemi squealed in happiness.
    "A reward!? Even BETTER!!" Lina slobbered accidentally, a large glob landing onto the table, causing Amelia's stomach to disagree with her better judgment of what partially digested food should do after it reached the digestive tract.
    "Is that all you two can think about?" Gourry had the chance to talk as he had now cleared his plate of anything that could be classified as a crumb.
    Kagemi sighed in contentment while Lina jabbered on about the possible reward. She took out a small, white jewel from inside her cloak, and cupped in her hands, holding close to her so that no one else could see it. She looked at it in silence, thinking about the past, present and the near future. No one noticed Zelgadiss watching her in a way a fourth grader looks at their teacher introducing them to advanced calculus and how to apply it to university level chemistry. A magical hunter draws questions from those who find out about it. The stone probably had nothing to do with it. Most likely a personal momento, or maybe a magical amplifier of sorts or a gift from a family member or old friend. Kagemi was clearly advanced enough in magic to use a sweep spell without an incantation to scan the item, but she hadn't used any other magic at all.
    Zelgadiss looked away and sipped some of his luke warm tea, switching thoughts to figuring out what that tube-thing of hers was. He had seen one hunter use it... a long time ago and this was the first time he had seen a similar weapon in years. He wondered if it was an enchanted weapon that was distributed to hunters when he was a kid. Of course, he hadn't seen any hunters recently except this one because they all liked to hide themselves and only show up when they were needed or if there was money involved. Well, in any case, it was strange. Tossing those thoughts aside for the time being, Zelgadiss left the table and went to bed early. No use in sitting around doing nothing when he could be sleeping.