CHAPTER 68……………………………………
“Something bad…”
“Someone got kidnapped, or fell off a cliff somewhere, or had an accident…”
“First, first calm down. Elian. Calm down. It’s not good to think negatively when you’re this agitated.”
Ah, I shouldn’t be doing this. I know… I know it’ll be troublesome if I get involved, but I just couldn’t ignore it.
“I’ll help you.”
It’s a problem with my mouth. Or maybe with Jeong. Someone I used to find annoying now looks so helpless that I can’t stand it. I wish I were cold enough to turn away mercilessly, but sadly, I wasn’t.
“Really…?”
“For now, I’ll go back and think about it, so you wash up, eat, and get your energy back, okay? Look at you—this is a mess. How do you expect your grandmother to be happy seeing you like this when you find her again?”
Elian shook her head weakly from side to side. I brushed her hair back with a smile and quietly said,
“Nothing bad will happen.”
Her frail hand slowly released my arm. Her head moved slightly. I hugged Elian once with a smile and got up.
“Then I’ll go. Rest up. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“No. I’ll go.”
“You?”
“Like you said, staying here will just make me gloomy. I’ll go tomorrow.”
Had Elian ever looked this determined? Seeing the blue jewel of her eyes regain a little sparkle, I smiled faintly. I nodded, opened the door, leaned against it after leaving, and let out a long sigh.
“…My mouth gets me into trouble.”
Too much kindness is useless. My mother in Korea told me to live life ruthlessly.
“Mom, I guess I’m just not ruthless enough.”
I clicked my tongue and stepped forward.
“Bring all the data.”
On the wide table, the materials Ardina and Tesla brought were spread out. As soon as I returned, I had instructed them to gather recent cases of missing elderly people in local territories and any related crimes.
Since this data was hard to obtain through ordinary channels, Tesla, acting as my secretary, collected the information from various guilds. Then we analyzed the massive pile of data with the staff.
“Don’t bother with trivial cases. Focus on crimes targeting those fifty-five and older. One-off incidents are fine, but if there’s any correlation, that’s more important. Organize the data by region, age, religion, and faction.”
“Understood.”
Ardina began sorting the documents more skillfully than expected. She efficiently handled the people assigned to her. Ardina never failed to surprise me with unexpected abilities, so now I’d come to expect it.
I turned to Tesla, who was organizing the documents, and said,
“Check the map.”
Tesla unrolled the map. We had to account for the roads connected to the Felieten territory in the west, and all distances reachable in a straight line by carriage.
“Contact the local merchants. If someone simply couldn’t return home due to illness, they’d have caught the merchants’ attention. But if they were involved in a crime, they’d keep their mouths shut.”
We had to hope that wasn’t the case. I drew a line with my pen and continued,
“Merchants communicate with one another, so we can trace information through them. Maybe we can ask other regional merchants to look for the person based on appearance.”
I pointed my pen at the person in front of me.
“What happened with the request we discussed earlier?”
“The Information Guild and Thieves’ Guild accepted it. It’s a bit expensive, but they’re putting in as many people as possible.”
“Then we have to pay for results. And Tesla, did you send cooperation requests to the nearby nobles connected to our guild?”
“Yes. As you know, some influential nobles won’t follow merchants’ requests, but most have agreed to cooperate.”
“Good.”
I snapped the pen cap onto the table. All eyes turned to me. I scanned them briefly and said quietly,
“It’s a race against time. Ten days have passed. If it drags on, who knows what might happen. Put all your effort into this. Also, request the Mercenary Guild to search the territories of the nobles who agreed.”
Tesla, lowering her gaze to the documents, nodded, then seemed to remember something.
“Ah, Director.”
“Yes?”
“What about the official cooperation request to the royal court…?”
The cooperation request to the royal court. I put the pen into my pocket, instructed everyone to get to work, and turned around.
“I’ll go myself.”
It felt a bit excessive to go this far because of Elian, but since I said I’d help, I had to give my best. I grabbed the door handle, and Ardina approached with a stern expression.
“Why are you doing this?”
“If….”
She hesitated before speaking. I looked at her, wondering what she was about to say, and Ardina glanced around nervously before whispering close to me.
“What if… they’re found dead?”
“…”
A thought I didn’t want to entertain, but something I had to consider. I looked at her face quietly and opened the door. I followed her gaze, my eyes quietly meeting hers.
“Do you need an answer?”
A dark spire prison. Guilty people sat packed inside, devoid of any will to live.
Among them was a young man who looked surprisingly clean. At a glance, he seemed to have a different lineage from those around him.
For nobles, prison was not a place they’d see even if they committed crimes. Most were not punished unless they did something serious, and many were detained at home. If they committed worse crimes, they’d face execution, so being in prison was rare.
Yet this man sat there. Staring blankly at the floor, he muttered to himself as if lamenting his fate.
“…It’s my fault… I… no.”
His mumbling echoed throughout the quiet prison all day. Initially, other prisoners complained, but he didn’t respond, so they gave up. Now, it almost sounded like a lullaby.
As usual, the man’s murmuring swept eerily through the prison. The door remained tightly shut, letting no clue of sunrise or sunset into the dark cell.
But today, perhaps, a different wind blew—the firmly closed door slowly opened.
The clanking of heavy equipment and the thud of plate boots hitting the ground could be heard. Sunlight streamed through the open door, waking the dark, damp space. Soldiers entered first and took positions, followed by a man who seemed like a knight.
Finally, a man in uniform entered, frowning. He grimaced, surveying his surroundings, covering his nose with a handkerchief against the stench, and kicked at the damp floor.
The soldiers swung their spears toward the prisoners looking at the entrance.
Clang! The heavy spears clanged against cold iron bars, shaking the prison. The soldiers glared at the prisoners.
“Turn your heads!”
The prisoners obeyed the heavy, low warning. When attention on the uniformed man subsided, a knight guided him.
“This way.”
“Ugh…”
The uniformed man groaned, dissatisfied, following the knight reluctantly. Covering his nose even more deeply, he followed behind.
“Disgusting…”
The prisoners snickered at his exaggerated movements. Frowning, he shook his head and followed the knight, eager to finish quickly.
“This is it.”
The knight stopped in front of a cell. The man behind him looked over the knight’s shoulder. Unlike other cells with two or three prisoners, the young man sat alone on the bare floor.
“Is this the person?”
“Yes.”
The knight unrolled a parchment, revealing the young man’s clean appearance. Alternating between the image on the parchment and the battered man in the cell, he frowned.
“Severely damaged, but this is the location.”
“Ugh…”
The uniformed man groaned again, furrowed his brow, and crouched to meet the young man’s gaze. He spoke quietly to the prisoner.
“You are the second son of Count Brincis, Demior, correct?”
The prisoner’s shoulders trembled slightly. The man nodded, acknowledging the reaction, glanced at the knight, nodded, then looked back.
“Do you recognize who I am?”
“…”
The prisoner lifted his eyes from the floor. Through disheveled hair, his sharp gaze shone. The uniformed man flinched at the intensity.
“Ahem…”
He cleared his throat and carefully spoke.
“I’ll ask again. Do you know who I am…?”
“The loyal retainer of Duke Castrumbel, Brdald.”
“Good. Your mind is still intact.”
The uniformed man gestured with his fingers. A soldier behind him inserted a key into the locked cell. Demior’s eyes gleamed.
“You must be wondering why I came. And why I suddenly showed up. But there are too many ears and eyes here to explain. So, I’ll give you a chance. There are two conditions attached.”
Brdald spread his fingers.
“One: follow me and leave this place.”
