Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Leon settled into the large manor in Solainem. He didn't have to worry about rent, as the entire estate belonged to the Douglas family.
During these three days, Leon hadn't left the manor. He spent his time requesting Alicia to act as his sparring partner for divine spells.
By farming experience from Alicia, the experience points for each of his divine spells on the panel were growing rapidly.
Among them, the experience for Hammer of Holy Light had broken the 90-point mark, and Holy Light Meditation had surpassed 80 points. The other three divine spells had also seen significant gains.
On this day, after finishing the sparring session with Leon, Alicia gave a quick greeting and rushed out of the manor.
“She's been going out every day lately. What's she busy with?”
Leon watched her departing figure and asked Old Hunter.
Old Hunter replied, “Does the young master remember the missing person notice in the Solainem Daily a few days ago?”
Leon nodded.
Old Hunter said, “That notice wasn't an isolated case.”
“Lately, things haven't been very peaceful in Solainem. People have been going missing within the city frequently. Seven or eight people have vanished already, all of them young girls around fifteen or sixteen years old.”
Leon frowned upon hearing this. “What about the city guard? Haven't they been deployed?”
Old Hunter said, “They were, but they've searched all of Solainem without finding a single trace of the missing girls.”
“The day before yesterday, some residents of Solainem even blamed the people from the town, saying that everything had been peaceful before, and only after they arrived from the town did these disappearances start.”
“However, the news I gathered from the city guard indicates that a young girl from the town has also gone missing.”
Leon looked at Old Hunter. “Someone from the town went missing too?”
“Yes, Young Master,” Old Hunter said. “It's Juliet, the granddaughter of Mrs. Taylor from the Delicious Bakery back in the town.”
A freckled girl's face appeared in his mind.
In his memories, he used to go to the Delicious Bakery often to buy bread. Granny Taylor's skills were excellent; the bread she made was even more delicious than that of many high-end shops in the Imperial Capital.
Every time he went, the girl named Juliet would always sneak a few extra pieces of new bread into his basket as a reward for him telling her news about the Imperial Capital.
—She was a small-town girl whose heart was full of longing for a big city like the Imperial Capital.
“Is Alicia using her rogue techniques to help search Solainem?” Leon asked.
“Yes,” Old Hunter said. “When Miss Alicia heard the news, she was incredibly anxious. Every day, besides fulfilling her sparring duties with you, she's out looking for any sign of Juliet.”
“Captain Ryan and other members of the town guard, who were commissioned by the town residents, are also searching together.”
“But so far, there still hasn't been any discovery.”
Leon asked, “Have they commissioned mages from the Mages Association? I've heard there's a spell that can find an owner's location through their belongings.”
Old Hunter shook his head. “The missing girls are all from ordinary families in the city. They can't afford the reward to hire a mage from the city to help.”
Leon said, “Then, in my name, provide a sufficient reward and go hire a mage from the Mages Association to investigate.”
“Yes, Young Master.” Receiving the order, Old Hunter went down to make the arrangements.
With the Douglas family's wealth, hiring a few high-priced mages from the Mages Association was a trivial matter.
Leon might be powerless to intervene in other matters, but since he had encountered this one, he had no reason to stand by and watch.
Moreover...
He hated human traffickers!
...
Night fell.
Old Hunter returned to report, “Young Master, we have already hired a Silver rank mage from the Mages Association to cast a tracking spell.”
“According to the results of the tracking spell, Juliet's location is still within Solainem.”
“Since the tracking spell cannot provide a specific location, we only know that Juliet is in the area of Minko Street and Rum Street.”
“However, while Rum Street is fine, as for Minko Street... I'm afraid it won't be easy to search.”
Leon asked, “What's so hard about searching it?”
“Young Master, that Baron Sori, who sent you an invitation before, has his manor on Minko Street...” Old Hunter said.
“Right now, most of Minko Street has been blocked off by Baron Sori's men... to host Baron Sori's birthday banquet.”
“Baron Sori's birthday banquet is quite grand, and many nobles and wealthy merchants in the city have been invited. The city guard is being kept out by Baron Sori's private soldiers, and they don't dare to force their way through the blockade to search.”
He dared to use private soldiers to block the street?
Did this Baron Sori really have no regard for the laws of the Empire?
However, after carefully searching his memories, Leon found that quite a few nobles in this world dared to do such things. As long as they didn't cause too much trouble, the Tribunal generally wouldn't come knocking.
But...
“A birthday banquet that lasts this long?”
Old Hunter said, “The birthday banquet Baron Sori is holding is just a pretext. The real purpose is to take this opportunity to gather the city's nobles and merchants to discuss matters of profit distribution and cooperation...”
No wonder he had bothered him several times. It turned out he wanted to use Leon's status as a member of the Douglas family to pull strings and gain leverage...
Leon thought to himself. He pondered for a moment before speaking:
“Prepare my clothes. I'm going to Minko Street.”
He wanted to see if a Baron's private soldiers would dare to block even a descendant of the Douglas family.
...
Minko Street.
It was said that most of the street was blocked off, but in reality, only Streets 1 and 2 of Minko Street were not blocked, as they were businesses owned by other nobles.
As for the streets from Number 2 onwards, from Number 3 to Number 151, they were all blocked by Baron Sori's private soldiers, who refused entry to anyone without an invitation.
When Leon arrived at Minko Street with Old Hunter, Alicia and the town guard captain, Ryan, were already standing on the outskirts of Minko Street 2, confronting the soldiers blocking the way.
The voice of the leading private soldier captain came through.
“You say children are missing? This is clearly a slanderous accusation that the Baron has kidnapped innocent girls from the city! Simply outrageous!”
“If you're not trying to slander him, then you're planning to use this as an excuse to sneak into the cordoned area and pester the noble lords and wealthy merchants like a bunch of scoundrels just so you can steal things!”
“I'm telling you, I've seen this trick many times—it won't work!”
“Girls missing? You even posted a missing person notice? Hah, just because it's in the paper doesn't mean it's true! It's probably an excuse you made up just to sneak into the banquet!”
“Besides, you say girls have been disappearing one after another, but how come I haven't heard of it? How come the city's nobles and merchants have never encountered such a thing?”
“Instead of reflecting on how you couldn't even keep an eye on a teenage kid, you've come to bother the Baron?”
“Last warning: even if someone really is missing, and even if they're actually hidden inside Minko Street, you'll have to wait until the banquet is over before you come looking!”
“If you disrupt the Baron's banquet arrangements with your nonsense—I won't go easy on you!”
Hearing the words of this private soldier captain, Ryan and the others were instantly fuming with rage, unable to stop themselves from cursing out loud.
Meanwhile, Alicia had already taken a step back, chanting an incantation, preparing to use her rogue techniques to knock down these private soldiers and charge into the blocked street.
However, before she could act, a giant palm made purely of holy light slammed down with a roar.
Its coarse knuckles crushed down like heavenly pillars, pinning the soldier captain into the mud like a crushed ant.
The captain's face was buried deep in the dirt, his face covered in mud and grit.
He struggled desperately, but his back felt as if it were pinned down by a mountain. No matter what, he couldn't straighten up. In the end, he was left in a ridiculous and wretched state, with his butt sticking up and his head pressed firmly against the ground.
Leon, dressed in noble attire, walked forward slowly, with Old Hunter following behind him.
Old Hunter's gaze swept over the private soldiers who were drawing their swords. He gave a cold snort that wasn't loud but carried great weight:
“What? You still want to lay hands on a Duke's son?”
Rate on N.U.
