Second World

The staring contest lasted for a while. Jack was not sure why the hostility but he was not backing down. 'A bartender's job was to be friendly, for God's sake!' Jack complained within.

The bartender finally broke his silence, "What's your purpose coming into this town?"

"I was planning to buy a drink first before going into this talk, but since you insist, ok," Jack said as he pulled out Aubelard's picture. "Have you seen this man around here?"

The bartender gave the picture a brief glance and answered, "never seen him before."

"Are you sure? You just glance at it. You probably should take a better look," Jack insisted as he moved the picture closer to the bartender's face.

"Hey! A bartender is used to recognizing people's faces, don't you think? If I said I never see him before, then I never see him before."

"Aw, hell'¦" Jack said dejectedly and slumped down onto one of the chairs of the bar counter.

"'¦ Your first time here?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah," Jack answered.

"'¦ What do you want to drink?"

Jack turned to the bartender. 'Now that's better,' he said inwardly. "Give me your strongest drink."

"What strongest drink? Do you think we are that fanciful tavern in the city? We only have beer, ale, mead, and wine here."

"Uh, give me wine then," Jack replied.

Jack looked around while the bartender prepared his drink. The couple was still eyeing him. 'Hm? What's their problem?' Jack thought.

He didn't think too much about it. The bartender came back with a glass of wine.

"Do you have a problem with strangers here?" Jack asked. "The townsfolk weren't exactly friendly."

The bartender sighed. "Everyone is on edge these days," the bartender said. "They probably blame a stranger if they see one."

"Oh? Is there something going on in this town?" Jack asked, but regretted as soon as the words left his mouth. He couldn't afford to be tied up by a quest in this small town. He needed to focus on looking for Aubelard.

The bartender was mum. His expression showed that he was considering. 'No need to tell me,' Jack said in his mind as he kept quiet as well, he didn't push the bartender for an explanation.

When Jack was about to ask a different question to take the bartender's mind off, a woman's voice spoke to him from the side. "Mister, are you an adventurer'¦?"

Jack turned to the side and saw that it was the couple who had been eyeing him. The man was behind the woman half-pulling the woman away. "Mirian, we shouldn't bother this man'¦" The man said to the woman.

The woman, who was called Mirian, swatted the man's hand away. "Mister, are you an adventurer?" She asked again. There was a plea in her eyes.

"I am," Jack answered.

"Can you help us? Can you help us find our Charlene?" The woman said. Jack could hear the hopeful tone in her voice.

"Charlene?" Jack asked, confused.

"Our daughter. She had gone missing," Mirian said, half-sobbing at this point.

Jack didn't know what to make of it. A missing child? What did he get entangled with this time?

The bartender let out a long sigh. He then came out of his counter and arrange a table with four seats. "Come, everyone. Sit," he said.

The woman was sobbing already by this time. The man helped the woman onto the chair the bartender had arranged. The bartender looked at Jack indicating for him to come as well. Jack took the prepared sit. Now all four of them, the bartender, the couple, and Jack was sitting around the same table.

The bartender sighed again, he said, "My name is Brad. This lady is Mirian, and this is her husband, Ted. As is pointed out by Mirian here, her daughter, Charlene, had gone missing, yesterday night."

"Yesterday? Could she just stay at her friend's house? I didn't see any large-scale search going on, did no one believe the girl is missing?" Jack asked.

"Oh, they do believe she is missing, that's why most had shut themselves inside their houses," Brad replied.

"Huh?" Jack didn't understand. Shouldn't there be commotion and everyone came out to look when a child is missing?

"The thing is, Charlene is not the first child to go missing," Brad said.

"Not the first?"

Brad shook his head. "There has been a string of disappearance. Mostly children. It started around five years ago. Everyone came out and performed a large-scale search when the first child went missing. However, even after rigorous searching, they failed to find anything. Several months passed, and a second child disappeared. Another search was organized, but the same result. And then the third. By then, the town had arranged mandatory curfew, and lookouts were formed around the town by volunteered townsfolk."

"What about the soldiers? Did they not find anything as well?" Jack asked.

"We are a secluded town," Brad said. "There are only two soldiers stationed here. Two rather undependable ones, if you ask me."

"What did the mayor do about this incident?"

"We have no mayor. As I said, secluded town, the kingdom might as well have forgotten about us. What we have as this town's figurehead leader is the Count."

"The count?"

Brad nodded. "Count Dante. He had been the one organizing search parties and lookouts. But even then, the children kept on missing. One child within several months at first. But in this year, the missing had increased in pace, especially the last two months. The last child that goes missing, Charlene, she was the fourth one already within these two months."

"So, whatever is causing this disappearance continues to increase in pace," Jack surmised.

Brad nodded again. "I'm afraid it will just get worse onward. Folks are now afraid to come out. All the children were kept inside the house, especially at night."

"Could it be a beast?" Jack asked.

"We thought so at first, but impossible for a beast to steal so many children without being seen. There is even a rumor going around that these are all the deeds of one of the townsfolk. Now, everyone is distrustful of everybody. It is impossible to organize another joined search again, not that it brought result the last time it was conducted."

"I implore you, adventurer! We don't know who to turn to anymore," Mirian plead. "She is just nine years old, she is still so young'¦" Ted hugged Mirian's shivering body, trying to give as much consolation as possible.

At this time, Jack received a quest request notification. He had been expecting it. The quest was called 'Thesylvania's missing children.'

Jack found it difficult to reject such a request. He sighed. He guessed he could only postpone his kingdom chain faction quest first. He accepted the request and took a look inside his quest page.

Thesylvania's missing children

Difficulty: SS

Rewards: 3,000,000 exp, 80 gold coins, additional rewards possible

Investigate the missing children case in Thesylvania and put a stop to it.

'F*ck me! SS difficulty'¦?!' Jack almost blurted out loud. His body jerked up though.

"Something's wrong, adventurer?" Brad asked.

Jack shook his head. "You can call me Storm Wind," he said to the bartender.

In his mind, he was blaring at Peniel, 'How the f*ck is a missing children case in a small town in the middle of nowhere is an SS difficulty quest?'

'How should I know?' Peniel thought back. 'Probably the beast that is responsible for those missing children is very high level.'

'It's not a beast, they said,' Jack reminded.

'Okay, the individual responsible for the case then,' Peniel returned.

Jack was pondering this heavily. This case was totally out of his league. But when he looked at the imploring stares of Mirian who was staring at him with such hopeful eyes, he gave a long sigh and said, "I will do what I can. I need more information to proceed, though. What is the Count doing now after the last incident?"

Brad answered, "He continued to organize a search, but fewer and fewer volunteered. In fact, some families had even decided to move to another town. This town is becoming more vacant by the days. The count continues to search with fewer people, but they still can't find anything."

"Not even a clue? None of the previous missing children ever been found? Not even'¦ their bodies?" Jack asked. Mirian sobbed harder after Jack's last words.

"No. It's as if they have completely vanished from this world," Brad answered.

Jack thought about it for a moment, he then asked, "Is there any possibility to get a general idea of where in town the missing children were last seen before they disappeared? I know there had been many cases over these five years and some had happened a long time ago, but it will help me get started if I can get this information."

"I know almost everyone in this town, a perk of the job," Brad said. "I can try talking to those who have missing children, but it will take me some time. Come again tomorrow.. Hopefully, I can get enough information for you by then."