Second World

About the latest missing girl, Charlene, Jack asked the parent where she was last seen. Thankfully, the father did the explaining. The mother had too many sobs in between conversations, the day would have passed if she did the talking.

The father, Ted, said their girl was playing around their house. After all the other missing children incidents, most parents kept their children inside the house or at least close to the house. Charlene was still playing in the courtyard at the time. Ted was out working. Mirian was inside the house preparing meal, she was preparing it on the table under the window so she could see Charlene outside. She had to move away from the window briefly to take some vegetables, when she returned, Charlene was no longer visible.

She ran out immediately after, but the little girl was nowhere in sight.

Jack frowned. The girl was taken during such a small time frame?

"What about people who passed by? Are there no people outside that saw anything?" Jack asked.

"Many folks no longer venture outside unless necessary. This town is a quiet town to begin with. With these incidents, there were fewer and fewer people who dared to go out of their houses," Ted answered.

It was indeed so. Jack's first impression of this place was of a ghost town.

Jack asked to be shown their house. The incident just happened yesterday, so hopefully, some traces were still available. Jack told Brad that he would come back again tomorrow for the information.

But before he left, he asked the three if they ever noticed someone in this town who never came out to the street during midday, when the sunlight fell upon the town.

The three couldn't be sure. The sunlight only lasted for a brief one to two hours during midday. They never really paid attention if they saw or not saw anyone during that time. Jack supposed that was understandable.

'Are you still not ruling out Aubelard to be in this town?' Peniel asked through their minds.

'Yeah, I can't rule that out just because they never see the guy in the picture,' Jack replied. 'He can disguise himself, remember?'

Ted, Mirian, and Jack left the tavern. They walked for a bit. The terrain of the town was uneven, there were many slopes. Jack saw a large mansion not far away, it was built resting on the cliff of one of the hills surrounding this town.

"Let me guess, that's where the Count lives?" Jack asked, pointing at the mansion.

Ted confirmed Jack's conjecture.

"Does he always live here?" Jack asked. "It's weird for a noble to live alone in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm not sure if he is a noble. The two soldiers in this town didn't appear to treat him like one. The Count's ancestors owned a large part of the land here. They have been leaving here for as long as I can remember. I still remember seeing the Count's father when I was still a little kid."

"So, the Count lives with his father there? Is he married?"

"His father has already passed away a long time ago. He was now living with his son," Ted answered.

"Only a son? No wife?"

"No'¦ I never see his wife. There was never a wedding as well. The son is probably adopted, we don't know. We are not privy to the Count's private life."

"So, only the Count and his son live in that huge house?"

"There are one butler and one maid. Aside from them, yes, only the Count and his son."

"I might need to talk to the Count as well. Will it be all right if I just go visit him in that mansion unannounced?"

"I think it should be all right. The butler will simply turn you away if the Count is indisposed at the moment."

The three of them arrived in a small wooden house with a courtyard. The nearest neighbor was a distance away. As Ted had mentioned, there was almost no pedestrian.

"This is where she was playing the last time I saw her," Mirian said. She started sobbing again when she remembered the image of her girl in her mind. Jack felt pity for her but there was nothing he could do to console her, so he decided to just keep this professional.

"Did any of you move anything in this courtyard after the incident? Or clean anything up?" Jack asked.

"No, my wife has been running around trying to look for her since. I joined together with the Count and the others after learning the news. We don't have the time to do anything else. The courtyard is as it was yesterday," Ted answered for Mirian.

Jack nodded, he looked around the courtyard. The place was already dark due to very little sunlight, with the night approaching, it became even darker. Ted turned on a lantern and brought it out to help Jack see, but when he came out, there was a bright ball floating above Jack, illuminating the surrounding area.

Jack's Dragon Eye allowed him to see in the darkness but he still cast the illumination spell just in case some clues required light. Nothing was out of the ordinary, there was no sign of struggle. Jack was also hoping for his God-eye monocle or his Investigator talent to do their magic and picked up some trails, but nothing happened.

He walked around the house. With all the shrubbery and trees, there were simply too many places to hide. With how quiet the street was, no one would notice someone stalking the courtyard.

"What are your thoughts?" Peniel asked.

"I think we can rule out beasts and strangers," Jack answered.

"How so?"

"The girl was snatched at exactly the time when the mother looks away. A beast won't plot to that detail. It also indicates that the snatching had been planned. It requires long surveillance to study the victim. This place provides many hiding places for that. But even so, a stranger will still be easily spotted if he or she hangs out for too long here. This town is a secluded one, not many strangers pass by. One that comes by will surely attract attention, such as I. Remember how they all avoided me? No way this stranger can roam around the town watching potential preys undetected."

"So, it is one of the locals?"

"I suspect so," Jack said.

Jack had circled back to the spot the little girl was last seen. Both Ted and Miriam were still standing there.

He thought for a second before asking the mother, "Did you hear nothing at all? No scream or any strange sound?"

Mirian shook her head.

"How friendly is her to a person she knows? Will she follow such a person without telling you first?" Jack asked again.

"No. We have stressed out to her not to leave the house or the courtyard unless she is with me or Mirian," Ted answered. "She is an obedient child. She won't just wander off without telling us even if it is his close friends that call to her."

Jack decided to walk around the house one more time. He went slower this time as he scrutinized every detail. Suddenly, his eyes caught something. He knelt and observed the unusual thing that caught his attention. It was a small piece of torn fabric. It was lodged onto a sharp twig. The fabric was yellow.

At this time, a marking appeared. He saw a trail going off through the shrubberies.

'Yes!' He exclaimed within. He was not sure this was his monocle's doing or the effect of his Investigator talent.

Before he went off following the trail, he came back to the parent and asked, "Was Charlene wearing a yellow dress when she disappeared?"

"Yes, she was! How do you know?" Mirian asked with a hopeful tone.

"It might be nothing. Please, go back inside your house. I will proceed by myself from here," Jack told them.

"Please, mister'¦ You have to find her. Please'¦," Mirian begged.

"I will try my best," Jack replied.

He hurriedly went back to the trail and started following it. The trail continued through shrubberies, not going out into the street. The perpetrator was careful to avoid being seen after abducting the girl.

The trail took him to where there were fewer houses. It was not exactly outside of town, but this sector was clearly not residential. As he continued, he started seeing tombstones.

Graveyard?

It was already night and there was a fog. Jack saw more shadows of tombstones obscured by the fog. It created an eerie feel of the surroundings.

'This is a perfect setting for a horror scene,' Jack thought as he felt a chill. He summoned his Storm Breaker. He felt better after holding his sword. 'Heh, it's different than the time when I was trapped in that nightmare test. This time, any ghosts dare come out, I will cut them in two.'

As if to test his resolve, the sound of feet dragging through the ground was heard. Jack spun to where the sound came from. He saw some shadows from the fog, humanoid shadows.

He looked to his radar, which showed nothing. It seemed that this fog was not natural. Rapid Dazing Staff appeared on his left hand. With his two weapons ready, he bravely went forward to where the shadows were seen.

They soon came into view. They were grotesque humanoid creatures, slightly hunchbacked. Naked with dark skin. Their hands were long and ended with sharp claws. Jack used Inspect on them.

Cemetery Ghoul (Elite monster, undead), level 35

HP: 32,000