Chapter 629 News Travels Fast

“What happened? When I arrived, people from the neighboring houses were already coming outside, so I had to hide. What exactly happened?”

Arnold leaned against the wall of their inn room, his expression filled with curiosity.

Meanwhile, Amon lay sprawled across his bed, looking thoroughly exhausted. After leaving Alice near the woodland, he had taken a long detour around the village, passing through the fields and farms before finally returning to the inn.

He had even contacted Arnold along the way, asking him to return immediately.

“Well, I went to the house and didn’t find anything suspicious inside. After checking the place, I hid behind a tree in the bushes and waited. A little while later, three unfamiliar men showed up.”

Arnold’s expression immediately turned serious.

“Who were they?”

“How am I supposed to know? Anyway, one of them climbed through a window while the other two kept watch outside.”

Amon proceeded to recount everything that had happened afterward, from the moment the men abducted Alice to the fight that followed. He described how he had confronted them, killed Roman, and rescued the girl before the villagers could discover him.

Arnold listened without interrupting, his expression growing increasingly grim as the story unfolded.

He seemed particularly troubled by the fact that the men had deliberately targeted Alice.

—

A little later…

Arnold sat on his bed, a short distance away from Amon’s.

“They’re definitely not ordinary kidnappers involved in human trafficking,” he concluded after thinking for a while. “There’s something about that girl that we don’t know. And judging by her reaction, she might be hiding something.”

Amon sat upright, his exhaustion temporarily forgotten.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing. That’s why I told her that if she needed help, she could meet me in the woodland two days from now.”

Arnold nodded thoughtfully.

“Good. We should keep an eye on her for the next two nights. If those men are after her for a particular reason, there’s a chance they’ll try again.”

“Exactly.” Amon nodded in agreement. “Next time, we’ll investigate together. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”

“Good work, Amon. At least you managed to save her before they could take her away.” Arnold paused before continuing. “For now, get some rest. You must be exhausted after everything that happened tonight.”

“Well, I’m not that tired…”

Amon yawned. “…but now that you mention it, I’m starting to feel sleepy.”

He pulled the blanket over himself, covering half his body, and reached over to switch off the mana lamp.

The room was immediately plunged into darkness.

Arnold let out a quiet sigh before lying back on his own bed. He stared at the ceiling, his mind still occupied with the mysterious incident.

Who were those men? Why had they targeted Alice?

There were too many unanswered questions.

For now, however, there was little else he could do.

Gradually, his thoughts grew hazy, and he, too, drifted off to sleep.

—

The Following Morning

“Did you hear? Sira’s daughter, Alice, was kidnapped last night! Apparently, someone saved her before the kidnappers could take her away.”

“Oh, my! That poor girl. It’s already difficult enough for her and her mother to live without a father in the family. Now something like this has happened to them?”

“Exactly! The villagers even found a dead body near their house. They believe he was one of the kidnappers, and now they’re searching for the other two.”

“What about the person who saved her? Do they know who he was?”

“No idea. I heard he was wearing a strange black mask and looked absolutely terrifying. Still, he saved the girl, so I suppose he can’t have been a bad person.”

“What in the world is happening to our peaceful village? We’ve never had anything like this happen before!”

Ever since morning, the villagers had been gossiping about the previous night’s incident.

The news had spread remarkably quickly, passing from one person to another until practically everyone in Leonera seemed to know about it.

Naturally, Amon and Arnold couldn’t help overhearing the conversations as they wandered through the village.

Amon glanced at a group of villagers discussing the incident before turning toward Arnold.

“News travels fast.”

Arnold gave him a sideways glance.

“Of course it does. Someone was nearly kidnapped, a man was murdered, and a masked stranger with an apparently terrifying appearance was involved. What did you expect?”

Amon shrugged. “Fair enough.”

As they continued exploring the village, Amon and Arnold spotted a familiar figure approaching from the opposite direction.

Amon recognized him immediately and raised a hand in greeting.

“Hello, Sir Atlas!”

The man was the deacon who worked at the Temple of the Goddess of Light. However, unlike the last time they had met him, Atlas wore a troubled expression, his usual cheerful demeanor replaced by an air of sadness.

Upon hearing Amon’s voice, Atlas looked up. His expression softened into a gentle smile as he approached them.

“Hello, Daemon and Silas.”

When they had first met the deacon, Amon had introduced himself as Daemon, while Arnold had used the name Silas.

“Hello, Sir Atlas,” Arnold greeted him as well. After taking a closer look at the man’s face, he asked, “Is something wrong? You look rather troubled.”

Atlas let out a quiet sigh. “Well, you two must have heard about what happened last night. A girl named Alice was nearly kidnapped, but fortunately, someone managed to save her.”

He paused, his expression growing somber. “I went to her house earlier to find out what had happened. Poor girl… She was absolutely terrified. I can only imagine how frightening such an experience must have been for her.”

Amon and Arnold exchanged a brief glance before turning their attention back to the deacon.

“I’m glad to hear she’s safe,” Amon said, adopting a concerned expression. “How is she doing now? And have you found any leads on the kidnappers?”

Atlas shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. We found one dead body near her house, but we still know nothing about the other two men. We haven’t even identified the person who saved her.”

He sighed again, his eyes reflecting his concern.

“I just hope everything turns out well. Alice is a good girl, after all. She and her mother have already been through enough hardship. They certainly don’t deserve something like this.”

Amon nodded sympathetically.

“Yeah, I hope she’s doing better now. And hopefully, those criminals will be caught before they can hurt anyone else.”

“Indeed. We’re doing everything we can to investigate the matter. Anyway, I should get going. I need to report everything to the priest so we can decide what to do next.”

He offered them a polite smile. “I’ll see you two later.”

“Of course. Take care, Sir Atlas,” Amon replied.

Arnold nodded in farewell as well.

With that, Atlas continued on his way toward the temple, leaving the two young men standing in the middle of the street.

Amon watched him disappear into the crowd before turning toward Arnold.

“Well… what next?” He wondered.