Chapter 199: New criminal group

Two big slices of meat paired with gravy, soup, and juice from whatever fruit, are the foods he ordered.

After a test bite on the meat, the juicy fat of it immediately dripped out, and the aroma enveloped his mouth. Then, he continued to gnaw on all the food in front of him.

Clank!

Eman placed back the pork on the plate after finishing all of them. It didn't take him long to finish.

*Burp!*

The excess air came out of his mouth, indicating he was full.

He licked his lips to clean whatever leftover was on it.

It was already past noon when he arrived at Aunt Claire's house near the mountain.

"Big bro I'm so worried about you!" Eina screamed out with half-teary eyes upon seeing him.

She jumped and hugged him like usual. She must have missed him very much. Eman thought.

"Sorry about that. His Majesty appointed me for a sudden mission which I could not reject," Eman said his sorry and explained the reason he was gone for so long.

It was already common knowledge in the empire that whatever mission they were sent to, it would usually last for long, depending on the missions' difficulty.

"Fufu. No wonder a messenger from the palace came here to inform us about it the next morning when you left here that day," said Aunt Claire who was currently leaning her back on the side of the entrance.

"Really?" When he saw a nod from Eina and Aunt Claire, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, his majesty did promise that he would do it before we departed."

"Fufu. Wasn't that good news? It seemed like his majesty took a liking to you," said Aunt Claire that sounded excited and amazed.

Eman smiled. "Well, it was connected to the promised reward," he said.

"Is it?"

Eman nodded. "Yes, aunt."

Eina was darting her eyes back and forth to her brother and Aunt Claire.

Suddenly, Eman remembered something. "Right! Before I forgot I bought some things," Eman touched Eina's head as he said it. Then he produced from thin air the items he brought. They were wrapped in brown cartons.

The two of them were already used to seeing Eman producing something from out of nothing. 

Eina's eyes sparkled when she saw the items in his hands. Aunt Claire, on the other hand, showed a smile.

The night passed peacefully with a delicious dinner. 

Meanwhile, the three of them were stargazing at the wooden balcony of the house.

It was a lively night with tiny jewels sparkling in the sky.

"By the way, Aunt, Uncle Ronny has not yet returned?"

Eman noticed a sigh from Aunt Claire before she shook her head. "No. It usually took a month or more if it was a special mission."

"I see." He wetted his lips with his tongue before opening it again. "Did aunt also have been on a special mission before?"

Since he heard that she used to be a soldier before, Eman believed that Aunt Claire had been on a special mission also.

"Yes, I have been in a couple of them, especially when I was young," she replied honestly.

"Uh, can I ask what sort of missions are those?"

"Yes, of course, those are from long ago, so there was nothing to hide actually. My first special mission was infiltration in the neighboring kingdom. The second was escorting a member of a royal family. Well, I forgot about the third. The next was, I was sent to investigate a great noble family," suddenly, Claire paused for a moment. She seemed to remember something as her mouth formed into a letter 'o'. "Oh, right, speaking of a great noble family. There have been several soldiers in town these past days."

Eman slightly frowned. "Really?"

Claire nodded. "Well, yeah. There had been something bad that happened with one of the members of their family," Claire told him.

Eman knew that only the Gentlewind family was the nearest great noble family in this village, so she must be talking about them.

"That made me curious. Guess there's something amiss."

"Fufu. That's what I suspected. I also heard a gossip--"

Upon hearing the word gossip, 'Oh. Gossip again? There seemed to be a lot of them these days,' he thought. But he was curious about what kind of gossip it was this time.

"Oh, I wonder what kind of gossip it was."

"That one of the elders of the Gentlewind family has been missing for quite a long time now…"

Eep!

Eman was almost choked by his saliva when he heard it. 'That indeed is not just a simple gossip,' he thought.

"Is that so?"

Aunt Claire nodded. "Yes. And it wasn't just a simple disappearance. There seemed to be some reliable witnesses stating that the elder was abducted by an unknown group of people."

Eman didn't know how to respond to it. "I, I see," was the only reply he could muster.

"So Eman, be careful when you happen to come to the town. Rumors stated that the abductors were a new group of vicious criminals. They weren't even afraid to make an enemy with the great noble family. On top of that, the witnesses I mentioned earlier were the people from parliament. Also, if the rumors were true, then this new group of criminals were truly vicious and not afraid to make an enemy with influential people or family."

"They could be roaming everywhere. It would be bad if they happened to catch an eye on you and thought bad. So be careful."

Said Aunt Claire out of concern.

A bead of sweat trailed down on his head. "O-okay, aunt. I will try my best to remember it, though I have never been to the town even once."

He has been to the main city several times but has never been to this province's town since he arrived in this place.

"But if they were only targeting influential people, then I'm safe," he added.

"That's true but who knows when they might bare their fangs to ordinary citizens."

"I see. I'll be careful then."

"They even posted sketches everywhere in the town. So the gossip must be true."

"Sketches?" Eman repeated.

"Yes. They are the sketches of the criminals."

"....."

Looks like the Green family is still searching for their lost elder. Heh, they are wasting their time. Thought Eman.

The next morning.

Eman visited the inn where Sol was currently staying like a normal girl.