Chapter 165 - Kidnapping Case (part 3)
The interrogation went rather smoothly.
With a massive wolf staring at them hungrily and salivating as if they were the most delicious meal he had ever seen, the two adults and the child were spilling every little detail that they were aware of.
The problem was - that they didn't have much relevant information.
The whole kidnapping skim was an organized thing and they weren't the masterminds behind the kidnapping.
It wasn't their first job but the little girl who was now sticking close to her father was their first target in the new village - they had captured a few of the kids from all the neighboring villages too.
Their method was simple and effective.
The woman would use a charm skill on a targeted child, the man would use the skill that lowers the detection, and together with their real child and the kidnapped one, they would simply ride out of the village on their wagon without raising any suspicion.
They would get away with their latest abduction, if not for the fact that the girl's father used to be a scout in the army, and had much greater detection skills than any other villager in the neighborhood. Thanks to that, even though he was busy at work, as soon as he had noticed that the girl went away, he started looking for her and found her on a wagon leaving the city with some strangers.
As for what the kidnappers were doing with the children they've captured - they were dropping them off in a small fishermen's village by the large lake right in the eastern corner of the Wraths' territory.
The money would be handed to them by an inconspicuous hooded fellow by the corner of the last building at the western edge of the village.
"That's it? Who else was involved? How many groups like yours are out there? And who hired you in the first place?"
"I-I, don't know... I can't remember."
Corvus kept asking more and more questions, but it looked like the investigation had hit a wall, at one point the captives, even the kid, all seemed to have parts of their memory erased.
But whether it was something done by the system itself or the skill of a player character - no one from the Wraths' group could tell.
"Can't remember, isn't that convenient."
Corvus snorted and shook his head.
"Hey you, wolf, can you bite off just one of his feet to show these three that we're not joking around?"
He asked the skinny wolf, Arion.
"Raor..."
And Arion barked in response.
It seemed like the wolf was annoyed that some stranger is trying to order him around, but at the same time, his hunger was stronger than any negative feelings.
"N-no! Stop! I really can't remember how we got this kind of job! We just... always been doing that...!"
The man freaked out doing his best to pull away from the salivating monster eyeing not just the man's foot but his whole leg.
"Yeah, right. As you wish. Wolf, do your thing."
Corvus shrugged his shoulders and waved in a bored manner.
"Raor!"
Arion's eyes and started shining as he opened his jaws with no intention of holding back.
But right then...
"Arion, no."
The brown-haired heroine, Mary, boldly stepped between the trembling captives and the investigation team and straight-up put her hand in Arion's jaws, blocking any attempts at biting off anything.
"Hfaoff, hfaof..."
Arion whimpered unable to let out a proper bark.
"I've said that you can't so you can't. I'm the master."
Mary shook her head and declared, squinting her eyes at her familiar.
"And as for you, young lord Wrath, please refrain from ordering my monsters around, I really don't appreciate when someone does that.... out of their route..."
She added glaring at the white-haired man.
"Please, pardon my rudeness, miss Mary."
Corvus bowed his head and apologized.
"But you heard it yourself. Those stubborn fools don't know when to give up!"
He scoffed and shook his head in disgust.
"It's obvious that they are hiding the truth, we just need to make them talk."
Corvus said, taking a step towards the brown-haired girl.
In response, Mary took her hand out of Arion's jaws and glared at the white-haired man even harder.
"Roar!"
As for Arion, he seemingly lost interest in the delicious restrained human and barked, moving protectively in front of his master.
"Why?"
Mary raised her brow and asked.
"Huh...?!"
Corvus gasped taken aback.
"Excuse me, miss Mary, didn't we agree to help solve this serial kidnapping case? How do you reckon we'll do it without properly investigating things?"
He asked slightly more aggressively than necessary.
"Is it common for the Wrath house to tell every single servant and errand boy their most secret plans or something?"
Mary sighed in response and almost clicked her tongue although she managed to stop herself in time, since it would be rude.
"What are you imply...? Oh..."
At first, Corvus wanted to continue arguing to prove his point, but then he realized that he was in the wrong.
"The less the grunts know, the better. That should be obvious. Instead of wasting time on small fries, we should go up their command chain or whatever it's called. Like the hooded man that's been paying those guys for every kidnapped child."
Mary explained patiently, leaving the white-haired man without much say in the matter.
"Corvus, I also think that's what we should do."
And once silent until that moment Mkia agreed with the brown-haired girl instead of being at his side, he was left with no choice at all.
"Fine, let's do as you say. I guess that we'll be making those guys to bait that hooded guy out, right?"
He sighed and pointed at their trembling captives.
"We will be needing a kidnapped child..."
He added glancing at the little girl holding on to her father a bit further away.
"Yeah, we will."
Mary nodded, looking at the very same girl.
"You two can't be serious! What if this plan fails and she will be in danger?!"
Mika clenched her fists and shook her head so hard that her ashen hair smacked her face, in a show of a childish temper.
"..."
"..."
Mary and Corvus looked at each other and smirked.
"Ah, I see we got a volunteer for the role of a kidnapped child."
The white-haired man laughed, putting his hand on the shoulder of the young lady of the Wrath's house.
"Wh-what...?!"
Mika gasped in shock.
/Justice's wrath receives a role exclusive quest
Infiltrate the base of the mysterious organization
Reward: Role exclusive skill: Justice's punch
"WHAT?!"
Her gasp change into a shout when a system message popped right up in her face.