Kornacis, Lantern District, 32 Temptation Avenue.

"You're leaving again?"

Madam Agnes asked, half-sad and half-curious.

He was seemingly moving all over the place, and last time he left, he came back with a girl.

"Duty calls."

Aren said with a smile and reassured her with a hand squeeze.

On the stairs, Mira was standing, leaning against the railing, and looking like she was pissed at the world around her.

The slave choker was loose around her neck. The chain dangled behind her like a tail.

With a backpack slung over his shoulder, Aren approached her and said.

"My orders are still absolute. You will do everything in your power to hide your identity as Rav'akari, and you'll listen to everything that Madam Agnes says, is that understood?"

"…Yes."

Mira said while gritting her teeth.

It sounded like it took all of her willpower to utter those words.

"Good."

Aren said, went to the rack, and put his outdoor clothes on—a coat, hard boots, and a wool hat.

"How long will you be gone?"

Madam Agnes shouted from the living room.

"A while. Week maybe, might be more."

Aren said, and heard Madam Agnes acknowledge it with a sad-sounding hmm.

It would take him two days to get to the Lanternford Market, and then who knows how many days to actually find the baron's daughter.

If he somehow manages to find her, it would take him another two days to return to Kornacis, so a week was most likely a low estimation.

He didn't expect to see the walls of this house any time soon.

After all was ready, Aren gave his farewells to Madam Agnes and then headed out into the cool air of Friday.

…

Sunday evening.

With rattling wheels, the wagon bounced up and down at the dirt road's annoying bumps, which was making sitting inside the wagon a very much hellish experience.

"…We should be getting close!"

The head butler said as he started seeing lanterns dangling from the branches of the trees that they were going past.

It was usually a sign that the Lanternford Market wasn't that far away.

"…Hmm."

Aren climbed to the driver's seat, sitting right next to the head butler, and then at that moment, saw the entirety of Lanternford Market appear in the distance.

Lanternford Market sat cradled in the bend of a slow, green river, its timbered houses and stone-fronted shops leaning together as though they were conspiring.

The town took its name from the iron lanterns that hung from every arch, and gate, said to have been first lit by riverfolk who ferried goods under the fog.

Even now, the lamps burned with a honey-colored glow, so that in dusk or storm Lanternford never truly surrendered to darkness.

The wagon rolled through the open gates with the guards welcoming them with a hand-raised salute and tip of their steel helmets.

The air was thick with scents: spiced cider warming in great copper pots, river fish laid on beds of fennel, and beeswax candles carved with the sigil of the Butcher family.

At the town's heart stood the Baron Manor. A crooked castle that loomed over the cobblestone streets, casting a long shadow over the townspeople below.

Around the edges of the market sprawled winding lanes, each named for a craft long practiced within—Tanner's Lane, Glaziers' Road, and Bellmaker's Court.

"This is the Lanternford's Market. It's not as big and wide as Kornacis, but it is indeed a beautiful town with a long history!"

The butler said proudly.

It was clear that he loved this place and that his loyalty to it was unwavering.

"It's nice."

Aren said.

In that moment, the wagon came to a rolling stop at the steps of the crooked castle. The guards saw the butler, saluted with their hands raised, and opened the doors for him.

"The baron is most likely eating at this hour, but he told me to go straight to him once I've returned, so follow quickly behind me!"

The head butler said, then skipped inside the castle, and Aren kept his pace up while following behind him.

Guards and servants filled the hallways and corridors. It didn't look like the Butcher family was that big, as everyone in the castle was a servant.

With a shove, the head butler opened the dining hall's big doors, and sitting at the end of an empty table, the baron of the Lanternford Market was stuffing food into his fat mouth.

Ronan Butcher—the baron of this land—was a barrel-chested man with a triple chin, his eyes squinting because of the layers of fat on his face and poor eyesight.

"Lord Baron. I've come with Blessed One from Kornacis, a young man who goes by the name of Aren Meredica!"

The head butler announced him, and Aren put his hand on the chest before bowing slightly.

It was instructed by the head butler for him to do so, as Baron Butcher didn't like those who lacked manners.

"…Hmm? Come closer, I cannot see you!"

Baron Butcher's voice boomed like thunder in the grand dining hall.

With his arms behind his back, Aren slowly approached him, and only when he was about a meter away from him, Butcher's eyes opened in recognition finally.

"Oh, I see. Bollocks, the Thunder's Beard! It's been a century since I last saw you!"

He laughed rambunctiously.

"…"

Aren turned to the head butler, who just shook his head, and then he turned back to the baron with his head bowed.

"I've come to help you, Lord Baron, to search for your daughter. I heard that she has been missing for a while now."

"My daughter… Yes, my daughter."

Ronan Butcher stood up. He was done eating. And started walking out of the dining hall.

With a hurried hand signal, the head butler clearly told Aren to follow him, and that's what he did.

They went to the castle's tower—there, they entered Baron Butcher's daughter's room, and there were clearly signs of struggle.

The bedside table was toppled over, the bed was unmade, and there were scratches in the floor as if someone had been dragged away.

The window was open.

"…We've left everything the same as it was that day in case we have the Blessed One come over."

The head butler said.

'…The kidnappers snuck right into his daughter's room—a place that was right in the middle of the town, by the way, with guards everywhere—and since there was signs of struggle, there must've been plenty of noises to alarm the guards.

'How in the world did she get taken away?'

Aren thought with a frown.