Chapter 74: Don’t Panic, Panicking Won’t Help

Coastal City of Leila, Adventurer’s Guild.

“Disappeared without a trace? What’s going on? Don’t panic, take a deep breath and tell me slowly.”

Just as Miss Le Qiao Qiao hastily led the way into the lobby, Vilyric spotted Hong Yan and numerous guild guards and staff members already searching frantically in various areas. Even the main reception tasks of the guild had temporarily stopped. Many trusted local adventurers had also spontaneously joined the search team, making the atmosphere feel quite tense and serious.

It’s easy to understand why; this is the core hub for handling various civil cases in the Adventurer’s Guild.

If even here a child went missing, it would be a huge blow to the prestige and credibility of the entire adventurer community in the Coastal City.

Not to mention, the child had ties to a legendary adventurer from outside, and they had to keep her stationed outside for high-level talks with the guild. If anything happened to that kid…

As Miss Thief paced around anxiously, flailing her arms and wearing a face of utter despair, I had to admit, after knowing her for so long, it was the first time Vilyric saw this carefree person showing such an interesting expression.

“As for how this happened… We were with the little ancestor, but before we had to register her adventurer profile, we both had to fill out some related forms. With so many people around, and guards not far off, we didn’t think anything would go wrong, so we just left her there for a moment.”

“You know, boss, we’re still not too familiar with the writing here, so we took longer than expected. By the time we finished and turned back, she had just vanished! How could such a big little ancestor just disappear into thin air?!”

Le Qiao Qiao pointed to the public sofa and tea table in the resting area, which was no more than ten meters from the counter they had chosen. On the low table were a few candies from the Ancient Spirit Realm, clearly meant for a certain Little Dragon Daughter.

“That’s the last I saw of her, she was sitting right there…”

“…”

Seeing the Black-haired Girl just staring blankly at that area, Le Qiao Qiao didn’t dare to say anything more and could only lower her head, seemingly blaming the disappearance of Xiao Guang entirely on herself.

“This is absurd… What are the guards doing!”

The two Treant adventurers who had rushed out from the lounge also wore grim expressions; although this situation might prompt the Priest to agree to cooperate with them, it was obvious in their eyes that the child’s safety was far more important than any disputes over interests.

Moreover, they were the ones who temporarily asked Vilyric to step away, which left that suspected relative, the Golden-haired Little Girl, alone. Depending on the interpretation, it was entirely possible for the other party to misunderstand or even develop hostility.

Enrique hurriedly took a step forward, appearing somewhat awkward yet very serious as he assured them.

“Miss Vilyric… I’m truly sorry, I never expected such a malicious incident to occur. This is an absolute dereliction of duty by everyone at the Leila Adventurer’s Guild. I will mobilize all available forces in the city for a comprehensive search immediately. The child hasn’t been missing for long, she shouldn’t have gone far…”

“Wait a second.”

The sudden voice of the girl caused the 【Tree Bow】 who was about to turn around to stop in surprise, he turned back again, looking somewhat awkward.

“Um, I understand that you might have a hard time trusting us right now. There’s no point in arguing anymore… But I, Enrique Spiritwood, swear in the name of 【Life】! As an adventurer with honor, and from the dignified Spiritwood clan, I and Sophie would never resort to such despicable means…”

“Oh please, I’m not doubting that you staged this! It’s just, this is a bit strange. It seems to me that finding her by ordinary means will be quite difficult.”

Interrupting Enrique’s serious statement, Vilyric glanced around at the bustling crowd in the lobby and casually waved her hand.

“Let them all stop. Qiao Qiao, you go call Hong Yan back. There’s no need to waste manpower; that child is no longer in this guild.”

…

West of Leila City, Zena District, Inner Street.

“Hurry up! Load everything onto the carts, be quick! The scheduled time is almost here!”

In the backyard of a winery, more than a dozen laborers dressed as men were quickly lifting enormous wine barrels over a meter tall out of the storage room, swiftly loading them onto several horse-drawn wagons that had long been waiting there.

From their clothing and the specifications of the wagons, this appeared to be a batch of local merchants organized into a small-scale operation specifically for wine sales.

In other words, they had no traceable backing.

The Ost Empire has several classic wines, all of which require various seafood as key ingredients for brewing. Therefore, in this coastal city, there’s certainly no shortage of wineries, and the related industry is quite prosperous. Given the situation, it was clear that the winery’s partner merchants were preparing to transport their newly brewed products for sale…

If not for those weird individuals in strange robes wearing metallic masks, completely obscuring their faces, everything would seem quite reasonable.

One massive barrel after another was being moved out of the basement and placed into a covered shed draped in black cloth. With the laborers putting in their best efforts, many barrels were quickly stuffed inside the shed, filling a cart that required four or five strong horses to pull.

Once one cart was filled, they naturally began moving to the next, and judging by the order of the convoy, this was likely the last batch.

As the last large cart was nearly filled, one middle-aged man in a black robe finally seemed a bit anxious, frequently glancing down at the mechanical pocket watch in his hand, then turning his gaze toward the entrance of the backyard, seemingly waiting for something.

“Why haven’t they returned yet… What are Juan and Ramon doing? They were just supposed to monitor the movements of those legendary figures at the Adventurer’s Guild. They couldn’t possibly have gotten caught, could they?”

Another companion, also dressed in a robe and wearing a metallic mask, but whose voice and stature indicated she was a woman, asked in confusion.

“That doesn’t make sense! They are both pious new recruits and have adventurer identities as cover. They haven’t executed any church tasks before, unless they expose themselves, how could the guild find out they are spies?”

It seemed the former was a bit hot-tempered and possibly just impatient from waiting. Hearing this, he immediately snapped at the female cultist.

“How would I know! But it’s already been fifteen minutes past the agreed time, and those two useless fools still haven’t returned! Are we supposed to delay our departure just to wait for them? We can wait at the city gate, but not here! Not to mention if they get caught…”

“Oh, they’re here! Big Brother Alvaro! Look, they’re back!”

Just then, while the two were arguing, a sharp-eyed cultist noticed two familiar figures just scurrying into the yard from the back door, immediately alerting the presumably higher-ranking man.

“Ah, as long as nothing went wrong, this batch has a lot of high-quality goods, and we…”

The masked man called Alvaro let out a sigh of relief, but soon, his tone changed as if he sensed something odd.

“Wait a minute… Why are they carrying a bag back?”

   

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