Chapter 17: Unraveling Kana City’s Disappearances

The Assassin Shadowkill Syndicate—in the game ‘Tales of the Brave Adventurer,’ it was an organization comprised of professional assassins.

However, their scope of commissions wasn’t limited to assassinations alone. Gathering intelligence, protection, surveillance… the Syndicate could handle a myriad of tasks, provided, of course, that you had sufficient funds.

Hadn’t Red Spider herself appeared in Kana City precisely because she’d accepted an investigative commission?

From this perspective, the Adventurers’ Guild and the Assassin Shadowkill Syndicate were, in essence, quite similar. The only difference being that the latter was more unscrupulous in achieving its objectives, operating further from the light.

Considering Xiluo’er’s personal side quest, it was clear that neither she nor Red Spider were upright characters. Their relationship, as the plot progressed, would simply be one of mutual exploitation, each taking what they needed.

After a moment of hesitation, Xiluo’er agreed to Red Spider’s proposal.

While she wasn’t intimately familiar with these peripheral characters from her personal side quests, Red Spider, whose background she knew a little, seemed far more reliable than a completely unknown information broker.

“Let’s go. We’ll talk somewhere else.”

Without further ado, Xiluo’er turned and walked towards the depths of the black market.

Behind her, Red Spider tilted her head, watching Xiluo’er’s retreating figure for a moment before trotting to catch up.

‘Why do I feel like… the Cat Tail I saw before wasn’t this small?’

‘Hmm, so tiny, and quite adorable.’

****

Within a specialized ‘discussion room’ in the black market, Xiluo’er and Red Spider sat facing each other.

“Alright, little Cat Tail, what do you want to know?”

Red Spider leaned back casually against the leather sofa, seemingly devoid of any professional assassin’s demeanor.

“My current employer dumped a troublesome investigative commission on me. To earn this big sum, I’ve been gathering intelligence in Kana City for quite some time now.”

Beneath her mask, Xiluo’er raised an eyebrow.

‘An intelligence source, just like that? Such good fortune?’

Xiluo’er immediately began to consider the direction her investigation should take.

To be safe, she couldn’t directly investigate ‘Rona.’ That might alert their target.

If possible, Xiluo’er wanted to start by investigating anything unusual around Rona, or matters Rona seemed particularly concerned about.

‘Hmm… I’ve got it!’

A flash of inspiration struck her mind. Xiluo’er looked at Red Spider and slowly began to speak.

“I want to investigate information related to the Kana City disappearance cases.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Xiluo’er saw Red Spider, who had been lounging lazily, instantly straighten up across from her.

“Eh? No way? You’re investigating the Kana City disappearance cases?”

“I knew it! How could those old fogeys from the Chaos Cult send you out for some trivial little task!”

‘The Kana City disappearance cases… Is there a problem?’

Red Spider’s reaction caused Xiluo’er to frown.

At least in the game, she had never heard of this. If it were a major event, it should have been mentioned in the game.

Red Spider, like a mischief-maker whose interest had been piqued, eagerly leaned forward, rubbing her hands together like a fly.

“Oh my, I never expected the Chaos Cult to be interested in something like this. This is going to be entertaining.”

“The Kana City disappearance cases are no small matter, Cat Tail.”

“Tracing it back, these disappearances began over a decade ago, not long after the civil war in the Kingdom of Vansetti concluded.”

“At that time, the current city lord had only recently taken office, and the border situation was far more chaotic than it is now. From then on, someone would go missing in Kana City every month or two.”

There were no clues, and no pattern to the victims. With resources and manpower severely stretched, Kana City simply didn’t have the capacity to thoroughly investigate.

Later, under the current city lord’s governance, Kana City’s public order improved significantly. Yet, despite this, the disappearances didn’t cease; their frequency merely decreased.

Even now, someone still vanishes every three or four months. Furthermore, there’s no way to prove that each individual disappearance is connected.

Xiluo’er nodded, maintaining a calm exterior, but a storm raged within her mind.

‘So the Kana City disappearances are this complex?’

‘If it started over a decade ago, with people vanishing every one or two, or three or four months… by now, that would be an incredibly vast number of missing individuals.’

Red Spider grew more animated with each word, looking less like an assassin sharing intelligence and more like a nosy aunt gossiping over tea.

“However…” Red Spider’s voice suddenly adopted a mysterious tone, “While this case is incredibly difficult to investigate, I happen to have some information that others don’t know.”

Though she doubted Red Spider’s gossipy demeanor, Xiluo’er had to admit that Red Spider’s words had indeed piqued her interest.

“Elaborate.”

“Ahem, alright, I’ll be frank. The commission I accepted this time has an investigative scope that partially overlaps with the Kana City disappearance cases, so I did uncover some information that others aren’t privy to.”

Red Spider cleared her throat twice, her voice turning serious.

“I suspect the disappearances are connected to Kana City’s largest underground gang, the Scar Gang.”

“Rumor has it that the Scar Gang is secretly involved in human trafficking across the border.”

‘A gang…’

‘Red Spider means the source of the disappearances is likely the gang’s human trafficking?’

Xiluo’er furrowed her brow, lost in thought.

“You might know the Scar Gang; they’re quite well-known locally.”

“Their leader is Red, nicknamed ‘Scar’.”

Xiluo’er, deep in thought, froze for a moment and interrupted Red Spider.

“Wait, what did you just say that person’s name was?”

“Red ‘Scar’, why? Have you heard that name before?”

‘Heard it? More than just heard it!’

Xiluo’er immediately recalled the scar-faced man who had accosted her in the restaurant that day.

At the time, that man had introduced himself as Red ‘Scar’!

‘Could that man actually be the true culprit behind the Kana City disappearance cases?’

****

Inside Serol’s study within the City Lord’s Manor, Serol sat at his desk, working under the bright lamplight.

A rapid knocking at the door suddenly broke the silence, interrupting Serol’s work.

“Come in… Rona? Is something the matter?”

Rona appeared in the study, her expression a mix of anxiety and anger.

“My apologies, Lord Serol, for disturbing you at this hour, but there’s something I need to ask.”

“The guard at the isolation cell told me that you’ve released Red.”

Rona had originally planned to interrogate Red ‘Scar’ again today, only to hear this news from the isolation cell guard.

Serol set down the documents in his hand and looked at Rona.

“That’s correct, Rona. Is there an issue?”

“But!”

Rona opened her mouth, yet found herself at a loss for words.

“We finally had this opportunity to apprehend Red; how could we release him so easily?”

“We haven’t even extracted any useful information from him yet!”