At the town of Farsbarow, Clare walks up to the gate and waits in line to get in. She was wearing traveler's attire and holding a suitcase that held her clothes and other essential items, including her maid uniform.
After being let in when she paid the fee, she began walking to the adventurer, since that should be the place her lady was most likely going to go.
While walking to the adventurer guild, she saw a lot of young adventurers around 13 years old or older who were just starting out.
When Clare reached the adventurer guild, she opened the door and went to one of the reception counters; coincidentally, she chose Emma’s counter.
“Hello, how may I help you? Would you like to send out a quest?”
Seeing Clare, Emma assumes that she is here to send out a quest because most adventurers are young, in their teens, and she is an adult.
“No, I’m looking for someone; they might have passed by here.”
“I see, what is your relation if you don’t mind me asking?”
“They’re someone I really care about; I’m just worried because they ran away.”
“Run away?”
“Yes, around a month ago. Do you know anyone that registers around that time?”
“I apologize; there are a lot of people who come here to become adventurers; can you describe him or her for me?”
Thinking for a bit, Clare describes Rita for her, like how she looks and her personality, excluding things that would be a giveaway that her lady is a noble, like her silver-colored hair and other things.
Hearing who Clare was describing, Clare wrote the details described to her because, on occasion, there were adventurers who were running away from home.
However, when Clare says her lady tends to be expressionless, she looks at Clare suspiciously because it reminds Emma of a particular individual who doesn’t want to be found.
After Clare was done describing Rita, Emma said.
“Excuse me for a second.”
Leaving the counter, Emma opened a door that revealed an office behind the reception counter that had people working in there; she asked one of them to cover her for a bit and come back to Clare to ask her to follow her to a room on the second floor.
On the second floor, Emma led Clare to a greeting room that had a coffee table and two couches opposite each other from the coffee table.
She asked Clare to sit down on one couch while Emma sat on the opposite couch to ask who she was.
“I must ask about the person you are looking for; does it relate to nobility?”
Emma looked at Clare to gauge her response; however, Clare had a poker face from her experience working as a personal maid for a former highly esteemed family.
Seeing no noticeable change in Clare's expression, Emma grew suspicious.
Clare told Emma, sensing her suspiciousness.
“I’m looking for my master who has run away; I want to be by their side again.”
“I see, however, I got no way of knowing whether you want to be by their side again or not. He does not want to be found.”
Hearing he instead of she, Clare shows some visible confusion; however, remembering how her lady, Rita, tends to act and do things, it made sense that she would disguise herself as a boy.
Seeing that Emma was still suspicious, Clare decided to tell things about her lady, which are what she and Emma knew about her lady because Emma seemed familiar with her, like her quirks.
“I see, then can I say things you and I know about my master? I presume you are familiar with my master's quirks.”
Emma nodded for her to go on, wondering what she was going to say to make her believe her.
Clare began to tell Emma about Rita’s tendency to get into rather dangerous situations on her own, how she tends to help out people even at the risk of her life, acts way mature for her age but tends to slip up once in a while, and other things she thinks would help make Emma believe she is not an assassin or anything else that would harm Rita.
Emma was surprised when she mentioned all those things, with most of the things Clare said fitting Nyx perfectly, and her tone of immense respect for her master as she said those things made Emma's suspicions die down. However, it did not make her let go of her suspicions completely.
“Do I have your trust now?”
“I’m still skeptical. Is there anything else you can say to make me believe you?”
Clare thought for a moment and told Emma that she could read Rita’s emotions and how to do it due to her always staying by Rita’s side.
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Hearing Clare tell her how to read Nyx’s emotions, Emma was deeply impressed by what Clare said. She put what Clare told her to the test by remembering her interaction with Nyx, causing her to believe her.
Now fully trusting Clare, Emma told Clare what she knew about her master, like when he got here, what he was doing, and where he was right now.
“I see. Thank you for the information. I’ll be going now.”
“Yes, I do believe I should go back to work. It was a pleasant conversation.”
As they walk downstairs and Clare is about to leave, Emma thinks to help Clare.
"Also, by the way, when you reach Acton, find a receptionist named Iris in the adventurer guild. She is one of my acquaintances and is more than willing to help if you use my name.”
“I see. Thank you again.”
Thanking Emma with a smile, Clare began preparations to go to Acton.
Captain Boras Perspective
After being yelled at and having a tea cup thrown at him by the mistress of the family, Boras's face, which looks like a heroic knight, turns into a sneer that makes him look and aura like a gangster or bandit leader.
The reason he is sneering is that his gracious master allowed him to do whatever it took to get their disgrace of a daughter back.
Putting back his face of a heroic night, he walks to the stables with 2 other knights waiting for him, who are also the Lucendi’s black knights just like Boras.
They had prepared everything to travel to the neighboring territory of the Lunslur family because they believed Rita had run away there since the remote manor was very close to the Lunslur territory and a couple of settlements were about a day's walk to get to. They do not believe Rita has the capability to make it far because they believe her to be a sheltered child.
After a week of traveling, they regrouped with some more black knights of the Lucendi family and reached a small town village with no name, which was the last place to look for Rita.
It was a small village that people would not notice if everyone went missing.
Announcing their presence, Boras and the group of knights he was traveling with cladded themselves in a knightly aura, causing some of the villager girls to blush. They command everyone to gather in the center of the village.
In total, there were around 28 villagers who had gathered, in which the village elder approached them.
The village elder of the small village asks why they are being gathered in a polite manner to show reverence to them and their authority.
Getting down from his horse and motioning for his subordinates to do the same, Boras kept up his knightly facade and said.
“I apologize for making you gather. I am Knight Captain Boras from the Lucendi household; we are desperately looking for our lady who has gone missing. We are more than willing to offer monetary compensation for any information on her whereabouts.”
Boras looked at the elder and then at everyone else; however, none of them looked like they knew what he was talking about.
Speaking up for everyone, the village elder said.
“Sir Boras, I’m afraid we cannot help you; we haven’t had anyone come by our small and humble village as of recently.”
“That is quite unfortunate.”
Seeing that the elder and everyone else genuinely don’t know anything about who they are looking for. Drawing his sword, Boras’s knightly demeanor changes, and he cuts down the elder in one quick motion of his sword.
There was a long silent pause as the villagers were unable to comprehend what just happened, seeing the elder’s body falling to the ground with blood flowing out. Then somebody screamed in surprise and terror, causing the others to do the same.
With a wicked smile, that of one who enjoys the pain of others, Boras said calmly and gleefully.
“Kill them all; don’t let any of them escape.”
Telling his 8 subordinates what to do, they follow that order, mercilessly killing them all without saying a word of complaint.
Some villagers tried to fight back but were immediately cut down. Others tried to run but were shot by some of the knights carrying bows. A few tried to plead for their lives but were also cut down.
His subordinates were used to their captain's behavior as Boras was laughing as he swung his sword at a boy and a girl who were likely siblings.
The reason the head of the family, Lord Lucius, chooses him to be knight captain is that he is a person who enjoys the pain of others but can hide his nature from people.
After several minutes of the massacre, every villager was dead. The center of the town was drenched in large pools of blood, and dead bodies lay everywhere.
One of Boras's subordinates approaches him and asks.
“Captain, what are we going to do about the other people who were not here?”
Boras, who had put away his murderous smile, told him.
“Collect all the arrows; we don’t want any evidence that leads to us. If you find anyone still alive, save them for me.”
He said that with a bright smile that would make you second guess if you heard it; however, his subordinate didn’t bat an eye to his words and salute to acknowledge his orders.
A while later, they had collected the arrows and any evidence that would lead back to them.
Boras was disappointed that everyone was dead, but it didn’t bother him that much because it was time to clean up the mess.
Taking out a potion of some kind and uncorking it, he pours all of it on a dead body. Then he corked the potion bottle, put it away, and mounted back on his horse.
“Good, that should clean everything up.”
The thing he poured out of the bottle was a special potion that is very illegal to have, if not executed for. It was a monster-attracting potion that attracts monsters in a large area into one spot.
Turning his head to another subordinate, he said.
“Report to the nearby settlements that this village got wiped out by monsters and we found everyone dead when we arrived.”
That subordinate acknowledged his orders and rode off with his horse to inform the nearby towns and villages about what Boras told them happened.
After sending a subordinate out, he turns to another subordinate to ask about their next course of action since they exhausted most of their leads on finding Rita in the Lunslur’s territory.
“I’m afraid we have to expand our search areas, but we don’t have the manpower to do so, Captain.”
“I see that will be a problem.”
Boras put his hand on his chin to think for a while and snapped his finger when he got an idea.
“That maid girl, that Lady Rita, who was her personal maid. What was her name again?”
“I believe it was Clare, Captain.”
“Do you know where she is at right now?”
“Farsbarow right now, I believe, Captain.”
‘Good, it’s not that far from here. She might do all the work for us; let's tail her.”