The next day was much worse, weather-wise.

The clouds blocked the sun, making the atmosphere solemn, winter wind blew with power and coldness, lifting the snow off the ground. Although the day was cold and unpleasant, it was well received by members of Adams's team, it helped them.

Today, they were supposed to interrogate the victims about the animals they lost, and other things that may be related to the robbery, or is it technically an animalnapping? (animal kidnapping)

Adam and Monica went as a team to look into the case of someone called Lessie, who lost three cows.

They went north of the village, just after eating breakfast in the camp. The houses on this side of the settlement were smaller than the ones on the west, where The Refrigerators entered the village.

The lesser volume didn't mean that they were poorer, the villagers couldn't be classified as poor or not poor, as normally that is described by the ability to purchase food or other necessities. The villagers were mainly self-reliant on those, so calling them poor would not do them justice. another thing to notice was that the streets were clean of children, maybe it was a part of the village filled with younger people, who just still hadn't become parents.

Houses built in Derdanian villages were relatively not that hard to build, they were constructed by using logs with chopped holes to fit each other, and such buildings can be modified afterwards, for example, to build additional chambers for the children.

Using the hits from the governor Adam and Monica easily found the house of the first victim, Lessie.

Her house was rather small, but not the smallest in this neighbourhood. It was located at the edge of the village, making it the closest to the fields, which was convenient for work, but was quite dangerous because of the same reason.

It had another building beside it, with a fenced ground before it. I was a barn, in which animals resided in the winter and where food storage was located. The animals themselves were inside the barn or were all stollen, they didn't know if those three cows were all of Lessie's livestock. No animals were visible outside.

Adam knocked on the front door and waited for the householder.

A large man opened the door, shocking Adam and Monica.

'Wait, Lessie is a MAN?' Thought Adam to himself. Monica probably thought something similar.

"Hello?" The man said.

"Hello? Are you Lessie?" Asked Adam in bewilderment.

"No, why would I?" The man answered.

"I thought Lessie lived here." Said Adam, while Monica speechlessly stood behind him.

"She does."

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

''...........''

"So, is she inside?" Monica finally broke the awkward silence, at last asking the right question.

The man turned his head towards the girl. "Yes... Wait, who are you?"

"...I am Adam, and she is Monica. We are members of the team who were sent here to investigate a theft. We wanted to ask Lessie about things related to her cows and possible thieves." Adam composed himself and introduced them.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Ohh, yeah, come over. I am sure she will gladly answer your questions." He turned around and yelled inside. "Hey! Lessie, investigators came over to ask about the cows!"

As they entered the house, they saw a young woman sitting at the table, knotting something. When she saw them, she stood up and walked over, with a hand outstretched.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lessie, but I suppose you already know that. The handsome man who let you in is Buford, my boyfriend." She introduced them both.

"I am Adam, she is Monica." The mage introduced them in return. "We would like to ask you some questions related to the robbery, can we sit down and talk?" He asked next.

They sat around the table and waited, as Lessie went to get them something to drink.

"Here you go, It's not much but it's very fresh, Bufford brought it from the stream this morning." She put down the cups on the table, filled with cold, fresh water.

"No problem, let's start with the questions." While Adam started the 'interrogation', Monica took out a notepad and a pencil.

"We were informed that your cows disappeared about two weeks ago and that they have a semi-circle burned on their... side. Is that true?"

"Yes, they disappeared about two weeks ago, overnight from Saturday to Sunday."

"Did you hear anything out of usual that night? Any signs that something went wrong before seeing that the cows are absent?"

Lessie stayed silent for a while, then she shook her head.

"Ok, we would also want to know how much of your property those cows represent, would their absence throw you into debt to survive or are they irrelevant to your well-being?" Adam asked. All the while, Monica was writing down the answers, to questions they had written down beforehand.

"Well....., They were a considerable part of my wealth, but I can go on without them." She answered.

"Okay, next question. Do you have any enemies in the village? Someone who could do something to you purely out of spite. For example, they could lead the cows in the forest to be eaten by the monsters, which would explain the whole village not finding them after two weeks." This question was the most important up to this point, but it was also very hurtful to the victim. Thinking that someone could be so mean and hateful enough to do something like that without any gain would devastate anyone if they thought too hard about it.

"No...., I have a good relationship with everyone I know. You know, I and Buford are getting married next month, and the whole village is invited. I can't imagine anyone doing something so vile." She quickly responded.

"How about opportunists? Are there some people who wouldn't turn away any money?" Another question was asked, another one that wasn't very nice to hear.

The girl was silent for a while, thinking.

"What about the Morris? He is a huge scrooge. And the guards, they are known that if it isn't a very big crime they may throw it under the carpet with a bit of money." This time it was Buford who spoke, instead of his future wife.

"Oh, isn't that why we are here? That your village doesn't trust its guards enough to let them conduct an investigation. That's a very good take, we will see it through." Said Adam.

"Please don't make it hard for them, We don't trust them to investigate this, but they are very good with normal things, and them stealing my cows is very unlikely. Like extremely unlikely." Defended Lessie.

"Ok, do you have something else to say? Some lead to follow?" Finalised Adam.

"No, but could you tell me where you live, so that I may go to you if I remember something new?" She asked.

"We are living in a camp outside of the village. Also, can we see the pen as we are heading out?" Adam asked.

"Yes of course. Have a nice day." The future marriage walked them out.

"Have a nice day too." They said their goodbyes in return.

The pair of novice investigators searched the pen, but snow, mud and wind covered all possible tracks. The fence wasn't damaged, so someone had to open the gateway to let them out.

"You know, it's a weird case. A person or a group stole many animals from all around the village, and none have seen them. The only thing I can understand from what we know is that the animals were transported somewhere through the forest, as all the households that were robbed were at the ridge. But how did they identify the targets? How did they get them to leave their homes without any alarming noises? And what did they do with them afterwards?" Asked Monica, it was a puzzle if she talked to herself or to Adam.

"I bet the other victims have a similar situation to that of Lessie, somehow wealthy, enough to survive without those animals. And if my guess proves true, there must be a person inside the village who chooses targets and has enough empathy to choose people who will survive.

By the way, that has to have been a team. There is no way to herd such a large number of animals by themselves, and someone has to feed and take care of them, assuming they haven't died yet. So, someone who wouldn't be noticed if he or she disappeared in the forest for whole days." Adam also seemed to talk without a conversationalist.