A day had passed and after stuffing his face with breakfast Tibaut decided to explore the estate. Close behind him, for some reason was Elizabeth.

"Uh, shouldn't you be preparing stuff for when we leave?" He asked.

"I've set our leaving time as afternoon, we only need ourselves and our belongings by the entrance when noon passes."

"So shouldn't you get to moving your stuff?" Tibaut said, clearly feeling uncomfortable having her follow him around.

"If you recall, we have two others with us. I've asked them to do it."

"Well, suit yourself then. (She's been so weird since I woke up. She was super insistent on staying near me.)"

Tibaut began his exploration of the manor.

Elizabeth was behind and watched as he went through the manor. ("Frankly this seems like the only reasonable option. Leaving him injured nearly got him killed, as much as I don't want to admit it. It was careless and stupid on my part. And based on what he told me after he woke up, it didn't seem to be his fault. After all, he might have lost the man in black if he called for us. There'd be no sense leaving him like while we have an opponent that can spring up at any moment. I'll just keep a close eye on him for the time being, until we get rid of these cult bastards.")

And by close by, that meant she'd follow him everywhere except the bathroom. And even then, she'd ask Tina to watch the outside window to make sure he didn't go anywhere.

As Tibaut explored the estate, unsurprisingly the place was a bit of a ghost town. As he walked around he noticed Officer O'Reilly and a few others on the property.

He contemplated greeting the officer but he didn't look too hot. He had bags under his eyes and his clothing and hair looked unkempt.

He decided against it after seeing him looking so rough but it seemed the man himself noticed him and walked over.

"Oh, it's the man of the hour," O'Reilly said. There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Ugh, sorry lad, you did a good thing but…"

"Did I cause you guys a headache?" Tibaut asked.

"I'm not sure you have all the blame. Do you know any officers in the capital?" He asked.

Tibaut gave him a puzzled look and that was all O'Reilly needed.

"So that wasn't you. Those guys really are on another level." O'Reilly said.

"What happened?"

It was Elizabeth who decided to say something this time. "Are you not curious where Albus and his maids are?"

"The maids? Is that how you got your injuries? First, how did you even determine which ones to arrest? " Tibaut asked.

Elizabeth then told him a brief explanation of what she and the others had been through.

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"Those were all the women that were arrested. There may be others that helped with Albus's activities but all the maids have left and it seems none of the women captured nor Albus intended to sell anybody out." Elizabeth said.

"So you're saying there's a chance some of them got away." Tibaut gave a downcast sigh. "Also from the way you talked about Albus earlier, I assume you don't have him, Mr. O'Reilly?" Tibaut asked.

"That's right, some officers from the capital came for him."

"Wait a minute didn't he say his uncle was a big noble? Dammit, did they come to get him?"

"I thought that at first, lad, but…"

He pulled Tibaut in closer and whispered so Elizabeth couldn't hear. "Between me and you lad, those men showed a crest from the royal family. This order came from very high up."

"Is the king involved? Did he save him!?"

"Hell no," O'Reilly responded. "This noble family of his has been acting high and mighty lately, so I've heard my boys discussing whether he wants to make an example out of him or have him talk about any illegal operations his family is a part of. Whatever the case, you won't be hearing about him anytime soon unless it's an execution."

Tibaut sighed but supposed the legal system would have the final say on Albus.

"But what's the problem?" Tibaut asked.

"The bastard who told me said not to let word of this spread. You know how hard it is to convince people in the parish we're not a group of useless bastards after some other blokes come in and take a noble like that away? It's got people up in arms lately. People are taking it like he got away without any punishment."

O'Reilly sounded like he was having a bad go of things and hurriedly rushed back over to his men after speaking to Tibaut.

"Keep this between us, alright?" He said before taking his leave.

("I guess, he's gonna rot at the bottom of some cell somewhere. I would have liked for him to at least try to redeem himself but I suppose crimes like that aren't very redeemable.")

After accepting the reality of the situation he continued travelling across the property.

He entered one of the buildings and the inside was starting to gather dust. He decided to look around it out of curiosity.

"I do hope you aren't thinking of stealing anything," Elizabeth commented.

"Trust me, I don't even know where I'd sell anything off."

He continued walking until he noticed an open room. He pushed it open and two people were inside. They had a sack and were stuffing as much as valuable things they could find into it. They only displayed mild hostility when Tibaut opened the door.

"Fuck off, we got here first." The man told them, reaching for something in his pocket.

"Fuck me, isn't that red one an adventurer?" The woman shouted.

She threw her sack through a nearby window and jumped out.

The man stayed in the room and approached Tibaut.

"So you're a bastard that worked with that rapist noble? I should skin your fuc-"

Elizabeth gave a quick punch with her good hand (although it did have a few bandages wrapped here and there) and the man fell to the floor clutching.

"Please don't pull out a knife unless you're going to use it," Elizabeth advised the man

"It's cause of bastards like you that I don't have my sister anymore." The man muttered as he clutched his stomach.

"And it's because of him you knew who took away your si-" Tibaut placed his hand on her shoulder and she stopped to turn to him.

"It's alright."

Elizabeth clicked her tongue. "If you want to leave the man ignorant it's your choice I suppose. But I'd prefer someone hate me because they're unreasonable rather than them not getting all the facts and making a wrong assumption." Elizabeth stated.

"What are you talking about?" The man on the ground asked.

"He's the one who found out about this whole thing and beat the lord black and blue," Elizabeth stated.

The man looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let's go Elizabeth, this is making me uncomfortable." Tibaut walked out of the room. Elizabeth said nothing and followed him.

The man was left in the room dumbfounded.

The duo continued exploring the property. It seemed parts of the property had been vandalised with all manner of obscene things written.

The greenhouse was set on fire with only broken glass and the charred remains of the plants left.

"If I remember correctly, those officers from the capital called this a poison farm and burned the whole thing, saying it was dangerous," Elizabeth commented.

They continued exploring some more until it was a few minutes until noon.

"It's time to leave, Tibaut," Elizabeth said.

"I guess it's time to go home," Tibaut responded.