"She was taken by bandits I tell you! I think their leader had a scar on his left eye. He was big, tanned, and was with a few others that looked rough," Reynald described the features of the ones who kidnapped Lucia.

"Have any idea where they might have gone to?" Laruse asked, trying to piece everything together in his mind as best he could from all the details that Reynald had said, only coming up a bit short.

"I'm sorry, I have no clue at all. But, I'll pay with everything I've got! Please just save my daughter! She means everything to me!" he went down on his knees, pleading as he tightly took hold of Laruse's leg, which started to feel like it was going to break.

"Alright, alright! Calm down. Just leave it to us. But first thing's first. Have a map of the city around here?"

"I think I do. Please give me a moment," Reynald left for the backroom, rummaging through the containers as he made sounds of items crashing here and there, sparing no time at all.

He returned, placing a piece of paper on the counter, dusting it off gently, revealing the map of the city.

"Nothing's changed that much even though it's a big city. This is the map from three months ago. Never needed it, so it got dusty. Sorry about that," Reynald said, dusting his hands off.

"This is what we'll do then. Cecil, please take Remuil, Beatrice, and Julia and search this part of the city. Claire, Zafra, Andersen, and Robin on this part. We'll split up the work. Try to ask around for a girl with Lucia's features, and possibly the men who took her," Laruse organized the bunch effectively, pointing to some parts of the city worth searching.

"What about you, Laruse? What are you going to do?" Cecil asked.

"Me? I'll be running around and stretching my body. I have a better chance of covering more ground if I’m by myself. I'll take this part of the city," he pointed to the majority of the southern part, where the commercial district and the small harbor converges.

"Could you really cover that much ground, better than all of us combined?" Julia asked, rather suspicious as she looked at Laruse.

"I've been with him for a long time. He's telling the truth, unfortunately. I don't know why, but he has an inhumane amount of stamina when it comes to these kinds of things," Cecil said rather convincingly.

"Well, there's no time to talk. Let's find her. We'll meet back here at around noon. Just stay here if you find her."

They separated, going towards their designated locations.

Laruse immediately ran towards his, dashing from street to street, avoiding people and carriages roaming about, using his agile body to make it through.

The southern part was the most congested one, seeing as it was the commercial district, and that at dawn or noon, the place would be packed with people either taking a stroll or trying to buy something.

But still, at his speed, he looked through the nooks and crannies of the district area, asking around whenever he saw the need to, even going as far as to ask kids who were requesting that he play with them, whereas he made a game that he was good at, beating them at it before leaving them wanting more.

"I'll be back to beat you again! Thanks!" he ran away from them after having asked, seeing as how children had a case of curiosity, and that, what they see are sometimes valuable but most of the time useless.

With the amount of ground he had covered, in the span of twenty minutes, he focused on asking around, all the while trying to affirm his doubts, which was his primary lead at this point.

He lightly pinched his chin with his index and thumb, thinking about those that he saw earlier, those that bumped into Beatrice, having the same bodily descriptions that Reynald had told him about.

"Hmm, I don't really like suspecting people, but it's becoming a habit these days," he thought about those men and kept a keen eye for them, not having anything else to go with.

"Good thing I have most of my energy back. If those guys were the real culprits, then I won't have any trouble," he clenched his fists in agitation after the memory of being nearly defeated by one named Ruslan resurfaced, and that a minor distraction was what saved his life.

As he was running, the crowd became even more dense with each meter covered as he almost ran into someone when his focus shifted from one of the passerby’s to a large man imminently walking the other direction.

That person managed to dodge to the side, avoiding Laruse, who looked back at the man as to apologize.

"What's with the hurry?" a rough looking, brown haired, incredibly tall, and built man spoke with a smile on his face. He wore casual clothing and gloves on his hands, making him look like a capable fighter with his fists.

Laruse focused his eyes on him, but dismissing him as a suspect despite having a build that nearly resembles the men he was looking for. But the man he was facing looked better honed than them, so a distinction existed between the two.

"Sorry about that. I was just searching for someone," he said, but the details were vague.

"Searching for someone, huh? Guess were on the same page."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm searching for people, women, ladies, girls, to be exact. Cases of kidnappings and being sold off to slavery. It's been getting worse. You have the same problem?" the man came slightly closer as to cancel out the need to yell awkwardly to each other.

"I'm trying to find a man's daughter. Kidnapped on the same day. Have any idea where they might be?" Laruse asked.

"I was just heading there now. If they're the people or not, we'll know once we get there. So, what do you say? Why not partner up for now?" the man extended out his hand for a handshake.

(What could go wrong) he said in the confines of his mind, taking the man's hand, which had an incredible amount of strength with it, nearly crushing Laruse's hand as they shook each other's.

"The name's Julius. You're?"

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"Laruse, let's get going. I'm sure that old man's bawling his eyes out this very moment."

"He cares that much about his daughter huh? That's tough parenting I tell you. Mine's a bit too rowdy, can't control her anymore," they amused themselves with a few small talks as they walked through the district, reaching the small harbor at the very end, where fishermen could be seen selling their fresh catches.

There on the harbor was at least three galley ships that were docked, and several other small ones, being maintained by people at the stern.

They walked down to the wooden docks, passing by the fishermen who walked the opposite way.

As soon as they reached the very end, there was one ship which was guarded by two armed people, looking normal to Laruse, but tiny to Julius.

"I'll be damned if this is the place," Julius said to himself, approaching and taking the attention of the two.

Right to the point, he asked them his question, in the most obvious and straightforward way possible.

"Is this the ship you use to kidnap women?"

They looked at him, perplexed and cautiously, brandishing their weapons whereas the two of them held none since Laruse seemed to have left his at the Inn, only having their fists.

"What do you shitheads want? This is private property. I suggest that you leave before I slit your throat," one man threatened them, not caring about the size of the intimidating Julius.

"Is that so? Laruse... How about we get a bit methodical? We'll get nowhere if we play nice with these guys, understand me?" Julius continued looking at them as he spoke to Laruse, intending to turn this into a brawl.

"Might as well. Don't think they're the negotiating type," Laruse cracked his knuckles as he stared one of them down, targeting the one on his left while Julius took the one on his right.

"What? You want to fight, huh bastards?" the man on the right took a step forward, unsheathing his weapon.

In that moment, Julius took a single step forward, grabbing the lanky man by his neck, then taking one more step forward, breaking part of the docks that he stepped on, then commencing to throw the man, we disappeared beyond the horizon, or simply the waters a few meters away.

The man on the left, distracted, shuddered in fear, but maintained his composure, looking to attack Julius, whose side was open.

Laruse quickly dashed, sending a chop to the man's neck, incapacitating him and forcing him to drop his weapon.

Laruse then barraged the helpless man with a skillful array of kicks and punches, sending him over to Julius like a tag team match in a coliseum, who now stood behind the man, grabbing his collar and sending him flying the same distance as the first man.

"You're pretty good aren't you?" Julius patted him on the back, continuing inside the galley.

"Wasn't even a challenge, honestly. But, it's good for a warm up," he followed him inside, anxious to know whether Lucia is safe from harm.

The ship from inside was moving left and right, mainly due to the waves of the water. As a result, most of the crates that looked like cargo became unstable, moving here and there, some of which would contain rather heavy things in them.

"Not badly built. But useless if you're attacked by pirates," Julius stated as he spoke to himself, navigating through the ship as he would stop the coming crates with ease, whereas Laruse would take that opportunity to move forward along with his escort.

"This is pretty difficult. It feels like I'm going to get sick from this," he said, holding his stomach and his mouth with his hand.

"Ha ha ha, you'll get used to it in time. Life on the water is simply refreshing."

"I think I'll lose my appetite long before I get used to it."

After much struggling from Laruse's part, they reached the upper deck, where many sailors immediately noticed them, calling for their allies.

"Hey, there's some intruders here! Get the Capt!" one of them yelled out, resulting in the amassing of brutish looking sailors around them.

"I hope you're ready for a brawl, Laruse. I'll leave my back to you," Julius said, backing away as to get a good view of those attacking him.

"This is hardly fair. They've got swords and we have nothing. Should've brought my sword along," he cursed his misfortune, assuming a fighting stance as he ascertained the abilities of these sailors just from looking at them.

"A man should know how to fight even without blades or weapons. His fists are what roars louder than anything else. It's part of you," Julius tightly clenched his hands in anxiousness for the thrill.

"Come on!" They yelled in unison, resulting in the crew surrounding them to attack all at once, weapons of blades and blunt edges raised without any amount of skill behind it.

Laruse easily disarmed those that initially came to him, forcing them to fight with their fists as well, only getting beat up by him as well in the process.

Julius on the other hand fought easily, needing only to swing his large arms to swat away the thin sailors coming him recklessly.

Those who had a larger body structure, however, did not back down quickly, taking more time to be taken down with punches before falling unconscious.

After most of the crew had been beaten down, and only a handful of the capable ones remained, still holding their own as they realized that they were no match for the two that they underestimated to their dismay.

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind them as they tried to catch their breaths.

"What the hell is going on here?!" one of the men spoke out loudly in anger.

"I-it's the Captain! These are the intruders. We can't hold them back!" a crew member managed to reply as he was down on the wooden ship's floor.

"You mean that only two of them were enough to beat all of you?! I didn't hire weaklings! You two, take them down, now!" the man in the middle shouted at those beside him, two tanned, muscly men whom Laruse recalls seeing on his way out of the Inn earlier this morning.

Emerging from a cabin door at the middle of the ship, the door unsheathed their weapons and readied themselves, looking to be more experienced than the rest of their crew members.

"Tell me, did you take the Inn keeper's daughter?" Laruse asked man who had his arms crossed, wearing an uninterested face.

"So what if I did. Who are you to ask?" The man responded with a deep voice.

"Like I said, Laruse. Sometimes men of the sea aren't just keen on talking. Let's just handle this then find what we're looking for."

With that, they both moved in unison, aiming to disarm the large men before fully fighting them, at a small disadvantage.

Laruse knelt upon closing the distance between the one of the men who slashed horizontally. moving to smack the man's hand, but failing from doing so as the man backed away, then moving in once more to slash with a certain degree of skill.

He looked at Julius, who had already disarmed his enemy, and was now gripping arms with his enemy, using pure muscle to overpower the other.

(Don't hate me for this, Julius. I'm not really much of a fair fighter when it's this tedious, I want to make sure that she's not harmed. Who knows if they're capable of that) Laruse thought to himself.

He picked up a sword that one of the unconscious crew members had, rushing the man with it at an unbelievable speed, surprising the man who lost his footing.

In a split second, Laruse smacked the back of the man's head with the hilt of the sword, only using it as a way to scare him and at least put him on the defensive for a bit.

The man fell down loudly, creating the sound of a loud thud that made the ship slightly shift its weight. At the same time, Julius had defeated his own enemy, overpowering him as he laughed loudly in triumph.

"Surrender already. I've had enough of this. Did you kidnap Lucia, the Inn keeper's daughter, and many others?" Laruse irritatingly asked as he stepped forward, forcing the man he was facing to do something surprising.

The man approached Julius and Laruse, who were ready to fight him as he clenched his muscles.

They entered the cabin together, beat up and out of shape, breathing raggedly for a bit.

They were met with numerous women, asleep and were bound up with rope as parts of their clothing were slightly tattered.

Noticing quickly, Laruse ran towards Lucia, who was near the very back of the room, asleep, but safe and without harm. And Julius approached the rest of the women also bound up, ensuring that they were safe.

He gently shook her body, placing his warm hands on her shoulders.

"Lucia, are you alright?"

She slowly opened her eyes, feeling the presence of someone in front of her, blinking as to adjust to the light coming from the open door and windows of the cabin.

"Wait... L-Laruse, is that you?!" she asked, perplexed as she tried to confirm his face.

"You're safe now, Lucia- wait, what're you doing!- " before he could finish, Lucia embraced Laruse tightly, crying as she tried speaking clearly, failing as she kept sobbing, saying, "They were about to do horrible things to me!"

Laruse, unable to do anything else, he held her trembling tightly as well, confirming her safety, "Don't worry, you're safe. You're going back to your dad soon; I'll make sure of it."