Braum found the ten remaining children in the cage. Unfortunately, during their process of getting here, the five other children (out of the previous fifteen) were already killed.

"Damn!" Braum punched the cage, scaring the children inside.

"if only I was quicker in getting here..." Braum muttered while looking at the ground.

"Hey. You're scaring the children." Grant said to Braum.

Urada went up to Braum to console him.

"It's okay...it's not your fault."

Kelvin also approached the cage and lifted up a small device from his pocket.

"Kids. I want you all to look at me." Kelvin said to the children. All of them were curious about his new appearance and started to do what he asked.

(FLASH)

A bright flash entered the cage and the retinas of the children, which caused them to fall asleep peacefully.

"What the..." Grant said surprised.

"Wow!" Lisa's eyes were shining as she became amazed by the new device.

"...Alright. Do a full sweep and let's get the children out of here." Braum said with a shade of gloom. if this was the normal Braum, he would have said some sort of joke to Kelvin about the new device.

Everyone started working right away. They needed several back-and-forth trips between the mansion and the city to bring all the children, the bodies of the four men, and some other evidence. Braum couldn't trust the knights of the city anymore so he did not call them.

The sun was rising up into the horizon and the cold city became alive with people starting their morning routine. Inside the building of the searcher guild, a young teenager, or perhaps it's better suited to call him a young man, is sitting at the table of the restaurant drinking tea with a gloomy face.

"..." Braum stayed in silence. He was still thinking about the children.

Suddenly, another individual sat right in front of him. It was Grant, the searcher he was investigating the case with.

"Good morning." Grant greeted.

"..." Braum didn't reply.

"Helloooo. World to Zed. I'm here!" Grant started baiting Braum for a response.

"What is it? I want to be left alone." Braum replied with an annoyed voice.

"Hey...don't be mad...we finished the case. That's something to celebrate about." Grant said smiling.

"...And we let the kidnappers got away as well. What's your point?" Braum replied while frowning.

"*sigh*...ever since the searcher guild notified the orphanage and families, they were all happy to see the case solved...but mortified when they didn't find their children in the survivor list. Out of the ten children...six of them have been returned to families..." Grant trailed off in the end.

"Hey, Waiter! Get me some hot drink. Anything." Grant shouted at the waiter.

"Coming right up!" The waiter replied.

Grant got his drink and both he and Braum started to sip at their drinks in silence.

"... forty-two." Braum muttered.

"What?" Grant replied with a confused face.

"That's the number of missing children reported. Who knows how many more were kidnapped out of the public and official's eyes." Braum said.

"...But we rescued them." Grant also said.

"TEN! We rescued ten of them! Who's side really won here?! We failed to bring the kidnappers to justice and lost dozens of children in the process.....aren't you feeling guilty about this at all? Do you just care about finishing the case!?" Braum shouted in anger. The whole entire restaurant started to become quiet. There weren't that many people here in the morning anyway. Searchers usually get their breakfast outside of the guild's building.

"I...I'll go see how the remaining four children are doing." Grant did not know how to reply and left.

" *sigh*..." Braum slumped back into his chair.

'I told the Urada, Niko, and Kelvin to look for the fastest methods to get to Neversummer, the capital of Estalia. I don't want to stay in this wretched, barbaric kingdom anymore.' Braum said in his mind. He was already preparing to leave Lancester. He did not even want to take any more mercenary jobs here anymore. He was planning to go straight to the capital to finish his mission of finding Toziro's group.

Braum was just sitting and pondering things quietly when another individual sat in front of him. Surprisingly, it was Lisa Redflower, the identification expert who was with Grant. Braum didn't even get the chance to formally introduce himself to Lisa.

"...What do you want?" Braum asked.

"I...heard your conversation with Grant," Lisa muttered softly.

"And?" Braum asked looking annoyed.

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"I..I want you to know that Grant is also suffering right now...He doesn't just care about finishing this case. He...he joined this case because of an incident years ago." Lisa replied.

"An incident?" Braum asked.

"Y-yes...He used to have a partner in the searcher guild. They were known as the dynamic duo for their compatible cooperation in solving cases. But one day...his partner just...disappeared into thin air. Grant was frantic. He started to look everywhere but couldn't find any evidence...that was 10 years ago. Ever since then, he regularly takes any cases with kidnapping and disappearances to find traces of his partner, hoping that there would be some links. He...also felt guilty when he couldn't find the missing people. They reminded him of his partner. This time...they were children." Lisa explained in an anguished voice.

"I...I'm sorry," Braum said.

"Don't say that to me. I...I think you should ask him for the full story someday. I...I want him to be happy. I have known him and his partner ever since they joined the searcher guild...I no longer want to see him like this." Lisa muttered.

"I will...but I don't think I'll be staying in this city for much longer" Braum replied.

"I know...Grant explained that to me as well...he hasn't told you this but he plans to travel with you to the capital." Lisa also replied.

"What?" Braum was surprised hearing that.

"Yes...I think you should ask him about it later...I have to go now" Lisa left the table, leaving Braum alone.

After a while, Braum's drink has gotten cold. He stood up from his table and was headed for the exit. Suddenly, a familiar face entered the building, it was Lily, the mercenary guild's receptionist.

"Lily? What are you doing here?" Braum asked.

Lily noticed him. Her face was wet with tears. She ran up to Braum and hugged him.

"W-what?" Braum was surprised

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you" Lily repeated those words over and over again while still hugging Braum.

"Hey...what's wrong?" Braum stroke her back in order to calm her down.

Lisa stopped hugging Braum and looked directly into his eyes.

"You rescued my little brother. He was one of the children who was kidnapped." Lisa said.

"Huh? Really?" Braum asked.

"Yes! I...I can't thank you enough...my little Joseph...we're alone without any parents taking care of us...he's the only one I got." Lisa answered and hugged him again.

"Wow there!" Braum said.

Lisa stopped hugging him again and gave him several documents and a money pouch.

"What is this?" Braum asked seeing the documents and the pouch.

"The documents contain your proof of completion for this case and the pouch contains the reward money...there's also something else." Lisa opened one of the documents.

"This is a complete copy of the data pertaining the mercenary group The Bodyguards. I know you were looking for them." Lisa said.

"What? I thought you said we would have to get to Grade B before we can get any more information? Lisa...I hope you're not doing anything illegal...you'll get in trouble." Braum replied worryingly.

"This...this is nothing compared to what you have done to me and my brother. I have made sure I wasn't caught so you shouldn't worry. Thank you. You don't have to come to the mercenary guild again to collect any more documents after this. I must go now" Lisa hugged Braum and left the building.

Later that afternoon, the whole group with Grant and Lisa was back in the searcher guild. They were in one of the rooms housing the remaining four children who haven't been picked up yet. The children were sitting at a desk and eating peacefully.

"Do they still have families?" Kelvin asked.

"No...these are the only children who don't have any more families. three of them are from the orphanage and one of them is from the slums." Grant replied.

Braum crouched down to talk to them. He first talked to two children who were holding each other's hands.

"Let's get to know them a bit shall we?" Braum said and continued.

"Hey, what's your...and your sister's names? You two seem to be related."

In fact, it was more than being related. The two children seemed to be twins. A boy and a girl with very similar looking faces filled with freckles. Both of their hairs were blond although the girl had a shoulder-length hair and the boy had a short hair with bangs.

"I...I'm Mary" The girl first spoke with a timid voice.

"And I'm Larry! Thank you for rescuing us, Mister!" The boy spoke with excitement.

"I see..you guys are really twins...Were you from the orphanage?" Braum asked.

"Yes! We were from the same orphanage as that girl!" The boy pointed to another girl sitting at the desk.

Braum turned his attention to the other girl.

"Hey, what's your name?" Braum asked. This girl had a long ashen hair hiding her face. She seemed even timider than Mary.

"..." The girl seemed to look pale. She seemed to be traumatized.

"This girl isn't mentally well...Hey, Larry. What's her name?" Braum asked Larry instead for her identity.

"Her name is Rachael! She's a smart girl in our orphanage...but she was always bullied by the priest..." Larry said and trailed off in the end.

"""....""" The whole group was stunned. Their minds came to the worst conclusion possible when they heard of the priest.

"I...I see..." Braum replied. He did not know what to do in situations like this. He turned his attention to the final child instead.

"Hey, boy...what's your name?" Braum asked the final child, a boy with a short brown hair, a tough-looking face, and a larger-than-usual figure for his age.

"...Deckard." The boy did not even spare Braum a glance.

"This boy doesn't know manners..." Kelvin muttered.

"Well...he was from the slums...in fact, from his testimony, he was the kid who had a little fight with one of the kidnappers...the one we traced with the device...remember that, Zed?" Grant interjected.

"Ah...he's the one who we have to thank on finding that gravestone...Thank you boy...you did a good job." Braum said sincerely.

"I don't care..." Deckard replied.

"Tch. This child needs to be taught manners..." Kelvin did not like this boy.

"Rob...Let the child off the hook. He's been through a lot." Braum said and stood up.

"What are we supposed to do with these children now? Take them back to the orphanage?" This time, Niko also joined the conversation.

'I want you to take those children to your country, the ones who don't have any families left here. They will become important figures in the future' The words of Elmyra rang in Braum's mind.

"We're taking them with us," Braum said.

"What!?" Kelvin shouted in surprise.

"Hmm...." Grant stroke his unkempt beard.

"To the capital? They would be a burden!" Kelvin said.

"No. Back to our lands." Braum replied.

"What!!? They're foreigners! They shouldn't come to our lands!" Kelvin said and raised his voice.

"LIEUTENANT" Braum also raised his voice.

"I...am your new future king....YOU...DO...NOT...GET...TO QUESTION...MY DECISION....Let alone raise your voice at me." Braum stressed every syllable. Kelvin got down to one knee immediately after hearing his king.

"My apologies, my king! This lowly Lieutenant will accept any punishment!" Kelvin said loudly.

"King?" Grant noticed one word in particular.

"Zed! There are unauthorized individuals here!" Niko also joined in.

"Shut it...effective immediately, Grant...Lisa...and the children here...they are now authorized to learn the existence of our kingdom and our identities." Braum said.

"But that would be-" Kelvin tried to say something but was cut off.

"What did I tell you about questioning my decision?" Braum said.

Kelvin got back in one knee again but this time, Urada and even Niko joined.

"""We will do as you say, Your Majesty.""" The three of them said at the same time.

"Wooowww...Mister...so you're like a king or something?" Larry ran up to Braum. His short height made him raised his head to look at Braum's face. Braum stroke the hair of the boy.

"Yes boy...you will learn everything in due time," Braum said.

"You're...a king?" Grant asked.

"I will explain everything later, Grant, Lisa... I heard you wanted to join me in my journey to the capital, why?" Braum deflected the question and asked back.

"Actually...I...I have probably figured out your identity..." Grant said.

"What?" Braum muttered in bewilderment.

"The one you're looking for....Toziro...I knew him personally." Grant said a shocking statement.