Two sounds filled the old, dimly lit room. The old woman was screaming, her two fingers broken and purple from lack of blood flow. And the culprit behind it was Levi.

The woman was doing everything to escape from the tightrope binding her body. She screamed, tried to kick Levi, and even attempted to bite him, but she refused to talk as Levi wanted.

"She has a strong will for someone with not much time left to live,"

Levi remarked.

However, the wall of will slowly broke down. The pain became too much to ignore. Once Levi held her ring finger, she shattered into pieces.

"Stop, please don't,"

the woman pleaded. Her voice was laced with desperation and agony.

"I will tell you everything, so please, no more."

But Levi's grip only tightened further. He looked into the woman's eyes, which held little light. A similar emptiness resided in Levi's own eyes.

The woman realized what Levi's eyes conveyed. One lie or misdirection, and she could lose another finger, or even her life.

"Who is your leader?"

Kuma asked, getting straight to the point.

The woman weakly shook her head. "I don't know him, but someone under him, one of the sailors and a ship manager named Lark, gives me orders."

"What does he look like?"

Levi inquired.

" He is bald, with brown eyes, tiny body, and a small mole on his nose," the woman described.

The woman's account confirmed Lark as the second suspicious person identified by lesser eyes. But once he entered one of the shops among the ticket counters, the tangible lesser eyes couldn't track him.

"Lark brought the sleeping drugs and the styrofoam boxes. After the kids went unconscious, he would come and take them away in these boxes on a small brown cart attached to his bicycle."

After that, silence fell, and Levi began his mind communication with the central eye.

"Have the lesser eyes seen anyone else enter or exit the spot?"

Levi asked.

"Nothing has caught their eye since that last incident,"

the central eye replied.

Today, the central eye wasn't with Levi on his usual shoulder spot. Instead, it was Rika, who would be in the way for this operation. As minutes passed, the central eye struggled to maintain its sanity.

However, this time, it didn't complain. Levi's voice, even through telepathy, sounded different, worse, and inhumane, almost demonic.

The central eye relayed the message to its brothers and resumed coping with Rika's constant chatter.

Meanwhile, Blake stopped covering his ears and turned around. The woman wriggled in pain and muttered something, likely a prayer. But even God couldn't save her now.

"Why did you kidnap them? You must have been here for a long time. People here must have trusted you so much that kids come here alone," Blake said, casting a disgusted look at the woman.

"Trust?" the woman retorted sarcastically. "I don't need their trust. Where was their trust when I asked for help? Nobody, not even a single person stepped up when my son drowned."

The incident occurred ten years ago when her son, a sailor, rode the wrong wave in his fishing boat. The unforgiving tides dragged him to the depths of the ocean.

His wife, pregnant at the time, tried to jump in, but the old woman stopped her.

"He's gone,"

she had said, watching her only child, struggling, shouting for help, losing the inevitable battle. But no one intervened.

"I don't blame them. If anyone else were in that situation, I would've been a spectator too. But what happened to their trust during the delivery when my daughter-in-law screamed and begged for help? No one came. Everyone shut their doors and windows, not even sparing a glance."

Both lost their lives in that tragic incident, leaving their only daughter with the old woman. Her anger subsided, realizing it wasn't the people's fault for not saving them. The risk was too high for anyone.

"But I forgave them, and yet they betrayed my trust again. They didn't even raise their voice when the third son of the Gino Family tried to take my granddaughter away by force," the woman's voice dripped with rage.

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Kuma and Blake exchanged glances upon hearing the family's name. Viscount Gino, a vassal under the Soron family, was sent here to establish a trading port. And by the looks of it and the woman's expression, she seemed to be telling the truth.

"Why didn't you say anything then?"

Blake asked.

"The city guards and other officials didn't believe me. They labelled me as a senile old woman trying to fabricate a case for money. The more I complained, the more that son of a bitch harassed my granddaughter, to the point where he even almost…"

She couldn't say the word, but the three understood the implication.

"If I hadn't arrived in time, who knows what would have happened to her."

"And why does the third son of Gino have to do with your kidnapping?"

Levi questioned. Unlike Blake and Kuma, who felt a bit of sympathy for the woman after hearing her story, Levi couldn't care less. As long as he caught the culprit, her plight meant nothing to him.

"I am doing this for money,"

she confessed.

"My life will end soon. I have no regrets in my eighty years of life, except for my granddaughter. I have nothing—no abundance of money or property—except this shabby business and a fifty-year-old house that has never seen renovation."

Tears welled up in her eyes again, the pain in her heart greater than the broken fingers.

"I want her to be free, not caged in the smell of leather and tonic. She always wanted to learn magic, to be a mage, to study in the academy. But as commoners, we can't afford it. I didn't want her to go either. Those spoiled nobles— all they do is laugh at the struggles and pain of others."

Blake and Levi were aware of the disparity between nobles and commoners in the academy, where minority commoners were often bullied, treated like trash, or called names, just as Blake had experienced.

"She saved money to buy magic books she couldn't even understand. But her heart devoured those books. She dreamed and had passion. I couldn't stop her, but I couldn't support her either."

"But one day, Lark offered me this shady business. At first, I thought he was joking, but the second time, I refused. The third time, my granddaughter's dream compelled me to do this. She is the only one I love. Even if it means taking others' loved ones to make her happy, I will do it, even if it costs my life."

The woman was ready to spend every bit of her remaining life to ensure her granddaughter could pursue her dream without constraints.

Levi sarcastically clapped and smiled, "What a sad story. Almost makes me want to let you go and show your granddaughter the sacrifice you are making for her."

A shudder ran down the woman's spine as she attempted to break free of the rope and grab Levi by his neck. "Don't. An innocent child like her. She… will break."

"Just imagining her expression, those sad, betrayed eyes are electrifying. What if… really, what if she gets to know?" Levi's creased face grew even gloomier, unsettling the woman further.

"But that can change if you tell me everything you know. Your granddaughter doesn't know anything, or else I can do something worse than the third son of the Gino family did."

Levi's words sent a chill not only down the woman's spine but also down Blake and Kuma's. Levi's sudden change in voice, posture, and behaviour left them bewildered. They wondered if he was merely acting or revealing his true self.

"I have already told you everything I know. I swear. I only kidnapped ten kids and received ten million Dale for it. I didn't order anything after that, nor did I want to know what they did to those kids."

The woman's desperation grew with each word she spoke. She cried every time she picked up those unconscious, innocent children and placed them in the container. That's why she never asked Lark what happened to those kids.

"It doesn't feel like she's lying," Levi remarked, touching the woman's hand.

Blake was about to turn around to witness another round of finger-breaking, but Levi surprised him by starting to heal the broken fingers. Golden strings floated from Levi's fingers to the woman's, and the purple colour of her skin began to fade.

"Why?" the perplexed woman asked.

Levi ignored her and continued healing her. "Act as you normally would. Forget we came here and everything that happened. And if you remember, write the names of the kids you poisoned."

The treatment was complete, and the woman felt life return to her cracked bones. They felt more flexible than usual.

"Whatever money you got from the kidnapping, hide it somewhere only you and your granddaughter know. I am letting you go on one condition. That doesn't mean I won't come back. You will be punished, and your last chance might just be laundering that illegal money to secure a future for your granddaughter."

Levi looked at Kuma for agreement. Kuma gave a thumbs up, understanding the motive behind the plan.

If they turned the woman over to the city guards, other culprits would be on their guard. Keeping her locked in this room would also raise suspicion.

The woman pondered for a moment, considering her options. She thought of the cash hidden beneath her bedroom, behind her cupboard, and in every hidden space in her house.

All that remained was to launder the money to a bank. She would have to pay some charges for not paying taxes on her "savings," but that money would sustain her daughter for a long time, even after she completed her studies.

She looked at Levi, realizing there was no way out. He had given her the best solution possible.

"I will do as you say."

Levi began untying her and then pointed at her teeth.

"You might want to wear a mask or cover them with something. I can't regrow teeth."

The woman's front teeth resembled wide, open windows. She nodded and moved to the counter, where she started writing three names.

"I suspect them to be part of the kidnapping. There is no evidence… let's just say it's a dying woman's instinct."

Levi took the paper, and the three of them left the store as if they hadn't just confronted an old, frail woman.

Blake looked back, realizing things had gone smoother than expected, with minimal bloodshed. Once again, he admired Levi's quick thinking and wit.

"Levi, what if the woman had refused to cooperate with you?"

Blake asked.

Levi, putting his hand on his chin, contemplated what he would have done if the woman had refused.

"I would have just knocked her out and kept her inside those large boxes until we finished our work."

As Levi began walking, he glanced back at Kuma and Blake, who stood there silently.

"Come on, let's get this over with."

The two shook their heads, silently agreeing, "He planned on doing something worse than just knocking her out."