【”On your way to the village, did you see a pair of people concealing themselves with black robes?!”】
【”Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure uncle told me he saw some suspicious people walking around at night. But I don’t know about them being two.”】
【”Really?!”】
【”Yeah, I’ll ask him for more details.”】
【”Sorry for the wait. Uncle, these are the two people I told you about earlier, Liner and Colette.”】
【”Hello. I’ve heard your story, looks you’ve been through some great trouble.”】
【”Yes…… Well, about that, I’ve heard you’ve seen someone suspicious yesterday, do you remember what he was like?”】
【”What he was like, huh? I was walking around at night with only one lamp to light the road, so it was pretty dark and I wasn’t seeing all that clearly, but…. That is right, I saw two persons’ silhouettes. They were wearing robes low over their eyes even though it was the middle of the night.”】
【”Anything else?”】
【”It also looked like they were holding a box or something, it was long and narrow.”】
【”That was them, that was definitely them!”】
【”I can’t waste any time, I’ve gotta hurry and go after them…!”】
【”C-calm down Liner.”】
【”She’s right. There are preparations to do before chasing them, because even if you go after them now in a hurry, you won’t be able to catch up with them.”】
【”You two should calm down. Whether you chase after the thieves or contact the guards, you better hurry and do it. Your success regarding this matter will depend on how fast you’ll act.”】
【”Yes, that’s certainly true…”】
【”Or rather, I think you should have contacted the guards earlier, but still, both of your choices are not bad.”】
【”Drawing portraits is my specialty. If you’ve seen what they look like, then tell me. That can be kind of useful when searching for criminals.”】
◇
While thinking of these things, Elu returned to the two people’s location. However, Liner was nowhere to be seen.
(In the past, huh? Which reminds me, Harold was talking as if he was acquainted with Colette and Liner…)
So as to explore Colette’s past, Elu first made some small talk with her, in an attempt to become more friendly. He didn’t feel there was any wariness to relax her from, but still, he couldn’t suddenly rush into talking about things like this. He wasn’t going to get results on this day nor on the day after, however, he was definitely going to meet her a lot from here on. If taking that into consideration, accumulating small interactions like this would be fruitful later in the future.
【”Anyway, about the black robed robbers…”】
【”Do you know something?”】
【”No. Just that, when speaking of black robes or people dressed completely in black, there is someone that really comes to mind, right?”】
【”Someone that comes to mind?”】
【”Did you not hear about him, Colette? His name is Harold Stokes.”】
【”I, I haven’t heard of him.”】
【”Is that so? He’s famous in the royal capital. He’s in the same age range as you and Liner, and yet he’s called the kingdom’s number one villain.”】
【”He’s a traitor who betrayed the country while being a knight and tried to cause a war. Moreover, he’s a “knight killer”, who left the knight order and then killed more than dozens of the knights that used to be his comrades. Those are the typical examples, but there is no end to the anecdotes about his heinous actions.”】
【”……”】
