"I believe that miss Seka is the missing heiress of the Socram family."
There's silence for a moment, then they all respond in unison.
"""What!?"""
"Who's the Socram family?"
"Should we inform them?"
"Sigh, I just want to get back to my book..."
I glare at my niece for not taking this seriously. Honestly, why can't she act professionally around me. I know she does with everyone else!
She just shrugs my glare off. "What? It's a problem with three simple solutions. One, tell the family. Two, investigate Seka. Or three, ignore it entirely."
Well, she's not wrong. Personally I'm leaning towards ignoring the potential problem. Afterall, officially the heiress is dead.
"Um, who's the Socram family?" It appears that Trel is unaware of the local noble families. Though in this case it's difficult to find fault with him. After the incident, the family stepped out of the public eye to mourn, but never stepped back in.
I decide to enlighten him. "The Socram family is the noble family charged by the king with maintaining Somewhere. Count and countess Socram, catkin. Twenty year ago they were fairly popular and well known, mainly due to their enforcement of racial equality between humans and demihumans.
And sixteen years ago, they had a daughter named Penelope who inherited their mother's orange hair. But at one year old, disaster came for the girl. An organization that preached human supremacy managed to sneak into their estates and kidnap her.
It took a week, but the family managed to track the organization down. But once they were cornered, the leader snapped. Apparently he shouted about how he wouldn't let himself be captured by some filthy animals, then overloaded a fireball ring. Their entire hideout went up in flames, along with everyone inside. This included heiress Penelope."
The three of them gasp in shock. Trel it makes sense since he's the one who asked about them. Tesk, I can understand not knowing the full story even if you know who the are. But my niece...
"Why are YOU acting surprised niece? This is one of the things every employee learns when they get hired! That way they know to look out for any suspicious individuals."
She shrugs. "Everyone else gasped, so why wouldn't I?"
I let out a deep sigh. 'I really wish she would act as professional around me as she does while working.'
Tesk hesitantly raises her hand. "Um, but by the story, it sounds like the heiress has been dead for years, so how could Seka be her?"
"After the fire died down, they used magic to cool the hideout enough that they could enter. There they found very few bodies. The bodies had fallen in such a way that it seemed as if they were running away from something. What they found deeper inside was something else though.
Instead of bodies, they found piles of ashes. The closer to the epicenter of the blast, the less remained of somebody. At the center there was a small crater, and in that crater was an enchanted ribbon that was tied to the heiress' hair when she was kidnapped.
The reason it managed to survive the explosion was due to the powerful protective enchantment placed upon it. It was theorized that the kidnappers were planning to sell it, so they removed it from the heiress. But they were found before they could.
Unable to find any way in or out of the hideout other than the main entrance, it was determined that the infant died with the leader."
I hold up my hand as Trel opens his mouth. Once I'm sure he isn't going to interrupt, I continue.
"However, the fact that the ribbon was left at the site of the explosion, as well as the lack of any kind of demands for the return of the heiress, led to the masses coming up with the theory that they managed to hide her away before the leader destroyed everything.
Of course, there was no proof of that. Still, the family held out hope. But after two years of no news they gave up. They held a funeral service for their daughter and retired from the public eye."
My niece nods her head. "Considering the details Seka gave me in regards to her life, it fits in to the story." I gesture for her to continue and she starts ticking points off on her fingers.
"She was raised outside the walls by a single man. She had no contact with anyone else. Based on her words during the exam, he made sure that she understood slavery and how it could happen. She was incredibly blase about the thought of getting targeted by slavers."
Some rapid nodding, then she finishes. Likely he was planning to sell her to some human noble for a large sum of money. Either for political maneuvers or simply so they could have a sense of superiority about having a noble demihuman as a slave."
'Sigh. Why can't she ever apply that kind of effort into her work? If she did, everyone's lives would be much easier.'
"That would also explain her attitude during my examination." Tesk mutters under her breath.
"Oh? And what was her attitude like, Tesk?"
She blushes and looks to the side. "Well... she kept making advances on me while I was preparing to study her tail." She clears her throat then speaks clearly. "Based on what has been said so far, she was probably taught that sex is as casual as striking up a conversation. But I doubt that she'll actively seek it out while wandering the streets."
There's silence for a few moments. Then Trel hesitantly raises his voice. "Uh, if it turns out that she is the heiress to the Socram family, shouldn't we keep an eye on her? At least until we're able to find out the truth? Because if they find out that we knew about her and she gets into trouble, wouldn't WE be in trouble?"
Another moment of silence. Then I come to a decision. "Very well. I want at least one of you keeping an eye on her as often as you can. Tesk, make sure you apologize for your actions, and don't mention her tail to anyone under ANY circumstances."
After getting a confirming nod from both of them, I send them out. "Go, and be careful not to let her know what you're up to. She shouldn't be too far, and I doubt that she would get into trouble so soon after leaving the guild."
~Meanwhile~
Here I am, standing in an alley, no idea where I am. Surrounding me is a group of armed men. I look around at my encirclement. Then I look up at the sky. I put all the emotion I'm feeling into my next words.
"WHAT THE F*CK!?"