After leaving the first batch of kidnappers in front of the prison, along with the kids that they had captured, we made our way to the final hideout where the supposed leader of the entire gang was hiding.
There were only 5 of them inside the small house that was located close to the center of the city. Yoru was sent in once again through the shadows to scout, and after confirming that only the bandits were inside, we stormed in, and quickly took them out. Except for the leader, whom I wanted to ask some questions.
He was a short haired man with a heavy physique. Of course, it didn't matter how strong he was, I had never seen anyone being able to break out of Vespera's webs.
"So, who's your client?" I asked the binded leader.
"Tch! As if I would tell you for free…"
"How many other children have you kidnapped?" I asked again, completely dismissing his comment.
"Don't know…" responded the leader with an obnoxious smile.
'Doesn't seem like this is going to work… I could beat the answers out of him, or… I could take a look myself.' I thought as I had come up with a plan to gather all of the information I needed.
"I promised to myself I wasn't going to use this type of magic unless it was necessary…"
I placed my hands in the bandit's head, then channeled magic through them: "Memory Check." I chanted, and just as my hands started glowing, I started to see the bandit's memories right before my eyes.
Thankfully, I had devised the spell so that I could quickly find the memory I was looking for instead of digging through years of a man's life.
That's when I saw it. The moment he had taken on the job to kidnap Lady Triana. He seemed to be in a different city, probably the capital, since it didn't look like Glorya or Speranza to me.
A man with a top hat was giving the bandits instructions:
"Make sure to kidnap others to make it look like it was a criminal spree. The least we want is for people to know we are targeting Lady Triana." said the mysterious man with the top hat while the bandits nodded in agreement.
"Also, if you see any elves make sure to bring them too. We will pay the same price as the Lady…" he continued.
One of the bandits raised his hand. "As far as I know, there aren't many elves here in Sephyr…"
"That's right, they are quite rare around these parts. You see, Lord Laval has recently developed a new liking for elves after seeing a group of them in his excursion to the magic forest…" said the man with the top hat.
"We'll try if we see some, but no promises…" said the leader of the bandit.
Then, I switched to another, more recent memory. The leader was standing in front of all the bandits gathered at the second hideout that we took down.
"Goddammit! How useless can you guys be!? You are telling me a child and a woman captured the team I sent to get the noble bitch!?" yelled the leader at his men, grabbing a cup of mead and throwing it to the poor guy that was in front of him.
"All we managed to get were three children. Not a single elf! What are we gonna tell the client!?" the bandit leader groaned.
"Tomorrow we will try again, you hear me!?" yelled the leader, prompting his men to respond with a roar as they doused themselves in alcohol and prompting me to finally stop looking at his memories.
I retrieved my hand from his head, then kicked him in the face to knock him out.
'We managed to get all the hostages… I'm glad… Lord Laval, huh?'
Just like we did with the other bandits, we loaded them up in a wooden cart, then had Yoru create a quick distraction behind the guards, leaving me enough time once again to leave the bandits in front of the prison without anybody noticing, then went back to our inn room.
__________
While I was already lying in bed, ready to sleep, I noticed Vespera sitting at the border of the window, gazing at the night sky.
"You are not sleeping tonight?" I asked her.
"I am… Although I just need a few hours. I slept yesterday, you know?" said Vespera.
'Right, she only sleeps every 3-4 days…' I thought as I closed my eyes in resignation.
"Alright then, don't be too loud… Goodnight." I said as I covered in the bed sheets
"Hey Ichiro…" continued Vespera.
"Yeah?"
"This whole operation we had going on tonight… Where did it come from?" she asked.
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"You've made it clear that you didn't care about helping other places that weren't End Town… So, I'm just curious… Why today?" she asked, directing her glance at me.
I could see why she thought that. I did make it clear a long time ago that I only cared about developing End Town.
In a way, I was angry at the rest of the kingdom for ignoring the town when it was about to get wiped out, never sending any type of aid or even a letter to ask how we were doing.
I explained that to Vespera, along with the reason why I was changing my mind now. It was okay for us to be angry at the kingdom for ignoring us for so long, but I was taking out that anger by keeping my products away from other people who didn't deserve that treatment.
Commander Thomas' story taught me that. If I hadn't been selfish from the beginning, and I had traveled to the other cities with my potions like Mr. Olliver recommended, I could have saved not only the commander's daughter but plenty of other people.
"So tonight, I decided I didn't want to have any of those regrets. If we let those kidnappers roam around for longer, they were going to kidnap even more people, and maybe even Lady Triana too… Not doing anything is still doing something, y' know?" I said
Vespera smiled. "I see…"
"Are you okay with that?" I asked, wanting to make sure that me and my familiars were all on the same page.
Vespera nodded in agreement. "I am. As your familiar, I can feel your emotions almost as strongly as my own… Ichiro, I will not allow you to feel that regret again." she said, placing her palm on my cheek.
All I could do at that moment was smile and succumb to my dreams "I'm lucky I found you guys…"
__________
The next morning, I went downstairs with Vespera to get some breakfast and get ready to continue our tour of the city of Glorya.
I felt bad that I couldn't have Yoru outside with me too, but apparently, I wasn't allowed to have a beast in the city with me unless you had a document issued by the Adventurer's guild, and since I was too young to become an adventurer, I couldn't get the permit.
It wasn't a problem for Vespera since she looked like a human… most of the time, at least.
It was our last day before we continued our trip to the capital, and there was one thing that I truly felt like I needed to do beforehand.
As we were leaving the inn, we found ourselves face to face with the Duke's family, who was standing outside talking to Commander Thomas and sub-commander Harvey.
"Ah, they are awake," said Harvey as he signaled me to get closer with his hand.
I approached the group and greeted them all before asking them why they were meeting right outside the inn.
"Well, looks like someone decided to go out at night and capture the entire bandit gang…" said Jackson with a sarcastic tone.
If I had to guess, he was probably experiencing deja-vu from when we met each other.
"Ah ha ha, is that right? Well, that's great, anyways, we got places to be…" I said, trying to squeeze myself out of the situation, but it was useless. Everyone knew it was us who captured them, so we had to tell the knights and the duke our part of the story.
There wasn't really anything to hide, so I told them that we managed to get all the hostages they kidnapped, the name of the noble that hired the bandits, and that their main targets were Lady Triana and random elves they could find.
The Duke seemed surprised when he heard the name of the noble. "Ichiro, are you certain it was Lord Laval?" he asked, placing both his hands on my shoulders.
I nodded with full confidence. "I can't exactly tell you how I got the information, but I can say for certain that's the guy that hired them…"
The Duke shot Commander Thomas a glance, and then they both nodded at each other as if they perfectly understood what to do next.
Once we were done with our testimony, I made my way to the drugstore in Glorya that was selling my potions.
Lady Triana, Lord Reinar, and their mother, Lady Karina, decided to come along with me while the Duke talked to the guards and knights.