An egocentric system was irresponsible, and Elijah was forced to accept the mission whether he liked it or not. Elijah looked at Heidi, who looked confused because he kept changing his expression in a short time, and replied that Elijah was not given much choice by System since the beginning of his transmigration to this world.
"What can I do to capture him?"
Having seen the reluctance on Elijah's face earlier, Heidi could hardly believe it when Elijah agreed to help her catch the criminal. Heidi was shocked for a while. But in the end, Heidi managed to control her surprise and explained everything to Elijah.
"This criminal only appears every time the summer festival is held and disappears after he manages to kidnap the female winner of the dancing competition held in Arlo City every time like this. There are no casualties in these repeated kidnapping incidents. It's just that each woman who returned the next day always claimed they couldn't remember anything about being kidnapped by the criminal."
"Since no one was injured or had any trouble after being kidnapped for one night, a legend was created, and the people now simply regard the villain as a messenger of the sun goddess who came to bless the women who danced for her on this festival day. But of course, this bounty sheet would not exist if that were the truth."
While talking, Heidi guided Elijah to a quieter place. The two of them sat on a wooden box stacked in one of the small alleys. Heidi gave Elijah a chance to ask questions, and Elijah immediately used the opportunity to ask something odd about Heidi's explanation.
"I never saw about this criminal on the bounty board in the adventurer's guild. Before I follow your plan, can you tell me where you got the bounty sheet from?"
Heidi smiled, already guessing that Elijah would ask that sooner or later. The bounty board in the adventurer's guild was the official bounty that Arlo City issued. Since the bounty sheet he brought was never posted in the adventurer's guild, it was only natural for Elijah to doubt the authenticity of the huge prize the bounty offered.
"One year ago, the winner of the previous festival's dancing competition claimed that she lost her virginity after the kidnapping incident. However, no one believed her because no other victim had reported the same thing to her for these two years. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Arlo Town. Since she hates the city guards who don't believe in her testimony, she can only hire adventurers personally to settle her grudges."
"So... these offered rewards all come from her pocket?"
"Yes. Her grudge against the kidnapper is quite big, so spending that much money is no big deal to her."
Bounty rewards were usually provided by the city government, so there were hardly any citizens willing to use their own money to catch a criminal. The woman's decision to use her own money indicated that her hatred for the person who had kidnapped her and spent one night with her was indeed big. Of course, her hatred for the government was equally great since she decided to solve the problem on her own.
"Nonetheless, since all the victims claimed not to remember anything that happened when they were kidnapped, how could she know that what happened that night... was against her will?"
There were still irregularities in Heidi's explanation, so Elijah continued to ask questions until he was sure of the mission he was about to take on. Fortunately, Heidi was also willing to cooperate with him. The girl changed her sitting position, then continued her explanation of what she knew from her client's direct testimony.
"That's because she's the only victim who never forgets. Or, should I say, she was the only woman who was immune to Illusion magic that the criminal used on his victims."
Heidi reached into her pocket and pulled out another paper to show Elijah.
"Male, around the age of 30, human. He had a cut on his lip after the woman put up a fight the night she was kidnapped. The woman even managed to give a clear sketch of the man who had been disturbing order at the festival. Yet, just because she was the only one who was conscious, people thought she was crazy and tainted the name of the messenger sent by the sun goddess."
Elijah looked at the sketch of the face shown by Heidi, then nodded to indicate that he had memorized the face of the person he had to catch. Now that all Elijah's questions were answered. No matter what, even if what he heard was a lie, all Elijah wanted to do was complete this mission as quickly as he could.
"Should we sign up for that dance competition to catch the criminal?"
Heidi's eyes lit up while her cat ears twitched playfully against her will. Elijah said that because participating in the competition was the only way to accomplish the mission System had given him. But to Heidi, Elijah's question proved that the teenager had already read her plan and knew what they had to do after this.
"Of course, the best way to catch him is to be a participant in the competition itself. Unfortunately, I can't enter the competition because only women of the human race can dance in the competition. However, you can do it, Elijah. That is because you are a human and... can still accept a bit of makeup to pretend to be a woman."
So this was what System wanted from him after Elijah heard that only women of the human race could enter the main dancing competition. Elijah's head was throbbing even more from the stress he had to feel due to this mission. In the future, Elijah swore he would turn his body into a muscular one so that people couldn't make him do this humiliating mission again.
"Elijah, you can do it for the sake of the mission, right? You just need to dance freely and... pretend to be a woman for a while."
Heidi could see even more reluctance than before after Heidi said the last sentence. The woman panicked. To prevent Elijah from leaving, Heidi immediately used her persuasion skills to make Elijah stay.
"You can get seventy percent of the total reward if you're willing to do it! That's not a bad amount, is it?"
Heidi didn't know that Elijah had to complete the mission whether he liked it or not, so she was more willing to give her share rather than let Elijah go at this point. Participating directly in the event would increase their chances of catching the criminal. Rather than him completely failing, getting thirty percent was already better for the cat girl.
"...Alright. As long as you promise not to tell anyone about this."
Heidi's face brightened again as she nodded solemnly.
"Of course! You can trust me, Elijah!" she replied solemnly.