"Who promised you that I will help you?"
"Your father!"
Alex froze upon hearing the old man's words.
"I can prove it, look in my left pocket," the old man added.
Alex approached the old man, crouched down, and reached into the old man's pocket. His hand touched an object with an oval shape, and he carefully retrieved it.
Alex's eyes widened as he examined the object taken from the old man's pocket. Resting in his palm was a silver oval locket adorned with the initials "ED."
He immediately recognized that the initials matched his father's. The 'E' for the last letter of his name and the 'D' for the concluding letter in Eswald.
"The old man's naming sense is truly poor," chuckled Alex.
Following his father's instructions for such situations, Alex infused his mana into the locket, causing it to open and reveal a picture of his father.
"Yup, it's the old man, alright," nodded Alex.
"Anna, bring Amelia here quickly."
"Alright," replied Anna.
"Captain Clark, why didn't you or your men search him after apprehending him?" Alex asked as he stood up.
"We didn't think he'd be a threat since he's tied down," replied the captain, scratching his head.
"What if he had something explosive? What if it harmed me when I entered? Would you still use that excuse?" Alex asked calmly.
Clark stayed silent, realizing their mistake.
"Lord Alex-"
"Since he doesn't have anything dangerous and nothing happened, I'll let it slide this time. But don't repeat this mistake. Now, leave us alone," ordered Alex.
Clark bowed apologetically and left them alone.
Alex untied the man and inquired, "Why didn't you show the locket earlier? The guards would have let you in or brought me to you at least."
The old man expression turned dark as he replied:
The old man's expression darkened as he explained, "When I signaled my daughter's disappearance to the city guards, they didn't outright refuse to help. Instead, they exploited my desperation, extorted money, and then kicked me out. Since then, I've been wary of guards, not willing to risk showing the locket and having it snatched."
"Understandable," Alex nodded.
Just as he was about to speak again, the room's door opened and closed moments later.
"I'm here, why had you called me?" asked Amelia as she entered the room.
"Can you heal his eye?" Alex asked, pointing to the old man.
Alex believed that with Amelia's healing ability, she could restore the old man's eye. That's why he had asked Anna to call Amelia, and it turned out as he expected.
"I can heal his eye, but it will be as or even more painful than when his eye was ripped out," Amelia explained after examining the old man's eye.
"Really? You can heal my eye?!" exclaimed the old man in astonishment.
Amelia nodded with a smile.
"Okay, go then, heal him," said Alex as he moved a couple of chairs.
He placed the chairs in front of the old man's chair, then gestured to Lilia and Anna.
"Ladies."
"Thanks," said Lilia as she took a seat on one of the chairs on the right.
"I shou-"
"Sit," ordered Alex before Anna could finish her sentence.
She nodded meekly and sat down on the chair on the left, while Alex settled on the middle chair.
Meanwhile, Amelia began healing the wounds on the old man's body before addressing his eye.
"It's going to hurt," warned Amelia.
"Haha, don't worry about me young lady, I'm quite confident about my pain tolerance" assured the old man.***
"Haha, don't worry about me, young lady. I'm quite confident about my pain tolerance," assured the old man.
Amelia nodded and began the healing process. However, contrary to what the old man claimed, the moment Amelia started healing his eyes, he let out an agonizing cry that echoed not just in their room but throughout the entire barracks!
'Pain tolerance my ass,' Alex clicked his tongue, hearing the old man wail like a little girl.
He took out his smoking pipe. He took a big puff, releasing smoke that he solidified and wrapped around the old man, preventing him from accidentally hitting Amelia due to the pain.
After several minutes of blood-curling screams, the healing process finally ended.
"That... huff... that... was..."
"Warned you that it would hurt," shrugged Amelia as she took a seat on one of the chairs.
Alex waited for the man to catch his breath and asked, "What is your name, old man?"
"Cedrix," replied the old man, bowing to Amelia in gratitude. "Thanks for healing my eye."
"Don't mention it," smiled Amelia.
"So, how did you obtain this locket?" asked Alex a moment later. Although he confirmed that the locket belonged to his father, it didn't mean he trusted Cedrix.
"Your father gave me this locket decades ago for saving and healing one of his men attacked that had been fatally wounded by monsters. Back then, he promised that if I ever needed his help, I could find him. If for whatever reason he was absent, I should show this locket to his son, who would help me," narrated Cedrix.
'First Jonathan, now this man. I'm really beginning to think the old man was one of those overly confident parents,' thought Alex as he heard Cedrix's history.
'Back then, I was just lazy and weaker than this man. I couldn't even save myself if something happened, so why does the old man think I could help someone else?' wondered Alex.
"Do you have an idea who kidnapped your daughter?" inquired Lilia.
At the mention of his daughter's kidnappers, Cedrix's face became marred by anger.
"Yes, I know who they are since those bastards practically boasted about belonging to a group called 'Night,'" said Cedrix in hatred.
"Are you sure they are from Night?" frowned Amelia.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"Not really. It's just that saving your daughter is going to be more complicated than expected," replied Amelia with a solemn tone.
"Why do you say this?" asked Alex.
"It's because the Night group isn't just a small gang; it's literally an evil organization created by various bandits. Their main source of income comes from kidnapping, and the ones they usually kidnap are...nobles."