"Tell me, when exactly did Cinci set out for that place?" he asked hastily.
"I don't know clearly. It's very likely around two o'clock in the morning. Young Lady Cinci usually comes back home before dawn. Her personal servant girl, Reddy, told me that Young Lady Cinci asked her to prepare a basin of hot water for her bath when she came back.
Reddy had waited until the morning, but Young Lady Cinci didn't return!"
"You now go inform my father about this. I will go to that place first!"
"Little Balir and other servants have already gone there. They sent back the word."
Qiki said hurriedly.
"Alright."
Le Xaan quickly put on a coat and picked up his blade. Then, he rode on a horse in the direction of the Goldfish restaurant in a hurry.
The Le Mansion was stirred up by the news. Le Finn ordered Uncle Zaner to go to that street along with some guards and then dispatched a servant to alert the authorities.
Tons of manpower were mobilized to look for Le Cinci.
They had to confirm whether she had truly gone missing or the other way around.
"Giddy up!"
Le Xaan galloped on a horse on the deserted streets. It was still early in the morning when there were few people on the streets. That made his trip smooth-going.
The word that Le Cinci had gone missing was just a spark triggering his apprehension, which stemmed from his own weird experiences around that street before.
His brown-coated horse soon made its way before the Goldfish restaurant.
The restaurant's door was locked at that point.
From there, Le Xaan could see the blackened expanse.
Numerous buildings were not completely demolished, and around them were piles of construction debris, a scene of desolation.
Le Xaan dismounted from his horse and walked into the street.
"Crack..."
His leather boots seemed to crash a lump of char.
Le Xaan rested his hand on the handle of his blade. With his combat experiences from the times before, he felt more or less calm.
His piercing eyes kept surveying the surrounding area.
Soon, he spotted a sign of a fight.
Half down the street, a post before a house was scarred with deep sword cuts.
The ground there was interspersed with messy, muddy footsteps.
Le Xaan stretched out his hand to feel the sword gashes on the post. Under the charred surface was light yellow wood.
And the sword cut so deep into the post as to reveal the light yellow inner part.
"It must be right here."
He slowly unsheathed his blade and walked into the wooden house before him.
The roof of the house was completely charred, giving off the sheen typical of charcoal. Around the room were blackened furniture, balled-up cloth scraps, and some melted-down but congealed substances, creating a scene of utter chaos.
A few steps into the house, Le Xaan discovered some traces once more.
A charred table was on its side on the floor, two lengthy gashes on its surface. On the floor were also some gleaming shreds of steel.
"Such a fierce battle."
Le Xaan bent down and rubbed the shards in his fingers. He surmised that these fragments were from Le Cinci's steel sword.
He followed the trail of footsteps on the ground and quickened his pace toward the backyard of the house.
Through the residence, he found his way to the yard.
Beside a breach in the wall stood a brawny, one-eyed man in leather armor with a headful of messy hair. While cursing loudly, he appeared to be plastering something onto the wall, holding a long, thick-backed blade in his hand.
"Who are you?"
No sooner had Le Xaan entered the backyard than the one-eyed man noticed his trespassing and stared at him with a ferocious expression.
"Who am I? That's something I should ask you!"
Le Xaan sized up the man while barking.
The man was roughly six foot three, with lumps of muscles all over his body. The long, thick-backed blade in his hand was gleaming with some bloodstains. He had a vicious, bestial aura about him.
The brawny man let out a raucous laughter while throwing away the pieces of paper in his hand.
"It seems that you are a relative of that girl? She fought with my disciples but was captured by me and my Eldest Brother. You are too late. She has already been brought to our stronghold, possibly now being enjoyed by Eldest Brother."
"A girl?"
Le Xaan's face darkened.
"Sir, in Gourian City, you must have heard of our Le family's name. Give me a price and we can negotiate."
"Negotiate? Bullshit! By the way, the Le family sends only you here?"
The one-eyed man snickered and stared at Le Xaan.
"They will soon arrive." Le Xaan was in no mood to withdraw this piece of information and was sure that the man could distinguish whether he was telling the truth or a lie.
Better to tell the truth frankly.
"So you are here alone? Quite courageous, aren't you?"
The man smirked.
"Second Son, Third Son, snatch him! We will let the Le family pay the ransom for him along with that girl! "
As soon as these words escaped his lips, two more muscular men jumped out from the breach in the wall. One of them was holding a long-handled ax, the other a man-height staff.
"Foster Dad, I can hold him down all by myself. Why bother to call both of us out?" one of the two men shouted.
"I will reward either one of you who captures him!"
The one-eyed man said with laughter.
Upon hearing this, the two men beamed at Le Xaan, their expressions betraying the ill intentions.