It's amazing how it's been over half a year since I've been here.

According to Shannon, it's October, two months to go before the end of the year and a new beginning, it's amazing how many days and months there are in a year.

As I had to work in order to eat today, I sent Russell out on a simple mission to gather herbs, fortunately they are herbs not too far from here so his head won't explode.

He went down to breakfast earlier, now I was going to breakfast.

After I came downstairs, for some reason I found Shannon looking down.

She was looking at the table with a sad expression, I asked her what was wrong.

"Is something wrong?"

She rushed to change her mood.

"Ah, good morning. No... it's nothing. I was just thinking about useless things. You want breakfast right? I'll get it ready quickly."

She hurried to go to the kitchen and prepare something for me.

◇

After breakfast I went to the guild to see what mission there was today.

As I entered I noticed that the place was quiet, voices were low, it was very strange this.

I walked up to the counter and greeted Jessica as usual.

"Hello beautiful lady, beautiful day isn't it?"

"Yes it is..."

That was weird.

Jessica usually responded sarcastically or pulled my cheeks.

But now her gaze was dull and wandering everywhere.

"What's wrong with you?"

I asked intrigued, first Shannon and now her.

Could this be the famous monthly visit they say women have?

She answered me as she worked normally.

"It's nothing. It's just that the lord of these lands has come and is meeting with the guild master."

"Is everyone this quiet out of respect?"

It could also be that they're afraid of him because he's a noble and they're commoners, it makes perfect sense to me now.

"Ah, they're done talking."

From above I heard a door open and some people chatting came out.

"Yes, please don't worry."

"Right, I'll take care of all the annoying paperwork for you, Bronson."

Walking down the stairs I saw two men, one was the guild master and the other a man I had never seen before.

His clothes were elegant and with several rings on his fingers, his physique was regular and his face was like an average reception worker.

I heard his name before I saw him head for the door.

"Viscount Heving, have a nice day."

"I will."

All the adventurers ducked their heads as the viscount exited the guild.

After he left, the usual voices resumed, I asked Jessica.

"What were they gathered for?"

"It's a confidential guild matter and they have nothing to do with you."

She said after accidentally hitting my hands with a large book.

She took that book to the guild master, for some reason she seemed reluctant to give it to him.

But she gave it to him anyway.

As she said, it was a guild matter so I concentrated on finding a mission with good reward.

◇

I was walking back to the inn to see if Russell was back, as I got closer I saw how two men were talking to Shannon and Mary.

But instead of looking like travelling salesmen they seemed to be intimidating them.

Mary was acting as a shield for her mother, I hastened to listen eavesdrop.

"Stop bothering my mother. We just paid you this month's money."

"Hahaha, don't say that lady. We heard that your mum makes a very delicious beef stew and we wanted to try it."

"If that's what you want then come back another day, we don't repeat the same menu for another two weeks. Or better not come back at all."

The man got angry with Mary.

I don't know who they were, but if she was angry it was for a reason.

I quickly went out to help them, but Russell seemed to be listening so he came up behind the men.

"Hey mister, the lady said to come back after a few weeks. You're disturbing the other customers who want to eat the daily special."

"Hah? Who do you think you are to order us around?"

"Me? Well..."

He flashed the edge of his katana a little to hint at how dangerous it was to mess with him.

"Tch. Let's go."

Said one of them, they left and Shannon sighed.

Mary gave them an obscene signal with her finger and tongue.

I came out of my hiding place and asked.

"Who were those idiots?"

"They're nobody."

Mary said before walking in.

Shannon waved at us.

I stood watching those guys walk away, one of them turned around and our gazes met.

◇

The next morning, I went to the adventurer’s guild to do another mission, this time I was accompanied by Russell, as we headed there we looked up at the sky and it was full of dark clouds.

A storm was approaching.

We entered the guild and everything was as usual.

I went to the request board, but it was very strange the quests today.

Almost all of them were about questing.

Apparently a lot of young girls from the surrounding area have gone missing.

Russell picked up and stared at it.

"This girl I know. I saw her a few days ago picking herbs for her horses."

"Do you think it's related?"

I asked intrigued by his opinion.

"It's possibly the work of the [Black Roses] who are behind this."

"Black Roses?"

"They are a criminal group who have a huge influence in the world. They concentrate on stealing, extortion, defaming, the list goes on and on, but they are the worst scum you will ever see."

"You'll have to be careful, because once you upset the black rose, they'll make you sleep with the fishes."

"I see."

That sounds weird.

How can you sleep with the fishes?

You'd be dead if it was like that, whoever said those words is definitely an idiot.

We took on a quest to defeat a nest of goblins nearby and that's how the day had to be.

Normal as every day...

◇

When the hunt was over we returned to the guild to show the evidence.

Jessica was still down and didn't understand.

Before we left for the inn, I found the guy from yesterday sitting at one of the tables, he was talking to a bigger guy.

I didn't think anything of it and we left.

It was starting to rain.

We got wet from the rain as we didn't have an umbrella.

"We have to wait a while for it to stop raining."

Russell and I waited for at least an hour.

It was completely dark by now and even though it is still early, there were hardly any people on the streets.

The rain was stopping and they are near the inn, we saw how the door was broken.

I hurried to see if nothing bad had happened to Mary and her mother.

I went in and found the tables overturned as well as some plates on the floor.

The bread counter was broken.

It looked like they'd broken in.

But worst of all was Shannon who was crying on the floor.

I approached her, but asked her to tell me what happened.

She lifted her face and said to me with tears.

"They took her away!"

"They took my daughter!"

"They said the debt increased because of financial issues of theirs and they were to collect three months in advance."

"Mary... they took my daughter after destroying everything you see!"

"Mary was kidnapped..."

This... this is a fucking joke, right?!

◇◇◇

In a hidden basement, Mary and other girls were pushed inside.

There were about 30 young girls.

Mary glared hatefully at the men.

"Why are you doing this? Don't think you'll get away with this!"

One of the men answered her as he exhaled cigarette smoke in her face.

"Listen you little bitch. This is a business, girls like you sell for a good price. For that you should be grateful, women from the countryside and areas far from the big cities are perfect to sell as sex slaves."

Mary was horrified to hear those words.