Chapter 66 - Kidnappings

As Nerun was about to enter the city gates, he noticed a small commotion in the road, in the distance. There was a group of cavalry units quickly galloping towards the city. They seemed to be in quite a hurry.

Everyone on the city gates had to move, to avoid being trampled by the horses. It was a group of about 20 soldiers, being led by a valiant looking woman with dark hair braided on her back. She was wearing the standard blue uniform and armor of the Kingdom's Army.

When Nerun saw the group, he couldn't avoid feeling he had met the woman before, but he just could not quite put his finger on where exactly he had met her. Everyone was wondering what was the cause of the hurry, but they knew better than to go asking unnecessary questions. Nerun heard some whispers in the back however.

"Maybe they are coming because of the rumours. It seems they are mostly true" said a man to his companion, while the other was nodding.

Nerun approached them and said: "Excuse me uncle. Could I ask you what has happened recently that deserves the attention of the army?"

"Young boy, you should not meddle in other people's business." said one of the men.

However his companion refuted him and said: "It's ok. It's not like it's a secret, and the boy will know once he enters the city. The thing is that in the last couple of weeks a series of kidnapping has happened in the roads surrounding the city. At first it was only the children of the poor people living in the slums that went missing, so not much attention was paid attention by the authorities. However soon the children of some artisans also were kidnapped. The city army was mobilized and tried to seek for some clues, since no ransom had been requested yet. However things kept escalating when more and more children went missing, and finally last night, the son of one of the noble families of the county was also kidnapped.

The alarm level went so high that parents have not allowed children to go out alone on the streets anymore. So far, there have been reports that up to 30 children have gone missing. The noble families and the Jobs Association are putting major pressure on the County Governor's manor for his apparent negligence."

The city army mentioned byt the man was not the same as the Kingdom's army. Every county has its own army, usually managed by the noble families in charge of the County.

When Nerun listened up here, he couldn't help but think of Joel's children who were nearly kidnapped had it not been for him. 'Could these cases be related?' asked Nerun to himself.

"Do the kidnapees have something in common?" asked Nerun with curiosity.

"Actually that's the scary part. There seems to be no correlation between the children and the families, after all their social stands are quite different. The only thing is that all the children missing are under 10 years old." said the man while putting his hand on his chin and thinking. "Anyway, it's quite likely that the previous arrival of the Kingdom's Army is to check this case out. After all, it will be House Vanilla's doom if they do not manage to achieve an early solution. House Salento is ready to go for the jugular should the Vanillas make any mistake, hehehe", finished the man.

The County of Syracuse in the periphery of Ansem, was considered a middle size county, and was currently managed by two noble families, House Vanilla and House Salento. Both families were rivals, and they ruled the County together, but the central management is divided in periods of 5 years for each family.

Right now it had been 2 years since the previous switch, and House Vanilla was in charge. They were a rather powerful family, and the current patriarch of the family was a powerful Qi Emperor, quite close to the level of a Saint, Oliver Dai Vanilla. They had other two Qi Emperors in their midst. They were also quite close to House Barunia, one of the Five Great Families of Ansem.

House Salento on the other hand, had only two Qi Emperors in their ranks, and the current patriarch was Rudolf Dai Salento. They had been weaker than House Vanilla for a while, and tried to put a wrench in the other party's development several times, with little success so far. Therefore these families' rivalry was all due to a conflict of interests. Both families kept trying to weaken the other party in order to absorb them and become one of the Great Families. This situation was actually not strange, and was actually quite common in several of the Kingdom's counties. After all, all the noble families aspired to keep ascending in the ladder that took them to the top of the Kingdom and the continent.

So, it was easy to imagine, that due to the mystery surrounding this case, as well as the inability of House Vanilla to stop the kidnapping, that House Salento had started applying major pressure and raising the unrest in the population.

Nerun talked to the couple of men for a few minutes, and left soon afterwards. It was his turn on the line to enter the gate.

After paying the fee for the entry Nerun started checking the city out.

It was a big city, close in size to the Frontier City of Corona that Nerun had seen before. There were many peddlers in the streets, and the busy and boisterous life made Nerun a bit nervous. After all, it had been a long time since his last time in such a big city, and this time he was alone, with no one to count on.

The first thing Nerun wanted to do was to search for information on a caravan going towards Eonia. After all, his main concern was to reunite with his Big Brother, and he had no idea how he was doing.

After asking for directions, some kind people told him that he should go to the Jobs Association located in the Town Centre, inside the Mint building. That was usually the best place to find information, and look for jobs and such. He could also hire mercenary groups and ask about traveling merchants, caravans and such. One could also sell resources and materials. The Mint Building functioned as a very busy hub of sorts towards everything involving money.

Of course there were other buildings and groups that did similar jobs, but none could come close to the level of influence that the Mint and the Jobs Association had.

As Nerun was getting closer and closer to the building, he noticed that the air was a bit estranged and people were a bit taciturn. Wondering the reason, Nerun was asking himself if the kidnapping situation would have anything to do with this.

The Mint was a very tall building, up to 50 meters tall. It had beautiful silver linings on its walls and great windows in all the floors. Each floor was 4 meters tall, and served different purposes. The top 4 floors were occupied by the Mint. The lower 3 were the Jobs Association, mainly composed of the Alchemists on the third floor, the Apothecaries on the second floor and the Blacksmiths on the first floor.

The fourth floor was sort of miscellaneous, and usually functioned as a trade center, and other minor organizations paid in order to conduct business on it. The local mercenary associations usually also had a post here, usually taking missions for caravans and such. If bigger businesses were needed, they were then directed to the main base of the different mercenary gangs. All in all, people loved the building of the Mint since it was usually easier to fulfil most any requirements they could have. Except for two, soliciting and slave trade. While these kind of businesses flourished everywhere, slave trade was heavily frowned upon in the Kingdom of Ansem, and slavery had mostly been abolished. As for the red district, they had their own venues.

The entrance to the Mint was quite big and there were several stern looking guards in the entrance. Nerun was amazed at the fact that all the guards were Qi Masters at the very least and looked quite professional, and there was even a Qi Grandmaster.

Nerun was about to enter, when he heard people complaining nearby. They looked like merchants and were seriously angry. "How is it possible that we are stopped from leaving the city in a Caravan for the next few days. Going out in a Caravan is the safest way out of here, yet they tell us that they suspect that the children could be secretly smuggled in them. Are they bonkers? What is the Vanilla Family thinking?" cried one of the men.

"It's understandable. They are getting more and more pressure to find the kidnappers, but they have no idea where to begin. The city army has caught some robbers that participated in the kidnappings, but they have no idea where the children are taken after they are delivered, and they know nothing about the leaders either. It's kinda creepy when you think about it." said another man.

"It seems that a curfew will be raised soon enough. The notice to not allow Caravans to leave the city was made by the Lieutenant that came from the Kingdom's Army. Apparently the lord Lieutenant has come to take command of the operation to catch the kidnappers and their motives. Hopefully the children will still be alive." said another of their companions.-

"It's just a bunch of poor sods. Why should we be concerned?" Asked the first merchant with some disdain in his voice.

"You can't say that. Noble children are also being taken away." answered the second man.

"I can say whatever I want. House Salento is ready to strike the Vanillas for their awful management of the situation. I'll go and support them. For every day that the Caravan is stranded here, I'm losing a ton of gold coins". After saying this, the men grudgingly left the Mint and went into carriages towards the noble part of town.

Nerun stopped right in his tracks. It looks like he would not be able to join any Caravan towards Eonia on a short notice unless this kidnapping case was cracked. Therefore he decided to go and look for an inn, however due to the sudden stop in the caravans, most inns were already filled to the brim. Nerun could not find where to spend the night, and staying on the streets was punishable.

So in the end, Nerun was forced to leave the city and search for shelter outside.

…

In the Governor's manor, all the candles were brightly lit, yet the mood inside the main study was remarkably gloomy.

The current governor, a middle aged man with some early baldness, was standing looking at a couple seated in the position of honor. There was a man, vigorous, with black hair and green eyes, who looked quite valiant and powerful. There were no wrinkles on his mature face, and he appeared to be no more than 30. This man was precisely Oliver Dai Vanilla, the Rose Emperor. He was actually more than fifty years old already but people would not be able to tell at all. Next to him was a beautiful lady, who looked quite similar to the man, with dark hair that was braided on her back. She looked quite beautiful herself.

Even the County's governor, one of the main members of House Vanilla, a Qi Centurion named Saras Dai Vanilla could only stand when seeing the girl. She was actually Oliver's daughter, but the main reason for the respect on his face was the girl's position. She was a Lieutenant in the Grand Army of Ansem, and she had gotten this position with her own power and talent. There was even hope that she could become a Brigadier or even a Commander in the future, so the family put particular emphasis on her development. Had it not been because this situation was threatening to go out of control, they would have never called her to meddle in this dirty situation.

"Are the news reliable? How will they affect the Kingdom?" asked Oliver with some clear concern in his voice. The news brought by his daughter were nothing short of shocking.

"Yes I am, Father. All of the High Brass in the army are kind of lost on what to do, but it's quite likely that a decision will soon be reached. However, for us this is a great opportunity. Especially because I have known him in advance from his beginnings in the army." said the woman with a tinge of pride in her sweet voice.

"That being said, it's quite sad anyway. The passing of a Legend is always cause of concern on the continent, not to mention that he was a great supporter for the Kingdom, and had been for the last sixty years at least. In the end, it looks like his body gave up on him, and he was called by EON. Soon, the state funeral for him will be performed both in Eonia and in every Temple in the continent. After all, it's not everyday that a Seneschal dies."