Chapter 21: They had nothing to do with it.

'Did I scare her too much ?'

Kai tilted his head like a baby bird watching the hotel employee that knelt down on the floor.

The spilled wine was spreading even now as he enjoyed the light wine in his glass.

He snapped his fingers and the mana he had concealed, started to swirl around him again. Then as if a gigantic hand was reaching towards the aquarium, his mana spread like a net towards the shattered aquarium.

Piece by piece the scattered glass shards were gathered together with the aid of the water that leaked out of the destroyed aquarium.

Dozens of water bubbles with glass shards at their center converged as one and drifted towards the destroyed glass wall.

One by one, as if putting a hundred-piece puzzle together, the shards came together and was put together as a layer of ice held the shattered glass wall.

It was like the glass wall was never destroyed.

Despite the fear the hotel employee seemed to have, she watched all of this mesmerized and fascinated.

'Well, the spectacle was truly beautiful after all.'

Kai was satisfied with the result.

If what he was thinking was right and she really came from that place, it's better to leave a strong impression.

That was also the reason for his earlier performance, though he was truly angry when he heard Arad's distressed cry.

The mana that put the aquarium together then swept over to the broken wine bottle. The wine that spilled onto the carpet started gathering together drop by drop.

They made a big bubble and suddenly emitted steam. Kai heated up the spilt wine because he wasn't a fan of putting food he picked up from the ground.

The glass shards were also neatly placed on the low table beside the bed.

"That person is a woman ?"

Michael interjected smoothly into the conversation.

"Yes, it seems like it."

Kai replied while swirling the wine in the glass. He purposefully didn't look at him and continued staring at the wine glass. 

This action looked like the action of someone who was used to drinking wine. Michael seemed quite surprised.

"Aren't you too young to drink wine ?"

He interrupted when Kai raised the wine glass to his lips.

Hearing this he paused slightly. Kai wasn't used to someone always questioning his actions and paying deliberate attention to him.

Considering the person doing so was Michael, Kai's mood grew complicated.

After the strange dreams that he couldn't decipher from beginning to the end, whether they were truly memories or not, Kai wanted to keep him at a distance from him.

From the beginning he was planning on not involving himself much with the plot and keeping his distance from the main characters. 

But he seemed to have forgotten to do that when he got involved with clearing the first catastrophic dungeon.

'Now is a good time as any to reaffirm the boundaries I suppose.'

Kai thought determinedly that he would do so from now on.

"I am nineteen, so I wouldn't say I am young."

Kai answered after careful consideration.

Since he'll have to deal with them if his guess was right, it's better for Kai that Michael doesn't interfere much thinking he was a child.

'It's also a good chance to separate himself from the façade of the gentle and sheltered young master he portrayed.'

When Kai received no reply he turned towards Michael, only to see that he seemed to be in a daze.

Just before Kai could divest his attention on the hotel employee who was still kneeling on the floor keeping quiet, another deep voice posed a question at him.

"How are you feeling ? Is there any place you feel uncomfortable with ?"

The person who posed this question was none other than Ruwel Hart.

The very same duke he saw in his dreams. Seeing this person his mood became even more complicated.

In those dreams original Kai was an infant at the time of the incident, so there was no way for Kai to remember such memories as a baby.

But there was also a fact that Kai couldn't ignore about that dream.

If that dream really wasn't the true, then how did the original Kai grow up with a guardian knight of his mother, instead of his biological family.

'Well, there are so many things to consider too. Just because Kai saw that Ruwel Hart has same eyes as him, it didn't necessarily mean he was his father.'

Kai wasn't someone who jumped to conclusions solely based on speculations. It was true that the eyes he had were truly rare and only his family would have such eyes.

So there was also a possibility original Kai's father was a relative of Ruwel Hart.

He dispelled all those thoughts and pinned his eyes on the female employee.

"Ms. Pyro was it ? Please take a seat."

He politely pointed towards a chair at the low table because he didn't have the habit of talking with people who lowered themselves like that.

And the woman appeared quite shaken at his casual mention for a commoner to sit with a supposed noble.

Kai's origin is unknown after all, so calling himself a noble is too much and he didn't like the constraints of being a noble either.

Despite this being a serious discussion, Kai didn't want to leave the bed and it seemed no one expected him to do so either.

So he casually leaned against the headboard and waited patiently until Pyro started talking.

"Young master before I get to the crust of the matter, can you tell me how you knew I was a woman ?"

Pyro appeared quite curious and also felt threatened because he could tell she was a woman in spite of her disguise.

"You don't have to worry about how I found out. I doubt others would too and I am not in the habit of spreading other people's secrets either."

Kai smiled calmly.

"Then... there really isn't something I have to alter about the disguise ?"

In spite of Kai's reassurance, she still appeared worried and hesitant.

Kai let out a sigh.

"If you are really worried, I'll say it."

When he stated that, he could see how Michael and Ruwel tried to subtly lean in interest.

"It's because of your scent."

When he said that, Pyro's face turned beet red at an alarmingly fast race from her neck to face.

Others also looked bewildered.

Kai couldn't help but glare at this bunch of morons.

"I am not talking about anything perverted."

He frowned in annoyance.

"It's about your perfume."

When he mentioned her perfume, a hint of realization dawned on her.

Kai, who survived the fate of being labelled as a pervert from hair's breadth wanted to get back the conversation on track.

But if he saw the awkward expression on Pyro correctly, it wouldn't be that easy.

"By the way, young master how do you know about women's perfume ?"

Pyro asked with an awkward expression.

There was no sign of her initial fear at all. She seemed to be getting comfortable. Too comfortable in fact.

"Ms. Pyro seems quite comfortable around nobles. How admirable."

Despite the words being a compliment, no one took it as a complement.

Pyro went white with fear.

"Now then, shall we discuss why you are here ? Otherwise, there's no reason for us to waste time here."

"I apologize. My name is Pyro Madison. I am a member of the Erast women association."

She spoke in an earnest tone, probably because of Kai's threat.

"Since few weeks, strange things kept happening in our village. Few of the people in the village kept disappearing. Initially, it wasn't much and people thought those people would come back. But no one heard any news from them until now. Then gradually the number of people who started going missing increased to an alarming rate."

She explained with a solemn voice that created a heavy atmosphere with just her words.

"While the Erast is called a village and isn't developed like the center of the Gareth city, due to the Althea hotel, there's a high population here despite it being a village. It quickly became noticeable that many people went missing. But when the villagers informed the local authorities, they didn't take it that seriously. They only recorded the information about the missing people. There's no ongoing investigation."

Pyro's mood became gloomy and sad.

'It seems quite a personal issue for her.'

Kai thought as he watched her.

"Because the local authorities were acting strange, the Erast women association also started to pay attention to this matter. Some of the victims are family to quite a few of the association members too. We found some clues that pointed towards the Althea hotel about people who went missing."

No one interrupted her as she explained about the situation that unfolded under the veil of the Erast village's authorities.

"Some of the missing people have come into contact with employees from the Althea hotel. It's not certain and can't be used. But when this was reported to the authorities, they became violent and beat up the people who said this, saying they were trying to tarnish the reputation of the Althea hotel. We found this peculiar but since the authorities were oppressive towards those who even had a slight mention of the hotel, it became obvious."

"Did you try to reach out to other authorities outside of this village ?"

It was Michael who posed the question.

Considering the situation, if one solution wasn't the answer, looking for an alternative was just in line with his character.

Kai understood Michael's character better than anyone else.

'He really deserves to be called the male lead. If one method doesn't work, he thinks of something else. How smart.'

Kai praised Michael in his heart while maintaining a calm facade.

Pyro's expression became sour.

"We tried to inform the other authorities by sending people. But after they left the village, they never came back. People we sent to inquire about them, returned empty handed. Then we tried to send people discretely, but they also never came back."

Pyro looked aggrieved as she mentioned this.

"So there's someone covering the whole operation from the outside world among the authorities."

It didn't take much thought for Kai to deduce what's happening.

There was something that bothered Kai about this whole thing. He stared at Pyro until she locked her eyes with him.

"But why are you telling this to us ?"

Because they really had nothing to do with this matter.