Calamity Upon This World

It had now been a few hours since Williams talked with Michael, and he was currently in a carriage travelling towards Zunesha village to get some information about his mission.

According to the map he had received, Zunesha village was located near the outskirts of Markwelter kingdom.

'A missing child, huh? This might get a bit annoying depending on how cooperative the village folk will be with his investigation'

Michael had told him that he suspected this to be the work of some local bandit gang.

Due to rumours about some bandit sightings near the area,.

The Marquis family of Balakar had conducted some searches around the area, but they found nothing, so the rumours were declared baseless.

But people still believe in the existence of a bandit gang nearby, due to which the adventurer guild assumed the rumoured bandit group was involved in this case.

But William would disagree with that notion.

If it really was the work of a bandit gang, it was highly unlikely for them to discreetly kidnap a child.

They most likely would've just raided and ravaged the village.

But since there weren't any such mentions, he highly doubted the existence of a gang.

Personally, if William had to guess, then some jealous village people had probably kidnapped the village head's daughter.

But those were all assumptions; for now, the only way to know anything for sure was by conducting a proper investigation.

Well, whatever the cause was, it didn't matter; the only important thing was saving the innocent girl.

After all, one consistent thing throughout both of his lives was his soft spot for children and the belief that children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood.

'I just hope I can get there in time'

(Hey brat I know how you feel, but in case things get dangerous, make sure to prioritise your own life.) Agni commented inside his head.

(I agree with Agni that while wanting to save people is commendable, make sure to always prioritise your own life.) Sera chimed in.

'Don't worry, guys; I value my life too much to risk it for a stranger. I just feel that since I have the power, I should at least not completely ignore the cries of help in front of me,' William defended himself.

(As long as you know.)

(Fine, just keep what we said in mind.)

**

After another hour of travelling, William had finally reached the outskirts of the village.

Once William had paid 1 silver coin of fees, the carriage driver went away to pick up its next passenger.

Zunesha village was a relatively small village, only housing a population of 3000, but despite this, the houses were well built and looked quite spacious to live in.

The streets looked clean, and there wasn't an unpleasant smell in the air. It was clear that the Marquis families were taking good care of this village, despite its small size and non-ideal location.

William was currently donning his usual Edge Lord attire of his tuxedo and mask, which made him stand out.

But that's fine; it should make it easier for him to make his way around this way.

However, the more he walked around, the more he came to a strange realisation.

The village was quite, almost too quiet. He had seen one or two people walking around, but when he called out to them, they just ignored him.

It was strange—really strange—why the people were behaving this way. According to what he had been told, this village had great relations with outsiders, usually welcoming them.

So why was he being avoided like this?

[Ah, I see.] Zephyr commented inside his head.

'What exactly do you see? he asked.

[Nothing; don't worry about it.]

'Huh, strange'

Ignoring Zephyr's weird antics, William made his way through the village, but despite his best efforts, he couldn't find anything.

So with no other choice, he decided to knock on the door of a random house, hoping to ask for directions.

~Knock~Knock~

After a few seconds of knocking, a middle-aged man with a thick white curly moustache and brownish skin tone opened the door.

"Hi, sir," William said.

Hearing him, the man didn't say much and instead just nodded unenergetically.

"Sir, if you don't mind, can you please tell me where the head of the village lives?" William asked.

After taking a few seconds to process his words, the man replied.

"Go straight and then turn right, and after walking for a few minutes, you'll see a house with a blue roof," he said, his voice sounding hoarse and rough.

"Thanks, sir; much appreciated," William thanked before continuing to walk again.

The man didn't say anything and just went back inside his house and closed the door.

'This place is really weird,' William thought.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly was making him feel this way, but something just felt wrong in this place.

Was it perhaps the eerily quiet atmosphere?

Maybe the weird behaviour of the people.

Or the weird comment from Zephyr, who usually likes to stay quiet.

But regardless of how much he pestered him, he just refused to elaborate, so in the end, he had to give up.

Ignoring his worries, William followed the instructions given to him by the man earlier.

After a bit more walking and searching, he finally found the house with a blue roof.

Which, strangely enough, looked even smaller than the houses around it despite seemingly belonging to the head.

But at this point, William really couldn't be bothered to start getting worried over every weird thing in this place; he just wanted to quickly complete his mission and be done with it.

And for that, the first step was learning about what exactly was going on from the man inside.

**

Authors Note:

So guys, any guesses about what's going on in the village?

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com