They were looking at as though I were crazy.
I wasn’t crazy. Maybe a little, but not that crazy.
Sighing, I stood up and walked towards the kitchen area. The place was rather small, but it was also well-maintained. Reaching the nearest cupboard, I pulled it open and sifted through its contents.
"...Ah."
My eyes lit up after a mont as I took out the instant coffee and dumped it into one of the cups near the sink.
"I just about needed so coffee."
Fortunately for , there was also a spoon and hot water, which I poured into the cup before stirring. Leaning against the counter, I looked back at the group who still stood by the entrance, their expressions filled with shock as they looked at .
Let alone the old man who looked completely white.
I raised the cup.
"Thanks~"
"You! You⎯!"
That was when he finally seed to find his voice again, his hand rising and falling as he pointed at , still muttering the sa, "You...! You!"
Honestly, I wasn’t here for his nonsense.
Taking out my phone, I tapped on a certain recording as a certain tune drifted in the air. In that mont, sothing in the air seed to shift as the old man’s hand lowered. I could see his face growing slack as I continued to stir the coffee in my hand.
"Your son, when did he disappear?"
"T-two days ago..."
Hearing the reply, I took a sip of the coffee. A bit bitter, but alright.
"How did he disappear? Were there any ssages that you heard? Things that he said to you or anything that you found suspicious?"
"...No, there wasn’t... there... Ah."
The old man suddenly paused, and I turned my attention towards him. I knew in that mont that I had caught onto sothing as I lowered the glass in my hand.
"Go on."
The old man’s lips opened and closed several tis, but under the influence of the tune that drifted in the air, words eventually flowed out of his lips, "...A convention. He was going to a convention. T-that’s all I know. That is all... I know."
A convention?
I took another sip of the coffee in my hand while musing over the words. This was certainly sothing. Although it didn’t say much, it was still a lead. And shifting my attention towards the old man and seeing his expression turning pale, I knew that he had reached his limits.
I turned off the recording and downed the remainder of the coffee.
"Ugh... hot."
I put the cup down and walked towards the main door. Walking past the group, I could feel their stares were even more glaring than before. Moving near them, they all stepped to the side, allowing to leave as I reached for my phone again, ssaging my own group to tell them what I had found.
"Hm?"
Coming to a stop, I looked back at the group.
"What are you doing? Why are you all still in the old man’s house? We’re done here. While I did tell you all to make yourselves at ho, there’s a limit to how much you can do. Tut."
I shook my head.
"...I’m starting to get mad for the old man."
***
"What the hell... is he?"
Olive muttered, staring at the figure in the distance, the calm echo of his steps bouncing off the walls of the narrow corridor. Even now, he was at a complete loss about what had happened. This was the first ti he had ever encountered a situation like this.
Looking around his group, he was also aware that everyone else felt the sa way.
’I knew that he wasn’t right in the head after what happened in the World Congress, but I thought that he was just like that because of the circumstances. I didn’t think it would actually be this exaggerated.’
Oliver was also soone who aspired to beco a Ranker.
They were people he looked up to and wanted to be like. He had always felt like this whenever he was graced with the presence of one such figure. But for the first ti, he felt sothing different.
Not in the sense that he didn’t want to be like him, but that he just couldn’t... be him.
He just seed...
"How did you manage to catch his interest?"
Oliver’s thoughts were broken by a voice, and when he turned his head, his gaze fell on Cedrick, who was quietly staring in Seth’s direction. He had been silent the entire ti, which was nothing unusual, but when Mil asked him the question, Cedrick answered almost imdiately.
"I’m not sure... He was the one who approached ."
"Really?"
"...Yes. But I think it’s more to do with the fact that we’re familiar with this area."
"That could be."
Oliver agreed, his attention shifting back onto Seth’s fading back as he finally started to move alongside the group. In a way, it was kind of obvious. Even though they were all elites belonging to a King-Grade Guild, when compared to a Ranker of his stature and the MVP of the recent World Congress, they weren’t quite at the sa level.
He operated on an entirely different level, and the recent events made that clear, especially in how easily he was able to uncover such information.
But...
’How did he do it? How was he able to make the old man talk like that?’
The group had been going from house to house, asking questions, but no one gave them any answers. Everywhere they went, they were t with the sa scorn, born from the past failure that had led to the Western District’s current state.
And since they couldn’t force innocent citizens to speak, they could only leave. But within just a few minutes, he was able to find so leads.
This was...
Olive took a deep breath, calming his mind as he texted the Team Leader, sharing the piece of information with him.
’For now, let just get this piece of news out.’
Once the ssage was sent, he hurried his steps, following Seth from behind as the group moved towards a different area. There were several other people of interest that they had plans on interrogating.
The old man was just one of such figures, but the group knew that things would only grow progressively harder.
...Or at least, that was what they thought at first.
"So you’re saying that your son also went to this convention? And you even overheard him say that it’s related to what happened in the Western District in the past?"
"Y-yes..."
"I see."
Oliver and his group stared at the scene before them with numb expressions. They had already witnessed Seth’s abilities during their first interaction, but with each encounter that followed, their reactions dulled even further as he thodically questioned every person of interest, uncovering more and more information.
And now—
"Thank you very much. Your information was very useful to us."
Seth retrieved his phone while looking back at the group. As he did, his lips pulled into a gentle smile as he texted his own group.
"Looks like that was the last one we had to interrogate. We can go back to the compound. I’m sure everyone is tired. Great work."
Coming to a stop, he turned his attention in Cedrick’s direction before giving him a thumbs up.
"...You were great too. Good job."
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