Chapter 518 The Jasmine house (2)
"Excuse me!" Erik said.
The woman froze mid-motion the second he spoke to get her attention. She took a sharp turn and put on an evidently well-practiced look of surprise. If Erik didn't already know she was an actress, he would have thought everything was normal; that was her skill level. The woman looked at his guard uniform, her eyes widening as she didn't expect Erik to dress as a guard. That was a good move.
"My name is Officer Guld," he introduced himself with a fake surname, his voice firm and authoritative. "I'm a member of the city guard, and I'm here to ask you some questions."
"Good morning, officer," said the woman. Of course, she knew it was all a ruse, but she appreciated Erik's approach to the quest; it was good because it demonstrated his determination to go to any length to achieve his goal.
Erik quickly continued, "We are currently investigating a missing case. According to our sources, the event took place here. Would you mind recounting exactly what happened?"
"Sure, officer," she affirmed, her voice steady. "To be honest, I already explained this to the other guards, but I will do anything I can to help you catch those brutes," she said, fitting perfectly in her role. "I guess you want to confirm things, am I right?"
Erik nodded, appreciating the woman's willingness to assist. She was playing a part in the scenario, but her sincerity was convincing.
<I should really take some acting lessons, this is more useful than I thought,> he said to himself.
"I came here after my colleagues to ensure we didn't miss anything," Erik replied to the woman's words. The last thing he wanted to do was annoy her. The problem was that, in the setting the guild prepared, there weren't cameras available because they were in an ancient city, so the Novices taking the test had to rely on statements. Of course, if the circumstances had been different, Erik would have said something different or found a different excuse, and in real life, he would have simply hacked a camera.
She gave a quick blink. However, the woman quickly regained her composure, nodding slowly as she set down the flowers she was arranging.
"All right, let me start from the beginning," she said, her voice tinged with gloom. "It was around midday, and the shop was quite crowded. Lucy, the Mayor's daughter, was present. She's a regular as she is someone who enjoys flowers and plants, and as much as she told me, she also has a private garden she tends at her home."
Her face fell as she recounted what happened next. "Five masked men burst in; I'd never seen anything like that before. They entered without even looking around; they knew who they were searching for and knew what they had to do to get her as fast and efficiently as possible."
She described their rough voices, harsh commands, and the terrifying moment when they grabbed the Mayor's daughter and dragged her out the back door with fear in her eyes.
"Lucy tried to run, and she did, but they caught her easily," she continued, her eyes welling up with tears. "How could they? She's only a young girl!"
She related the events that transpired in great detail; her performance was great, as Erik would have believed her if he didn't know she was an actress. Her eyes were clearly filled with dread and anxiety, which added a layer of credibility to her performance.
Erik listened attentively, trying to get some clue from her story. He never took his eyes off of her, carefully monitoring every muscle twitch and facial expression shift, listening to every single word.
"They didn't take anything else," she said, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Aside from Lucy's guards, nobody was harmed. They simply took Lucy and fled. Everything happened in the blink of an eye."
She paused, her eyes filled with desperate hope as she looked at Erik. "Please, you must find her. She's a kind little girl, and she doesn't deserve this."
"We will do what we can. However, I need more information. Is there something you noticed that was out of the ordinary? Anything you found weird?"
"I couldn't see their faces because they were hidden beneath their hoods," the woman explained. "But one thing I remember was this strange pin they wore on their sleeves," she said.
"It was weird because it is clear a pin would hint at their identity."
She then held up her hand, her fingers drawing a picture in the air. "The symbol was circular, like a snail's shell, but it wasn't symmetrical. There were three lines that protruded outwards from the right side, like sun rays."
Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to provide as much detail as she could. "The lines were irregularly spaced. The top line was slightly curved upwards, the middle line was straight, and the bottom line was curved downward. Each line ended with a small circle."
She sighed. "That's the best way I can put it." It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. It was very strange."
"Thank you," Erik said, nodding gratefully. He was already aware of what he had to do, find the guys with the pins, and he already had an idea where to find them. Truth be told, Erik noticed the brooch on some of the robots' rebels where he fought against the previous actor. He didn't pay any mind to it then because the pin meant nothing, but given what he learned now, everything started to make sense.
Erik assumed that if the actor played the part of an agitator belonging to a group, but he didn't have the brooch, it meant there was another group doing the same thing, at least in the fake story the guild came up with.
"Do you remember anything else about them?" He continued, his tone gentle but firm. "Their stature, build, or the tone of their voices. Every detail could be critical."
The woman fell silent, her gaze fixed on a spot on the ground as she tried to remember more. She began to speak after a few moments, her voice slightly trembling as she delved into the terrifying memory. "They were tall...and wore dark robes," she said softly, her gaze distant. "Their voices were low and husky, and they spoke in a foreign language."
Obviously, the robot Erik saw with the pin, among the ones clashing with the guards, did not dress like this, but the brooch was present. It was most likely used to inform the other parties that a member of this fictitious organization was agitating the crowd.
Then the woman clenched her so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "They moved with precision as if they had meticulously planned it," she continued, her voice growing stronger. "There was also a distinct scent...like burnt wood and...and metal. That's all I can recall."
<Well, this doesn't help me much, but I guess that in this fake setting, this would mean that this is a highly trained group,> the young man thought.
Erik nodded at his own deduction, carefully storing all of the information the woman gave him in his mind. Each detail she provided could help him get closer to his goal. He thanked the woman once more, assuring her that the authorities would do everything in their power to find and prosecute the perpetrators.
After saying a few words of comfort to her, he left the Jasmine House, determined to save the hostage and complete his mission stronger than ever.
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