In the early hours of the morning, Roy slept soundly in the warm bed, dreaming that after he singled out the gryphon, the higher vampire, and the shadow elder, a mirror merchant with an aquiline nose and a leprosy head appeared in front of him.
A sudden slam on the door woke him up.
"Susie, Old Moore, there's something urgent, open the door!" Roy struggled to get up in a cold sweat, and saw his parents standing at the door holding candles. The burly butcher opposite was terrified and explained with a trembling voice.
As soon as the night wind pouring in outside the door blew, he was completely awake from the confused state.
What was it that made the swearing butcher so rude? An answer flashed through Roy's mind.
"Uncle Fletcher, is something wrong with Brandon?" He put on a thin linen shirt and walked to the old couple.
Under the light of the fire, the butcher's eyes were bloodshot and his lips were chapped. He was like an ant on a hot pot, anxious and haggard.
"That stinky boy..." Fletcher lowered his head, his hand holding the torch and his beard shaking slightly, "he's missing and didn't come home tonight."
"Have you looked at Mindy's house? Will Brandon sleep at the boy's house?"
Roy took a deep breath and tried to keep his tone calm, "And the old captain's tavern, he also goes to occasionally."
"No one!" Fletcher shook his head. "I've searched and asked everyone! Since noon, no one in the village has seen him again. Although naughty, the stinky boy has never stayed out so late."
"Don't worry, Uncle Fletcher, think about where he might go? We'll accompany you to find someone!"
"You give me a rest at home honestly," Old Moore held Roy's shoulders, "Susie and I went out to help!"
"Dad, don't forget what job I did this month? I've seen more blood than most people see in their entire lives, isn't it just at night? I'm not afraid." Turn, squeeze their hands, "Trust me, I will protect myself."
Old Moore and Susie exchanged glances, sighed, and nodded.
This month, they felt the changes in their son more and more clearly. Roy was no longer weak and introverted. He had his own ideas. As long as he made up his mind, they couldn't convince Roy at all with their temper and character.
Several people poured out of the yard together.
Fletcher shook his hand. "Thank you, boy."
Roy felt the strength and nodded. He had seen the care of the other party for a month, and naturally he would not sit idly by.
The little slug is the world to Fletcher. How sad would he be to lose this child
Roy felt the pain of losing a loved one, and he couldn't bear it.
…
Every house in the village was brightly lit, and not far behind Fletcher stood One-Eyed Jack, Blacksmith Pusig, Night Watchman Thompson, and three honest male villagers, each with a torch, some with steel swords around their waists, some carrying steel swords. Hoes and pitchforks are well prepared.
"So many people? The village chief doesn't arrange for everyone to act together?" Roy was slightly disappointed.
"Ah..." One-Eyed Jack tugged at his beard and sighed, "The older you get, the more afraid of death. He said that it is not safe in the wild at night, but only agreed to send people to search tomorrow morning. It is not easy to gather so many people. Let's hurry up and wait until tomorrow. Skellige's salted fish must stink..."
"Boss, don't pour cold water!" Pusig glanced at the butcher calmly and reluctantly comforted him, "Little Brandon is probably lost outside the village, a very clever child, Goddess Meritelli will bless him. "
However, everyone present understood in their hearts, in a small village surrounded by wilderness, what does it mean to disappear? But no one wants to tell the truth.
Roy felt a chill in his heart, and he suddenly remembered his bad attitude towards Brandon in the morning.
What if Brandon had an accident? You can't take responsibility for yourself!
"No, we must find him."
"Let's divide into two teams and take care of each other... Search outside the village in the east and west directions. Don't go too far. If you don't find anything, come back quickly." The night watchman said, sending Roy, the blacksmith Pusig, the one-eyed Jack, Butcher Fletcher was assigned to his own team, while Susie and his wife searched the west with three villagers.
"Dad, Susie, don't worry about me, I'm safe with the uncle of the blacksmith taking care of me. You should also protect yourselves!" The two nodded when they saw that their son's equipment was better.
In the order of the blacksmith, the butcher, Roy, the tavern owner, and the night watchman, five of them walked into the darkness outside the village with a torch.
No one knew what danger lurked in the darkness, but in the wilderness of Posada, there was no shortage of ferocious wild dogs, wolves, and other ghosts.
…
The autumn night in Aden was extraordinarily cold, with the temperature close to zero, and Roy couldn't help shivering.
The full moon hangs high in the night sky, casting bright rays of light, and there are some strange calls faintly around, like insects, or something else.
Under the moonlight, the golden ears of wheat swayed gently with the night wind, and the tender hops swayed with a faint bitter taste, but there was no response.
Everyone first searched along the farmland near Kaye, shouting Brandon's name.
Although there are torches and moonlight, the field of vision is still greatly suppressed, and most people can only see objects around ten or so hours away.
But this is only for ordinary people. Roy was surprised to find that his field of vision was not much worse than during the day, and he could see clearly even objects 30 minutes away.
He realised that it was due to the enhanced vision produced by the 6-point perception, and he was not wrong.
An hour has passed, and the five people searched all the farmland in Kaye Village, but did not find any clues.
Old Jack had been paying attention to the expressions of others, and then suddenly stopped and asked again, "Looking around like this will not be effective. If you think about it again, Fletcher, where might that kid go? "
The butcher crouched down in pain and hugged his head. "The stinky boy often shouts about going to a big city to be a bard, but he never leaves the small country place of Kaye. At most, he goes fishing in the small river next to the village, but he won't go too far."
"I haven't fulfilled my promise yet. I'll send him to Vangerberg and Osenfurt to have a look."
Roy on the side sighed secretly when he heard the words, and after a while, a thought came to his mind.
"Uncle Fletcher, where is your wife, Brandon's mother... buried?"
The butcher's expression was sad when he heard the words, "Anna died of whooping cough for three years, and she has been buried in..."
"Cemetery!" The butcher suddenly stood up excitedly, "Anna is buried in the cemetery east of the village. Do you think the stinky boy will run there? I used to take him to worship every once in a while. I haven't been there for a few months."
"What are you waiting for?! Go to the cemetery!"
The place where the remains of Kaye villagers are buried is about 3 miles away from the east end of the village, and there is a path covered by grass and trees in the middle of the two places. Everyone held torches and ran along the road in the dark.
Roy ran out of breath behind several big men, and soon beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. His physical fitness was slightly inferior to that of adults, but he couldn't make a worried father pause his pace, he could only bite tooth.
Old Jack was not feeling well either. He was a lot older, and he drank a lot of alcohol on weekdays, and his physical strength was also weaker than ordinary people.
After rushing out for about a mile, Roy's left eyelid suddenly jumped, a warning sign rose in his heart for no reason, and he couldn't help shouting, "Be careful!"
As soon as the voice fell, a few strange green lights suddenly passed through the lush and dark bushes around everyone.
No, it was a pair of pupils that looked like ghost fires.
Accompanied by a noisy, depressed roar, a few ferocious wolf shadows in the moonlight blocked their way.