"Why?
What's the problem?"
Karl asked in confusion, and Damian put his index finger to his lips and whispered,
"Shhh."
They stood there for a moment in silent confrontation, then Damian suddenly lunged forward and attacked the person in the bushes.
After a few moments...
“Ahhh!”
A scream echoed in the air.
Carl's eyes widened in surprise as Damian emerged from the bushes, pulling a young man by the scruff of his neck.
The young man struggled to free himself, but Damian held him firmly, even with just one arm.
Damian didn't let go until they were a good distance from the bushes.
The young man protested,
"What's going on, man?!"
He was panting, but Damian didn't even blink, replying,
"I have to ask you this.
What were you doing sneaking in here?"
"It's none of your business."
Damian briefly considered throwing a punch at the rebellious young man, but Karl spoke first.
"Glenn?
What are you doing here?"
“Glenn?”
Damian looked at the young man again, surprised.
He seemed to be about the same age as Damian, with red hair, slightly tanned skin, and a smaller build than Damian.
But there was a hint of rebellion in his expression.
Damian laughed dryly and asked,
"You're Glenn?"
“Yes, so what?”
“I heard you were away from the village on business.
Are you back?”
“I'm here on a short vacation!
But who are you, and how do you know that?”
Damian felt a pounding in his chest.
He finally met one of the people mentioned in the letters.
Feeling very relieved, he softened his cautious expression.
It seemed like Lentrae was a real person after all.
His heart started beating hard.
Damian suppressed his excitement and said to Glenn,
"I'm Damian Esterns...
I have some questions for you."
“Why are you talking so casually?”
Glenn stared at Damian, but Damian, feeling joyful, was unusually generous.
"I'm not younger than you.
You're the one who spoke informally first."
...Well, "generous" by Damian's standards.
Normally, Glenn's head would have been pretty beaten up by this time.
Glenn's facial expression became a little uncomfortable as he asked,
“Do you know me?”
"a little?".
"how?".
"Mrs.
Lentrae mentioned you in her letters."
"Lentray...?
The Lentray who lived here?"
Damian nodded, and Glenn's facial expression became strange.
“Why is Lentray writing to you about me?”
"Well...it just happened.
But before that...you didn't answer my question about what you were doing here."
“I was only following you because it was suspicious to see a stranger going to Benbrick Palace!”
"Is this correct?".
"Yes!
Why should I be here?
What's so strange about me being in my village?"
"Understood".
But Damien's doubts were not completely dispelled.
Before Damian can interrogate Glenn like a prisoner of war, Carl steps in to mediate.
“Hey, you two... you're not fighting, are you?”
"Fight?
Don't you see we're having a conversation?"
Damian replied with a calm expression, but Glenn shook his head and hid behind Karl.
“He looks like he's about to hit me!”
"He's shyer than I thought."
Damian muttered, Glenn felt insulted, and asked Karl,
“Uncle Karl, do you know who this man is?
He is your client, right?
Is it okay to bring someone like him here?!”
“Yes, he is a friend of Ms.
Sera, who used to live here.
He came once before.”
"Serra?
He's a friend of Sera's, not Lentrae?"
"...For now, yes."
“Then why was he exchanging letters with Lintray?”
"It just happened that way."
Glenn still looked wary, crossing his arms and looking at Damian with an angry look.
But Damian wasn't afraid at all; In fact, he didn't even look threatening.
“So what questions did you want to ask?”
“Oh, it's nothing important.
I'm looking for Ms.
Sera.
So...”
Damian took something out of his pants pocket and showed it to Glenn.
“Do you know anyone who looks like this?”
It was the photo Damian took with Liliana at the fountain in front of Lomiltos Palace a few days ago.
Glenn looked at it once, glanced at Damian, then looked back at the picture, lost in thought.
“Well...
I think I've seen her before, but I'm not sure...”
"Really?
Then you probably didn't do it."
Glenn's uncertain expression didn't look like a lie, so Damian put the photo back into his pocket and asked,
“Then can you describe the people who lived here?”
Glenn looked at Damian suspiciously and asked accusingly,
“What?
You said you were Sera’s friend.
Don’t you know what your friend looks like?”
“I have something to check, so I would appreciate it if you could tell me.
If you don’t know, it’s okay if Karl over there tells me...”
Glenn looked at Karl as if to say, “What’s going on with this guy?” Carl shrugged.
Since Glenn was unwilling to have a long conversation with Damian, Karl combed his chin and spoke.
“Let's see...
The Baron, the owner of this house...”
Karl stopped talking and frowned at Glenn.
“What did the Baron look like...?”
Glenn looked at him in disbelief.
"You don't even remember that?
The Baron, you know, the... the...?"
Glenn stopped mid-sentence, as if his mind had gone blank.
He scratched his head and tilted it in confusion.
“Why can't I remember the Baron's face?
I used to see it so often.”
And now Damian's expression became strange as well.
It seemed strange for someone to forget the face of someone they had seen only a few months ago, after living in the same village for years.
"Sorry, I'm not doing this on purpose.
I can't really remember."
"...Okay?
So what about Ms.
Serra or Ms.
Lintray?
What did they look like?"
"..."
"..."
Karl and Glenn's faces remained wrinkled in confusion.
They looked frustrated, beating their chests and clutching their heads.
“Why can't I remember?”
"Yes, why can't I remember?"
"As far as I know, Glenn was close to Lady Serra.
Wasn't he?"
"That's right!
I'm Sera's friend!
But I can't remember!
Really!
I even have a picture of her!"
"A picture?
Why didn't you say that before?!
Show it to us!"
“But I lost her...”
Damian looked at them with a strange expression upon hearing this answer.
But they looked really disappointed, and they weren't lying.
“Then can I ask the villagers?”
Karl nodded to Damian's question and replied,
“Yes!
The villagers should remember what the Benbrik family looked like!”
"That's right!
Others will remember him."
Damian was very puzzled, but he had no choice but to get into Karl's carriage with Glenn and head to the village.
Karl began to ask the people he met about the appearance of the Benbrick family.
And they encountered something very strange.
"The Baron's family?
Well, I wasn't close to them, so I don't remember their faces very well."
“Baron Benbrick and Lady Serra?
If I think about it, their faces are a bit blurry… I haven’t seen them much.”
"I can't remember either.
Glenn must know better, right?
He's been spending a lot of time with the Penbrick family."
"Oh my God, have I really got dementia?
I can't remember."
None of the villagers could remember the faces of the people who lived in Benbrick Palace.
No one could even remember simple details such as their hair color or height.
Karl drove the carriage around the village, but everyone they met had the same reaction.
"What...".
Damian was stunned.