The sudden appearance of the person startled both of the people present.
However, unlike the tiefling child who was instinctively frightened, the woman with a basket instantly turned pale, a guilty reaction of someone caught red-handed, and immediately tried to flee.
But the grip on her hand was simply too strong.
"Who are you? Let me go!"
She turned around to face a male figure taller than she was.
He was handsome, yet expressionless at the moment.
A strong sense of oppression emanated from his body.
To the woman, it seemed like countless dark tentacles were waving out from his body, reaching toward her.
"You... you!"
Gauss tossed the bread in the woman’s hand to Serdur.
Serdur caught it and sniffed it gently near his nose.
"Captain, there’s a sedative mixed in."
Gauss glanced at the trembling tiefling child, then looked back at the incoherent woman.
"What’s your purpose?"
He asked plainly.
The woman naturally wouldn’t willingly reveal her purpose.
However, Gauss’s words seemed to carry a strong magic power when they reached her ears.
As if a persuasive swindler was whispering in her ears, coaxing her continuously, the terrifying man gradually appeared gentle and friendly, like a friend.
In her daze, she candidly and swiftly laid out her entire plan.
"This is my job."
"Someone paid me a sum of money to find these homeless tiefling orphans in the alley, using food laced with sedatives to knock them out and then take them to a designated place."
Upon hearing the woman calmly describe the plan.
The tiefling kid’s pupils shrunk rapidly.
"Who was the person who paid you?"
"I don’t know, he was shrouded in a black cloak, I couldn’t see his face."
"And where is he asking you to take the sedated children?"
"To... to..."
The woman, who had been speaking rather fluently, suddenly seemed to crash as if her system had stalled, and soon she hugged her head and rolled on the ground in agony.
"Ah!!!!"
Behind Gauss, there was a sound of scattered footsteps.
"Rat-tat-tat—"
Soldiers holding long spears jogged in from outside the alley.
Cautiously, they looked at Gauss and the others.
The patrol captain took a step forward.
"What are you doing in the alley?"
Gauss blinked.
The tiefling child got up from the ground, shivering but trying to stand before Gauss to defend him.
"This brother is a good person..."
The child rambled an explanation; it was unclear whether his words worked or the soldiers noticed the adventurer’s badge hanging before Gauss and his party.
Soon enough, the soldiers put away their spears and lifted the woman wailing weakly on the ground.
"We’ll take this trafficker back for interrogation."
"Sir, if convenient, please come with us to record the course of the case."
"Not very convenient, I’m about to take this child to eat now."
Gauss shook his head, calmly replied.
The patrol captain fell into silence, the alley entered a silent standoff.
"Of course, if you haven’t got time, that’s fine."
"Withdraw!"
The soldiers quickly withdrew from the alley.
The secluded alley regained its quiet.
"They came pretty fast." Serdur withdrew his gaze from the soldiers disappearing at the end of the alley.
"Even took her away, quite the coincidence."
Everyone shared a tacit understanding.
Their location was not on a busy avenue.
Though it’s possible a patrol happened to pass by and heard the painful cries from the alley and came to check, the likelihood was obviously low.
"Forget it, let’s eat first."
Gauss helped the tiefling boy up.
He was so hungry he was about to faint.
"How about some food to fill your belly first?"
Gauss took out a handful of pastries and candies from the storage pouch and placed them in the boy’s hand.
"Thank you, brother."
The boy swallowed, eagerly peeled off the candy wrapper, and placed the crystal-clear candy into his mouth.
As the sweet syrup dissolved in his mouth, the boy’s face showed a blissful expression.
"From now on, in places like this, don’t easily accept food from strangers."
Gauss kindly reminded him seeing this.
"Yes, yes,"
The boy nodded vigorously like a pecking chick.
After what happened earlier, Gauss has become someone the boy can fully trust.
"Let’s go eat first."
...
After lunch.
The boy parted with Gauss and the others at the restaurant entrance, still carrying several packed meal boxes.
He intended to share the food with other neighborhood kids.
Gauss watched his figure disappear from sight.
The group quickly fell into a silent atmosphere.
They could only help one boy avoid harm, but the city was so large, and right now in unseen corners, the second and third cases might be occurring.
This seemed beyond the capacity of one adventurer or adventurer team to handle.
This city is sick.
"Too many tiefling orphans."
Many human couples, after birthing a tiefling child, are so frightened and living under public pressure of fear that they abandon the child, even if they are their flesh and blood.
The lucky ones get taken in by institutions or tiefling mutual assistance groups, while unlucky ones might perish the day of abandonment.
And these tiefling orphans, lacking education and abandoned, under influence of public opinion and survival pressure, often take up petty theft or criminal activities, further worsening the situation.