"An incident?"
Upon hearing Nibald's reason for coming to Mavros Territory, Riezel, Lizbeth, Gerald, and Fanny were surprised for a moment.
Seeing their reactions, Andrea, who was standing nearby, cut in.
"It's a disappearance incident. I heard a lot of people in the army stationed at the Mavros family's main residence suddenly went missing for no reason, which is why Grandpa was invited over."
As soon as she said this, Fanny trembled all over, her face turning deathly pale in an instant.
"People in the army have gone missing?"
Gerald's expression changed as well, clearly thinking the same thing as Fanny.
"No way..."
Lizbeth covered her mouth in shock.
Riezel, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and fell silent.
"H-Hey, what's with you guys?"
Andrea had just mentioned it in passing, but now, seeing Riezel's group react so strangely, she was somewhat bewildered.
"Sir Brynhart?"
Nibald looked at Riezel in surprise, clearly wanting an explanation.
"It's nothing..."
Riezel didn't explain right away but glanced at Fanny, whose face was ashen, then turned to Nibald.
"Can you tell us more about this disappearance incident, Sir Garland?"
At this, Nibald looked at Riezel for a moment before nodding and started explaining.
Apparently, this disappearance incident had been brewing for a long time.
According to Nibald, disappearances had been happening in Mavros Territory for years.
At first, it was just a few commoners who frequently traveled outside—some of them were hunters and some were farmers working away from home. One day, as they went out to work, they would never return, vanishing without a trace.
Eventually, it started happening to merchant caravans. In the middle of their journeys, the entire caravans that consisted of dozens of people would disappear without a single survivor, and no one could find them.
At first, the local nobles didn't take it seriously, not even the Mavros family.
It was inevitable since this was Mavros Territory, the most chaotic territory in Jinas where bandits ran rampant and monsters were everywhere, so it wasn't unusual for travelers to meet misfortune.
However, things kept getting worse.
Not only did the disappearances become more frequent, and the scale of them grew, but even large merchant caravans with hundreds of people or knightly orders escorting noble children through the territory started vanishing one after another.
At that point, the nobles, led by the Mavros family, finally realized how serious things were and began investigating.
Unfortunately, their investigations led nowhere.
Let alone having any leads, they couldn't even contain the situation, which only made the disappearances get worse.
Ultimately, the incident even started happening within the army managed by the Mavros family, and that was when things really blew up.
Needless to say, the army was made up of valuable recruits gathered from all over Jinas every three years, some of whom were even children from major noble families.
As more and more of these people disappeared, these noble families started demanding answers from the Mavros family, making the pressure on them keep building up.
Even though the Mavros family was a marquis family and their current family head was none other than the Guardian Sword Saint, something this big wasn't something he could keep under wraps forever.
As a result, with the investigation going nowhere and zero progress being made, the Mavros family had no choice but to seek outside help.
"They suspect that some unknown magical phenomenon got involved in this mysterious disappearance incident. Otherwise, even as lords, they wouldn't have failed to find a single clue."
Nibald explained with a complicated expression.
"And since I have a bit of a reputation in the world of magic and some ties with Marquis Mavros, he personally wrote me a letter a while back, inviting me over to help with the investigation."
Evidently, that was the reason Nibald had come to Mavros Territory, preparing to visit the Mavros family.
"Finn..."
Hearing Nibald's explanation, Fanny's body started to tremble and tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Young Lady!" Gerald was startled and quickly rushed to support Fanny.
"What's wrong with her?" Andrea couldn't help but ask.
At the question, the one who answered wasn't Fanny, Gerald, or even Riezel, but Lizbeth.
"Miss Fanny's younger brother was sent to the Mavros family for training, and he suddenly lost contact three months ago..."
Lizbeth explained softly, making Andrea fall silent.
"As I thought..."
Nibald seemed to have already guessed it, so after hearing Lizbeth's explanation, he let out a sigh of pity.
"Miss Elyssir, don't be too upset. Yes, this disappearance incident is definitely strange, but so far, there haven't been any reports of the missing people getting hurt, so your younger brother might still be fine."
"R-Really? Th-Then where's Finn now?" Fanny's voice trembled, her eyes filled with tears.
"Well..." Nibald gave a helpless smile, unable to answer.
He hadn't even reached the Mavros family yet, let alone started the investigation, so how was he supposed to know?
Fanny seemed to realize she had asked a foolish question, so she didn't say anything else. Even so, she couldn't stop her tears from falling.
"Did no one report this and request an investigation from the royal capital?" Riezel asked with a frown.
"Of course they did..." Nibald nodded and then sighed. "I heard that His Majesty sent several court magicians over to investigate, even dispatched a squad of royal knights to assist, but they still didn't find anything."
Hearing this, Riezel fell into deep thought again.
It was no wonder the Guardian Sword Saint had turned to Nibald for help.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Nibald spoke up once more.
"Well, my granddaughter and I are heading to the Mavros family in Bessare to start investigating this incident, but we didn't expect to run into Sir Brynhart here."
Hearing this, Riezel hadn't reacted yet when Fanny suddenly leaned forward and spoke up.
"Pl-Please let me go with you too!"
It was truly rare for the timid Fanny to raise her voice like this.
"Please don't be reckless, Young Lady." Gerald quickly held onto Fanny's shoulder. "We just contacted your father, and he clearly told us to wait for him here in Karudia for someone he sent to pick us up. We haven't even entered the city yet, so how can we just ignore his instructions and run off to Bessare?"
Hearing this, Fanny didn't say a word and just looked at Nibald with stubborn, tear-filled eyes, silently expressing her determination.
Seeing this, Nibald was really in a tough spot.
Fanny wasn't exactly unrelated to the matter, but she was ultimately still just a little girl.
Even if she tagged along, what could she actually do?
Besides, since her father had already made his stance clear, Nibald obviously didn't want to take Fanny to Bessare. Not to mention, there were too many unknowns in this incident and no one knew what kind of dangers might be lurking ahead, so he definitely wouldn't dare bring a little girl who couldn't even defend herself.
For this reason, Nibald was about to refuse, but just then, Andrea tugged on his clothes.
"Her little brother might have gotten caught up in this mess. Grandpa, just let her come along, okay?"
Andrea actually requested something so unreasonable.
"Andrea, don't be ridiculous." Nibald frowned. "Even the royal family and the Mavros family haven't found any clues yet. You must know there could be unimaginable dangers involved, so how could I just take someone along for a reason like that?"
"If you say so, what about me then?" Andrea huffed. "What made you decide to bring me along, Grandpa?"
"You... that's different..." Nibald let out a chuckle in exasperation. "You're already seventeen and soon, you'll have to set out on your own path to study magic. I brought you here to broaden your horizons and teach you a few things, not just to let you tag along and watch."
Hearing this, Andrea wanted to argue, but before she could, Riezel cut her off.
Riezel truly had no choice.
While he was lost in thought, Lizbeth tugged at his sleeve, instantly making him understand what was on her mind. Just like Andrea, she had clearly felt a bit of sympathy for Fanny's situation, which left him speechless for a moment.
In fact, he was actually in line with Nibald's thought.
If it were up to him, he wouldn't want to bring a twelve-year-old girl with no ability to protect herself into a situation where unimaginable dangers might be lurking either.
Needless to say, Lizbeth and Andrea were being pretty willful about this.
Just because they felt bad for Fanny, they wanted to grant her request?
In his eyes, that was kind of absurd.
However, seeing Lizbeth looking at him with those hopeful eyes, he couldn't help but feel his heart soften just a little.
'Whatever. I also needed to pass through Bessare anyway.'
Decided, Riezel turned to Nibald and spoke before Andrea did.
"Actually, having Miss Fanny tag along isn't exactly a bad thing. If her little brother really got caught up in this incident, maybe as his big sister, she might notice something at the scene that others wouldn't."
Hearing Riezel's words, Nibald froze.
"Besides, she already knows about this now, so even if we don't take her along, I don't think she's just gonna sit tight in Karudia and wait for her father to come get her."
Riezel continued with a faint smile.
"I mean, this young lady right here dared to sneak out of her house with just one bodyguard just because her little brother hadn't contacted her for a while. Do you know that she almost got kidnapped by a bunch of bandits who were ready to have their way with her before?"
Riezel's words made Fanny, who had been acting all stubborn, go pale before lowering her head in shame.
No doubt, Riezel was indirectly calling her out—calling her reckless, calling her ignorant of danger.
Lizbeth and Andrea, stunned, exchanged glances but didn't say anything.
Maybe they were finally starting to reconsider whether standing up for Fanny was the right move.
"You mean to say...?"
Nibald looked at Riezel thoughtfully.
"I mean, for now, taking her along wouldn't hurt." Riezel shrugged casually. "If she turns out to be a burden, we can just send her back."
With the highest-tier teleportation magic, Gate, he could send Fanny back to Karudia anytime.
Besides—
"By the way, we'll be coming too since our destination includes Bessare as well."
Under Nibald's surprised gaze, Riezel said this casually.