The next day, Shokei and her party are about to head off to the vilge of Granacur. The party bought some items from the Bck Market to prepare themselves for the trip. The mission as told by the King was clear as their objective is to search for the King's daughter and find the culprit that is responsible for the kidnapping. With preparations complete, the party heads to the front gates and then they head south to their destination.

  The distance to reaching Granacur is not far from Ursaror. From the walking distance, the party has finally made it to their destination. There, the party stops to view the vilge of Granacur.

  Granacur is a small vilge. The buildings are made of stone and the town is known for beautifully attractive women as it holds down a famous red-light district. The revenue that the vilge has is their bck market and a trade route.

  "We made it." Rei said.

  "The King said that this vilge is dangerous...but how bad can this pce be?" Kichiro asked.

  "I mean, this is our first time visiting this vilge." Shokei said.

  "Hmm, we should be careful." Marie said, thinking about this.

  "Anyways, we should split up to ask people for clues regarding on the King's daughter." Shokei tells everyone.

  "Sounds good." Rei agreed.

  The party agrees and from there, they split up to explore around the vilge. They are now trying to get information from the people for the whereabouts of the missing daughter.

  "Pardon me but do you happen to know a princess from Ursaror?" Naoko asked one of the locals.

  The local continued to walk on by, ignoring Naoko and moved on.

  "Drat, no such luck." Naoko said, feeling down.

  "Let's not give up that easily." Tamiko tells her. "Maybe we should ask someone else."

  "Right." Naoko said. She gets the attention of another local and asked. "Say, do you happen to know a princess that came to this vilge from Ursaror?"

  "Hmmmmmmm?" The bystander looks at Naoko in a weird and not so friendly way.

  "Ummm..." Naoko felt nervous, and Tamiko is right behind her.

  "Hehehe, for pretty girls like you..." the bystander said in a creepy tone. "Both are you look pretty for me to py with."

  "EWWWWWW!! NAOKO, RUN!!" Tamiko shouted at her as Naoko followed suit.

  The girls run as the bystander turns out to be a predator. The bystander did nothing as he stands there.

  During this time, the rest of Shokei's party continue to ask more residents about the missing daughter from Ursaror. Many of the vilge's residents that they asked were too ignorant and some of them were too busy walking around the area. Overall, the party has some hard time asking people for information that would be a lead to finding Hyacinth.

  Shokei looks around in the bck market. She hopes for herself to find some key information to find the King's daughter. She brings her attention to a clerk that is not too busy. The clerk looks up to see a customer is approaching.

  "Hi there!" Shokei said and asked. "Do you happen to know anything about a missing girl that is from Ursaror?"

  The clerk stood there, not responding to the question.

  "Ummm, you don't?" Shokei asked with a shrug.

  A long pause came for a few seconds until the clerk finally broke her ice.

  "In fact, I do." The clerk responds to Shokei.

  "Really?" Shokei asked.

  "That young girl..." the clerk said. "She was taken away by a group of men. These men appear to be wearing bck outfits."

  "I see." Shokei said, hearing this. "Go on."

  "In case you are to find her, I should give you a tip." The clerk said to her.

  "What's that?" Shokei asked her.

  "Listen to me carefully." The clerk tells her. "Some of the members from that group have hidden identities to protect themselves from showing off their cn colors. You won't come across them during daytime. Your best bet is to catch them around at night, which they usually show up."

  "Ok..." Shokei said and asked. "Is there a certain hangout spot where the other cn members show up?"

  "From what I know, they hang around a common tavern." The clerk tells her.

  "I see." Shokei said. "What type of cn is this?"

  "I have no idea." The clerk replied. "I don't know the name of this cn my friend. However, I do know this. The leader of the group goes by the name of Shadow. It's odd, but this is as much I can tell you."

  "All right..." Shokei said. "That's enough information I needed. Thanks."

  "No problem." The clerk nodded. "And I wish you luck."

  On the other side of Granacur, Rei and Lei are still asking citizens of the whereabouts of the missing daughter from Ursaror.

  "Hmmph! It's no use trying to ask people here." Rei compined. "I mean, you ask one person for information, you get little or nothing out of that person."

  "I know how that feels Rei, but...I guess that's how strangers are these days." Lei tells her.

  "Easy for you to say." Rei tells her. "But we seriously need to ask more people for whatever clues we can get."

  "True, but we need some bit of luck." Lei said. Then, she sees something that caught her attention.

  "What is it?" Rei asked her.

  Lei points out and there, the pair can see a man that is dressed in a bck outfit. The facial expression on the man's face appears suspicious. He has a robe around him, and he looks disguised. Rei and Lei can see him walking through the streets of Granacur.

  "What do you see, Lei?" Rei asked her. "Who the hell is that guy?"

  "Not sure, but we should sneak up on him." Lei suggested.

  Lei and Rei follow up to the man in the mysterious outfit.

  "Hey you!" Rei calls out to him.

  The man turns to see strangers coming up to him.

  "Hi, you wouldn't know about a missing daughter from Ursaror would you?" Rei asked him.

  The mysterious man shakes his head without saying a word.

  As he walked on by, the girls paused for a second to look at him walking strangely through the vilge.

  "Hmm...that's odd..." Rei said. "I have a feeling that he could be on to something."

  "What are you thinking?" Lei asked.

  "Let's stalk him to see what he's up to." Rei said.

  "But...you really think that's a good idea?" Lei asked her.

  "Did you see how quiet this guy was on us?" Rei asked her.

  "Why, yes. He didn't say a word..."

  "That's the point!" Rei interrupted her. "He has to be up to something. Think about it."

  Lei can see the mysterious man walking quietly, without suspicion, through the vilge.

  "You're right. Let's follow him." Lei said.

  "Quick before we lose sight of him." Rei said.

  Rei and Lei crept up behind the man. The mysterious man detects that he is being followed by them. Rather than looking behind, he continues walking in his position. Rei and Lei continue to stalk the mysterious man and then they see the man turning into an alley.

  "He turned that way." Rei said.

  "Where do you think he's heading off to?" Lei asked.

  "How should I know?" Rei tells her. "Look, we have to keep following him."

  The pair followed him and from there, they walk into the alley to find that he was nowhere in sight.

  "Hey! Where did he go?" Lei asked.

  "Strange..." Rei said, stumped. "He turned here and...that was that."

  "Weird..." Lei said.

  "Look, there has to be more to this alley. Let's see where this is going." Rei tells Lei.

  The girls continue their trail to the alley. Walking ahead, they found a wooden door that is on their left.

  "Look, a door." Rei points out.

  "You really think he went through that door?" Lei asked.

  "I'm positive that he did." Rei said, looking at the small housing building. "There was no other way, so he would been inside this pce."

  "I'm not so sure about this Rei." Lei said, feeling concerned. "I'm scared of what might happen. We should turn back..."

  "Oh, come on! We made it this far. Don't you want to know what lies behind this door?" Rei asked her.

  "But...it could be a bad vibe." Lei said to her. "What's the worst that can happen?"

  "Look, you have me, all right?" Rei tells her. "As long as I'm here, we'll go in together."

  "...ok..." Lei said, taking a deep breath.

  Rei walks up to the door. She opens the door and the pair walked inside. Looking around, the area appeared to be dark.

  "Hmm, it's so dark in here." Rei said in a whisper.

  Suddenly, the door behind them closed shut, making the inside look entirely dark.

  "Ahhhh!!!" Lei shrieked.

  "Huh?! Oh no!" Rei turned and saw that the light is shut off by the door.

  "AHHH!!!" Lei got hit with an object on the back of her head.

  "What the...ARRGH!!"

  Rei takes the hit as she became knocked out by an unknown object. Lei too felt the same hit as she was put into unconsciousness. The pair fell to the floor.

  Meanwhile, Beatrice and Tamiko are asking people regarding on the missing daughter from Ursaror. The pair are in luck as they are gathering information from a local with good facts.

  "From what I know, there's this one man that no one can tell what he is and his purpose for coming here." The local expined. "He goes by the name of "Shadow" for some reason. He makes an appearance in this vilge at night, and he wears a long bck jacket. He has a tattoo on his face, a crescent moon I shall say, and an eye patch that's gauze on one of his eyes. I know that this man is accompanied by three people that wears the same outfit as him. Their common hangout area is at the vilge's tavern, where the wicked and freaks of nature come out at night and there's no rest for the weary."

  "That's...quite a lot of information." Beatrice said to the local.

  "Yes." The local said. "It sounds a lot, but I'm sure that you gathered enough to process from what I have said."

  "It's ok." Beatrice said to him. "So, this man goes by the name of Shadow, right?"

  "Yes, yes." The local nodded. "But his appearance is at night. I must advise that you should stay away from him or his men. I heard that they are dangerous kidnappers."

  "Ok. Got it." Tamiko said.

  Later on, the party returned back together from the split. However, ...

  "Hmm, where did Rei and Lei go off to?" Shokei asked.

  "I don't know." Saeko replied. "Neither of us haven't seen them."

  "Ohhh, I hope they didn't get lost." Marie said with concern. "I just hope that they returned back to us."

  "Did anyone here get any information from these locals?" Shokei asked.

  " I found out about some guy who goes by the name of Shadow." Beatrice tells her. "I recall that he wears a bck outfit."

  "Same here." Shokei said. "I got simir information from someone else by one of the merchants."

  "What did the rest of you guys gather up?" Saeko asked.

  "I found out that this cn goes by the name of Moonhawk." Sadako said.

  "I got word that the cn's hideout is hidden somewhere far from this vilge." Ferron said. "The local said that the hideout is secretive and its hidden somewhere in the continent's ndscape."

  "I got information that the cn appears at night at a tavern called "The Howling Wolf." Kichiro said. "Someone said that the tavern is known to be a red-light district for the attractive women."

  "Looks like everyone got something different." Shokei said, thinking about the information gathered.

  "It seems so..." Tamiko said.

  "Then we should all wait here until it is nighttime." Shokei said. "That way we can encounter this Shadow and his cn."

  "Right!" Marie said.

  "Are we forgetting Rei and Lei?" Obsidian asked. "We have not seen them at all since we got here."

  "You sure they're not lost?" Saeko asked. "I hope nothing bad has happened to them."

  "We'll have to find them." Shokei said to her party. "I am getting concerned for their own safety. C'mon."

  The party decided to search for their missing allies before the vilge goes to dusk.

  Evening came into the vilge of Granacur. The party heads to the tavern, The Howling Wolf. There, they can see that there are a group of people near the entrance to the tavern and they can see all of them having discussion among themselves. Shokei looks at the pce in her view.

  "I don't know about this but...maybe its best that one of us should go in." Shokei said to her party.

  "Really?" Kichiro asked. "I haven't even thought of stepping inside there."

  "Then again, I think I should go in by myself." Shokei said.

  "That would not be such a good idea." Kichiro tells her. "We should stick together as a group."

  "Yeah." Marie said. "And not be like Rei."

  "We can't find Rei and Lei anywhere in this vilge." Mizuki said.

  "I know." Shokei said, feeling concerned. "Did something bad happened to them?"

  "You can't be too sure if they have disappeared from us." Mizuki tells her. "I have a grave feeling that there is the presence of evil that is going on in this vilge."

  "Tell me about it." Marie said. "This vilge is not friendly at all."

  "Hence the reason why it is important not to trust strangers Marie." Saeko tells her.

  "Look, we need to figure out what to do here or else we'll miss out on that cn." Kichiro said.

  "What's your pn?" Shokei asked him.

  "The tavern looks crowded from the looks of things." Kichiro said. "You should bring someone with you in case anything bad happens."

  "Yeah, you're right." Shokei nodded. She turns to one of her party members. "Beatrice..."

  "Yes?" Beatrice asked.

  "You're coming with me." Shokei tells her.

  "Ok." Beatrice nodded, accepting the invite.

  "Usually, I have Rei with me at times, so you'll be my repcement for her instead." Shokei tells her.

  "Got it." Beatrice said. "I'll help you along the way."

  "What about us?" Obsidian asked. "What should we do?"

  "The rest of you should be on a lookout in case of anything suspicious." Shokei tells them.

  The party agreed and then Shokei and Beatrice proceeds to the tavern. The rest of Shokei's party decides to find a pce to hide as the tavern is across from them. They hide there until further notice.

  Shokei and Beatrice walk inside the tavern. Inside they can see activities that are being held as there are people already drunk and two dudes having a feud against each other while intoxicated. There, Shokei can see the exotic dancing going on as a bunch of guys are going wild and crazy over the attractive girls with their seductive dance poses. At least three girls are posing for them as they work their bodies to woo the crowd.

  "This is interesting..." Beatrice said, looking around.

  "Talk about a pce with drunks and perverts." Shokei said. "Then again, the girls on the stage are quite charming."

  "Ehhh..." Beatrice gave Shokei a strange look.

  "Sorry if I got carried away." Shokei tells her. "We need to pay attention and find somewhere to take undercover in case the cn shows up."

  The pair looks around and there they see a corner that looks dark and isoted with two hanging lights that are above. Together, they went to the corner and stay there. Staying put, Shokei and Beatrice scouts the area to see the rest of the activities taking pce.

  "Are you sure you want to sit here?" Beatrice asked.

  "Yes. This is fine." Shokei said to her.

  The girls wait as they are on the lookout for Shadow and his cn.

  Outside, the rest of Shokei's party are waiting in their hiding pce. The party has waited for a while and checks to see if there is anyone else going to the tavern.

  "Still no sign of anything..." Mizuki said, being on a lookout.

  "If the people of this vilge are correct, we have to be on the right track." Saeko said.

  "We'll have to keep looking out for anything." Tamiko said.

  "I'm curious how long will Shokei and Beatrice be inside that tavern?" Obsidian asked.

  "I can't tell." Tamiko tells him. "It's been a while since they went inside that tavern."

  "Hey! Look!" Marie said to her party.

  Just then, the party turns to see someone heading this way. There comes a mysterious person in a bck long jacket along with three members of his group, also wearing bck jackets. Tamiko gets a closer look at the lead guy and there she sees a red-colored hairstyle with an eye patch on his right side. The guy appearance is bulky and has a strange look on his face. The party can see that the mysterious person is heading into the tavern and his cohorts followed him.

  "I...think that's him." Marie said, guessing. "I think that eye patch man might be the Shadow."

  "What should we do? Should we go inside or not?" Saeko asked.

  "No!" Mizuki said to her. "It's too risky. We would be suspicious if we were to act now."

  "Awww..." Saeko said in disappointment.

  "Then we will wait here and see what happens." Mizuki said.

  Back inside the tavern, Shokei and Beatrice watch the dancing girls pleasing the guys. Neither of them did not want to go where the crowd is and they can see that there are three new dancers entertaining them for pleasure. Looking around, Beatrice caught her attention on the guy with the bck jacket along with his cohorts.

  "Shokei!" Beatrice nudged. "Look!"

  "Huh?" Shokei looks out to what she sees.

  "Could that be him?" Beatrice asked, her eyes dart on the bck jacket.

  Shokei takes a look, and she can see that the guy in the bck jacket is talking to the bartender. The guy appears to be requesting for drinks. Shokei gets a good look on the guy with the jacket, noticing his red hair mixed with bck around it.

  "What do you think?" Beatrice asked.

  "He's interesting." Shokei replied. "But...could that be our guy that we're looking for?"

  "Although he looks hot, but I still say we should spy on him." Beatrice said. "We should find out where he and his cohorts are going."

  "Yes." Shokei said, getting up from the chair.

  Shokei and Beatrice has their eyes locked on the "Shadow" and his members as they appear to be having a discussion on themselves with beverages in their hands. Then, the guys turn to see the exotic dancers dancing the evening away at the small stage.

  "Hey man, you should go up there and get id by these broads." One of the men said.

  "You think I can get some?" The red-haired guy asked his member.

  "Trust me, how much you wanna bet you can grab them bitches by the bush?" One of his men asked. "C'mon, how much?"

  "That's a trick question...how about, everything!!" The red-haired guy responded.

  "You're bluffing us, right?" One of his men asked him. "Yeah, that's preeeeeety ballsy to go far."

  "Don't believe me? Watch this."

  By pying along with his deal, the red-haired guy goes for it. He goes up to where the dancers are. Shokei and Beatrice watches him as he makes a move to one of the dancers. The dancer sees him approaching and she seductively makes her move to dance behind him. Seeing her do this, the red-haired guy held the dancer by the waistline. Making his move, he slid his hand downward to the sweet spot. The dancer did not mind this as she felt the comfortable touch.

  "What on earth do you think he's doing?" Beatrice asked in a whisper.

  "He's really grooming this girl." Shokei responded. "More like charming."

  The guy in the red hair and the exotic dancer are seeing each other with seductive looks. The crowd looks excited as they are seeing this sort of action taking pce. The exotic dancer whispers to the red-haired guy and then she decided to take him by his hand. She escorts him off the stage and then carries him upstairs to the back end of the tavern.

  "He's heading up the stairs." Beatrice points out to her.

  "Come on. Let's follow him." Shokei tells her.

  Shokei and Beatrice went after the red hair guy. Together, they walked through the crowd as they are reaching up the stairs that is located on the upper left of the tavern. Luckily, there was no guard standing there to where the stairs are, and they made it to the second floor.

  On the second floor, Shokei and Beatrice can see that this area is different. There is a hallway with doors that are painted in bck.

  "Strange..." Beatrice said and asked. "Why is upstairs so dark?"

  "Not only that, where did that red haired guy go off to?"

  "Where do we start?" Beatrice asked.

  "Follow me." Shokei tells her.

  Together, Shokei takes the initial step in checking the rooms. The first door appears to be locked. Then Shokei checks the other door, and she finds that its unlocked. Walking inside, the room appears to be a bedroom with no windows. There was no one inside. Then, they decide to check the door all the way down at the end. Before Shokei could open the door, the door looks slightly open.

  "Here goes..." Shokei said to Beatrice in a whisper.

  Shokei walks inside the room and Beatrice followed. Inside appears to be dark and barely visible to their eyes. As soon as they walk in, the door sms shut. Before they could react, Shokei and Beatrice is ambushed as soon as the darkness trapped them in pce. Shokei's face is covered with a damp cloth that contains a sedative. Shokei struggles to fight her way out of the situation, but her grasp was too strong for her to break free. Unable to see anything, Shokei felt the sedative giving in and then she passes out.

  Outside at the tavern, Shokei's party is outside waiting for Shokei and Beatrice to return. They grow concern for their time inside the tavern and they are not sure of what might have happened to them. The tavern appears to be winding down for the night. The people that were inside the tavern are going home happy after tonight's event.

  "There's still no sign of them." Marie said.

  "This is getting strange everyone." Tamiko said in concern. "I'm really worried about Shokei and Beatrice."

  "Did...something bad happened to them?" Naoko asked. "They have been inside that tavern for a long time."

  "We can't tell. They have not stepped out of that tavern." Saeko said.

  The party looks to see that the st group of people are leaving the tavern. Then, the tavern's doors close. Neither Shokei nor Beatrice came outside of the pce.

  "Something's wrong..." Mizuki said. "I'm thinking that the tavern might be suspicious."

  "Same here." Sadako said. "I have an eerie feeling about this."

  "Oh no, oh no, oh no!! I knew it! Something bad happened to them!" Marie said, looking worried.

  "We don't know about that, Marie." Mizuki said to her. "We have to go inside to find out."

  "Look, over there!" Kichiro pointed out.

  Just then, the party saw something else as they can see four men appearing out from an alley. The men appeared to be escorting something that is wrapped in two bags, which is more of a big sleeping bag. The party watches as the four men head off to a direction as they are quickly leaving the area without notice.

  "Say, isn't that the four men that were with the red-haired guy?" Marie asked.

  The party witnessed what they are seeing at the moment. Mizuki looks to see that the men in bck outfits are quietly escorting the wrapped bags without any suspicion.

  "Those bags...they might be bodies inside...if that's the case..."

  By acting, Mizuki makes a bird call. Suddenly, a bird fly down. To where she stands and the bird nds on her shoulder. The party looks to see that the bird turns out to be a raven.

  "Wow! I didn't know you have a pet." Naoko said.

  "Yes. This raven of mines is Osicrus." Mizuki tells everyone.

  "Amazing." Saeko said, taking a good look at the raven.

  "Osicrus. I need you to follow those men that are carrying that bag and track them down to see where they are heading to. Return back to me safely to report." Mizuki commanded her pet.

  The raven nods and then flies above the skies to go after the men.

  "I wonder what was in those bags?" Marie asked.

  "Come to think of it, those bags look like you can carry someone inside...a body perhaps?" Saeko said.

  "Wait!" Marie said, getting what she thinks of the situation. "You...you don't think that..."

  "Hold it!" Sadako stops Marie from saying anything else. "You cannot say that Shokei or Beatrice got killed or something."

  "Then...that would mean..." Kichiro said.

  "No, we cannot accept the fate of our allies. Let's head down to the tavern and find them!" Saeko tells everyone.

  The party did so as they quickly get the owner their attention, who locked the doors to the tavern.

  "Excuse me sir." Saeko gets the owner of the tavern her attention and asked him. "I know you just closed up, but have you seen two of our friends that came out of your tavern?"

  "Hmm, I have no idea." The owner responded. "What they look like?"

  "One is blonde and the other has brown, curly hair." Saeko tells him the description.

  "That...I have not paid much attention." The owner tells her. "I've seen too many faces in my tavern these nights and I don't pay much attention in detail to what I see."

  "Oh..." Saeko said, feeling disappointed.

  "Well, it's getting te." The owner said, taking off. "Good night and stay out of trouble."

  The owner leaves the scene, leaving Shokei's party there.

  "Oh no. Even the owner has no idea on what happened to Shokei and Beatrice." Marie said.

  "We cannot give up on them." Mizuki said to her. "If you think about it, we have not seen the red-haired man at all. We have not seen him leaving this tavern."

  "You think he left through another entrance?" Saeko asked.

  "That could be the case." Mizuki said. "But those bags look very suspicious to us. That is my concern."

  "Then we should follow those men before Osicrus returns to me." Mizuki said to the party. "Follow me."

  The party heads off to the direction to where the men have taken off. They tried to keep up where the men have walked off too. Stepping outside of the vilge, it was too te as the men were nowhere to be found.

  "No good! We cannot find them." Marie said.

  "Then it's up to Osicrus." Mizuki said. "Only he will tell us where our friends are."

  The moon shines brightly as the party can see the starry skies above.

  Shokei, Beatrice, Rei, Lei...I hope you're out there...please be ok... Marie thought.