Leo looked at Alec for a moment.

"Well, obviously. I meant if you knew anything about the abductions. Have you noticed anything?"

Alec slowly shook his head. He considered saying something that would point them toward the forest, but he wasn't sure that would be right. The only one he knew who operated out of the forest had been Shim, after all.

"Hmm. Anyway, I think you'll be useful, so I'll introduce you to Dario." Leo pulled Alec up from the floor and led the way through the orphans toward the guy in the center, who was comforting a few of the youngest.

He patted their heads before asking them to follow one of the others. He then turned to Leo and Alec.

"And you are?" He asked Alec.

"Alec."

"He spends most of his time in the forest, Boss!" Leo chimed in excitedly.

"You're not from around here," Dario said, ignoring Leo's comment.

"I just told you, Boss, he—"

"Lied," Alec interrupted.

Leo turned to him with shock and betrayal the only colors on his face. Dario nodded.

"Is there a way we can talk in private?" Alec asked.

Dario spread his arms and gestured at the orphans silently listening around them.

"Anything you can say to me, you can say to my family."

"Alright…I think the orphans of Gorao are being trafficked."

Dario crossed his arms with a frown and looked Alec up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.

"What makes you think that?"

"The same guy who kidnapped me kept a record of all the people he had kidnapped. I managed to talk to one of them before it was too late."

"Who?"

"Milo."

"What do you mean by too late—"

"Did you say Milo?!" A young voice cut in from the crowd before a small figure pushed her way through and up to Alec, grabbing his robe with thin fingers.

"Millie…" Dario sighed lightly.

Alec nodded.

"I did. Are you his sister?"

"Where is he?!" Millie demanded.

"He…I can take you." It wouldn't be kind, but it would be best for Millie to see it for herself. She would not hear him, regardless of what words he said.

If Alex had disappeared when they were young, the only thing that would have made Alec believe it was seeing it for himself. Millie was young, but she was also an orphan. She was tough enough to handle what she had already subconsciously prepared herself for.

"But first, I feel like I should probably finish sharing the information I have." Alec held Millie's hand and turned to the frowning Dario.

"The one who kidnapped us was a monster researcher," Alec first answered the question Dario hadn't had time to finish before Millie's interruption.

"He was also the one who had Alice and many others. Let me know if any of these names are familiar," Alec said, letting go of Millie for a moment to pull out a list.

It was a list of all of Shim's test subjects.

Dario stared at it for a moment.

"Read it to me."

'Right.'

Alec read it. With each name, Dario's expression darkened.

When Alec finished, everyone around them had expressions like demons from hell.

"That's a lot of our missing family members, but it's not all of them."

"I don't recognize some of them. Did that fucker take ordinary people as well?"

"You're too young. Bob and Marissa were orphans of a previous generation. They managed to get out and get jobs. I think they worked a cafe on the other side of town."

"But what about that Fred fella?"

"No idea."

"Yeah, there are a couple of names here not even I recognize," Dario said. His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Alec.

"From other places or not orphans?"

"Probably both. I first thought that this fucker abducted people personally since he grabbed me, but that's probably not the case. I think he bought people."

"Trafficking." People were abducting the orphans and selling them.

Alec nodded. With everything he had heard, that was the most logical conclusion.

"They know who to go for. Even if it's bigger than Gorao, they have locals helping them. We have tot ell people to look out for not just strangers but familiar faces as well. It's going to be hard." Dario turned to Leo, who nodded and took off to deliver his message.

Dario then unfurled his arms and gestured for Alec to lead the way.

"I'm coming with you."

Alec didn't object. If anything, he would have been disappointed if they let him walk out of there with Millie just like that.

Millie let go of Alec's hand and jumped up in Dario's arms. She let him carry her.

Alec was about to retrace his steps to the city gates when Dario interrupted and gave him a shortcut. There was a tunnel through a neglected part of the city walls, which allowed for the safe passage of those who didn't want to bother with the guards at the gate.

They walked in silence.

Alec had said what needed to be said, and Dario didn't have anything to say to a stranger, who was unnervingly suspicious. Millie also didn't have anything to say.

As they trekked through the forest, Alec was a little surprised that Dario was keeping up so well, even when carrying Millie. It was dark and an unfamiliar path.

It wasn't a big deal for Alec since he had mana, a system's stats, and [Gluttony] strengthening him and improving his senses. But Dario was an ordinary young man.

Those muscles weren't for nothing. Dario was fit.

Eventually, they started getting closer.

"There's something I should tell you first."

"..." Dario tensed and took a step back, ready for an ambush. He held Millie with one hand and reached for a dagger beneath his shirt with the other.

"I am a mage. And…You won't be in any danger inside, but you won't like what you're about to see. I should also warn you, Millie, that the Milo you know is gone."

Millie didn't answer. She just looked at Alec with a resolute expression. Dario let her speak for him.

Alec nodded and injected mana into the engraved spell formation in the ground, which opened up a stairway into the underground lab.

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