By the time Nuri woke up, the room was entirely empty. For a moment, he simply stared at the ceiling in confusion before realizing the girls had probably already gone downstairs without him. Not wanting to be left behind in the strange house, he quickly got dressed and hurried out of the room.
When he reached the lower living area, he found Alina and Elina already eating breakfast. Without saying a word, he slid onto the bench beside his sister, lightly nudging her arm a few times to silently ask what was happening. Alina merely shook her head, keeping her eyes on her plate.
"You've finally woken up."
The gravelly voice belonged to the old man who had allowed them inside the night before. Feeling a bit embarrassed for sleeping in, Nuri instinctively shrank back slightly behind his sister's shoulder. The old man chuckled softly at the display before sitting down across from them.
"Can I ask something?" Elina spoke first, leaning forward. "I noticed most of the village seems completely abandoned. What happened here?"
The old man's expression darkened instantly, and a heavy, weary sigh escaped him. For a few quiet moments, he simply stared down at the worn wood of the table.
"I don't know," his voice sounded incredibly tired. Defeated. "A few weeks ago, people started disappearing."
The room fell into a dead silence.
"At first, we thought wild animals were responsible," he continued, clasping his weathered hands tightly together. "But then more people vanished. Again and again. No bodies. No blood. No traces. Nothing."
The old man's eyes lowered, staring at his knuckles. "People became scared. Some packed up and left. Others simply fled in the middle of the night. Now..." A bitter smile appeared on his face. "There are so few of us left in this place, I could count everyone on my fingers."
Nobody knew exactly what to say. The profound exhaustion in his voice made it obvious that this horror had been weighing on his shoulders for a very long time. The three knights exchanged quiet glances across the table. Without needing to speak aloud, they all reached the exact same conclusion: their original destination could wait. Right now, these people desperately needed their help.
"We'll help you," Alina was the first to speak. Her voice was firm, carrying a sharp undertone of determination.
Nuri blinked in surprise, turning to look at her. There was an intense urgency in his sister's words that he hadn't heard from her since they left the capital.
The old man looked at her skeptically, his eyes scanning their youthful faces. "You really think children can handle something like this?"
"Please, trust us," Elina answered this time. Unlike the siblings, she was far more experienced and poised when it came to speaking with guarded locals.
Eventually, under Elina's calm reassurance, the old man relented. He introduced himself as Fil, a man who had lived in this village his entire life. According to him, the very first person to disappear into thin air had been his own niece. After that tragedy, the rest of the villagers began vanishing one after another.
"The only reason I stayed..." Fil looked toward the window, his voice trembling slightly as his gaze drifted. "...is because this place holds all my memories. My family. My friends. My entire life. If I leave now..." He smiled weakly, a hollow expression in his eyes. "Then what was the point of surviving this long?"
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The group fell silent again. There was no logical argument they could make against a sentiment like that. All they could do now was solve the mystery.
"So, what's the plan?" Alina asked the moment they stepped out of the house and into the cool morning air. "We agreed to help him, but we don't even know what we're actually dealing with yet."
Elina nodded in agreement. "True. But we do have one solid lead." She pointed toward a narrow, overgrown path winding away from the clusters of houses. "Fil said most of the disappearances happened down near the river. That's where we'll start our search."
The siblings agreed, and they set off. As they walked through the narrow lanes, Nuri couldn't help but notice how utterly hollow the village felt. Curtains shifted subtly behind grimy windowpanes as they passed, and heavy wooden doors remained tightly shut. The remaining residents seemed absolutely terrified of even stepping outside their own front doors.
Then, something specific caught his attention.
A young boy was standing at a window, watching them. The moment their eyes met, the boy quickly darted back, disappearing from sight. But that wasn't what bothered Nuri. It was the creature sitting on the sill beside where the boy had been, the exact same cat from last night. Its unblinking eyes remained fixed directly on him, watching his every move.
Nuri shivered, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck, and he quickly looked away. He was probably just imagining things. ...Right?
"Do you think it's a monster?" Nuri asked aloud, trying to focus on the task at hand. "It's the only thing I can think of that could take people so cleanly."
"Maybe," Elina replied, rubbing her forehead thoughtfully. "But there's a problem with that theory. The forests around here are entirely protected by the God of Sacrifice. Monsters shouldn't be physically able to enter this territory."
The siblings exchanged a troubled look. If monsters couldn't cross the border... then what on earth was taking the villagers?
"Could it be a human?" Alina asked quietly, the horrifying possibility making her stomach twist into knots.
"It could," Elina nodded grimly. "But we don't have nearly enough information yet. We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe the hooded man somehow brought something foreign here, or maybe we're dealing with something completely different."
Nobody argued. At this point, everything they discussed was pure speculation. Eventually, the path cleared, and they reached the edge of the river. All three of them stopped dead in their tracks.
"...Wow," Nuri breathed.
The water before them was crystal clear, the morning sunlight reflecting across its pristine surface like sheets of liquid glass. Schools of small fish swam peacefully beneath the gentle current, and smooth, colorful stones rested perfectly along the riverbed. It was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful, untouched places Nuri had ever seen in his life. The entire scene felt almost magical.
Which only made it significantly harder to believe that people had vanished from this exact spot.
"Let's search around," Elina commanded, breaking the spell of the scenery.
The others nodded. For nearly an hour, they thoroughly explored every square inch of the riverbank. They checked the muddy edges, the roots of the nearby trees, the surrounding rocks, everything. Yet, their efforts yielded absolutely nothing. They found no clues, no footprints, no broken branches, and no signs of a struggle. Nothing.
The three of them eventually gathered back together by the water's edge, feeling completely confused and frustrated.
"Maybe I should use magic," Nuri suggested, hesitating slightly. "Sometimes things aren't visible to the naked eye."
Without waiting for a formal answer, he took a breath and began casting his detection spell. A soft, golden light spread across his vision, transforming the way he saw the world. Every single trace of residual magic in the area should now reveal itself to him. He carefully scanned the flowing river, the surrounding trees, and the ground beneath their feet. He looked for anything.
Nothing.
Nuri froze, his heart dropping. That was impossible. Even the most ordinary, mundane places in the kingdom contained faint, lingering traces of ambient magic or environmental energy. But here... there was absolutely nothing. No lingering mana, no divine blessings from the regional god, and no magical abnormalities. It was as if an invisible force had completely wiped the entire area clean of any energy whatsoever.
Beside the beautiful, silent river, hidden deeply among the shadows of the dead-looking trees, a pair of eyes silently watched them.