Another waiter came with the food that Lia had ordered for them, and Zion ate in silence. Although the latter wanted to hear more about the murderer, the gossip on the neighboring table stopped as the waiter returned to the kitchen. All the villagers decided to stay up all night to protect their children, but other than this, he heard nothing valuable about the case.

So after eating his fill, he washed his mouth and went inside his room to fetch the wooden sword. He still didn't know what else he could do, so wasn't it better to try and think about the case calmly? What was the best time to gather all the points together in his mind? While exercising! Zion's brain would work more efficiently when he was exercising, which was why he got a habit of thinking about the case in the gym in his previous life.

​​

Since people didn't have a gym here, he could still exercise by practicing his sword skills. It couldn't be said that he had become an expert in that, but he was confident that he wouldn't be able to lose if he faced an assassin like in the previous case. This aspect made him practice his skills more diligently.

After reaching that place, he raised his sword and started slashing it in the air in a specific style. His skills were sharp as he presented a perfected sword dance. This was the first skill he had learned from the princess, and he had become a professional in it. This technique was effective in attacking the opponent when one knew the weakness of the attacker. Zion could use this skill to impose his presence in front of his enemy and give a killer attack to the attacker's vitals.

While practicing, he recalled what had happened until now in this case.

First, when they came to this place, about fifteen days later, he heard from a few villagers in the restaurant that some children were murdered, and their dead bodies were thrown into the river. The villagers started getting anxious and gossiped a lot about it. About nearly a hundred children were killed within a year, and the murderer had started to target the children from the village Zion was residing in.

These cases only occurred at nights when the murderer would come out wearing silver masks. It was also said that this mask could be made out of real metal. Zion frowned at this. When he was in the Dhampir kingdom, he was clear about one thing—they had separate distinctions for aristocrats, citizens, warriors, and servants. Humans would come at the far end. But when it comes to elves, he still didn't know anything. All these days, he only focused on sword skills without having any time to observe the surroundings.

But from the gossip he had heard while eating every day at the restaurant, he could tell that such divisions existed even among the elves, and the villagers here would consider the ones dwelling within the capital as the aristocrats. So he could assume that the murderer might have belonged to the capital city of this kingdom based on the quality of the mask, but to confirm this, he would have to see that mask for himself.

Secondly, he had also heard that today was the last day for the crime in this village, and the silver-masked man would come and kill double the number of children, but at this time, he wasn't thinking about those kids. His focus was drawn toward the number of days that the murderer stayed in this village to commit the crime.

When he and Lia had come to this village and started learning swords, the first few days were a mess, so he hadn't had a chance to even eat in the restaurant. To save time, they would order the food to their rooms and eat in a hurry when the restaurants were closed in the late afternoon. So for the first few days, he didn't even know what was going on around the village anymore.

But after Zion started getting his hands on his skills, they started going to the restaurant. That was when he had heard about the murder of children for the first time, but he could tell that it had already been a few days ever since the murder had started to occur in this village. As per the village chief's information, today was supposed to be the last day.

So he had half a day to figure out how to catch the murderer, or at least get a glimpse of that psycho killer.

Zion pursed his lips and paused as another thought occurred in his head.

He could go out and wander around the village at night. He knew he wouldn't be able to catch the murderer like this and that the killer wouldn't be so dull to come out tonight knowing the villagers would be after him. Zion still didn't want to let go of this chance. Who knows where this killer would end up going after leaving this village?

Now that he got a chance to take a glimpse at the murderer, he wouldn't let it slide!

***

When Zion was planning to go out at night, someone else was packing his bag in a hurry. The entire room was drowned in darkness with doors and windows tightly shut. Not even a trace of light could enter. At the same time, a sharp female voice echoed in the man's ears. "Why did we have to go today? This place is so beautiful!"

The man's movements paused, and he glanced toward the voice. With a smile on his face, he said, "My dear, we will come back once I'm finished with my work. You don't have to worry, but tonight, we can't stay here."

The woman muttered something under her breath that he couldn't hear. "What?" He asked while continuing to pack his bag.

"I said, you're right!" The woman sighed. "I want to go home. I miss my bed already."

"Sure you do." The man chuckled after he stuffed all the things he wanted inside his bag. "Ready?"

The woman nodded, but when she remembered how dark this place was and her husband couldn't see her face, she lowered her head in embarrassment. She said in a soft voice, "Let's go."

"We have a long way ahead, my dear." The man caressed his wife's hair affectionately and smiled. "I'll bring you to another place after a visit home, okay?"

The woman nodded and rubbed her face against the man's palms. After that, the man's hands paused as a frown crossed his forehead. It felt as if he had forgotten something. When he remembered that, his eyes widened, and he said hastily, "Wife, wait for a moment. I have forgotten something."

His wife said nothing like the man dashed inside one of the rooms. After going in, he picked up a particular shiny silver mask placed on the table beside bed. His fingers caressed the cold surface as he stared at it for a long time before he placed it deeper inside his bag. "Sometimes, I really want to throw this thing." He muttered under his breath.

After that, he walked outside the room where his wife was still waiting for him.