Chapter 56 - IVY GROVE MANOR (I) (2/2)
”No. I haven't seen anyone around. So, what's the rumor?”
”Just two months ago, young girls started to go missing. One girl disappeared each week. Just yesterday, the eighth girl vanished. Nobody knew where they went, they just disappeared like bubbles in the air. So the villagers are starting to think that there's a monster hunting and kidnapping these girls.”
A monster, huh? No wonder the atmosphere in this village was like this. ”Could it be related to the people living at the Ivy Grove Manor?” he asked.
If he was transported in this village, that could only mean that the manor was near here. And what the Innkeeper was telling him right now was somehow connected to his task.
”What are you saying, that it had something to do with the people at the manor? Impossible!” The Innkeeper appeared affronted by his suggestion.
”Why is that?” he curiously asked.
”Because the first victim was Miss Eliza! She's the friend of Miss Jewel - the only daughter of the master of the manor. She's a young lady from Matlock Town who came here for a vacation. But then, as soon as she came, tragedy struck. Every week since then, pretty young girls like her kept disappearing.” The Innkeeper sighed. ”Truly, what a tragedy.”
”The first victim was the friend of the daughter of the manor? Wouldn't that only make the people in Ivy Grove even more suspicious?” After all, their guest was the first one to disappear.
The Innkeeper put down the glass he was drinking on forcefully and glanced sharply at him. ”What are you insinuating, boy? The Sutton family has been living here for as long as I can remember. They have been nothing but kind to the villagers. If they're the reason behind what's happening right now, it should have happened a couple of times already. But no, nothing similar to this have happened to this village. I know, since I lived here all my life.”
[But what if something similar to this happened before your time?] But Luo Yan didn't ask that. Because it looked like this NPC was programmed to vehemently defend the Sutton family who appeared to be the owners of the Ivy Grove Manor.
”Are you the oldest living person here in this village, then?” he asked instead.
The Innkeeper snorted. ”I am.”
So, he couldn't check if a similar incident had happened before. ”Could you tell me the names of the families who lost their daughters?”
The Innkeeper looked suspiciously at him. ”Why?”
Luo Yan just smiled. ”I'm a detective hired by Mr. Sutton to solve the mystery of this number of disappearances.”
The suspicion on the face of the Innkeeper disappeared. Looked like 'Mr. Sutton' was the magic word. ”I see.”
Then he proceeded on telling him the names of those families.