Backlund.
"Fors, why are you up so early?" Hugh yawned, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and looked at the neatly dressed Fors in disbelief.
She had recently taken on several long-term tasks at the guild and had only returned late last night.
Recently, there have been more and more disappearance cases in the East Borough, and even the guild has received many missing person requests… Hugh recalled what she had seen and heard at the guild recently.
"Early? It's already past eight o'clock," Fors pointed to the mechanical clock on the wall.
"Hugh, you are too lazy."
"Lazy, you actually called me lazy, oh my goodness, what's wrong with this world…" Hugh's eyes widened, as if she had heard something unbelievable.
She couldn't understand why she would be called lazy by Fors; upon hearing it, she didn't even retort, her mind completely frozen.
"I didn't get back until late last night, and… never mind…" Hugh sighed, "What are you doing in my room?"
"Um… my pen pal still hasn't replied," Fors hesitated, which was rare for her, unconsciously twisting the corner of her clothes, and only spoke after a moment of indecision, "You said before that I could try to find my pen pal…"
"His last letter didn't have a return address, but previous letters all came from the same address."
"And it's right here in Backlund."
"My money was also sent to that previous address."
"So, I was thinking if we could go to that address and take a look."
"Hugh, can you…?"
"Go with you, right?" Hugh directly took over the conversation. She looked at her friend's rare serious expression and helplessly threw off her blanket.
"Honestly, I'm really sleepy right now, but…"
"Since you've made such a big decision, how can I refuse?"
…
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Hugh knocked on the door of 69 Rose Street.
Logically, this should have been Fors's job, but she got cold feet at the crucial moment and was currently hiding around the corner, so Hugh had no choice but to knock on the door herself.
'Seriously, it's just a pen pal, what's there to be nervous about…' Hugh muttered to herself.
A moment later, some sounds came from inside the door.
"Yawn…"
"Who is it? So early in the morning." Mrs. Griffin, wearing her pajamas, opened the door with a tired expression.
Early in the morning? It's almost ten o'clock already… Hugh's mouth twitched as she heard the voice from inside the house.
"Where are the people?" The woman squinted and looked around.
"Cough, cough…" Hugh coughed twice.
"Oh, you're here…" Mrs. Griffin rubbed her eyes, then looked down and saw Hugh in front of her.
"You are…"
"Um, I'm a friend of Lorne Disonke, here to see him."
"Little Luo En's friend?" Mrs. Griffin was slightly surprised; she had never heard of Luo En having any female friends.
She remembered that Luo En had left Backlund because he had offended a Beyonder, and now someone claiming to be his friend suddenly appeared.
Moreover, the other person was also a Beyonder!
'An Arbiter, perhaps…' Mrs. Griffin scrutinized Hugh, muttering to herself. As an experienced veteran, even after many years of retirement, her spiritual intuition was still very strong.
She felt a familiar aura from Hugh and her expression became slightly serious.
"Uh…"
Hugh unconsciously straightened her back; even though the other person was just standing normally, she felt a sense of oppressive scrutiny.
"Something happened to Little Luo En, he…"
Before she finished speaking, Fors suddenly rushed out from around the corner, her face pale:
"Something happened to him?"
"How is he? Is it serious? Is he…"
…
The scene was momentarily awkward.
Hugh awkwardly raised her hand to cover her face, while Mrs. Griffin turned her gaze to Fors, looking at her with great curiosity.
Fors then realized her Gaffe, explaining flustered: "Sorry, I'm… that…"
Clearly, her mind was in a mess right now. She couldn't even form a complete sentence.
The shorter one should be an insider, but this new one… Mrs. Griffin glanced at Fors a few times and pursed her lips.
This fish-like aura doesn't seem like a dangerous person.
She had always been confident in her judgment of people.
Seeing that the two had no ill intentions, she slightly turned sideways and said to them, "Come in and we can talk slowly about whatever it is."
"Excuse us."
Fors almost floated into the house, while Hugh cautiously followed behind.
"Would you like some black tea or coffee?" Mrs. Griffin asked.
"No, no thank you." Fors and Hugh sat somewhat stiffly on the sofa.
"I'm Lorne's landlady, you can call me Mrs. Griffin."
"Um, my name is Fors… I'm Lorne Disonke's pen pal. I haven't been able to contact him recently, so I came to check on him," Fors said.
"Little Luo En does seem to have such a pen pal…"
…
"Oh, so it's you!" Mrs. Griffin remembered something and suddenly realized:
"It seems like dozens of letters in the mailbox were all sent by you."
Dozens! Hugh looked at Fors in shock—How many letters did you write when I didn't know!
Noticing her friend's gaze, Fors awkwardly turned her head away.
"I understand the situation…"
"But, unfortunately, I don't know where Little Luo En went either."
"Little Luo En left in a hurry some time ago, it seems he offended someone."
"Really? Who was it, the gang…?"
As an Author, Fors had already concocted a scenario in her mind in that brief moment: her friend being chased by a gang and forced to flee.
"I'm not sure… Little Luo En didn't say much, afraid of implicating me." Mrs. Griffin chose not to tell them all the known facts.
This went against the contract she had previously signed with Luo En.
Then she continued to speak to herself:
"Seriously, I clearly said I could protect him."
Recalling the scene from that day, Mrs. Griffin felt increasingly underestimated the more she thought about it, and thus began to complain.
"He actually didn't believe me!"
"When I was young, I was…"
Listening to the landlady's rambling about her past, Hugh and Fors exchanged an awkward glance.
After more than ten minutes…
"In short, I also don't know where he went…"
After leaving 69 Rose Street, Hugh noticed Fors looking dejected, muttering incessantly:
'What should I do! What if something happened to him?'
'What if he's already…'
Hugh opened her mouth, trying to comfort the other person, but didn't know how to start. After a moment of silence, she said:
"If it really comes to it, I'll help you put up a commission at the guild."
"There are many professional detectives for finding people at the guild."