Deep inside a forest there's a man running with fear. The damp soil floor's trembling underneath as the man doesn't dare to look back.
An old, battered and terrified man dressed in religious attire came to a stop with eyes widen in terror as he found the one chasing after him standing upon the hills edge.
"There's nowhere to run now. Better if you keep it simple and stop struggling." Said the man standing by the edge, his voice grim with his red eyes glaring at the man infront of him.
"You...what I've done to you!?." The man shouts, terrified.
"What do you want from me?. Money?. Just tell me whatever you want and I'll give you double." The man offers a deal in desperation.
Silence stretches between them as the fog intensified around them. The black smoke slithering like a serpent from his feet toward the man.
"S-stop!...what are you doing? Argh!!". He scream before engulfed by the darkness.
Five days earlier
In the Bellonia duchy. There's a rumor about peoples missing at night. And that's the only information the Duke get for four months investigating it.
"Haa... report update..." The Duke said with tired voice to one of his knights.
"There's three more missing people, my Lord." Said one of the knights.
The Duke sigh deeply as he saw his people missing again.
"What should we do now my Lord?. Not even a corpse in sight and we've been patrolling all month even in the sewages tunnel." The guard asked critically, anxious of the state of the duchy.
"We can't give up yet, I'll find a way to track them. You can leave now and report to me once you see something suspicious." He said, waving his hand to dismiss the knight.
They nods curtly before exiting the room. The Duke stay seated at his desk, thinking of what should he do now since all his plan yield nothing.
He scanning through file of name, possibly a mercenary he got from a friend of his. He skimming through the list before landing on one particular name.
"Nein Winter..." He lean forward as he reads the file about the individual.
The file provided information such as his identity, status and also his performance. He flipped through the paper to take clearer look at it.
He's a mercenary specialized in recon and intel gathering, it's nothing special about that, but the one that truly intrigued him is that this very man is the one who responsible for handling the crisis happened in the neighbor viscounty, Aligot and refuse to take the title for it before leaving once his jobs is done.
He also gained the trust of Elias, the Baroness of Patio, the leader of land of mercenary.
To gain such trust from only two months on duty making him both intrigued and suspicious. He knows Elias really well for her to never faking someone capability and know better to never exaggerating it.
"Tell Elias that I have a job for this man. Tell her that Duke Bellonia's the one giving the commands." he told his secretary standing nearby.
"Right away my Lord." The secretary nods curtly before exiting the room.
Several days later, the very man's standing Infront of him. A man with menacing appearance and piercing red eyes who look more like a criminal.
"Are you the one hiring me?." He finally speak, his voice steady and deep.
"Hey! Show some-" The guards about to warn him to show some respect for the Lord, but he immediately raise his hand to stop them.
"It's fine." He says briefly to the guard before looking at Nein's red eyes.
"Yes I am. I'm August Bellonia, the Duke of Bellonia, is the one asking for your audience." He introduce himself, standing with pride despite his exhaustion.
"I see." He confirmed.
"I'm Nein Winter, here to lend you a hand, use my ability as you see fit." He introduced himself properly despite how he appear to be, he curtly bowing down to greets before standing straight again.
An unexpected but welcomed gesture, especially when the first thing he do after meeting the Duke is to ask questions.
"Well then, let's discuss about our business inside, please follow me." August begin to head back inside the palace followed by Nein.
As they walking along the hallway, August immediately noticed something odd about the person behind him. Despite the lavish and expensive interior, his gaze remain focused to the path Infront of him. Where most people would wandering their eyes around in awe.
They reached the Duke study and entering the room before sitting on the couch facing each other.
"Now then. I believe you've noticed something's wrong with this duchy. Your duty is regarding that." August flick his finger and his secretary immediately hand him the reports of missing people and place it on the table to let him see.
Nein immediately grab it and skimming through the content with indifferent gaze. The maids arrived with two cup of coffee, but he pay it no mind as he focused with the paper in his hand.
"Any updates?." He ask briefly without looking away from the reports.
"Unfortunately, yes. There's two more missing yesterday. Despite sending patrol all over the corner, the number keep increasing.". He says with exhausted sigh.
"I see..." He adds dryly while reading.
Silence stretches between them before he close the reports. He examining the warm coffee and take a sips of it deliberately before setting it down and rose from his seat.
"I shall proceed now. Just wait for the news." He said suddenly and beginning to walk toward the door.
"Wait. Just like that?" He's confused that Nein doesn't said anything and just went immediately to carry his mission unlike mercenary he knows.
He stopped for a moment before turning his head back.
"Pay me once I'm done with the mission." Just like that, the door closed behind him leaving August stunned. Wondering if his action's either arrogance or confidence.
Nein take his time walking around the anxious streets, noticing how the people were suspicious of him due to his appearance. Yet he pay it no mind and just focused on his mission.
As the day goes dark, everyone begin to get inside their houses. Locking their door and windows as guards begin their patrol.
He walk into a dark alley, waiting until the last sunlight to disappear and whisper.
"{Tracer}"
A pitch black smoke begin to forming under his feet. Spreading into a thin night mist that share his senses with it. The smoke covering the duchy in mere second. The smoke blending in with the dark, creating illusion of nothing happened.
He remain still on his spot, sensing every movement inside the smoke like second skin while witnessing every tiny disturbance happened around him.
Finally, after a while, he caught weird movement among the patrolling guards. A bunch of people cutting through his senses like ghost, avoiding being caught while moving in group on the streets.
"Found them, let's get over it now." He said finally. Opening his eyes and begin to walk.
His body dispersing into the smoke, hiding his presence as he walking freely without notice. And thus he begin his investigation.