The Extra Can't be A Hero

Chapter 114: Kaya (2)

After taking out the officers who chased after the little girl, Amon looked down at their states with a tinge of regret. He covered his eyes with his palm and controlled the outpour of mana from within, only to feel his blood boiling.

’Ah, I can’t control my Dragon Eyes yet...’

It was the first time Amon had used one of the Draconic Arts Yval taught him against other humans. Well, not entirely the first—he had tried it on Yue once. But she didn’t count as an ordinary human. Instead of fear, she felt pleasure when gazing into Amon’s eyes. Her intoxicated expression had unnerved him so much that he refrained from using the ability on anyone—until now.

’I thought that it would scare them into surrendering, I didn’t think that they would faint and shit their pants.’

The potency of his Dragon Eyes was unexpected, but it was a good benchmark for Amon moving forward. As its name suggested, Dragon Eyes converts Amon’s eyes into that of an apex Dragon Sovereign at its prime. Any beings weaker than a Dragon would cower in fear and automatically submit to those eyes, even if it meant throwing away their pride.

There were few counters to Dragon Eyes, and even if someone could withstand its effects, they would be placed in a severe handicap throughout the battle with Amon.

It was one of the most useful Draconic Arts that Yval had taught him, and it was one that Amon was delighted to use for the first time against his opponents.

Yet, the effects were far from Amon’s expectations.

’I will need to control the output...’

Only after withdrawing his mana from his eyes did Amon finally relax and turn to the young girl who had clung to him for help. She visibly flinched, afraid of the scene that she’d just witnessed. However, unlike the men who chased her, she didn’t faint or soil herself, which was quite an achievement for a ten-year-old.

"Girl, you were saying?"

Amon’s voice was as cold as metal, which only brought the little girl more fear. But she stood her ground and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"My sister was kidnapped! Not only that, there are many, many more people who have disappeared over the past weeks! We tried to tell everyone, but no one believed me. The police are working with the kidnappers to cover up that."

"..."

"Please help me! No one in Alverton believes us!"

"... Do you have proof?"

For the first time, Amon questioned the girl about the evidence. Seeing a ray of hope, Kaya’s face brightened, and she declared:

"We do have it! I was from the orphanage and stole some documents from the Warden! There was a ledger showing how many kids were being sold off! We have it in our base!"

"..."

Amon remained silent, but internally, his mood soared. While he knew that the higher-ups of Alverton were all colluding to kidnap people for the Foolish Lich, he didn’t have the necessary evidence. It had caused plenty of headaches, as they couldn’t gain intelligence even with Echelon working overtime. Yet, their golden egg was delivered to them on a silver platter.

At that moment, Yue returned with Leon, Ellahan, and Johann, and they were naturally confused as to why eight men fainted on the ground while Amon was buttering up a small girl.

"What’s going on?"

Amon let out a rare, wry smile before telling her plainly.

"Yue... I think we just found our ticket to the Foolish Lich."

❖❖❖

"Vekka! Mirka! I’m back!"

Kaya burst through the doors of the shabby little hut the resistance used as its base. The sudden action startled the downcast members, who were still gloomy and disparate about their situation. However, that didn’t stop them from approaching their treasured mascot.

"Kaya! You went outside again! How many times must I tell you that it’s dangerous now? Lord knows where they would take you if you get caught!"

Vekka, the former law enforcement officer and the resistance leader was the first to admonish the girl. He grabbed onto the crown of her head and gave it a rough nudge, hoping to knock some sense into the stubborn girl.

"Ow, ow, ow! Don’t do that! You’ll hurt my brain!"

"Good, maybe it’ll finally help you listen!"

"O-Ow! Just hold on for a minute! I brought good news!"

"Kaya!" Mirka was the first to scold the girl. "Didn’t I tell you to stay out of trouble?"

"Swowwyyy!"

It was adorable to see a young girl’s cheeks pulled like mochi as the words failed to come out properly. Nevertheless, the act was quickly toned down when Mirka remembered that she was in front of guests and released Kaya from her grasp. Unknowingly, Kaya ran behind Amon as if seeking refuge.

That act raised some eyebrows, but none were in the mood to pursue that matter, for there were bigger fish to fry.

"I heard from Kaya that there were missing people in Alverton. It just so happens that we were investigating that mysterious phenomenon, and her words piqued my interest."

"Ah, yes..."

Vekka let out a weary sigh and began recounting the grim tale. He started with the infamous purge of Alverton, which marked the Governor’s rise to power. Determined to clean up the streets, the Governor arrested every known criminal in the town, even at the cost of destabilising Alverton in the short term. At first, people were sceptical of his ruthless approach, fearing the inevitable day when these criminals would be released and chaos would return.

But then, something strange happened. The incarcerated began to vanish without a trace. No bodies were ever found, and no explanations were given. It was as though they had been erased from existence. Whispers spread, but no one could say whether they had been banished or met a darker fate. The mystery lingered, leaving an unsettling silence that hung over the town like a shadow.

That was when Vekka was still a part of the law enforcement. He questioned the Governor’s methods and immediately became ostracised. For that, he was branded as a traitor who sought to destabilise the peace that the Governor desperately sought and removed from the force entirely.

Ever since then, he lived in the slums, keeping track of everything in Alverton.

"That’s when I realised they weren’t just doing it to criminals. Terminally ill patients in hospitals, children without parents, the unemployed homeless and anyone who is deemed undesirable in the perfect utopia that the Governor sought to create... they vanished without a trace."

"... even the orphans in the orphanage?"

"Especially them."

Vekka answered Leon’s dry mutter grimly.

"Who better to vanish than children without guardians? No one cared whether they lived or died, and there wasn’t anyone looking out for them either. So they’re the easiest targets. Kaya’s sister was one such victim."

At this point, Vekka reached into the safe under the table and pulled out a thick ledger book. In there, there were records of all the orphans who were trafficked. And given how much inked paper was in the tome... it was evident that the number of children who disappeared was in the thousands.

"The Governor, he..."

Leon’s blue eyes flashed with anger. He felt betrayed by the Governor’s blatant ignorance or, worst still, involvement in this matter. He’d thought the Iron Count was an outstanding beacon of justice and peace. But he turned out to be an incorrigible monster.

"The person responsible for the disappearances of the orphans is none other than the Warden. A lady who acts kind on the surface but evil inside. I heard stories from some of my former comrades in the force that... she may not be human."

"Demon?"

Amon asked while flipping through the ledger, which was only met with a shaking head.

"I don’t know," Vekka replied sadly. "But, that woman isn’t human. Just her actions alone deem her evil enough to be a Demon."

"..."

Amon frowned. The name ’Warden’ never once appeared in [Bright], meaning that this deviation exceeded his calculations. No, in the first place, the Foolish Lich arc was meant to happen two years later when Leon had grown further as a hero. So, it was natural for there to be some unexpected deviations.

But that didn’t quell his uneasiness.

"It has become worse in these two weeks, too. They no longer bother to hide their tracks and have blatantly kidnapped people from the streets. Last I checked, the orphanage had become completely barren. They even arrest the homeless on false charges just to make them disappear."

Unbeknownst to them, the situation had grown more severe, heightening the group’s sense of urgency.

"So, do you know where the missing people are taken?"

Johann, who had been watching on the sidelines, finally opened his mouth. At this moment, he wasn’t the flamboyant playboy genius that he was known as, but the heir to the Amaris House.

"Yes, after some investigations, we finally found the common route used by the Warden to deliver all those missing people."

Vekka took out a map and pointed at the mountains outside of Alverton.

"Here. They are taking the kidnapped here."