I Am Not A Goblin Slayer

Scarcely had he left the waiting room when he ran straight into Wenster, who was hurrying down the stairs.

"I am truly sorry, my friend Gauss. I invited you over only to leave you hanging here. Something came up unexpectedly," Wenster said.

"It’s fine. I happened to skip breakfast anyway, and the pastries were quite good." It was hard to stay mad at a smiling face. Since the man had taken the initiative to apologize, Gauss wasn’t going to hold it against him.

He withdrew his peripheral gaze from the carriages driving away from the entrance. Those carriages were luxuriously decorated, typical of noble rides.

After exchanging pleasantries, he and Wenster headed toward the top floor.

Though this was a temporary command center, the building’s interior was still decorated with elegant red carpets and paintings. Overhead, a dazzlingly magnificent Crystal Stone lamp cast soft, shifting light. While the Iron Guard Knight Order was a military force, it was ultimately the private army of the Xavier family. Therefore, its funding and standard of living were beyond what any ordinary army could match.

The two entered a reception room. Once they were seated, an attendant brewed tea for them, then bowed and left the room. Soon, only Wenster and Gauss remained in the lavishly old-fashioned room.

Wenster quickly got straight to the point. "My friend Gauss, the real reason I asked you here today is to verify some personal matters with you."

Gauss felt a slight stir in his heart as he wondered, "Personal matters? Verify?" However, he patiently chose to keep listening.

"I wonder if you’ve seen my disappointing nephew, Locke Xavier.

"He has been out of contact for quite some time now."

Gauss raised an eyebrow. He wondered, "Rock? Out of contact? Why is he asking me this out of the blue? If someone goes missing, shouldn’t they just look for him themselves?" He really hadn’t had much contact with the Xavier family.

As if to clear up his confusion, Wenster brought out a lifelike, exquisitely drawn portrait.

The moment he saw it, Gauss raised his eyebrows, quickly recognizing the person depicted. Of course, this was also the result of him not intentionally suppressing his expression. He knew that since the other party was asking him, they must have stumbled upon some clues.

"Yes, we’ve met once," Gauss nodded in acknowledgment.

This was the arrogant young noble he had encountered back in Forest Crown Town. At the time, the boy had been late, delaying their group’s progress toward Outpost 11. He still remembered that he hadn’t exactly been in a pleasant mood back then.

"I didn’t expect him to be from the Xavier family," Gauss shook his head. The youth hadn’t left a very good impression on him, but that was as far as it went. He truly had no deeper interactions with the boy, only remembering that he had been accompanied by a highly capable elderly attendant. The attendant had been powerful but not overly domineering; he was likely the young noble’s protector.

Wenster’s expression turned awkward. Clearly, he knew a thing or two about his little nephew’s temperament and could roughly guess what Gauss was thinking.

"After we arrived at Outpost 11, I never saw him again," Gauss stated truthfully.

He genuinely hadn’t done anything to the youth, so he spoke about the matter with absolute confidence. Of course, it mostly stemmed from the strength he now possessed. If an ordinary Elite Professional or even a Master Professional were questioned by the Xavier family, they would likely struggle to hide their panic—even if they had done nothing wrong—and overthink the situation while desperately trying to prove their innocence.

"Mr. Wenster, you don’t think I harmed him, do you?" Gauss chuckled and shook his head. "I have no grudges against him, and I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to do something so unnecessary."

Wenster paused for a moment on Gauss’s calm face before offering a bitter smile.

"I’ve heard about your character, my friend Gauss, so naturally I wouldn’t suspect you. I just wanted to learn a bit more about what happened back then. After all, my nephew and Mo Jia’er disappeared right after leaving that outpost.

"However, according to our family’s divination methods, he doesn’t seem to be dead yet. We simply don’t know why he hasn’t returned for so long.

"We subsequently sent people to search the forest, but we still couldn’t find any trace of him."

Wenster felt somewhat helpless. Even though the boy was the ignorant, incompetent descendant of his eldest brother and held no inheritance rights, he was still a member of the Xavier family. They shared the same bloodline, so they still had to do everything in their power to find him. Considering this was just one of many cases involving the disappearance of noble heirs within Lengcui’s borders, they needed to intensify their investigation even further.

"Oh?"

This was somewhat unexpected for Gauss. He had assumed that since the nephew had been missing for so long, he would have already been killed. He didn’t expect him to still be alive. However, judging by how the boy and his protector looked back then, they were clearly heading to the outpost for some special purpose. It was entirely possible they had run into a situation that was difficult to handle.

After pondering for a moment, Gauss picked out the parts of those few days that involved the young noble and recounted them to Wenster in full detail. Wenster asked specifically about the conversations Gauss had occasionally overheard on the road between the youth and the old man named Mo Jia’er.

Gauss fell deep in thought, wondering, "Does it seem like the old man was the one with the problem?" However, he had no intention of asking any further questions. It had nothing to do with him, anyway. He didn’t want to get involved in the slightest.

"Thank you for the information, my friend Gauss. If there are more clues later, or if we can track down my nephew, the Xavier family will surely reward you handsomely."

"Alright, I’ll keep an eye out."

Afterward, Gauss discussed some formal business with Wenster, such as an invitation for him to fight alongside the Iron Guard Knight Order when they launched their charge. Wenster highly valued Gauss’s powerful and highly mobile flying abilities, which could help the Knight Order neutralize part of the threat posed by the Demon Legion from the sky.