Such a thought appeared in Kieran's heart uncontrollably.
The reason that the Night race were hard to deal with was not because of their superhuman strength, but because of their unimaginable abilities to blend in and hide in plain sight.
If Kieran exposed their hiding abilities to the public…
The threats from the Night race would plummet, given that flintlock pistols were on the rise in the current dungeon world.
After slightly considering his words, Kieran spoke to the bounty hunters and mercenaries that were still begging for their lives.
"What you just saw is called the Night race, a kind of monster that could take the form of other humans and feast on human flesh! They are vulnerable to pain and can't maintain their human disguise when suffering from pain. They have stronger bodies than normal humans, and their skin can withstand common blades and arrows!"
"Now, they have blended in around you, hunting humans down for meal from time to time. Try to recall, was there any missions that you were confident about clearing with ease but ultimately failed? During your missions, were there people who'd go missing without a reason? Are there comrades that have suddenly become a stranger to you?"
Kieran didn't clearly spell out the words like, "We will fight the Night monsters together".
He knew that if he want a bunch of vultures and coyotes that gathered around corpses to work together, it was very unrealistic.
These selfish bounty hunters and mercenaries would only care about themselves.
If Kieran wanted to use them, he could only start from their viewpoint.
Kieran glanced over the changes of expression of the crowd as he spoke. He didn't state any further and turned to Lander.
He understood the saying, "going beyond is as bad as falling short" a long time ago.
"I think we need to talk," Kieran said.
"Of course!" Lander nodded.
Both of them went back to the wagon and went off once more.
The atmosphere inside the wagon was not too pleasant.
Before Kieran could apologize, Lander had seen through his lie.
"You don't even know where Harold is!" Lander seemed to be infuriated, but he purposely suppressed the anger in his words.
Kieran felt awkward when his lie was laid bare. He touched the tip of his nose and kept quiet before nodding.
Lander started breathing heavily right away as Kieran acknowledged his lie.
Speculations and verification were two different concepts.
Speculations held a thin line of hope, but verifications forced one to face the reality.
"Damn it!" Lander finally began to curse.
The worried and anxious expression on the middle-aged man's face became more intense by the second.
The encounter before at his own house and the previous one allowed him to understand what kind of danger his son was facing all the time.
More importantly, as a father, he couldn't do anything when his own son was in grave danger. He would probably feel better if he could spare at least a bit of help to his son. Yet, he didn't even know where his son was.
Lander was afraid and dared not imagined what his son was facing that exact moment because he could relate it with the most direct result, Harold's dead body.
Worse, maybe nothing of Harold was left behind.
The thought of losing his only child made Lander tremble hard.
"Don't worry, things aren't as bad as you imagined! You should place your trust in Herbert! At least, you should believe that we still have a chance here!" Kieran explained when he saw Lander's condition.
The word "chance" caught the middle-aged man's attention.
"Chance?" Lander repeated.
"Yup!" Kieran nodded. He then told Lander his plans.
After hearing Kieran's plan, Lander frowned and thought for a bit.
"If you want to spread the news, relying on those bounty hunters and mercenaries is too unrealistic! You'll at least need a bigger and broader channel. I'll contact Herl City and even the Langton State newspaper publisher!"
"Two days! I assure you that after two days, your news will spread across the whole of Langton!" Lander spoke loud and clear. Obviously, he was not in the mood for jokes.
"Thanks." Kieran nodded with gratitude.
"No need for thanks! I'm doing this for Harold. You mentioned before that one of my bodyguards, Pelby, was acting up, right?" Lander looked at Kieran again and asked directly.
"We'll know if we ask." Kieran asked.
The wagon paused for a while, allowing Pelby the bodyguard to board the wagon before continuing its journey.
Pak!
As the horses were whipped, Pelby looked at Kieran with even more reverence.
In fact, after the previous incident, the whole bodyguard team was all sharing the same expression: frightened and terrified. But Pelby was the worst among all because he was hiding something.
Kieran fixed his gaze at Pelby without even asking any question, and the buffed bodyguard started to quiver.
Lander's face had a glimpse of rage. As the employer who paid a hefty wage for the bodyguards, he thought he could trust them, but reality slapped him hard on the face.
"I didn't mean to…"
Pelby tried to explain but neither Kieran nor Lander wanted the explanation.
Lander turned his face around, leaving Kieran in-charge of Pelby.
Kieran then reached out to his left middle finger and twisted [Mesly Ring] slightly.
The crystal ring emanated an unusual glare.
Just as the bodyguard wanted to give his explanation, he was stunned for a while before becoming respectful and submissive, like a loyal hound towards its master.
[Charm]! [Dominance]!
With an S rank Spirit attribute, Kieran had easily gotten the right to control the bodyguard before him.
"I want to know everything." Kieran said.
"Yes master! That blood-sucking Bocker got some evidence against me, forcing me to serve him. Otherwise, he will destroy my steady life. I was a fugitive once and after turning a new leaf, I've gotten the identity of Pelby. I don't know how Bocker got the evidence against me, but that sucker has quite a wide network and is very resourceful. Not only does he have many men under him, but he seemed to be related to the higher rankings in Herl City…" Pelby explained his background.
Lander aside was looking at Kieran with an astonished face.
After witnessing the whole thing unfold, the middle-aged man felt extremely uncomfortable, like he was sitting on a needle mat. If he didn't know that running away wouldn't serve him any good, he would have leapt off the wagon, even though it was his own.
"What happened!? What is that ?! Not only he could determine one's life and death, but he could control people's thoughts?!"
Lander couldn't help but relate to some legendary beings when he looked at Kieran.
Kieran raised a brow when he felt Lander's gaze. He disliked being treated with such a suspicious gaze, but he knew what his priority was.
"Where is this Bocker that you mentioned?" Kieran asked, trying to ditch the unsettling feeling in his heart.
"A grocery store beside the post office!" Pelby answered right away.
...
The night was getting darker.
Herl City went into slumber, until…
KABOOOM!
A huge explosion broke the silence and roused the city up.
The grocery store beside the post office was blasted off into the sky like a fireball.
The signboard pieces were splattering all over. The biggest piece of the signboard flew almost 20-plus meters away and landed before a pair of boots.
Kieran looked down at the signboard debris and shifted his gaze to the Bocker's grocery store that was engulfed in flames.
His expression turned unusually sour.