Indeed, when something goes wrong, everything goes wrong. That was the life of Sylvester. In urgency, he quickly gathered the platoon and prepared them for their next actions. He also asked Lady Aurora for help, as the matter was not just finding a murderer but stopping a war that could kill thousands.

"I must go to Raftel County and find Lady Melinda to stop this war. All of you must stay vigilant and ensure that no one in the Count's family is hurt anymore." He briefed the men.

"Lady Aurora, I need your help if it comes to war. No matter what, we can not let it go through. At least not unless there is a clear reason and proof that one of them harmed the other's family." He requested her as well.

Of course, she agreed since she knew that the church didn't want to see the Gracia Kingdom be enshrouded in a war.

So, Sylvester went to Count Jartel immediately to confront him and ask him if he was behind this whole thing. After all, he could never be sure with these sick nobles. They are very unpredictable when angered.

He found the man in his solar, planning for his coming battle. He had gotten the information as well that Raftel was gathering up his men and preparing for the war. So, he had called his commanders, too and prepared to move at the same time.

Bam!

Sylvester barged into the room and walked over to the man. "Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of Lady Melinda? Did you kidnap her or kill her?"

His question was straightforward and in front of so many people. The Count felt anger, but he didn't dare show it on his face right now. "No, Lord Bard. I would never harm a woman for vengeance on my brother. She did nothing wrong."

Sylvester nodded and left silently, having gotten his answer as no smell of lies reached his nose. So at least, he knew that the Count had nothing to do with the disappearance. Now the only thing he could do to stop the war, for now, was to find the woman, or at least her dead body.

But he didn't tell Count Jartel not to make war either since he knew he would not stop. The man was looking for just one small reason to do it anyway.

Sylvester went to the monastery and found Gabriel there. "I have taught you the basics of the morse code. Just make sure to tell me if anything major happened here."

"Got it, Max. You can also keep me informed."

With that, he quickly took his horse and galloped towards Count Raftel's lands. He went through the farmlands as that was the shortest route and didn't require a detour to get on the road.

…

At Count Raftel's Castle.

Felix and Sir Dolorem were also present in the war room and saw all the planning going on. The commanders had gathered and planned the troop deployment and the formations. They had already surpassed an army of five thousand with five thousand more mercenaries. This would be a bloodbath if the other side also got this much.

"Max should be here at any moment," Felix muttered, a frown clear on his face as he had just met the woman the previous day. She was so cheerful and happy, albeit a bit questionable in my mind. She didn't deserve to die just due to a foolish animosity between brothers.

Sir Dolorem was analysing the war formations and frowning. "This is not good. From the way they are planning, it seems they are also going to be using war animals. Maybe elephants."

Felix sucked in a cold breath. "Why does it seem like they were planning for this for a long time? How did they get elephants so fast?"

"There is something greater at the play here, Priest… something beyond our understanding."…

In the open, Sylvester was moving around the county, searching for the woman. He didn't go to the castle to waste time as the war bugles had already been blown. The only way to delay the matter was to find her and prove that Count Jartel didn't have Count Raftel's wife. The man had likely already decided on his own that his wife was taken and that it was not something else.

Raftel County was vast, but thankfully it was just full of various gardens, little forests and primarily farmlands. But the problem was that most of the farmlands had crops growing right now, which went as high as two metres tall. So it was impossible to look for her and find her there.

'Felix said she was going on a wine date with her friends. I should go and look for her there. Even if she was killed on the way to go there or to return, the killer must have thrown her not too far away. Or… if she's alive, then maybe she's kept somewhere alive.

"Chonky! Try to smell the scent of blood if you can. Maybe you can see some things I can't." He asked the cat on his shoulder.

He went to the nearby town where the woman was supposed to be. It was a few minutes away from the Count's castle and town. So, after arriving, he used Light Steps and created tiles for himself to move in the air and get better visibility of the surroundings.

'Where are you, woman?' he grunted and looked left and right.

But, after not finding her, he decided to move along the way and see the various side roads and the forest. But he knew that if she was kidnapped, the problem would intensify as there was no way to search every house in the county.

"Maxy! Look what I found!" Miraj came running to him suddenly, while in his jaw was a piece of gold bead, likely fallen from some gold jewellery.

"Hmm, the only one who could have dropped it would be noble. The peasants don't go around showing their gold ornaments. Chonky, where did you find it?"

"There!" Miraj pointed at his little paw and led him to the bushes on the roadside.

"Look if there are any more items such as these." He ordered. There was no way to find anything in there if not for Miraj's lower field of vision.

Sylvester remembered the map at the same time and realised the direction was leading them away from the castle of the Count. Once he learnt it was northbound, he moved in that direction on the road while keeping an eye out for any clues.

"Ah! What's that?" He soon found a little silk cloth with some blonde hair stuck to it due to the mud. "Certainly a deliberate throw. Did Melinda throw these so someone may follow back to her?"

"Chonky! Look in this direction!" He ordered.

At the same time, he was also looking for clues and slowly was indeed finding a few scattered pieces of cloth, hair or jewellery.

Chonky was also sniffing around and exclaimed soon enough. "Maxy! I smell blood!"

"Good, then follow the scent."

They slowly realised they were going too far from the castle, towards the empty northern farmlands. They were into the open fields of the county where the crops fluttered in the wind.

Miraj kept leading him towards the origin of the scent of blood he had smelled and eventually brought him a small hut in the middle of nowhere in the fields. There was nothing for as far as he could see, and the hut was most likely placed there so the farmers could rest when at work.Sylvester quickly took out his spear and prepared to use magic at a moment's notice. But, he had a better option. "Chonky, you go in and tell me if any threats are inside."

"Got it, Maxy."

Sylvester waited outside and placed a few runes on the ground to ensure that if someone ran out of the ventilator or the door, they'd trip and freeze.

"Maxy! Come quick! She's hurt!"

Sylvester stopped whatever he was doing and ran into the hut by barging through the door. It was a small building with a thatched roof and walls made of mud. It was also hard for him to see since the light source was just a little ventilator on the wrong side of the house where the sunshine did not fall.

He rushed to the left, beside a small wall separating the cooking station for whoever lived there. As he walked to see, his stomach started to churn. But he didn't go into shock and instead ran to the woman. She was completely naked, lying on the floor. A puddle of blood had formed around her body, making her blonde hair appear red.

She seemed still alive as her eyes were open a little, responding to his movements. She was also gagging for air and choking on her blood. But, the most disgusting sight was that her breasts had been cut completely off. There was nothing now but two large wounds that appeared painful and profound. All he could hope was that they were not too deep.

"H…e…lp…" She weakly breathed out as she sensed footsteps.

"You're going to be fine, Melinda! Don't worry. Chonky! The medic pack!"

Miraj threw up a small jute bag that contained various items necessary for survival in a few situations Sylvester could think of. In addition, it contained a few important potions and crystals.

The first thing he put into her mouth was a blood-replenishing potion so she may not die from blood loss. Then he started healing her wound with the help of Solarium crystals and his magical healing spells. He was not an expert but using solarium crystals amplified the effects.

Ghk!

She started gagging and shaking uncontrollably all of a sudden and also vomited out the blood-replenishing potion he had fed her.

Sylvester quickly checked her pulse, and it was dying too fast. In no time, it vanished, and she stopped twitching.

"Fuck! She's going into cardiac arrest!" He quickly got on my stomach and breathed into her mouth two breaths. He then gave chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute with cycles of 30, followed by two rescue breaths into her mouth.

"Chonky! Break a solarium crystal and put it in her mouth!" he ordered.

Miraj, like a good fellow, ran around and did as Sylvester asked with his little paws.

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

Sylvester kept trying to give her CPR and revive her. "Do not die, woman! You can save the lives of tens of thousands of men!"

But he was also scared of harming her even more as there were deep wounds on her chest. Giving chest compressions was likely hurting her too.

"Chonky! Put more solarium crystals in her mouth!"

_______________________

GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!