The Hidden Extra: The Lazy Prince Refuses to Ascend The Throne Chapter 862: The Investigation (2)

"L-Let her go! I-I beg you!"

The man slowly pushed himself to his feet, his face pale and his breathing ragged.

Nolan twirled his knife between his fingers and looked at the man with a playful smile.

"Don’t worry about that just yet," he said casually as he returned to his chair and sat down. "Now tell me—who are you? And why are you trying to hurt us?"

The man gritted his teeth, his fists clenched tightly.

"I won’t tell you!" he spat.

"Oh? You’re quite stubborn."

Instead of getting angry, Nolan merely chuckled.

Without warning, he flicked his wrist and threw the knife at the old woman.

The blade cut cleanly through her neck before embedding itself deep into the wall behind her.

The force of the throw left a hole nearly a meter deep in the wall.

The old woman’s eyes went wide in shock.

"Y-You..."

She tried to say something, but before she could finish, the light faded from her eyes, and her body slumped to the floor.

"No!"

The man let out a hysterical roar.

The entire shop shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck.

Rafine panicked and immediately rushed to Nolan’s side. She grabbed his shoulders tightly to steady herself.

"N-Nolan, what do we do!? This place is going to collapse!"

Nolan simply waved his hand. Instantly, the entire place fell silent.

The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"H-How is that possible...? How did you sever my connection to the magic formation!?" he cried out in fear.

He instinctively stumbled back a few steps, only to find a wall blocking his way.

Nolan couldn’t be bothered to answer. With the Eyes of Chaos, he already knew the man was nothing more than a lackey.

There was no way he had created this magic formation. That left only one possibility—the real mastermind was still hiding.

"Rafine," Nolan called as he slowly rose to his feet. "Go outside first. I’m going to interrogate this man."

Rafine looked at Nolan for a moment. However, she said nothing and quietly walked away.

Once Rafine was out of sight, Nolan stretched his stiff body before raising his right hand.

An invisible force instantly dragged the man toward him until Nolan’s hand clamped around his throat.

"Argh!"

The man groaned in pain and desperately tried to break free, but it was useless.

Nolan’s grip was like iron.

"Speak."

His cold gaze seemed to pierce straight through the man’s soul.

"Who’s the mastermind behind all this? And why are you kidnapping people in this town?"

***

Rafine waited outside the shop, looking uneasy. Every now and then, she glanced inside.

But all she could see was darkness. The magic formation around the shop had already been activated, hiding everything inside.

"I hope Nolan is okay."

She let out a soft sigh.

To be honest, she hadn’t expected Nolan to kill the old woman. Still, she didn’t blame him.

After all, the woman had poisoned their food. If Nolan hadn’t given her the antidote beforehand, she might have fallen victim to the poison herself.

Several minutes passed, but Nolan still didn’t come out.

Just as Rafine was about to head back inside, the glass door opened, and Nolan stepped out at a leisurely pace.

Rafine let out a sigh of relief and quickly walked over to him.

"Did you find out anything?" she asked.

Nolan slipped his hands into his pockets and replied calmly, "Yes. It turns out the man is part of a larger syndicate. They’re a large bandit group operating in small towns like Virella. Their main targets are young women, girls, and children. That man was just one of the middlemen. There are many more like him operating in other towns."

"Bandits?" Rafine’s eyes widened in shock.

She hadn’t expected the situation to be this serious. What worried her most was that the syndicate had been operating right under the Austin family’s nose.

If the imperial family found out, she was certain the Austin family would face severe punishment from the imperial palace.

"I-I have to report this to my father!" Rafine said.

However, Nolan immediately stopped her.

"Don’t act rashly. The fact that they’ve been running this operation for so long without being exposed proves they’re no ordinary group. If you make a move now, they’ll simply go into hiding and slip away. They might even shift their operations to the other three major regions."

Rafine gasped as she realized Nolan was right.

"Then... what should we do?"

Nolan lifted his gaze toward a massive mountain rising majestically in the distance.

"First, we rescue Novaria and everyone else from Virella who was kidnapped by those bandits. I already know where they’re hiding. Go back and have Elina prepare the troops. We’ll move out tonight."

Rafine took a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

"I understand. Leave it to me."

...

The horse-drawn carriage carrying Novaria finally came to a stop.

Novaria, who had lost all her spirit, quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

A few minutes later, the carriage door opened, and several burly men appeared.

"Hehehe... Not bad. Today’s haul is very tempting, especially that beautiful woman with golden-brown hair," chuckled the burly man on the right.

"You’re right. She’s incredibly beautiful. Her curves are amazing, too. If only it weren’t for the rule against touching these ’goods,’ I would’ve been enjoying that woman for a whole week," replied another burly man.

"Hahaha!" The others laughed in unison.

Of course, Novaria heard their remarks. A wave of nausea immediately welled up inside her.

she muttered to herself.

However, she didn’t dare make the slightest move. No one knew what would happen to her later.

"Let’s carry them into that wooden house. The sooner, the better. I want to drink the alcohol I bought in Town Virella."

After saying that, the burly men began carrying the children, girls, and young women from the four carriages toward the wooden house.

Since Novaria was in the last carriage, she and the people around her were taken last.

Novaria opened her eyes slightly and found herself in the middle of a dense forest. A fairly large wooden house stood ahead.

The house looked somewhat dilapidated, as if it hadn’t been lived in for a long time.

Suddenly, the men walked toward the fourth carriage, and Novaria quickly closed her eyes again.

"This is the last carriage. Once we’re done, we can play cards. How about we make a bet?"

"Hahaha! Great idea! As it happens, I just won a bet in the previous town. I’ve got so much money, and I don’t know how to spend it."

"Tch! You’re so full of yourself!"

Novaria felt her body being lifted up, which made her tremble unconsciously.

Fortunately, the man who lifted her didn’t molest her in any way. Otherwise, she might have screamed instinctively.

Novaria didn’t know where she was being taken. Finally, after a few minutes, she was set down.

The floor felt cold and dusty.

Only after the sound of their footsteps faded did she dare to open her eyes.

What greeted her was the sight of a silent, dark, empty room.

"Is this... a prison?"

There wasn’t a single ray of light except for two small torches at the edge of the room.

Novaria finally realized that this time, she truly wouldn’t be able to return to her glamorous life.

All that awaited her was torture... torture she had never even imagined before.