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The tide of wailing blocked his ears and mind, stripping him of the ability to reason clearly and work up a plan.

"EVERYBODY!! CALM DOWN!"

Turning to Earlene, he asked her with a chilling calmness.

She had been whimpering before, but this question was an answer she was sure of.

"I am very sure that the real hand behind this kidnapping is the Anjou Family!!"

Xzavier\'s eyebrows rose up, at that very revelation. He knew the Anjou boy still nurtured some grudges towards him, but he had at least hoped that he would be honorable and leave innocent third parties out of this. Xzavier seethed with rage as he cursed himself inwardly for this oversight. He had grossly underestimated the playboy\'s resolve to get back at him.

Wanting to make sure, so he wouldn\'t commit another blunder, he asked the already distraught Earlene;

"Are you sure it was them? Did you see any signs or banners, or even a tattoo?"

Xzavier had to be thorough in order to be fully in tune with the situation. There was a slight possibility that this could have been very random, or at the very least, some hidden third party in the background could be pulling the strings, trying to get the two houses to go to war. All of these were legit possibilities, he couldn\'t afford to make a mistake of this nature. The consequences could be disastrous.

Earlene on the other hand received Xzavier\'s question the way an adult would welcome a useless question from an ill-informed toddler. She was obviously in an agitated state, as she had never been so close to anything like this. And yet, in spite of her depressed state, despite the fact that Xzavier was on her side, Earlene still somehow found the energy to cook up a vitriolic reply.

"What sort of dumb question is that?! I thought you were supposed to be smart or something?"

Xzavier was taken aback. All he had asked was one simple question. And she had turned it into something, coming on to him like he had said something sacrilegious.

Still glaring at him with the ferociousness of a tigress, she rose up from the floor like a deity emerging from the bowels of the earth, and turned to face Xzavier with an accusing tone and an outstretched arm which she used to condemn him;

"You know you\'re the cause of all this right?!!"

Xzavier raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Don\'t you dare play coy!!! Of course this is all your fault!"

She took a step forward, towards him in a challenging manner.

"You\'re the one who started all this with Eadweard! You\'re the one who invoked his wrath!! You\'re the one who\'s hiding behind the title of \'Baron!\'"

Everyone kept mute, watching Earlene take jabs at the new Baron.

"Now Adalia\'s in their hands…"

Her voice cracked with emotion as she mentioned her name.

"She is with them now, and only heaven knows what they\'re doing to her!! While you---"

She looked at him through her hate filled eyes that was choked with tears. Unable to speak anymore, and weak from the paralyzing thoughts raging through her mind, she simply glared at him.

"She\'s right about one thing though…"

All eyes turned towards the direction where the familiar voice came from. The young Cadence who had been watching from a distance, now walked in with all eyes on him.

"This situation has Eadweard written all over it."

Facing Xzavier squarely, he reaffirmed what his sister had already stated;

"Think about it Mister Xzavier, they let my sister live and took her servant instead. They knew what their mission was. This was all deliberate."

Only after a few hours with Xzavier, Cadence was already coming into his destiny as the future head. If Adalia wasn\'t in the mix, Xzavier would have found time to be impressed.

"From a different perspective, you\'re now a Baron and the craven Eadweard knows that that he can\'t get to you. Thus, the plan to get Adalia…"

Xzavier already knew all this. But he knew that he had to super objective about his next move. The very fact that this was Adalia simply meant that he couldn\'t afford to lose his cool. He had to stifle every emotion that could potentially cloud his judgment. Naturally, he had half a mind to go on a rampage and deliver jungle justice to all the parties involved. But he was in a civilized town now, also, he was a Baron who was now linked to the governor of the city. He had to do things by the book.

Xzavier sighed inwardly. He had only been a Baron for a week, and he could already feel the shackles of his position constraining him from doing what he would normally do. He spoke up with the first legal option;

"We need to seek the help of law enforcement."

Earlene shook her head disapprovingly.

"That\'s not a good idea."

"Why not?"

Earlene stared at him blankly; "What do you mean why not?"

For a minute, it escaped her mind that she was taking to a foreigner who wasn\'t accustomed to their ways. So, she glossed over the reason behind her stubborn counter to Xzavier\'s plan regarding going to the police.

"Listen, even if Adalia had been raped and killed, there is absolutely nothing the government can do to him..."

Although, she purposely skipped the reason why this was so. Xzavier wasn\'t that dense. He knew. It was because of her status. It was because she was a slave.

"… at most, the Anjou family will only pay a little compensation. And yet, that is very unlikely."

Xzavier didn\'t think he could be shocked again by the crude way the people of this Isekai handled things. Once again, he was witnessing first hand, the social injustice that was rampant in this era. He quickly pushed all vindictive thoughts out of his mind, and tried to focus on the task at hand. Now wasn\'t the time to get all philosophical. Now was the time to act.

Despite the fact that he was encumbered by his new position, he knew that he couldn\'t tolerate this. This had to be answered with an equal level of savagery. For people like Eadweard, this was the only language they could possibly understand. With hardened resolve, Xzavier went into battle mode and began to dish out orders to everyone. His energy was infectious. He had the aura of one that produces results. Even the ultra stubborn Earlene found herself leaning towards his authority.

"Earlene, head to the governor\'s office at city hall and ask your father for his advice…"

Xzavier\'s motive for this was simple. As a man of prestige, as the governor, and as the father of daughter who was missing a friend, Xzavier assumed that Quaid would not just stand by and watch an ordinary boy trample on his honor. Definitely, Quaid would be riled by this. And Xzavier was counting on the fury of his wrath.

Then to the younger of the two siblings, Xzavier commanded;

"Go get Laddie immediately and bring him up to speed on the situation. Hurry!"

Xzavier was thinking really fast now. Of course he didn\'t tell Cadence this, but he worried that Eadweard would try to make a move on the old mage the same way he did on Adalia, simply because they were both of a lesser class than him. He didn\'t want to be flanked on two sides. This way, he could at least ensure the old mage was safe, and at the same time enlist him for the altercation ahead.

Having given both Earlene and Cadence their own individual tasks, Xzavier himself decided to go find Eadweard himself. He thought it was pretty ironic that he had promised Adalia he wouldn\'t go out on his own because of Eadweard\'s wrath. And now, he was heading straight to Eadweard to break this promise because of her. He didn\'t mind though. These past few weeks had been kind of calm for him. He had trained and trained, and right now, he didn\'t mind unleashing all his pent up anger on the Anjou boy.

Of course, even though he didn\'t admit it, not even to himself, deep down, he had been itching to test out his battle suit. He never prayed for trouble, but if it were to come his way, he knew he would welcome it with open arms. With this state of mind, bubbling with fresh energy, and hoping that Adalia was safe, Xzavier rolled out of the mansion and entered the streets.

Twilight was gradually fading away, as early evening prepared to melt into nighttime. This didn\'t bother him at all. Darkness would be perfect for what he intended to do.

As Xzavier began his search for the Anjou boy\'s hideout, he realized that he had looked over one very morbid detail. How exactly had Eadweard known where Adalia and Earlene were shopping? How had he been able to mobilize a group of bandits so fast with such a small window of opportunity? As Xzavier pondered on these questions, the answers slammed into him, leaving him reeling on all sides.

"He\'s been watching us the whole time?!!!"

Xzavier, totally astonished, thought to himself.

"That is some serious dedication and consistency!! Imagine the weeks and weeks of surveillance he had put in! All for what? To get back at me?"

Xzavier continued to ponder; "Guess he must have been really pissed."

With startling suddenness, it began to dawn on Xzavier that this had all been in play for much longer than he thought. It was disturbing to think back where all this had started from.