Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl

Pearl sighed inwardly at the sight of Finnegan's simple clothes. Despite his plain look, his elegant nature shone through.

However, she didn't forget why she was there."Ugh... Where's Esther?"

Finnegan looked back the way he came. "At my house. Let's go."

Then, he added, "This village has some rough folks, but you're alone and dressed like that. Aren't you afraid of being robbed?" Pearl and Richard looked down at their clothes. Finnegan had a point. Their attire could attract thieves if they weren't careful.

But they had no time to waste. They hurried to Finnegan's house before more people came out.

At the house, they found Esther asleep. It made sense; she had been stressed all night.

Finnegan poured water for them and sat down nearby. "Are you guys here to rescue her?"

Richard nodded. "Yeah, she's our friend."

"She's been safe here. No one has hurt her," Finnegan assured them.

Pearl felt grateful to hear this.

"But..." Finnegan seemed hesitant. "Could you guys stay for a while and help us out?"

He was implying a bigger problem.

Pearl agreed without hesitation. "You've been kind to Esther. We'll do what we can to help."

Finnegan looked worried. "It might be tough, and we don't have all the details. It could get dangerous."

Pearl smiled, confident. "Richard and I can handle a fight."

"Not you guys."

Pearl was shocked. "Who is it?"

It couldn't be...

"Esther."

Pearl frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't say yes. Esther can't defend herself, that's why she was kidnapped. We can't put her in danger, but I can help in other ways."

Finnegan looked sad. "I know. But I went to school with her. I can't put her at risk. But... she's perfect for this because she's famous.

It seemed Finnegan was sincere, so Pearl decided to hear him out.

"I became the secretary here to take down this human trafficking ring. The village is in on it, even the police. It's tough to beat."

Pearl had anticipated that, nodding. "And?"

"A cop is pretending to be a kidnapped college student to help me. We plan to catch the criminals. But then Esther got kidnapped too."

Finnegan sighed and looked at them

seriously. "Here's my idea. If at

famous person like Esther goes missing,'ll get a lot of attention. We can use that to bring more people to help us. We'll tell everyone where this village is to get more support. Then, we might arrest them all."

Pearl understood but saw a big problem. "But what if the bad guys go after Esther for revenge?"

If Esther's situation messes up theThis content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

bad guys plans, they might try to

harm Ker to stop anyone from messing with their human trafficking business.

It was clear they were dealing with very dangerous people.