"This man I found, SURELY he is our savior!" A middle aged, stout man shouted out, his dark brown hair bristling up his half-bald head.

"NO! It is I who have found our savior! Here he IS!" A man of about forty years shouted back. He was of middle height and build, with light gray hair, mustache and beard.

"Oh, why you say so?" The man of dark brown hair said.

"First, say why you think yours is!" The other struck back.

"Because, this man is a priest with black hair!"

"No! My man is the priest with black hair! Your man isn't even a priest. He's a monk! Moreover, he's BLIND! What he can do for us?! Ha!"

"..........." The holy men in question, a monk and a priest, were amazed at the argument.

"Oh, no. I'm traveling with an important purpose," the monk said to the priest. "How do you think about all this?"

"I have my own purpose, too." replied the priest. "I can't spare time for this village."

"However, those people seem to be seriously troubled." The blind man said. "I can't just abandon them. What shall we do?"

"Oh ho. You are so kind!" The priest chuckled. "You won't abandon a man who insults you because of your eyes? Their business isn't my business. If you'll help them, then I'll be on my way."

He turned his back on the two influential men of the village, who were still arguing with each other.

"Wait! Please wait a minute!" The landowner, who had brought the priest, said, causing the carpenter with a half-bald head to laugh.

"Now you can see my priest is our true savior, can't you?"

"Oh, please don't brand me as a savior yet," the blind monk said. "There are things that I can do for you and others that I can't. I intended to visit the house of the Countess next to this village. I can't do anything that interfere with my business."

The priest stopped and turned around, his expression changing from a grimace that would have curdled blood to an interested one.

"Oh, you're going to the house of the Countess?" The carpenter said with delight. "Then please help us! Our trouble is related with the house!"

"Pardon me?" The priest interjected, addressing the blind monk. "What a coincidence! I'm going to the house of the Countess, too. How about we, you and I together, help the people of this village?"

The monk turned his face to the priest suspiciously.

It was a common small village in countryside, with hills to the east and west. There was a river running through the village from south to north, and wheat fields grew on the both sides of the river. The large houses of propserous landowners were surrounded by the smaller residences of their tenant farmers. Merchants lived in the north of the village, next to the woods. Through the relatively cosmopolitan merchant's houses, a stone road ran from the center of the village to the manor of the local nobility.

"I am sorry." The priest of the village's sole shrine bowed and apologized to the guests. "They always argue over every matter. But, the fortune-teller said that 'a black-haired priest will come to this village in his travels, and save us from misfortune". I beg you to help us!"

The priest was a middle-aged man with brown hair heading towards gray. "I am Kenes Dawning, priest Dawning. May I have your names?"

"My name is Rezo," the blind monk said.

"And my name is Xelloss." The priest seemed somehow younger than the monk, though the monk was in no way old or wizened.

"Rezo? Are you Rezo the Red Priest?" Priest Dawning's eyes were wide as he questioned the monk.

"Yes... Some people call me by that name," Rezo replied. His robe and cloak were all in red. On the other hand, Xelloss was almost all in black, curiously keeping an eye on the Red Priest.

"Oh, master Rezo! I heard that you have mastered all the secrets of white magic!" Priest Dawning fawned. "You must be the best person to get rid of the demon troubling us! Please, save us!"

"Demon? But the man who took me here said that the trouble is related with the mansion of the Countess, right?" Rezo asked.

"Uh... to tell the truth, there is no proof that our troubles have anything to do with the Countess."

Hearing this, the Red Priest leaned back in his chair slightly, but said nothing.

"What is your opinion, master Red Priest?" Xelloss asked, in a light tone.

Rezo's reply was blunt. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about what Mr. Dawning told us. Eight virgin girls disappeared from this village, or nearby villages, during those three years. Added to that, a family was attacked while going down the street, with a virgin girl of the family missing and the rest dead. Before each attack, the Countess visited the town, right? The townspeople all suspect her, but there isn't any proof. I can see how people want to trust a fortune-teller, and expect a savior to come. But, I am still troubled... Oh, I'm sorry. We already accepted the business. I shouldn't grumble. Anyway, do you think that the Countess really has something to do with the lost virgins?"

"I can't judge from such a one-sided view," Rezo answered.

"But, how can we get the view from the other side?" Xelloss continued. "Will we ask her 'Do you have something to do with the disappearing virgins?' She's not going to say 'yes', is she?"

Rezo ate his light meal instead of replying to Xelloss. They were in a room in the shrine. Xelloss had finished his meal and was sipping tea from a cup.

"Anyway, I hope that the family of the latest victim will bring us good news."

Xelloss' comment was followed by a knock on the door. It was Dawning came to call for them.

Two men and a woman stood up from seats and greeted three priests as they entered the chapel. Dawning introduced those three persons to the guests.

"This is the family of Marie Copin, the latest lost girl. From left to right, Nicolas, her father, Louise, her mother, and Allan, her fiance."

The family bowed to the guests, then watched at two strangers with appealing eyes. Xelloss gave a gentle smile to them, but Rezo held his face calm, not knowing the feelings of the three villagers.

The six sat, arranging themselves in a circle.

"First, let us know about the circumstances of her disappearance," Rezo said, starting the meeting. He wished to put the situation under his control, preventing Xelloss from interfering with his business. For his part, Xelloss held silent, as if he wanted to leave everything in the famous Red Priest's hand.

"Well, on the night of Marie's missing," Nicolas begun to talk. "She, my wife and I spread some blankets over the floor and slept on them together. Marie was at the far end of the floor from the doorway. My wife lay just next to her... And on the next morning, we woke up and found our daughter disappeared."

"Marie lay by the wall with a window, but the window is so narrow that no one could possibly fit through it." Allan added.

Nobody spoke more. Rezo picked his chin with pale fingers for a while, thinking hard, and then asked, "Was there anything unusual in the morning? Didn't you notice?"

Three villagers watched at each other's face, and Nicolas and Allan shook their head, but Louise remembered something.

"Hey, darling! Both you and me slept too long, that morning! It was the first time that we woke up after the sun had risen so high!"

"Exactly!" Allan said. "Galey went to his field next to yours to find you weren't there, and he was anxious, because you are always the first person who appears in the field on the morning. So, he went to see your house, but you two were still sleeping."

Rezo the Red Priest nodded.

"It was a sleeping spell, wasn't it?" Xelloss asked, and Rezo straightened himself in his chair.

"I think so," he said. "Someone used a magic spell on the sleeping family so that they wouldn't wake up, and brought out the daughter. Were there any marks of a cart or anything?"

"If there had been a track, I would have traced it," Allan replied, in irritation. Dawning scolded him with a glance.

"Excuse me?" Xelloss interrupted. "When did the girl disappear?"

"We found her missing two days ago," Allan answered. "So, it had to be the night before."

Xelloss smiled at him, causing Alan to frown, as it was hardly a laughing matter for him. But the priest then surprised others, saying, "Good. I can find where she is now."

"Oh? Can you use a magic to find a missing person?" Rezo raised an eyebrow.

"It's a secret." Xelloss replied, and Rezo felt bored at the other's evasive answer. Everybody else, though, looked at Xelloss with expectant eyes, but he stood up from his chair without explaining further. "I will need a little time. Please don't leave your seats until I'll come back."

"Why? I can't stand just sitting down! I want to help you!" Allan stood up from his seat and was going to go after Xelloss, when he was stopped by the Red Priest.

"No, you shouldn't." He said. "Xelloss means that he doesn't want to be watched as he does what he will do. I don't know what he has planned, but I know that it is good for us to do as he says in order to find where Marie is."

Xelloss smiled and nodded.

"Give me a little time, please. Mr. Dawning, I want to use the sanctuary on the second floor. Do you mind?"

Dawning accepted his request, and Xelloss went upstairs. The priest of the shrine and the three villagers wanted an explanation from Rezo, but he didn't say anything. Just after Xelloss went upstairs, Rezo slightly raised one shoulder, and then again, muttering, "He might finish...."

The other four watched Rezo at first, and then they looked at the stairs. Soon the priest in black appeared. He came back to them with a grin on his face.

"Marie is alive," he said. "She is imprisoned in the basement of the Countess' mansion."

Allan was eager to go the Countess' mansion, but priest Dawning stopped him.

"No, Allan! There must be someone who can use magic. Leave everything to master Rezo and Xelloss."

"No way!"

"You can go with us." The Red Priest said calmly. "As long as you obey my orders absolutely."

He knew the heart of the young boy so well. Even if he had promised not to go after the Countess, he would have betrayed his words. Rezo preferred letting him accompany them to being interfered by him. But Xelloss was against Rezo's proposal.

"Uh-huh, master Red Priest does whatever he can for the poor villagers. I'd like to say that I can't assure his security."

"Do you mean to say that the mansion is so dangerous?" Rezo said. "You seem as if you actually went there and looked."

"What?"

"I don't know the missing girl, and she doesn't know me, either. How will she know to trust me, without Allan? Moreover, I don't know what she looks like."

Xelloss smirked at Rezo's sarcastic opinion.

"Allan, may I ask you something?" Rezo told the young boy walking before him on the road running through the woods.

"Yes, you may."

"I may be wrong, but I'm afraid that Marie isn't the first victim that was related with you. Am I right?"

Allan stopped and looked back at Rezo with wide, surprising eyes.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I heard you say 'I will save Marie this time'. 'This time' means that there was another time. It might mean all the other cases, but I feel that you remembered someone else."

"It was Therese... my sister." Allan dropped his head and begun to walk again. "She has been missing for six months."

"Which of the girls is more beautiful, Louise or Therese?"

Rezo's question made Allan stopped again. His jaw dropped, and he could do nothing but staring at Rezo with a little bit fear in his eyes.

"Both of them are beautiful, and sixteen years old... No one could say which was better."

"Oh, is there anyone younger than sixteen among those missing girls?"

Alan froze, and Rezo walked past him.

"No, there isn't."

"Last question. Was Marie fifteen years old when your sister disappeared?"

"YES! Yes, she was!" Allan cried out. "Please tell me what you know! You know the secrets behind those crazy cases, don't you?"

He could see that Rezo had worked out the outline of those cases, and he might be correct, because his assumptions were all correct --- those missing girls were all beautiful and over sixteen. Allan longed to hear an answer, but Rezo didn't give one.

"Hey, hey. We can't bring a charge against anyone without any proof," Xelloss interrupted. "If we blamed someone based only on our imagination, we would be punished, right? Master Red Priest?"

Rezo didn't replied to Xelloss, either.

Allan watched at the two priests. One was in black and the other was in red, but both men wore a robe and a cloak of a man who worked for a religion, and had a similar air. But their impressions were so different because of the color. Rezo looked calm and quiet with a strong will. Xelloss seemed to be barely concerned about any matters, letting things take their course, but he also had a dangerous air about him.

Leaving Allan lost in his thought, the two priests continued on their way, and finally, Xelloss saw the roof of the mansion. Rezo brought up his head as he could see the roof as well, and Allan thought that the Red Priest seemed to hear the voice coming in the mansion.

Shortly after they saw the roof, they arrived at the iron fence of the premise. A narrow path ran to both right and left along the fence, but non of them knew which was the correct direction. It was first time, even for Allan, to have come to this place.

"Well, well. What shall we do?" Xelloss said, as he grabbed a bar of the fence.

"What do you want to do here?" Rezo asked to Xelloss.

"What?" Xelloss turned back at Rezo.

"I'd like to say that I came here to get something from the Countess. But she won't give it away, or sell it to me easily, I know. So, I'll retrieve it while I rescue the girl."

"It's your business, isn't it?" Xelloss said.

"I already made up my mind to do anything to have it. But, is it OK for you? You said that you had come here for your own business."

"Are you anxious that you will disturb me?"

"Yes, I am, and also anxious if you'll be with us or against us." Rezo's voice was calm as his face. But Allan was overwhelmed by the air of Rezo, pressing Xelloss.

"Well, I don't know how I should tell the Countess," Xelloss said calmly. "If you'll persuade her by force, I'll take your side."

"Ok," Rezo said, and begun to chant an incantation. Xelloss went back to Allan.

"Asher Dist!"

Darkness appeared in front of Rezo, and rushed toward the fence. Soon there was a big hole in the fence.

"When we can't find an entrance, then, we make one." Rezo said, and walked through the hole, leaving Allan astonished.

"Don't worry," Xelloss said, patting Allan's shoulder. "Master Red Priest has just declared that he will be against the Countess. He won't ally with her in exchange for what he wants, and since he said that he would rescue the girl, he will. Now, let's go."