"Father, did they come here because of that guy Saibanda from a year ago?"

Charlie's words reminded the mayor, who then realized his mistake.

"Barnus, you were the one who dealt with that guy back then. Are you sure you didn't leave any evidence behind?"

"Your Excellency, you can rest assured. After we killed him, we buried him on the spot. The ginkgo tree in front of the wooden house has grown taller than me!"

"That's good. As long as there's no evidence, no matter how much the guys in Saibanda are unhappy with me, they can't do anything to me!"

“Father, Banus is reliable. It’s been over a year. If something were really wrong, wouldn’t it have been discovered by now?”

"Well, Banus is good at getting things done. But you, if you really can't find that girl, you'll be in big trouble!"

Charlie regretted interrupting. His father had finally stopped talking about it, but unexpectedly, the conversation came full circle.

"It seems we've found Goodman's whereabouts!"

It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. It seems that the people Captain Zoro sent earlier were unlucky and probably not very competent, as they haven't been able to find Goodman's whereabouts for so long.

Joey guessed that the unfortunate guy they were talking about who was killed by Banus must be Goodman. Although the reason for his death was not yet clear, it was certain that he had died in this gold rush town.

The three chatted about what had happened in town in the past few days, but these were no longer Joey's concerns. He was already slowly backing away along the tree branches, planning to make his escape.

"Snap—"

A branch, unable to bear the weight, snapped and broke with a sharp crack that sounded particularly jarring in the dead of night.

Seriously? Why did they have to come now of all times?

Joey felt a surge of tension and wanted to escape quickly, but she was too frightened to move by the open window on the third floor.

Who is it?

Banus's voice came through.

"Meow--"

Joey tried to imitate a cat's meow to fool the question, but found that he sounded too bad and instead sounded like a sickly little dog.

"It looks like someone's in the tree!"

Charlie can be really clever sometimes; he always manages to say something surprising.

All three of them stared at the tree trunk outside the window. Banus even leaped onto the windowsill, intending to jump up into the tree to find out what was going on.

"Damn it, I probably can't beat this guy!"

Joey's back was already soaked with cold sweat, ready to strike at any moment.

"aim!"

Just then, a meow came from above Joey's head, and a completely black night cat leaped up from the tree and landed directly on the roof of the third floor of the villa.

"It really is a cat!"

Banus stopped what he was doing and went back inside.

The mayor glared at Charlie and then turned and went back.

Charlie suffered in silence and began to regret his loose tongue.

He cursed a few times at the big tree where Joey was, then slammed the window shut.

"Phew! That was close. Thank goodness for this night owl. I'll never forget your kindness. I'll definitely be your cat servant someday!"

Joey climbed down from the tree and disappeared back into the night.

Just as he entered another dimly lit alley, a hand suddenly reached out from behind him, covering his mouth, while another hand gripped his neck and pulled him into the deep alley.