"You had better think again. Does anyone worship gods other than the Lord of Storms and the Evernight Goddess? Have you seen anyone acting strangely?"
A man in a police uniform harshly questioned the people standing meekly before him.
Dozens of people in plain, threadbare clothes stood in the night, with three more policemen nearby keeping them in line.
The lead officer frowned. The East Borough always reeked. These people were tolerable, but those idle vagrants (note 1) kept adding to their workload, forcing policemen like him to drive them off park benches.
The people before him were local residents who had been gathered together. To make questioning easier, the policemen had summoned them all to the open space outside their homes.
The sight of their timid expressions only irritated the officer further. Just then, a voice that still sounded young emerged from the numb crowd. "O-officer, I saw some people acting strangely!"
"Talk."
The officer demanded it without a trace of courtesy, entirely failing to notice the slight change in the eyes of three people in the listless crowd. The girl who stepped out swallowed and spoke quietly to him. "I saw people hanging around here a few days ago... Officer, my neighbors can vouch for me. People have been going missing here lately, and yesterday my little sister was kidnapped..."
At the girl's last words, the lead officer's excitement at a possible lead turned to impatience. As she spoke with hope in her eyes, he cut her off mercilessly. "This has nothing to do with evil god worship. I've told you people time and again that we're investigating the kidnappings, but this is no time for you to make a fuss over trivial matters!"
"Do you have any idea how serious evil god worship is? A lot of