>Huh. Oh well.
>"What can you tell me about the disappearances?"
>"Well, uh... I lost my first one about two weeks ago now," he says. "I think I was the second person to get hit. Well, we didn't really know anything was going on yet, it's just one of them was missing when I came to round them up, see? But Soichi had been talking about how one of his had disappeared for... I don't know, at least a few days by then. It wasn't until a couple other people started saying the same thing that everyone got serious about it. You'd hear word of it at the inn, right? This guy said he lost one, and then this other guy. Eventually, a bunch of them got together and went looking for them, way out in the wood over there or across the river. I mean, it's not like you could lose that many out here in the open for that long, right?"
>"Never did find anything, of course. Well, you hear stories, but..." He shakes his head. "Then I lost another about a week ago. Last one was right out from under my nose, even; she was there, and then she wasn't. It isn't no ordinary thief, I'm sure of it."
>"'course, when I heard everyone saying that the people further north lost more of them, I pulled back some. Haven't lost one since, but who knows?"
