The narrator tells us that he overheard the story of the missing people in a restaurant. He says that he wanted to get more details about it, but the king had told him not to. The narrator says that a month ago, he stayed for a night at a local inn. He couldn't sleep that night because he was so far away from the fire, so he closed the window. It's uncanny that the fire didn't leave a single trace. He also says that the local authorities were planning to solve the case in secret, but that the number of people missing had already exceeded 30, and that now everyone is afraid.