mount and blade viking conquest can't find the lute playing guard

[Potato Soup]

Yeah i need to fiind this guy who stole a lute from the fort reeve guy in a town that hates me. I'm the king of my own kingdom and i wish to improve relations with conquered territory that i may have burned down a few times haha. Anyways i've looked at all of the towns that the quest had listed and i can't seem to find the guy. I've also asked the village leaders if they have seen a lute playing guard and they all have stated that they havn't seen or heard the lute. All towns are in my kindom and all towns are in perfect shape. None are raided and are major hubs of wealth. I'm pretty much on the verge of giving up on this quest.

[Paul]

he looks like a tier3 troop just go to the villages in the notes its better if u have a horse tho

[White Knight]

Make a list, be thorough, look carefully for the guy with a shield on his back.

Either you get used to it or you start avoiding those quests.

You have to understand that it's random and you get like eight villages to look through or something like that.

The part that really sucks is when you exhaust the list and realize that your lazy searches were worthless.

After you've done a bunch of them, you learn where the guy hides in various villages - the searches get easier, the more you do.

[Pode]

Just finished this the first time last night, the village elder says something slightly different, about hearing lute music lately, for the village he's in, so you don't have to search but one.

[The Onyx Tiger]

I know this is an old post but I'm getting tired of these quests. Yes, I could avoid them but something's off about this one.

Anyways, I've done this at least half a dozen (6) times lifetime but twice so far on my current playthrough. First time was for Dinas Bran which was no problem. I remembered to visit listed villages and talk to the Leader. Second time was for Ynys Mon. No problem, Leader helped.

This third time? I've been to each village on the list at least 3 times, doing a forth now. I actually have had to save and enable cheats and teleport to and fro to go between the villages until I find him. First two times I talked to all the Leaders. Nobody said they heard anything. Third time I entered the village and rode up to the Leader to ask (I think I remember it only procs if you've been there). Now I'm actually riding all across each individual village and still not finding him.

I'm getting really irritated with this, thinking the quest bugged. I don't want to let it fail either. I know what to do and what to look for, as I've searched this in the past. Though I've never had so much issue as I am now. Is there ANYTHING else I can look for?

Sorry again for necroing the post.

EDIT:
I found him. Apparently it was a grievous error on my end. When talking to the Leader, I only read the first sentence. It's the last sentence that tells you Yes or No. I must've forgotten this as it seems like something I would have definitely done in the past too.

Now to reload and get there without cheats. smh.

Will keep this up in case anyone else needs info on how to find these guys.