Leave a comment

Urged by Cortina, one of the Heroes that once saved the world, the woman started to explain the circumstances with a stiff expression. If she so wished, Cortina could easily erase her from this world.

Not to mention, if the rumours spread about it, this place would take a big hit as a tourist attraction spot, too. She knew that too, hence the apparent tension on her face.

We decided to head inside the cafeteria in question and discuss the matter with the woman over a meal. We had meals, while Cortina appeased her thirst with tea, as we listened to what she had to say.

“So you are saying your child Mikey disappeared since last night?”
“Yes. I noticed it just before I went to sleep. He often slips out so I thought he was just roaming outside as usual, but he didn’t come back even in the morning…”
“So you’ve spent all night awake, huh. Your complexion looks awful.”
“How could I when my child was…!”

That Mikey was the boy that ran into Finia yesterday night. He was quite a lively and a little cheeky kid. His whereabouts were unknown even now. She rushed about and even had the people around help her, but they still couldn’t find him.

“Now that I think about it, didn’t he head towards the gate yesterday?”
“Towards the gate?”

Finia reported while recalling yesterday’s events. Cortina needed to hear this too so she intentionally mentioned it. But true, the kid did certainly dash towards the outside of the town after he parted from us.

Thinking about it, it was quite strange for him to run in that direction considering the time it was.

“Do you think he would go outside?”
“But why would he… While it is relatively peaceful around here, it’s not like there are no monsters at all.”

The Adventurers were managing the safety of the surroundings, but the monsters on a smaller scale still existed. Wild goats and wolves, in particular, were quite common throughout Raum. It would be hard for a kid slightly above my age to deal with them competently.

“I have no idea about that… No, give me a moment.”

I suddenly recalled certain words. The words that white thing—The God of Destruction had told me.

“I think I heard there was a Carbuncle in the cavern…”
“A Carbuncle? Isn’t that a protected Mythical Beast? What is it doing here?”
“I’m not sure, but the Goddess said so.”
“By Goddess, you mean that white girl from yesterday? I thought she was weird for calling herself a Goddess, but…”

Cortina was skeptical about her being a God, but that was a natural reaction. That aside, suspicious it may have been, a Goddess said so herself. Not to mention, she was my ancestor. She… shouldn’t have any reason to deceive me.

“Anyway, she said a Carbuncle was sighted near the cavern, so she came to safeguard it. But that was probably a bait for me.”
“A bait… Why do you think so?”
“I mean, she showed up in a Beastmen bath, right? The fact that she lied in wait for me there and told me about it means she wants me to do something about it.”

There’s a Carbuncle in the cavern. Just to tell me that, she did that barefaced performance and ambushed me. Since she let me know about it, she was probably implicitly suggesting that I went there.

And now there was a disappeared kid. Given this timing, it was hard to think all these weren’t connected somehow.

“Could it be that this kid discovered the Carbuncle?”
“Oh no, was he attacked by the beast!?”
“No, Carbuncles aren’t such aggressive monsters. As long as you don’t hurt them, they are relatively safe. It wouldn’t even view a kid as a threat.”

Jessica paled from Finia’s conjecture, but Cortina denied her fears. Carbuncles were quite weak monsters. Still, they were part of the Dragon race and were particularly blessed with Magic. One could easily shrug off a kid.

In other words, it wasn’t logical for Mikey to get attacked to the point where he wasn’t able to return.

“At any rate, as long as there’s a possibility, we have to check it.”
“I’ll come as well!”

Or rather, only me and Finia knew his face. Instead of taking a villager, it was more advantageous to take me instead.

“Right. I wouldn’t really advise it, but your detection ability would be useful even for me.”

Cortina excelled in coming up with plans, but other than that, she was only a little above an average Adventurer. She was just a bit out of reach from a first-class. In other words, my searching skill was better than hers.

“In that case, I’ll come too!”
“Ah, no fair! Me too!”
“Oh no, you aren’t.”

Michelle and Letina raised their hands to announce their participation, but I couldn’t let them come to a forest in search of a member of the Dragon race.

In the end, Cortina managed to persuade them and they ended up house-sitting, with Finia stuck as their babysitter.

“Um, what should I…”
“Even if you come to the forest, you wouldn’t be able to do anything there. There’s a chance we’d pass each other too, so please remain here. We aren’t even sure he headed towards the Carbuncle.”
“O-Okay…”

Jessica still had enough self-control to not object to Cortina’s request. She chose to trust our words and wait.

As such, me and Cortina set out in search of the Carbuncle.