An incident at the inn.
Overhearing the conversations of onlookers and soldiers.
The customer who disappeared was an adventurer.
I don’t know that adventurer well.
I answered their questioning.
The soldiers confirmed with other customers and employees.
I was soon free to go.
On the way to the inn where the archcriminal was staying.
I learned that similar disappearances were happening at other inns and private homes.
“And at the inn where that archcriminal was staying…”
Nothing happened?
He wasn’t even staying there in the first place, the archcriminal Heiggel?
I saw him!? With my own eyes!!
“M-Miss…”
“Ah, sorry.”
I had been clutching the receptionist’s chest.
Hastily letting go, I apologized and left the inn to gather information.
There, I spotted Heiggel.
I tailed him.
Where is he going?
The sewage treatment plant?
What is he plotting.
“He came out surprisingly quickly. Just a patrol? Why would an archcriminal, a villain, be doing that?”
I suspected a secret transaction might have occurred.
I witnessed the entire scene as the patrolling soldiers, who were about to question Heiggel, were instantly killed and I quickly fled the scene.
I was confident in my speed. Thanks to that, they shouldn’t have noticed me.
After some time, I arrived at the sanitation plant.
As expected, the gate was not locked.
Careless. But, thanks to that, I saved the trouble of picking the lock.
“It’s not a trap, is it…”
I gathered my possessed magic power into my eyes.
And checked if there was magic in the building.
Areas where magic was concentrated or unnaturally shaped indicated a stationary trap.
There were no traps on the exterior of the building or on the ground.
I cautiously approached the building and strained my ears.
None of the buildings were locked.
As I cautiously peeked inside.
I caught what sounded like moans from within.
“…!! Monsters!”
“Pigi? Pee! Pigu?”
I carefully opened the door and looked inside, and what caught my eye was.
Small, swarm-type monsters covering an entire wall of the room.
I accidentally voiced my surprise, thinking no one was around.
The swarm noticed me.
“Pigigiyii!!”
“Tsk.”
Bang! Thump, thud-thud-thump!!
I closed the door and left the place.
As the swarm attacked, I saw boys stuck to the wall.
They were being used as bait by the swarm. I’m sorry.
I can’t save them alone.
The woman who had the Queen’s ear left the sewage treatment plant, holding back tears.
Pyt and the others, who were imprisoned, saw a ray of hope that help had arrived, only to be disappointed at being abandoned and thought, “No help would ever come to this hell.”
One of them shed tears that had apparently dried up.
They were reminded of their mothers and fathers. Memories of a happy daily life.
“Pigi!! Pee! Shaaa Pigiyigiyii!!”
They rejoiced, thinking new bait had arrived.
The monsters were enraged at their escape.
They glared at the door and swarmed the living bait on the wall again.
“Ngu–”
They binged.
The living bait cried out in fear from the unpleasant sensation of their magic being drained from within their bodies.
One by one, they died.
◇◇◇◇◇
I returned to the inn and tried to forget about the victims I couldn’t save.
But, as I could tell from the front of the inn, there were thugs there.
And then, one of the thugs saw me.
“It’s her!”
“The one who was tailing the boss, right…”
He pointed and shouted.
As the other thugs advanced on me, I ran.
Using lip-reading, I caught the words of the surrounding thugs and realized they knew I had been tailing someone.
Could it be that my tailing Heiggel had been discovered!?
I had checked multiple times. Of course, I had done so with actions that wouldn’t arouse suspicion. And yet, tsk.
“Wait!? Where did she go? Split up and search. And abduct any similar-looking women while you’re at it.”
What is this!? To capture me.
Such thugs would harm unsuspecting women with their wicked hands.
“Ah! There’s a woman!”
“What! Where!?”
“I see her! This way! Someone flank her! We’ll take her down with numbers!”
“Gather the others too! We can’t afford to let her escape!”
I deliberately exposed myself.
I couldn’t let other women who looked like me be harmed.
I fled to the outskirts of the royal capital.
Taking a short break.
I organized the conversation of the pursuing thugs and re-organized the information, connecting it to the current situation.
“Those guys are the mercenary group [Hounds].”
Heiggel’s pawns.
My tailing was discovered because I let my personal feelings interfere.
If I were acting alone, no matter how much information I gathered, it would be useless. My apologies, Queen.
I… I… Wait, what?
It’s pulling me in. A trap?
I observed for a while.
The [Hounds] had completely retreated to the royal capital.
Why?
I have no acquaintances in the royal capital.
…No way! It must be that Heiggel mistook a woman who looked like me for me.
“D-Dark…”
They know too.
That I would appear to help (surrender).
It doesn’t matter to them which woman Heiggel captured.
I’m sorry. Just because she looks like me.
To be abducted by such thugs without knowing anything… I’m sorry (tears).
The woman, unable to return to the royal capital.
She headed towards a nearby farming village, gathering anything that might be of value.
In the royal capital, a woman with a strikingly similar build and hair color was brazenly abducted by several thugs in broad daylight.
They might know about the disappearances.
Soldiers clashed with the [Hounds] on the great street of the royal capital.
There were casualties among passersby and stall vendors.
The soldiers ended up letting them escape, as expected.
But it couldn’t be helped. There was an informant among the soldiers.
“Escape from that side (whispering).”
“I’ll send someone with money later (whispering)♪”
The King considered the genuine combat power to be the soldiers in the royal castle.
He was unconcerned with whether the soldiers in the castle town fell into corruption.
The Captains of the guard were in the barracks, completely unable to deal with the traitor.
Meanwhile, the woman who arrived at the farming village.
She was surprised to see fruit trees out of season.
While negotiating to stay overnight with the villagers, she asked if there was any secret to growing fruit out of season.
“It’s thanks to the fertilizer that’s been appearing recently ♪”
“Ah, are you a traveler? It costs a bit, but they say it can make them bear fruit all year round. So we recently purchased some fertilizer ♪”
“Ho-ho-ho, it’s thanks to the fertilizer brought by the merchants ♪ Thanks to it, we don’t have to send our son to the city to work to make a living…”
Everyone she asked mentioned fertilizer.
There was no mark on the fertilizer bags indicating which merchant company it came from.
Even when I infused magic into my eyes. There were no magical enchantments.
Just ordinary fertilizer?
In this world, people possess magic power, to varying degrees.
Yet, I felt no magic from that fertilizer at all.
But if they say it produces enough nutrients to make plants bear fruit all year round, I have no other explanation.
“Well, that’s fine.”
“Excuse me, what do you find acceptable?”
“No, it’s nothing. I’ll lend you a hand with something ♪”
“Oh, really? Then, please help with preparing dinner ♪”
Thump-thump-thump Chop-chop Chop-chop
The woman prepared dinner with the lady of the house where she was staying.
There was no place to bathe in the village, so.
The woman put the boiled water into a bucket and wiped her body in her room.
While worrying about the [Hounds] and their pursuers, she let out a relaxed, disheveled face.
“So refreshing. Ah, I wonder how many days it will take to reach the city ♪? Hmm, thank you for the hot water.”
“This is thanks for the medicinal herbs you gave me ♪”
