VIP Chapter 200: Iaar in Nov (2)
“…”
“Miss…?”
Isaac, the tavern owner, wiped his glass and sighed. He finally spoke to the maid in front of him.
“Huh?! Yes, Iaar… I… I’m here to drink! That’s right, please give me a… glass of orange juice!”
Isaac sighed.
“No… Miss, you’re not here to drink, are you? What did you come here for? Let me guess, your young master isn’t old enough to drink, so you wanted to buy some alcohol from us?”
“He is old enough! Wait, how did you know Iaar wasn’t here to drink?”
Because…
It was a tavern whose main business was selling alcohol, and at this time in the morning, the tavern was still cleaning up in preparation for the evening business…
Suddenly, a Half-Beastman maid knocked and walked in…
She wore an exaggeratedly large hat that covered half her face, and her tail was tucked behind her, but it was so fluffy and large that it was clearly visible.
After sitting down, she looked around.
It was too obvious!
“After all, you didn’t order any drinks after coming in.”
“Because Iaar isn’t an adult, this… I see… Actually… Actually, I’m here to inquire about someone’s whereabouts.”
Iaar was a little flustered. In her panic, the ears on top of her head twitched, and her hat fell off again.
A bad start!
She had prepared herself to be a keen detective dog, but she was recognized at the first step.
Iaar had no choice but to take out the “Wanted Poster” from her pocket and slowly unfurl it on the counter. She even smoothed out every crease with her hand—because these creases were right on the young master’s face, and she wouldn’t allow wrinkles on her young master’s photo!
“After the young master left, I only received one letter. After replying, I didn’t hear from him for two weeks. At the same time, I saw the Wanted Poster posted by his teammate. And the only thing I know is… he’s with ‘S’.”
“Uh… this… isn’t this…”
Isaac recognized it at first glance as the “sweetheart” Shuna had seen that night!
That young master who looked like a noble. He had good taste in alcohol and a decent tolerance. Shuna seemed satisfied too.
Wait…
He…
Is missing?
Isaac was momentarily speechless.
Wasn’t that young master sent off by Shuna under his “arrangement”? Why… would he see a Wanted Poster for him here, stating he was missing?
Then, if he was missing, where would Shuna, who he had sent away, be?
Isaac felt a little worried.
After all, she was Shuna, whom he considered his “second daughter,” and Shuna, who could defeat dungeon BOSSes with a single punch. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time and thought he had facilitated a romantic night for them.
His brief speechlessness was immediately noticed by the little maid—
“You recognized him? The young master came out from here that day. Do you remember? He… he should have been accompanied by a black-haired woman. It… it might have been ‘S’…”
Iaar’s voice was very anxious at first, but her words gradually slowed down, and her mood became a little low.
Her beast ears softened, and her tail drooped to the ground.
“I’m sorry, Iaar got a little too excited. So, do you have any impression? Even though it happened several weeks ago, but… Iaar saw it, it was that woman who took him onto the train. So… I want to know her identity. And the content of their conversation, did you notice what they talked about?”
After saying all that in one breath.
Iaar realized she had actually… said so much!
So boldly and so coherently!
Although she could communicate smoothly when studying with the young master, this was the first time she had spoken so fluently and logically to a stranger she had just met.
Isaac looked at the somewhat anxious maid.
He realized that this maid seemed to lack a bit of “common sense.” For example, for a rather popular tavern owner, it would be impossible to remember a customer from nearly a month ago.
It was just that this customer was rather “special.”
He could have lied and said he didn’t remember.
However…
A trace of pity arose in his heart for such a caring little maid.
He was also curious about where Shuna had taken him and if he was safe.
“I have an impression. Actually, that ‘S’… is an ‘old friend’ of mine.”
“Huh?! What?! Really?! Then where are they now…”
Iaar excitedly slammed the table. In her excitement, she hadn’t controlled her ice magic, and a faint layer of ice formed on the counter.
“Mm-hmm. Her name is Shuna Polol. It’s like this…”
…
Iaar listened as the tavern owner in front of her recounted everything, from when he, as the President of the Adventurer’s Guild in Nov, first met Shuna, how long Shuna had been a freelance adventurer, and how she communicated with Will as the anonymous “S.”
And also…
How Will, sitting in this very spot that night, met and chatted with the “S” he held in his heart.
This was the first time Iaar truly learned about “S” beyond that letter, what kind of person she was in reality.
It was vastly different from her imagination…
Whether it was her gender, her personality… or even her age.
However, she had seen her in person, so she had some preparation.
But…
As “S,” for what purpose would she take the young master away?
It couldn’t be!
She wanted to train the young master, just like he trained her?! So she just kidnapped him?!
Iaar shook her head; that thought was too simple.
“But, is Shuna really that strong?”
“She is indeed very strong. I dare say, she’s the strongest adventurer I’ve ever seen. In fact, I regret that she went back to school instead of continuing her career and wasting three years as an adventurer, hahaha.”
If she’s really that strong…
Her young master would definitely not get hurt by her side.
Just like how she protected the young master, someone else could protect him by his side.
Only…
A trace of unease and unwillingness stirred in Iaar’s heart.
Why did she feel a bit unhappy that someone else would replace her in protecting the young master?
Even if it was someone the young master had been corresponding with for years.
Even if it was a very reliable S-Rank adventurer.
But…
Wasn’t that position…
Iaar’s?
At this moment, an unusual commotion seemed to be coming from outside the tavern.
“Finally! We finally rescued them?!”
The entrance of the small tavern in the morning suddenly erupted.
“But… but why? Isn’t this dungeon for new adventurer training? How could anyone not be able to defeat it?”
“Not being able to defeat it isn’t the point. The point is why they went to the 20th floor? Isn’t it only supposed to go up to the first ten floors?”
“Someone… someone even died!”
“Never mind that, the dungeon itself has a problem! No matter what, according to its rating, it shouldn’t be this difficult!”
“Yeah, yeah. Look at the green stone the captain is holding, there must be something wrong with it!”
“Don’t worry about it anymore, the dungeon is gone, what’s the point of talking about it.”
Iaar, who had moved closer to the entrance, listened to the noisy voices outside and, for the first time, began to analyze what they were saying.
A green stone?
Iaar remembered that before the young master disappeared, he seemed to be obsessed with researching a certain green stone—she had stumbled into his room by accident.
Could it be related to this?
Author’s Note: There will be another chapter later. There’s a lot of content, so I’ve split it into two chapters.
