“Kent, are you ready?”
“Yes, I’ve finished changing.”
“The carriage should be ready by now, so let’s hurry.”
Wearing his new clothes, Kent was led by Elnet’s hand as they hurried down the stairs from Elnet’s private room on the second floor.
“You’re right. The carriage is already stopped in front.”
Not much time had passed since Elnet had ordered the carriage to be prepared, for Kent and his companions to finish changing, and for them to exit the annex. However, the carriage they had arranged was already there, ready for departure at any moment. Kent was surprised that it was prepared in such a complete state, even though it wasn’t something that could be activated instantly with a key like a car; everything required preparation by human hands.
“What do you think? Surprised? Our ducal family always keeps carriages ready to depart at any moment in preparation for unexpected situations. This is for emergencies; for non-urgent matters, this carriage isn’t used, and arrangements are made through the usual preparation process.”
Elnet explained this inside the carriage, which had already departed from the annex with Kent and Elnet. However, perhaps because it was designed for speed as an emergency vehicle, it was by far the most uncomfortable carriage ride among the many ducal family carriages he had experienced.
“If you talk too much, you’ll bite your tongue, so you should be careful.”
“I understand.”
After that, they refrained from conversation and the carriage headed for Patty’s house.
“We’re here.”
“Let’s go inside for now.”
The area in front of Patty’s house had been prepared so that carriages could pass through, allowing Kent and his companions’ carriage to pull up right in front of the house. Elnet and Kent immediately disembarked and entered Patty’s house.
“Excuse us, we’re intruding.”
Normally, they would knock on the door and wait for someone inside to open it. But this was an emergency. Elnet unceremoniously flung the door open with force, without even checking if anyone was home.
“Patty, Eliza. Gordon, are you alright?”
Kent scanned the small house but couldn’t spot anyone.
“There are signs of a struggle in the room. Kent, look. There’s blood here.”
“You’re right. Whose blood is this?”
Elnet called out to Kent upon finding the bloodstain on the floor. It was likely Gordon’s blood from his resistance, but they couldn’t be sure.
“Where did the Prince go?”
“I don’t know. If this bloodstain is indeed Gordon’s, he must be injured quite badly. If that’s the case, he probably hasn’t gone far…”
They searched the entire room just in case, but couldn’t find Gordon.
“There’s no point in staying here. However, we don’t have enough manpower for a blind search. Let’s conduct interviews in the vicinity until Catherine and the others arrive.”
“Understood.”
Following Elnet’s proposal, Kent decided to conduct interviews in the area around the scene until Catherine and her group arrived.
“Several men…”
“Someone saw two people being loaded into a carriage. Unfortunately, while they knew the direction they left, they couldn’t confirm their destination.”
As a result of the interviews in the neighborhood, they began to get a general idea of what had happened around the time the incident occurred.
“Kent, Elnet. We’re here.”
At that moment, Catherine arrived, leading the Holy Knights. Nearly all the knights belonging to the unit were present.
“Kent, what’s the situation?”
“When we arrived, no one was in the house. Based on the interviews around here…”
Kent explained the situation to Otsupain, the captain of the Holy Knights.
“It’s concerning that Gordon can’t be found. Alright, I’ll split the unit in half. One half will search for Prince Gordon, who might be in the vicinity, and the remaining members will stand by here.”
“Yes, sir!”
Under Otsupain’s command, half of the Holy Knights set out to search for Prince Gordon in the surrounding area.
“Hey, Emily, Al. Can you figure out where Patty and Eliza are, quickly?”
“That’s impossible. If they possessed distinctive magical power or had a physical connection with the Master, we might be able to find them, but unfortunately, neither of them falls into those categories.”
“I’m the same as Emily. We weren’t expecting this at all, so I apologize that we can’t help more.”
Even with the abilities of Emily and Al, whom Catherine had brought with her, they were unable to ascertain the whereabouts of the two.
“According to the information Kent and Elnet gathered from their interviews, we need to investigate loan sharks who came to collect debts. If they were legitimate lenders, they wouldn’t be so forceful. It’s likely they are loan sharks working outside the law. It seems it will take time and effort to find them.”
Catherine, who was in overall charge, wrung her hands.
“Huff, huff. Older brother, what’s happening now?”
“Hm, Rachel? You came to help.”
“Of course, when I heard a friend was kidnapped, I came running. I ran as fast as I could.”
Rachel, who had arrived out of breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead with a cloth she held.
“Rachel, wait! Huff, huff.”
A little later, Caro also arrived, panting heavily. Like Rachel, she had run, her chest heaving.
“Rachel, those are my pants.”
“Ah. Sorry, sorry. I used them to wipe my sweat, but I’ll give them back.”
“I was cold while running. Honestly.”
Caro snatched back the piece of cloth from Rachel’s hand. Caro looked around furtively, and when she confirmed no one was watching, she put on the cloth, returning it to its intended place.
“So those were Caro’s pants.”
“Yes. Rachel is truly a handful.”
“Hahaha.”
The cloth Rachel had was Caro’s underwear. Although Kent wanted to ask why Rachel had grabbed Caro’s pants, it wasn’t the time; the search for Patty and Eliza took priority.
“So, what’s the current situation?”
“Right now…”
Kent explained the current situation to Rachel and Caro.
“I see. So you don’t know where they are. But I think Caro can be useful in times like these.”
“Ah, that’s right. Caro, first, do you know where the Prince is?”
“Please wait a moment.”
Kent decided that finding the whereabouts of Prince Gordon, the prince of this country, was a higher priority than finding Patty and Eliza, and requested Caro to start by searching for Gordon. Caro then began sniffing the air.
“This smells like when someone entered… they sat in this chair… and, ah, is this blood Gordon’s? Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Caro?”
Caro, who had been following Gordon’s scent, stopped moving.
“It seems the scent disappears here. Then, sniff, sniff. I can’t follow the scent anymore. It’s impossible to conclude anything other than the Prince vanished from this spot.”
“What?!”
Kent and the others exclaimed in surprise at Caro’s words.
“There’s also a faint scent that I think I know… or maybe not. I’m sorry. The scent is too faint to identify.”
Caro said with a troubled expression. Usually, she could identify scents accurately, but this time it wasn’t working out.
“No clues…”
“It would seem so.”
Elnet had hoped to find a clue about Gordon, but she looked disappointed that the results were not as expected.
“Well then, can you track Patty and Eliza’s scent?”
“In that case…”
Saying so, Caro began to follow Patty and Eliza’s scent.
“The scent disappears outside the house. However, I can smell the carriage mentioned in the testimonies from the surroundings. I’ll follow that scent now.”
“Please, Caro.”
Since they were loaded into a carriage outside the house, Caro couldn’t follow their scent, but she could smell the horses that pulled the carriage, so she decided to follow them.
“Then I will remain here and direct the search for the Prince. Otsupain and the Holy Knights will accompany Kent and the others for their protection and to ensure the safety of Patty and Eliza.”
“Yes, understood.”
Catherine took charge of directing the Holy Knights’ search for Gordon at Patty’s house, while Otsupain, with the remaining Holy Knights, would accompany Kent and his group.
“Now, everyone, follow me!”
“Yes!”
Thus, guided by Caro’s nose, Kent, Elnet, Rachel, Al, Emily, along with Otsupain and the Holy Knights, began their search for Patty and Eliza.
