Volume 2
Chapter 26
I Searched
Translator : PolterGlast
After that, I parted
ways with Chrisya-san and returned to the spot where the old man and Akana-san
were supposed to be waiting for me───or so I thought.
"......Huh?"
When I returned,
neither the old man nor Akana-san was there.
"......"
What? What's going on?
Wasn't he agreed that
he would look after Akana-san here?
I tilted my head in
confusion over the strange situation.
Maybe the old man went
back on his word and tried to kill Akana-san? It's possible. I didn't know much
about the old man's true identity, and perhaps he held a deep grudge against
the Gilmburg family without revealing it.
......
I looked around.
It seemed too peaceful
for the old man to have tried to kill Akana-san. There were almost no signs of
a struggle. The table wasn't overturned, the dishes weren't broken, and even
the tea in the cup hadn't spilled. The grass was growing naturally, and it
seemed like there hadn't been any fighting here.
So, maybe they went
for a walk?
This is a safe zone
where no magical beasts appear. It's a perfect environment for a forest bath.
Judging from the situation here, this seems more likely.
"......"
I should go look for
them in the forest.
Without hesitation, I
dashed into the forest.
□□□
Huh? They're really
not here.
I searched the forest
for about an hour, but I couldn't find them anywhere.
I ran around the
entire forest at a pretty fast speed (easily faster than sound), so I don't
think I missed anything... But really, what happened to them?
What I found instead
was───
"..."
The Gilmburg family
servants who were with In-san. And they were dead.
It was a gruesome
sight. Many of the bodies had large holes in them, or it looked like something
had crawled out from inside. It was a sight I rarely saw.
Also, there was a
blast site nearby... but since there were pieces of clothing identical to those
worn by In-san's group along with the flesh fragments, I think those who died
there were also from the Gilmburg family servants.
From this, I can infer
that... someone stood in Akana-san's way as an enemy. That someone was very
powerful, and In-san's group couldn't defeat them, so they shifted their focus
to letting Akana-san escape and risked their lives to buy time, I guess? That
might explain why the bodies were scattered in different places.
"..."
If so, who is the
opponent?
Is it the old man
after all?
Maybe the reason there
were no signs of a struggle around the house was because he wanted to prevent
the house from being destroyed by the aftermath of the battle?
So, he took Akana-san
somewhere in the forest first and then attacked her from there...?
Perhaps it was a
mistake to leave Akana-san with someone I barely knew.
"..."
No, wait a second. If
the opponent was the old man, isn't something still strange?
Considering Akana-san's
current state, she wouldn't want to distance herself from the old man. So, even
if they went for a walk, she should have always been close to the old man.
Judging from the
situation of the Gilmburg family servants, there was no doubt that a
large-scale attack had been carried out.
Even if the Gilmburg
family servants acted as shields, could they have protected Akana-san, who was
in close proximity to the spellcaster (the old man), from a large-scale attack?
Some kind of defensive
magic? But the Gilmburg family servants seemed to have been killed helplessly.
If there was such defensive magic, could such miserable corpses have been
created?
"..."
What is this? It
doesn't make sense.
When things don't add
up like this, it usually means something I don't know about has happened.
Something inconvenient for me is happening... I think.
"…………"
Haa...
This is why I hate
thinking.
I have to predict the
good and bad, and the outcome of events myself.
Even if I try to move
in a way that causes as little trouble as possible, this world is also
influenced by everything other than me, so I can't completely eliminate the
possibility of being taken to a future I don't want.
Moreover, even though
there is a possibility that I won't be able to go to the future I want, I have
to take responsibility for the choices I make. I have to think about problems
that I can't solve no matter how hard I think about them, and even knowing that
things might get worse, I have to think about what to do next.
"..."
Ahh... It's too
troublesome.
I know that thinking
that doesn't lead to an answer is useless, but I have to do it. And the double
pain is that I have to do it even though I know that things will probably go in
a bad direction.
...Haa.
What am I even
doing...
Anyway, I have to find
Akana-san before it's too late. ...Maybe it's already too late.
Just as I was about to
lower my center of gravity and start running,
"───!"
A woman I didn't know
appeared in front of me.
"Fufu, there's no
need to be in such a hurry. It's important to take your time and think about
your own 'love', isn't it? So───why don't we talk about 'love' for a while?"
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