Nick had found the letter while he was ‘patrolling’, which was basically another name for going on a break. Since he didn’t need to worry about monster attacks, he wandered around his designated area when he noticed something strange. ‘What is that?’
It looked like a clumsily woven scarecrow. Stationed crookedly, its arms were severely misaligned, making it look like a child’s crude copy of one made by adults, and the scarecrow looked especially shabby as it stood in an open space and not on a field. However, its insides seemed to be considerably durable as it withstood strong winds.
Nick was currently in an area where monsters frequently popped out even during normal times without monster ambushes. Yet, the scarecrow didn’t exist in this spot just yesterday, which meant that someone must have made the scarecrow near the Denest Mountain Range’s vicinity when the monsters could come attacking at any moment.
‘How suspicious. Really suspicious.’ Did his collaborator prepare this? Or was this something completely unrelated? Nick pulled out his sword and cautiously approached the scarecrow. Fortunately, the scarecrow had no traps, and he carefully studied it.
The scarecrow had clothes as if it was mimicking a human figure. Yet, its clothes were ripped in several places and flapped in the air. Nick narrowed his eyes. Scarecrows normally wore old and torn clothes, but the fabric on this scarecrow looked good as new. It was ripped as if somebody had purposefully cut it with a sharp object, and thick blood smeared its clothes. Nick didn’t know what happened to the owner of these clothes, but he doubted that they would be safe.
‘I think I’ve seen this dress before…!” Nick opened his eyes so wide that they looked like they would rip. Without a trace of his previous cautiousness, he stomped towards the scarecrow and clutched the dress hard.
‘This is…!’ A recent memory passed through his head.
<<Dad!>>
He heard his lovely—oh so lovely voice of his daughter.
<<Do I look pretty?>>
<<Of course! Our princess is the prettiest in the world!>>
<<Hehe!>>
Ellie twirled once in front of Nick, and the pretty frills hanging on her clothes flapped. This was the dress that his daughter had begged him to get for her some time ago, and he had bought it for her birthday. The memory of his daughter accepting these clothes and hugging him with a bright smile was one of his life’s most precious memories. He could almost clearly see her now, clinging onto his thighs and rubbing her cheeks against him in her new clothes. Thus, he could recognize that the clothes the scarecrow was wearing were his daughter’s even in such a ruined state. After all, this dress was the first thing his daughter had packed when leaving for Pialu. But why was this dress here in such a tattered state?
‘N-No! I can’t be sure that this is Ellie’s dress yet!” It could just be a similar dress. He quickly checked the clothes’ tag. When he gave this dress to his daughter, he had engraved Ellie’s name there.
“Please! Please let there not be…!’ With shaking hands, he lifted the tag and checked it. Then, his heart filled with so much shock that it almost stopped.
[Ellie]
These threaded five letters were clearly on the tag.
“Uh, uhahhhhh!” Nick burst out screaming. His mana-filled voice echoed in his surroundings. “Who’s the bastaaaaaard!” Boiling with anger, he raised his sword and was about to slice the scarecrow but stopped when he remembered who used to own the clothes that it was wearing.
“Ah, urghh…!” While gritting his teeth, Nick tried to repress his rage somehow.
‘Calm down! The guy who did this must have a purpose!’ There was no way someone would’ve stationed a scarecrow wearing his daughter’s bloodied and ripped clothes by coincidence. Nick sheathed his sword and searched around the scarecrow, and he soon found a piece of paper underneath a large rock at the bottom of the scarecrow’s feet. Nick flung the rock away and picked up the piece of paper.
“H-How…!” Rage filled him up again.
[I have your daughter.]
This was confirmation. Someone had kidnapped Ellie and was threatening him with her.
“Daaaaamn it!”
Then, after shouting and grunting angrily for a while, Nick racked through his head.
‘I need to check if Ellie was really kidnapped or not!’ he thought, but unfortunately, he knew there was a high chance she was. After all, the clothes Ellie treasured the most were in front of him in a ruined state.
‘Did those guys betray me?’ What came to his mind first were the subordinates he had employed. As expected of bastards who moved according to money, perhaps the plan failed because of them. However, Nick soon shook his head and thought they couldn’t have created this scenario.
‘If it was those guys, they would’ve asked for money first.’
The person behind this work simply informed Nick that they had Ellie, but didn’t list out any requests. It seemed that the culprit was planning to manipulate Nick however they liked.
‘I have to find those guys first!’ He needed to know if his subordinates had betrayed him or if a third party had intervened and kidnapped Ellie.
* * *
Nick immediately returned to the city. Although he still had some time left before his patrol time was over, it was none of his concern. He had to investigate something else that took much more precedence. In the last meeting, the fact that Til and Nick’s children had gone to the city next door was brought up, because it was suggested that Til might have gone to pick up his child. Thus, a person was dispatched there.
“Ah, Mr. Nick!” A soldier on guard duty recognized Nick. Normally, Nick would’ve started with a greeting, but his urgent matter caused him to rush to the point.
“Did Mr. Zich perhaps return?”
“Ah, the holy knight? Yes, he returned recently.”
Nick quickly went into the city. The person sent to the nearest city was Zich since he was the only one who could face Til and had ties with the children. The commander looked displeased that the city’s strongest defense was leaving for a short while, but since it was more urgent to search for Til, he gave his permission for Zich to leave. Moreover, it was certain that the city would get destroyed if there was another monster ambush.
‘He’s probably at the city hall, right?’ Zich probably went to report to the commander right away. Nick’s footsteps quickened even more. The city hall guards recognized Nick and let him in right away. They also informed him that Zich was inside the city hall. Nick let out a sigh in front of the city hall’s meeting room, which was being used for a strategy meeting and knocked on the door.
“Who is it!”
“Sir, it’s the vice-captain of the Wolf’s Canine, Nick!”
“Come in.”
Nick opened the door and went in. Zich and the commander were sitting together. “Welcome, Mr. Nick. What’s the matter? Shouldn’t you be patrolling the city during this time?”
“It’s because I thought it was about time for Mr. Zich to arrive.” Then, Nick turned his head towards Zich. “What happened to the children?”
The commander frowned because it seemed like Nick was pushing off his duty for personal reasons. “Vice-Captain Nick! Do you think that’s a sufficient reason for you to abandon your duty!” The commander already looked unfavorably towards the Wolf’s Canine because of the matter with Til, so his words came out harshly.
If Nick didn’t want the monsters to attack, they wouldn’t attack the city. Of course, he couldn’t say that. “I sincerely apologize, but I was so curious…”
“Now, now, let’s calm down. Commander, let’s not get heated about something that has already happened.” Zich calmed the commander. The commander shut his mouth, but he looked greatly displeased.
However, Nick had no leisure to consider the commander’s feelings. “So my daughter…”
“I’m sincerely sorry to say this, but she wasn’t there.”
“…She wasn’t there?”
“Yes. It seems like she didn’t even enter the lodging they were supposed to go to. I asked around the city for a bit, but no one saw her either. It seems like they didn’t even enter the city.”
“ How can…” Nick collapsed to his knees in shock. He hadn’t expected helpful information from Zich. In the first place, it had been Nick’s plan to kidnap the children before they went to the nearest city. However, since someone might have kidnapped his daughter for real, he tried grasping at straws and asked Zich for confirmation. It was the same type of mentality as looking for a lost item in the same place again.
The commander said, “Perhaps, Captain Til might have kidnapped her.”
“Sir, I also thought of that, but rather than trying to kidnap Vice-Captain Nick’s daughter, I think it was to take his own child.”
“So you’re saying that Vice-Captain Nick’s daughter got swept into that affair.” The commander looked at Nick with a look of pity. Even though he was furious that Nick went against orders and wanted to pour insults at him, he felt pity that Nick didn’t know the whereabouts of his daughter. He was also a father.
“Perhaps, have you seen any signs of her whereabouts? Even the smallest detail is fine!” Nick desperately asked Zich, but Zich shook his head.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any clues, and I didn’t have enough time to carefully look for any signs.” Zich tapped Nick’s shoulder. “Sir, don’t worry about it too much. There’s no evidence that she’s been kidnapped yet. They might have just gone to another location because something came up.”
“Yes, that’s right.” The commander supported Zich’s thoughts, but he also didn’t look like he believed Zich’s words. “When this matter ends, I’ll do my best to help find your daughter. So, go back to your designated area and do your best to find the culprit since we’ll be able to search for your daughter as soon as this situation is resolved.”
“…I got it.” Nick left the meeting room like a sick and old patient.
The commander watched him leave and sighed. “He seemed calm before, but now he looks completely different.” Since Til’s son, Walter, was with Ellie, there were predictions that Ellie might have been harmed while Til went to find Walter. Nick’s extremely calm demeanor had impressed the commander when people mentioned this to him before, but now he was disappointed by Nick’s complete panic after his daughter went missing.
“It’s a matter related to his child. How can he stay calm?”
“Well, that’s true.” The commander nodded. “Anyway, I should exclude Mr. Nick from battle as much as possible. Even though he’s skilled, he won’t be able to use his skills properly in that state.”
“Are you also going to leave the patrol duty for his designated area to another person?”
“I’ll also have to think about that.” Since the number of One-Sided Pyramids of Lamentations was limited, he couldn’t let an unsuitable person continue to be in charge of this mission. “I was glad that this matter could finally be resolved, but it feels like new problems keep coming up.”
“Sir, you have a lot on your shoulders.”
“It’s nothing compared to what you guys are doing.” The commander looked at the door that Nick left through one more time and said, “It’s not that I don’t understand Vice-Captain Nick’s feelings. I also hope that his daughter is all right. People who kidnap children should really get struck by lightning and die.”
“I completely agree with your words.” Zich nodded. “Those guys need to experience the exact same pain they inflicted on others.”