Proofreader: Xemul
“It’s not that we haven’t heard that something is wrong in Suest.”
Accompanied by Mills, who suggested a change of location, Loren and his friends had come to a stall in the plaza near the guard station. The owner of the stall did not give the same unnatural response as the residents of Suest that Loren and his friends had seen so far, which made them feel a little relieved.
“We were just in the neighborhood on another commission, and thought that we’d take a little break. And now here we are. We should have just left, even if it was a hassle.”
The stall selling snacks and beverages was a mobile stall, but it offered foldable chairs and tables for customers. The seven of them occupied one of the tables, ordering drinks and food before starting their conversation.
Around them, there were a few people who seemed to have come from outside the city, but their faces were strangely filled with a sense of unease or fear. It was a bit inappropriate, but after seeing the blank expressions on the faces of the city’s residents, Loren and his group were somewhat relieved to see that there were groups of humans gathering here.
“We came into town two days ago. The day we got here, we had a big party because we’ve just finished a commission. We decided to take the next day off.”
“The priest disappeared last night?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Actually, he started feeling sick in the evening. He was supposed to be resting in his room, but we were worried when he didn’t come out of his room in the morning, so we broke the door and went in.”
“You broke through the door of the inn?”
If they were not careful, the guards could be called, and they could be arrested. They had destroyed someone else’s property, and no matter how much of a hurry they were in, they could have borrowed a duplicate key from the innkeeper or something. It was what Loren thought, and when he told Mills this, Mills immediately shook his head.
“It’s useless. The innkeeper also kept saying he didn’t know anything.”
It seemed like Mills also had the same thought as Loren. He had tried to negotiate with the innkeeper for a key to the priest’s room, but was having trouble getting through to him.
“All he said was ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I don’t understand’, so we had no choice but to break the door.”
“He didn’t ask for compensation?”
“He didn’t react at all when I smashed down the door. It was a little creepy, but more importantly, there was no sign of the priest in the room. We’re adventurers, too. We could have looked for him ourselves, but…”
“We thought we should inform the guild and the guards first, rather than making a bad move in a town we didn’t know well.”
The magician continued Mills’ sentence. The magician and the rogue, members of Mills’ party, were people Mills had met after he became an adventurer, and they had nothing to do with the mercenary company that Loren and Mills had belonged to.
“Isn’t it possible that this priest has returned alone to the town where you all are based?”
Mills and the other two shook their heads in unison at Lapis’ question.
“He would never do such a thing alone without telling us. Even if he wanted to, it’s too dangerous and too far to go alone.”
“And it would be a suicide for a priest to walk alone through the night on a road where monsters and beasts are present. He has been an adventurer for a long time, so he should know better.”
“And even if he was that stupid, he had to have a reason for doing it, right? The three of us have no idea why he would do something like that.”
With Mills, the magician and the rogue testifying in turns, Loren thought it unlikely that the priest was acting alone, even though he had never met him before.
“Where the hell did he go, then?”
At the same time that Gula asked, the stall owner brought over the food and drinks that they had ordered and placed them on the table.
Suest was quite large for a city in such a location, but it was not that large. It was a town where one could find a single person without too much trouble.
“That’s why we’re in trouble. Hey Loren, do you have any idea what’s going on, on your side?”
The only thing Loren could think of when asked, was the story of the sewer he and Lapis went to last night. Although he didn’t even know if Mills’ friend was among the dozen people who had disappeared at that time, it was the only phenomenon he could think of in, which people suddenly went somewhere strange.
“Actually, we were also thinking of informing the guards about something.”
Glancing at Lapis, he saw that she was just about to start on the food that had been brought to them, her eyes shining. Thinking about it, Loren felt that he had not had a proper meal since coming to this city, and it was not surprising that Lapis was pleased with the food from the street vendor. Hoping for her to pay a little more attention to the conversation, Loren cleared his throat. Lapis stopped the hand that was bringing food to her mouth, looked at him, and slightly nodded. Both of them had obtained the information about the sewers together, and Loren felt that making the decision to talk about it with others by himself wasn’t good, so he was asking for Lapis’ consent. After seeing that she was alright about it, he proceeded telling Mills what they saw last night.
“The sewers? What the hell were they doing there…?”
“I don’t know. I did see them go in, but I lost them there. Of course, I don’t know if there were any priests in the group.”
“That’s true, but I can’t think of any other possibilities. But still, a sewer of all places… I don’t want to go in there.”
Loren understood Mills’ point. He had stepped in there once, but if he was asked to go back, he was inclined to refuse with all his might. However, Loren was willing to endure it and go in if absolutely necessary, and as he thought that Mills would also do the same for the sake of his friend. Mills let out a low moan, then took in a deep breath as if he had made up his mind.
“It can’t be helped… I guess we’ll just have to go there.”
“I knew you’d say that, but all I can say is, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Aaah that bastard, if I find him there, I’ll make him buy me a lot of expensive drinks, I really will. We’re going to have to go buy a lot of perfume and deodorant.”
As Loren was thinking that despite all his rough speech, the perfume and deodorant Mills planned to buy were probably for his friend, the rogue suddenly looked at Mills and blurted out.
“What use do we have for perfume and deodorant?”
“What are you talking about? He just told us that a dozen people disappeared in the sewers last night, right? Maybe there’s a clue to the priest there, so we have to go there, don’t we?”
“Did he mention that?”
As the rogue said this with a surprised blink, Mills’ face turned grim. Mills did not have a rough face, but perhaps because he had been a mercenary for a long time, when he made a grim expression, it was powerful in its own way.
However, it was only Loren and Mills’ friends who could sense this. None of the women on Loren’s side seemed to be moved by the ex-mercenary’s stern face. Even now, they were almost ignoring the conversation and were engrossed in eating the barbecued meat brought by the stall owner. None of them paid any attention to Mills’ face.
“Do you even listen to us talking?”
“A-ah? Sorry. That… well.”
“Forget it. Anyway, we’re going to go to that sewer entrance on the west side and check it out. We don’t know what’s happening to him there.”
“‘Him’ means…”
“All the drinking got to your head or something? Well just shut up and follow me.”
“All right.”
Mills stood up from his seat, urging the rogue, who was not responding well, and the magician, who remained silent, as if he had something on his mind, to follow him.
Loren understood his desire to find his friends as soon as possible, but even putting that aside, there was one piece of information that Loren wanted to ask Mills about.
“In exchange for the information I just gave you, can you do something for me?”
“What? I can, but in that case, we’ll split the bill fifty-fifty, okay?”
Mills smirked at him, and Loren slightly snorted.
“I have no intention of asking for a treat or anything. What I’d like you to tell me is, do you know what happened to the Commander and the others afterwards?”
For Loren, Mills was the first survivor of his mercenary company that he had encountered since he became an adventurer. Unlike himself, who was too busy running away to pay attention to his surroundings, he asked the question in the hope that Mills might have some information for him. Of course, Loren didn’t think that he would suddenly have the good fortune to know the whereabouts of the commander or the higher executives like this, but he hoped he could at least get some information. But Mills, who was staring at Loren, said something that he could not believe.
“The Commander? Who is it?”
“What are you talking about? The Commander of our company, Yuri Muttschild. Who else?”
It was the name of the leader of their mercenary company, which was also the company’s name. Loren was surprised and wondered why Mills was pretending not to know, but Mills thought for a while and then said.
“Is that his name? I don’t remember.”
“What?!”
For a moment, Loren wondered if he had been tricked into thinking he knew Mills, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Loren had no idea what benefits there were in deceiving him. Moreover, Mills himself was someone Loren was surely familiar with, and not someone he had no idea who he was talking to.
“Are you serious? This is a bad joke, right?”
“Joke or not, I really don’t know. I don’t know what I don’t know. Rather than that, we need to quickly get ready and go to the sewers. We’ll pay for this place. After all, I couldn’t answer your questions even if we received some information.”
“…I see.”
“You’re still in town, right? If we can find our priest, we’ll come give you our thanks. Well then, we’ll be going.”
Mills handed the stall owner a small bag containing what must have been a considerable amount of money, and then disappeared into the city without receiving any change.
Loren was grateful for Mills’ thoughtfulness, assuming the guy meant that they can eat and drink the amount of money in the bag, but he stared in the direction Mills and his friends had gone, unable to understand the attitude Mills showed when they parted.
“How is it possible that he doesn’t remember the Commander?”
Loren thought that every member of the company had been more or less under the care of the Commander. But he also wondered if mercenaries, for whom money was everything, would forget the name of a leader who had destroyed his group in a losing battle as it was a bad omen.
In any case, he didn’t think Mills was lying, and Loren, thinking that there were members like that, accepted the well-timed glass offered by Lapis next to him and drained the alcohol in it in one gulp.