Chapter 34

Merry Christmas!

I've already made a reservation for the present!

What? The author of reality? You're working, huh.

Since I came back from the forest earlier than usual, there were only a few people on the town's streets. Of course, people who have just finished work haven't come out yet, and it will be a little while before the streets get busy with people shopping for dinner.

Perhaps because there were fewer people around, I noticed that the guards... or rather, the patrolmen, as they are called in this country, were particularly conspicuous in their uniforms.

But since it was this time of day, the adventurer's guild would probably be empty, so I thought I'd finish up early and help with dinner preparations. While helping, I wanted to learn a bit from Anna. I can do camping cooking in the army, but I actually can't do proper, elaborate cooking.

I know the basics of using a knife, so I think I can be of some help with a little bit of assistance. I decided to go to the guild first, stop by home to find out what to buy today, and then take a shortcut through the back alleys.

Although I was told to avoid the northern end, which has poor security, I walked cautiously through the area with many shops open at night. Someone might suddenly appear from between buildings.

There was only one person cleaning in front of a store that was still closed, and then... there were patrolmen on this street too.

...The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that my feeling that "there were more of them than usual" wasn't just my imagination. I hadn't really noticed it before, but now that I think about it, there were also some at the gate when I entered the city. They were positioned to look at the faces of people leaving. So it probably wasn't a monster outbreak or something like that.

What happened? Considering the increased patrols, I thought something criminal might have happened in the city.

And the culprit hasn't been caught yet, I suppose.

I showed my silver adventurer's guild tag and asked the patrolman what had happened, but he was clearly suspicious and said, "Nothing." His attitude indicated that I shouldn't pry any further, which only made the sense of emergency stronger.

...Something is happening, and information is being restricted. I need to hurry home. I need to tell Anna not to go out today before she goes shopping for dinner...

"!"

"Is there something you need, miss?"

Walking through a narrow alley as a shortcut, I felt something off about the people I passed and couldn't help but follow them with my eyes. A certain "smell" caught my attention. The possibilities that came to mind made me stare rudely.

One of the three men seemed annoyed by my gaze and snapped at me.

"No... nothing. I'm sorry."

I apologized, quickened my pace, and hurried in the direction they had come from. Since I could only follow the smell with my nose to a certain extent, I recalled what I had seen and looked down at my feet. Far ahead, one of them had discarded a paper cigarette. ...This. Since it happened just now, even though I'm not a professional magical investigator, I should be able to track their footsteps for a few hours from the saliva and magical traces.

It was a good thing the smell was distinctive, and I noticed and focused on it quickly. They had been close to me for a while, so my nose had temporarily gotten used to it.

Following the gradually fading magical traces, I arrived at a building. The sign was gone, but it seemed to have been a bar at one time. The front windows and door were boarded up, and I headed towards what appeared to be a back door they had used.

If my guess is correct, ...the child of the city's lord, who is a patient with Heart Stone Disease, should be inside. Probably kidnapped.

There is some basis for this. Patients using this drug emit a very distinctive smell. And, to be frank, the people I passed and their close family members would find it difficult to continue buying this drug financially. Moreover, I can estimate the amount used based on the raw materials I deliver, and there should only be one patient with Heart Stone Disease in this area. There is only enough demand to maintain one patient's condition.

There is also the possibility that they are "servants of the lord's residence," but I doubt an adult male with that appearance would be a caretaker for a sick child.

The smell that only a child with a serious illness, the lord's child, should emit came from them. Moreover, following their footsteps led to an abandoned building that is not currently in operation.

I don't think it's just my overthinking that something has happened and the child is inside.

The patrolmen who refused to tell me anything when I showed my silver adventurer's guild tag also make sense if a highly secretive crime like a kidnapping has occurred.

It was almost a hunch, but when I thought about it, everything fit together. If my guess is correct, I can't ignore it.

There was a risk of being detected and becoming suspicious, but I thought I needed solid evidence, so I carefully used a detection spell to investigate inside the building.

...There were no life signals on the first floor, which was a shop, or on the second floor, which seemed to be living quarters. However, there was an unusually large basement that didn't seem to be a food storage area. I walked around the building carefully, but there was no ventilation. This indicated that the basement's existence was being hidden, a common feature of criminal hideouts, not ordinary shops.

Or, it might have been owned by shady people even when it was a shop. My suspicion grew stronger.

However, I am confident, but if I'm wrong, it would just be an illegal intrusion. Using magic to investigate a building in the city without the authority of the patrolmen is also illegal, but I'll put that aside for now.

If kidnappers are inside, some of them had just left for some reason, so the situation won't change immediately. I need to gather evidence to prove they are kidnappers and then bring the patrolmen to raid the place.

I hesitated for a moment about how to get that "evidence" but decided to abuse the detection spell to eavesdrop, citing an emergency.

I placed my hand on the ground and channeled magic. If there were only ordinary people inside, I would apologize humbly.

"...Still... not yet."

"Ah, finally the boss is out. Let's take a nap."

Good, it worked. The spell, originally designed to collect faint sounds like the footsteps of monsters or animals, was improvised. There was a lot of noise, so I adjusted it to improve accuracy while remaining alert to my surroundings.

"How's the kid?"

"Who knows. He's been quiet from the start, so he's probably huddled up and trembling."

"Is that so? Go check."

There was a small click of the tongue, and one of them stood up and moved. I could hear the other one grumbling about how the one who stood up was suddenly acting superior now that the boss was gone.

This is it. The way they talked made it clear that the child in the basement was of noble birth. The malice in their voices was infuriating.

I stood up to find the patrolling patrolmen as quickly as possible, having obtained evidence to explain the situation to them, but my heart skipped a beat at the next words I heard.

"What, is this food not good enough for the young master?"

The man cursing the child's noble status made me imagine the worst.

"How is he?"

"He's fine, sleeping soundly."

Is he so weak that he can't even eat and has lost consciousness...?

...When was this child kidnapped? When did he last take his medicine?

A cold sweat broke out on my back. Although the disease can now be controlled with medication, Heart Stone Disease is still life-threatening. Each episode shortens the patient's lifespan.

How long has the child been unconscious...?

I must have panicked and lost my ability to make sound judgments. In the next moment, I had decided to break into the abandoned building.

As insurance, I set up a smoke flare, given to me by the adventurer's guild, on the eaves of the abandoned building. It was a timed device that would fall and break, alerting authorities if I couldn't retrieve it.

I had a good chance of success. There were two enemies, and they didn't seem to be experienced, as they hadn't noticed my detection spell and weren't on high alert.

I could probably handle them. I could surprise them since they hadn't noticed me yet, and at the very least, I could rescue the child.

I carefully opened the back door, breaking the lock silently. I had to save the child as soon as possible, but I couldn't cause a commotion. I created a minimal amount of light and floated it a few steps ahead of me as I entered cautiously.

Confused by the unfamiliar layout, I followed the footprints on the floor to find the entrance to the basement. If the criminals had been operating behind the scenes since the shop was in business, the basement's existence would have been hidden.

I could have found it by knocking on the floor and listening for the echo, but I couldn't make any noise.

Searching the area where the footprints ended, I found a cleverly disguised door in the floorboards near the wall.

I cast a silencing spell to avoid making noise, then inserted a sampling knife into the seam and used the lever principle to lift it.

As expected, there was a ladder leading into the darkness. It was hidden so that it wouldn't be obvious from the outside, but the smell of daily life and the distinctive smell of a Heart Stone Disease patient's medication could be detected.

I could hear their conversation without using magic. A light that seemed to be used by the men was visible in the darkness.

After determining their positions from their voices, I took a deep breath and jumped down into the basement.

The sound of my landing seemed abnormally loud in the darkness, even though they shouldn't have heard it.

The basement, which didn't seem to have been built with proper construction methods, had stone pillars but exposed earth for the walls and floor. It must be unbearably cold in the winter.

I had to rescue the child quickly.

One of the men was trying to take a nap, wrapped in a coat and huddled against the wall. I would take the other one first.

Rushing out of the darkness, I startled the man who was sitting on the floor smoking a cigarette, and he looked up.

"Who are you?"

I knocked him out with a punch to the jaw before he could finish speaking. The man wrapped in the coat, who had reacted to the sound of the first one falling, was also knocked out with a concussion before he could stand up and say anything.

I was so tense that I felt very calm. My senses were heightened, and my field of vision expanded as if I could see blind spots. I could even feel the flow of air against my skin.

"...Good, he's still alive."

Moving in the direction I had overheard, I found a wooden cage with a limp boy inside. I had feared the worst, but I was relieved to see he was just unconscious.

He looked about six years old, with light blonde hair and a good-quality nightgown. This must be the kidnapped child.

I felt a burning anger at the thought of a child being confined in such a cramped space where he couldn't even stand up. The entrance to the basement was narrow, and the ladder was vertical, so they probably couldn't even bring furniture down or install a door. Putting a child in a cage...

I destroyed the cage from the inside with a barrier to avoid hurting the child.

"It's okay, it's okay... We can get out soon. I'm here to help you."

I couldn't help but speak to him, even though I knew he was unconscious.

I checked for injuries and was relieved to find none. His cheeks were cold, and his lips were pale. His pulse was weak. He must have had an episode and lost consciousness.

I needed to provide the necessary first aid quickly. The bottom of the cage and the child's legs were dirty, but that could wait.

To carry the child up the ladder, I held him in a vertical position, wrapped him in my coat, and tied the hem. Of course, I couldn't let go completely, so I supported his buttocks with one hand.

I passed the unconscious men again, but they showed no signs of waking up. I had been so focused on the child that I had forgotten to tie them up, but at this rate, they wouldn't regain consciousness until I returned with the patrolmen.

I grabbed the ladder with one hand at a time, supporting the child with my knee, and slowly climbed up. If the men I had passed earlier returned for some reason. If other accomplices showed up.

Bad thoughts kept running through my head, but when I returned to the first floor of the abandoned building, it was still dim and smelled of mold and dust.

I relaxed, thinking that I could take the child to the patrolmen's station and everything would be resolved, but I noticed too late.

"What? The door isn't locked."

The door I had broken to enter opened in front of me. Two men I recognized from earlier stood there, looking surprised to see me with the child.

...I made a mistake. The worry I thought was overthinking came true, and I felt my blood run cold as I held the child.