Dark Organization (2)

The night market of the Grand Duchy of Capatia, which had seemed so full of vitality with its bustling crowds, was now more of a hindrance to Yona.

“Rubina-!”

Yona continued to walk around, calling Rubina’s name at the top of her lungs.

She walked with quick steps, then started half-running, constantly looking around as she searched for any sign of Rubina.

‘I’m crazy, I’m crazy…! I should have just taken her with me…!’

It was far too late to regret now, but Yona continued to roam the night market, calling Rubina’s name until her voice was hoarse.

Unfortunately, it being night and Rubina’s hair being black made her particularly hard to spot, and even the clothes she was wearing were a plain brown dress-like garment with no distinguishing features, making it difficult to find her based on clothing alone.

She just approached any children of similar build she saw, checking their faces directly-

“I-I’m sorry…!”

Constantly apologizing, Yona continued to search desperately for Rubina, calling her name until her voice gave out.

“Ouch!”

Not noticing the curb between the square and the regular street, Yona tripped and tumbled.

As a result, the scar on her face that had just started to scab over was scraped again, and blood began to flow from her cheek. The toe of her shoe was badly torn, and blood seeped from there as well.

The blood that seeped through the leather left a large, red mark.

The first foreign substance to seep in always leaves the biggest mark.

And then it gradually spreads its territory.

Yona stared at the bloodstain for a moment, then gritted her teeth and stood up again.

“Ugh-!”

But she involuntarily groaned and sat back down due to the pain shooting up from her foot.

No, this won’t do.

She can’t just sit here.

Yona gritted her teeth again and put all her strength into her legs.

A searing pain spread up her spine as if it would burn it.

She ignored it.

She took a step forward.

The torn toe of her shoe was already covered in blood, but-

It was bearable.

Why did I do that?

I shouldn’t have done that.

Yona kept muttering to herself.

“Rubina–!”

Yona’s voice spread out, then dissipated without a trace, buried under the noise of the night market.

-Rubina–!

Alec, who was about to lie down on the bed to sleep, suddenly sat up.

The voice coming from a distance was unmistakably Yona’s. Since he couldn’t possibly mistake her voice, Alec quickly got out of bed.

A voice calling for Rubina.

The fact that Yona’s voice could be heard searching for Rubina in this night market scene pointed to only one conclusion.

Without hesitation, Alec slung his shield on his back and fastened his hammer to his waist. There was no need to arm himself, but this habitual action was carried out swiftly, and Alec rushed out, kicking open the door.

As soon as he ran down from the inn, it wasn’t difficult to find Yona.

Her hair was disheveled without the veil, her eyes were swollen as if she had been crying, and her face was streaming with blood, the scab having surely fallen off.

Moreover, the toe of her leather boots was stained bright red with blood as if she had hit something, suggesting that Yona was not in her right mind.

“Yona!”

Alec grabbed Yona by the shoulders.

With no strength left, Yona turned limply as Alec held her, her gaze unfocused until she recognized Alec, and then the light returned to her eyes.

“Rubina, Rubina…!”

“Breathe. Breathe. Deeply, inhale and exhale!”

At Alec’s words, Yona stopped mid-sentence and took a deep breath. She exhaled, and after repeating this a few times, Yona seemed to barely regain her senses.

“Did you lose Rubina?”

Yona slowly nodded at those words.

“Rubina was crying… she was crying so much, but then she disappeared… I went to buy something to drink… I left her with the guard…!”

Despite Yona’s incoherent words, Alec listened and organized the information in his head. It’s not uncommon to hear such disjointed stories during expeditions, so it’s not particularly difficult for the listener to organize and understand the information.

“Guard, which guard?”

“That, you know… the one who asked why you don’t have hair…”

Alec remembered.

The guard who had questioned them closely during the entry procedures to the Grand Duchy of Capatia.

He left Rubina with that guard, and both of them disappeared…?

Alec took a deep breath.

He already knew Yona had this kind of personality. She tends to get flustered and make strange decisions, or fail to think of obvious solutions when faced with important situations. Thanks to Yona’s personality, they had survived many life-and-death situations, but there were also many times when it didn’t work out well.

Having traveled with Yona for three years, Alec had learned to try to stay calm himself when Yona gets this excited.

“Let’s go to the guard station. That guard might have taken her there.”

A grand duchy of this size must surely have facilities for their guard force.

Otherwise, there’s no way they could control a place this big.

Fortunately, the temporary guard post wasn’t far from the square.

When Yona and Alec entered the temporary guard post, which was said to be set up every time the night market opened, there were three or four guards inside eating something.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Alec greeted them instead of Yona, whose eyes were swollen and voice choked up, unable to speak properly. One of them turned around, stood up, and approached Alec.

“How can we help you?”

“We’ve lost a child.”

“Ah, a missing child report. What’s your relationship to the child?”

“I’m the father, and this is the mother.”

To the guard’s eyes, Yona certainly looked like a mother who had lost her child.

She was in a terrible state, looking like a mother who had been desperately searching for her child.

“Oh my… The mother seems to have been through a lot. Let’s see, we don’t currently have any missing children in our care, and we haven’t received any reports of children being found either. Do you have any distinguishing features of the child?”

“Black hair and black eyes. She’s wearing a brown dress. Oh, and the mother said she left the child briefly with one of the guards and when she came back, the child was gone.”

At those words, the guard who had been scribbling something on paper stopped abruptly and looked at Alec.

“You left the child with a guard? Which guard was it, by any chance?”

“I don’t know his name… He had a black mole on his forehead with a hair growing from it.”

“Ah, you mean Neri. You left the child with him?”

“Yes. His name was Neri… I didn’t know that.”

“Hmm, that’s strange though.”

Alec watched the guard mumbling something while stroking his chin, thinking that something was going wrong.

“Neri took leave today to go back to his hometown. Are you sure he was at the night market at this late hour? Are you certain?”

“I-I’m sure! I saw him clearly! The black mole on his forehead, and the hair there… It was definitely him!”

“That’s strange. Well, I understand. We’ll look into it too. Where should we contact you if we find her?”

After giving the name of the inn where they were staying, the two left the post.

By this time, Yona seemed to have calmed down a bit, returning to her usual sharp gaze.

“Alec.”

“Yeah.”

“About Rubina… Could it be a kidnapping?”

“I was thinking the same thing. But why would anyone kidnap Rubina?”

“…Because she’s cute? Maybe they wanted to adopt her.”

“Looks like you’re back to your senses if you can joke around.”

This time, Alec smacked the back of Yona’s head with a loud slap.

Just enough to not be unpleasant, exactly that much.

“Let’s look for her. Just us.”

At Alec’s words, Yona nodded.

“Fortunately, we have someone in our group who would go all out for Rubina’s sake, someone whose calling is for situations like this. It’s lucky, this too.”

“Yes, it’s lucky.”

Yona tightly closed her mouth.

Standing in front of the inn door they had somehow reached, Yona looked up at the second floor of the inn.

The window of the room where a faint candlelight was streaming out, though tightly closed.

It’s the room where James and Kairoc are.

The magnificent chandelier had finger-sized luminous stones embedded in each of its glass-crafted tubes.

Considering the value of just one of those luminous stones, this chandelier alone could probably feed a large family for a year. The space with three such chandeliers was entirely a dining room.

Bigrin inwardly marveled when she first entered this dining room.

There were ten tables, each larger than the one used by six priests during her time as a priest in Evian.

At each of these tables, which had no chairs, stood a chef, each in charge of one dish and efficiently preparing it.

Moreover, at the last table stood a wine cellar, with wine bottles neatly arranged in each compartment, each wrapped in its own label.

“The Saint seems to have a great interest in wine.”

A smooth and clear voice was heard close to her ear.

Turning hastily, she saw a beauty with shining milk-white hair and sparkling red lips, dressed in a red dress, standing with a seductive smile.

“Regent.”

“My, that’s too formal a title for the Saint to use. Please, just call me Ceres.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly.”

“The Saint is so modest, it seems the Celestial Church will continue to prosper greatly.”

Beyond praising the Saint herself, it was a compliment to the entire order the Saint belonged to.

That single compliment greatly improved Bigrin’s mood.

“Did you like the outfit I sent?”

“O-Of course.”

The saint’s outfit tended to be quite revealing, for the difficult-to-understand reason that the more skin shown, the more favor one could receive from the Celestial God. Due to her appearance that seemed quite underdeveloped even normally, Bigrin had to sigh every time she wore that outfit, but honestly, even now that she was somewhat used to it, she would prefer to wear something else if possible.

That’s when this pure white dress arrived.

The simple and clear dress that covered her entire body without any exposure, with just a bit of lace, was exactly to Bigrin’s liking.

“Thank you so much for sending the outfit as well.”

“It’s nothing. By the way, where is the Hero?”

“Oh my- I’m so sorry for being late!”

Along with a booming voice, Bigrin’s face slightly frowned.

She had insisted so much that he should go to the bathroom first before coming here, but Ludvik had confidently claimed there was no problem at all.

But as soon as he saw this dining room, he had a dumbfounded expression and said he needed to go to the bathroom, and now it seems he’s just returned.

“My, Hero. You’re still as gallant as ever.”

“Wow- This is something. I’m a gold-rank adventurer, so I’ve been to many nice places, but I’ve never seen anything like this. This is truly amazing!”

Ludvik smiled broadly.

What a refreshing and good speaker- Bigrin thought. It would be better if he could be a bit more careful with his words, but Bigrin had vaguely sensed it. This person simply lacks a filter between his thoughts and his words. He’s the type of person whose thoughts come out of his mouth exactly as they are.

“I’m so glad that both the Hero and the Saint are satisfied. It makes all the preparation worthwhile. Oh my, I’ve been so rude keeping you two standing like this. You must be hungry, let’s have dinner first. I’ve prepared something, though I’m not sure if it will be to your liking.”

Ceres didn’t seem particularly concerned.

Rather, with an even warmer smile, she led the two to the dining area.

“At that table, you can take whatever food you want to eat. Plates are prepared in front of the table, so please use them freely. As for the wine…”

Ceres looked at Bigrin with a gentle smile.

“For our noble Saint and gallant Hero, I’ll personally serve the wine.”

She’s a good person.

At that moment, Ludvik and Bigrin had the same thought.