episode_0065

They say you can transform your senses to see smells with your eyes.

If that’s possible, it seemed like it would be more helpful in finding Meruru than simply enhancing your sense of smell.

“Is that really possible?”

“In theory, it is possible. However, you would need to adjust the intensity. If it’s too sensitive, you might end up seeing all sorts of colors of smells, making everyday life impossible like becoming a madman. I think it’s safer than just enhancing your sense of smell.”

Lian explained to me.

When describing the effects of the potion, Lian’s eyes were sparkling.

It was evident that he really enjoyed potion making.

There seemed to be no need to look around for another alchemy lab.

“Then I’ll take that.”

“It’s a custom order, so the price is a bit high.”

“How much is it?”

It’s not like it’s going to be too expensive, it’s a potion after all.

“It’s 30 gold. It’s not a ready-made product, so it has to be freshly brewed according to the customer’s needs.”

Expensive!

It was more expensive than I thought.

With 30 gold, I would have to pour out all the money I had saved up for Meruru’s permanent request.

If this was something needed for a normal request, I would never have purchased it.

And there’s no guarantee that this potion will definitely help me find Meruru.

But…

“Suddenly, the narration threw out a sarcastic comment that pierced through me.

No, I never thought that Meruru was worth less than 30 gold in the first place.

I was just surprised that it was a bit more expensive than I had thought.

The narration was clearly spreading false information.

Why does the narration maintain objectivity when explaining other things, but when it comes to talking about me, it’s filled with malice?

If there’s time to attack me like that, they should at least tell me where Meruru is and whether she’s safe.

Anyway, 30 gold, while quite expensive, was not an amount I couldn’t afford.

If I can safely retrieve Meruru with this, I’ll get back the 30 gold I spent on the guild’s permanent request… No, money is not the issue.

I set out to find Meruru purely because I was genuinely worried about her.

In the end, I officially commissioned Lian to make the potion.

“Please make it as soon as possible.”

* * *

A few hours later, the potion I commissioned from Lian was completed.

“This is the finished product. The combination is more complex than I thought, so it’s impossible to mass-produce. Please use it carefully when necessary.”

Lian handed me a small potion bottle containing a green liquid.

Why does it have to be green? It’s not some kind of poison.

After paying Lian the 30 gold for the potion, I immediately headed to Meruru’s room.

I hope it has a proper effect since I paid a high price for it.

While waiting, I pondered on various possibilities regarding Meruru’s whereabouts.

The most concerning point was the two eyewitness accounts of the merfolk that the narration claimed to be true.

Based on my experiences so far, the information provided by the narration, although seemingly random, has ultimately been crucial for me.

The fact that the narration confirmed the truth of the two merfolk eyewitness accounts hinted at a high possibility that it was somehow connected to Meruru’s disappearance.

The Third Trade Route and Halberry Forest…

However, even if I were to go to the source of the rumors of merfolk sightings, I had no means to track Meruru.

Wanting to find Meruru quickly, but without any clues, searching aimlessly would just be a waste of time.

Meruru hearing the rumor and leaving without telling anyone to find her sister overnight is an unimaginable thing.

So, the only option is to chase Meruru’s scent with this potion and find the connection between the two places that the narration mentioned.

“No matter how you look at it, just by looking at the room, it feels like Meruru will be back soon.”

As I entered Meruru’s room again, I said, looking at the unchanged scenery of the room.

It has already been a day since Meruru disappeared.

Whether she got lost somewhere or was kidnapped by someone, most of the time is not on the side of the missing person.

“Senior, is that potion really okay?”

Seeing me holding the potion bottle with a slightly worried expression, Sylphy asked.

It seems like the bright green color of the potion looked ominous to her as well.

“Hmm….”

I opened the lid of the potion concocted by Lian.

I sniffed it slightly at the mouth of the bottle.

“How is it, Senior?”

“Surprisingly, it doesn’t smell unpleasant at all.”

It had a slightly herbal smell, and I could subtly feel the aura of magic.

The aversion I felt due to the color disappeared when I sniffed the smell.

Thinking of Lian’s serious and kind explanation of the potion’s effects, I quickly gulped down the potion.

Gulp-gulp-

After finishing the potion, I waited for the effects to appear.

“Senior, do you see anything?”

“Huh? Well, I’m not sure yet….”

At that moment, I saw a greenish aura-like thing rising from Sylphy’s body.

And various colors of smoke-like things began to appear in the air.

Suddenly, what I saw began to resemble smoke, auras, and light clusters.

They all had different colors, some were almost invisible, while others were vivid and intense.

Is this what it means to ‘see’ smells?

“Senior, do you see something?”

“I see a green aura-like thing rising from your body. Oh, and from your head too.”

“What?!”

Upon my words, Sylphy looked flustered, covering her head and body as if to protect herself.

The green rising from Sylphy’s body spread slightly to the surroundings.

Hmm, what I’m seeing now is Sylphy’s scent.

Come to think of it, Sylphy always had a scent that reminded me of forests or grassy fields.

It seems that this potion shows the scent in colors similar to the images I perceive.

“Um… Senior… please don’t stare at me too much.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. The potion’s effects are just too certain.”

Sylphy turned her head slightly with a blush on her face.

I feel sorry for no reason, even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

Anyway, this is not the time for that.

The effect of this potion lasts for about half a day.

I quickly turned my gaze to the pile of blankets full of Meruru’s fur.

“Oh….”

I see it.

Meruru’s pile of blankets was vividly colored in a well-baked bread hue.

The bread-colored aura was also rising from it.

Although I saw many other colors of scents around, the color emanating from the blankets was so intense.

Alright, that must be Meruru’s scent.

“Sylphy, let’s go out for now. We need to quickly find clues while the effect lasts.”

I quickly rolled up a few of Meruru’s blankets to take with me.

Now that I know the color of the scent to follow, I need to track it down before the effect wears off.

* * *

Even though I could distinguish scents with my eyes, tracking the scent was not easy.

Above all, the problem was that the scent flowing from Meruru’s room did not lead clearly to where Meruru was.

The scent that was so clear in Meruru’s room became invisible as soon as we came out onto the street.

It was a natural thing to think about.

No matter how strong Meruru’s scent was, it couldn’t linger in the air for long.

My mistake was thinking that I could follow the scent from Meruru’s room and find a clue.

“Even though Yunoa gained the temporary ability to see scents, it didn’t help with tracking as much as I thought.

Scents can easily be masked by other scents, and scents in the air can easily dissipate.

But this ability was very useful for finding traces left by the target or dropped items.”

As I was taken aback by the sudden disappearance of Meruru’s scent, a narration echoed in my head.

Useful for finding traces or items… So, while it may be impossible to follow scents in the air like I thought, it could be useful to find something that leaves a trace.

But wandering around the Kuber Central District in search of Meruru’s traces would probably yield little reward.

If only I knew where Meruru had been…

“Meruru, while working as a receptionist at the guild, would often visit the location of rumors related to the Beastmen to verify them herself within a reasonable distance.

After completing her investigation, she would return home in the early morning and prepare to go to the guild.

Due to this lifestyle, she was often late for work at the guild.”

The narration provided me with completely new information.

So that’s how it was.

When rumors related to the Beastmen came up, she would go out alone at night to investigate the location herself.

And this wasn’t the first time she had done such a thing.

She was also diligently searching for her sister while working as a receptionist.

Now I understand why Meruru seemed to leave without a word to find her sister.

She had intended to return after finishing the investigation as usual, but for some reason, she couldn’t come back.

So, the reason she left the room like that and didn’t tell anyone, including Tina, was now clear.

So where to look next…

Perhaps the Third Trade Road and Halberry Forest.

The Third Trade Road was too vast, and passing through Bynar to the west would take a long time.

On the other hand, Halberry Forest was a distance that could be easily covered in a day by carriage if rushed.

So, the likelihood of Meruru heading to Halberry Forest was higher.

After all, she had to go to the guild for work the next day.

I immediately boarded a carriage passing through Halberry Forest from Kuber.

If I guessed wrong, there was nothing I could do.

While the effects of the potion were still active, it was a priority to quickly search for places where Meruru’s traces might be found.

“How long will the effects last…”

I had already spent quite a bit of time traveling by carriage.

If I didn’t find any new clues here, today would be a waste.

Unlike the forest near Kuber, the village was further away, and the foliage was denser.

I could see the scent of green grass and brown trees scattered around.

“Let’s start by exploring the surroundings as much as possible. If you find anything strange, let me know. Even if you find fur of this color, let me know.”

I called out Shari, who was attached to my head, and instructed her to search the area with Spiffy.

Even though I couldn’t see scents like Shari, the ghost had the agility to quickly search a wide area.

Having Spiffy with me would be more helpful than not having her for the search.

I roughly directed the two to explore a certain direction, while I also moved deeper into the forest, carefully scanning the surroundings for any signs of a scent similar to Meruru’s.

How long did we continue our exploration like that?

“Oh? That’s……”

Near a grassy area with marks as if someone had trampled on it, a faint smell of freshly baked bread wafted in the air.

I quickly ran over to see an old, crumpled robe lying in the grass.

“Shari! Sylphy! Over here!”

I called out to the two who were searching the area, picked up the robe with Meruru’s scent, and shook it a few times with both hands.

It was a robe with a hood that could almost be considered a rag.

“What is this? …A rag?”

Sylphy asked, looking at the robe in my hand.

“It’s not a rag. It’s the robe Meruru used to wear.”

I couldn’t believe I still had it, despite having enough money to buy new clothes.

When I first met Meruru on the ship, I had haggled with a merchant, emptying my pockets to buy her this robe.

She had said that wearing this robe would help conceal her ears and tail, protecting her from the evil slave traders.

But looking at the current state of the robe, it seemed too tattered compared to when I first bought it, probably not serving its purpose anymore.

Wearing it would not only expose her ears and tail but also make her look like a beggar, an easy target for anyone with ill intentions.

“This fool……”

The fact that the robe was abandoned here confirmed that Meruru had indeed gone missing nearby.

I immediately narrowed down the search radius based on where the robe was found.

Carefully examining if there were any traces of Meruru’s scent left around.

Soon enough, we found a very faint scent of Meruru on a nearby forest path.

The muddy ground was littered with messy footprints, and long strands of fur matching Meruru’s color were scattered around.

Most of the fur seemed to have been blown away, but there were some strands tangled in the grass on the ground.

If it weren’t for the scent, these traces would have been easily missed by the naked eye.

Furthermore, there were traces of a long, slender wheel passing by nearby.

The abandoned robe, the messy footprints, the wheel tracks.

Meruru’s fur scattered all over as if she had been shedding.

And then, at that moment.

“Oh, she’s no longer visible.”

Half a day had already passed, and the effects of the potion had worn off.

Nevertheless, now that we had found where Meruru had disappeared, perhaps we could discover something by following the remaining traces.

“Sylphy, go back to the guild first and inform them that it seems like Meruru disappeared from here. It would be helpful to get assistance in the search.”

“Got it. And what about you, Senpai?”

“I’ll follow these traces alone for now. Hurry!”

I instructed Sylphy to seek help from the guild if possible, and I began to follow the tracks of the wheel and footprints alone.