episode_0185

The carriage ticket the gambler had bet on was not fake.

Early in the morning, after finding the vendor and showing the ticket, we were able to board the reserved carriage. Not only ours, but other carriages also departed together. Most of the passengers were wealthy individuals. Dressed in splendid and flamboyant clothes, they headed towards Deseo.

Marie and I remained silent. If there was any sentiment about this journey, it would be a relief to finally rest our feet after all the walking we’d done. That was all. We didn’t want to think much about what fate awaited us ahead.

Other passengers chattered excitedly, as if going on a picnic, but we spent most of our time sleeping and contemplating.

As a day passed, we finally arrived in Deseo.

The entrance to Deseo was packed with countless people. It was as if the sea was surging, with people constantly crashing against the gate like waves.

I knew there would be many people, having seen it once in Tia’s memories. But this was an overwhelming crowd that far exceeded my expectations.

It was incredibly fortunate that we came by carriage. If we had tried to pass that gate on foot, a whole day of waiting wouldn’t have been enough.

“Enter this way.”

A Deseo soldier guided us to another path.

People arriving by carriage from Rottenbahn had a privilege. In Deseo, simply paying a high price for a carriage was considered sufficient.

As expected… it was typical thinking for a city where everything was decided by ‘money’ alone.

But thanks to it, we could easily enter the city, so there were no major complaints.

“We’re finally here.”

We arrived more uneventfully than expected.

The salty air blowing from the sea. The countless people filling the streets. Various kinds of goods. Everything should have felt unfamiliar, yet it felt incredibly familiar and nostalgic.

I looked back at Marie. She gripped my hand tightly, seemingly confused.

It was the gaze of a girl facing a city so vast it couldn’t even be compared to the ‘villages’ she had seen until now.

To say I wasn’t afraid… would be a lie.

Within this unimaginable scale and crowd of people. It was natural to feel afraid, thinking about what might happen if one were to get lost.

Isn’t it strange? We grew up seeing the large and magnificent mountain ranges of Dragoniz. Having seen countless wondrous landscapes, we dared to consider ourselves courageous Brisdonians.

But I am witnessing that assessment was the height of arrogance. Seeing Marie’s feet frozen still before a towering ‘city’ made by humans, not nature.

…we naturally realize that we are merely provincial country folk.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Towards the docks. It’s highly likely they took a ship from there. We should check that first.”

I thought about it while riding the carriage.

Tia and Fosao went to Deseo. I don’t know why they headed to Deseo. However, considering what the two of them had done in Deseo, I judged that it wasn’t for the purpose of settling down here.

Perhaps Tia tried to leave this country completely. To erase her traces. To go far away?

It’s a wild guess. But if that’s truly the case, it will be even harder to chase after Tia.

It’s still uncertain.

Would the sailors even know Tia and Fosao? In just a short time, countless people come and go from Deseo by ship, so it’s hard to expect them to accurately know the two’s names and descriptions.

Still. Still, I…

I must press forward, following the memories Tia left behind.

Marie asked.

“Shall I try to find the way to the docks?”

“No, it’s fine. I know the way.”

It was already familiar.

I had never been to Deseo before, but it felt like I knew the geography here, like someone who had stayed for quite a long time.

Where this street connected. Where the path led. What was where. All the memories vividly resurfaced.

We went straight to the area near the sea.

Just like the gate, the docks also had an unusual number of ships gathered there.

“Hurry, hurry!”

“Disembark this way!”

Countless people and goods disembarked from the ships. The laborers seemed to have no time to rest. Even so, there was a severe shortage of workers, and a large sign was prominently displayed, urgently seeking workers for 10 gold a day.

In such a situation, it was not easy to ask around about people.

“Everyone looks busy.”

“Indeed.”

There was nothing else to do. We decided to walk along the harbor to find someone who looked experienced and had plenty of time.

As we continued walking, the tightly docked ships disappeared, and before long, wide and quiet warehouses appeared.

“There are fewer people here. Are these warehouses?”

“Yes. They store cargo to be loaded and unloaded from ships here. But the people on this side probably wouldn’t know much…”

At that moment.

A powerful sense of familiarity flashed before my eyes.

“…!”

It was similar to the feeling I had when I found Tia and Fosao’s house in Goldburg.

As if I had finally found a place I had seen countless times in dreams, yet didn’t exist. I turned my gaze towards the passing scene.

It was an ordinary warehouse. Nothing particularly special about it.

Yet, an unusually strong intuition was staring at it.

What is it? What am I looking at?

Why did I feel… this place was strange?

“Wait a moment.”

I slowly walked towards the front of the warehouse. As I got closer, the memories became clearer little by little. And as soon as I saw the old hammock tied to a tree, an unfamiliar face came to mind.

“Ritsu Oppa?”

“…I remember now.”

This is that rare item merchant’s warehouse.

The warehouse of the guy who had ‘Dienvus’, which Tia had sought so desperately.

I thought, “This is good.”

To call this a coincidence would be to deny instinct.

My desperation to find Tia’s traces had led me here.

I don’t know much about the owner of this warehouse. But I remember that the man was a significant figure in Deseo.

Whether it was out of good will or ill will. He arranged work for Tia, who was struggling with money, and seemed to know everything that happened here.

If so… that man might know Tia’s whereabouts.

I knocked hard on the warehouse door.

“Is anyone there!”

When Tia came, he had left the warehouse door open and was sleeping.

Now, the door was tightly shut, and he was nowhere to be seen.

“There’s no one there, so give up.”

A person who appeared from the other side explained casually.

“He suddenly disappeared a few days ago. No matter how much you call, it’s useless.”

“Do you know when he’ll return?”

“No one knows that. He’s never disappeared before, but he suddenly vanished now. Anyway, just so you know.”

The person who advised us went on their way again.

“…”

It was strange.

Considering the merchant’s eccentric personality, it didn’t make sense that he would abandon his warehouse unless something had happened to him.

The man who had gathered and guarded so many rare and precious things in his warehouse… just left everything here and vanished?

“No. That can’t be.”

I concentrated my mind and recalled the memories lingering here.

A few days ago. The warehouse owner was definitely here. After he entered the warehouse, he never came out again.

“He’s still here.”

Slam!

I lifted my leg and kicked the door with all my might.

It burst open, revealing the dark interior of the warehouse. The warehouse, which had been filled with all sorts of items, was now empty.

More precisely, rather than being empty, it looked as if robbers or thieves had hastily taken only the valuable items. Relatively useless-looking objects were strewn across the floor.

“Follow closely.”

“Yes.”

Following the merchant’s lingering traces, I walked deep into the warehouse. When we arrived at a dark place where almost no light reached, the flow of memories finally ceased.

“Here it is.”

A dirty carpet hung on the wall. Those who had searched the warehouse apparently hadn’t thought to look under this unsightly item.

Swish!

I reached out and pulled the carpet aside, revealing a ‘hidden door.’

I held my breath and slowly opened the door. Another space, devoid of any light, gradually began to appear. Pushing the tense Marie behind me, I drew Rose Saber and stepped forward.

Thud. Thud.

It was like a cave. Each step echoed.

Just as I managed to straighten my body, hunched with tension, and stared ahead.

“Who are you? The one who came to my home.”

A low voice came from the darkness.

“…”

“So. What do you want, having finally found me? To kill me?”

This voice was, without a doubt, the merchant’s.

“If you’re going to kill me, do it quickly. I’m sick of hiding in here now.”

After walking a few more steps, I saw a faint shadow huddled on the floor.

What on earth had happened?

The merchant, who was originally short and thin, looked extremely emaciated and haggard. And the increasingly strong stench of excrement, along with the dried meat and seeds scattered around, indicated that he had been hiding in this warehouse for a very long time, barely clinging to life.

“Why… are you like this?”

“Why am I like this? Heh heh… Why are you curious about that? Haven’t you come to kill me?”

“No.”

“Then what is it? Just who are you, to come looking for me?”

I sheathed Rose Saber again and answered briefly.

“…Dienvus.”

That single word answered everything.

The merchant was silent for a moment.

Soon, he began to laugh. His initial soft chuckles gradually turned into a difficult-to-hear, madness-tinged laughter.

The merchant, barely suppressing his laughter, gasped and asked.

“Are you… also from that place called Brisdon…?”

“Yes.”

“Heh heh… Damn it… Some dog-like rural backwater I’ve never even heard of is chasing me to the ends of hell.”

He tried to put strength into his arms to stand up. But his bony limbs couldn’t even support his body, and he fell backward.

Giving up even trying to stand, the merchant asked, lying on the floor.

“Haa- What’s your relationship with that woman?”

“I’m looking for Tia. I thought you would know.”

“…Yes. That’s it. Heh heh. You… you ate that Dienvus, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, I thought this day would come eventually.”

The merchant folded his bushy beard with a crinkling motion and smiled widely.

“Damn it. I shouldn’t have let that pig live.”

“Are you talking about Fosao?”

“Hahahahaha—!!”

A desperate laugh, spitting saliva. At the same time, his madness-filled eyes gleamed.

“Yes!! Fosao Modaless!! That crazy pig dared to try and kill me.”

Fosao tried to kill this merchant?

“Why?”

“Because he had to shut my mouth.”

“For helping Tia?”

“Heh heh heh! You really don’t know anything, do you? Yes… my life is as good as dead anyway, and you’ve come at a good time. Listen carefully, young man.”

He looked up at me with tired eyes and grinned.

“That pig, Fosao… killed the Crown Prince.”