episode_0063

I told Sylphy that Meruru had suddenly disappeared.

And I was looking into related information because I thought she might have gone to look for her sister.

“I see… I saw a request for her as well.”

“So I was looking into it, thinking she might have gone to look for her sister…”

“Senior, have you been to Meruru’s house?”

“I haven’t gone yet.”

The information about the Sylphid tribe that I received from Tina was not enough to be a decisive motive.

So there might be some other reason.

As Sylphy said, it was necessary to investigate the house where Meruru had been staying.

Above all, it was strange that Meruru had suddenly disappeared without saying anything to the people around her.

Even if she was a bit foolish, she was not ungrateful and thoughtless.

If she was going to leave the receptionist job and leave the guild to look for her sister, she would have definitely said something first.

As I reached this thought, my worry deepened that something unpleasant might have happened.

“Let’s go check out Meruru’s house for now.”

“I’ll come with you! Senior.”

As I got up from my seat, Sylphy naturally followed me.

* * *

I explained the situation to Tina and asked her where Meruru’s room was.

She handed me a spare key and said she would let me know if any new information about Meruru came in.

Some adventurers were starting to show interest in the request to find Meruru on the bulletin board, but no meaningful information had come in yet.

I headed towards the room where Meruru had been staying while working as a receptionist.

Meruru’s house was not an inn, but a small room rented monthly.

If you were an adventurer, you could rent a room at an inn for a long term, but it seemed more cost-effective to rent a room like this with the income of a receptionist.

I immediately opened the door and entered Meruru’s room.

There was no one inside, as expected.

Meruru’s room, much smaller than a typical inn room, still had a strong sense of life.

Clothes that seemed to belong to Meruru were haphazardly piled on one side.

Where a bed should have been, there were several layers of blankets piled on the floor, filled with fur that seemed to have fallen out of Meruru.

There was a wooden cabinet against the wall, and when I opened it, there was a small jar inside.

“What is this…?”

The jar was filled with jerky that looked like dice.

It seemed to be seasoned jerky sold at a market.

To pile clothes haphazardly on the floor and store jerky in a jar inside a cabinet was an incomprehensible way of living, but I thought Meruru might be capable of that.

“Even after looking at it, it doesn’t seem like the room of someone who’s planning to go far.”

After looking around the room, I honestly expressed my thoughts.

If she had made up her mind to leave, wouldn’t she have at least packed her belongings?

Although her way of living was a bit strange, there was no sign of her packing her things.

“Yunoa was gathering clues in the direction of Meruru leaving to find her sister.

Yunoa was following the right clues, but the situation was not as simple as it seemed.”

The narration flowing in my head only added to the confusion of my thoughts.

Can’t the damn narration just tell me where Meruru went without all this?

No, at this point where I had that thought, that damn narration would never just tell me the answer.

“Sylphy, is there anything coming to mind?”

Since nothing came to mind about Meruru’s whereabouts, I asked Sylphy who was next to me.

Two heads are better than one, after all.

“Hmm… I thought Meruru likes jerky. It’s delicious, you know.”

“No, not that.”

“If you like it enough to collect it like that, wouldn’t you want to take it with you when you go somewhere?”

That’s true.

To collect so many in a jar, and to just throw clothes on the floor instead of putting them in the cabinet.

Seeing that, it doesn’t seem like she disappeared with plans to go far away.

Could it be that she was kidnapped?

Taken against her will by someone and unable to return.

But this is the center of Kubel.

There are too many eyes here for something like that to happen.

Maybe in the outskirts or alleys of Kubel where it’s relatively deserted, but I don’t think such a thing would happen here.

Even if she had an accident on her way home in the evening, there would have been plenty of witnesses.

But according to Tina, no one saw Meruru nearby.

“Senior, is this Meruru’s sleeping spot?”

Siphy pointed to a spot in the corner of the room where several blankets were piled up.

The blankets were wrinkled as if a small person had laid down multiple times, causing the center to sink.

Long fur mingled with brown and orange hues was scattered throughout the blankets.

Needless to say, it was clear that fur had fallen from Meruru’s ears and fluffy tail.

“Is she shedding…?”

At that moment, a thought crossed my mind.

If there’s a blanket full of Meruru’s scent like this, wouldn’t it be possible to trace the direction she disappeared in by following the smell?

I don’t think I can find a tracking dog in this world that can follow scents, but…

Regardless of the method, if I can follow the scent, it would be a great help in finding Meruru.

“Siphy, is there any way to follow a scent?”

“A scent?”

“Look here. Since Meruru slept here every day, her scent must be strong in this spot. So if we can follow this scent, we might be able to roughly know the direction she disappeared in.”

“It might be difficult, right? If you go outside, scents spread and disappear quickly.”

Judging by Siphy’s reaction, it seems that using a dog to find a missing person by scent is not common in this world.

But in the world I lived in, using trained tracking dogs to find missing persons was quite common.

Of course, you need a well-trained tracking dog…

Even if it’s not a tracking dog, this is a world of magic.

Whatever it is, there may be another way to follow scents that I don’t know.

Who would know about this well?

The first person that came to mind was the guild master, Algot.

She has had various activities in different places, so if I explain the situation, she might come up with something.

“Let’s go back to the guild for now.”

After finishing the investigation of Meruru’s room, I told Siphy.

Siphy followed me with a puzzled expression full of question marks on her head.

* * *

As soon as we entered the guild, I explained the situation to Tina and requested a meeting with the master.

Tina knocked on the master’s office door and went in, then came out after a while and told me.

“He says to come into the office.”

I politely knocked on the office door like Tina did, then slowly opened the door and entered.

Algot’s guild master office was a very neatly organized room.

A flag with the guild’s emblem was hanging on the wall, and there were several bookshelves filled with books.

There were large maps pinned here and there, and several boxes that seemed to be for storing items.

Algot was sitting in front of his desk in the study, reading a thick book with a feather pen tucked behind one ear.

As soon as I entered, she placed a bookmark in the book she was reading and closed it.

“Are you looking for a way to track Meruru’s scent?” she asked.

“Yes, I thought the Master might know something,” I replied.

“If there are other beastfolk like Meruru, it might be possible. Beastfolk are known to have a keen sense of smell,” Algot said.

Indeed, now that I think about it, Meruru had a special ability different from others.

The ability to sense plants underground with a sensitive touch.

But was that really found through smell?

It felt more like finding it with a sixth sense.

And if we needed beastfolk to find Meruru, where and how would we find them?

“There are hardly any beastfolk around here other than Meruru, right?”

“That’s right. If you’re looking for beastfolk of the same kind as Meruru, you’ll have to go to the Helvetika Island to find them, and even if it’s a different kind of beastfolk, they usually don’t come to cities where humans live.”

“Hmm… what about using magic?”

I asked again.

Honestly, I haven’t learned much about magic and don’t know much about it.

But somehow, I had a vague expectation that if it was magic, anything could be possible, right?

“Magic might be more difficult. It’s hard to find a mage who studies such strange fields of magic. Usually, they learn more practical and combat-usable spells. Magic training is very difficult, so there’s no time to learn useless tricks,” Algot replied.

Algot’s answer shattered my fantasy about magic.

Come to think of it, most of the mages I met in the extermination squad were only proficient in a few offensive spells.

It seems that being an all-around mage capable of anything, as I thought, is actually almost impossible.

“Is there no other way? For now, if we can track Meruru’s scent, that seems to be the most likely way to find her. There are no other clues at the moment.”

“Well… if it’s about maximizing a specific sense, potions might be more likely,” Algot suggested.

“Potions?”

At Algot’s words, Philstone’s unfortunate face came to mind like a trauma, and I unknowingly furrowed my brow.

That potion addict, is he doing well in the cold prison by now?

“Magic has evolved in a more practical direction, so it’s hard to find magic that can track scents, but potions can combine effects from ingredients to create things you never thought of. For example, a potion that permanently changes the color of your hair when you drink it,” Algot explained.

A permanent hair dye potion when you drink it, that’s amazing.

“So, there might be a potion that enhances the sense of smell?”

“It’s quite possible.”

“But what about Kube’s potion refinery…?”

Of all things, I needed something from Philstone’s area of expertise.

Moreover, didn’t the Kube potion refinery already burn down due to the Madeira incident?

Seeing my worried expression, Algot smiled slightly as if amused and said, “Do you think that’s the only place that makes potions? Since Philstone, who monopolized the distribution of Kube’s potions, was arrested, many refiners have flocked to Kube after hearing the rumors. Right now, refiners from all over are competing with each other.”

“Ah… I see.”

Indeed, when Philstone, who had a tight grip on Kube’s potion distribution, disappeared, other refiners came rushing in to take his place.

People sniff out money and flock to it, no matter which world you’re in.

“Coincidentally, the guild also has a list of refineries for potion deliveries, so how about looking around the refineries with that list? It’s still in the process of being sorted out, so there are some strange places on the list.”

Algot proposed to me.

Now is the time to catch even a straw, so there was no reason to refuse.