GalaxyTL
That beautiful young girl must undoubtedly be Meg.
“The other two were a black-haired boy and a red-haired boy… So I believe Zahariash-dono’s daughter is this black-haired girl…”
“Black hair? Meg has pale pink, shining hair.”
“I haven’t heard any such report… She was a girl with black hair and black eyes. Then, could it be a case of mistaken identity?”
“Meg’s eyes are a deep blue.”
Just as the two of them were about to think it was a different person, I suddenly remembered. Saura had said…
“No, at that time, Meg was using a magic tool she got from Maille to change her hair and eye color to black. So I think it’s definitely Meg.”
“There’s such a magic tool…? The Demon Continent really is convenient.”
The emperor said that as if impressed, but I need to mention that it’s not common.
“No, it’s not something you find everywhere. Our guys like to make all sorts of things for fun…”
“A waste of ability.”
“…Coming from you, Ash? Really?”
He easily made a magic tool like a camera or video recorder because he wanted to see how Meg was doing. I shouldn’t have told him that those kinds of tools existed in Japan. I didn’t think he’d actually make it.
“Well, anyway. It’s probably safe to say that it was a beautiful little girl with black hair and black eyes who was teleported. So that’s Meg.”
“…Could it be that she can change it to other colors as well?”
“She can change it to any color she wants. It’s a tool that uses stored magic power. You don’t have to constantly channel magic power into it, so it should work on this continent too.”
When I answered, the emperor groaned thoughtfully. Did something come to mind?
“…More importantly, where’s Meg? If the interference was successful, she should have been protected at the Eastern Castle, right?”
After a moment of silence, Gil asked impatiently. It’s only natural since Meg’s safety is our top priority. …But I already know the answer. The emperor, looking apologetic, furrowed his brow and said:
“…No. We weren’t able to protect her.”
“…Why?”
The air shook, and the windows rattled from Gil’s anger. But the emperor, despite breaking out in a cold sweat, met Gil’s gaze head-on, undaunted.
“To be precise, they escaped.”
“Escaped…? Meg?”
Immediately after being teleported, the castle personnel tried to explain to the three bewildered children. But, perhaps because they were confused or scared, all three disappeared in an instant with the black-haired boy’s magic, the emperor explained.
That black-haired boy, he’s no ordinary kid. Even those from the Demon Continent often can’t use teleportation magic. He must have a huge amount of magic power. And he even brought two others with him… Once he’s an adult, he might even rival Gil?
“We continued to pursue them after that… but it seems that only made them more afraid, we can’t seem to catch them. We thought it would be easy to capture them because they’re children… but it seems like someone’s helping them.”
“Helping them?”
Nodding, the emperor gestured to a guard with his eyes, and received a piece of paper from an attendant. Then he showed it to us. It depicted a woman with long hair tied in a ponytail.
“A female adventurer, Ravi. She’s rumored to be a kidnapper.”
“I saw that wanted poster in various towns. So it really is Meg and the others who were kidnapped by her, huh?”
The prediction that was almost certain was confirmed, and everyone, including myself, was filled with murderous intent.
“N-No, wait! Doesn’t it make sense that those three who escaped from the castle wouldn’t be able to escape from a kidnapper!?”
Just as I was inadvertently knocking out two guard knights with my murderous intent, Adol hurriedly raised his voice. Your composure is always a big help. Actually, you said the same thing and calmed us down when we were talking about it before. I let out a breath to calm myself down.
“…But there’s nothing we can do if they’re being held hostage, threatened, or tricked…”
“We have been told that it is only this female adventurer who is with them. We have confirmed that her skills are above average, so we believe that they are being tricked.”
Meg’s so honest. She’s easily deceived. It’s been like that since she was Megu. It’s worrisome.
“But where would one unreliable female adventurer take three magic-wielding children? I’m sure a kidnapping organization is involved though…”
“We believe it’s highly likely she’s taking them to the organization’s headquarters.”
I’m sure those kids trust that female adventurer. And the female adventurer’s probably winning them over to take them to their destination, right? It’s much easier to have them cooperate willingly than to have them be defiant.
“This person named Ravi was an adventurer, a big sister type. Apparently she was well-liked in the area she was active. Considering that…”
That’s new information. We’d assumed she was a member of the organization, but…
“…Don’t tell me the female adventurer’s also being used by someone.”
“We believe she might not even be aware of it herself.”
The more we find out, the more despicable this organization seems. So basically, it’s no longer as simple as just beating up the female adventurer.
The information we gathered before coming here was that Meg and the others had been teleported to the Eastern Castle, and then taken away by a female adventurer.
So, at first, we thought that maybe the country itself was corrupt. But the real source was the organization that went rogue after Nemo was crushed, the organization conducting illegal human trafficking.
We’re also at fault. We forgot that eliminating illegal human trafficking would affect the human continent.
In a way, it might have been a good thing we came to this continent. You have to completely pull out the weeds, roots and all. A cowardly organization that uses people and refuses to reveal itself… We’ll definitely crush them.
“We were constantly watching, even though we lost track of them occasionally, but… at one point, we completely lost their trail. We only know the general direction they headed in and the names of what seem to be high-ranking members of the organization.”
They lost track of them occasionally? That’s amazing. Even with the female adventurer, escaping from a country is incredibly difficult! Meg, the Dwarf kid, and even the black-haired boy must have done some good work.
“We’re searching the area they headed towards, but haven’t found them yet. But even if we do… things might get complicated if we’re the ones who go. And we don’t know how to handle children with magic power. We’d be dragging them into our internal conflict. It’s our responsibility to go, but…”
Well, that makes sense. At worst, Meg and the others might think that this country is their enemy. With that in mind, they’ll be even more likely to flee if someone from the country comes.
“No, that’s why we came here, and I did suspect you at first. …My apologies.”
“It’s only natural for you to be suspicious. I apologize for what happened on our side. And… I want to formally request this of you. Please, stop the organization from running wild, and rescue the kidnapped children.”
When the emperor said that formally, I glanced at Ash, leaving the decision up to him. Ash nodded once, accepting the request.
“Of course. We’ll take care of everything. Could you tell us a bit more about the information you have?”
“Certainly. …I’m a rather useless emperor, aren’t I…”
The emperor said this with a wry smile, apologizing for having to rely on us for everything, so I grinned back.
“What are you talking about? You’ve always been indebted to me, right?”
“Fu… That’s true.”
Ah, now we’ve made this country indebted to us again. Honestly, we don’t need anything in return. But they won’t let us say no, so they’ll probably push a bunch of things on us… Experience talking.
“Now, about where they headed… It seems like it’s towards the mine. I don’t know the exact location, but…”
“Don’t tell me… We might have just missed them.”
The mine, huh… That’s the only place Meg might be able to return from. But it makes sense for them to do their illegal dealings near the mine. It’s easy to immediately take them and hide them, or to hand them over quickly. So their base is near there.
“And the names of the organization members are Gordon and Seravis. We were only able to obtain those two names, but we don’t know their positions. We’re guessing they’re relatively high-ranking, but…”
Gordon and Seravis, huh. Alright, got it. Prepare yourselves, you won’t even have bones left. Let’s hurry to the mine immediately… Shit, we’re going back!?
But at that moment, an unexpected visitor appeared before us.