Volume 23 Chapter 10: Disappearance

Part 1

Magic City Sharia.

There was a house located in its suburbs.

In that house, an elven girl was copying the contents of the mail that came through the communication lithograph.

Her name was Faria Steer .

She’s often called ‘Faria’ or ‘Tia’ by her friends, but not a single person in the company staff has bothered to remember her name yet.

This girl, during the absence of both the president and chairman, became the supervisor of the office.

And although Rudeus has yet to know it, Faria Steer was indeed the true name of the “little elf-chan”.

“Let’s see, the mail from Sylphiette-san says……『The title of the Sword God has been taken over by someone else, the former Sword God’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Nina-san is pregnant so she can’t aid us. I’ll be heading towards Biheiril Kingdom now.』………Is this what I should re-direct?”

Her job was to transcribe the collected news that arrived from various places and then hand it over all at once when Orsted or Rudeus came back.

However, based on her own judgement, she was allowed to redirect any urgent news that came through.

Not to mention, the collected news had words such as ‘God’ or ‘King’, it was usually difficult for her, who was of lower middle class, to distinguish such importance.

“The Sword God has been substituted and the whereabouts of the former Sword God are unknown, this means that the possibility of him becoming an enemy is high, so let’s redirect this……”

Nevertheless, she was chosen by Aisha herself.

Aisha had carefully hand-picked her through a series of strict terms.

At first glance, Orsted’s office work can be done by anyone, but there is tons of information that must be prevented from leaking. Thus, the post can only be taken by a reliable person.

Faria’s birthplace was the capital of the Ranoa Kingdom.

Her father was a retired elf adventurer and her mother was the daughter of the town’s human merchant.

She’s the youngest of the three siblings.

Since she was a girl, she didn’t receive any education as a merchant.

As a result, she never thought about becoming one. But she loitered around the firms since she was a child, and grew up observing sly old merchants.

Perhaps this laid out the foundation for her.

When she enrolled at the magic university, she was able to achieve good results thanks to all the times she had observed informants.

And thus, with Aisha’s sharp sightedness she was able to zero in on her.

There were many others who were far better with information management than her, but she was chosen by Orsted himself.

According to Orsted’s experience, it was highly unlikely that she would become an enemy.

“I should first send this to the Supard village, but who should I send it to next……

Ah, probably Eris-san. Since she’s a Sword King, she might be able to think of something if she knew.”

While muttering those words, she faced the communication lithograph in the corner of the president's office.

With a magic crystal in one hand, she was scuffling with the communication lithograph.

Faria was trying to send a message to the Supard village and to Third City Heilelul.

Behind her back, a shadow suddenly appeared.

“Phew, with this……hm?”

Faria turned around.

A large build filled her vision.

“………Ah……um, excuse me, are you Orsted-sama’s……guest?”

A drum like body and log like arms.

A deep red skin color and a huge horn.

And a pot like lower jaw from which two long fangs were sprouting.

It was an Ogre.

“Are ya Orsted’s woman?”

“Huh?”

“………”

The moment Faria hesitated, the Ogre waved his hand with a *swoosh*.

The communication lithograph which just sent the message was blown off with a large noise.

Along with the office door.

“Ya what? Enemy? Ya fight?”

“Ah……Uu……”

The Ogre stuck his fist out in front of Faria.

Faria’s field of vision was completely filled with his fist.

A clenched fist twice as big as her face. There was coarse hair growing on his fingers and at the back of his hand, his knuckles looked violent.

And its influence was behind him.

It’s easily understandable after looking at the demolished wall.

It’s easily understandable what would happen if he hit you with his fist.

“N-n-n-n-no.”

Faria sank down onto the floor and finally told him.

As if she was paralyzed from the waist below, she couldn’t even run away.

The only thing left in her mind was the thought of not wanting to die.

“Then, get out. I……don’t fight those……who don’t wanna.”

The Ogre smirkingly extended his hand towards Faria.

“Eeekk.”

The now opened and extended hand made Faria curl her body up.

The thought of getting crushed by his hand was only for an instant as the Ogre gently lifted her up and threw her out of the hole he had created moments ago.

“Ahhhhhhh!?”

Faria was thrown out of the office, flew with high velocity, bounced twice, rolled about and came to a stop.

“………Ngh!”

Pain ran through her entire body.

Her mind was telling her ’Run, run, or he’ll kill you.’

Her body was screaming at her ‘I do not want to die, I do not want to die.’

Without saying any words, her throat only made the pathetic noise of crying.

Whether her legs restored after being thrown at the ground or not, she was standing up with her legs, although shaking like a newborn goat.

After running a few steps, she fell down.

After she repeated that almost three times, a thunderous roar echoed in the background.

She turned back.

“……Aah.”

The scene that entered Faria’s eyes was the destruction of the office.

The red ogre was going berserk, and while timber and building stones were being scattered about, the building was losing its structure.

Before long, Faria forgot about running away and looked at the destruction dumbfounded.

Dumbfounded, she just saw the destruction, wreckage, and the transformation.

She couldn’t do anything.

There wasn’t anything she could do.

While being harassed by a feeling of powerlessness, she just kept watching.

She wished that the red ogre wouldn’t come out of that wreckage.

She wished that he wouldn’t come this way.

She was wishing for the surroundings to go quiet, for the noises to vanish.

That someone would come to investigate after hearing that thunderous roar and protect her, she just kept wishing for that.

That day, all of the teleportation magic formations set up by Rudeus Greyrat lost their light.

Part 2

At the same time, Roxy and Eris were in a forest.

The Third City Heilelul was a port city.

The oceans of this world are fundamentally filled with fishman race or sea fish race. Together, they’re called the beings of the sea race.

Except for a predetermined area of the ocean, the passage of land dwellers has been prohibited.

Fishing in one part of the neighboring port city was allowed, but if one left that area, then the sea race would probably sink the ship immediately.

However, it’s a little different in Heilelul.

The sea in between Ogre Island and Third City Heilelul are Biheiril Kingdom’s territorial waters.

During the founding of Biheiril Kingdom, all of the sea race were purged from this area, thus giving Biheiril Kingdom complete access to the sea.

Since then, Third City Heilelul has become a popular fishing port, with types of seafood that can’t be found anywhere else.

……Or so it was supposed to be.

“……I’m tired of just eating fish these days.”

“Is that so? Is it not delicious?”

On the outskirts of the city, there was a forest surrounded by large walls.

Rather than prohibiting anyone from invading, it’s more for defending against the monsters that occasionally came out of the forest.

The two of them were walking within this forest while eating dried fish.

“It’s delicious but salty. Why would someone sprinkle salt like this?”

“It’s probably for the sake of preservation.”

“If it’s for preservation, then why not just use ice magic like Rudeus?”

“Not everyone can use ice magic, you know.”

A smile crept onto Roxy’s face as she replied back to the complaining Eris.

Fundamentally, Eris wasn’t the type to complain about food.

But it was certain that pickling salt was put on the fish a bit too much.

A town with an abundance of seafood, or so they say. But really, it’s filled with nothing but preserved food.

However, the reason for that has already been found.

It takes a whole day by ship from the Third City Heilelul to reach there, Ogre Island.

Ogre Island has a fine set of fishermen at their disposal.

Legally, the ogre fishermen and the human fishermen cooperate and catch fish in the vicinity of Ogre Island.

However, the fishermen of the ogre race were not fishing now.

They just kept talking about how a war was coming in the near future and were preparing for the fight.

This resulted in a decrease in the quality of goods in the port city.

Why were the ogre race saying war was coming? Roxy and Eris made sure to get the information regarding that.

It was because they were participating in the subjugation force.

On orders of the Ogre God, the head of the ogre race.

And now, the head of the ogre race, Ogre God Malta, was in Second City Irel.

They were currently heading towards the teleportation magic formation that was set up in a cave to relay this information to Rudeus.

They were a little late in submitting the news, but the last time they saw the communication lithograph, it had good news saying that the Supard race was heading towards recovery and that the negotiations went well too.

It was doubtful whether the situation over there had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

“The ogre race will protect the Biheiril Kingdom. They probably still uphold that oath even now. But isn’t it strange that he would go to neither the capital nor the Third City but to the second city?”

“Gisu is working with him anyway, right?”

“It’s still too early to decide that. Perhaps the Ogre God is just inspecting the local place by himself. There’s still the possibility of him becoming a comrade, so it’ll be problematic if we’re antagonistic.”

Despite saying that, Roxy felt a little uneasy.

This shouldn’t have happened if everything were normal.

Was this a scheme by the enemy?

Or have they simply not seen the state of affairs around them………

At the very least, everything was proceeding smoothly for now.

Rudeus had rescued the Supard race and made them comrades.

The information in regards to this place, they were unable to locate Gisu, but they were able to confirm the Ogre God’s whereabouts.

Perhaps Zanoba might’ve obtained information regarding the North God in the capital.

Thinking optimistically without any basis.

However, she had an unpleasant premonition which was unrelated to that.

This was also a baseless premonition.

When she thought about it, she felt that it was similar to when she was imprisoned in the teleport labyrinth.

Everything looked good, but it felt as if there was something important missing.

Rather, Roxy was aware that whenever things looked good, she was always able to create a mistake somehow.

“Listen, Roxy. After we report this info, shouldn’t we meet up with Rudeus?”

“You just keep saying that, don’t you?”

“But I just want to meet Ruijerd already. I’ll introduce you as well!”

“No……once, I’ve met him once before, you know?”

Ah, looks like Roxy realized the origin of that unpleasant premonition as she gave a wry smile.

Both Rudeus and Eris held no fear towards the Supard race.

In her mind, she knew that the Supard race wasn’t a race of demons.

But her body stiffened up anyways, no matter what.

Possibly because she heard about the folklore so many times as a child.

However, she must meet him.

Ruijerd was a benefactor of both Rudeus and Eris, a comrade.

A fellow who she must greet properly.

Still, she naturally felt reluctant to do so.

She might be able to change after meeting them, talking with them, and coming in contact with them, but……

If she couldn’t……that’s probably why she had that premonition.

“Hmm, let’s see. Now that we’ve come this far, I guess it’s fine if we move to the second city. That way, Ogre God Malta can’t change his location and we’ll be able to confirm our info as well. ”

For now, they’ve obtained all the information that they could from the third city.

It should be fine to leave their position for a bit and go see the Supard village.

While thinking that, Roxy’s feet came to a halt in front of the cave where the teleportation magic formation was set up.

It was a hole that was large enough for one person to pass through while crouching, camouflaged by branches.

Its previous owner, a bear, attacked them when they approached the cave, and as a result, it was killed by Eris and then eaten.

At that time, thinking that it was just right, they ended up recycling the cave.

Moving the branch of the tree which disguised the entrance, they entered the cave.

It was twenty metres deep and fairly wide. But it stank of animal.

And deep within the cave, a teleportation magic formation and communication lithograph were set up.

“……Oh?”

But there was something slightly odd about the teleportation formation.

The teleport magic formation was set up deep within the forest to make use of the high mana density, and it continuously gave out a blue, shining light after its activation.

But for some reason, that light had vanished.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“Please wait a moment.”

Roxy carefully examined the magic formation.

Perhaps she made some kind of mistake which caused the circuitry to be inoperable……

While thinking that, she examined it, though there didn’t seem to be any kind of bug.

To begin with, they just used it the other day and it worked fine.

There wasn’t any evidence that someone entered the cave as well………

“Hey, this one isn’t working as well.”

On Eris’s voice, Roxy raised her head.

Eris was squatting down in front of the communication lithograph that was set up in the corner of the room.

It had lost that light as well.

Roxy rushed over and tried sending in mana with random words, but there was no response.

“……Just what might this mean?”

Roxy stood shock-still, dumbfounded.

That was strange, leaving the teleport formation aside, the communication lithograph was made by Orsted himself.

She did help out in its production, but it certainly wasn’t defective. It couldn’t possibly stop working just like……that.

“It’s obvious.”

But Eris wasn’t confused.

Did she know the cause of the malfunction?

Roxy looked at Eris with the intention of hearing her out.

Eris folded her arms, spread her legs apart, looked down on the communication lithograph, and spoke.

“Something happened!”

“That’s……if something didn’t happen, then this………”

As she was about to complete her sentence, Roxy realized.

Something happened.

Where?

Not here.

There was no indication that anyone came here. The entrance was properly concealed, there wasn’t any indication that any human or monster had come here.

Then, somewhere but not here.

Teleportation magic formations and communication lithographs only work in pairs.

If one of the pair disappears then the other will automatically stop working.

There were no abnormalities in this one.

Then, the other one?

“Something happened at Magic City Sharia……?”

The first thing that came to Roxy’s mind was Lara’s face.

And then, one by one, the other children’s faces.

Lucy, Arus, and Sieg.

And then the ones who were taking care of them, Lilia and Zenith.

If something strange happened in the city, then they……

“…………Ngh!”

She stood up in a hurry and started running towards the entrance of the cave.

She thought that if the one here didn’t work, then the other magic formation will……

But after several steps, her feet came to a halt.

What if she was on the enemy’s side and attacked the office in Magic City Sharia?

What would happen to the other magic formations?

She would obviously not leave them alone.

She would destroy each and every one of them.

“What should I do……What should be done………”

Should she ask for someone’s help?

According to the last message, Orsted wasn’t in Sharia right now.

Was there someone to protect them from the attack that came……?

“Roxy!”

On Eris’s shout, Roxy suddenly turned herself.

“Please explain the situation!”

“……The teleportation magic formation and communication lithograph have been suspended.

The one over here doesn’t have any problems, it’s highly likely that Orsted’s office in Magic City Sharia has been attacked.

There’s also the possibility that our house came under the attack as well.

There’s no one at the house who……”

“I see.”

Listening halfway through it, Eris stood up.

“Does Rudeus know about this?”

“I wonder. He may know or may not know.”

And then Eris stopped moving momentarily.

Without changing her pose.

While pulling her chin up, she closed her lips to make a ‘へ’.

But she suddenly opened her jaw.

As if she had found her answer.

“Leave the house to Sylphy, it’ll be alright!”

“Umm……but she’s at Sword God’s place……”

“Sylphy said that she would protect the house whenever Rudeus was away. That’s why, it’s alright!”

“………”

That’s absurd, no matter how you put it……

As she thought that, Roxy suddenly changed her mindset.

She didn’t know just when the teleport formation stopped working.

But Sylphy wasn’t using the teleport formation at the office.

She was moving using an old teleport method.

So even if she couldn’t come to Biheiril Kingdom, she would at least be able to go back to Sharia.

There was nothing she could do but rely on Sylphy.

“………That’s true.”

And then, there’s Perugius as well.

Even though he’s harsh against Roxy who's a demon, he’s still close with Rudeus and even named Sieg himself.

It’s not clear what he will do, but in the house is the flute to summon Perugius’s subordinates.

Lilia could use it if something were to happen.

It’s not just that.

Something like this might’ve happened; that’s why Rudeus summoned Leo.

If Leo wasn’t able to do anything, then there would be no meaning in his summoning.

There’s still a lot of relief materials.

There was also the mercenary group, the engineers from Zanoba’s firm, and the teachers at the Magic University would also help if it came to that.

She reassured herself by thinking that.

There was no choice but to.

Since there’s nothing that Eris and Roxy can do right now.

“Then, let’s go!”

“That’s right. Let’s go.”

They can’t do anything while staying here.

There was no need for them to say what they had to do right now.

They just have to make sure to send the info which they held.

Of course, they were worried about the children in Magic City Sharia.

It’s not just Roxy, even Eris had the impulse of running back to the house, and if she could…

Swallowing up that impulse, the two of them started to move.

Their destination was where Rudeus was.

It was the Supard village.

Part 3

At the same time, on the other side.

Zanoba was getting impatient.

Rudeus was not coming back.

The subjugation force was steadily preparing themselves, their time of departure was drawing close.

Rudeus had triumphantly taken the two soldiers to the Supard village.

It was Master, so he would somehow be able to entice the two soldiers and negotiate peace, or so Zanoba was thinking.

Did the negotiations fall apart?

But the communication lithograph did say that『Persuasion was a success』.

It was signed by Orsted, so there’s no room for doubt.

Then, why?

Perhaps, were they attacked by an assassin on the way?

At the very least, they might’ve gotten into trouble midway and were forced to stay there.

It can’t be that they’re sightseeing the Second City now that everything’s safe………no it couldn’t be.

But at this rate, the subjugation force will depart in around ten days.

Should he wait?

Should he move?

The perplexed Zanoba decided to move.

Using the teleport formation to move to Supard village and ascertain the situation.

After deciding that, Zanoba acted fast.

He left the inn, taking Julie and Ginger with him.

Taking the luggage, he hurried towards the hut where the teleport formation was set up.

“Ngh……this is………”

However, the teleport formation and communication lithograph had lost their light.

Zanoba immediately realized what had happened.

That some kind of accident happened at the office.

After thinking for several seconds, Zanoba came to a conclusion.

“Ginger!”

“Yes!”

“We’ll head towards the Supard village!”

“Roger!………and Second City Irel?”

“Not through there. If there’s an enemy, they’ll be waiting there.”

Zanoba got out.

And put his hand in his back pocket and took out something.

It was the flute.

A golden flute with a symbol of a dragon.

He blew the flute in no time.

The breath made *fuuuu* sound.

But nothing happened.

No one came.

“Kuh, looks like it’s still far. Ginger! Julie! Were there any Seven Great World Power stone monuments around here!?”

“I don’t remember one!”

“I haven’t seen one!”

People who could use the teleport formation aren’t limited to one.

He had thought of contacting Perugius and asking for his help, however………

“It can’t be helped! If you find one on the way, let me know! Let’s head towards the Supard village this instant!”

“Yes!”

The three of them started moving towards it.

Towards the Supard village.

Author’s Q&A

Author : Stop with the quarrelling. Everyone has a right to speak. It’s fine if you leave your impressions regarding the volume but restrain your comments when you see other people’s thoughts.

Also, while writing a critical impression, try to be indirect about it instead of offensive!

Q. Even though Rudeus and Co. have been overwhelmed and they’ve got themselves in a disadvantageous situation, yet what is this?

This earth-shattering sense of security.

Even though whenever things look good I feel nothing but uneasiness. LOL

A. You get anxious the first time you go up. That’s a roller coaster.

Q. Did Hitogami send in North God and Sword God because he couldn’t see the King’s or Ruijerd’s future, realizing that maybe Rudeus or the president had interfered?

A. This wasn’t Hitogami’s but Gisu’s scheme.

Q. If you think about it, the president could’ve defeated Hitogami if he was a bit younger before even Rudeus came.

A. The president isn’t young enough to form a team.

Q. So Zanoba had that gofer calling flute, eh? LOL

A. Come flying when I call for you! At the speed of light, that is!

Q. Though this is unrelated, 2714 pages of impression columns are crazy.

A. It’s a well-appreciated story.

Q. Let’s try to compare Gull-san and Alek with professional gamers.

“This game(Rudi) is really worth playing, ain't it? So that’s how you captured that difficult place.”

Were the pro Gull-san and Alek happy after being told about the capture method? On top of that, after they implemented it did they think “What is this? This was trivial.”? Or so I’ve wanted to say that.

A. I wonder. I can’t really say anything since I don’t know much about pros, but if a gamer is told to “Do this action(measure) against this character(Rudi)!” then there would be many who would actually try to do it.

And then after victory, I don’t think they’ll think of it as ‘Trivial’ but rather ‘Even without using this strategy I would’ve won.’

Q. I think there’s a problem in patternizing.

I think there’s no need for an event where everything goes without any hitch when you’re crushing the plan of a cautious person.

For example, Rudi was cautious but as a result of being overcautious it backfired on him. Would that augmentation suffice for your depiction?

A. Let’s see.

Even in the previous chapter I reconsidered doing this or that but for some reason I can’t do it when writing………

No matter what I do, I want to bring out the feeling that when a mistake happens-it happens, and when a success happens-it happens.