Chapter 463: Rica Rescue Operation 3
Sahul is put on Maia with me in his human body and we fly back into the sky. Our destination is the city of Sitar in the southwest.
“Hey, can’t we pick up Oskar before we get there!?”
“Oskar?”
“You know, the dark elf who is supposed to be at the southern village ruins!”
“Ah, that half-elf……why?”
“If you know where Rika is, then there’s no need to keep him at home!”
“Ah……well, yeah, but……”
“And he’s probably more used to investigations and things like that than I am!”
“……That’s right, though”
He seemed to be good at negotiating, that’s for sure. But rather than Sahul, I wonder if there’s anyone out there who’s not as good at that sort of thing. I’m not in as much of a hurry as I used to be. We are not the strength this time.
“But I don’t know if he’d be much use to us if we took him with us. Dianne and her team are supposed to be making their own plans and running their own operations……”
“Still, it’s better than leaving him alone!?”
“……Well, okay”
In terms of Sahul, he is currently the only ally. He has a reason, but maybe he still wants someone to hold his hand.
————————————–
I let Maia change direction and land at an abandoned village in the lake area.
“Hey, Oskar! Are you there!”
“Sahul-kun?”
The half dark elf, who had just emerged from a barely remaining house in the abandoned village, looked a little startled at the sound of Sahul’s voice.
“Have you found Rika?”
“Ah……that, I don’t know if you found her or not……”
“Since then, two sets of dragons have come to this place. There must be one”
“……Eh, they’re here?”
I was the one who was surprised. I had heard that there were not many dragon palaces in Celesta. Of course, just because Laila’s palace is uninhabited doesn’t mean that there are no other palaces, but I wonder if there are enough of them to appear so frequently.
“Yes, one red dragon and one yellow dragon……with their respective partners, it seems. I’ve explained it all to them in case they’re interested”
“……I wonder if there are quite a few dragon riders around”
“I don’t think rumors spread fast enough to cross borders and I guess that means they are out there”
Oskar-san is calm but unconcerned in his manner. He is surprisingly ballsy.
“More importantly, Oskar, come with me! What’s that, Cesar’s town?”
“Its Sitar, Sitar”
“Yes, there is a rumor that Rika has been seen in a place called Sitar. We’re going there now……”
“Sitar? Sitar, that port town?”
“Yes, yes”
Oskar-san’s expression turned grim.
“……There’s a human trafficking ring rooted in that place……”
I knew he knew about it. I wonder if he is well known in this area.
“There’s a white elf in such a place……Rika-san must be alone. Isn’t that good bait?”
“Are you going to be targeted if you’re a white elf……”
When I muttered that, Oskar-san nodded.
“They are good looking, but above all, they are the race that is the most easily understood and isolated in Celesta. Compared to the other races, they have no aftertaste”
“You mean whether you capture them and enslave them, or sell them off or kill them……?”
“That’s right. If she was seen there, that means……no, it’s more a question of why she is in that place”
“You can’t think about that until you get there!”
Sahul pulls Oskar-san, who has begun to think about it. Oskar is easily knocked over by a force that does not match the appearance of a child.
“I, Itata……”
“It seems that this guy’s friends are already looking for her over there! Oskar, you’re going to help us out, right?”
“W, Well it’s not dangerous……but I wonder if she’s still in Sitar”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t stay in towns for very long, usually. It’s not a pretty town, not a tourist attraction and there’s nothing interesting nearby……if you’re safe or even if you’re caught on the premise of selling, it’s always a good idea to get on a boat before you’re seen, you know?”
“……You know a lot about it”
“I had a bit of a connection back in the day”
Oskar’s expression tightened.
“Shall we go then? ……I don’t fancy it, but I can’t say I do at this time”
We headed southwest again with Oskar in tow. The sea and the port town we had seen in the morning came into view.
“There it is. It’s a beautiful town from a distance, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is from a distance……well, it’s just white”
Oskar answered Sahul’s words without any substance. It is true that the houses are white. Most of the houses are painted white except for the roofs.
“Why are they so white?”
I ask and Oskar answers, holding onto the spikes so he doesn’t fall off (Since it was impossible for three people to sit on Maia’s head, he moved to her back).
“Originally, it was for a variety of reasons, like visibility from offshore, or to protect buildings from the heat in the summer, but mostly it’s a town policy. It was to please the tourists, just as Sahul-kun was pleased with the white color. No matter how bad the rumors you hear, this white scenery alone makes you want to think, 『Maybe those rumors are just an illusion』”
“……Indeed”
“It sounds like a joke, but there are still people out there who just want to walk around this pure white port town and ignore all the bad reviews. I don’t think the adventurer Rika-san is like that”
“Is this town really that dangerous?”
A town with poor security is by no means uncommon in Celesta. However, no matter how bad the security is, there are rules for each and it is usually not difficult for travelers to pass by as long as they are not violated.
“This place is special. Celesta people have no sense of righteousness or common sense. Even if there is no reason that the target has done something wrong, an entire organization can be moved just because of the value of the product. It is the connection with the foreign contact that follows up on that”
“……Really, you’re very knowledgeable”
“…………”
Oskar-san is silent, his eyes downcast. I guess it’s rude to step in and say……what’s going on.
“Andy-sama, I’m going down”
“Please. Don’t let them find you”
“Fine”
Maia slowly descends into the woods on the outskirts of the city. Maia, Sahul, Oskar-san and me. The four of us sneak into the town.
“This way. If you enter from the front, that alone will mark you as one of the bad guys. It would be bad for you and me to be spotted, let aloneSahul-kun and your blue dragon girl”
“……Understood”
He knows the city of Sitar better than I expected.
“If we go in this way, will we go in unnoticed?”
“In the first place, yes. If we stand out even a little, we will be noticed from everywhere”
“……Then we have to be inconspicuous. Oskar-san, you’ve done your research, haven’t you?”
“……Just a little bit”
We entered the city center by climbing over a broken wall at the back of town.
“Dianne is supposed to be in charge of checking things out, right?”
Maia asked curiously, but I silently shook my head. I’m sure we can get some help from him, in addition to the frontal search.
“Rather than that, wouldn’t it be easier if you hid yourself in an illusion without sneaking around?”
Sahul’s mouth twitched as if he was in a tight spot.
“That’s one way, but it’s more efficient to listen to what they have to say than to search for lice”
“I guess……anyway, we can hear most of the conversations in this town……”
“The only way it will work is if Rika is here in town. I already see that she is not here”
Oskar-san glanced guardedly from side to side before he stepped out into the street.
“The sighting must have been days ago. If she’s already on a ship, Sahul-kun’s ears won’t be of any use. If that’s the case, we need to find out where she boarded the ship and under what name”
“I see……then it would be pointless to hide behind an illusion and look around”
“That’s what I meant. ……E, Everyone, hide”
Oskar-san crouched us down in the shadows and hid his own breath. The sound of footsteps echoing in the whitewashed alley. We waited for a while. Sharon and Almeida pass in front of us.
“Apparently, there’s a sign that they’ve been watching us since we entered this town……”
“Ha. But, well, we must be unusual”
“I don’t know about that. I don’t like the way they’re looking at us, especially more than the other girls”
As expected of a knight……n, no, it must be the atmosphere of a noble that Sharon-san exudes”
“Even with this, even Belga said that compared to when I was in my hometown, I’ve become sharper like a warrior”
“It’s just a difference in degree. Compared to Naris and the like, you still have no comparison in grace”
“That……that may be true. It is not easy to enjoy worldly affairs like that”
The passers-by looking at the two people walking while chatting are certainly not one or two people. And the two of them, as a matter of fact, do not have any weapons. Were their weapons taken away when they entered the town? Even so, I don’t think they’ll fall behind, but I was horrified to see the fuzzy atmosphere around the two of them.
“They have eyes all over the town. Even with two people together, you can imagine what would happen if an elf walked alone”
“……I see. They will be caught sooner or later or they will run away. There’s no time to waste”
The two of them were able to pass over the atmosphere of the watch that was getting further and further away from them.
“Let’s hurry, shall we? There’s a place I’m familiar with. I’m sure they’ll let us relax there for a while”
“I’m begging you, Oskar-san”
We followed his lead and skulked through the white streets, picking our way through the back alleys. Sharon and the others……well, they’ll be fine.
“Don’t go in there without permission. We open in the evening……are you Oskar?”
“Lady, it’s been a long time. This is Andy-san. Also, Maia-san and Sahul-kun”
The fact that you rushed in all of a sudden……well, I won’t ask you about the details. I thought you had washed your feet by now”
“I was going to wash it, but”
When we entered the small store, I found a fat woman, which is unusual for a dark elf, blowing a pipe in the back of the store.
“She is Lady Swallow. She’s the face of the neighborhood”
“My main business is mixing perfumes. Would you like one, little girl?”
“I don’t want one”
“Oh”
Maia moved away from the vial of perfume offered by Lady Swallow.
“You’re a cute but unsociable child. Older brother, your daughter……or is she your sister? Everyone seems to be human except Oskar, but what kind of……no, I still won’t ask. Oskar, tell me what you need”
“I’m sorry, but I need to talk to you about a place to hide for a while……and a white elf who was recently captured by 『Parent Bird』”
“……It’s a bit much to give away for free, isn’t it?”
The toxic colored lipstick glistened slimily in the lamp light. The actual dark elf is a fat dark elf……and who is Oskar-san really? The smell of the store’s strong aroma stirred my brain and I thought about it in a rambling way.
“I don’t have much with me……but what would you do if I told you that the city could be attacked by dragons if things went badly?”
“……Dragon. You use that word for a generation that knows about the Fire Dragon War?”
“I am of that generation too. Does that sound like a joke to you?”
“……Hmph”
Lady Swallow sniffs. Then she took one of the keys from the wall behind her and fired it at me. It was too dark to catch it, but Maia caught it before it fell.
“Back of the store, third from the end. Use it nicely. And I’ll send someone to get the back of the story about the elf. I don’t know much about it myself”
“Thank you”
Oskar-san puts his hand reverently on his chest.
“If a dragon comes out, there is no friend or foe. I’ve seen everything turn to ashes so many times. This store has been open for fifty years and it’s not ready to be reduced to ashes yet”
Then she sighs and looks at Oskar-san with half-open eyes.
“I really hope you’re not lying again”
“No, I have never lied to Lady”
……I wonder what, this tension. Oskar-san has a strange sense of conviction and courage in his soft and timid demeanor. I’m starting to get a little scared now, wondering if it’s okay for me to follow this person.