「Roguna! Where are you, Roguna!?」
The voice of mother calling Onii-chan sounded almost desperate, resounding inside the village.
At present, with Onii-chan suddenly missing, all of villagers went out to search for him …..
Even though 1 hour has pa.s.sed, no good news came to surface.
Until I calmed down and my b.u.mp got better, mother had stayed by my side.
That had been why, it was already too late when she realized that Onii-chan has left the house. Moreover, it happened at a bad time during the day when there had been only a small number of people at the village.
A conservative estimate was that it has already been 2 hours since Onii-chan left the house.
2 hours had pa.s.sed since the 3 year old boy ran out from the house……. furthermore, this is not j.a.pan, it is a place where I couldn’t say that the public order is good.
As for me, with a wet rag cloth on my head to compress the b.u.mp, I glanced at the adults who were running around in confusion outside the house.
「He’s not here! Has anyone searched North!?」
「Beramu-san is searching there, but still hasn’t found him!」
「Maybe he’s left the village!?」
「Oh no! There’s a rumor about bandits coming out around here ….. 」
The impatience started to grow inside the villagers; their minds began to be filled with negative a.s.sumptions.
Mother’s face started to grow pale hearing those worst-case-scenarios, until she broke down crying.
Even now, I can feel this itching pain in my stomach. I cover my face with both of my hands to calm myself down a little bit. This had been one of my habits from when I was still a illegal corporate’s slave .
Some time pa.s.sed, my sight gradually sank into the darkness, and I feel that the nervousness and my trembling subsided slightly while my dull thoughts become a little clearer.
…….. Even though Onii-chan is cruel, I absolutely don’t want to lose Onii-chan like this
Father and mother will be sad, and so will I …..
In the first place, I was the one who was responsible for this ruckus, the one who recklessly took out father’s precious book.
And for me who was being selfish, if I didn’t get serious over 3 years old boy, things wouldn’t be this way.
…..Even after all of that, the heartless me is still standing doing nothing, then I remembered what Onii-chan had said when my head hit the corner of the desk.[1]
『Uu… Yo , you’re the one who’s wrong here! Becoming a magician, there’s no way you could….』
Why doesn’t Onii-chan want me to become a magician? Is it because he doesn’t like his lil’bro becoming better than him? Or maybe he just said it with ill intent?
And then, again, the continuation of Onii-chan’s words came back inside my mind.
『You, do you really wanted to become a “magician”? That thing, there’s no way Tou-chan will allow it.』
…Why won’t father allow me to become a magician?
But for mother to become that hyped… maybe there were some kind of circ.u.mstances?
If that’s the case, then what Onii-chan did to me….
I feel like I’m in the middle of doing something that can’t be undone, my heartbeat became faster and faster…
Why did Onii-chan do and say those things to me… I must know the reason for it.
In the worst case that the『Grimoire』would be lost forever, as long as Onii-chan could be alright…
When I arrived at that conclusion, even I was a bit surprised.
It’s not like, I had any good memories playing with Onii-chan. On the contrary, it feels like he always scowls at me .
But if you asked me, a 『Grimoire』is just a pile of paper if you think about it. To compare it with a living person… furthermore, to think that it has the same place with irreplaceable family member, there’s no way I can do that.
If just for one book I lost one part of my family… that trashy kind of me, can I myself forgive it?
At the same time, even if my strange nature —– in other words, “reincarnation” was revealed, I won’t mind trading that for Onii-chan’s safety.
Then, during the next moment, I stood up.
Because I had always moved around by crawling so that others won’t suspect me, I needed to keep my hand on the wall for long distance movement. But, for now that’s enough.
I opened the wooden entrance door that was already half opened,
「Oka -chan!」
To my shout, mother who was crying in Marriane-san shoulder, suddenly raised her face.
The obaa-sans and old men around mother who had been very perplexed, focused their sight over here.
The gaze of the villagers that I had deceived all this time made me feel really guilty.
If I thought about what their thoughts about my true ident.i.ty might be, it made me want to flee .
But I forcibly brushed away that kind of nervousness and fear and shouted.
「Where’s the place Onii-chan usually plays at!?」
A baby who usually only said simple words like「Mama」 suddenly speaking coherent sentences would be a certainly weird thing.
But for mother, who was panicking because of Onii-chan’s matter, without even retorting back, answered my question.
「I, I have already searched that place… However, I couldn’t find him there.」
「Then, the person who’s good friends with Onii-chan?」
「Eh… Friend’s house?」
「If Onii-chan said 「I beg you, please hide me.」, to a friend there’s possibility that kid will keep quiet! 」
「…! 」 [2]
At my words, the adults immediately took action.
「Once again, search every corner of every house!」
Clattering sounds of hurried footsteps ensued, and the villagers began to scatter at once all over the place.
The only ones left were just mother who was sitting on the ground and the one accompanying her, Marriane-san.
To the two who were wide-eyed in a daze, once again I asked them a question.
「Is there any of Otou-san’s memorable places located around here?!」
To this question, Mother expressed surprise. Her jumpy reaction was really easy to read.
It seems that there are some leads.
When little kids ran away from home, I can guess where the places they were likely to go to. After all if it’s running from home, the me in my previous life have already done that many times.
Firstly, it’s never a place far from home .
For them who were feeling helpless, they wouldn’t want to be in an unknown place.
Next, the usual places they go to go were the places that they were used to.
For example, a playground …… like the park.
And then, they will think about depending on their reliable friends because of their helplessness. Because kids are going to protect their friend without much thought.
If, we still can’t find him in those places…
Mother got up and started running and I try to follow her.
…. But , immediately I fell with a「kote .」 I should do more walking practice…… [3]
But because of that, mother’s rushed to my place and held me up in her arm.
「Sefi , are you okay ! ?」
「Le , leaving that aside, Oka-san, about Onii-chan…! 」
「Yes, of course! Since it’s outside the village, Sefi, you stay here!」
「I want to go too! Oka-san, please!」
「… Okay. Hold on tight okay.」
Maybe it was because she decided there’s no time for explaining to me, or maybe she thought it’ll be dangerous if she left me here… in any case mother quickly accepted my request.
Unlike a while ago, there’s a strong will now dwelling inside those eyes. The panic, has now disappeared.
Unexpectedly, Marriane-san, who had been hugging mother a while ago, rushed into her house and came back with something in hand.
It seemed the thing she brought was a copper sword. In her possession, without wavering, she put it on her hips .
「There might be bandits around. It’s better than nothing right?」
「Mari… thanks. 」
If we did come across bandits, one bronze sword won’t amount to much.
That fact, I believe Marriane-san knew of if very well.
In other word, this act had no other meaning other than a.s.serting that「if you’re going to dangerous place, let me go with you.」
… Marianne-san is mother’s friend, I feel rather honored to have her.
「Let’s go !」
With those strong words, mother and Marriane-san started running .
While I am still hanging at mother’s neck, I kept my eyes open for the place mother was headed for.
Please, be safe….. Onii-chan ….!
[1] (ED: I’m lost in thought here o_O)
[2] (TL : Nante osoroshii ko ! ! PR: His insight astounds! Lol. )
[3] (PR: like face plant?)