A Little Too Late To Notice
One hour later.
"They haven"t returned yet. Usually, they would have been back by now and gone on their next round."
The guard said with a puzzled look.
"Indeed. And they worked so seriously and quickly up until now."
Agreed the dwarf who was in charge of snacks.
"I"ll go and have a look."
"You can enter the ridges if you crouch."
"Alright."
However, no amount of searching led them to Maki and Chiharu.
"What happened?"
"Stilla? It"s Kenneth and Ryan. They are nowhere to be found."
"They were supposed to be doing this row here."
"But they aren"t there."
"That"s strange."
Stilla then gathered all of the dwarves together.
"What is it? We were almost finished."
"Kenneth and Ryan are gone. Has anyone seen them? Did they feel ill and return to the inn?"
"No one went in the direction of the inn. Well, except for one wagon that was carrying straw."
Said a dwarf who was working in the direction of the inn.
"However, you wouldn"t have been able to see that if you were working in the field."
"I could though, mister tall man. Look, go over there and crouch till you are the same height as us."
The guard did as he was told. The guard had thought the entire field looked like a jungle, just like Maki and Chiharu, but you could actually see clearly ahead at 140cm above ground level.
"So where did they go?"
"Hey, you said something about a wagon?"
"Yes. It was carrying straw."
"You wouldn"t need straw during this season and it"s not the time to harvest it. Is it not strange then that a hay wagon would pa.s.s through here?"
"Yes, it is strange."
"What if they were kidnapped?"
The guard looked surprised.
"Which way did the wagon go!?"
"I think it was in the direction of Gromble."
The guard started to run.
"Wait. Just listen to this!"
"What?"
"The mayor of Gromble likes children. Human children."
"Children! Human!"
The guard went running.
Of course, the wagon was no longer on the road towards Gromble. And so the guard went running to the inn where Grudo was.
"They"ve been kidnapped!? And there"s a possibility that the mayor of Gromble has them. Hmmm…"
Grudo started to think.
"They may still come back. However, we should consider the worst possible scenario and go to Gromble. You go on ahead and tell Edwy. Then we will meet up in the inn that the other soldiers are staying at."
"Understood."
Grudo quickly prepared to leave the inn and then followed the soldier to Gromble. It was evening by the time they arrived.
"Grudo!"
The guard was waiting for him at the inn.
"The four representatives are in the dungeon today, and it is not known when they will return. Kaider and Aeris are camping down there as they go deeper."
It was already night.
"And what of Edwy and Nyran!"
"They were held at the Mayor"s mansion up until yesterday, so they hurried off to the dungeon today and have yet to return."
"This is not good. We cannot just go and pursue them either."
Grudo was annoyed. He was a researcher and technician, just like Aeris. He didn"t enjoy socializing and he did not want to meet the creepy mayor. But he didn"t have a choice.
"Alright. I shall go to the Mayor"s house today. I will take two guards with me and we will check the place. You must send a messenger into the dungeon and contact Edwy or one of the others."
While all of this happened, Maki and Chiharu were just about to wake up from their deep sleep.
"Mmm…ugh…my head hurts."
"Mmm…ah, Maki!"
"Chiharu! Ouch!"
Perhaps it was dehydration. Perhaps it was from being carried while bound up. Their bodies ached all over.
"Where are we?"
"It"s a dark, but a fancy room. I don"t think it"s an inn."
"Maki. We must have been kidnapped."
"Yes. This whole thing reeks of criminal activity."
The room had a simple bed, a small writing desk and a chair. There was nothing else. There was one window near the ceiling, but it was too small for either of them to fit through.
"They clearly don"t want us to escape. But I can"t understand why they would want to kidnap us. Maybe it"s to sell us as workers. Or they know we are women and they"ll send us to a brothel."
"I don"t think they know. At least this room is nice. But what could be the reason?"
"Chiharu. We have to get up. We"ll be at a great disadvantage in this position."
"Alright."
And so they held their aching heads as they got out of bed. Just then, the door swung open.
"Oh, you are up."
It was on old dwarf and what appeared to be two servants. One of them was holding a pitcher of water. Maki and Chiharu stared at it hard.
"So you are thirsty. Thomas. The water."
The servant poured them some water to drink. They were a little worried about what was in the water, but they felt they would faint from a heat stroke if they didn"t drink it. And so they did.
The old man watched them carefully.
"Now, you must be worried and wondering why you are here."
They nodded.
"You were abducted by former Adventurers and were about to be sold."
I knew it. Maki and Chiharu looked at each other and nodded.
"And one of my servants just happened to witness it. Don"t worry. They have since been caught."
"Thank you."
"Oh? Is your voice changing? Well, that"s fine."
He said with satisfaction. Then he got closer to the bed and looked at Maki before touching her chin.
"You have blonde hair and dark eyes. Long lashes that are very cute."
Ew, gross. Maki felt gooseb.u.mps all over her skin.
"What do you think? You could work for me in this mansion. I would be glad to hire you."
As if!
"Uh, it"s already been decided that we"re to return with the Midland group and work for them."
"I see. I see. But there are many monsters in the dungeon. It might take them a while to return. What will you do until then?"
"Uh, pick flowers."
"The flower picking has ended. How will you live?"
They still had money left from the scales, from working as cooks and from working as flower harvesters. But it didn"t seem like something they should say here. He looked at Maki and Chiharu as they struggled for an answer. His expression was full of satisfaction when a knock was heard at the door.
"What is it?"
The old dwarf said with annoyance.
"Um, you have a visitor."
"Tell them to come back later!"
"But it is Grudo…"
"He should have died a long time ago! Oh, well. Fine, I will go."
He then turned around to face Maki.
"In any case, you must rest here today. Your food will be brought to you."
"Hey, wait-"
But he ignored them and left.
"Gross."
"That"s not the problem!"
"But it is."
Maki insisted.
"How come you were taken by merfolk and I get a creepy old man. And he thinks we"re boys."
"I don"t see the difference."
"But what about my chast.i.ty?"
"Well, sure. But this is all made up by him, isn"t it?"
"Yes. He said that they were caught, but he probably sent them in the first place."
"I think so too. But I would never have expected the reason."
"Oh, stop."
Maki groaned. Chiharu muttered.
"What will happen if he finds out we are girls?"
"I hope he"ll throw us out."
"That doesn"t sound very safe either."
"Hmm. We have to look for a chance and escape. And then we should shout very loudly. The old man is attacking us!"
"We have to get out of this room first."
"He said that Grudo was here! He must have gotten suspicious."
"Should we wait for him to help us?"
Maki straightened her posture.
"No, let"s do what we can first."
"Yes."
And so they inspected the room carefully.