Rio shook his head gently. “No, it’s nothing to be thanked for. I’ll carry her inside the room, but please look after Princess Flora after that. She still seems to be frightened.”
“Of course. I will repay this debt in the future. Please, come this way,” Roanna nodded with determination before inviting them inside. Rio and the others proceeded to follow Roanna into the living room. Hiroaki was still lying unconscious, but the bodies of the two knights had been moved away somewhere.
When Rio entered the room, Duke Huguenot welcomed him and Flora with a powerful voice. “Ooh, Princess Flora! You’re safe...! Haruto, you have my gratitude!”
“Uh...” In contrast, Stewart averted his eyes from Rio awkwardly.
“It was nothing,” Rio said.
In the meantime, Roanna immediately prepared a chair for Flora to sit in. “Please, have a seat here.”
“I’m letting you down now. Excuse me.” This time, Rio made sure to put Flora down.
“...Okay. Thank you... very much,” Flora said with a somewhat reluctant face, then released her grip on Rio’s clothes. Even after being placed to sit in a chair, her gaze was locked on Rio’s face.
Rio felt awkward on the receiving end of Flora’s gaze. He looked at Celia and Aishia. “...I’m going to take my leave now. Shall we go?” he suggested now that their business was done.
“P-Please wait a moment. Where are you going?” Liselotte asked, stopping Rio in a hurry. She had received a report earlier that things had calmed down outside, so she was hoping to exchange a little more information with him.
“I’ll only be a bother if I remain here like this, so I was thinking of going outside to help,” Rio said while looking at Stewart.
He had just been in a dispute with him the other day. It was more than enough reason for the two of them to feel awkward about being in the same room as each other. That being said, his actual intention was to avoid Celia being in the same room as Beltrum’s royalty and nobility as much as possible.
Liselotte recalled the discord between them and immediately directed the conversation to their departure. “Oh, I do apologize. May I request that of you, then?” Normally she would have noticed much sooner and moved to separate them, but the emergency situation had prevented her from getting that far, much to her regret.
Gosh, I’m hopeless. I must be tired. She’d inform Duke Huguenot and the others of what had happened after the crisis passed instead. It wasn’t something she needed to prioritize at this moment.
“Leave it to me.” Rio placed his right hand against his chest respectfully.
“You should go too, Liselotte. We’ll get the details from Princess Flora,” Duke Huguenot urged.
“Thank you for the consideration. There’ll be a need to go over what is going on sooner or later, so I’ll arrange a meeting once the danger has passed. I’ve increased the security inside the mansion to the maximum, so please rest your body. I will also apologize for my failures on another occasion,” Liselotte spoke fluently, bowing her head.
Duke Huguenot smiled faintly. “There’s no need for you to worry. Pay us no mind and continue your direction over the situation. Haruto, allow me to thank you for saving Princess Flora on a later occasion.”
“Your words are enough for me,” Rio lowered his head respectfully.
“Umm, Sir Haruto!” Flora suddenly called out to Rio with all her might.
“...Yes?” Rio replied, turning his fixing gaze on Flora.
“Ah, umm... Thank you very much, for what happened. Could we please talk some more later?” Flora asked with a somewhat frightened expression.
“Of course. Now, if you would excuse me. Lady Liselotte,” Rio nodded respectfully with his right hand on his chest before looking at Liselotte.
“All right. I’m leaving the rest to you, Grace. You can give orders to the attendants and knights patrolling the area if you need anything,” Liselotte bowed her head deeply, then called out to the attendant girl waiting in the room.
“Yes, my lady!” Grace nodded humbly.
“Then, the three of you, come this way.” Liselotte led Rio and the others out of the living room.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Lady Liselotte, I’d like to return to the northwest area of the city to try and search for traces of the kidnappers. Would this be okay?” Rio asked once they’d left the living room with Flora and the others.
“Of course. There’s nothing more I could ask for if you’d investigate,” Liselotte agreed while examining Rio’s expression. With her hands full with dealing with the monsters and no personnel free to send, the offer was something Liselotte would have gladly bowed her head to request herself, so for Haruto to volunteer was perfect. It wasn’t a job to leave to an amateur, but she had no complaints if it was him.
“The kidnapper is someone of interest to me as well. I’ll go and check if there are any clues,” Rio declared firmly.
“Understood. I’m counting on you,” Liselotte nodded.
“Leave it to me. I’d like to ask the two of you to stay here and assist Lady Liselotte. The three of us will talk when I return,” Rio said to Celia and Aishia.
Celia suppressed her worries and smiled innocently. “...Okay. I’ll be waiting.”
“Thanks,” Rio nodded with a smile to reassure Celia.
“See you later. Leave Cecilia to me,” Aishia said, sending Rio off as she usually did.
“I’m counting on you, Aishia.” Rio smiled.
If anything happens, let me know through telepathy, he added through said method of communication.
Yup. We won’t be able to connect if you go too far, so be careful.
Rio and Aishia’s telepathy range was roughly a radius of one kilometer. While it was technically possible to communicate over one kilometer, the connection quality rapidly decreased after that point. The distance from Liselotte’s mansion to the area where Rio and Lucius fought was actually the limit for a clear telepathic connection.
Got it. If anything happens, prioritize the professor’s safety over anything else.
Yup, nodded Aishia.
“...I’ll be going then, Lady Liselotte. I intend on having a look around the west gate on my way back, so I’ll report to you later,” Rio said, having passed those instructions on to Aishia.
“Thank you very much. Please allow me to thank you officially on a later date.” Liselotte bowed her head deeply.
◇ ◇ ◇
Several minutes later, Rio left the mansion once again, heading for the outside of the walls to Amande’s northwest. The area where he had fought Lucius earlier was battered with violent scars from their fight. The remnants of their battle weren’t only visible by the naked eye, however.
There’s still a large amount of ode jumbled together. I won’t be able to investigate with spirit arts. When Rio felt the accumulated remnants of magical essence nearby, he sighed quietly. There was a spirit art that could detect other people’s essence by releasing one’s own essence into the area, but with this much of it around, there was no way it could detect anything effectively. And there were ways of completely suppressing essence anyway.
Which means I’ll have to look around myself. But before that... Rio immediately changed his thought process and headed to the place he had last seen Reiss holding Lucius.
The ground’s been completely gouged away. I guess he removed any traces of blood before leaving. But if he had to move while carrying Lucius, then there should be blood sprayed somewhere...
Rio touched his hand to the ground and checked for any stains of blood. Since Lucius had been bleeding profusely from his entire body, there had to be something left behind along the route they took. As long as he could find that, then he could follow those tracks.
Rio looked around for a while, but —
...There’s nothing.
There were no stains that resembled Lucius’ blood anywhere. At the very least, not within a 10 meter radius of the scene...
During their
fight, Rio’s attention was directed to the attack from the sky for a single, mere instant, and the interception of dark and light had obstructed his vision. There weren’t many ways of disappearing so abruptly in that limited time period.
I don’t see any footsteps in the area either. Did they leave via the skies? Rio suddenly looked up. When Rio’s spirit arts collided with the breath in the sky, the surrounding skies had been shaken by violent shockwaves, but it wasn’t impossible for an experienced spirit arts user to fly through it.
...Was that man a spirit arts user too?
The possibility was there; the ball of light Reiss had conjured before leaving was created without a verbal spell. It hadn’t been created with magic, at least. However, if he had flown through the sky, that should have made the trail of bloodstains even more noticeable, yet there wasn’t a single trace of that.
Which means the remaining possibility is Transilio...
It was possible there was another method Rio hadn’t considered yet, but teleportation would explain everything else. Transilio was impossible to recreate with the modern sorcery of Strahl, but it was a different case when ancient artifacts were involved. However, ancient artifacts with some form of teleportation in them were hard to come by, and there weren’t many in circulation. It was hard to know if they existed at all.
At any rate, with no concrete evidence, Rio would have to withhold his judgment for the time being. Even if he could narrow things down, the mystery remained exactly that.
But they may have escaped through another method. I’ll look around the area some more.
Regardless of whether or not they used teleportation, the wound was fatal and required immediate treatment. If they were hidden nearby, then they shouldn’t have gone very far yet.
Thus, Rio first started walking towards the forest. However, after ten minutes of walking around, he hadn’t spotted any traces remaining.
Nothing in sight, huh. There were no signs of Lucius’ blood spilled anywhere, nor any signs of Reiss trampling the grass with his feet. The aftermath of the earlier battle had left the forest in a mess, making it hard to spot something, but Rio was certain he hadn’t missed anything.
...Don’t tell me they escaped into the city, Rio thought, looking around the city wall next. However, there were no signs there either, so he headed for the west gate for now.
“...Sir Haruto?” Aria appeared in a casual manner, dressed in her combat-use attendant uniform and equipped with her enchanted sword. Her eyes widened slightly when she spotted Rio.
“What are you doing here, Aria?” Rio’s eyes also widened.
“Things at the east gate have calmed down, so I was thinking of investigating the dragon-like creature that released that fiery breath. May I ask the same of you, Sir Haruto?”
“I received a request from Lady Liselotte to investigate the kidnapper,” Rio replied, his explanation brief.
“A kidnapper, you say?” The normally unexpressive Aria widened her eyes in great interest.
“Earlier, the mansion was attacked by monsters. In the midst of that chaos, Princess Flora was kidnapped.”
“...Princess Flora was kidnapped?” The unexpected information made Aria freeze, her voice showing a hint of doubt. Her reaction was understandable — Liselotte’s estate should have been the safest place in Amande.
“The extermination of the surging monsters has already been completed. Lady Liselotte wasn’t harmed in the slightest and I have already retrieved Princess Flora, so there is no need to worry in that regard.”
“...I cannot thank you enough.” Aria suddenly bowed her head toward Rio.
“It’s nothing worth thanking me for. I actually ended up fighting the kidnapper, but he managed to get away after I cornered him. Now that I’ve returned Princess Flora to the mansion, I’m back to search some more.”
“Is that so? In that case, the one who forced back the attack that came down from the sky was...”
“It was me. The culprit got away while I was leveraging a counterattack,” Rio said with a bitter smile.
“...I understand the situation now. If that is the case, then I shall assist in your investigation,” Aria offered.
“No, I’ve already finished my search. I was going to check on the state of the west gate before heading back to the mansion. Unfortunately, there were no traces left behind, so I do not believe the culprit is in the area.”
“Understood. Then I shall accompany you back to the mansion instead — that was my original intention. There are no problems at the west gate, so I believe it is fine if I continue with my mission and accompany you.” She still had many things she wanted to ask, but that would wait until they were on the move.
“I understand. Shall we go, then?” Rio asked.
“Yes,” Aria nodded her head respectfully.
◇ ◇ ◇
Rio and Aria ran through the city until they returned to Liselotte’s estate. Once they were within the grounds, they came across attendants Natalie and Cosette.
When Cosette realized it was Rio, she welcomed him with a beaming smile. “Sir Haruto, welcome.”
“Long time no see, you two,” Rio replied with a friendly smile.
“Thank you so much for what happened earlier, Sir Haruto,” Natalie thanked Rio politely.
“It was a truly wonderful fight to witness. Thanks to you, we were able to eliminate the monsters surging the east gate,” Cosette praised Rio with a grin.
“I’m glad to be of help. However, it seemed like some of the humanoid monsters got inside the city...” Rio said with a faint frown.
“The evacuation of the residents had already been completed, so thankfully nothing big came out of it. Also, I heard that you defeated several of the monsters that made it into the middle of the city too,” Natalie said, bowing in gratitude.
Rio smiled gently. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“Allow us to lead you to our master. Please, come this way,” Cosette said, taking the initiative to become Rio’s guide.
At that, Aria finally opened her mouth to declare her presence in exasperation. “You know, I’m here too...”
“Oh, if it isn’t Aria. Why are you with Sir Haruto?” Cosette asked her curtly.
“I was checking out the northwest city wall on my way back to the mansion when I bumped into him,” Aria replied with a small sigh.
“Ah, investigating the location of that breath attack.” Natalie inclined her head.
Cosette shot Aria a smug look before directing her question at Rio. “There’s no doubt that Sir Haruto was the one that forced it back, yes?”
“Yes, somehow,” Rio nodded with a strained smile.
“So I heard on the way here.” Aria had already learned this on the way, so she wasn’t particularly surprised. Instead, she watched Rio’s side profile.
“Leave the idle chit-chat here and quickly show Sir Haruto to our master,” she ordered Cosette and Natalie.
“As you wish,” the two of them agreed respectfully.
◇ ◇ ◇
The attendants led Rio to an area with several pavilions set up; a field hospital where the wounded were carried. Inside one of the tents, Liselotte and several of her attendants were using Cura to heal the wounded as assistants circled around them in feverish haste.
“Sir Haruto. Aria.” Liselotte was in the middle of healing a severely wounded soldier with a serious face, but she immediately noticed Rio and called out to them.
“Please pay me no mind and continue your treatment,” Rio urged.
“Much obliged. But I’m almost done anyway, so please wait there for a moment. ...Okay, all done.” Liselotte confirmed that the wound on the soldier’s abdomen was completely closed before deactivating her healing magic.
“T-Thank you very much, Lady Liselotte! O-Oww?!” The soldier immediately tried to spring up to thank Liselotte. However, he was soon reminded of the pain in his stomach and grimaced.
“Didn’t I just tell you that the wo
und may still open, so make sure you avoid rigorous movement for a few days? Don’t even think about using your stomach muscles. It was a pretty deep wound, you know,” Liselotte said with a sigh.
“I-I have no excuse.” The soldier hung his head in shame.
“Okay. If you feel anything weird, call one of the attendants nearby immediately. Now, take care of yourself,” Liselotte said, standing up with a grin. The soldier that received treatment was completely distracted, watching Liselotte’s retreating back with a sloppy expression. Meanwhile, the other wounded men were glaring at that soldier in jealousy.
Liselotte ignored the conversations going on behind her. “Sorry for the wait, Sir Haruto. Lady Cecilia and Lady Aishia are assisting the healing efforts in the tent next to us. Let’s move there first.”
“Are you sure you can leave?” Rio looked around the room.
“Yes. The rest will be left to the three over there. And you’re back too, Aria,” Liselotte beamed, looking over at Aria, Natalie, and Cosette.
“Yes. I just arrived with Sir Haruto,” Aria replied.
“With Sir Haruto?” Liselotte tilted her head.
“We ran into each other by coincidence,” Rio explained.
“I dropped by the northwest area after cleaning up the monsters at the west gate,” Aria added.
“I see. Do you have anything urgent to report on your side?”
Aria shook her head quietly. “...Nothing that can’t wait until later. I shall report the details to you at a later time.”
“Okay, sounds good. Then, Sir Haruto — please come this way.”
“Understood.” Rio followed Liselotte out of the tent.
“By the way, Sir Haruto. Did you find any hints about the kidnapper?” Liselotte asked, stopping outside of the tent.
“No. He should have suffered fairly fatal wounds, and yet I didn’t even see any stains of blood.” Rio shook his head in disappointment.
“Is that so... At any rate, I would like to organize all the information first. Extermination of the monsters at the east and west gate is pretty much completed, and the situation has settled a bit, but we cannot relax yet. I’m sorry to ask this, but could you tell me more at a later time with Princess Flora and Duke Huguenot in attendance?” Liselotte asked with an apologetic face.
Beyond Memories Page 3
