Chapter 226: Huge sum of money and wire

The next morning, there was still no call from Yurie-san. Although I'm quite worried,

I entrusted it to Aya and went to work.

「Good morning, Maruyama-kun.」

At the entrance of the company, the President, and the Director greeted me.

What on earth is this!?

While being looked at by other people with strange looks,

I was seized by the president and the director and was brought behind closed doors.

----------

「What on earth is it?」

「Iya, we've been waiting for you, Maruya-kun.」

The eyes of the president and the director are scary for some reason.

The president put something which seems to be heavy in front of me.

「What's this?」

「It's a duralumin case.」

「That is, you will understand once you see it.」

「Well, please accept it without saying anything.」

「Y-, Yes.」

I have a foreboding......

that feeling seems to be strong when the president carried the duralunim case.

Well, having said that, I have no choice but to accept, right?

The director added a few words from the side too.

「My share is also included.

By the way, the president and my share's ratio is a secret.」

Is that so, oh, well.

All day long of that day, I was working while occasionally looking at the duralumin case.

***

The duralunim case was troubling, I couldn't feel relax at all,

but I somehow managed to finish that day's work, and when I got back to the house, I became completely exhausted.

「I'm home.」

「「Welcome home!」」

Since Elena and Hilda greeted me, my fatigue vanished in an instant.

Well, should we try to check its content~?

I was scared and didn't check it inside the company.

「There will be lot of bills inside, right?」

「Yeah......」

Inside the duralumin case were bundles of 1 million yen bill, and there were 100 bundles......

an unpleasant sweat trickled down my forehead.

what to do about this......

When I look closely, only one of the 100 bundle had a currency band of a different bank.

I see, it's 99 to 1, huh......

I quietly put it away into the inventory.

----------

When I drank the coffee that Elena made to calm my mind―

I got a phone call from Aya.

『Hello, onii-chan?』

『What happened, Aya? Have you found Yurie-san?』

『No, I haven't.

She didn't go to the school, even when I asked her acquaintances, nobody knows......

So, I will go to Yurie-san's house with Captain after this.』

『I see, if anything happens, call me at once.

Since I will go immediately if my help is necessary.』

『Un, understood, I'll call you later again.』

「They haven't found Yurie-san yet?」

「Yeah, just what on earth has happened~?」

----------

After a while, I got a call from Aya again.

『What is it, Aya?』

『We arrived at Yurie-san's mansion right now....

it looks strange after all.

Come here, onii-chan.』

『I understand, I will go at once.』

「Elena, Hilda, since I will go to Yurie-san's house, please take care of the house.」

「Yes, I understand.」

Both Elena and Hilda looked worried.

***

「Sorry to have kept you waiting.」

「You're slow, onii-chan.」

It's not even one minute passed after I hung up the phone, you know?

Let's leave it at that.

「Is this Yurie-san's mansion?」

「Yes, no doubt.」

It definitely looked strange.

First, the continuous sound of running water can be heard.

The water tap has probably been left open.

Next, the electricity meter installed on the door is spinning round and round.

The electricity has probably been left turned on.

Nevertheless, even if I ring the doorbell, or hit the door, there's no reaction at all.

「Hey, it looked strange, right?」

「Yes, that's right.」

「Onii-san, can't you enter the room using warp?」

「I can only go to places I've been to.」

「But you used warp to come here, right?」

「That's because of the beacon attached to Aya, I moved here using it as a landmark.」

「I see......」

Pikon!

「I've came up with a good idea.」

「What is it?」

I took out a wire from the inventory.

「Ah, I understand, we're going to open the lock with that.」

「That's not it, Aya. Watch carefully.」

I installed a【tracking beacon】on the tip of the wire,

and inserted the wire from the door's mailbox.

Then, I displayed the【tracking beacon】's video so that Aya and Mai-san can see it.

「Oh, the inside can be seen.」

「This is amazing, it's totally like endoscope.」

Just like that, I controlled the wire using【Earth magic】and kept moving toward the inner part.

When it went through the mailbox's small window toward the inner part, the hallway was visible.

「The electricity of the hallway has been left turned on.」

It's not normal after all.

When it advance further, there's a toilet and a bathroom on the right.

I controlled the wire and tried to open the bathroom's door, but Yurie-san wasn't inside.

Oi, Aya, why are you looking at me with such eyes!?

Isn't it serious if she collapsed inside?

Next, I surveyed the bathroom,

the hot water had been left as it was, and it continued to overflow from the bathtub.

「Onii-chan, can't you turn the faucet off?」

「Let's leave such a thing for later.」

When it went out of the bathroom and down the hallway, there was a kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was a large cake that was left unfinished.

Something may have happened to her in the middle of making this cake.

When it went out of the kitchen and proceeded toward the inner part, there was the living room.

In the living room, the meals to greet Mai-san were lined up on the entire table.

However, the meals...had all cooled down.

「Just like the Mary・Celeste case……」

In the living room, there was another door, and that way, there was a bedroom.

There were two pillows set up on the bed......

I wanted to strongly tsukkomi,

but Yurie-san's figure was nowhere to be found.

「No good, it seems Yurie-san isn't here.

It's also better to contact the police.」

「Yeah.」

I'll retrieve the wire for now.

「Ah, onii-chan, wait a moment!」

Aya suddenly called out while I was retrieving the wire.

「What's wrong?」

「Look, here.」

Aya pointed at a place in the tracking beacon's video.

The retrieval of the wire was almost over.

And, only the front door was being displayed.

What Aya was pointing at......

was the door-chain.

「What's wrong with the door-chain?」

「I mean, although the door-chain is fastened, there's no people inside, isn't it strange?」

That's for sure, you can't get out of the door if the door-chain is fastened.

The door-chain isn't fastened from the outside.

Strange, if I think about it in common sense, Yurie-san should still be inside.

What on earth has happened?

I finished retrieving the wire,

and Mai-san called the telephone line for the police report.