Chapter 128

Chapter 128

The two girls left the Temple’s premises under the shelter of an umbrella. Since it was Friday, they could search all weekend long. Because of that, Harriet had also brought along quite a large sum of money. Of course, it was possible for her to head home to the Saint-Ouen family manor within the capital to stay, rather than rent a room at an inn, but the outcome of their endeavor was uncertain.

Boarding the magical train, they headed toward the Wenster district, where the Bronze Gate was located. The magical train wasn’t crowded, but it wasn’t exactly empty either.

—Mic test, mic test. Dear citizens of the empire, I hope you are doing well.

—If I may take a moment of your precious time today, I would like to introduce a fine item to you.

This sight was common even inside the trains nowadays.

Harriet sighed at the sight of the noisy peddler.

However, it wasn’t out of dislike.

“What is it?” asked Ellen.

Harriet shook her head. “Huh? Oh, no, nothing. It’s just that I’m surprised that I’ve gotten used to this kind of thing.”

Ellen was confused.

Harriet felt ridiculous for becoming accustomed to such nonsense, and that had prompted a sigh to escape her lips.

The magical train was something that only existed in the capital. While Harriet was living as a noble lady of the Saint-Ouen duchy, she primarily traveled by carriage.

Since Harriet had enrolled in the Temple only at the high-school level, her mindset was somewhat different from those nobles who had been attending since elementary school. How could she be expected to share a means of transportation with commoners?

Initially, she had even thought it beneath her dignity just to ride the tram within the Temple. After classes, the trams would be so crowded that, not only was it impossible to find a seat, but she felt claustrophobic just standing in it.

Harriet found riding them dreadful. However, since the use of carriages was prohibited within the Temple, she eventually had no choice but to get used to the tram.

It was the same when she went outside. The idea of using this large, oddly long means of transportation and mixing with commoners disgusted her even more than the tram did.

Of course, it was possible to travel by carriage within the capital, and many people did use them as a means of transportation.

However, those people were few in number, because carriages couldn’t match the convenience, speed, and affordability of magical trains. In the capital, with its well-laid magical train lines, using a carriage was already a waste of time, and that was before taking expenditures into account. And for the wealthy, time was even more precious than money. Moreover, there were no noble-exclusive carriages on the magical train. Despite numerous requests from the nobility, the royal family had no intention of creating such a thing.

Taking the train was pure torment for Harriet, but without using warp gates, the magical train was the fastest means of transportation around the capital. And the use of short-distance warp gates was not permitted in the first place. If they were opened for such trivial reasons, the already heavily-used warp gates would be overloaded.

Moreover, once she’d experienced it, the speed of the magical train had blown her mind. It was incomparable to carriages. Despite her dislike for it, when she needed to move quickly from one place to another, there was simply no alternative to the magical train, and choosing anything else would be foolish. Initially, she’d wondered how she could ever ride such a thing, but eventually, she’d had no choice but to succumb to its convenience.

Despite being a haughty noble, Harriet eventually became accustomed to conversing with commoners and riding the crowded magical train.

‘This is all because of Reinhart,’ she thought.

She should never have even made eye contact with such a detestable person, who spoke to her carelessly, teased her, and even physically abused her. It was shocking and absurd, but having endured so much of it, she had eventually developed a strong resilience. She often found herself thinking that no matter what happened or what she had to endure, it would be better than dealing with that damned Reinhart. This had led the originally insolent noble lady to accept various things she would not have tolerated before.

‘And now I’m on my way to find him...’

Harriet found herself at a loss, not knowing what she was doing anymore.

***

Groooo...

Due to the continuous heavy rain, the water level of the Irine River was dangerously high, and it was the same around the Bronze Gate Bridge. The park had been submerged for quite some time.

The two had arrived at the place Reinhart was last seen, in search of him.

“There can’t be anything left under the bridge in this situation,” Harriet said.

“Yeah.”

Ellen nodded. Whoever had been living under that bridge would have been washed away by now.

Without knowing the specifics about Reinhart, the two of them had to deduce his subsequent actions based only on the circumstantial evidence they had.

“What exactly happened?”

“Didn’t he leave in a hurry after hearing that the Irine might overflow?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Reinhart must have come here, worried about the people here.”

“Probably.”

“And then, unable to control his temper, he confronted them, and the situation escalated, resulting in him... getting into some serious trouble.”

As they spoke, their expressions darkened.

It would be somewhat of a relief if he had just been kidnapped. However, the situation could be far worse. He could have provoked some reckless criminals and ended up being stabbed, or something along those lines.

Reinhart might already be dead. This line of reasoning was entirely plausible, and it made their expressions turn even more serious.

And that was not all.

“Are we... going to be okay?”

Standing in front of the grand entrance to Wenster Market, Harriet began to doubt whether it was really safe to enter.

Reinhart, despite his foul temper, was still someone who could enhance his physical self and possessed combat skills. He might be young, and not as well-trained as Ellen, but after training, he had become quite adept at fighting.

If even Reinhart could be subdued, then what about their own safety?

“Let’s just look around the market for now,” Ellen suggested. They could start by asking around, without rushing into anything.

***

The two began their investigation as they entered the market. Harriet found the overwhelming smell of food and the fishy odor of seafood repulsive, and was unable to hide her foul expression. She slowly grew used to it, but this situation was truly a first for her.

Ellen, as always, didn’t seem too bothered.

“Ah, you mean that young blond kid?”

“Yes! Yes! Have you seen him?”

Harriet grew hopeful when the shop owner seemed to know something. She had long discarded any noble pride. Addressing commoners in a respectful manner didn’t bother her anymore.

“No, I haven’t seen him, but the ruckus about finding that kid is unbelievable. It’s not just the guards—even people from the Temple have been stirring things up here. Not to mention, they refuse to buy anything.”

Both the guards and the Temple were already turning Wenster Market upside down. Charlotte and Vertus, who had both deduced that Reinhart’s disappearance was connected to Wenster Market based on the circumstances, had preemptively ordered a search that was centered on this area.

“Temple students sure have it good. All this commotion over a missing kid. I wish I had enough money to send my child to the Temple too.”

The shopkeeper unexpectedly began to lament his situation. Regardless of the fact that it was a Temple student, it was still just one person, yet seeing so many people turning the market upside down just to ensure his safety was yet another reminder to everyone of the Temple’s prestigious reputation.

Of course, Reinhart was also a Royal Class student, and being a classmate of a prince and princess set him apart from any other ordinary Temple student.

As they went around the market, posing questions to different shopkeepers, they realized something. Many people had come searching for Reinhart, and the people they asked only mentioned this commotion. They did not give any eyewitness accounts describing Reinhart himself.

“It’s strange.”

“... Yeah.”

Both of them sensed something odd. Harriet led Ellen to a place where the smell of fish was less potent and began to list the oddities.

“It seems like both the guards and the Temple are aware that Reinhart disappeared here.”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t a difficult deduction to make, so those looking for Reinhart had already taken an interest in Wenster Market.

“But why haven’t they found him, then?”

If they had searched the market, they must have scoured the back alleys as well. Neither the guards nor the Temple would fear the criminal organizations lurking there. Reinhart’s disappearance was assumed to have occurred the previous Saturday, and the search had begun on Monday.

Yet, by Friday, there were still no results.

Why hadn’t the guards and the Temple managed to find Reinhart? If he was dead, they should have at least found his body, but that wasn’t the case either.

At the moment, they could see guards still combing through the entire market.

“If they’ve spent this much time searching and still haven’t found him, it seems unlikely that there’s much to find in the back alleys...” Harriet muttered gloomily.

“Let’s go check it out anyway.”

“Yeah.”

Although it seemed unlikely that they would find any significant clues in the back alleys, they had no choice but to head in and look for themselves.