CH 55

Kidnapping

“Come to think of it, we parted ways in a hurry….”

Cody picked up on what Sheila had casually muttered on their patrol.

“With who?”

“Abby. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her because my priority was the interview.”

Abby was so happy to see her again, and she felt bad that she left early, even though there was a legitimate reason.

As she was thinking about going to see her on her next day off, Isaac looked down at Sheila.

“I’ve already confirmed where their house is when I interviewed her. It’s along the route, so if you want to see her, you can take a little time off. We owe her a lot for her testimony.”

“Really? Thank you very much! Then I’ll try my best to get the patrol done quickly.”

Sheila smiled and became motivated.

There were a few skirmishes today, but things went smoothly without taking up too much time.

Abby’s house was located on Second Avenue, where many craftsmen lived.

She arrived at an ordinary-looking house. It seemed a little cramped for three people, but it was a reasonable size for a commoner household.

Isaac and the others proceeded to patrol in front of the fountain, where they decided to meet up later. It was a five-minute walk, so she had to hurry.

When she knocked on the front door of Abby’s house, her mother came out.

“Hello. Um, I’m sorry about the other day.”

“It’s not a problem at all. Rather, I’m sorry my child was keeping silent about it.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to apologize. By the way, is Abby here right now?”

The interior wasn’t very large, so you could see the living room from the door. As far as she could see, Abby didn’t seem to be there.

Abby’s mother, who looked back inside, put her hand on her cheek and smiled.

“If it’s her, a member of the Patrol Corps came and took her away a while ago. They said they missed something and wanted to check with her at the site where she was almost kidnapped.”

“Is that…. so…?”

The details of the investigation being carried out within the Patrol Corps weren’t known to the academy students, so Sheila nodded for the time being, even though she felt uneasy.

‘Neither Isaac-san nor Zola-san stopped me from going to Abby’s house…..’

Why didn’t they know she was gone? Was there a miscommunication? Or did they just discover something new?

Somehow, she had a bad feeling, and her heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Sheila thanked Abby’s mother and quickly ran off.

Anyway, she wanted to make sure Abby was safe. Fortunately, the kidnapping site wasn’t far from the fountain plaza, so she won’t be too late for the rendezvous.

After turning a few corners, Abby’s light brown head came into view. Sheila stopped at the corner to hide from view.

She was with a dark-haired boy.

The boy’s hair had a strange sheen to it, almost like steel. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes clearly, but there was a familiarity in the way he smiled at her.

“You helped the corps, right? Well then, I have to give you a reward.”

The boy spoke to Abby. The girl nodded her head in an unguarded manner.

Sheila could feel her thoughts sharpening as if in battle.

The boy was definitely wearing a Patrol Corps uniform, but he looked younger than Sheila.

Even if you weren’t from the academy, you could still be hired by the corps such as when a person had made merit during a war or when a corps member recommended him.

Certainly, there were several younger boys in the corps.

However, because they stood out, Sheila remembered each and every one of them. ――That boy was definitely not there.

The boy’s smile deepened as if he were enjoying himself. Sheila found a hint of dark amusement in it.

“――As a reward, I’ll let you live comfortably in a rich man’s house for the rest of your life.”

A chill ran up the nape of her neck.

She knew she should go call Isaac or Zola, but the boy moved faster than her.

As soon as Abby sensed the disquieting atmosphere and turned to run away, he drew his sword and knocked her out. The slender girl was easily picked up and carried away.

Sheila hesitated as the boy started to walk away. It was reckless, but she couldn’t lose him.

After some hesitation, Sheila chose to stop him. After a while, reinforcements would come, as they would be suspicious of Sheila, who didn’t come back for a long time.

“――Stop.”

“Oh, my, you finally came out.”

The boy narrowed his golden-green eyes and smiled leisurely. So, he had long noticed her presence.

Sheila opened her mouth to prolong the conversation as much as possible while holding her sword at the ready.

“Are you affiliated with the trafficking organization? Do you realize how sinful your actions are? Please return that child.”

“I don’t want to~ If you aren’t careful, you could hurt someone with your sword, you know.”

The boy walked up to Sheila with Abby under his arm. Not a single sound of footsteps. He carried himself like a cat.

“Sure enough, the patrols in this city are pretty good. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. The muscular guy I had a run-in with the other day was pretty strong too.”

“Muscular guy….. You mean Isaac-san…? Don’t think that just because he’s an ally, you think that muscles are all that!”

The boy held his stomach and laughed.

Cold sweat trickled down Sheila’s back. Even though he looked relaxed, there wasn’t the slightest hint of a gap.

If it really was this boy who fought with Isaac, Sheila might not be able to handle him.

“Fufu…. you’re a funny guy, aren’t you? Interesting.”

The boy, who had stopped laughing, looked at Sheila with his golden-green eyes. There was a hint of interest in them that hadn’t been there earlier.

“Hey, you, why do you think I talk about so many things?”

The boy’s voice suddenly became calm.

She felt the atmosphere change as well, and she quickly readjusted her sword.

“I can see what you’re thinking, you know. You sensed something, right? But I think it’s useless to act on it now~”

The boy smiled mischievously. Sheila’s eyebrows furrowed in suspicion, but her eyes widened immediately.

Behind her, there was someone there.

‘…. No, he had been there for a while!’

He hadn’t shown himself yet, but he must be very skilled to get this close to her.

There was nothing she could do if she was attacked by two people who surpassed her in terms of skill.

‘I was hoping to at least get Abby back safely…!’

When Sheila stared at the boy with gnashing teeth, he shrugged.

“In the first place, this match is set from the beginning. You’re not going to be able to win.”

“!!”

With these words, a dagger was thrust at Abby’s neck.

The boy’s movements were too careless, even though one wrong move could result in a fatal injury. Eyes that perceived her as if she was an inanimate object, and it didn’t matter if she died or not.

“Oh, no, I accidentally cut her a little. What to do….”

“Stop it!”

Sheila immediately showed her willingness to let go of her sword as the red color slowly trickled down the girl’s neck.

“Oh, you understand what I’m talking about.”

The boy’s voice took on an admiring tone, like a teacher praising a bad student.

‘Claushezade-sensei…..’

She could imagine his face with wrinkled brows.

Sheila closed her eyes and let out a thin breath.

She switched her sword to her opposite hand and thrust it with all her might into the cracked cobblestone pavement.

Along with a dull thud, a rippling impact traveled down her arm.

She slowly raised her slightly bent upper body. As she did so, her blue bracelet fell to the ground. She wondered if he would think that this was unnatural.

It was a thin, frayed thread that seemed to be worn out, so it seems that they judged that it came off due to the impact. The boy didn’t mention anything in particular.

Sheila’s ears suddenly picked up the footsteps of a third party here.

“――Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

It was Dilliam who appeared from around the corner. He must’ve come to pick her up because Sheila was returning late. It was the reinforcements she had been waiting impatiently until just now.

But the situation was going from bad to worse.

Dilliam was the only one who came. With two skilled opponents, their disadvantage remained the same. Moreover, Sheila had abandoned her armed forces.

Dilliam’s eyebrows rose at the scene unfolding before him.

“Dilliam-senpai, don’t come….!”

Sheila’s warning was cut off.

A jolt hit the back of her neck and the view became gnarly and distorted. She could barely see the boy’s grinning smile in front of her, so she assumed she had been attacked by the enemy behind her.

She didn’t even know when she fell, but she felt the cold touch of the cobblestone against her cheek.

Claushezade had told her not to do anything reckless.

She swore to Felix that she would definitely return, no matter what.

Just before she fell unconscious, their words flickered in her head.