240 Five Days of Trial (II)

The next day - on the morning of the sixth day of the White Moon, when only the minimal task of collecting firewood and pico leaves was cleared up and settled in the settlement of Luu, there were again an uninterrupted number of humans there.

Donda-Lou and Gazran-Rutim are calling out to them in a loud voice. Apparently, it's the one who sends that instruction as to who should perform the search job in which location.

"Oh, Ai-Fa. I've been waiting for you. Thank you for today."

Ama Min-Rutim rushed closer as she went down the gill and wanted to see how it looked.

"Today, they're going to build a group of one man and one woman at a time to search. I am a woman, but also a hunter, and I am to be chosen for her."

"Right. But I didn't expect the numbers to be driven out so far"

"Yes. Seems to reach 60 men and women combined. The side that stays in the settlement also has to do its sixty job, but half of them are hunters who were in a period of rest, and well, they'll be fine. Giza-Lou and his parents, Dan, are going to take care of it."

Donda-Lou is also going to look for Asta at his true core.

I wasn't doubting the truth of it, but when I had to see it, my chest got hot undeniably.

There, Rud-Lu and Sin-Lu also approached.

"You're here, Ai-Fa. Um, come on, yesterday..."

"Don't say it anymore. Once you hear my words, it's enough."

I inadvertently whisper words abusively.

These two didn't really want to look at each other because when they told me the word that they had been exposed to Asta, they saw me tear so much.

Besides, if the enemy had that man named Sanjula, you wouldn't blame the Rudd-Lou's either.

The man was originally felt to have comparable powers to Rud-Lew. So if they take hostages, they won't even be able to fight them.

Still, if I had been there - I wouldn't have said it.

I trusted the Lew family and wished for a replacement for my escort job. I don't feel like convicting the Lew family of betraying that trust.

What we need to do now is find Asta's location, not her responsibility.

"Okay. Apologizing doesn't make our sins lighter. This shame will last you a lifetime."

He looked stuck up sometime, and Rudd-Lou said so.

Sin-Lu is similarly glaring at both eyes.

"Then it's a message from my father. You know, I'd like to rent a luggage car for Fa's house. Yeah, but can you accept that?

"Get the luggage? What do you use that stuff for?

"Of course, let Lulu pull it off. As a matter of fact, Sisters Raina is still talking about going into business today."

Asta will definitely be back, until then, we'll connect ourselves to the Inn Town - that's what Raina-Lou said.

"Plus, there's gonna be a lot of people coming to the stalls and the inns, right? It seems soulful to gather stories from those people as well. So it looks like we're in a hurry to get ready for business in the morning, huh?

"... right"

Everyone is trying to squeeze their power for Asta.

Absolutely fine - and Ai-Fa secretly grabbed both fists.

"So, it's our job, but my dad said he wants me to take the furthest Turan territory in town because I have Totos."

"Turan territory - the territory ruled by Cycleus"

Just glancing, Ai-Fa looked back at Ama Min-Rutim.

"Then let's leave immediately. Are you ready, too, Ama Min-Rutim?

"Yes, I'm fine"

"Oh, at Turan, you're going to have to go around the house one by one from the north end. If we can rendezvous in the middle because the others are going around from the southern edge, Turan will be gone."

"Admitted. I keep my luggage on the side of the house, so you should be free to use it."

"Thank you.... I'm relieved you're looking good, Ai-Fa"

Answering nothing to that word, Ai-Fa crossed Gilr.

I'll also give Ama Min-Rutim a hand and pull her over the gill.

Okay, let's go.

That's how the days of searching for Asta began.

◇

Turan territory is a territory that extends to the north of the castle town.

It is further away from the Inn Town than the rural area on the south side due to the fact that it runs through the castle towns in between. but it was a distance that there was nothing I could do if I ran Gill.

The territory is surrounded by tall wooden walls.

preparation for the exclusion of Gibba.

Giva has tremendous strength and fast legs, but she can't jump over anything higher than her own head height. Therefore the fence was only about the breast of the Ai-Fa.

"But this looks like it needs fixing everywhere."

Ama Min-Lutim, who turned her arms around Ai-Fa's torso, crumbles softly over Gilr's back.

The thick wooden walls were filled with holes in the corners and fangs of Gibba.

Some of them are funny-shaking and the wooden boards are about to come off. I'm sure it made me jerk off even around my body.

And then there were places where the ground at the foot of the fence was deeply tucked away.

I can't jump over it, so there must have been a giva who plotted to dive him on the ground.

But the walls seemed to be buried a lot deeper into the ground, and there was no sign of Gibba's successful invasion.

"I guess it takes a lot of time and effort to build this many walls. So on the farm on the south side, you can't even build a fence."

I couldn't have figured that out for Ai-Fa, nor did I think it was a story that was relevant to my work today.

Along the wooden fence, take the gill on a fast walk.

Even on a hard stone street, Gilr seems to be able to run without difficulty.

Moving on like that for a while, I finally saw the end of town.

Just off the street as the walls, which were straight ahead, curved. On the north side of it seemed to be a sparse grove of miscellaneous trees as well as the surroundings of the boarding town.

"You don't see anything on the north side that looks like an entrance. Ama Min-Lutim, hold on tight, okay?

"Huh?"

Ai-Fa allowed Gilr to advance for a while before inverting him, followed by a runaway to make him jump over the fence.

Ama Min-Lutim cuddles up her eye-fa torso all the time as she gives her lovely voice.

"Bi, I was surprised. You can do this to Totos."

"Mm-hmm. When I pulled the reins to avoid a child that suddenly popped up, if I accidentally kicked him in the torso, Gill showed me this kind of movement. I was surprised at first too."

"Amazing. It's as if Totos is part of the body of Ai-Fa"

"... Girl and I are the family of Fa's house."

But Gill won't be able to replace Asta either.

Even Asta won't be able to run lightly like this with Ey-Fa on board, so that should be mutual.

"... you seem to have fewer homes than you thought"

Ama Min-Rutim crushed it that way, looking over Turan's territory.

Indeed, it is an idle scene.

The road is clear toward the west, with pompous and houses lined to its left and right. The feet are on dirt ground, and the houses are all made of trees.

It was bigger than a house by the woods, and there were not many two-storey houses, but compared to inns in Inn Town, it was a really boring construction.

"Well, all nobles live in castle towns, right? … but I find it odd that the Lord does not live in his own territory"

"Mm-hmm. But there must also exist in this territory a thing called the Cycleus Hall. The chiefs were talking about a meeting with Cycleus in that hall."

Looking around without alarm, Ai-Fa stepped down to the ground.

That's how I'm gonna give Ama Min-Lutim a hand to get her down.

This is Turan's, northeast end.

If we go west from here, just down south, we'll have enough errands.

If it wasn't the castle town where Asta was exposed, the next most likely thing is this Turan territory.

Ey-Fa's limbs were regarded as having further power.

As long as it has a definite purpose, Ai-Fa can move forward without hesitation.

Before another troubled night, Ai-Fa intended to squeeze all her power.

"Now let's go around the house one by one"

Ama Min-Rutim knocked on the doorboard of the closest house.

After a lot of silence, I'm sure the door will open.

"What, you guys...? They're all working."

It was an old woman, like a dried aria, who showed her face.

He wraps around thin dirty cloth clothes and wraps a grey cloth around his head. Was it even knitting grass? There was a lot of wood chips on the forehead.

"I'm sorry. As a matter of fact, we're looking for a missing compatriot."

That's how Ama Min-Rutim politely started explaining, but that was to be whispered to hang out along the way.

"What does that have to do with us that there are people in Inn Town? Anyway, it came from extra land. Was it some sort of rush or something? I didn't know that."

"No, but..."

"We don't even have room to move into these. We only live in the poor. Even the lookers won't be able to run errands in places like this. I'm in the way of my job, so you can go home."

Shit, they close the doorboards.

Ama Min-Lutim turns back to Ai-Fa as she tilts her "hmm" and little neck.

"They are trying to drive us away because they are hiding the Astas. It didn't look like..."

"Mm-hmm. And you didn't even know we were people by the woods."

It is the people of the woods who have no business on this kind of land. Just a short distance from the familiar lodging town, the Ai-Fas were to feel as if they had visited their homeland.

So we went around a few houses, but all that remained in the house were old men, and the words that returned were similar.

Also, half of the houses were abandoned houses, they didn't feel like people had been living there for years, and there was no trace that they were being used for some evil.

"People in the lodging town? That's a swordswallowing story! But I don't think those outlaws are gonna make it to Turan."

In the meantime, it was only after I toured all ten houses that I finally met someone who would try to listen to me properly.

That's how the round, magnificent woman with the little child in her chest spoke to me, blinking her eyes to curiosity.

"Anyway, Turan has only an ancient inhabitant, and the number of humans is decreasing. If there's anything left, there's nothing I can do but stand in my eyes. … Now that the guards are the only ones who can defend the lord's manor, if I were a person who would hurt my shin, I wouldn't be close to Turan first."

"Really? So far, I haven't been to the guards."

"The manor is in the middle of the territory! We're just being protected from robbers at the end of the field."

It makes me laugh like it doesn't even seem funny.

Its eyes have looked around at the eyes of the Ey-Fa as if they were just now.

"By the way, you guys are getting a lot weird. Your skin doesn't seem as black as the Sims, but where the hell were you born?

"We were born in Genos, too."

Ama Min-Rutim replied that way, so I Fa was surprised.

The woman glances deeply suspiciously at "yeah".

"Ma, whatever, but I'm wasting my legs walking around here. I'll leave the troubles to the guards, and you're going home."

"Thank you. Thank you for your time."

I didn't have a house from there for a while, so I decided to walk down the road as I brought Gill along.

"I didn't call myself a forest folk to avoid useless noise. Morga Forestside is also Genos territory, so it wouldn't be a lie, would it?

"Uhm."

"Nevertheless, after all, the inhabitants of Turan don't even know that the people by the woods look like this. I feel kind of weird that this Turan field is protected by the hunters by the woods."

"Even the fields, they had nothing to do with it."

Ey-Fa's chest was also obsessed with suspicions of some sort.

"This town, it's something odd. I don't feel as vibrant as Inn Town at all."

"Yeah, but there must be a lot of exotic and extra-town people in Inn Town, so it's hard to tell which one looks more right."

Is that so?

I didn't fall for Ai-Fa at all.

Whatever it is, it's a search.

After a short walk, only one small house was built on the edge of the road.

When Ama Min-Rutim knocked on the door, a little girl appeared from inside.

"Yes, what is it?

She was an adorable daughter with three braids of brown hair and draped all the way to her chest.

Is the age between Limi-Luu and Lara-Luu? Brown eyes shine brightly and innocently.

And everything in the house was smelling aromatically stimulating to my stomach.

There is still time by Jomtien, but they were lumping light meals during the day.

"I'm sorry to keep you busy. As a matter of fact, I'm searching for the whereabouts of my countrymen, who have been found by outlaws."

"I'm sorry about that," my daughter frowned as Ama Min-Rutim conveyed the same content without breaking the polite tone.

"I've been out buying out in the morning, but it didn't look particularly different in the center either. This neighborhood is quiet as usual."

"Is it a buyout? Is the store more on the south side?

"No. At the top of the day, a merchant from Accommodation will come out here. In Turan, that's enough business. I think the only place you can call a store is a liquor store in the center."

That's all the answers I could clearly feel the wisdom and kindness of this daughter.

Besides, he seems to have a great deal of sympathy for the Ai-Fa, who have made his compatriots known.

Seeing as that is the case, Ama Min-Rutim goes on to overlap words even further.

"For example, does a place exist in this Turan where people can be kept invisible and hidden?

"Hmm, I think that's hard too! Of course, it would be possible in any house to keep them out of motion and locked away, but if the rest of us were wandering around, we'd know at a glance."

"So will the people of the east and others ever visit this Turan?

"There isn't. Few people are rich enough to buy things from the eastern merchants, so I guess there's no reason to stop by."

My daughter looked a little grumpy so that wasn't too bad.

Then I look back behind me like a hack.

"Excuse me! I'm setting the food on fire. It's time to stop the fire or Tarapa will burn, so can I go back?

"Yes. Sorry to keep you busy.... That smells so good?

When casually Ama Min-Rutim added, her daughter smiled happily and said "Thank you".

"I'll tell the guards if anything happens. Don't let yourself down, good luck!

When her daughter disappeared beyond the doorboard that way, Ama Min-Rutim breathed heavily.

"There was a girl who looked innocent like that, and I was a little relieved. Thank you. I feel very uncomfortable about this Turan territory."

"Mm-hmm. That's the same for me"

This land feels more like a membrane of apathy than anything else.

Like the former settlement of Sung, the inhabitants are not staring, but the air is heavy, no matter what.

Will this be the way the Inn Town feels because it is so cluttered and vibrant?

Whatever it was, it was a pleasure for the leftover Ai-Fas to see that there were also people living as bright and healthy as that girl in that.

"You're kind of hungry because of the smell right now. It's illegal, but can I have some dried meat while walking?"

"Uhm."

To Ai-Fa, the hunter, that doesn't even seem sticky.

That's how he grabs the salty dried meat, moisturizes his throat with a leather water bottle, and walks through the land of Turan.

Then a great change emerged after the sun fell on Jomtien and visited less than fifty houses.

The path leading to the south opened, and the scene of a huge field appeared neglected.

At the same time, the aiming guards rushed in from left to right.

"You're folks by the woods! What the hell are you doing in a place like this!

In total, they were five guards.

It is wrapped in simple leather armor, just like the guards of the Accommodation Town, and carries a long spear in his hand.

"We are following the whereabouts of our compatriots who have been found everywhere in Inn Town. I'm not willing to harm Turan."

It was finally Ai-Fa's turn.

For this, I guess they made a group of hunters and women. It is the role of the ladies to speak peacefully from the inhabitants of the town, and it is the role of the hunters to face the havoc.

But - the guards said unexpected words.

"The newspaper has also arrived from Accommodation Town! Are you going to make a scene not only in the lodging town but also in this Turan!

"What?"

When I asked him, he said there was one stuffing in the Inn Town with the guards and the people by the woods.

Ai-Fa and Ama Min-Lutim used Girl to visit this Turan early, but there as many as sixty people from the woods came down to town in large numbers. Come to think of it, that couldn't have made me bored.

"I'm not going to make a scene. My countrymen and outlaws are not lurking in this Turan, only to get that certainty."

"The outlaw is coming to this Turan or something! Assuming it comes, let us seize it!

"That's a thankful story, but will it be some sin for us to visit Turan? Otherwise, there's nothing to complain about."

"But..."

"It was considered a sin to step into the castle town without a pass. That's why we're trying to do our job not in Castle Town, but in Accommodation Town and Turan. Are we guilty of our deeds, let us speak under the laws of Genos?"

The anger that was lurking beneath a sheet of thin skin may have spilled faintly. The guards have looked blue and poked at the tip of the spear.

"Ko, you are not allowed to come any closer to this orchard! It is the statute of Lord Cycleus, Count of Turan! I'm not saying we should leave Turan, but let's get him out of this place!

"Hmm... no one could hide or dive in such a promising place. Even if you don't tell me, I have no business in this kind of place."

Ai-Fa nodded Ama Min-Rutim and decided to go back the way he had originally come.

In doing so, Ama Min-Rutim looks at me.

"Ai-Fa, you're being made to work in that field because -"

"Hmm. I guess that's the one I hear about, the people of Mahydra."

It was spreading behind the guards, the vast fields - where all the big men with golden hair had no choice but to pull loads and put a shovel in the dirt.

I just ran my eyes all the time and I think there were dozens.

Cycleus serves as slaves to the people of Mahydra, whom he could buy from the slave traders of the North.

(And Cycleus doesn't see the people by the woods as the same people they are - that's what Camua-Josh said)

For Cycleus, are the people of Mahdra and the people by the woods just tools to build their own wealth?

So can you also imitate such lawlessness as holding a knife to figure it out?

In the breasts of Ey-Fa, a fire of deep fury was burning.

(Always - Always Asta, let me try to save her with this hand)

But I couldn't accomplish anything that day, and it was supposed to be an evening.

There were also a number of inaccessible places for the Ai-Fa, such as the mansion of Cycleus and the building housing the people of Mahdra, which was later visited by Donda-Lou on the guards to perform the task of exploration.

So - other than that, I couldn't find any place at all where Asta or the outlaws might be lurking.

Of course, searching all the houses is not easy, so you can do as much as you want to lurk temporarily.

But I also don't see any reason to lurk myself in such a place in fear of people.

The search in Turan was to be completed in just one day.

◇

The next day was a search in the rural areas of southern Genos.

Here, a guy named Dora, a vegetable dealer, was supposed to help.

"I delivered the vegetables first thing in the morning to the customer's inn. I just decided to cut off my hand job."

Dora said so.

This man is also giving Asta a heartfelt guide.

A daughter named Tara, etc. who followed me, looked like she was going to cry even after two days as Limi-Lu did.

"You came around Turan yesterday, didn't you? It's a small place and a small number of residents, so I wouldn't have had a lot of trouble, but our village is pretty big anyway! Without guidance from the residents, there's nothing we can do."

Dora seemed cheerful just the way she looked.

But the fact that it is cheerfulness after twisting the anxiety and anger in my heart could be deduced by just acting together for a while.

Along with Dora like that, she walks the rural path.

As Dora put it, the rural area was vast.

In addition to being vast, the terrain was intricately interwoven with tall trees between the fields or whispered hands going to the stream of the river, sometimes with no separation such as wooden fences, so much so that it was uncertain from where to where it was an area under human control.

The size of the fields was not comparable to that of Turan, and the number of houses, inhabitants, etc. feels several times greater.

"Well, in Turan, we're talking about leaving all the wild work to the slaves. The slaves don't have a family, so naturally the number of humans will be low."

In this countryside - in a territory called Dalaim - they live with hundreds of people called small-scale peasants.

They make groups in several houses and manage the fields given to them by their lords.

This man named Dora was the master of a house that was being left to the partition of the second largest field among them.

"Well, I've already left the actual partition to my oldest son, and that's why I have a hand-selling job in Inn Town. It's so much more fun to deal with lodging towns than with lords and nobles."

"Do you also do business with nobles?"

"Well, of course," Dora replied as Ama Min-Rutim gaveled as she walked down the path between the fields.

"More than half of the vegetables we make are picked up in Castle Town. I'm selling Aria and Poitan for the rest of the day."

"Area and Poitan are not bought in Castle Town?

"Yeah, Aria doesn't really fit your noble mouth, and Poitan is - because that's the only vegetable you can buy from a traveler or a forest folk."

So Dora has stopped her legs and pointed to a field that extends beyond her right hand.

"But it's brilliant, isn't it? Everything you can see from here is a Poitan field."

So Ai-Fa was also inspired by curiosity to look over its vast fields.

Brown dirt ground with no water and no air is endlessly spread.

But there was no familiar Poitan figure there, and the leaves and stems like the numb crawling grass were just face-to-face from the soil at equal intervals.

"Poitan grows on lean land and can be harvested in no time. People around the woods are buying up a lot of this stuff, so that's enough money for us."

"The people of the woods try to eat at least two poisons a day."

"Yes, so there are more than 500 people in all the settlements by the woods? That would mean that as many as 1,000 poitanes are bought a day. I don't think there's another town in Genos that sells so much Poitan."

So Dora took a deep breath.

"So, these days, Asta bought me as many as 150 poitanes a day. We were in a hurry to expand the Poitan field. Fortunately, if it's a lean land that only grows Poitan, it's spread as much as it wants on the south side. My lord has accepted to spread the fields without complaining."

"Really..."

"This is a great story, isn't it? Only when Asta started doing business did we make a scene like expanding the field. Asta is an amazing man. There may not yet be that many people in Inn Town who really know how awesome it is.... I was even proud to get to know Asta first like that and be able to bond. That's what happened..."

In Dora's eyes, the light of anger and sorrow twirled.

Even Tara, who was walking with the stubborn one, has tears in her eyes.

And Dora shook her head, probably, and then looked at the Ai-Fas with sorrow.

"I'm sorry. You, my fellow countrymen, would be having a harder time. I don't want to cry."

"That's not true. I would be proud to hear such a story from you"

I accidentally cut my mouth off from the side, too.

Dora nods loudly, "Yeah."

"You were the head of Asta's house, weren't you? Thanks to Asta, I've been able to bond with you guys for years. Whatever you do, I hope you get Asta back and keep her company again."

"I hope so too"

But even in the land of Dareim in the south, some achievement could not be achieved.

There is no culprit outside the castle town. That fact became apparent every day.

Dareim, worthy of Dora's cooperation, was able to finish the search in a day and a half.

The other half of the third day was to help with the search in the Inn Town.

Accommodation towns were densely populated with buildings and humans, and searches were most difficult because of the intense movement of travellers, merchants, etc.

But still, within that day, I could finish the search.

It was hard to find traces of Asta or the outlaws staying in the Inn Town, in Turan, or in Dareim.

"With this fact, tomorrow we shall bring it to Castle Town"

That night, in the settlement of Luu, Donda-Lu declared as such.

"Through a man named Zashma, he also spoke to a nobleman named Melfried, but it was still a reply that he could not move until the morning after tomorrow. Cycleus will also get freedom of movement that morning, so we're going to step into the castle town before then."

Finally - and Ai-Fa decided to hold his fist in so hard.

Up to this point, it's just a prep to step into the castle town.

Tomorrow will be the time to settle.

Count from the day Asta was taken, and today is the fourth day.

Every single day of it, whenever a lonely night came, Ai-Fa was to bear the pain of nearly crushing her soul.

I don't even know what would have happened to me had it not been for the presence of Sarris Lang-Fou, who would have come to see how things were just a few hours after dinner.

But that's the last of the night.

On this night, I'll definitely give it a last try.

With such thoughts in his chest, Ai-Fa endured a night filled with bitterness.

And the next day...

The morning of the fifth day after Asta was exposed.

This morning, Ai-Fa also left Gilru in a settlement in Luu, where he was to go down to town with Donda-Lu and others.

That's where he showed up.

A red-haired exotic hunter - Zida, son of Red Beard Gollum - wrapped around a different fur coat than Giva.

"Asta of Fa's house is captured by an aristocratic hall called Cycleus in the castle town. The murderer is his noble son, a daughter named Lefreia."

That's what Zida told me.

Naturally, Donda-Lou and others gained momentum and questioned Zida about the situation.

But I had memories of Ey-Fa after that.

Everyone's words were in my ears, but I couldn't remember them at all.

(Asta is alive -)

Only that thought, full of head, body and heart, had made Ai-Fa unable to think about anything.

Mother Forest did not abandon Asta and Ai-Fa.

Ai-Fa closed her eyelids and mouth for a while, and she was supposed to catch tears and whimpers that were going to flood her.