CH 88

“That’s right. Frank is an amazing priest. He will surely look for the missing children, so will you tell him what has happened so far?”

Ar-niisama gently said that, and the boy nodded.

As expected of Ar-niisama, our credibility had taken a sudden rise in the boy’s eyes.

Karin-san who was beside him was chewing on her words, “But the new species of the slimes is…!”, but Virna-san seemed to be able to hold her mouth back so she didn’t scream.

…Virna-san, please do your best so that you could hold her back just like that.

“The first one to go missing was Thomas from the butcher’s shop that I often played together with. But his father told me that Thomas was gone to a relative’s place for a while, and everyone was talking about how heartless of Thomas to not say anything to us before leaving, though we were always playing together every day.”

“Are you all good friends with Thomas, then?”

“Yes. The one that’s playing with us is just about him, after all…”

I heard later that it seemed that the town’s children didn’t really play with the children from the church. Even though they were children, a lot of them helped with their parents’ work, so they seemed like they didn’t have lots of time to play.

Even the child named Thomas seemed like he had been busy helping out in the butcher’s shop before, but lately he had been able to play with the children from the church.

“And after that, did the children from the church go missing?”

“Yeah. They were gone one by one in turns.”

“I see…”

Ar-niisama slightly pondered, and then asked another question to the boy.

“Where do you usually play?”

But instead of answering Ar-niisama’s question, the boy held his tongue and turned his gaze away.

Ah, could it be that they were playing at a place where they were told not to play at, and that was why he was unable to say it?

Then, my prediction was proven to be right immediately.

“Lately, you’ve been going to the quarry, right? Good grief, it’s always been like that, the more we tell the children not to do something, the more they want to do it instead.”

“Don’t tell Priest Rou!”

“If you want me to keep my mouth shut, give me the information.”

Louise-san crossed her legs as her red lips smiled.

“Don’t be childish, your opponent is a kid.”

“What are you talking about? These children are orphans. It’s better to teach them about the adversities in the society from now on. You were also raised that way, right?”

Being loaded with Louise-san’s words, Frank-san could only sullenly cross his arms. In response to that, Louise-san shrugged her shoulders.

“Good grief, you are still as childish as usual. Here I thought you’d have slightly grown up with the passing of time, but… Oh well. Let’s continue our conversation.”

“We were playing by throwing the pebbles into the water well. When the pebbles fell there, they made some sound, but there were times when there was no sound at all. When we tried peeking inside the water well to find out why, we felt like there was something moving at the bottom of the well. Then, we lowered the bucket that was placed there to draw water, in order to check what that thing was. When we did so, there was a strange colored slime that appeared from inside the bucket.”

When the word ‘slime’ slipped from his mouth, Karin-san shook off Virna-san’s restraint and was worked up.

“As expected, you’ve got a slime?! What kind of slime was it?! What is its color? What about its shape? How big was it?! Hurry and show me!”

“Wait a second, Karin. Calm down. You’re only frightening the boy, aren’t you? But anyway, I was surprised to hear that there was really a slime. I wonder what’s up with Karin’s nose, really?”

Karin-san was just about to charge at the poor boy but she was returned to her seat by Amanda-san, who had a wry smile on her face. Virna-san also helped, so the two of them combined their power to stop Karin-san.

“You want us to be silent and not snitch you to Priest Rou who had told you not to play in dangerous places, right? Then, tell me what kind of slime it was!”

Louise-san cast a sidelong glance at Karin-san, then asked the boy another question.

“It was similar to the earth slime that’s usually found outside the town, but it was slightly ashen in color.”

“Ooh, then that is surely a new variety of slime!”

The boy began to talk when Karin-san stood up in excitement once more.

“That girl with the weird-looking hat. If you go beyond this, I will whip you out of my store.”

“A weird hat, you said?—”

“It seems you really want to be whipped out of the store.”

Karin-san seemed irritated because her favorite slime hat was being called as a weird-looking hat, but she quickly became quiet after being threatened to be kicked out.

It seemed that her passion toward the new variety of slime triumphed over her slime hat.

It was just so like Karin-san.

“Right, right, that is good. …So, where is this water well located at?”

“It’s the dry well that’s in the quarry.”

“There, huh? …But that’s weird. A monster-warding magical circle is always put around the water well, so even if it’s just a mere slime, any monster shouldn’t have appeared at all there.”

“But somehow, it was in the well. Its size was around this.”

The boy then showed the slime’s size by using his hands after saying that.

The slime that the boy found was around the same size as Purun.

I reflexively patted the slime pouch that was hanging on my waist.

Purun, you’re being so quiet, what a good kid. I will let you out afterwards, so please endure it for a little bit more.

“That is the new variety of slime, isn’t it?! Let’s go to the dry well right now!”

“Well, hold it. Only those with permissions can enter the quarry. Putting aside the children, if this many of adults were to suddenly go there right away, we’d just be driven away immediately.”

“But, a new variety of slime awaits!”

Karin-san grasped both of her hands tightly in order to insist, but Louise-san rebuked her, “That’s why, I told you to wait.”

“I don’t know whether it’s really a new variety of slime or not, but it’s a fact that the slime was hidden quite well.”

Despite being overwhelmed by Karin-san’s vigor when she suddenly bent herself forward, the boy nodded.

“Boy, well done! Then, where is that slime right now?!”

The boy seemed hesitant in whether or not he should say it or not, but when his gaze met with Frank-san’s, he seemed to be determined in opening his mouth.

“Uhm… I’m hiding it under my bed. We’ve decided that we’d keep it an absolute secret, but old man, you’re my senior brother, aren’t you? That’s why, I will especially show it to you!”

Eeeeh? Under the bed?! If he really intends to hide it somewhere, isn’t below his bed is the number one hiding place that will be discovered immediately?!

Anyway, it seemed that the slime held the key to solving the case, huh?

It was definitely suspicious.

Yoosh. We will be investigating the mystery behind the slime after this, and then we will settle this case. Ou—!