CH 162

“E-Excuse me, can you please call Luciel-san’s father ……!”

“……!? Wait, Stay with me, please! Sir! Sir!”

Basleigh went to the Bryon Trading Company and asked one of the employees to call Sorio for her. She then told the situation to Sorio, Tiana and Luciela, who rushed over to her.

“I was coming back from the guild when four men surrounded me and kidnapped Luciel …… I’m very sorry ……. I’m going to report to Tigre-sensei and the headmaster, so please contact the vigilante group!”

“N-No way ……”

“I understand. Tiana, you stay here, I’ll go. You tell Roen, just in case.”

“Yes, sir! This is a big deal ……!”

He instructed them to close the store as soon as possible, and Sorio and Basleigh flew out, as did Luciela.

“You stay in the house!”

“No! I’m going to find her too!”

“No! Sorry, take care of it.”

“Yes! He ran this way, so he’s probably trying to escape towards the Capital’s direction.”

In a rare moment of clarity, Sorio says something to Luciela, and Luciela stiffens. When Basleigh, Sorio, and the employees were out of sight, Luciela put her hand on her dagger and muttered to herself.

“Can I still make it ……? If it’s with [Amplification] ……!”

Luciela applies [Amplification] to her legs and runs towards the entrance of the town. Duration is as long as your magic lasts. I’ve been training with Lars and the guild, so I thought I could run for a while, and I run with a low posture, leaning forward. 

I soon arrived at the entrance of the town and called out to the gatekeeper who was checking the comings and goings.

“Excuse me! Did some suspicious people get through! Or someone left in a hurry!”

“Oh, it’s you, Luciela-chan. What’s the ruckus again?”

“Yes! Luciel-chan has been kidnapped!”

Luciela shouted breathlessly, and the gatekeeper rolled his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Really!? Now that you mention it, there was a horse-drawn carriage going very fast as they left the town.”

“That’s it! Thank you!”

“H-Hey! What are you going to do by yourself! …… Kah! Damn it, someone! Is anyone out there!”

I shook off the gatekeeper’s restraint and slipped out of the town, accelerating again with [Amplification] and moving along the road. Luciela thought she would catch up to the wagon quickly because the terrain was divided between meadow and forest, but–

◆ 　 ◇ 　 ◆

“…… Are there any pursuers?”

Gadar, the kidnapper, asked Tanny as he pulled Luciel out of a burlap sack. Tanny smiled and nodded in satisfaction as he checked behind him from the covered back of the truck.

“I don’t see her. Well, she’s the only witness, so she won’t be moving any time soon.”

“Well, that went well this time too. What were those two guys?”

“They were just some hooligans I picked up in town. I just gave them a little money and asked them to pick a fight with me. If they get caught, they don’t know us, so they won’t puke. If they interrogate us, it’ll buy us some more time.”

When Gadar explained this, Mart, who’s on the driver’s seat whistled in praise. Fern continued to smirk at Luciel.

“But there is definitely value in using this. She knows everything about gems, right? We could use her in the mines, or in the dungeons. Maybe it’s better if we just use it right now?”

“No, we’re still working as adventurers and it’s risky to take her around. It’s better to have someone else buy her for us, as usual, to make money. That’s exactly what the client did this time.”

Gadar explained his reasoning to Fern with a serious face, who shrugged his shoulders and agreed. Then he calls out to everyone.

“We’ll take a break when we get a little further. The horses won’t last at this rate. After two hours, we will move to the town where we will meet again. Once we get there, all we have to do is hand her over and get the money. We’ll cross to another country via the Capital.”

They all nodded at Gadar’s words.

They were outrageous adventurers who dealt with underhanded requests like this, and this time they had been asked to kidnap the Jewel Master, Luciel. And the carriage carrying Luciel was ruthlessly driving down the main road.

◆ 　 ◇ 　 ◆

“Headmaster! Headmaster!”

Basleigh banged on the door of the private house where the headmaster, Libra, lived. He immediately opened the door and responded.

“Basleigh-sensei? What’s the matter with you in such a hurry?”

“W-Well–“

When Basleigh told him what had just happened, Libra’s face grew grim, a vein appeared on his forehead, and he glared out at the town.

“Unforgivable fiend ……! Basleigh, you use the emergency megaphone in the dormitory to gather all the teachers who can move, Tigre is on vacation at the mountain house, so I’ll go get him.”

“P-Please! M-Message! Message!”

Soon after, flying on levitation, Libra was on his way to Tigre and Verna’s house at great speed.

◆ 　 ◇ 　 ◆

“Haa …… Haa …… I, can’t catch up …… Luciel …… Luciel ……”

Luciela, who must have traveled about 20 kilometers, calls out Luciel’s name in a whisper as she continues down the main road.  She was almost out of magic, and was running with her willpower.

“U-Ugh ……”

I was wobbling on my feet and desperately trying to support my body as I was about to fall. I finally reached my limit and sat down against a nearby tree.

“I guess it’s impossible against a carriage …… I chased after them right away and used [Amplification] to run as fast as I could so I don’t think they’re that far away.”

Luciela was breathing hard and was about to give up, thinking that she would have to ask Tigre and Lars for help. As she looked out into the forest, she noticed a few lights glimmering in the distance.

“Camping out in a place like this ……? It looks like it’s going to be full of monsters ……”

But then she looks again and her heart leaps with a thump.

It was because she saw a man giving water to a horse and three men eating a meal on a log chair while watching him. Then there was the wagon and the cart. Luciela immediately thought that she was right.

“(If she’s are there, she must be in the cart.)”

The body that I had expected to be immobile earlier was now fine, and as soon as I anticipated Luciel’s presence, my steps became lighter.

I peeked at the back of the cart, nervous that the men chatting and drinking would hear my heartbeat.

“(Luciel ……!)”

She squealed with delight in her chest when she saw the face of the sister she was looking for.

Luciela hurriedly got on the back of the cart, applied [Amplification] to her arms, held Luciel, and sneaked off the truck. 

“(The rest is just hiding in the woods and running away ……!)”

Because of the [Amplification] applied to my arms, my steps are heavy and I am moving without making a sound, so I can only progress little by little. While I was doing this, I heard a shout from behind me.

“Hey, the girl’s not here!”

“So she woke up already! Look for her, she can’t have gone far!”

“(They’ve already noticed ……!?)”

They had originally decided to take a two-hour break, and were just about to leave. Luciela desperately tried to follow the path back to the town of Gast against the shade of the trees.

“Haa …… haa ……”

As Luciela looked at Luciel sleeping in her arms, she suddenly had a bad thought.

“(I wonder why I have to get such a hard to come and save her …… Should I have left it to the others …… If I leave Luciel, my father and mother will only look at me. –)”

In her dazed state, Luciela shook her head and bit her teeth at the stupid idea.

“What am I thinking about ……!”

As soon as she muttered this, she felt a presence nearby and hid herself.

“Damn it, …… where are you …… it’s too dark to see …… where the hell are you! I’ll find you soon!”

“(This will get us both caught ……)”

Luciela, who’s In a cold sweat, sees the pained expression on Luciel’s face, she decides to pull out the dagger from her waist. The next moment, she trims her beautiful hair to match Luciel’s, removes the ribbon, and places it on the back of her head.

She then removed Luciel’s skirt and replaced it with her own shorts. Finally, she changed her jacket, thinking that it would be hard to tell them apart in the dark forest.

“…… I’m sorry to leave you here like this. I hope you’ll wake up soon if you can, but …… Lars, please …… find Luciel ……”

“Where are you? If you don’t come out, I’m gonna hurt you!”

“……!”

Luciela’s face paled at the sound of the voice, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Somebody help me ……!”

“There she is! Damn it, isn’t she supposed to sleep all day, she’s perfectly fine!”

Luciela deliberately raised her voice and started to run away in the direction of the Capital. In order to draw away Gadar and the others so that Luciel will not be found. But with no strength or magic, Luciela is quickly surrounded and captured.

“Wha-, let me go! Mugh!?”

“Don’t make me go through the trouble. Let him take another hit.”

“Ahhh.”

(Luciel …… please be safe …… Bye bye ……)

In the fading consciousness, Luciela cared for her sister’s safety and was dragged into the deep darkness.

Lucielaaaaaa!?

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Wait for the next chapter!”

That’s all you can say ……!