Chapter 13
Looking at Eveline as she answered so calmly, Kite made a strange expression.
“Please wait a moment.”
“I don’t like waiting.”
“It’s not like there’s anything you can do right now, is there?”
Ah, that was a mistake.
She had tried to keep her emotions hidden, but those words slipped out before she realized it.
“Then please get some rest.”
After saying that, Eveline left the room. She took a deep breath, then climbed up from the basement to prepare a meal.
She regretted bringing Kite here, but it was already far too late for regrets.
“So I have to save him.”
After going this far, she could not just let Kite die.
“Just hold on a little longer.”
Muttering to herself, Eveline took out the ingredients she had bought beforehand. This time, she had spent a little more money to buy good-quality meat. She had considered Kite’s refined taste.
It would have been nice if there were a forest nearby.
Then she could have hunted for meat herself. A young doe, or perhaps a rabbit or a wild boar. Wild game had a unique flavor, but if prepared properly, it was delicious.
Using a small knife, Eveline quickly peeled the potatoes and carrots. It did not take long to prepare the vegetables to go with the meat.
Now she only had to cook the meat.
“What should I do about the soup?”
She had learned how to cook, but everything she knew was survival cooking for hunting trips.
After all, how often would a noble lady ever enter the kitchen in her own home?
Besides, except when cooking outdoors, Eveline had never been interested in kitchens.
If she had been a commoner, she would have needed to cook every day.
But she was still a noble.
If she did not want to cook, she did not have to.
With that in mind, Eveline stared at the pot of boiling water.
Normally, when eating outside, she would throw crushed grains and wheat flour into the pot, tear up some jerky, and a stew would be finished.
“Well… it should be similar enough.”
Searching through the kitchen drawers, she found a cookbook.
She looked through it, but she could not understand everything because it mentioned spices she had never seen before.
So she simply replaced those ingredients with things she knew.
Chefs really are amazing people.
By the time she finished making the dishes Kite would want, she was completely exhausted.
She felt it would have been easier to grab a gun and hunt wild beasts instead.
One day had already passed out of the ten.
Now she only had to endure nine more days.
Outside, the capital was busy preparing for the Emperor’s upcoming birthday celebration.
Because of that, the number of patrol guards had increased.
Guests from other nations would soon arrive, so they were probably preparing for any unexpected incidents.
Or perhaps they had realized that the Grand Duke had disappeared.
It’s fine. I erased all the traces properly.
Her grandfather had personally taught Eveline how to hunt.
Thanks to her hard work, she had become capable of hunting alone in the forest.
One thing every hunter who worked alone needed to know was how to hide their tracks.
That was where she was especially talented.
Animals and people might be different.
Still, she was certain she had hidden every trace of the kidnapping.
The chances of anyone finding this house were incredibly low.
Even so, just in case, she needed to continue living as normally as possible.
Normally.
Bang!
Eveline brought her knife down hard onto the cutting board.
***
A day later, the people Seren had asked for help returned to their own duties.
The Emperor, Leonhardt, had promised to cooperate in finding Kite, but because of the current situation, the number of people available had greatly decreased.
Lursen spoke in a discouraged voice.
“So in the end, we’ll have to find His Grace the Grand Duke with only our own people.”
“But there are no witnesses, and we couldn’t find any tracks.”
Alex did not look any better.
“Did Lord Kite really not tell anyone where he was going?”
Unlike Seren, the two of them still doubted whether Kite had truly been kidnapped.
It was not unusual for Kite to disappear without telling anyone.
“He left no message.”
“Vice Commander, your instincts are usually good. What does your gut tell you?”
Compared to Kite, Seren was weaker.
However, every now and then, she possessed an almost frightening intuition.
There was nothing especially strange about that.
Back in the Age of Magic, all kinds of races and extraordinary people had existed, and sometimes those abilities were inherited through bloodlines.
“My instincts don’t feel bad.”
“Then maybe he’s really fine?”
“No… relying only on intuition isn’t wise. I also have a strange feeling.”
Seren sighed and shook her head.
Good feelings and bad feelings existed at the same time.
That was exactly what confused her.
“So let’s keep moving.”
To Seren, Kite was a lord she could never afford to lose.
She would do anything to save him.
“Question those information brokers again.”
“They’re going to have a fit.”
“Let them.”
So they searched every information organization in the capital.
Among them was a man with narrow eyes and a bulbous nose.
The very information broker Eveline had first met.
“Gaaah! I-I don’t know anything!”
The moment he saw Seren, the man screamed in terror and covered his head with both arms.
“What don’t you know?”
No one had even touched him yet.
Judging by how he was already trembling with fear, he looked ready to confess anything.
“I-I don’t know… anything.”
Thud!
Alex struck the man hard on the head.
“Get yourself together. Has anyone recently tried to buy information about His Grace the Grand Duke? Tell us everything.”
“No…”
“You’d better think carefully before answering. If you rush and accidentally tell us something wrong, I’ll be very disappointed. Right?”
As Alex slowly drew part of his sword from its sheath, the man’s eyes shook wildly.
“I-it’s… not that there wasn’t anyone.”
“There was?”
“Y-Yes. It was some time ago. A woman came looking for me. She asked about His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Seren’s expression stiffened.
Seeing that, the man hurriedly shrank back and desperately explained himself.
“I-I didn’t tell her anything! I chased her away!”
“Do you remember what she looked like?”
“W-Well… she was wearing a hood. I couldn’t see her face. I heard she visited other information brokers afterward, but… she probably didn’t get any information there either! I swear!”
Ever since Kite had thoroughly beaten them up, the information brokers had become as obedient as lambs.
None of them dared do anything that might offend him.
“Should we count this as progress?”
The other information brokers gave almost the same answer.
One woman had visited them.
They had given her no help.
That was all.
Just in case, they beat up a few of them anyway.
All they got in return were tears and snot.
“I think they’re telling the truth.”
“After getting beaten that badly and still saying the same thing, they’re probably not lying.”
After hearing Lursen’s and Alex’s reports, Seren sighed out of habit.
She had no idea where to even begin looking for Kite.
“Who in the world was that woman?”
One of the Sword Masters of the current era was a woman.
However, she had been seen in her hometown at that exact time.
So she could not have been the culprit.
“Lord Kite probably went with her willingly.”
“Who could possibly take him away by force?”
“What if there’s a hidden Sword Master?”
At Seren’s words, Alex looked at her as though she had said something ridiculous.
“It’s not that easy to become a Sword Master. Besides, the Intelligence Department already keeps track of every Sword Master candidate. None of them moved within the Imperial Capital that day.”
That was true.
They had already visited the Intelligence Department as well.
“I believe he’ll return soon. Doesn’t he care deeply for His Majesty, his nephew? He’s disappeared like this before.”
At times like these, the two of them worked surprisingly well together.
Lursen and Alex took turns giving reasonable explanations.
No…
Perhaps they were not just reasonable explanations.
Perhaps they were actually the truth.
“I hope you’re right.”
Seren quietly shook her head.
