Estio Volume 8
- Episode 19
At some point, the wagon rattled. Moobin grumbled as she looked out her window.
"The road here is really rough. The horses can't run at all."
"Because the road budget doesn't come down to these regions."
In the Imperial Household, the roads were paved so that large carriages and horse processions could run mainly in large cities. It was also a problem that we did not have enough budget to pay attention to the lush mountains and forested countryside or border areas, but we also tended to deliberately leave them alone in order to prevent them from moving quickly when the enemy invaded. The atmosphere inside the carriage heading to Galatia slowly became bumpy like a stone road.
"There is one more strange thing. Usually monsters do not cover up people and kill them."
When it comes to monsters, Mubin, who has been terribly slashing, pointed out the loopholes in the rumors about monster appearance.
"It hurts animals, but people didn't touch it? Aww, that's a real ghost story."
Hawke agreed with that opinion. There are rumors circulating around the area, but it was not confirmed that the person who committed the crime even in the guild was a monster.
"Certainly, this case is full of questions, big and small. It's a looting case where only rumors abound and there is no substance, but damage is caused."
At the end of the hawk's lament, the wagon diligently ran down the road in silence and arrived at the Galatia branch at sunset.
"Come on, we've arrived!"
As soon as Hawk, who had stopped the carriage in front of the guild building, got off, he loosened his stiff body from sitting for a long time. After getting off, Estio stopped at a familiar sign.
<Customer satisfaction! Welcome to Ignis, a guild with the highest quest success rate of 99.9%.>
A sign with a magical effect that gave off a colorful light even in the dark was dyeing his face. Last time he was commissioned by Moobin, he passed by without any inspiration because he didn't have much time to spare, but now looking at it, he feels nostalgic.
'I saw this sign and joined the guild.'
The white, frozen breath flew through the dark air. Estio stared blankly at the sparkling guild sign. The magic light bulb that used to emit a red light changed to a blue light this time.
'I didn't know it was going to be like this at the time.'
Galasia, the first city that the three of us came down from where we met Neju in the nearby snowy mountain, and Tsuki, who followed him secretly. When my aimless footsteps stopped in front of this sign, I felt like I was grabbing straw.
Nyaan.
A black cat appeared from nowhere and climbed onto his shoulder and wept softly. Estio patted Tsuki's neck and turned to look at her hawk.
"Thank you for coming to meet me."
"We're really thankful. The Galasia branch didn't have a high-ranking guild member to solve the strange phenomenon, so we desperately needed help. Haha."
Hawk, who was waiting with a happy smile, opened the door. Estio turned down his favor.
"I'll start right away. Please tell me what to do."
"Um, since you've come a long way, wouldn't it be better to take a break and then move?"
"I've been getting enough rest."
It has been more than a month since he had been in the Vatican alone. In response to Estio's resolute answer, Hawk looked at Rosalie, and Rosalie shrugged, indicating that there was nothing she could do.
"Then, Leader, I'll start with the changed contents of the quest. As I said earlier, the situation has become a bit more complicated. Here is a status report that records the latest trends."
The report handed over to Rosalie was received by Parker, a member of the Leader Support Team. On the map attached to the report, each damaged house was marked in red. Now, it was not just a delivery service, but an additional request.
"We need to investigate the disappearance of the guild pets that need to be sent to the headquarters. I want to entrust the leader with the <Monster Extermination Request>, which is the cause of the phenomenon in which not only the guild pets but also the animals in the entire city are disappearing."
Estio accepted the new request from Rosalie. Before he could even glance through the contents of the request, Rosalie mentioned the client with an apologetic face.
"By the way, this is an external request. The client is the author of Fabien..."
"No! He, are you still contacting the guild?"
Parker, who was listening, trembled at the name Fabieng. Neju's expression darkened.
"Wow, I guess I'll have to meet a person named Fabieng again."
"Oh! No. I didn't even know that the leader was in charge of this work in Fabien Viscount."
It wasn't Rosalie who didn't know why Estio and the party reacted so sharply to Viscount Fabien, so she hurriedly waved her hand. Estio was a little surprised to read from her request a part that she had not yet said.
"......Sera?"
In the client's column, the name 'Cerarine de Fabien' was written in a cute font. Hawk, who coughed in vain, pointed that part out clearly.
"Uhm, the client isn't Viscount Fabien, it's your daughter, Miss Serarin."
As soon as Estio found out that the client was Sarah, he asked urgently.
"Is Hiru also gone?"
"Fortunately, your dog is doing well. But, I don't think she's worried about it. Because she loves them so much."
After hearing that Hiru was safe, Estio let out a small sigh of relief. Rosalie posed a fighting pose to show Estio to be strong.
"The new quest name is <Please get rid of the bad monsters that hunt animals>!"
Again, it was a request name like Sarah. The atmosphere warmed up in an instant ahead of the nasty job.
"Then, would you like to go to the fauna of Shark Road and check the status of the remaining six guild pets?"
Rosalie pointed to the blue area on the map Parker was holding.
'If it's the fauna of Shark Road.'
It was a place that Estio also knew. As he nodded, Rosalie added, looking at Estio with twinkling eyes.
"They are survivors and eyewitnesses at the crime scene."
There were no people in the pens at the time of theft, but the animals remained. However, there was no one who could communicate with animals, so it was useless to say that he had witnessed it. The guild as well as the city guards in charge of policing were having difficulties in the investigation because they couldn't fight against the silent animal.
Estio, who appeared in the midst of this, was the perfect fit for this job.
'A person with the ability to read minds!'
Hawk and Rosalie were expecting Estio to read the minds of the surviving animals. In that case, there must have been a clue about the monster. It was a small thing for a guild executive to step forward, but there were signs that the strange phenomenon that was in progress was finally resolved.
"Then, leader, please go strong!"
"......All right."
With Hawk and Rosalie behind them, who raised their arms and cheered, Estio went out to the street with the party.
"Let's see, the address is 3 Shark Road..."
"I know the way."
Estio told Parker, who was trying to check the map, that there was no need for that.
"Ah, if you look at it that way, Leader-sama must be familiar with this city."
Parker, who had forgotten that Estio's main site of activity was the city of Galatia before becoming a guild executive, humbly scratched the ball and put the map back into the cross bag. Then Neju muttered as if passing by.
"I'm sorry."
"Yes? What?"
Parker fidgeted with his bag, wondering if it was a pity that he couldn't see the map, but it wasn't the map that Neju felt sorry for.
"When I passed this road in the past, Neju had carried me."
"Yes Yes?"
"Neju can run very fast even with a person on it! Stop, Estio?"
"......"
Everyone's eyes flew to Estio who was called upon.
'Are you up?'
'Are you up?'
Parker and Moobin chorus with their eyes. It is true that I have memories of moving quickly after being carried by Neju, but Estio wanted to refrain from carrying him again. Estio, who met innocent red eyes and eyes while trying to pretend not to know, could not turn his back any more and gave a clumsy affirmation.
"That's right."
"Hehe, there are a lot of people, but I can't ride it anymore. Just two people in a group."
Estio thought that it was really fortunate that the party was lined up.
Chapter 33 Catching a Thief
It didn't take long to walk to the destination, the fauna. A magic street lamp lit up over the darkened street, and a cold wind slowly began to blow. As the snow fell on it, the number of people passing by decreased significantly. As white snow was slowly piling up on the hood over his head, Estio and his group were able to reach the Animal Statue at 3 Shark Road.
When the tent, which was lined with green stripes on a yellow background, was revealed, the sound of a dog barking as if waiting was heard.
Kung K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K herself!
"It's been a while. How have you been?"
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."
「'Estio'! I remembered your name!"
Two large dogs tied to a large kennel jumped and greeted Estio. Even though it had been a year since we met, Estio was grateful for the dogs that remember him and squatted in front of them.
"Oh. I remembered it too, Estio!"
"Move! I am first."
"Am I first? Where is this?"
Crawl!
awake. ｡.
Dogs arguing with each other over insignificant things grabbed their noses and started fighting. To be precise, the spotted dog was unilaterally scolded by the white dog.
"Of the two, you are the older brother."
"Yes. I'm the commander of this district. It is my role to punish those who dare to enter our territory without permission, and I am still learning."
"Hey."
The white dog, the highest of the two, pouted his tongue and panted. The spotted dog, who had tried to rebel for nothing and couldn't find it, fell flat on the floor while whining.
Estio, who had accepted the aegyo of the two large dogs, patted them with a relieved face.
"I'm glad you guys are okay."
"Yes? What happened?"
"What happened? What happened?"
However, the dog's reaction was very strange. Estio asked, placing his hand on the panting white dog's head.
"You don't know what happened?"
"What?"
"I heard that the animals that were here have disappeared."
After hearing Estio's calm voice, the two dogs pricked up their ears.
"Ah, I know what it is!"
"But I don't know!"
It was an ambiguous answer whether he knew or didn't know. Estio eventually activated her powers and read the dogs' heads.
"Something appeared on the night the other kids disappeared."
"Yeah, I felt a strange presence, so I just barked and ran away."
"But the leash was tight, so I couldn't chase much."
"So we didn't see anything."
While he was reading past memories himself, the dogs were busy talking about give and take. These two guys were very active dogs.
'You haven't met the intruder at all.'
Estio Volume 8
- Episode 19
At some point, the wagon rattled. Moobin grumbled as she looked out her window.
"The road here is really rough. The horses can't run at all."
"Because the road budget doesn't come down to these regions."
In the Imperial Household, the roads were paved so that large carriages and horse processions could run mainly in large cities. It was also a problem that we did not have enough budget to pay attention to the lush mountains and forested countryside or border areas, but we also tended to deliberately leave them alone in order to prevent them from moving quickly when the enemy invaded. The atmosphere inside the carriage heading to Galatia slowly became bumpy like a stone road.
"There is one more strange thing. Usually monsters do not cover up people and kill them."
When it comes to monsters, Mubin, who has been terribly slashing, pointed out the loopholes in the rumors about monster appearance.
"It hurts animals, but people didn't touch it? Aww, that's a real ghost story."
Hawke agreed with that opinion. There are rumors circulating around the area, but it was not confirmed that the person who committed the crime even in the guild was a monster.
"Certainly, this case is full of questions, big and small. It's a looting case where only rumors abound and there is no substance, but damage is caused."
At the end of the hawk's lament, the wagon diligently ran down the road in silence and arrived at the Galatia branch at sunset.
"Come on, we've arrived!"
As soon as Hawk, who had stopped the carriage in front of the guild building, got off, he loosened his stiff body from sitting for a long time. After getting off, Estio stopped at a familiar sign.
<Customer satisfaction! Welcome to Ignis, a guild with the highest quest success rate of 99.9%.>
A sign with a magical effect that gave off a colorful light even in the dark was dyeing his face. Last time he was commissioned by Moobin, he passed by without any inspiration because he didn't have much time to spare, but now looking at it, he feels nostalgic.
'I saw this sign and joined the guild.'
The white, frozen breath flew through the dark air. Estio stared blankly at the sparkling guild sign. The magic light bulb that used to emit a red light changed to a blue light this time.
'I didn't know it was going to be like this at the time.'
Galasia, the first city that the three of us came down from where we met Neju in the nearby snowy mountain, and Tsuki, who followed him secretly. When my aimless footsteps stopped in front of this sign, I felt like I was grabbing straw.
Nyaan.
A black cat appeared from nowhere and climbed onto his shoulder and wept softly. Estio patted Tsuki's neck and turned to look at her hawk.
"Thank you for coming to meet me."
"We're really thankful. The Galasia branch didn't have a high-ranking guild member to solve the strange phenomenon, so we desperately needed help. Haha."
Hawk, who was waiting with a happy smile, opened the door. Estio turned down his favor.
"I'll start right away. Please tell me what to do."
"Um, since you've come a long way, wouldn't it be better to take a break and then move?"
"I've been getting enough rest."
It has been more than a month since he had been in the Vatican alone. In response to Estio's resolute answer, Hawk looked at Rosalie, and Rosalie shrugged, indicating that there was nothing she could do.
"Then, Leader, I'll start with the changed contents of the quest. As I said earlier, the situation has become a bit more complicated. Here is a status report that records the latest trends."
The report handed over to Rosalie was received by Parker, a member of the Leader Support Team. On the map attached to the report, each damaged house was marked in red. Now, it was not just a delivery service, but an additional request.
"We need to investigate the disappearance of the guild pets that need to be sent to the headquarters. I want to entrust the leader with the <Monster Extermination Request>, which is the cause of the phenomenon in which not only the guild pets but also the animals in the entire city are disappearing."
Estio accepted the new request from Rosalie. Before he could even glance through the contents of the request, Rosalie mentioned the client with an apologetic face.
"By the way, this is an external request. The client is the author of Fabien..."
"No! He, are you still contacting the guild?"
Parker, who was listening, trembled at the name Fabieng. Neju's expression darkened.
"Wow, I guess I'll have to meet a person named Fabieng again."
"Oh! No. I didn't even know that the leader was in charge of this work in Fabien Viscount."
It wasn't Rosalie who didn't know why Estio and the party reacted so sharply to Viscount Fabien, so she hurriedly waved her hand. Estio was a little surprised to read from her request a part that she had not yet said.
"......Sera?"
In the client's column, the name 'Cerarine de Fabien' was written in a cute font. Hawk, who coughed in vain, pointed that part out clearly.
"Uhm, the client isn't Viscount Fabien, it's your daughter, Miss Serarin."
As soon as Estio found out that the client was Sarah, he asked urgently.
"Is Hiru also gone?"
"Fortunately, your dog is doing well. But, I don't think she's worried about it. Because she loves them so much."
After hearing that Hiru was safe, Estio let out a small sigh of relief. Rosalie posed a fighting pose to show Estio to be strong.
"The new quest name is <Please get rid of the bad monsters that hunt animals>!"
Again, it was a request name like Sarah. The atmosphere warmed up in an instant ahead of the nasty job.
"Then, would you like to go to the fauna of Shark Road and check the status of the remaining six guild pets?"
Rosalie pointed to the blue area on the map Parker was holding.
'If it's the fauna of Shark Road.'
It was a place that Estio also knew. As he nodded, Rosalie added, looking at Estio with twinkling eyes.
"They are survivors and eyewitnesses at the crime scene."
There were no people in the pens at the time of theft, but the animals remained. However, there was no one who could communicate with animals, so it was useless to say that he had witnessed it. The guild as well as the city guards in charge of policing were having difficulties in the investigation because they couldn't fight against the silent animal.
Estio, who appeared in the midst of this, was the perfect fit for this job.
'A person with the ability to read minds!'
Hawk and Rosalie were expecting Estio to read the minds of the surviving animals. In that case, there must have been a clue about the monster. It was a small thing for a guild executive to step forward, but there were signs that the strange phenomenon that was in progress was finally resolved.
"Then, leader, please go strong!"
"......All right."
With Hawk and Rosalie behind them, who raised their arms and cheered, Estio went out to the street with the party.
"Let's see, the address is 3 Shark Road..."
"I know the way."
Estio told Parker, who was trying to check the map, that there was no need for that.
"Ah, if you look at it that way, Leader-sama must be familiar with this city."
Parker, who had forgotten that Estio's main site of activity was the city of Galatia before becoming a guild executive, humbly scratched the ball and put the map back into the cross bag. Then Neju muttered as if passing by.
"I'm sorry."
"Yes? What?"
Parker fidgeted with his bag, wondering if it was a pity that he couldn't see the map, but it wasn't the map that Neju felt sorry for.
"When I passed this road in the past, Neju had carried me."
"Yes Yes?"
"Neju can run very fast even with a person on it! Stop, Estio?"
"......"
Everyone's eyes flew to Estio who was called upon.
'Are you up?'
'Are you up?'
Parker and Moobin chorus with their eyes. It is true that I have memories of moving quickly after being carried by Neju, but Estio wanted to refrain from carrying him again. Estio, who met innocent red eyes and eyes while trying to pretend not to know, could not turn his back any more and gave a clumsy affirmation.
"That's right."
"Hehe, there are a lot of people, but I can't ride it anymore. Just two people in a group."
Estio thought that it was really fortunate that the party was lined up.
Chapter 33 Catching a Thief
It didn't take long to walk to the destination, the fauna. A magic street lamp lit up over the darkened street, and a cold wind slowly began to blow. As the snow fell on it, the number of people passing by decreased significantly. As white snow was slowly piling up on the hood over his head, Estio and his group were able to reach the Animal Statue at 3 Shark Road.
When the tent, which was lined with green stripes on a yellow background, was revealed, the sound of a dog barking as if waiting was heard.
Kung K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K herself!
"It's been a while. How have you been?"
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."
「'Estio'! I remembered your name!"
Two large dogs tied to a large kennel jumped and greeted Estio. Even though it had been a year since we met, Estio was grateful for the dogs that remember him and squatted in front of them.
"Oh. I remembered it too, Estio!"
"Move! I am first."
"Am I first? Where is this?"
Crawl!
awake. ｡.
Dogs arguing with each other over insignificant things grabbed their noses and started fighting. To be precise, the spotted dog was unilaterally scolded by the white dog.
"Of the two, you are the older brother."
"Yes. I'm the commander of this district. It is my role to punish those who dare to enter our territory without permission, and I am still learning."
"Hey."
The white dog, the highest of the two, pouted his tongue and panted. The spotted dog, who had tried to rebel for nothing and couldn't find it, fell flat on the floor while whining.
Estio, who had accepted the aegyo of the two large dogs, patted them with a relieved face.
"I'm glad you guys are okay."
"Yes? What happened?"
"What happened? What happened?"
However, the dog's reaction was very strange. Estio asked, placing his hand on the panting white dog's head.
"You don't know what happened?"
"What?"
"I heard that the animals that were here have disappeared."
After hearing Estio's calm voice, the two dogs pricked up their ears.
"Ah, I know what it is!"
"But I don't know!"
It was an ambiguous answer whether he knew or didn't know. Estio eventually activated her powers and read the dogs' heads.
"Something appeared on the night the other kids disappeared."
"Yeah, I felt a strange presence, so I just barked and ran away."
"But the leash was tight, so I couldn't chase much."
"So we didn't see anything."
While he was reading past memories himself, the dogs were busy talking about give and take. These two guys were very active dogs.
'You haven't met the intruder at all.'
