Sothing had gone wrong with the Empire’s seals, and two High Demons known only to Cadel had erged from the cracks in the seals. That this was happening in the center of the Empire, the heart of the seal, was a sign that sothing was wrong with the outer seals as well.
If they didn’t act quickly, it was only a matter of ti before another High Demon escaped into the human world and went on a rampage. This was important. Not a single minute could be wasted.
“Commander is not the kind of person who will die that easily. He must be hiding sowhere.”
There was an eagerness in Modeleine’s eyes that bordered on obsession. He was a man of discernnt. A man who had taken the reins of the Knight Order in the wake of a disastrous commander and upheld the pride of the Holy Knight Order.
Cadel didn’t think he was oblivious to the gravity of the situation, so he didn’t bother to criticize or poke fun at Modeleine’s complacency, just nodded in silence.
“Do you have any other information that might help with the search?”
“The only thing I can think of is that he must be terribly exhausted……. It would have been easy to find him if he’d shone a beam of light, but he didn’t.”
“We’ll keep that in mind. We’ll be searching the Mytheran Mountains, and you Twilight Knight Order will be searching the banks of the Setzen River.”
“……Thank you, Sir Cadel.”
“Let’s say we receive your gratitude after we find Sir Garuel.”
Cadel patted him on the shoulder encouragingly, then turned back to his subordinates.
There were quite a few knights in the Twilight Knight Order who were well acquainted with them thanks to their eting in Baskin Village. Cadel called out his subordinates who were digging up general information from the Twilight Knight Order and gathered them in a separate place.
“It looks like the search is not making any progress, Leader. It seems like they’re hiding sothing, but I wonder what’s to be gained from hiding it.”
“Commander, if they won’t cooperate, what’s the point of helping? I’ll let them search until they get tired and only help them down the mountain. It must be difficult for Commander too.”
His subordinates seed to sense sothing was amiss with their passivity. Without pause, Cadel told them what he had heard from Modeleine.
Van and Lun’s expressions quickly beca serious at the shocking information, but not Lydon’s. Cadel pulled aside Lydon, who had a somber expression on his face as if he didn’t care what happened.
Lydon was pulled exaggeratedly despite Cadel’s weak grip, and he tried to press his lips to Cadel’s with a smile, but Cadel’s hand pushed Lydon’s chin away without hesitation. Lydon’s head snapped back, a look of resignation on his face.
“You’re not even letting kiss you, darling? That’s not fair.”
“You’re acting like I let you do it one day. Forget it, Lydon. You may have noticed, but from Sir Garuel—”
“Yeah, he slls.”
Lydon replied simply, before Cadel could finish, and gently squeezed the hand that was still pressed against his chin.
“By sll you an…….”
“Aren’t you talking about the demon sll? I was nervous from the first ti I saw him, but it was a weak sll. It made feel uncomfortable in more ways than one that I tried to secretly kill him. At this point, I wish he could just die on his own! Haha!”
After spitting out such murderous words, Lydon kissed Cadel’s clasped palm affectionately, then brought his cheek to rub against Cadel’s. It was a loving gesture that made it clear what he wanted.
The angelic-looking being was damned cute when it ca to being petulant and cuddly, and Cadel spat out a giggle and withdrew his grasping hand. Then he gave Lydon a light slap on the flat of his forehead.
“Don’t sound so ominous. So you can track that demon sll?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure? There’s a demon sll here and there, and the demon sll coming from him isn’t that strong.”
“I an, you can try, right?”
“If Cadel wants.”
“Okay, then do it. Don’t tell Sir Garuel that he slls like a demon.”
Fortunately, the sll was coming from the direction of the Mytheran Mountains, not the Setzen River. Cadel and his subordinates began a full-scale search for Garuel.
* * *
“You’ve been through a lot, Van.”
“What. It feels like I’m walking with a feather on my shoulder.”
“……Where do you find such heavy feathers?”
“Behind ?”
The rugged terrain of the Mytheran Mountains wasn’t just hard on the missing Garuel. After climbing the mountain curiously at first, Cadel was panting after less than ten minutes.
Van was the first to offer a piggyback ride, and Cadel didn’t think long since he realized how comfortable Van’s back was. He even made the excuse that if he was exhausted he would not be able to show his strength at a critical ti.
Van watched his step to make sure Cadel was as comfortable as possible on the climb. The warmth on his back felt so good, and Van couldn’t stop smiling despite the strenuous climb.
Lun consciously turned his attention away from Van and Cadel and looked at Lydon flying ahead.
“Don’t go forward blindly just because you have wings, but go forward while carefully looking at your surroundings. Don’t forget that we are searching.”
“Ahaha! It’s been a while since I heard Lun’s command tone, so I feel terrible! It’s too bad, but I’m a genius fairy with a great sense of sll, so I’m better at finding humans than Lun.”
“You’re following Sir Garuel’s sll? I thought you were supposed to be able to sll demons. You’re like a sniffer dog.”
“Haha! What are you comparing to? I guess you want to die!”
With that, Lydon transford into the form of a tiny fairy, tugging at Lun’s hair and kicking him in the cheek before flying away. Lun glared after the fleeing Lydon and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Touch one more ti and I’ll cut your wings off.”
“That’s gonna make Cadel mad though?”
“I’ll cut it evenly on both sides. There will be no problem with the flight.”
“Ahaha! If you can do it, then do it!”
Lydon, who had been excitedly poking fun at Lun, pouted his lips at Cadel’s admonishnt to stay out of trouble and resud his size.
“Lun started the fight first.”
Like that, he flew through the mountains for a long ti. At one point, after flying nonstop, Lydon stopped. He lifted his head and focused on his sense of sll for a mont, then looked back at Cadel.
“Cadel, this is the limit.”
What limit? Cadel, with a puzzled expression, got off Van’s back. As Cadel approached, Lydon tapped his nose and said.
“The sll spreads everywhere. He seems to be nearby, but it’s hard to pinpoint the direction.”
“Are you sure he’s nearby?”
“Yes, the sll is the strongest here.”
They would have to split up and search. Cadel gave Lun, Van, and Lydon a direction to search, promising to send a signal when they found sothing.
“Van and Lun will fire these flares, and Lydon will use Phantasm Speech. I’ll shoot a fireball.”
Cadel began to move westward. He trusted Lydon’s judgnt that Garuel was nearby, and didn’t intend to go far.
‘He’s not really going to be found dead, is he?’
As he trudged along the uneven dirt path, Cadel fought to shake off the ominous images that were creeping into his mind. The conclusive evidence that the Twilight Knight Order had found was troubling, but Garuel’s demonic energy could regenerate any wound. Even if he had been grievously wounded, he could not have died so easily.
‘……It has to be.’
Before the issue of whether or not Cadel could get a healer, Garuel was soone who had helped Cadel a lot. He didn’t want to believe that soone like that had died in vain like this.
Unlike Lydon, Cadel could not sll the demon’s sll, nor was he as sensitive to its presence as Van or Lun, so it was best to call Garuel’s na loudly while scanning the area.
“Sir Garuel! Can you hear ? Sir Garuel!”
He poked his head into the shade of trees, over bushes, alongside ramps, and down rabbit holes. The stamina he’d been able to stockpile thanks to Van was being used up at a rapid rate.
“Sir Garuel! If you can hear , say sothing! You’re not really dead, are you?”
It must have been over 30 minutes and there was no sign of Garuel. No sign of his subordinates’ signals either. Halfway through, he heard Lydon’s Phantasm Speech, but it was just a one-sided complaint that Garuel was a pain in the *ss to find.
Cadel paused with a hand on his hip to catch his breath, though it didn’t feel like he’d walked that far. The terrain was rough and he was out of breath quickly.
“Just look for him. I won’t leave him alone.”
He was going to find Garuel in one piece and bash him over the head with his fist. The mont Cadel gathered his will and tried to resu the search.
“What are you going to do if you don’t leave alone?”
A chuckling voice ca from directly behind Cadel. Reflexively turning his head, he saw the culprit in front of him.
“Took you longer than I thought to find .”
Garuel Monzasi.
He waved with a peaceful air as if he didn’t care that his n were burning up inside looking for him. His appearance was unblemished, and he slled faintly of alcohol.
Glancing up and down at the sudden appearance of Garuel, Cadel dared to be confident.
‘This punk didn’t go missing, he actually ran away.’
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