Volume 6 - CH 4.2

Posted on Dec 28, 2022

Romarikku, which was located in the southeast of Ahmad, bordered Bigelow with the Cardoso Mountain Range in between them; properly speaking, Romarikku should strictly crack down on the barbarian believers who entered it illegally.

But in reality, the barbarian believers who transported various southern rare articles were an existence that was instead welcomed in this town, and the supervision of them seemed to be lacking. The deterioration of public order, which the central government was worrying about, was also caused by that.

However, the people of this town chose the economic effect that was accompanied by the demerit that was the deterioration of public order. Thial, who was a citizen of Roma, had neither the intention nor qualifications to say things about that.

Ironically, thanks to quite a lot of barbarian believers coming in, Thial could walk about without minding public gaze. In Roma where there were hardly any southern people, Thial’s light-brown skin was conspicuous, but in this Romarikku, she wasn’t particularly seen with queer looks.

Thial chose the vicinity of a busy place and roamed the street, and after she had wandered around greatly in the dead of night and the lights of the bars were gradually going out, she finally came back to the guest house.

Despite the deterioration of public order becoming a problem, the fact that the security around the important town hall was lax was a big problem, but from Thial’s impression of her making a round of the busy place, the citizens’ feelings towards Ahmad weren’t so bad. It was said that a person’s real feelings would emerge when they were drunk, but even though Thial nonchalantly listened to the conversations of the barbarian believers who had settled in the town, there wasn’t anyone who was thinking of outrageous things in particular. Of course, she heard plenty of trifling idle complaints and dissatisfaction, but a large majority of the barbarian believers were merely people who had crossed the mountains purely to make money.

She didn’t find any problems that they ought to be apprehensive about for the time being—Thial, who was about to enter her own room from the balcony with the intention of reporting so, noticed that the window of Dimitar’s room was left open, and a wrinkle was carved on her brow.

When she peered inside, the disordered bed, which was unnatural to say that it was disordered as a result of sleeping, was empty, and Dimitar’s figure wasn’t anywhere.

It was perfectly possible that Dimitar was entrusted with a mission that Thial wasn’t aware of, and that he had waited for the dead of night to make a move secretly. That was why it wasn’t surprising even if his bed was empty.

However, even if that was the case, it was strange that the window as well as the curtains were left open. If it was the astute Dimitar, he should have locked up the door and window properly so that no one would even realise that he had slipped out of his room.

Thial went on to check Valeria’s room, but the window here wasn’t locked either, and the person herself was also absent. Considering the fact that there weren’t any traces of fighting in particular, the person herself had probably left of her own accord.

It was fine if Dimitar and Valeria were acting together, but if Valeria was acting independently by some chance, things would become somewhat troublesome.

When Thial had returned to her own room and taken off the black mantle for slipping into the darkness, she then went out to the dark corridor and knocked on the door of Bettina’s room.

「Bettina-san—Bettina-san!」

「Fuai…?」

One minute after hearing a metallic sound of something rubbing against each other creakily and a drowsy voice, the door opened with a clank.

「Have you come back, Thial-san? …But there’s still time until morning, you know…? What’s the matter exactly?」

Bettina, who had appeared wearing her usual armour, turned her face away from Thial and raised the visor, then seemed to be rubbing her eyes.

Thial peered into Bettina’s room over her pink helmet and knitted her brows once again.

「…Are Valeria-sama and Dimitar-sama here?」

「Fua? No, they’re not here, …but is something wrong?」

「Both of them aren’t in their rooms」

「—Eh!?」

After stiffening for several seconds, Bettina started flailing her short limbs meaninglessly in a panicked manner, her voice sounding shrill.

「Eh? I, I, didn’t hear anything about that!?」

「I didn’t either. —You didn’t notice anything?」

「T, that’s…! Sorry…」

Bettina spoke apologetically and ambiguously. However, it was probably harsh to blame her for that. Thial didn’t know about Valeria, but if Dimitar felt like it, it was easy for him to slip out of his room without letting Bettina realise anything. And then, Dimitar had probably done so.

Circling the interior of the room, Bettina asked Thial.

「W, what should we do, Thial-san!? If something happens to Valeria-sama—」

「Please calm down, Bettina-san」

If she was careless, even the other maids might wake up from just the sound of footsteps of this girl in armour. Thial put a finger in front of her lips and reined in Bettina.

「—Valeria-sama most likely must be acting together with Dimitar-sama. I don’t know their objective though…」

「I, if that’s the case, well… that means that she’ll be all right for the time being if Dimi-san is together with her, right?」

「Yes. —But if the other maids learn of this, they’ll become restless like how Bettina-san is now, and it might turn into a big commotion. Therefore, calm yourself now, and let’s await the safe return of the both of them. For now, this will be our secret only」

「Is it fine… with just that? Should we do anything else—」

It seemed that Bettina wanted to go search for Dimitar’s party, but there wasn’t a single clue about where to go to search for the two people. In the first place, it didn’t seem that Bettina could search for the two people surreptitiously and secretly.

「—It’s not yet certain that something happened to the two of them, and even if some trouble happens, Dimitar-sama will protect Valeria-sama, and they’ll be sure to come back without fail. …Bettina-san knows that better than I do, right?」

「W, well… yes」

Bettina nodded deeply with her whole body and clasped her hands together.

「…I understand. Then, please rest a little, Thial-san. I’ll stay awake like this for a while and wait for them」

「Is that all right?」

「It’s all right! Please leave it to this me! I’ll inform you immediately if something happens!」

Thial heard that Bettina was still thirteen years old, but contrary to expectations, she seemed to be a dependable girl. Thial, who was feeling considerably tired from walking continuously throughout the night, decided to rely on Bettina’s kindness for the time being and returned to her own room quietly.

「—」

She took off her clothes forcibly and crawled into bed dressed in her underwear.

Although she believed that the worst-case scenario was impossible, if Dimitar was really involved in some kind of trouble and then lost his life, what sort of expression would Lucius and Orvieto make—?

Shaking off her masters’ faces that had flicked behind her eyelids, Thial concentrated on resting her body.