18 – Festival (4)
The preliminaries ended, and I returned to the students.
Then, my clone walking around the venue caught my sight.
The clone recognised me instantly and spoke to the students,
“Wait here for a moment.”
With that closing remark, it came towards me.
I quickly revoked the cloning technique.
The next moment, the experiences of the clone flashed through my mind.
‘Hmm. Fortunately, there seems to be no trouble.’
Well, I had expected as much.
In the first few hours, the students typically experience some mishaps.
On top of that, my clone was accompanying them.
Although my clone’s power is significantly weaker than mine, it could comfortably defeat an average mage.
I naturally rejoined the students.
Then, Maria narrowed her eyes narrowly as if looking at me.
“Where have you been?”
“I just checked because it seemed like someone was looking for a fight.”
“Hmm…”
She scanned me as if suspicious, before swiftly turning her head away.
It seems that she has noticed my alter ego.
‘Just in case someone would say they’re not Maria’s daughter.’
I didn’t foresee that she would detect the strangeness in this way.
I’ll have to properly complete it sometime in the future.
***
The first day of the festival had ended, and the second day had begun.
As usual, I was about to go to work.
But at that moment.
“Karel! Why did you suddenly decide to participate in the festival?!”
Maria opened the door with a bang and asked a question.
I counter-questioned her query.
“Why didn’t you tell me first? That such a festival was happening?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? I definitely told you it’s happening this time, you probably ignored it like always.”
“…..”
Having nothing to say against her statement, I responded with silence.
Then, she took a shallow breath and spoke.
“So why did you participate? It can’t be because you’re out of money.”
“Well, I have something to investigate, so I participated.”
“Investigation?”
Hmm, it wouldn’t matter if I told Maria.
I talked about Calley.
After hearing all the explanations, her expression became a bit serious.
“That’s what you’re saying. There wasn’t anything like that when I investigated.”
“Still, just in case. I will look into it directly.”
“Alright. If that’s the case, I have one more question. Is it okay for a member of the hero party to participate?”
I was slightly taken aback by the unexpected question, but honestly, it was not a big deal.
I nodded in affirmative.
“I don’t mind.”
“Okay, got it!”
With that, I headed back to the academy.
-“This income will be salty, won’t it?”
Maria’s excited voice rang in my ears, but I pretended not to hear.
As I approached the main gate, I saw students waiting.
“Everyone’s here?”
“Yes!”
The students responded firmly to my question.
I quietly scanned the group.
‘Ellie is here this time too.’
The girl who couldn’t make it yesterday because of a scheduling conflict.
I wondered what could have kept her and found out it was a tournament.
Just then.
-She smirks.
She looks at me and gives me a meaningful smile.
An expression I’d seen many times, but something felt different.
“Professor. Is it okay if I have to leave in the middle?”
Suddenly, Ellie looks at me and asks a question.
I nodded at her question.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
“Then, I’ll leave around lunch.”
With that said, we resumed our tour of the city.
‘The final match is definitely in the afternoon…’
Then I should be free until the morning.
We wandered around under the pretext of security, sightseeing the surroundings.
To be honest, we were less on patrol and more just sightseeing.
Just then.
-Catch him!
-Give me my money! You punk!
Urgent voices rang in my ears.
Wondering what on earth was happening, I saw a kid in a reversed robe running frantically.
He was tightly gripping a bag of money.
“Stay here with the students and keep quiet, Meria.”
“Yes, understood, Professor.”
I kicked off in pursuit of the youngster.
The crowd made it hard to run properly, which was slightly annoying.
“Huff!”
Still, catching one kid didn’t take too long.
I quickly snatched up the child.
Then, with my hand firmly around them, the kid started flailing their arms wildly.
“Let me go!”
I pulled off the cloak covering the kid’s face.
In the next moment, a young, dust-covered girl came into view.
Just as I had suspected from the theft, it was clear she was a child from the poor district.
I took the purse of money from her hand.
Then I handed it over to the man running up from behind.
“Is this purse yours?”
“Hah… Hah… Yes, it is.”
“Please take it.”
As I handed over the purse, he spoke.
“Make sure to turn that one in to the guards!”
With those words, the man huffed away.
I looked at the girl I had caught.
‘Hmm. No need to actually turn her in.’
I would have if she were an adult, but honestly, there seemed no need to turn in a child.
Of course, if I simply let her go, it was obvious she would just steal again.
So, I decided to give her a smack on the head.
-Whack!
“Ouch!”
The next moment, with tears forming, she rubbed the lump on her head.
Seeing she didn’t complain about the smack, it appeared she knew what she’d done wrong.
I handed her a small purse of coins and spoke.
“Stop your stealing for the day with this.”
“Huh, huh? You’re giving me this?”
“Yes.”
“Huh, um.”
She looks embarrassed as she accepts the bag of money I’ve given her.
She probably didn’t expect this kind of charity.
I was about to head back to where the students were while turning my back.
Just then, the little one behind me suddenly asks my name.
“Mister, what’s your name?”
“I’m not a mister.”
“Okay. Then, what’s your brother’s name?”
“Kael.”
“Kael… I’m Shiro!”
With that, she runs off, then leisurely moves away.
‘Why did she ask?’
I moved on, wondering inside.
At this point, I didn’t know.
That I would run into Shiro in a place where I least expected it.
***
Again, I headed towards where the students were.
Then, Maria looked anxiously at the surroundings.
“What’s happening?”
“Oh, Ray and Elaine have disappeared.”
I would understand if only Elaine had disappeared.
She is always excited whenever she steps outside, like a child visiting a city for the first time.
However, not only Elaine but also Ray disappeared.
I think they must have been lost in the crowd.
“You guys better head back to the academy.”
“Yes, we understand. Let’s go back, guys!”
Maria led the rest of the students towards the academy.
I closed my eyes and used my magic detection.
The next moment, an endless stream of information rushed past my brain.
In an instant, I gathered the information I needed.
‘They’re here.’
Soon after, I located where they were.
‘Just how far did they go in that short time?’
Mentally clicking my tongue, I set foot toward where the two were.
***
At that moment.
The two who barely escaped a crowd drew shallow breaths in a back alley.
“Hah… Hah… I thought it would be suffocating.”
“Yeah.”
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Ray nodded in agreement to Elaine’s words.
‘There are so many people, probably because it was announced that the Hero’s Party would come.’
I’ve been here a few times when I was young, but there wasn’t this many people.
It was an eye-opening moment, realizing how much of a big deal the Hero’s Party was.
Then suddenly,
-Uuung!
A sinister magic trembled from her chest.
Ray quickly collected the magic and let out a shallow breath.
‘A week already went by.’
It’s about time to visit Kael for another relief.
“Ew… ew…”
In an instant, the bizarre scenes crossing her mind.
Even though she didn’t specifically do anything, from her perspective, it was undeniably shameful.
“Ray? What’s wrong? Your face is turning red?!”
“Uh, uh. It’s nothing.”
Ray stuttered in response to Elaine’s question, quickly denying it.
Soon, he changed the subject.
“Anyway, let’s go back to the kids quickly. They’re probably looking for us.”
“Ah! Where the hell are we?”
Elaine spun her head around, examining her surroundings.
Carried by the crowd, they had moved to a place devoid of people, but she felt a strange chill upon arrival.
She wasn’t the only one feeling this way; Ray also sensed something wrong.
Just then.
“What’s this? Who are they?”
Some thug-like figures were approaching their way.
Ray furrowed his brows at the unexpected situation.
“Elaine, on the count of three, we run back…”
Before Ray could finish his sentence, the thugs who had suddenly appeared from behind.
She saw it all and understood in an instant.
These guys didn’t just appear out of nowhere.
“Looking at their clothes, don’t they look like henchmen?”
“Will we get into needless trouble if we mess with them?”
“Hey, hey. Don’t be scared, think about the boss’s backing.”
“After all, if you think about the boss’s backing, there’s no need to be scared.”
Saying that, the thugs turned their heads in their direction.
Ray realized that they couldn’t resolve this with conversation and drew his sword.
Just when he was about to tell Elaine to attack.
“Ugh!”
Elaine had kicked the groin of the man behind her with a smirk.
“Ray! Let’s quickly beat these goons!”
From the looks of it, she also seemed to be on the same page him.