94 – Third-class play – 3
Actually, the fact that I ran out to find Hestia was partly because of my intuition, which had a premonition of only bad things unnecessarily. As she tried to sit still, a feeling of uneasiness ran through her body, and she could hardly remain still. The fire accident that hit Cordelia last time, and the assailants who attacked our party further back from there. And the unpleasant sensations I felt every time. Perhaps this is called intuition.
In addition, aside from my wishes and Seol-Ah’s boastful words, the threats against me and those around me were revealed in more specific and direct forms as time went on. There is no guarantee that this incident is not part of such malice.
I jumped out of there with such a frustrating and anxious mind, but honestly, I’m at a loss as to where to find Hestia. I didn’t want to play this unfair game of hide and seek.
Everyone moved her body ahead of their will, but Cordelia came up with a pretty good idea while I was wondering how to start the search.
“Wouldn’t it be better to ask the people around you first? It’s not like Hestia suddenly disappeared, and there are probably people who saw her go somewhere.”
It was the most basic idea, but it was also an effective method. Unless you’re a genius who sits in an armchair and makes inferences through intuition, you’ll have to run to your feet diligently to inquire, and whatever comes out will come out. The three of us accepted Cordelia’s words and decided to inquire about Hestia’s whereabouts from anyone we saw.
And after a not too long investigation, I got a rough outline of where Hestia was headed. It seems that she had no intention of hiding her whereabouts. When I grabbed a passer-by and asked, everyone pointed to the low hill behind the mansion. And I also found out the reason why the mansion family didn’t worry because they had children as much as we did.
“Are you talking about my lady? In the past, if I had something to think about, I would go to the back mountain and sit there for hours. Originally, it was a place where the family heads went hunting in the winter as a hobby, but now the family heads don’t have a hobby for hunting, so it’s a mountain where no one is looking for it. You seem to think it’s your own secret space that no one else knows about, lady. I’m sure no one who works here doesn’t know that the lady is looking for it?”
As this talkative gardener said, all the servants he met pointed to the mountain behind them with a knowledgeable expression. Of course, among them, there were people who worried that it was too late, but this side was the minority, and most of them seemed to have a lot of complicated brains this time, and noticed me.
Anyway, the three of us entered the back garden of her mansion in search of Hestia. Thinking that I’m glad I found her where she is sooner than I thought.
–
The mountain at night was more dreary than I thought. Even in modern times when all kinds of light sources exist, the mountains after sunset are dark. How gloomy is this world without neon signs, streetlights, or night views? We had to rely only on the magic lanterns we had prepared in advance and our eyesight on the bluish moonlight.
The chirping of an unknown grass insect or the occasional rustle of a tree swaying in the wind would have sounded quite elegant had it not been for this situation, but unfortunately to us now, it was nothing more than an eerie and eerie sound. When I heard the wind brushing the branches, I could feel the two cowardly girls behind me giggling and getting scared.
From nob le mt l dot com
Me? Since I was very young, I was the kind of person who thought angry parents were scarier than ghosts or ghosts.
At that time, something came out of the grass and passed us by with a white light in its eyes. Seol-ah, who was already nervous, let out a flagship and jumped up and clung to my back.
“Kyaaagh! What?”
“Don’t scream, calm down. After all, there are no dangerous animals here. It should be as good as a deer.”
“M-M-M, that’s right. There’s nothing to be afraid of, right?”
I pulled Seola, who was trembling behind her back, and calmed her down like a child. Cordelia was startled and shouted at Seol-A at the subject of her chin shaking.
I lifted my lantern and illuminated something that passed us. It was a deer. When the deer heard Seol-Ah’s scream, it seemed to surprise me as well. Then he ran back on his way.
Yes, a deer must grow up. It’s a mountain for hunting, but it’s so close to the mansion, and it’s a big deal if the family head gets hurt, so I heard that all dangerous animals were saved. The animals on this mountain are only herbivores that pose no threat, such as deer, roe deer, and rabbits if they are a little bigger. If there were dangerous animals in the first place, Hestia wouldn’t be able to sit around for hours alone.
However, that was just my rational thought, with my mind and body intact, and it seems that the wild animal that suddenly appeared was quite a big fear for Seol-ah, who was already in a weak state of mind and body, overwhelmed by the dark and lonely atmosphere. Cordelia also pretended not to be afraid on the outside, but she also trembled with nervousness and fear as if she could not shake off her fear of the dark.
“Both please calm down. The deer that just passed must have been more surprised than you. Besides, we are three, but Hestia is alone. I need to find it before it’s too late.”
“Sup, hoo. Sup, whoa. Okay.”
Seolah put her hand on his chest and took a deep breath. Cordelia averted her eyes and looked away as if she was surprised. Around the time I started worrying about whether it was right for the three of them to come out together, I saw an empty lot where anyone could see that it had been touched artificially.
From the flat and wide stump of the tree to the evenly spread gravel on the floor. My intuition set off an alarm. The servants said in unison, that this is definitely the place Hestia was usually looking for.
I approached the base of the tree that was placed in a lump. If Hestia was sitting there, she would probably be over there. And there I found a carefully folded note. My heart started pounding and beating. I swallowed once and picked it up.
Seol-ah and Cordelia looked over their shoulders when they saw me picking up something.
“What?”
“Side… ji?”
From nob le mt l dot com
My hand holding the note trembled. Countless worst assumptions came to mind. I even had the absurd thought that he might have been so angry at me that he had just left a note and disappeared.
Seola and Cordelia also hardened their expressions. The two of them muttered as if they were trying to say something was okay, but then they just shut it up. No matter what was written in the first place, it was clear that the situation was not very good at the point where Hestia was not present and only the note remained.
I opened the note with trembling hands. The neat handwriting came into view at a glance.
「Michael von Sirius. Hestia von Gracia is currently under my protection. If you want to meet her, come to the point marked on the map behind her as soon as she sees this note.”
The contents of the note were short and concise, but the contents contained in it were by no means concise. I barely held on to my fading spirit and looked at the back of the note. Contrary to the neat writing, it was a messy map drawn by a developer. It was fortunate that I could barely recognize it. It was a place that looked like the basement of a nearby private house.
I giggled and gritted my teeth. I don’t know who the kidnapper is, but I feel like I’m all playing in the clutches of that bastard.
Seol-ah grabbed my shoulder, which was trembling with anger.
“No way, are you planning to go right now? It’s a trap no matter who sees it!”
“But you can’t just go.”
I know. A kidnapper leaving a note with my name on it as if he knew I would come and telling him to come out to a place he has chosen is a very banal trap. In other words, being banal also means that it is widely loved and eaten well.
That doesn’t mean you can’t stay still. Sitting down and rolling a millstone did not give me an answer, and the fact that I had to go to the location indicated on the map, whether late or early, did not change. It’s not that I’m demanding a ransom for Hestia from the wealthy count’s family, it’s that the kidnapper’s original purpose was me.
I asked Cordelia.
“Cordelia, take this map and return to her castle immediately and lead her reinforcements.”
“What about Lily?”
“I will go with you. If I have to go with one of them anyway, I’d rather take them with me.”
Seol-Ah, it is a slow, dangerous, and uncertain method to travel alone on this dark night road to deliver the news to the castle. It would be better if I could take care of myself by sending Cordelia to the castle to ask for reinforcements, and I would take Seol-ah with me.
Incidentally, there are times when I take Seol-A with me to see if I can get even the slightest bit of information, but that’s something I can’t reveal on the surface.
Cordelia, who heard me, asked in a hesitant tone.
“Lee, isn’t Lily in danger?”
“Anyway, the purpose of the person who wrote this letter is me. Besides, even if I take Miss Lily to the castle, I don’t think she’ll stay still.”
“Ugh…. Be careful, never get hurt!”
Seol-ah nodded her head. Cordelia looked back and forth between us and the castle, she grunted, and then she started running. After Cordelia disappeared from our sight, Seol-Ah opened her closed mouth.
“So, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking, I’m going to sleep, and I’m going to start now. I have to go and get Hestia.”
“Are you serious?”
Seol-A put on a bewildered expression at my answer. She came towards me and grabbed my shoulder and shook her wildly.
“I told you before! Anyone can see that it’s a trap! Are you really just asking to go without thinking? I-I thought you had something on your mind! Who in the world knows it’s a trap and yet crawls in?”
“I know at least what a trap is. A very cheap and low-quality trap. Come on, let me ask you one thing. Am I the male protagonist of this story?”
“What are you saying all of a sudden… “
“Originally, Wilhelm, the male protagonist, got corrupted while doing strange things and became a villain. After all, this story is about me being the main character. Yes?”
Seola reluctantly expressed her affirmation to my story.
“Well, if you insist on asking… ?”
“Then what genre is this story?”
“What kind of strange things have you been talking about since before?”
“Anyway, it’s not a tragedy. Yes?”
“Yes, it will not be a tragedy! As long as you don’t stick your head into an obvious trap while you’re talking nonsense here!”
“Okay then.”
“What is becoming?!”
I raised my chin in a confident manner.
“In a story that is not even a tragedy, kidnapping the lover of the main character. There’s no way you’ll fall for such a cheap trap dug that way, right?”
“Did you get shot in the head?”
Seola shot at me with an expression full of absurdity. I added her explanation to my thoughts of her for her.
“Listen. As I told you before, the world is not just a novel and the people in this world are not just characters. But the basic gist of this world is the content of the novel you read. There are some rules.”
“What about rules?”
“Have you ever thought that our group gets too often caught up in various incidents? To be precise, you, me, Hestia and Cordelia. Four like this.”
–