The orphanage we are aiming for is on the outskirts of the royal capital, Mulia.

　The next to it is a favela.

　I heard that the orphanage is supported by the kingdom, but I got the impression that they are not so wealthy.

(But everyone was in good spirits, right?)

　The children I met five months ago, who live there, were not a particularly dark shadow of their lives.

　They may have had a painful past.
　But they seemed to be positive in spirit, perhaps because they had friends in the same situation.

　That must have been due in large part to the influence of the orphanage's director, Mr. Della. Because he was a warm person with a big heart as well as a plump figure.
　That's why I thought Asbell, Ryuta and Garion had grown up to be straight people.

　And now, I'm going to the orphanage with those three.

　Eventually, I turned down the street and the desired building came into my view.

(?)

　I saw three men in armor gathered in front of the entrance of the orphanage.

　All of them wore the same armor and swords on their red costumes. The national emblem of the Kingdom of Shumuria was embroidered in the center of the costume in large letters.

''The guards of the royal capital...?　Why are you here?

　Asbell-san mutters with a surprised expression.

(Guards...?)

　In other words, they're the people who protect the security of the royal capital.

　The guards are conversing with Della and the other orphanage staff in front of the entrance of the orphanage.
　The atmosphere is kind of stuffy, and they all don't have a cheerful look on their faces.

''.........''
..........
..........

　We stopped in our tracks in surprise, and soon Garion-san started walking forward, glaring at the guards.

　Asbell-san and Ryuta-san also huffed to themselves and hurriedly chased after their companions.

　We follow too.

''Mother Della!''
'Della mom!'
Mother!

　Asbel-san and the three others call her name as they run.

　Della-san also noticed us and

'Asbel, Ruta, Galion!　Did you all come?

　His eyes widened, and he put his hands over his mouth, blotting out tears at the corners of his eyes.

　The guards noticed us too.

'Who are you guys?'
I'm from this orphanage. What the hell is going on?

　Asbell-san responded to the questioning.

　The captain-like figure looked at the three of us with a jittery gaze, then his gaze turned to me and my sisters, who were a little behind him.

''What about you guys?''
I'm an adventurer from the same guild as them.

　Iltimina replied flatly.

'What are the guards of King's Landing doing in this orphanage?　If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me why?

　As he says this, he shows his right hand.

　POW.

　A silver magical emblem shining on the back of his hand.

　Seeing it, the guard was surprised.

''Oh, you're a silver seal adventurer!
''Yes. I belong to the Adventurer's Guild, Moonlight Wind.
Oh, and by the way, I'm with that Kirt Amandes' party buddy.

　My sister to add.

　Although I'm not a fox that takes advantage of the tiger, but that one word was still effective, and the three guards' eyes changed even more as they looked at me.

''How!　That gold-marked demon hunter.
..........
Hmm, fine then. No, maybe we don't have to hide anything in particular, but...

　The captain of the guard nodded, stroking his beard.

　Then he looked at us again.

In fact, as you may have heard, since last week, there has been a rash of incidents of young girls going missing in this neighborhood.

(...what?)

A little girl is missing?

　We are stunned.

　The captain nodded with a stern expression, 'Oh.

''We're working on that investigation ourselves. And the reason we came to this orphanage is--

　His gaze looked at Della-san.

　Della-san and the rest of the staff all looked like they were about to cry.

(.........no way.)

　An unpleasant feeling passed through my brain.

　In front of us, Della-san struggled to move her trembling lips in front of us.

Oh......... Some of the kids from the orphanage have gone missing since the day before yesterday...

　So I confessed to a shocking fact.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇　


　The three guards left the orphanage after they finished questioning the staff.

　We were ushered into the orphanage's reception room.

　Sitting on an old chair, Della sighed heavily.

'I never thought it would come to this...'

　Dark circles have formed under her eyes as she sobs.

(Della.....)

　Asbell and the other three from the orphanage stare at the exhausted figure of their nurturing mother with concern.

　Both Solstice and I are speechless, pressed by the heavy air.

"What in the world happened?

　Nevertheless, the beautiful Silver Seal Demon Hunter still asked in a dignified voice, ''What can we do to help?

''There might be something we can do for you. Could you tell us a little more about the circumstances and the situation, please?''

　A calm, yet powerful gaze.

　All of our gazes are drawn to those crimson eyes.

　As if encouraged by it.

'Yes, Mother. Let us know what happened.
Please.
What the hell happened to these kids?

　Asbell-san and the others leaned forward and complained verbally.

　Me and Solstice nodded, too.

　Della-san looked around at our faces, ".......Thank you," she said, narrowing her tear-stained eyes and smiling.

　Then what was conveyed to us was this.

　This orphanage is maintained by the aid of the kingdom and donations from supporters. But besides that, the income of the orphans, though small, was also added to it.

　In other words, the orphans here are working.

　Most of the work was low-wage manual labor, such as cleaning up the streets and waterways, picking up trash and cutting the weeds in the parks, collecting trash from the contracted stores and carrying it to the processing facility, and so on.

　But some of the orphans are young children.

　The children under the age of ten were assigned to sell flowers grown in the orphanage's flowerbeds to tourists and others.

　This time, it was the young girls of the orphanage who were missing.

　Their names were Ellie, Ramchit and Poe.

(Poe, too!)

　I am appalled by the name I know.

　I was so upset to hear that she was involved that I wondered to myself.

'Merle?'

　Illtimina-san noticed my condition and approached me with concern.

　I replied briefly, "...I'm fine," and waited for her to continue her story.

　The three girls left the orphanage at 10 a.m. the day before yesterday with a basket full of flowers in their hands.

''Well that was the last time I saw those girls,''

　Della says, holding her forehead and moaning.

　The three did not return after dark.

　Della, the staff at the orphanage, and the children looked for them, but they couldn't find them.

　There were, however, some sightings.

　Around noon, the girls were still selling flowers and were seen on the main street.

　A few minutes after 3:00 p.m., a woman at a nearby stall gave them some fruit as a snack.

　Just before 4:30 p.m., several shoppers on the street saw the three of them heading home, staring ruefully at the unsold flowers.

　From that point forward, no one knows the three of them.

(..............In other words, something happened to the three of them between the front street where the flowers were sold and the orphanage's return?

　I ask, "Where's the high street?

"Where's the high street?
"It's a big street about 30 minutes from the orphanage towards the center of the capital. There are a lot of shops and restaurants, and it's very popular with tourists.

　Mr. Asbell tells me.

　Perhaps he used to sell flowers in the same way when he was a child?　And then it occurred to me.

'There are a lot of people on the front street. But the road from there to the orphanage is less popular, to be honest.
..........
'As you know Marle, this section of the city is close to the favelas, too. So even in the orphanage, we're instructed to make sure we leave before nightfall.

　Favela.....

(Poe, you were kidnapped by the residents there before.)

　Maybe again?

　Mr. Illtimina made a difficult face and pondered.

'Come to think of it, Master Mumpa told me. He said the favelas have been making a lot of noise lately.'

　

　I wonder if the three people from the orphanage had never heard of it before, or if Ryuta-san said, "Is that so? He asked back, surprised.

　Della opened her mouth, her expression clouding over.

'The guards who just arrived told me that not only our children, but nearly twenty other children have gone missing since last week.
Twenty?

　We were stunned.

'And they're all girls around 10 years old.
..........
According to the guards, all of the victims were children who live in the section facing the favela, so they suspect the residents of the favela to be suspicious. I heard there will be a massive search for them soon...

　Della nodded with a somber look on her face.

　Pang.

　Mr. Garion struck his left palm with his right hand.

'Screw it!　I can't wait that long!

　A voice that is laced with anger.

(Yeah, I know.)

　If the reason for their disappearance was a crime committed by people with some malicious intent, I fear for those children. A mere day's delay could create a situation that could be irreversible forever.

(...something, is there anything we can do about it?)

　I think.

　Asbel-san is biting her lip, and Luta-san is hugging and comforting the depressed Della-san.

　Solstice, too, had a difficult look on her face.

　Iltimina-san slowly opened her mouth.

''Considering the circumstances, it is still likely that some kind of man-made force was responsible for the disappearance of those children. If that's the case, we still have no choice but to go to the favelas.

　We nodded.

(But....)

Is he okay?

　I mutter.

'....What's your concern?
Yeah, when you kidnap 20 kids in a week, I have a feeling that the people you're dealing with are pretty organized. And it's not just a random act, it's a premeditated one.

　At least it wasn't like five months ago, when Poe was taken out of the blue.

That makes me think they're going to be wary.
..........
'I'm sure they expect the guards to come to investigate, and I don't think they've left any evidence behind in case they do. So I don't think we're going to get any clues just by going into the favela.

　Everyone was surprised at my words.

　Illtimina nodded, "I see," she said.

'Indeed, Marle does have a point.
..........
You think about it more than we do as adults. But ... so what better way to do it then?

　He asked me that.

(Uh-huh.)

　I was torn.

"Hey, don't you have anything?

　Mr. Garion yells at me, as if to take out his frustration.

　Asbel-san stopped him with a 'Stop' and Ryuta-san looked at me as if clinging to me.

　Solstice also asked, 'What about it?' He stares at my face as if to say.

(............)

　After looking back at Solstice for a moment, I replied to Illtimina-san.

''It's there for a reason.
Are you sure?
Yes.

　I nodded and said.

'Bait and switch.'

　The eyes of everyone in the room rolled up.

'Someone gets caught by that organization on purpose. Then we'll find out where the missing girls are. If we can, we'll rescue them. And while we're at it, we'll hopefully find out who the organization is.
...I see.

　Illtimina nodded in deep agreement.

　Everyone else looked at me as if they were impressed.

''But it's a very dangerous operation...''

　I didn't want to suggest much,

　Luta said in a hard voice, squeezing her lips together.

'Then I'll take the bait.
What?
Hey, Ruta.

　Asbell-san is surprised, and Garion-san lets out a low voice.

　Della says, "Don't do it, Luta! I grabbed his arm and appealed to him to reconsider.

　But Mr. Lutha had a look of firm determination on his face.

'Somebody's gotta do it, right?　Then I'll--
You can't do that.

　I interrupted him.

'The victims so far have all been girls around ten years old.

　The dark elf Lutha was still young, but he was still 14-5 years old. I'm sure he's off target for them.

''So I probably wouldn't be able to bait them.
No.....

　Luta-san has a disappointed look on her face.　

　Asbell-san and Garion-san have mixed expressions of relief and disappointment.

　And when that happens, the gazes of everyone in this place turn to one girl.

''.......What?''

　Solstice's eyes perk up behind her glasses.

　This petite girl is thirteen years old.

(Her face still looks young, and I think she's good enough to be around ten years old.)

　My sister looks lost.

'Surely Sol could be a decoy. But...
Yes.

　I can understand Illtimina's concern.

　Solstice is a wizard.

　As long as it's a decoy, she can't take any weapons with her. It's not only that, but I can't have a large staff in my hand, which is the trigger for that magic.

(If she can't use magic, she's not a decoy anymore, she's really a helpless girl.)

　I'm not sure I can do that.

No?

　Asbell says with a grunt.

　Yes, we have a plan, but we don't have the right people here to do it.

(At least one more girl who can go with Solstice... and that's if there's a girl who can fight without a weapon...)

　I let out a mournful breath in my mind.

　And.

Doesn't it have to be a girl...?

　Suddenly, Illtimina-san muttered with a face that came up with something.

(Huh?)

　I stare back at her.

　Illtimina-san's crimson eyes were looking at me.

　Asbell-san, Garion-san, and Solstice have a puzzled look on their faces as they don't understand the meaning of the words the same way I do.

　Luta-san made a face as she realized the meaning of the words, '..............Ah.　

''That........could work.
Do you agree, Ryuta?
Yes!

　The two of them nodded meaningfully to each other in understanding.

(????)

　Looking at me confused, Della-san muttered, "I see.

　Ms. Illtimina gazes at me intently.

　She puts her hands on my shoulders.

Merle, this is a life-saving and urgent matter. It's not personal.
Uh-huh?
So I'm asking for your help.

　He asked me to do it with a very serious look on his face.

(............)

　For some reason, I felt a strange unease.

　Luta invited us to another room. "Here are the tools we used for the play last year," he said.

Let's go, Male.
..........

　A strange excitement seemed to reside in Mr. Illtimina's rushing voice.

　As it was, the three of us went to the other room.

　.............
　......
　........................

　And so, although I knew that this was an emergency, I ended up regretting my earlier suggestion of a decoy plan, just a little bit.........