Lane!
Thank God you're okay.

　Everyone seemed to be awake too and jumped out of the tent.
　Kanade, Tania, Sora, Luna and Nina, they're all here.

''........shy.......''

　...although Nina was half asleep.

　Oh, well, that's okay.
　I'm glad to see that everyone is okay for now.

'Guffaw.'

　The bear I was taming approached us.
　He is somewhat proud of himself, perhaps because he has faithfully accomplished the orders he was given.

'Good, good, good job,'
Guffaw.
Which way do the intruders go?
Guh!

　The bear pointed in the direction of the south.

　South?　There's nothing special about the south...?
　After a short walk, you'd only have to walk a short distance to reach the city and nothing else.
　However, there is no way the bear is lying.
　Bears don't have the intelligence to deceive people, and there's no reason to deceive them.

　What does that mean?

Lane, come here!
Tania?

　With some impatience, Tania called me to her.
　We moved as we were told, and we found ourselves in the tent where we had thrown our captives.

'Look,'

　I looked inside as I was told................................and the prisoner I was supposed to have captured was gone.
　Instead, a cut rope had fallen off.

I don't know how they did it, but they got away. We have to go after them now!
....
Lane?
Aren't you crazy to be on the run?　First of all, there are few ropes that have fallen. They had tied both arms and legs together, so if I untied them all, there would be a lot more rope left. Besides, how did he get out of that situation?　Not without outside help.
That's ... but you're not actually running away, are you?
Well, I guess...

　There's a lot I don't understand but....
　The prisoners have escaped, that's a given.
　If we don't go after them quickly, we'll fail the request.

　I walk out of the tent and join the others.

'Rain, what's going on?'
The prisoners have escaped.
Cat?
"Sola, Luna. Can you use magic to track down the escaped prisoners?
'If they're close enough we can find them, but if they've already escaped far enough away, it's difficult. We have a fixed effective range.
I'm gonna do it anyway. Material Search!

　Luna cast a spell and....
　After a bit, he shook his head.

'Oh?　Did you get a reaction?
Are you sure?
Hmm. That's about as close as we're going to get. That's about 500 meters south of here. There are multiple magical reactions.
You're closer than I thought.
It's easy to catch up now!
Good. Kanade and Tania, follow me. Sola, Luna and Nina, call Aug and Kreuz.
Are you going to contact those two?
Can't we just leave it alone?
That's not going to happen. If we ignore him here, he might make it difficult for us again and we might have to help him out.
Nya ... if that's what Lane says.
'It's Rain. About that - those two are camped by the river, fifty yards to the north, aren't they?
Yeah?
He's not responding.
What?
There's no sign of those two. There's no one to the north right now. The only reaction from people is from the south.

　What does that mean...?
　Did you abandon your request?
　
　If that's the case........

Do you...

　Suddenly, it hit me.

Luna. Can you check your magical reactions again?　However, now I want to know a more accurate number of people. Can you do it?
Hmmm, who do you think I am?　It's the most powerful species. It's a piece of cake!　Show the Lord my great power....
"Material Search.
'Oh!　It's my turn!
'Luna has a long front end. You have seven magical reactions.
At last!

　I have a bad feeling, and I can't help but click my tongue.

'Rain, Rain. What do you mean?
It's Ogg and Kreuz.
Meow?　What's wrong with those two?
Two of them helped the prisoner escape.
What?
'No, to be precise, you've taken him out. I'm going to take him into town and take the credit for it.

　Sola said there were seven magical reactions.
　But the poachers we caught were five.
　That's two more.

　And ... there's no sign of Aug and Kreuz.
　Their timing was perfect, as a prisoner who should not have escaped has escaped.
　It would be the first thing to see that the two of them were involved.

'How dare you intercept someone's prey.......!
'It's not fair!　I won't be happy unless you punish him!
They're right. There's no way I'm letting you get away with this. We'll get him!

　I was just about to run off and...

Wait a minute.

　He closed his eyes and searched for signs of his surroundings.
　Skipping more thought waves, he sought out what he wanted.

　We made a tentative agreement with an insect.
　As if following us, a fluffy light ball appeared.

...beautiful.
Neeee... what's that?
It's a luminescent insect that glows at night. It's dark, so we use it for light.
I mean, we need the light, but don't we need to have this thing with us so they can find us?
They have a prisoner. I don't think they can speed up our escape just because they know we're here. That's not a problem. In fact, maybe we can put some pressure on them by showing them that we're coming after them.
Okay, that's true.
All right, let's go.

　On cue, they plunged into the forest.

　It was dark in the forest at night, and with the leaves of the trees blocking the moonlight, visibility would have been quite poor under normal conditions.
　However, thanks to the luminescent insects, our surroundings were moderately well lit.
　We could see our feet and the light reached about three meters around us.

　Full force.........not quite, but we were still able to run at some speed.
　Thanks to that, we were able to catch up with Aug and Kreutz soon after.

''Rain, I've found it!　Eight o'clock!

　He moved his gaze quickly at Kanade's words.
　Multiple figures could be seen moving in the darkness of the night.

　The one standing in the lead is Aug.
　The one standing in the back is Kreuz.
　The two men were carrying a prisoner we had captured.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on in the world.

　As I suspected, these two were involved!

'Kanade, Tania! Go around in front of them and stop them!　I'm going to put it in from behind.
Yes, sir!
Let's get this over with.

　Kanade and Tania picked up speed and circled around from side to side, respectively.
　That's as good as it gets.
　When the two of them get serious, there's no way I can catch up with them.

''From here on out........''
Roadblock!
What?

　In no time at all, Kanade and Tania were around in front of Aug and Kreuz.
　When they stopped to show off their presence, Aug, who was walking at the front, let out an upsetting voice.

''d*mn, I can't believe they've already found us... if it comes to this, we'll do it, Aug!
Oh, yeah, I can't let these kids win.

　Aug and Kreuz held their swords and wands at the ready, respectively.
　Apparently, there is not the slightest hint of the idea of surrendering quietly.

　Well, they will.
　If they're not going to fight back, they're not going to take the credit for it in the first place.

　Well, this is the moment of truth.
　We can't let these people beat us in any way.