Speaking of which, do you know anything about the recent increase in girl abductions, Hermes?
Huh?

　One afternoon, I was relaxing at Oltia's place when she suddenly asked me about it.

　I had been on the bed with her, kneeling on her lap and dozing off, when all at once my eyes glazed over and I looked up at her from my kneeling position.

'What's up with you, all of a sudden. It's so rare to hear you bring up a subject like that.

　I was more surprised by that of Oltia than I was by the tone I heard back.

　Ortiz is a "professional" whore.
　She always says she's proud of being a prostitute, and in fact, she doesn't take money for anything other than being a prostitute.

　In addition to the fact that it is an occupation of a prostitute that misleads men in a grand manner, there are many times when the other man gives you gold and silver treasures other than the usual.

　It's not a bad thing in itself to receive it, in fact it's a normal part of being a prostitute.

　However, Ortiz is not doing it.

　It's not unusual for her to ask me, as a customer, a question like this.

'Is it strange?'
'Oh, funny. I don't care if you're begging me for a lifetime of begging or something.
'Do you prefer the begging of a lifetime?　Hermes, were you a masochist?
'Why not?　It just means I don't feel bad about being begged off as a man.

　It's up to you to demand it, but I don't usually feel bad about being "asked" to do something by a pretty girl.
　In fact, it makes me feel good.

'Haha, sorry, sorry.'

　Oltia clasped her hands together and apologized with a wink.
　Immediately after, her expression changes.
　It's a different, more serious expression than the one I had before.

　Feeling 'something' about it, I got up from my kneeling position and half-turned around on the bed to face her straight.

'As you know, Hermes-chan, a lot of prostitutes have been kidnapped and sold.
Well, you know what... still?
Not so much now.
Okay.

　I nodded quietly.
　In all the years I've been a lord and in all my governmental duties, I've noticed a few things.
　It's about kidnapping and human trafficking.

　We don't forbid parents to voluntarily sell their children.
　In a rural area or something like that, there's a need to cut back on the talk in the first place, and it's often happier for both parties if they buy and sell straight up.

　The trafficking of people through kidnapping is strictly forbidden, and we have them crack down on it.
　It was a bit of a relief to hear the results of that from Ortizia's mouth.

'But still, it's not zero.
That's true. There's no such thing as 'zero'.
'Sometimes they still come in, I guess. I buy things here because it's often better to buy them, and that's why I come back, but there's been a lot of kidnapping again lately, but they don't come to our house at all.
Have you been to any other whorehouses?
I'm afraid it's gone. I've talked to your sister about it.

　'Sister you mean Hestia, Ortiz's senior prostitute, Hestia?

'Yes, or........'

　I picked my jaw and thought about it.

　It wasn't something I'd told Ortiz, but 'not at all' was odd.
　If this isn't something I normally buy, then I wouldn't come here to mean that there's no point in coming here, but if I'm buying from a kidnapper on a regular basis, then it's strange that I don't come here at all.

　If it's down to zero, then we should assume that there's something there.

So, you know what? I'm wondering what you know about it, Hermes.
...Okay, okay. I'll look into it.

　　　　　★

''The lord has asked me to look into it, but as you said, there have been many cases of people missing in the territory.

　The office of the mansion.
　Hearing Mimis's report on the investigation, I've raised an eyebrow.

　It's only been about half a day since I ordered Mimis to investigate, but even so, the results are still clearly showing that there are so many occurrences of the disease.

Is it being resolved?
'Mostly unresolved,' he said. And.
And?
They're probably all part of the same crime.
On what basis?
We've been told that all of the kidnappings that we've seen so far have been of young girls who have been taken in what appears to be an increase in the number of abductions.
A young girl?
The ages range from 12 at the bottom to 25 at the top. In each case, only unmarried girls seem to be targeted.
Where are you from?
Some were farmers' daughters, some were merchants' daughters. And one of the city's most famous teahouse girls.
I see...

　If they're all kids of that age, it's certainly not surprising that a prostitute/whore house like Ortiz would care about them if the rumors got out.
　Perhaps the lack of commonality is another reason for accelerating the rumor.

'And one more thing.
Hmm?
Money has been delivered to the family home of the kidnapped girl.
The money?　How long?
About 10 gold pieces.
'Ten gold coins!　That's a lot of money for a young girl to work hard for ten years to make.
As long as there's money to be made, it's still buying people--
You're an idiot.

　I was dumbfounded.
　Mimis was stunned when she was told.

What do you mean by that?
'The amount of money is too large for a young girl to be trafficked, and would such a person bother to deliver the money to her parents' house?
That's not...

　Leaving Mimis to her dismay, I thought.

　I wasn't sure if I should be actively involved.

　My gut tells me that this is a pretty big deal.
　This thing has some pretty big strings attached to it.
　It's mostly because this is kidnapping and you've brought a lot of money to his parents' house.

　When you're connected to something big, the prestige you get when you solve a case is huge.

　I'm sorry to say to Ortiz, but I'm going to pretend I didn't hear about this--.

What?

　I knocked over a chair and stood up.

'My lord?'

　Despite Mimis' astonishment, she looks at the window.
　To be precise, you can read the signal coming from there.

　There is no doubt that the signal is your sister.

　She's important to me.

　That's why I've cast a spell so that I'll know immediately if anything happens to my sister.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of the situation.

　That magic has been activated.
　They told her that her sister was in danger.

''--!

　I hit the window and jumped out.
　I jumped out and kicked the void (...) and accelerated to a straight line with my flying magic to the location of the signal.

　Soon, I could see it from the sky.
　A single carriage galloping down the main street towards the outskirts of the city.

　I drew my sword from my waist and threw it at it.

　The sword flew straight away, then surged once in an arc, then fell headlong into the ground, like a sucker.
　It then pierced the ground at the end of the carriage - the end of the horse.

　Hihihi--and the horse went away and the carriage stopped.

　The sword that came flying in - the overwhelming presence of the dark sword that emits a black aura - made the horse stop in a hurry with enough force to make it stand on a stick.
　I landed next to the sword, glaring at the carriage and - Gosha.

'Leave the person in it.
-Oh!

　The Gosha, with his hood deeply pulled up, was upset to see.
　Even if he didn't have that kind of reaction, there was no doubt that his sister was in the carriage.

'What are you talking about--'

　It was a woman's voice, and I ignored it.
　I pulled out my sword and let go of the impaled sword and ripped it right off.
　The vacuum blade slashed off the top half of the carriage and blew it straight away.

　There were two people in the carriage.

　One of them was my sister, who was unconscious.
　She's only fainted, but from a quick glance, nothing has been done to her yet.

　The other one - was a woman.

　A young girl a few years younger than me, wearing well-tailored clothes.

'Leave that one. She's my sister.
'Eleni!　Put that thing away!

　The girl who was riding with her sister shouted out at the top of her voice.
　In response to the Lord's command, He put His hand in His bosom - but.

'Erica-sama?'

　It was a beautiful but surprised woman's voice from the side that stopped the situation - the start of the battle - from happening.

　I turned around and saw that the woman was a familiar face.
　Hestia. She was a senior prostitute in Ortia.

'You ... your father's ...'
That person... was Erica-sama the one responsible for the kidnapping?

　The two of us are surprised at each other.
　I ask Hestia, raising my eyebrows, sheathing my dark sword and asking Hestia.

'You know that girl, Hestia?'
Yes, sir.

　Hestia nodded.
　Instantly, I had a bad feeling.
　A very, very bad premonition.

　Because I remembered the girl's "your father's......." just before, and the stream of "father" that was once involved with Hestia.

　So I tried to get her to stop cowering.

'Her Royal Highness Erika Rica Kalamba. It's Her Majesty the current Queen of the Kingdom of Kalamba.

　The mastermind was too big for me to have expected.