Chapter 137 - 10
When Edward awoke, he noticed that the bed next to his was empty. Looking at the pocket watch he had placed by his pillow, the time was just past seven-thirty in the morning. For the late-rising Franz to be up and helping with breakfast… that was absolutely impossible.
Looking at the broken spare bed at his feet, he saw Ritz curled up, sleeping with a pained expression as if having a nightmare. He must have come back in the middle of the night. Still, he looked pained. Had he been a little too harsh with him yesterday?
Getting out of bed and getting ready, he looked at the clock again. It was almost eight o’clock. Franz’s absence was strange, but there was something even stranger.
Anna hadn’t come to wake them. For Anna, who always appeared to wake them at the exact time, not to come was strange. Perhaps she had been so worried about yesterday that she couldn’t sleep and had overslept.
Still, for both of the younger members to be different from usual was more than just rare; it was an emergency. If a problem had occurred, he would have to deal with it.
For the time being, Edward shook Ritz awake.
“How long are you going to sleep? Get up.”
“…Just a little more.”
“I’m not Anna, so I won’t wake you gently. You’re sleeping with the expectation of losing a finger or two, aren’t you?”
When he said this in a hushed voice, Ritz reacted with a twitch.
“…I’m up.”
He sat up like a bear, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. It seemed he had hardly slept at all. But he couldn’t be concerned about such things.
“Franz is gone.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Anna hasn’t come to wake us either.”
The moment he mentioned Anna’s name, Ritz got out of bed, his expression tightening. He stood up immediately and put his hand on the door.
“…I’ll go check.”
“Please do.”
Ritz, who had gone to the next room, returned a short while later with a dazed look on his face. He was holding something like a piece of paper.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s not here.”
“Not here?”
With a somewhat confused look, Ritz unfolded the paper in his hand and gave it to Edward. There, in Anna’s firm handwriting, was a note: ‘I’ll be back by dinner. Anna.’
“It’s my fault.”
Ritz, holding the paper, sat down on the bed. Still reeling from yesterday, Ritz slumped over and didn’t raise his head.
“Is this any time to be depressed? Franz is gone too, you know.”
“You’re right.”
“Let’s go downstairs, anyway.”
“Yeah.”
Even as he said that, Ritz didn’t get up, so I gave him a whack on the top of his head with my fist.
“Ow! What was that for, Ed!”
“Just firing you up. Be grateful.”
“Tyrant.”
Ritz grumbled while rubbing his head. But his voice seemed to have a bit of strength back. Edward opened the door without looking back.
“If you’re going to be depressed, do it later. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
With Ritz rubbing his head in tow, he went downstairs, where Karl was pacing around.
“Ritz, Honey is gone.”
“Huh?”
“Where could she have gone? She never goes anywhere without telling me.”
Flustered, Karl paced around the room.
“Karl, have you seen Franz and Anna?”
He knew he couldn’t expect an answer from him in this state, but when he asked just in case, Karl, as expected, shook his head.
“I don’t know. What, are those two gone too? What about Anna’s room?”
“She’s not there.”
Ritz answered curtly.
“Maybe the youngsters are conspiring to abandon the unreliable Ritz?”
“Dad, I’m being serious…”
Just as Ritz was about to press Karl, the front door opened. All their gazes turned towards it at once. Through the slowly opened door was Ciela.
“I’m home. I’m sorry, you must be hungry, right?”
Ciela said, slowly closing the door with both hands.
“How about some bread and bacon, and, oh, a green bean potage? It’s gotten so late, I can’t make anything too elaborate.”
As Ciela leisurely turned around, her eyes widened. It seemed she had finally noticed the three men’s serious gazes all directed at her.
“Is something wrong?”
To the tilting-her-head Ciela, Karl was the first to ask.
“Where have you been?”
“Me? To Merite.”
“Since morning?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
If she didn’t go alone, then the answer was obvious. But for confirmation, Ritz approached Ciela.
“Mom, did you go with Anna and Franz?”
“That’s right. They’ve been loitering around the entrance to the forest since just after four o’clock.”
“After four!?”
“Yes. I was wondering what was going on, so I eavesdropped with the wind spirit, and it turned out they both wanted to go to Merite. But they couldn’t do it alone, could they? So I took them.”
“Merite… why?”
To the stunned Ritz, Ciela smiled brightly.
“Anna, you see, it was for your sake, Ritz.”
“…Mine?”
“Yes. And Franz seems to be going to see his sister.”
Ritz, told that she had gone to Merite for his sake, seemed utterly confused. After yesterday, he probably couldn’t figure out what Anna was thinking. For that matter, even Edward didn’t understand the meaning of her actions.
“Could you tell me more?”
Edward, pushing the Alster father and son slightly back, asked Ciela, and she smiled brightly without any hesitation. It seemed she hadn’t been told to keep it a secret.
“Of course. First, the short one about Franz.”
And what she began to say was enough to surprise Edward and Ritz. It was surprising that Franz had identified with the spirits and went to see his sister, but Anna’s case was even more surprising.
He knew Anna was depressed and worried about Ritz, but for her thoughts to go in that direction was unexpected even for Edward.
“How did it come to this!”
Ritz groaned, slumping into a chair and holding his head.
“What kind of leap is that? That’s too much of a jump!”
“That’s Anna for you… I suppose.”
Recently, Anna had been so quiet that he had forgotten her ‘act now, think later’ personality.
But to think that from being hurt by not being trusted by Ritz, she would think, ‘I must have been tested by Ritz to see if I’m trustworthy,’ and then her thoughts would leap again to, ‘To be trusted, I need to know a lot about Ritz,’ and then to, ‘So let’s ask someone who knows about Ritz,’ was something he had never dreamed of.
“When did I ever do anything to test her trust? If I could do that calmly in that situation, I wouldn’t be worrying now.”
Ritz groaned, running his hands messily through his just-woken-up hair.
“I trust Anna more than I trust myself.”
But Edward looked at Ritz calmly.
“If you had first told Anna, ‘I didn’t want you to hate me, so I kept it a secret. I’m sorry,’ this situation wouldn’t have happened.”
Now that there was no one who didn’t know Ritz’s feelings for Anna, he would say it without reservation. As expected, Ritz looked up at Edward, who was standing with his arms crossed.
“Those words… hurt…”
“Do they? Then I’ll say more. You should have been honest and said, ‘I love you, so I couldn’t tell you,’ and been shot down by Anna. That would have been better.”
“Ed…”
Usually, he would fight back, but Ritz just groaned pathetically. Judging it pointless to attack an opponent who couldn’t fight back any further, Edward sighed and asked Ciela again.
“What time did they arrive in Merite?”
“Let’s see, about an hour ago.”
“So… before seven…”
Something was bothering him. If Anna wanted to know about Ritz’s past, the people she would ask would be the villagers of Merite or, one other person, Jin.
“Did you hear who they were going to meet?”
When he asked the most important question, Ciela, unaware of its significance, put a hand to her cheek for a moment to think, then looked straight at Edward.
“I believe it was the person who is guarding Franz’s sister.”
“Jin.”
The low murmur he let out was terribly heavy. If Anna went to Jin, he was worried. The way that man had looked at Ritz was not normal.
“This is worrying.”
The muttered voice echoed surprisingly loudly throughout the room.
“You’re right. We have to go get them, or they won’t be able to get back here.”
Ritz seemed to be thinking about something completely different, as he said this with his chin in his hand. That’s when it occurred to Edward. Ritz hadn’t noticed the abnormality in Jin’s gaze.
“Ritz, what kind of man is Jin?”
“A man who can’t be trusted. If you use him wrong, you’ll surely have your throat cut in your sleep. He’s a petty villain who will flock to the strong and the wealthy, steal, and show no mercy even to women and children if you don’t keep an eye on him.”
“What?”
“In fact, we only used him for intrigue and surprise attacks. He said he came looking for me, but he was probably just a nuisance they couldn’t handle in my old unit and got rid of. You see, there was a part of me that kept him in line with force…”
After answering so casually, Ritz seemed to realize something, and his expression tightened.
“Why are you asking about him?”
“That man, Jin, seems to hold a grudge against you. His gaze was not normal.”
“…How did you see it, Ed?”
“He’s probably planning something. That much is certain.”
A heavy silence fell upon the two of them. Danger was approaching. And to the powerless pair of Anna and Franz.
“…The one Anna went to see was Jin.”
Before he finished speaking, Ritz was on his feet.
“That’s right.”
“This is bad.”
“Yeah.”
Edward was also on his feet. In that time, Ritz was already shouldering the greatsword that had been leaning in a corner of the dining room since he came to this house. Edward also took up his sword in the same way. Just in case, he also fastened Franz’s weapon to his waist.
If Franz was safe with Constanze, he would be needed as some form of combat power.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
When he turned around, Ritz’s eyes were already filled with a quiet anger. Was that anger at his own inadequacy, or anger at the incident that was likely to occur? But one thing was certain.
If something happened to Anna, Edward probably wouldn't be able to hold Ritz back. For the current Ritz, Anna was, without exaggeration, his everything. If Jin was acting alone, it would be one thing, but if he had companions, they would probably not survive.
The image of a blood-soaked, gruesome scene and his friend standing there appeared and disappeared before his eyes. To prevent that from happening, they had to catch up with Anna and Franz as quickly as possible. He prayed that they were safe.
Filled with tension, the two of them left the house, and Karl followed.
“I’ll go too. A spirit user will be useful in a pinch.”
“I’m counting on you, Dad.”
“Leave it to me. Ciela, there might be a messenger from the Elder, so I’m leaving you to watch the house.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
Seen off by Ciela, the three of them rushed out of the house.
Ritz ran as if he were flying. Edward, being elderly, was well aware that he likely wouldn’t be able to keep up at this pace. He let Ritz go ahead, brought out the horses, and rode with Karl. He worried that he wouldn’t be able to pick up speed in the forest, but in reality, there was no need for that.
The horse advanced smoothly through the forest. It couldn’t gallop, of course, but it was much faster than Edward going on foot.
The path to Merite, perhaps because it was frequently used, was more like a simple mountain trail than a beast track. Because of that, the trees in the forest were cleared, and it wasn’t so intricate as to be insufficient for a horse to trot. If one knew the entrance, finding and following this path would be easy.
Ritz’s back, far ahead, was visible between the trees. His back radiated an abnormal amount of tension.
Edward didn’t know firsthand what kind of villain Jin was. But watching Ritz, he could guess that he was quite bad. If it were Franz, he would only have to worry about injuries from torture, but he had to worry about more than that.
Anna was a woman. And for Ritz, she was a special, beloved woman with whom he could find peace for the first time. If Jin were to violate Anna, Ritz would probably not only hate Jin, but also Franz and Ciela, who had come to this village with him, and would never be able to forgive himself for driving Anna to such an extreme action in the first place.
What would happen to Ritz if he could only hate himself and others… he didn’t want to imagine it.
They passed through the forest in about an hour in silence.
Currently, it was just past nine o’clock. About two hours had passed since Anna and Franz had arrived in Merite.
“I’m going to the village.”
Leaving those words behind, Karl disappeared. He was going to ask if anyone in the village had seen them. Leaving that to Karl, Ritz and Edward turned their feet in the opposite direction.
“First, let’s see Constanze. Franz might be there.”
“Yeah.”
Tying the horses outside the village and heading for the tent, they found a commotion in front of it. The Saradio Guard Corps that Ritz had beaten before were pacing around nervously.
“Looks like something happened over there too.”
When he said this calmly, Ritz nodded silently with a stern look. Eventually, the Saradio Guard Corps noticed them, and a man with a beard came over.
“Well, well…”
Staring down the man who seemed about to start wringing his hands, Ritz cut straight to the point.
“Has Franz been here?”
“…Master Franz, you say?”
When he heard Franz’s name, the bearded man’s agitation intensified. Ritz grabbed the indecisive man, who was glancing towards the tent, by the collar and lifted him up with one hand.
“E-eek…”
The bearded man let out a pathetic cry. This rather large man had probably never been lifted by the collar by someone before. But without paying any mind to the man’s cry, Ritz brought his face close to the man’s.
“Sorry, but I’m in a hurry. A simple yes or no will do.”
Whispered so lowly from close range, the man trembled and shook his head.
“So he’s not here?”
The man shook his head again.
“You’re not being clear.”
While saying that, Ritz, still holding the man up, looked in turn at the men who were frozen in fear from their previous beating.
“There are still plenty of people to ask. Ed, should we make an example of this one and kill him?”
Ritz said calmly, with even a faint smile. It was purely a threat, but the current Ritz might actually kill him.
“Ritz.”
When he shrugged his shoulders in a chiding manner, Ritz glared at the man again with an irritated expression. He was probably going to hit him at least once. Ritz had completely lost his composure now.
The man who was about to be hit was saved by a woman’s voice.
“Wait! Smith really doesn’t know where my brother is!”
Looking over, Constanze Lucina was standing at the entrance of the tent.
“My lady~”
Smith cried out for help pathetically.
“Let Smith go. Smith is a fool, but he’s loyal to me. If you kill him…”
Hesitating to say something, Constanze momentarily swallowed her words. She probably thought of using the Lucina family as a shield, but then she must have remembered that Franz disliked that. After thinking for a moment, she said clearly.
“I will definitely hold a grudge.”
With a look of resignation, Ritz let go of the bearded man… Smith. Smith coughed and ran to Constanze’s side, hiding behind her. It was pathetic beyond measure.
Constanze, who had been watching Ritz brush his hands off ostentatiously, was looking straight at them. Her eyes showed a hint of panic. Her gaze shifted from Ritz, whom she feared, to him, whom she probably thought was easier to talk to.
“You’re Edward, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Are you looking for my brother?”
“Yes. And we are looking for Anna.”
Constanze, as if she knew something, let her gaze wander as she thought, then, as if she had made up her mind, she looked at Edward with eyes that closely resembled Franz’s.
“I have a request. Please find my brother.”
“…What?”
Edward knitted his brows at the unexpected request.
“What are you talking about?”
Ritz spat out, glaring at Constanze, but after flinching for a moment, Constanze looked back at Ritz, still afraid.
“I’m looking for my brother too. I know he came to this village this morning, but I don’t know where he went after that. If we don’t find him soon, my brother will be in danger!”
Constanze’s clasped hands in front of her chest were trembling emotionally. Her trembling from fear and panic seemed uncontrollable.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Smith.”
“Yes, my lady.”
The called Smith sluggishly took a step forward. He was a little intimidated by Ritz’s glare, but he finally opened his mouth.
“Jin, who was guarding my lady, approached us, the guard corps, with a money-making scheme. He suggested we kidnap Young Master Franz and demand a ransom from Ville Lucina.”
“Kidnap?”
“That’s right. But we are the guard corps of Lady Constanze, led by this Smith. We are all men who would rather follow the decisive and beautiful Lady Constanze than Ville Lucina, so we whispered the story to her ladyship. Then her ladyship said to pretend to be on board and watch Jin.”
Smith looked up at Constanze with an ecstatic expression. It seemed that, no joke, they revered Constanze as their master.
“Continue, Smith.”
“Yes, my lady. So I had my subordinates pretend to be his accomplices and got the details. According to them, the money from kidnapping Young Master Franz would be split. But at that time, he said he wanted one more person.”
“One more person?”
“Yes. A red-haired girl. Named Anna or something.”
“…Anna?”
“Yes. If things went well, Jin said to give him that girl. I don’t understand his tastes. To think of making such a young girl his plaything.”
The moment Smith said that, he could tell that the presence of Ritz beside him changed in an instant. A wave of cold anger was transmitted to Edward so strongly it hurt. And Edward remembered. Jin had been watching Ritz intently.
Yes, where Ritz gently wrapped Anna in his arms. Jin knew what Ritz’s greatest weakness was.
“Hearing that, I ordered my subordinate to tell him to back off and reported to her ladyship. To lay a hand on a young girl while guarding her ladyship is just insane. Her ladyship told me to put a watch on Jin, so I assigned two watchers. But…”
With that, Smith looked at Constanze. Constanze nodded and continued.
“The two guards were found dead. A little while ago. That means Jin made contact with my brother, right? So I asked the villagers, but no one knows where he went after entering the village. So please, find my brother!”
Constanze said, and bowed her head to Edward with a desperate expression.
“Jin surely won’t let my brother live. The kidnapping will still go through. So please, save him before that man lays a hand on my brother. Please!”
“My lady, to bow your head to such people…”
Smith desperately tried to persuade Constanze, who was bowing her head, to raise it. To such a Smith, Constanze said firmly.
“These people are my brother’s companions! My brother said so! My brother would not follow someone inferior to him. I believe in my brother!”
Ritz, who had been watching their exchange while suppressing his anger, turned his back on them.
“Ritz.”
When he called out to stop him, Ritz didn’t turn around and answered without stopping his steps.
“Understood. Constanze, lend me your guard corps. I’ll find Franz.”
“…Yes, of course. I’ll lend you the guard corps.”
Urged by Constanze, Smith gathered the guard corps.
“Smith, you stay behind to guard Constanze just in case. Place two at the forest-side exit and three at the town-side exit. Don’t let Jin out of the village.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The rest will search the village. Got it?”
“Sir!”
“We’ll go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Search in a concentric circle from the entrance to the center of town.”
“Yes, sir.”
After quickly assigning positions, Ritz returned to the village at a fast pace. Edward followed him. Ritz’s eyes had already lost all traces of calmness.
“Calm down, Ritz.”
He said this after catching up to him, but Ritz was silent.
“The more you rush, the farther away what you’re looking for becomes. Be calm.”
“I know.”
Ritz spat out. Then he looked at Edward with unusually dark eyes.
“If something happens to them, what should I do?”
“Ritz.”
“Even if they call me a guardian or whatever, I’m useless.”
Though phrased as a question, it was nothing but Ritz’s anguish. He had always been called the guardian of the two minors, yet now Ritz was frustrated with himself for not being able to fulfill that important role.
Unable to reply, Edward sighed with a sense of helplessness. He knew well enough that when anything he said would sound hollow, it was better not to speak at all.
When they entered the village, the whole village was in an uproar. There were less than a hundred residents here. But everyone had a long acquaintance with Karl and had come out after hearing the story.
When he quickly conveyed what he had heard from Constanze to Karl, who had joined them, Karl turned pale.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! I won’t let them get away with that in my village!”
Indignantly, Karl, in his anger, spread his arms wide and took a deep breath.
“Friends of ours, born together, spirits of the wind. Hear my wish and lend me your power.”
It was a chant he had never heard before. As soon as the words ended, a gust of wind blew through and enveloped Karl. His golden hair danced, whipped up by the gust. The wind left Karl and blew off somewhere.
“I’m syncing my vision with the wind spirit. I’ll take a quick look around the town, so wait.”
With his eyes closed, Karl stood still. In the meantime, the villagers and the guard corps were tirelessly continuing their search.
Beside him, an impatient-looking Ritz was kicking the ground with the tip of his foot, waiting for Karl despite his frustration. He probably wanted to move himself, but the experienced Ritz likely knew that it was faster to wait for Karl here and rush to the place he found.
A short while later, Karl slumped to his knees on the spot. He was breathing heavily and raggedly.
“This is tough, I really can’t match Ciela…”
“Are you okay, Dad!”
“Yeah. I saw them, Ritz.”
Beneath his ragged breathing, Karl clutched his chest and looked up at Ritz.
“The First Generation Merite Family Memorial Hall. It’s the house on the outskirts of the village. The window on the second floor there is boarded up in an unnatural way. The villagers rarely go in there, and the key… I’m the only one who has it. That lock was broken.”
“…Is there a possibility someone broke the lock and went in on an errand?”
“None at all. If there was an errand, they would definitely tell me since I show up once a week. Besides, there’s nothing in there but old furniture. The villagers have no reason to go there.”
As soon as he heard that, Ritz started running. Ritz, who knew this village well, must know where that place was.
Edward, who was left behind, hurried after him. As if chasing his back, Karl’s voice echoed.
“The villagers will surround the memorial hall. No one will escape.”
“Thanks.”
It was ten o’clock. Three hours had already passed since the two of them had likely arrived in the village.