Chapter 17 - <9>
It wasn't until Ritz pointed it out that he realized it, but Franz must have been truly exhausted, as he spent most of the day in bed.
Whenever he came to, he would see Anna sleeping with her mouth wide open in the next bed, so she was probably in a similar state.
He had been so tense that he hadn't even noticed his own energy wasn't fully restored, but Ritz was impressively good at spotting their exhaustion.
The next morning, with both their spirits and stamina truly recovered, they set off on their journey feeling refreshed.
Franz was unarmed, but he carried a lit lamp even though it was broad daylight. He intended to use its flame as a medium for his spirit magic. Having a fire made it easier to use flames.
He couldn't use fire spirits in a place with no source of fire at all. Knowing this, keeping the lamp lit was essential for Franz.
And in Anna's bag, besides her usual bow and arrows, were a wooden canteen and a water basin she had borrowed from Philia that morning. The idea was that if she needed a Water Dragon where there was no water, she could fill the basin and use that.
Water Dragons were originally summoned using the surface of water as a gateway, so the volume or depth of the water didn't matter much.
Then there was Ritz, who had a rather long, borrowed rope slung over his shoulder, which was supposedly for inn repairs. Of course, it was for tying up the culprits.
And from somewhere, he had procured a small bell and a striker, cleverly arranged so they wouldn't make noise. While Ritz had ordered Anna and Franz to let him sleep, he had apparently been busy making preparations on his own yesterday.
In stark contrast to such crime-fighting equipment, Anna also carried a cute little basket. As a gesture of encouragement before they left, Philia had made them meat pies for breakfast and lunch. There was more than enough for the three of them to eat.
An Aerial was perched on Anna's shoulder, seemingly sniffing the scent of the blowing wind.
"Anna, is the Aerial saying anything?"
"Um, let's see."
Anna looked at the Aerial, but it just gave a small shake of its head.
"It says it can't feel anything. It looks kind of sad."
"I see. Well… at least we know they're not deeper in the village."
Ritz said this and started walking toward the highway. Franz hurried to follow. He couldn't afford to stumble along behind them like he did on their travels.
Tushil Village was shaped like a triangle, with the communal farm they had searched for stakes the other day at its apex. This meant that going deeper into the village would lead them to a dead end at that cliff, leaving no place to hide.
The base of the triangle was the Traveler's Highway. Heading west on the highway led back to Saradio, east led to the Glein Autonomous Region. And heading south led to the Royal Capital Sears.
But the area around the three-way intersection on this highway was a dense forest, and a river ran nearby, making it an ideal hiding spot.
Despite the early hour, many people were coming and going in the village. Seeing them carrying sickles, hoes, and shears, they were likely harvesting medicinal herbs.
Now that they knew Ritz and the others would retrieve the Arlie, they were finally starting to return to their daily lives. They would no longer be threatened by the merchants.
The three of them tried to pass through the villagers casually, but contrary to their intentions, they ended up surrounded by a large crowd.
The people all seemed moved, silently shaking their hands and seeing them off with teary eyes, causing quite a commotion. How did Morris explain it to the villagers?
Franz, in particular, had his hand shaken by various people and could do nothing but try to pull away.
"We're getting a lot of attention, aren't we…"
Anna looked up at Ritz, perplexed. Having been born in a small village, she had probably never been surrounded by so many people before.
They were surrounded by people for a while, but at a moment when the crowd thinned, Ritz muttered.
"Compared to the ruined state it was in when we first arrived, it's a good thing the villagers have regained their vitality."
"You're right."
"Well, yeah…"
"But it's still a surprise."
Anna said, stretching her arms wide. It seemed that even she got tense and her shoulders stiff when surrounded by a large crowd.
"What's going to happen if we can't solve this…"
Franz had muttered it powerlessly, without thinking. The weight of the villagers' expectations was crushing, and his heart felt heavy.
"It'll be fine. We just have to figure something out."
Ritz casually brushed off Franz's complaint. It wasn't satisfying, but he had no choice. As they walked down the road, watched by the murmuring villagers, they came across a familiar face in front of a certain shop.
"Well, good morning."
It was Nors, the village chief. He was dressed for farm work, just like two days ago.
"Good morning. Are you off to the fields?"
It was, of course, Anna who returned the greeting with a smile to the agriculturalist she respected.
"That I am. Hearing that you all were taking on the case, we started the harvest work with everyone yesterday. Everyone's really fired up."
The village chief was so happy his face broke into a wide smile.
"Do your best. We'll have the other herbs prepared so they just need to be mixed with the Arlie."
The sign on the shop where Nors stood read 'Herb Wholesale Market.' This was apparently the place to come once the incident was resolved.
"How are the herbs coming along?"
To Anna's excited question, Nors's face brightened, his eyes sparkling.
"Do you want to hear about it?"
At this rate, they would end up standing here talking. Franz glanced at Ritz, who let out a small sigh.
Before Anna could open her mouth, Ritz covered it with his large hand.
"Mmph! Mmph!!"
Unaffected by Anna's flailing protests, Ritz calmly spoke to the village chief.
"Chief, let's save that story for another day. We're in a hurry."
"Hmm… I see… yes."
Nors looked quite disappointed, but seeing Anna with her mouth covered, he reluctantly agreed. Anna was struggling in Ritz's arms, but Ritz didn't budge.
"You all have a difficult task ahead of you. Come listen once you've recovered the Arlie."
"Yes. We'll come back to hear all about it."
With the herb talk finally settled, Ritz cut to the chase.
"Still no sightings of the person with the herbs, I take it?"
With so many villagers out and about, he had hoped there might be new information, but Nors just silently shook his head.
"Have you seen those three suspicious men since then?"
"No. It seems no one has."
"I see."
Ritz let out a small sigh. It would be good if they could at least figure out the direction they were headed, but they had no leads at all.
"Come to think of it, I did hear a strange rumor."
Nors mentioned it offhandedly as he arranged some herbs.
"What is it?"
"Well, it's just something the children said, but on the night the Arlie disappeared, a large swarm of butterflies flew silently into the forest."
"Butterflies…"
"Yes. But well, I can't imagine butterflies eating the Arlie. And if it were butterflies, the fields wouldn't have ended up in such a terrible state."
Nors seemed to think it was unrelated to the incident, but Ritz leaned forward. Franz also paid close attention to the information. If the Arlie had flown naturally into the spirit magic bottle, it was highly likely it would have done so without a sound.
"Chief, which direction did the butterflies go?"
At Ritz's serious question, Nors seemed to realize that this might be related to the incident.
According to the child Nors brought over, the direction the butterflies had flown off in was into the forest on the Saradio side. That meant they could save themselves the trouble of searching the forest on the Glein side.
After thanking Nors and the others and leaving, Anna, finally freed from Ritz's grip, protested.
"Covering my mouth was so mean!"
"If I didn't, you'd talk about farming endlessly!"
"No, I wouldn't!"
"Liar! You should have been in my shoes when I was bombarded with the non-stop, torrential farming talk between you and the chief the last time we went to his place."
Franz felt a little relieved at their bickering. It seemed his decision to go get the arrows at that time had been the right one.
"So, what's the plan?"
As their argument devolved into playful roughhousing, Franz cut in. Ritz leaned an elbow on Anna's head as he thought.
"Let's see. There should be merchants camped out in the forest. Even if we told them to leave the village, they can't stay on the highway. Carts pass through there, after all."
"That's true."
"And if the culprits are hiding there, they should have been spotted. The quickest way is to look for eyewitness information."
"Right."
Franz nodded, but then he noticed Anna, who was serving as Ritz's elbow rest, pouting.
"Anna… what are you doing?"
"I'm being used as Ritz's elbow rest!"
As Anna looked up at Ritz sullenly, Ritz showed her a cheerful smile.
"Sorry, sorry. You were just the right height for an elbow rest."
"Hmph! I'll definitely, absolutely grow as tall as Ritz someday!"
"Ugh…"
Ritz groaned. Franz couldn't help but imagine it too, and his cheeks twitched.
"Huh? Why are you making that face?"
"I just imagined a giant version of you."
In fact, Franz had imagined the same thing. Anna was noisy enough as it was; the thought of a giant, even noisier Anna was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.
"Ritz, you're so mean!"
"Well, do your best."
"I will!"
Listening to their lighthearted banter, Franz felt a little relieved. It was a bit lacking in tension, you could say. But being tense all the time would be exhausting, so this was more relaxing.
He happened to glance over and caught Anna's eye as she looked his way. He noticed as she hurriedly looked forward.
Could it be that these two are deliberately messing around because they know I'm tense? Come to think of it, he had his suspicions. On their journey, these two were always fooling around like this, all the while keeping an eye on Franz.
He felt keenly that these two were older than him, but there was nothing he could do about the age difference.
Just after entering the forest on the right side heading towards Sears from the Traveler's Highway, they found the Saradio merchants' camp. Perhaps due to their long stay, it was a proper camp centered around an impressive stove. A considerable number of canvas tents were lined up as well.
As Ritz barged in without hesitation, a familiar man came out to meet him. Franz tensed up at the sight of the man. It was the man who had been leading the Saradio merchants at that time.
"Young Master Franz! Oh my, for you to come all the way out to a place like this…"
The man bowed his head before Franz, wringing his hands. In the face of Ville Lucina's authority, the man's arrogant attitude seemed to vanish. It was unpleasant since it had nothing to do with his own power, but as Ritz had told him before, he had no choice but to endure it for now.
"I want to ask you something."
Just a mutter from Franz was enough to make the man hurriedly gather everyone. The people who scrambled out in response to his voice were merchants, cart drivers, stable hands, longshoremen, and others—about thirty people in all.
"There are a lot of them. Hey, are these all merchants?"
Asked by Anna, he was at a loss for a reply. He didn't want to talk much with the merchants watching. Ritz answered in his place.
"Well, something like that."
Once everyone was seated, Franz, who was for all appearances the one with the most authority here, began.
"Have you seen a group of three men around here, carrying a crystal bottle?"
The men murmured amongst themselves for a moment, but after a while, one of the stable hands timidly raised his hand.
"I'm just a stable hand. Is it alright for me to speak to you, Master Franz?"
In Saradio, Franz's position was a strange one. This stable hand also seemed to think of Franz as someone from a world above. But from Franz's perspective, he was perfectly ordinary.
"Speak freely."
When he urged him on, the man began to speak, looking somewhat relieved.
"It was about three days ago, I reckon. I went to the river to fetch water. Fetching water is our job as stable hands, you see."
According to the stable hand, he had met a strange man on his way to fetch water. The man was sloppily dressed in a spirit user's robe and was holding a transparent, shimmering bottle.
A glowing glass bottle. That must have been the crystal bottle.
"Was there anything inside the bottle?"
"Yes, Master Franz. Something like this was inside."
So saying, the man showed Franz a transparent glass jar that had once held jam or honey. There was something inside it.
"He said it was a failed experiment, so he didn't need it and gave it to me. It's a lizard, I think, but it's on the verge of death. Touching it directly would be dangerous, so I've been carrying it around in this jar."
Inside, there was a flame that looked like it could burn out at any moment.
"What is it? A match that won't go out, or a candle?"
Ritz tilted his head, but Franz realized what it was. Anna must have realized at the same time, as they couldn't help but look at each other.
"It's a baby Salamander!"
As the words came out of his mouth at the same time as Anna's, Ritz frowned.
"A Salamander?"
"It's a low-level spirit of the fire element."
"No, I know that, but…"
"This is horrible… It's dying."
Anna walked over to the stable hand and took the bottle. Her eyes were distorted with sadness. Franz looked at the stable hand. Very rarely, there were those who could see spirits without even realizing it themselves.
Usually, they would proceed in a direction to develop that talent, but since the status of spirit users was not clearly defined in Saradio, that talent was usually crushed by people with a talent for business.
Like this stable hand, who was now looking enviously at the Aerial perched on Anna's shoulder.
"They succeeded with the Aerial, so they tried it with another spirit."
Taking the Salamander from Anna, Franz muttered lowly without thinking. What were they trying to do, to weaken it this much?
"So, where did the man go?"
His tone towards the stable hand naturally grew stern. The stable hand prostrated himself in fear. He must have felt as if he was the one being scolded. Seeing the naturally furious Franz, Ritz calmly faced the stable hand.
"Where did they go?"
When Ritz asked gently, the stable hand timidly raised his head.
"I don't know, but they walked south along the river."
The stable hand finished his sentence and stood there, looking troubled.
"Got it, thanks."
Ritz nodded and prompted the stable hand to sit down. The stable hand sat down with a look of relief.
"Anyone else see any suspicious men?"
There was no answer to Ritz's question. But since this weakened Salamander was here, it was almost certain that was the culprit. Their destination was set.
"Well then, shall we head deeper into the forest?"
Spoken to by Ritz as casually as if he were asking to go for a walk, Franz nodded.
But just as they were about to walk away, Ritz turned back to the merchants.
"Right. Once we find the missing herbs and catch the culprit, I'll ring this bell, so could you come and get them? The stolen amount is huge, so we can't carry it ourselves."
So saying, Ritz pointed to the bell he had brought from Tushil. It was surprising that he had thought that far ahead. Franz hadn't even considered what they would do once they recovered the Arlie.
"The merchants of Saradio will be the first to transport the Arlie. It's an honor, isn't it?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"Then I'm counting on you."
"Understood. Leave it to us!"
After easily getting the merchants to agree, Ritz prompted the two of them to move. Franz followed, marveling at Ritz's undeniable skill.
Bidding farewell to the Saradio merchants, who were all cheering for Franz—or rather, for the Ville Lucina they believed was behind him—they hurried into the forest's interior.
Once the merchants were completely out of sight and they had ventured deeper, the three of them let out a sigh.
"Well, that was quite a send-off."
To Ritz's teasing words as they walked, Franz offered no reaction, walking silently while gazing at the Salamander inside the small tinderbox.
"Ritz, how can we help the Salamander recover?"
Ritz answered Franz's question with utmost simplicity.
"Put it in the fire."
"Huh?"
"Toss it in your lamp. If it stays in that jar, it'll just get weaker."
It seemed the stable hand's kindness had backfired. The culprit might not have been the only reason it was weak.
"The lamp is too small! We should build a fire for it, right? Right, Franz?"
That was an order for Franz to start a fire. He could refuse and use a match, but for the sake of the weakened Salamander, he had no choice. The three of them gathered some firewood that would burn easily, piled it up, and lit it. Unlike a match, this flame would flare up immediately, which was convenient.
"Let's have breakfast while we're at it."
At Anna's suggestion, the three of them sat down. Their stomachs were indeed empty. The Salamander remained still in the firewood for a while, but it gradually began to glow brighter. It was obvious that it had been lacking the power of flame. As Franz ate his meal while watching the Salamander, he heard Anna's voice.
"I wonder if just meat pies will be enough for breakfast."
It was an unbelievable statement coming from Anna, who was happily munching on a meat pie herself.
"For now, let's eat and plan our next move."
Franz nodded at Ritz's constructive suggestion.
"Any reaction from the Aerial?"
To Ritz's question as he ate a meat pie, Anna pointed to the firewood. At some point, the Aerial had started flitting around the flames.
"It's over there playing with the Salamander."
"Huh?"
"It's asking if it's not hot inside the flames."
"I see…"
Franz could also hear the Aerial's cheerful voice. The Salamander must have been a novelty to it. Normally, spirits had their own distinct habitats, so it was probably rare for them to see other spirits this close.
Franz was watching the spirits for a while, but Ritz's words brought him back to reality.
"The question is, once we pinpoint the location, do we head back or do we charge in?"
As Ritz pondered with a difficult expression, Anna asked curiously.
"But if they find out we're here, they'll get away, won't they?"
Franz nodded as well. Having come this far, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be discovered. Besides, he was starting to lose track of what they were plotting now. What on earth were they trying to do with that crystal bottle?
"What do you think they'll do with a Salamander in there?"
To Anna's words, Franz could only tilt his head. That flame amplified power outward and collected it in the bottle. If they used it in the same way as the Aerial, the person holding the bottle would just get badly burned.
"Well, it's probably nothing good."
Ritz, having swallowed another meat pie, replied with a shrug.
"They'll put the Salamander in the stake and stick it somewhere, right? Then flames will come out and everyone will get burned. It's weird for thieves not to take anything, isn't it?"
"You're right. What are they thinking?"
Listening to their conversation, an idea occurred to Franz. The stable hand had said it was an experiment. That meant if putting the Salamander in was an experiment, then stealing the Arlie might have been an experiment as well.
The Arlie was stolen much earlier, yet the culprit was still conducting experiments three days ago. That meant they hadn't achieved their goal yet.
"Maybe the Arlie was the experiment."
Ritz grunted at Franz's idea.
"Am I wrong?"
"It's possible. If the Salamander is what they really need, then their goal is to start a fire. Maybe they were planning to burn something down."
At Ritz's calm words, Anna's eyes widened.
"What? Why?!"
"What if they gave that bottle to someone they hate, and captured and sealed a Salamander in the stake…?"
"Flames would pour out of the bottle and start a fire!"
Anna shouted, her eyes wide.
"That's horrible! That's arson!"
"That's the only use for a Salamander I can think of."
There was a certain logic to what Ritz was saying. In fact, he couldn't think of anything else.
"So, what about the Arlie being an experiment?"
Anna looked over at him while putting another pie in her mouth. Franz also looked at the pie he was about to eat, thought for a moment, and spoke.
"Maybe they were testing how far they could utilize the spirit's power. Even if the leaves gather, it doesn't do much harm to the culprit."
"Hmm…"
The more he thought about it, the more ominous it seemed. Stealing all the Arlie was bad enough, but arson was even worse.
"Can't understand what villains think. Let's just catch them. Once we've caught them, we can beat it out of them, and things will be simple."
That would certainly be simple for Ritz. But it was far too violent.
"…That's rough."
"It's normal, isn't it? Do you have any other ideas?"
When he put it like that, nothing certainly came to mind. In that case, they had no choice but to catch them. Just as the three of them reached that haphazard agreement, there was a movement in the fire.
It was the Salamander.
"Kee!"
With a small cry, the Salamander got up on its own. Flames covered its entire body. Since the Salamander was materially cloaked in flame, as long as it wasn't inside the fire itself, even Ritz could see it. Ritz let out a voice of admiration.
"Oh, looks like it's gotten better. With this much flame, even I can see it."
As if the Salamander's recovery meant they had no reason to stay longer, Ritz quickly began to pack away breakfast. Franz stared intently at the Salamander, a creature of the fire attribute, the same element as the spirits he controlled.
Its form, cloaked in blazing fire, bore a slight resemblance to a Fire Dragon.
"So cute! Come here."
Anna called out to it, but the Salamander didn't even glance her way. Looking closely, the Salamander was staring intently at Franz.
Feeling as if it wanted to be called, Franz spoke in a small voice.
"Come. Salamander."
Reacting to Franz's words, the Salamander slowly crawled out of the fire. Without hesitation, it approached Franz.
"Ritz, will I get burned if I touch it?"
Ritz, who had finished cleaning up and stood up, shrugged at the all-too-obvious question.
"Probably."
"Yeah, I figured."
"Can we take it with us?"
Anna's gaze turned to Franz's lamp.
"You want to do that when we're about to storm the enemy's hideout?"
"Oh…"
Anna was at a loss for words. Franz also fell silent. With no idea what would happen next, taking the Salamander with them seemed ill-advised.
Unlike Franz, who gave up easily, Anna stared at the Salamander for a while. Eventually, she seemed to have resigned herself, and with a sigh, she bid farewell to the Salamander.
"Take care, Sara-chan."
Anna placed the Aerial on her shoulder and waved reluctantly.
"Why Sara-chan?"
When Franz asked, Anna answered with utmost simplicity.
"Because it's a Salamander, so Sara-chan."
"How simple…"
Ritz, who had stood up first, prompted the deflated Franz and cheerful Anna.
"It'll be dark before we know it. If we don't make it back to the inn by nightfall, we'll miss dinner."
He didn't care much for dinner, but he didn't want to camp out. Franz followed Ritz, who was already in the lead.
"Bye-bye, Sara-chan!"
Anna also waved reluctantly at the Salamander and caught up. Franz glanced back. The Salamander was still watching him. When he silently turned his back, the Salamander let out a sad "kee." He felt a pang of guilt, but he had no choice but to let it live freely from now on.
He was a bit worried, but first, they had to find the culprits who stole the Arlie. After walking for a while, they came to the riverbank, just as the Saradio merchants had said. A stable hand from Saradio was there too, drawing water.
They asked him just in case, and it turned out he had also witnessed a man who seemed to be the culprit. The man had been walking with a grin, showing no signs of tension, and when spoken to, he had made small talk about the weather before leaving.
"Something's not right."
Ritz muttered. Franz looked up at him and asked.
"What is?"
"The culprit is way too relaxed. A dangerous criminal wouldn't laugh and talk about the weather after being spotted, would they?"
"…You have a point."
"The boldness of their actions and this lack of tension just don't add up, you know?"
"Yeah."
They had no idea what the culprit was thinking or what they were trying to do. Since he was carrying the important bottle, there was no doubt that man was central to the crime. A subordinate wouldn't be carrying the most important item. And yet, he didn't care about being seen and didn't try to hide anything.
It was a far cry from the image of the culprit Franz had imagined.
He had no idea how much further they had to go to reach their destination, but having come this far, they had no choice but to press on. There was still plenty of time. They followed the river south, just as the stable hands had told them.
"Aerial, do you feel anything?"
Anna asked as if she had just remembered, but her expression quickly fell. It seemed it couldn't perceive anything. For now, they had no choice but to keep going until the Aerial could sense something.
After a short while, he noticed a change in the undergrowth. A path leading from the riverbank into the forest had been trodden down, like an animal trail.
So this animal trail was… a trace of the culprit…?
"Something's still not right…"
Ritz muttered suspiciously. But there was no other choice but to follow the path. Standing at the entrance to the animal trail, Ritz turned to face them.
"Something's been bothering me for a while now."
As their eyes met, Franz looked back at Ritz.
"What?"
"I can't get over the fact that he was grinning and didn't care about being seen."
That had been bothering Franz too, so he nodded back at Ritz and spoke.
"I thought the culprits were a gang of thieves with advanced spiritual power and knowledge, but maybe I was wrong."
"You're right, we just imagined that on our own, didn't we?"
So they had both been thinking the same thing.
"But it's also possible that a truly intelligent culprit deliberately left a trail."
Franz grumbled suspiciously. It was certainly possible that they were showcasing their power, thinking they could either definitely escape or definitely win. But if that was the case, he couldn't understand why they would leave this animal trail.
What was the point of marking a path for the pursuers who came for the herbs? If they were smart, they should have had options like taking a different route each time.
But a dangerous criminal who would accidentally let slip that their 'experiment failed' probably wouldn't exist either. And what about laughing when being seen by others? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.
As Franz sighed, Ritz laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Well, either way, we'll probably have to fight, so just be prepared."
At those words, Franz froze. The sound of Anna's footsteps, who had been walking a little behind him, also stopped. He remembered how yesterday, they had discussed whether Ritz would kill someone.
Seeing Franz and Anna stop in their tracks, Ritz gave a wry smile and reached behind his back. Without drawing his greatsword, he unfastened the entire scabbard.
"It comes off?"
To Anna's wide-eyed question, Ritz laughed.
"I had it made to come off. It's not supposed to, so it was a pain to modify."
Ritz laughed and said it in his usual joking tone.
"Don't worry. It'll be better to capture them alive, so I've rigged it so the scabbard won't come off."
"Ritz…"
"But if they turn out to be the dangerous, skilled criminals we originally thought, I'm drawing it."
Anna seemed openly relieved at Ritz's words. Franz, for his part, also relaxed his shoulders.
"Did you… happen to hear us?"
"Hear what?"
Ritz was playing dumb. He had probably been eavesdropping outside their door, worried about Anna and Franz. And perhaps Ritz had decided to stop being a mercenary for as long as they were traveling together.
He felt a little guilty, but for Franz, it was a bit of a relief. He really didn't like bloody business.
"Let's catch the culprits, get the Arlie back, and then let the villagers do what they want with them, whether it's roasting them or boiling them."
"You're right. The villagers are the ones who were inconvenienced."
Anna smiled in relief.
"Oh? The church girl is going to let them roast or boil the culprits?"
To Ritz's teasing tone, Anna puffed out her chest with a look of utter confidence.
"Well, if you do something bad, it's only natural to receive a fitting punishment!"
"You've got that right."
Knowing the village chief, it wouldn't get too out of hand. Anna seemed to sense that as well.
After walking for a while, they reached a small, open clearing. A large tree had once stood in the center, but it had fallen for some reason, creating a wide-open space where the undergrowth grew vigorously.
For the time being, the three of them sat down on the fallen tree to take a break. The plan was to rest here and then attack all at once.
"If you don't rest when you can, it'll be tough later."
That was Ritz's basic philosophy. It was a kind consideration to calm down the combat-inexperienced Anna and Franz. After all, he had a history of panicking and letting his Fire Dragon run wild.
"It's a forest clearing, it feels nice. Hey, can I have a pie?"
"No, that's for the way back."
Ritz was smiling wryly at Anna's words as she tried to eat a pie out of the blue. Anna was always so carefree; it was enviable. Franz was easily flustered; was this also a benefit of age?
Perhaps because of the recent incident where Anna was bitten by a poisonous snake, Ritz was leaning against a tree, holding his greatsword, his senses focused on the forest. The tree spirits were peeking out from the giant tree, watching him.
For Anna and Franz, who could see spirits, being watched from such a close distance would be a little embarrassing, but Ritz didn't notice at all.
Noticing Ritz, Anna laughed cheerfully.
"Wow, there are tree spirits. This must be a big forest."
At Anna's words, Ritz looked around restlessly. The tree spirits seemed to be playfully teasing him, disappearing from the tree trunk and reappearing at his feet from the ground.
For a while, they enjoyed the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the trees. It was so relaxing it felt like they were on a picnic.
But that didn't last long.
"I smell it!"
The idyllic atmosphere was shattered by the Aerial's shout. Franz tensed and looked around. Anna did the same. Only Ritz frowned.
"Are they here?"
Anna nodded.
"It says they're nearby!"
At Anna's translated words, Ritz readied his greatsword. Amidst the sound of water from behind and the chirping of birds, the sound of someone pushing through the grass gradually grew louder. Soon, mixed with the sound of trampling grass, a man's voice could be heard.
"…that's right."
He thought it was a conversation, but it seemed to be a monologue, as he was muttering something under his breath. He couldn't make out the content yet.
"Please, Aerial, be quiet."
Anna was desperately pleading with the invisible Aerial, but it seemed her words weren't getting through.
"…That brother of mine… acting all high and mighty when he can't even see spirits himself."
The man seemed to be complaining.
"The culprit?"
Franz asked Ritz in a low voice.
"Probably… but still a weird culprit, isn't he?"
The culprit was so defenseless that Ritz's greatsword seemed ostentatious. Deciding there was no need to fight, Ritz returned his greatsword to his back.
"You two, hide behind a tree. Let's capture him alive."
Winking, Ritz walked toward the man as casually as if he were out for a stroll. It seemed quickest to hide behind a tree in the direction the man was likely to come from and grab him from the side.
Watching him, Ritz silently pointed to a single tree with a gesture. It seemed to be a sign to hide there. Franz moved to the shadow of the indicated tree and hid his belongings.
Anna, who had persuaded the Aerial, which looked ready to attack the man at any moment, to get into her basket, walked over to Ritz. The Aerial could probably get out if it wanted to, but perhaps surprised by being put in the basket, or perhaps persuaded by Anna, it remained quiet.
"Hey, hey, should I trip him?"
To Anna's suggestion from the opposite side of the animal trail, Ritz grinned.
"Sounds good to me."
Franz watched, not understanding what Anna was doing. Anna took a brown ceramic arrow from the quiver on her back and stuck it into the ground. He knew she had more than just transparent arrows, but he had never had a chance to ask what they were or see them in action.
With preparations complete, the three of them held their breath. Soon, the man appeared.
"Just because I'm the third son, they look down on me!"
The voice gradually grew louder. Ritz began to count down, timing the tripping to the man's steps. He could faintly hear Ritz relaying it to Anna next to him in a low voice.
"Five, four, three, two, one… now!"
Startled by Ritz's sudden voice, the man tried to flee in a panic, but it was too late.
"Earth spirit, trip that man!"
Thud.
With a loud noise, the man spectacularly face-planted into the ground. Franz's eyes widened. It seemed to be the effect of that arrow.
"Damn it!"
But the opponent was desperate too. He tried to get up and run, but Anna's magic wouldn't let him escape.
"Please, trip that man again!"
THUD!
"Ow! Damn it!"
"Trip him again!"
BONK!
"Damn it, you think you can catch me!"
"One more time!"
THUD!
"Umm, is it okay if I catch him now?"
Ritz, who had been watching the ridiculous confrontation between Anna and the culprit in a daze, asked Franz. He didn't know for himself, but he nodded, assuming he was making the same exasperated face.
"I don't want to watch this go on forever."
If left alone, it seemed like it would, and he didn't like that.
"My thoughts exactly. Anna, that's enough."
"Got it!"
Anna pulled the arrow from the ground and put it back in her quiver. At the same time, Ritz took a step forward and stood in front of the culprit.
The man's face changed. He desperately tried to stand up and flee with a terrifying expression. But his legs were tangled, and he seemed to be struggling to get up.
"Whoa, d-d-don't kill me!"
He could somehow understand the man's fear. A large man with a greatsword on his back was an object of terror for an ordinary person.
"Do I really look that menacing?"
To Ritz, who shrugged and looked back, Franz just gestured with his hand to hurry up and catch him.
"Alright, you're under arrest!"
Ritz easily caught the man, who had finally stood up and started to run, in a single stride.
"Too bad. I'm pretty confident in my legs."
"Whoa, it's not my fault! It's my brother's fault! Don't kill me!"
Ritz deliberately made a troubled face, shrugged, and looked at Franz and Anna. He was completely playing around. Franz sighed.
"Let's tie him up."
This was no time for games. If they were a group of three, there should be two more enemies. Ritz, who knew this but was still playing around, might have been feeling confident. But Franz could confidently say that he, on the other hand, was not.
Together with Ritz, they tied him up with the set of ropes borrowed from Philia before leaving. Ritz then firmly held the other end of the rope, which was connected to the culprit.
"It's like walking a dog."
Ignoring Anna's cheerful comment, Ritz, still holding the rope, spoke to the man.
"You're the one who stole the Arlie, aren't you?"
The man shook his head in fear.
"If you lie, my greatsword will sing."
The man cowered and then nodded his head vertically.
"Good, good, honesty is the best policy. Now, where are the other culprits and the Arlie?"
Ritz was smiling, but the man was so scared he couldn't speak. He seemed to be quite a coward.
"If you don't talk, you might not be able to talk forever, you know?"
He probably intended to speak gently, but the man was just terrified by Ritz's words. Franz knew that wasn't being gentle, it was threatening.
"I'll talk! I'll talk, just don't kill me!!"
The man screamed in a shrill voice.
"Alright, being obedient is best."
The man's name was Sam Scott. He was a spirit user who had just begun his training. The ringleader was his ill-natured older brother, the eldest, Bill. Another kind older brother named Mont was also with them.
"My brother just asked me to catch some spirits. I didn't know he was going to use them for this!"
From his desperate demeanor, that was probably the truth.
"Why did you take the Arlie? That's a bad thing to do."
When Anna asked with a sad look on her face, Sam looked relieved. Anna was clearly much more reassuring than Ritz.
"He said he was going to set a fire. We've been failing at everything, so we decided to do something big for a change…"
"Something big?"
"We're going to set fire to a rich person's house, and when the family evacuates, we'll take their money. So, we started with an experiment with a wind spirit…"
At the man's words, the color drained from Anna's face. Noticing this, the man hurriedly denied it.
"But the fire spirit didn't work, so we decided to commit a robbery using water, which worked in the experiment! See, with water, it's safe once it flows away!"
The man's excuse only added fuel to Anna's anger. She was a water user. There was no way Anna would forgive someone for harming the water spirits.
"That's a very bad thing to do! The Goddess, the Water Spirit King, and I will absolutely never forgive you!"
Anna crossed her arms and pouted. She was quite angry. Lies and crime were what she hated most. And to try to use her precious water spirits…
In place of the angered Anna, Franz took over as questioner with a sigh.
"So you put a Salamander in a bottle and experimented with it?"
"That's right, but we couldn't use the Salamander's power. The experiment showed that the bottle only works with the power of wind and water."
The man answered while furtively glancing at the three of them. He was probably looking for a chance to escape. But it didn't take long for him to realize that was impossible.
At that point, the man seemed to have resigned himself, and he became surprisingly talkative.
"Did you make that bottle?"
"No! I bought it from a weird guy in the city of Saradio a few months ago. I thought it was pretty so I could sell it for a high price, but it wouldn't sell. I swear!"
He said that when he tried using it according to the instructions, it worked.
"The guy who sold me this bottle said it was just a decoration, so that was the only good thing about it."
Listening to the man's story, Franz began to have a bad feeling. You could get all sorts of things in the city of Saradio. But he could only think of one person who would sell a product enchanted with spirit magic.
He wanted to pretend it never happened, but he couldn't just not ask.
"What kind of man did you buy it from?"
"He had messy, long brown hair and wore a robe. He had a sleepy look on his face. And he even gave me the instruction manual as a bonus. He said he liked collecting things like that."
Franz knew his bad feeling was right. There was only one person in Saradio with that appearance and that hobby. Franz held his head in his hands. It was a person Franz knew better than anyone else in Saradio.
"Orphe, huh…"
Ritz, who was standing next to him, muttered quietly. Franz nodded with a sigh. He had wondered why new, unseen items kept appearing even though the total number didn't seem to increase, but he never imagined Orphe was selling them off at a street stall like this.
His arms trembled with anger. In other words, if you traced this incident all the way back to its source, it would lead to Orphe. As his apprentice, Franz had no choice but to resolve it.
Trying to calm himself, he looked at the man and asked in a low voice.
"Is the Arlie safe?"
The man, mistaking Franz's anger for being directed at him, answered in a panicked shout.
"Of course it's safe! We haven't touched it!"
"Where is it?"
"In the cabin up ahead. My brothers are there too."
Sam pointed to the continuing animal trail. Franz nodded and looked at Ritz. With practiced ease, Ritz tied the rope Sam was attached to to his hand and shouldered his pack.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
"Okay!"
They could finally reach the Arlie. He had been looking for the Arlie as a way to thank them for their help, but he never dreamed it would turn into cleaning up his master's mess.
He sighed and looked at the culprit, only to notice that Sam was adamantly refusing to move.
"Don't resist now."
Even when the exasperated Ritz said this to Sam, Sam wouldn't budge. Soon, Sam put on an indescribably strained smile and pleaded.
"I don't wanna go. My brother will kill me."
Sam seemed genuinely terrified. For some reason, he was afraid of his own brother. Ritz looked down at him with a shrug.
"He's your own brother, stop being so scared."
"That's because you don't know my brother!"
"Don't know him, don't care. But hey, I'm stronger."
"But I don't want to!"
"It's useless to resist. Just come on."
Even when Ritz told him to, Sam resisted, shaking his head. But they needed him to guide them. Ritz used his strength to force Sam to his feet.
"Alright, let's go!"
"Nooo!"
Dragging the screaming Sam, the three of them began to make their way deeper down the animal trail.