Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 177

177

As I frowned at the unwelcome congratulations, the assistant gently lifted the slumped-over Alisa and headed towards the massive bookshelf that filled the wall. The bookshelf was packed with countless books. Without hesitation, he pulled out a book covered in red leather. With a rumbling sound, the bookshelf slid backward, revealing stairs leading down. It was a secret passage straight out of a movie.

I never imagined such a thing existed. While I watched in bewildered amazement, the assistant turned to the female employee and said,

“Please take care of the cleanup.”

“Leave it to me.”

The female employee smiled languidly. It seemed she had done this more than once or twice. Soon, the underground door closed, and the bookshelf returned to its original position. Just like that, the room transformed back into an ordinary study. You couldn’t even imagine it was hiding a secret passage.

The female employee, now alone, quickly cleared the teacups from the table, leaving no evidence that Alisa had been there. I couldn’t think straight until she left the room after tidying up.

My worries had become reality. He really was kidnapping students.

“El? What’s wrong? Did you find Alisa?”

Isana, noticing my hardened expression, asked anxiously from beside me. I nodded, and a gasp escaped his lips.

“How is Alisa? Is she safe?”

“Well, almost. I need to follow them to the end.”

“Follow them?”

“I’ll explain everything later.”

After answering soothingly, I slowly expanded my senses to the underground area. I wanted to rush and save Alisa right away, but there was one thing I wanted to confirm first. The assistant’s mention of a cart coming bothered me.

Considering the circumstances, the cart was likely meant to transport the kidnapped students. The fact that the date was set suggested that they were gathering the kidnapped students and handing them over all at once. In other words, there was a place somewhere here where the children were being held captive. If I followed his path, I might be able to find that place.

The underground passage was wider than I thought and had a complex, maze-like structure. But the assistant walked along the winding path without the slightest hesitation. He occasionally stopped and looked around as if sensing my presence, but after confirming that no one was there a few times, he didn’t seem to care anymore.

Eventually, he stopped in front of a wall filled with tightly packed bricks. He removed one of the bricks, and the wall began to split open on both sides as if it were alive. Soldiers in black armor greeted him as he stepped inside. They wore the same uniforms as the soldiers the Duke used to command. Seeing that, I truly realized that the Duke was involved in this incident.

“Welcome, Lady Ursula.”

The assistant smiled contentedly at the soldiers’ polite greeting. But I couldn’t help but distort my face at the sight that unfolded before me. Inside a cave-like space was a huge prison with iron bars everywhere. I could see children huddled inside.

“Excuse me.”

“……!”

I was startled by the sudden voice and quickly broke contact. The dizziness I always felt when my senses returned washed over me again. After enduring it as calmly as possible, I began to see the person standing at the door clearly. As soon as I recognized the person, I clenched my fist. It was the female employee who had given Alisa the drugged tea.

“Who are you?”

Isana, still unaware of her identity, asked cautiously. The female employee smiled serenely and said,

“You’ve been waiting a long time. The results of the first interview for the transfer applicant, Alisa, are out, so I’ve come to inform you. I’m sorry, but Alisa did not pass the first interview. I’m afraid you’ll have to return as you are.”

This must be the ‘cleanup’ they were talking about. Having witnessed everything, it was an outrageously brazen line, but I couldn’t act rashly. I exchanged glances with Isana for a moment. As if guessing the situation from my silence, Isana replied in a cold voice,

“Is that so? I understand. But where is Alisa?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why did you come alone?”

The female employee looked puzzled at Isana’s words.

“What do you mean? Alisa left after the interview. Didn’t she come here?”

“No, she didn’t.”

As the firm answer landed, the female employee’s face hardened. If I hadn’t seen her earlier, I would have believed she was genuinely flustered. Isana’s gaze grew colder.

“I can’t believe it. You sent a child who came to a strange place for the first time without a guide?”

“W, well… she said she was upset during the interview and wanted to go alone… I, I’ll check right away.”

The female employee ran out the door in a flustered manner, her face pale. Knowing she would only pretend to look and come back, I immediately turned to my companions. The two of them had been waiting for me to speak, and as soon as our eyes met, they asked urgently.

“What’s going on, El? Where’s Alisa?”

“Alisa was moved to a secret passage while she was asleep. There’s a prison-like place underground. I saw children locked up there. They’re probably planning to move them to another location in two days.”

“Good heavens. So, our suspicions were correct? They’re kidnapping children in Lamus?”

“It’s hard to say that the entire Lamus is involved yet. Considering they used a secret passage, it might be the work of a few.”

The structure of the room Alisa was in was also too cramped and dark to be an interview location. They must have lured her to a completely different place from the start, not to where the headmaster was. Of course, even so, Lamus would have a hard time avoiding responsibility if this fact came to light. But that wasn’t our concern, so I decided to focus on what I needed to do right now.

“You’re going to save all the children, right?”

“Of course. I don’t know what my uncle is thinking, but I won’t let things go his way.”

Isana’s eyes flickered coldly. I nodded emphatically and then told them my plan.

“Okay. When the employee comes back, she’ll probably try to get us out of here. For now, let’s pretend we don’t know anything and watch the situation.”

“Huh? Aren’t we going to save them right away?”

“I want to, but if we cause a scene here, we’ll be too noticeable. We don’t know how many people on the Demon God’s side are in Lamus, do we? There are still other events left, so it’s better to handle this discreetly if possible.”

“Yeah, I agree with El.”

Sibelius, who had been listening from the side, quietly agreed.

“They already know El as a Demon God official. If we make a public scene here, it might be difficult to clean up later. The Demon God Order has always been strict about punishing apostates, so they’ll probably pursue us relentlessly. If it turns out El isn’t an official, that’ll be another problem. Anyway, it’s best not to give them any reason to suspect us.”

“Hmm, I guess there’s that problem.”

Isana, who had seemed dissatisfied at first, nodded in agreement, realizing the issue. Still, seeing his anxious expression, I realized what he was worried about and chuckled.

“Don’t worry about Alisa. She’ll be out cold for a while, so she won’t have time to be scared. And with her personality, she probably won’t worry much anyway. She’ll know we’re coming to save her.”

“R, really?”

“Yes, really. Remember Alisa’s expression when she went to the interview?”

At that time, Alisa had been unusually anxious, unlike her usual self. But after looking at us, her face quickly regained confidence. At the time, I didn’t attach any special meaning to her actions, but thinking about it now, Alisa probably had a hunch about something then. Isana also seemed to recall that moment, and his expression finally relaxed. I chuckled and said,

“I’ve already figured out the location, and we have plenty of time to save them, not just now. Let’s pretend to back down here and sneak in at the right time to take the children out unnoticed. If they don’t know who did it, they won’t be able to track us down.”

“The right time?”

I saw the female employee returning through the opening door. I fixed my gaze on her as she approached and said,

“The time when people are most unguarded is probably dawn.”

* * *

The excuse the female employee made to get us out was that ‘Alisa went outside Lamus alone.’ The employee at the counter testified that he saw her walking out alone. This confirmed that he was also one of the Demon God Order’s accomplices.

It was more difficult than I thought to play along with their obvious act. It was even more so because we had to resist appropriately, as leaving quietly in a situation where a person had gone missing would also raise suspicion.

“N, no way! Alisa is still a child! There’s no way that child would go out alone without saying anything! I, I can’t believe it!”

“T, that’s right! You guys, what did you do to Alisa!”

Even Isana and Sibelius’s acting, pretending to be surprised, was quite awkward to watch. Fortunately, the Lamus employees didn’t suspect their acting much. It seemed they were focusing all their attention on getting us out safely, since they had already committed a crime. And as befitting my role as a Demon God official, I diligently soothed the excited group.

“Everyone, calm down. Instead of that, let’s go to the inn first. Alisa might be there already.”

“What if she’s not there either?”

“Then we’ll have to look somewhere else.”

“That’s ridiculous! A child disappeared inside the academy, so we should look here first! Instead of this, let me meet the headmaster! He’s the last person who saw Alisa, so he’ll know the situation best! I need to meet him first!”

The employees’ faces hardened at Isana’s reasonable demand. I felt a request for help in the gaze that quickly turned to me, and I smiled bitterly inside. I was most curious about whether the headmaster was involved, but seeing their reactions, it seemed likely that he was unaware of this situation.

“Don’t do that. The headmaster of such a large academy must be a very busy person. Do you think he’ll easily agree to meet us just because we ask?”

“Are you saying we should just back down? Are you even planning to look for her?”

“Of course, I’m worried about Alisa too. But we shouldn’t be unreasonable. They already said they saw Alisa going out of the academy, so what more needs to be said? Look, everyone’s having a hard time.”

“Ugh…….”

Isana relented, pointing to the employees who didn’t know what to do.

“It’s useless to do this here. We should look for places where Alisa might have gone first. Maybe she just wanted to be alone. She’s a proud child, so she might have been embarrassed about failing the interview. If we still can’t find her, we can come back then. Okay?”

Isana, who had been silent, soon nodded as if he couldn’t help it. I kept soothing him while watching the employees’ expressions. Seeing their relieved faces, it seemed I had deceived them quite convincingly. Seeing them secretly sending grateful glances made me want to vomit.

Do those people know what happens to the kidnapped children? Are they participating in such a terrible act knowing full well what’s going on?

I wanted to ask if they could do this if those children were their own. But it might not mean anything to those who have already abandoned their humanity.

While wandering around appropriately, the day quickly turned to dusk. Even after that, we visited Lamus two or three more times, still pretending to look for Alisa. The process was carried out only by Isana and Sibelius. I separated from them in the middle and pretended to leave. I thought it might be suspicious if I, as a Demon God official, kept sticking with them. Of course, I didn’t really leave; I just returned to my natural state and made myself invisible. The good thing about being a spirit is that I can become invisible whenever I want.

As the sun began to set, all the employees left Lamus like a receding tide. The lights in all the buildings except the dormitories were turned off, and a desolate atmosphere began to envelop the surroundings.

Around that time, the parents who had been lingering in front of the Lamus entrance also had no choice but to give up and return to the inn. Even if they tried to protest, there was no one to listen, so it was like shouting into the void. The guards were still active, but they didn’t even allow outsiders to approach.

As the day completely darkened and the night turned black, Lamus became so quiet that you couldn’t feel any presence. Of course, there were guards on duty, so it couldn’t be said that no one was awake.

From that time on, we began to carry out our plan in earnest. First, Isana and I put on leather armor and weapons to disguise ourselves as mercenaries. We also changed into shoes with high heels to make ourselves look taller. This was to create confusion in the descriptions in case there were any witnesses. Instead of hiding the faces we usually covered with hoods, we decided to wear masks. We hid our distinctive hair colors, which stood out anywhere, with hoods.

However, Sibelius, who couldn’t be hidden with just makeup, had no choice but to transform a part of his appearance to look more human. He changed his skin color to white and rounded his pointed ears. He also changed his flamboyant silver hair to a deep black. With just that, his impression looked completely different.

“Not bad, Sibel. You don’t need any other disguises.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, even though your features are the same, you look like a completely different person.”

He shrugged, looking at his changed appearance in the mirror. His expression seemed to be filled with mixed emotions.

“Goodness. I never thought I’d have to look like this again…….”

“Have you disguised yourself before?”

“Once before. Come to think of it, I went to save kidnapped guys back then too.”

“Wow. You’ve experienced something like this before?”

“Yeah. Well, it wasn’t a planned kidnapping like this back then. Some of my clan’s children were caught by slave hunters while carelessly wandering in human lands. I went straight to the auction house, but I knew they’d be wary if I approached them in my true form, so I disguised myself as a human to lower their guard.”

“I see. So, you’re an experienced one.”

Sibelius stared down at me as I said that with a smile. It was a strange gaze that I couldn’t understand.