TWEM Vol. 5 Chapter 7 Part 1
Chapter 7 – Emergency
As I, Haruto and the others were chatting after finishing our meal, my guild card, which was on the table, suddenly lit up.
“This is…an emergency quest?”
If I recall, during the monster flood that appeared in the north of the royal capital of Perdis, my card also glowed in this way, announcing an emergency quest.
Then I turned to Finne and the others——
“Nothing here. Ours isn’t glowing like that!”
Finne replied on behalf of the others.
Apparently my card is the only one glowing.
“Why only me?”
“Only one way to find out.”
For the time being, I checked my card and——next thing, my eyes widened.
“What’s the matter, Haruto?”
Iris asked, seeing the look on my face.
“It’s an emergency designated commission.”
“An emergency designated commission?”
I immediately checked the details of the quest.
The card reads as follows:
.
Emergency Designated Commission
|
Client: |
Liebert Heilig |
|
Designated Adventurer: |
Haruto Yuki |
|
Quest: |
The saint, Ilmina, has suddenly gone missing. This is a time-sensitive situation. Please come to the Adventurers’ Guild as soon as you get this. |
|
Reward: |
Not specified |
.
My mind froze for a moment.
Ilmina is missing? Nah, that can’t be right.
Everyone who was looking at the card stiffened as I did, and Iris finally opened her mouth.
“I-Ilmina is missing…H-Haruto!!”
“This is one helluva an emergency. Especially if we’re talking about a saint gone missing.”
Was she targeted? By whom? Besides, isn’t a cathedral supposed to be well guarded?
…No, there’s no time for this, I should better get to the Adventurers’ Guild first.
“I’ll be going alone on this one. I can’t risk putting you all in harm’s way now that I don’t even know what or who we are dealing with…oh, Zero, you coming? You’re probably bored out of your mind anyway.”
I asked, thinking that Zero, who at the very least, is competent enough to handle any situation, should have no problem coming along.
“No, not at all, It’s been a long time since I’ve been outside, so I won’t say I’m bored.”
“Oh okay, so you’re not coming then?”
If he’s not coming along, then I’d just have him keep everyone safe…
“Oh no. I’ll go with you. I have a feeling it’s going to be fun.”
What Zero meant by “fun” must be something like being able to fight a strong adversary.
“All right. Then let’s go.”
As I was about to get up and leave, Iris called out to me.
“Hmm?”
“You have to save Ilmina! She’s my dear friend!”
Tears were about to fall from Iris’ eyes.
She must hold her very dearly, and that’s why she’s so worried about her.
I could pretty much make it out from the way Iris and Ilmina interacted with each other.
I am sure that Iris would really like to head there herself. However, she probably understands that the reason she didn’t receive the notification is because she might become a liability, and instead reeling it in.
I patted Iris on the head and smiled to reassure her.
“Leave it to me. I’ll be sure to bring her back.”
“Tha, thank you…”
“Not sure what’s going on, so I want everyone to be extra vigilant.”
After seeing everyone nodding their heads and Iris wiping her eyes, I headed for the Adventurers’ Guild along with Zero.
When we arrived at the guild, it was empty, probably because of the time of day, and there were no adventurers in sight, except the staff.
I showed my adventurer card to the receptionist and asked her about the situation, and she bowed nervously.
“O-Oh, we have been expecting you, Master Haruto!”
Well, it’s not every day you see an emergency designated commission from the Pope, so I guess it’s only normal.
…It’s quite unlikely that her reaction is because she’s talking to me.
“The Sister sitting over there is going to take you to the Cathedral. There you will hear directly from His Holiness the Pope.”
“Okay.”
After completing the formalities, I called out to the Sister.
“I am done with the paperwork. We can leave now.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
The Sister stood up, bowed to the staff, and left the guild.
She seems to be a polite and very likable person.
“Now, we’ll be running all the way.”
“Okay.”
On the way to the cathedral, the Sister looked at Zero as if she wanted to say something, but said nothing.
Zero and I were taken to a room and waited for a while, and then the Sister who had gone to call Pope Liebert came back.
She opened the door, and a man in white vestments walked in.
He must be the Pope.
“Greetings, my name is Liebert Heilig, and I am the Pope. I am also Ilmina’s father, but please feel free to call me Liebert…I thank you from the bottom of my heart for accepting my request.”
I, too, introduced myself to Liebert, who bowed his head.
“I am Adventurer Haruto. You may call me Haruto, Liebert.”
“Then, I will do just that. Oh, and you don’t need to speak in a formal manner. Especially since you’re an adventurer.”
“I understand. Then I will just talk as I normally do.”
Liebert nodded in satisfaction.
Then he looked at Zero, who was standing diagonally behind me, and opened his mouth.
“Who is that?”
“He is my butler. And I assure you he is even more capable than an S-rank adventurer.”
Zero stepped forward and introduced himself.
“My name is Zero, and I am Master Haruto’s butler. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Oh, Zero, likewise. Now, I will begin the explanation.”
Liebert prefaced his explanation with this and explained the circumstances.
The circumstances surrounding Ilmina’s disappearance and the disturbing activities that had been going on for some time.
After listening to the whole story, I asked Liebert.
“What are the holy knights doing?”
“They are currently out searching for her. But they have not been able to locate her yet.”
Liebert looked frustrated.
Then came a knock on the door.
“It’s Gawain Hazark. May I come in?”
“Please come in.”
As Liebert said this, the door opened and a knight in silver armor entered.
He had short platinum blond hair and eyes as blue as the sky. He was a handsome young man with fine facial features.
After glancing at me and Zero, the Gawain fellow walked up to Liebert and went down on one knee.
“What is it?”
“We’ve been searching all over the holy city, but we have yet to locate Lady Ilmina.”
“Is that, so…”
They still haven’t found Ilmina it seems. Liebert was visibly discouraged.
“Uh…?”
“Is something the matter?”
Gawain looked at me and Zero and spoke out curiously.
Realizing this, Liebert then took the opportunity to introduce us.
“Right, I didn’t tell you this, Captain Gawain. This is Haruto, an adventurer, and his butler, Zero.”
I then introduced myself.
“Nice to meet you. I am Haruto, an adventurer. I’m here at the request of Liebert. Please call me Haruto.”
“Sir Haruto, is it? My name is Gawain Hazark, the captain of the Holy Knight Order of the Holy State of Belifaire. Please call me Gawain. And you may address me freely.”
“Okay. Pleasure to meet you, Gawain. Oh and you don’t have to call me ‘sir’.”
Zero also introduced himself.
“My name is Zero, and I am Master Haruto’s butler.
Gawain said to Zero, “Pleased to meet you”, and turned to Liebert.
“Your Holiness. Is Haruto the one you requested with the designated commission? He’s still very young though?”
“What are you talking about? Haruto is that infamous EX-rank adventurer, just so you know. I am sure you’re also familiar with that name, aren’t you?”
Hearing this, Gawain looked at me in surprise.
I brought out my adventurer card to prove it.
“I-It really is true. Meaning, he will be joining the search as well?”
Liebert affirmed Gawain’s words.
“It’s just as you heard. May I request this of you, Haruto? As for the reward, I will give you whatever you want.”
“Your Holiness, that’s too much!”
“It’s all right. It’s all to get Ilmina back.”
They seem to be thinking that I’m going to demand they pay a fortune or something.
I quickly interrupted them.
“You don’t need to worry about that, okay? Iris already asked me to rescue her friend.”
“Iris?”
Gawain tilted his head at the sudden mention of the name, while Liebert on the other hand looked at me as if to say, are you sure?
I guess Liebert must have heard about my relationship with Iris from Ilmina.
I nodded, and Liebert explained to Gawain.
“Lady Iris is the first princess of the Kingdom of Perdis. Also, I heard from Ilmina that she is also Haruto’s fiancée…”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Hearing that, Gawain was surprised and looked at me again.
Gee, he gets surprised so easily.
“Uh…Haruto, please forgive me for my earlier rudeness.”
Gawain bowed his head, he’s probably referring to him calling out the name of the princess of a country flippantly.
“Oh please. Raise your head.”
Iris wouldn’t mind, and so I asked Gawain to raise his head.
I gotta admit though, Gawain seems to be quite a good guy, bowing to me right away like that. He’s a good-looking guy too, I bet he must be very popular.
While I was thinking about that, Liebert said to me,
“So, Haruto, will you be joining Captain Gawain in the search?”
Joining the search, huh?
I’m sure the knights are probably looking for Ilmina’s whereabouts by foot, but I should be able to find her using Map.
I’ll ask Ellis if she knows where Ilmina is.
<<Understood, Master. Searching for the whereabouts of Ilmina Heilig…location found. Please take a look at the map.>>
I did as told and checked the map, and sure enough, a red dot was marked on it.
I will be damned…
“To join the search, huh, I am afraid that won’t be necessary.”
“Haruto! What do you mean?”
“Haruto, what do you mean by that…?”
Gawain glared at me with a hoarse voice, and Liebert asked curiously.
I looked into Liebert’s very serious eyes and answered.
“What would be the point of searching when I already know where she is?”
Liebert and Gawain were surprised that I already found her whereabouts within a few minutes, even though the entire knight order had been mobilized for the search all this while with no luck.
Gawain then asked, putting himself on guard.
“How do you know where she is? Are you perhaps one of them, Haruto?”
Oh, I see. I can understand why he would think so.
I shook my head hastily.
“Oh no, no, I have a skill that’s handy for something like this. By the way, her location is in a building west of here. She’s probably in a basement.”
“And how do you know so much?”
Because there’s no point lying about it.
“I just told you. It’s one of my skills. I’m not going to go into the details though.”
“…No, of course, I understand that adventurers don’t readily disclose their abilities. At any rate, you’re a godsend. Now please lead the way.”
“Sure.”
Gawain, who seemed to be convinced by my words, turned to Liebert.
“So, Your Holiness, I will be going with him!”
“I’m counting on you.”
Liebert replied.
I got up from my seat.
“——Now then, let’s get to work.”
With these words, I, Zero, and Gawain left the room.
～