Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Forgotten Juliet
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***
Esel lifted the tent flap and stepped outside.
“What’s the matter?”
"Mage! I heard there’s a mage here!"
The one who rushed into the caravan procession was a certain lady.
Juliet, who had followed Esel outside, saw her as well. Her clothes were neat overall, but she looked desperate, like someone possessed by something.
"Where’s the mage?"
The caravan members reflexively glanced toward the tent.
"I-I’m Magda.
I’m from the village of Kanavel, right next door."
The lady who introduced herself as Magda looked back and forth between Juliet and Esel, her expression conflicted.
She couldn’t tell which of the two was the mage.
Juliet caught on and quickly took a step back.
Esel let out a sigh and stepped forward.
"The mage you’re looking for seems to be me. What’s the problem?"
But in the next moment, Esel was utterly startled.
Without a word, Magda dropped to her knees before him.
"Please save our children!
I beg you, mage!"
Magda’s explanation went like this.
Her daughter, along with five other children from the village, had gone missing.
"No, if that’s the case, you should petition the local lord, madam. How can you come straight to a mage like this?"
"B-But"
Magda explained.
This remote mountain region had long been known as the dragon’s lair, and there was a legend that only a mage could rescue children who disappeared.
"A-And villagers went to the lord’s manor too. But honestly, whether they’ll get there in time…"
Magda drooped her head weakly.
Juliet, growing curious, asked quietly.
"Is there really such an old story?"
Esel shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows. I’ve heard old tales of mages kidnapping children, though."
Esel seemed to ponder for a moment before subtly asking Juliet.
"What do you say?"
Juliet, who had been watching and suddenly got pulled into the conversation, was baffled.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because Walter and Theo aren’t here."
It was just as Esel said.
Walter and Theo were nowhere to be seen.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Juliet started to protest, but then she realized that not only the caravan members present but even Magda, who had come begging for help, were all looking at her. She shut her mouth.
With caravan leader Helene and her family absent, it fell to her to decide what Esel, the mage affiliated with Marygold, would do. That was the reasoning.
Juliet was at a loss.
If she truly prioritized the caravan, the right move would be to ignore Magda and say they were leaving right away.
But Esel clearly wanted to help Magda.
"Then…"
**
An hour later, Esel and Juliet were climbing the mountainside.
After much deliberation, Juliet had told Esel,
"If you want to go, then go help."
But Esel had unexpectedly laid down a condition.
"The lady should come along too."
‘Why me?’ On top of that, Juliet wasn’t even a mage.
Juliet felt a little indignant, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse the mage, who flatly declared, "If the lady won’t go, then I won’t either." She couldn’t ignore Magda’s desperate, pleading gaze as she begged them to find her child.
"Not far now?"
"J-Just a little further and we’ll reach the clearing."
Eselrid whispered to Juliet as if to reassure her.
"Don’t worry. With the tracker, even if we can’t find the children and get lost in the mountains, the caravan folks will come find us."
The plan was simple.
Rescue the children and take them to the village if they found them; if not, head back down to the village before sunset.
"Here, somewhere around this area."
Magda led the two to a small, flat clearing.
"The children always played around here. But…"
Tears welled up in Magda’s eyes.
The rest was a story they had heard several times already.
The children of Kanavel village were few in number, so the five of them roamed from house to house, always sticking together to play. But they hadn’t returned for two days.
‘Two days already—are the children even alive?’
Juliet and Eselrid cautiously exchanged glances.
In Juliet’s view, it was far more plausible that they had gotten lost while playing in the mountains than that a dragon had taken them.
Of course, from a parent’s perspective, it was natural to worry about such children.
No matter how accustomed they were to playing in the mountains, could young kids really survive two whole days in these deep woods?
"Deyna!"
"If you can hear me, answer! Deyna!"
In any case, the two had agreed to help Magda search for her daughter as requested.
The rain had thankfully stopped, but pushing through the wet mountain paths was no easy task.
As Juliet scanned the woods, she noticed something strange.
"Hm?"
Something seemed to flicker amid the dense thicket.
"Esel, over there—do you see that?"
"What?"
When she tugged Esel’s sleeve, she felt him freeze as well, apparently seeing it too.
Something like a heat shimmer.
"…We should probably call for more people."
Sensing an ominous feeling, Juliet whispered to Magda and Esel.
That was when it happened, just as they turned to head back.
"!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet gave way without warning.
Kyaaak!
With screams, the three plummeted into a dark space below the mountainside.
*
Juliet felt like her entire body had been smashed to pieces.
"Hng."
She barely managed to open her eyes, finding dimness all around.
Where is this?
"Ah, you’re awake."
Hearing Esel’s calm voice, Juliet briefly wondered if this mad mage had kidnapped her.
But the darkness soon felt familiar, and the moment she saw Esel approaching her, she realized she had misunderstood him and let go of her suspicions.
"Why do you look like that?"
"If the lady could see herself, you wouldn’t say that."
With a composed reply, Esel glanced around once before handing her something.
"Drink it slowly."
It was a half-empty canteen.
Juliet obediently drank the water pooled on the ground. Only after moistening her throat did the surroundings come into focus.
"Where are we?"
"Seems like under the mountain."
"Under the mountain?"
"Do you remember saying we should turn back? Right after that, the ground collapsed under us, and when I opened my eyes, here we were."
It was just as Esel said.
Juliet realized they were standing in a narrow crevice in the cliff.
"We must have fallen deep enough that light barely reaches."
That explained the murkiness.
"I don’t know how we survived, but there was fortunately a soft bed of moss and plants down here, so we’re unharmed. Also, it seems to be night now."
It was a clear, easy-to-understand summary.
She almost wanted to praise him for it, but as Juliet looked around, she flinched.
"Esel, is there anyone else here besides us?"
"Yes."
Esel let out a small sigh before continuing his explanation.
"They’re all sleeping right now.
Incidentally, the night watch right now is you, Miss Juliet, and me."
In one corner, Magda and the five children were huddled together, sleeping.
"The children are safe."
"Looks that way."
Esel’s tone was stiff.
Juliet wondered why, then looked to the opposite side and understood.
"…What about those people?"
"They say they’re from the Black Mane Guild."
Juliet’s expression turned peculiar.
"What mane?"
What kind of name is that?
"Are you asking me?"
Esel explained what had happened during the half day after the fall from the cliff, while Juliet had been unconscious.
Forgotten Juliet