Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Felt Goes Missing
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Chapter 120
1
The weekend of ripe autumn had perfect weather.
The sky was a clear blue without a single cloud, stretching endlessly high.
And beneath it, I… was running.
With one kid on my shoulders, and one on each arm—a total of three kids clinging to me.
“Wheee!”
“So fun!”
The kids’ excited voices whizzed past from all directions.
Each one was at least 30kg, so I was hauling around about 100kg total.
Yet somehow, I was running just fine in this state.
The human body must be more mysterious than I thought.
The reason for running in this bizarre setup was nothing special.
Just a few days ago, as promised, we’d come to volunteer at the orphanage.
Since we were volunteering, we were playing with the kids by running around with them.
Even so, I wanted Leon to handle the heavy physical stuff like this….
But Leon had said he had something to do and gone out alone.
He was probably off resolving the main story, so there was no helping it.
-You’ve gotten pretty strong yourself.
Thanks for the compliment.
I hadn’t expected to confirm it like this, though….
“Big bro! Faster!”
“Faster, faster!”
Lost in thought, my pace had slowed, and the kids urged me on.
I took a deep breath and picked up speed again.
Yeah, kids, as long as you’re happy….
-You’ve turned into a total pushover. It suits you, though. You’ve found your calling!
Shut up, you punk.
I’d even wasted energy getting annoyed, and now my brain wasn’t working right.
That’s how I ran with the kids aboard for about five minutes.
Just as my legs refused to move anymore, Ethan came out of the building and clapped loudly.
Clap clap!
“Nap time, so let’s wrap up and head in!”
Yesss!
As expected, the kids listened well to Ethan.
Thanks to him, I got a chance to catch my breath and collapsed onto a nearby bench.
Right beside me, Noel—who had already retired—was half-dead.
“Demons… They’re definitely little demons…. Every time… it’s like this……?”
“Demons? They’re all angels, angels!”
Ethan, who had played with the most kids, still looked full of energy.
In fact, to us, you look like the real angel.
“Well, seeing them and taking care of them are two different things, right? That’s why everyone says kids are prettiest when they’re asleep. Haha! I’ll grab some cool water first, so catch your breath!”
Ethan laughed heartily and was about to head into the orphanage building.
Just then, the door cracked open, and Louis peeked out with a teary face, looking at us.
“Oh, what’s wrong, Louis? Bad dream?”
Ethan immediately knelt down to match his eye level and asked gently.
Louis shook his head vigorously, holding back tears, and stammered.
“Felt… Sister Felt… is gone……!”
2
To sum up what Louis said, it was simple.
As he’d told me directly before, Felt was working at a nearby shop.
While working, she’d become friends with a peer named Prin.
Prin was caring for her ailing single mother, and through their many interactions, they’d shared all sorts of stories.
Then one day, Prin stopped coming to work, so Felt went around looking for her.
The shop owner dismissed it as a runaway since life was tough, calling it common.
But Felt didn’t think so.
Prin had always worried a lot about her mother’s health, so she wouldn’t just vanish without a word.
At the very least, she was the type who would say something before disappearing—that was Felt’s take.
So today, Felt had left the orphanage saying she’d visit Prin’s house.
She’d be back by nap time at the latest, but… she still hadn’t returned.
No wonder I hadn’t seen Felt around the orphanage.
First, we calmed the sniffling Louis, then the three of us headed out.
We asked the shop owner Sorini where Felt worked and went to Prin’s house, but…
Prin’s sickly mother said Felt hadn’t come by today.
“…Something’s definitely happened.”
Ethan’s face, as we stepped away from Prin’s doorstep, was dyed with a seriousness I’d never seen.
To him, anything involving kids was like touching his reverse scale.
With his reverse scale triggered, he wouldn’t hold back.
“The evidence is thin, but… my gut feeling is bad. Considering Felt’s personality, she must’ve gotten caught up in something. Noel, can you climb somewhere high and spot Felt or Prin?”
“Unless they have some super distinctive feature… honestly, it’d be tough. Esset’s big, and there’s tons of foot traffic……. Same reason makes tracking hard……?”
Noel shook his head with a gloomy expression.
With her fox ears hidden, Felt’s appearance was endlessly ordinary.
From what Louis described, Prin had brown hair and brown eyes—nothing standout.
Moreover, Noel had never seen either in person, so searching based on hearsay descriptions had limits.
“Damn….”
Ethan’s tightly clenched fist trembled.
I deliberately slapped his shoulder hard.
“Calm down. Felt’s smart. She’s used to rough stuff. Even if she got tangled in something, she’s fine for now. And she would’ve left some kind of trace.”
She’d survived the Corbus Family’s clutches.
As a rare beastkin, survival methods were ingrained in her, so she’d definitely tried to escape or leave a mark.
First off, the path from Prin’s house to the shop had heavy foot traffic.
If Felt had gotten into some incident there, there’d be witnesses or traces.
Plus, in broad daylight, a kid getting into an accident or crime wouldn’t go unnoticed—the capital’s security wasn’t that bad.
So, it must’ve been a situation no one would question.
Like Felt not resisting and getting abducted willingly.
Felt was a clever kid with good hands and brains.
She knew the best choice for survival.
Even if she’d gone along quietly, she’d have left a trace without getting caught.
“Let’s head back to the shop first.”
We retraced our steps.
Moving from Prin’s house toward the shop, I focused all my senses on the surroundings.
I densely deployed dimensional magic around me, taking in raw spatial information without filter.
Footsteps of passing people, subtle shifts in the ground, changes in light sources over time… My brain throbbed amid the torrent of data, but something flashed through the pain.
“This.”
I clutched my head and pointed to a small stone shard embedded in the wall.
It looked like everyday scratches, but… dimensional magic said it was recent.
That wasn’t the only thing bothering me.
“It’s connected….”
Noel, with her keen senses, noticed right away.
The small stone shards in the wall continued at regular intervals.
Like Hansel and Gretel’s bread crumbs.
Faint, but we’d found a trail.
Following it led to a rundown gray building in the slums.
We didn’t need words.
A glance and nod sufficed.
Unlike the shabby exterior, the door was sturdy iron that wouldn’t give easily.
It was firmly locked, but… a mere lock was no match for dimensional magic.
Creak… The old floorboards screeched with every step.
The first floor was a warehouse crammed with unidentified junk.
If not for the stairs in the corner, we’d have thought it abandoned.
But the second floor was a different story.
In the middle of the barren room, Felt was tied to a chair.
“Felt!”
Ethan rushed over and snapped the ropes binding her.
“You okay!? Any injuries!?”
“Ah… Yeah, sorry for worrying you…….”
Even after being tied up until moments ago, Felt flattened her ears and apologized first.
She looked drained, but… more like she genuinely felt bad for us.
It wasn’t much different from her usual self—small mercy.
No visible injuries, so that was a relief.
“Nah, you’re safe—that’s what matters. Let’s get out of here first and talk.”
Creak….
The old building groaned.
The three of us froze in the room.
As new footsteps sounded, the door burst open.
“How did you… get in here?!”
It was Sorini who opened the door.
The owner, with two burly men bigger than Ethan, was visibly flustered.
“Then why are you here, boss?”
“That’s him. He’s the one who… kidnapped me… and Prin… all of it……!”
Felt yelled, rubbing her wrists where she’d been bound.
Instantly, Sorini’s face turned fierce as he retreated behind the men.
“Damn it, you merchandise stirring up trouble…! Take out these priests too!”
Crack, crack. The burly men cracked their knuckles and stepped forward.
Plenty of clues to piece it together.
Ethan usually lacked street smarts, but now his blue eyes were sharp as a blade’s edge.
“Just one question, boss. Why do this?”
Sorini sneered at the question, like a beast holding back a growl.
“Weaklings get screwed—that’s life. What’s with the holier-than-thou act?”
“Haa…… Then don’t blame us when you get screwed. It’s just life.”
Ethan let out a deep sigh, his voice turning ice-cold.
Creak. The whole building groaned under his heavy steps.
Anger past the breaking point turns cold instead.
Right now, Ethan was furious to his bones.
“Gonna hurt facing priests like you.”
“We’ll send ’em off quick and merciful, bro.”
Oblivious, the men mocked and swung their fists.
Fists that could shatter bricks.
But Ethan didn’t budge an inch.
He just raised both hands and caught their fists at his chin.
“Not bad. Didn’t even dodge.”
“Priest scum anyway. Showy types always… Ugh!?”
The men’s taunts didn’t finish.
Ethan’s thick arm muscles rippled visibly through his clothes.
Bloodshot, his massive hands crushed their fists.
“Gaaah!” Ear-grating screams followed.
The men couldn’t pull free or flee; their knees buckled first.
Ethan didn’t twitch, pulverizing their fists barehanded.
Only after they collapsed fully did he grab their heads and smash them together.
Forced headbutts sent them rolling with eyes flipped back, unconscious.
Bang!
“Where you going…?”
A sudden gunshot, and Noel tilted her head.
The bullet buried deep at Sorini’s feet as he tried sneaking away.
A threat saying he could’ve hit his foot if he wanted; Sorini plopped down on his butt.
“Boss, I trusted you.”
Thud. Ethan started walking again.
Sorini scrambled backward on the floor to escape, but Ethan reached him faster.
“You betrayed me… the director, every kid who worked under you.”
“Eek…! Sp-Spare me! I’m sorry, all my fault!”
“The one you should apologize to isn’t me.”
Ethan’s voice held almost no emotion.
His frozen rage chilled the room’s air.
Ethan had changed a lot from the original, but he was still Ethan.
With his reverse scale pressed, Sorini would see hell today.
Not a sight for kids.
Not that I could or would stop Ethan.
“Noel, take Felt and go ahead.”
Noel nodded, leading Felt out.
Sorini desperately reached through the brief door gap….
But against his hopes, the door closed firmly, mercilessly.