Ruffians
It was Saturday, the final day of the week, a day of rest.
For Haru, the five days since entering the academy had been nothing more than a time to confront her own helplessness.
Her mana was insufficient. And she wasn't good at fighting either. She could only study theory a little better than others.
What good was it to learn magic circles or circuits?
Only in actual combat would they have real meaning.
Haru thought that way.
The Haru who had come to visit her was different from usual. Therese.
Always laid-back, and from the side, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. But a girl who was Haru's friend.
Seeing her friend in such a state of panic and agitation was the first time for Haru, so she couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Therese had asked her to stay with Eli, but would the Saintess have time to play with someone like her?
Haru knew that thinking negatively would lead nowhere, but she had no choice.
In reality, Haru couldn't help Therese and Eli even if something bad happened to them.
Haru sighed as if the ground had opened up.
"Haa~."
"The ground is going to open up."
"Hm?"
When Haru looked up, she saw Eli looking at her.
"Ah, Eli. You're here... eh?"
'Again, honorifics.'
Why did honorifics come out only in front of Eli? With Therese, who she had known since childhood, she could use casual speech freely.
Eli was really pretty, had a kind personality, was considerate, and seemed like the kind of person who suited the name Saintess.
But.
Whenever she looked at her, she sometimes felt like she was a distant person far removed from us.
It might be natural since she was a Saintess.
Eli smiled with a friendly smile and said.
"It's the weekend. How about going out to get some fresh air?"
Therese was probably being called by the professor at the academy anyway, so we can assume we won't meet today.
Thinking that, Haru walked out of the academy with Eli.
Slums.
The term for areas in the city with poor housing and security.
The place where she and Eli were born and raised, and now a place they wouldn't see again.
... Haru thought that.
"Hey, how about changing clothes...?"
She followed closely behind Ophelia, who was walking ahead without hesitation.
Two girls walking in the academy uniform, in the slums that were dirty, messy, and sometimes even felt barbaric.
To the people of the slums, we were like an oasis in the desert, a jewel shining brightly in a garbage dump, an existence that couldn't be ignored even if we wanted to.
Just walking made us the center of attention.
'... Does Ophelia not care about these things?'
Occasionally, while walking, Ophelia would turn back to check if Haru was properly following, and Haru would give her an awkward smile.
A moment ago, they had agreed with Ophelia and decided to investigate together.
Ophelia had refused to accompany her, saying it was too dangerous, but when Haru said she wanted to save the kidnapped children, Ophelia had said '... this time only' and agreed.
'She's weak against logic.'
Haru couldn't dodge Ophelia's question of where she had learned about this.
To explain meeting the princess Lapis, she would have to explain everything from the beginning, and that was no small hassle.
In the end, she had to explain the future that was supposed to happen in the original novel.
Then, Ophelia would have basic questions: how did you know? Why did you know?
Since Haru couldn't answer that now, she just evaded.
"Ah."
While walking, she bumped into a woman in shabby clothes.
She tried to say "Sorry," but before she could finish, the woman was swept away by the crowd of people.
Haru stared blankly at the spot.
"What?"
"Ah, no."
When Ophelia called, Haru hurried after her.
When would she see her again?
There was no way. Not apologizing made her feel uneasy.
It would be forgotten by tomorrow.
But would it really be okay to forget?
After that, for about 10 minutes, weaving through alleys, they finally arrived at their destination.
The place Ophelia and Haru arrived at was a large warehouse-like building in the back of the slums.
From inside the building, noisy voices were coming out.
They were patrolling the places marked on the map Lapis had given Haru, and this was the third location.
Ophelia, thinking that it was better than wasting time, obediently followed Haru's words.
"Where did you get this information?" Ophelia's question, Haru could only laugh it off with "Aha ha."
After that, since Ophelia didn't interrogate her, she could pass it, but she thought she would ask when the matter was over.
They approached the entrance of the suspicious-looking building.
"Hey~ What business does an academy lady have here?"
"You kids like you don't belong here. Get lost."
Two big guys who looked like guards were blocking the entrance.
One was smiling while talking to them, and the man with a scar on his face didn't even look at them.
"Again, the entrance cut?"
Haru muttered with a bitter smile.
She had expected that. If two young girls who looked like they were from the academy walked into a seedy club, she would refuse too.
But they had a reason to enter.
Haru took out the thing she had prepared in her pocket for this occasion.
Ophelia obediently took out the item from her pocket at Haru's gesture.
No matter how unreliable she was, she seemed to know that not causing trouble was better for the investigation.
"I don't know what business academy students have here, but this is not something you should be thinking about..."
"Here."
Seeing the money that was worth hundreds of thousands of won in modern currency, the guard who was smiling and speaking, and the one who was pretending not to notice, their eyes widened.
The world is capitalist after all.
Haru said with a bright smile.
"Is there no way? ... I can give more."
"... Um."
The two guards looked at each other for a moment.
What to do, should I just kick them out? They look like nobles, if I touch them and it sparks, it's troublesome, but if they come in and something happens, it's our responsibility, but the money is this much.
The guards, conversing with their eyes, finally decided and snapped their fingers.
Meaning to ask for more money.
They wouldn't ask what you would do or argue, just give that much more money.
They were saying it with some meaning.
'... Success.'
Haru gave them an extra handful of money in their thick hands.
After receiving the money, they cleared their throat and opened the door.
Creak.
The large door opened.
"Good time to you."
"Don't make a fuss."
With a "Kuang" sound, the door closed.
And for a moment, the vision was blocked by darkness, and after a few seconds, the pupils dilated, and the interior view began to appear.
"This is..."
"A gambling den."
They had just entered the interior, but the place looked completely unrelated to the disappearance case.
A place where bars, gambling tables, and gangsters gathered.
It seemed like that level of place.
"Again, a miss... Should we leave?"
"No, let's look around a little more."
In the noisy and bustling atmosphere, in the dark space with only weak lighting.
That's why the people inside didn't know we had entered.
Only a woman who seemed to be the clerk approached us.
"Oh my, young ladies. What business... here?"
She had a voluptuous figure, but when she saw the white blouse and skirt, and the academy uniform with the kingdom's emblem, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Shh."
Haru winked while handing money to the clerk.
She couldn't cause trouble now.
Because she might get information about the missing people here.
The information from Lapis was only that the soldiers who were investigating had all gone missing.
Perhaps the people living closest to the slums might know.
We approached the men who were having fun gambling in the center.
Muscular builds and tattoos all over their bodies.
Anyone could see they were gangsters.
If we gave them money, would they answer?
Of course, there was a possibility they would be taken advantage of, but Haru thought it was better to try anyway.
There might be good people outside of that.
Ophelia stood behind the men and spoke.
Since the men seemed drunk, she spoke in a voice loud enough not to be noisy.
"Excuse me. May I ask a question for a moment..."
The large man covered in tattoos on his body turned to look at Ophelia. Even just turning his face, the smell of alcohol reached here.
Haru unconsciously frowned. Smelling a stranger's alcohol smell wasn't a pleasant thing.
The man's face, who turned while emitting alcohol smell, brightened.
And he opened his lips full of beard.
"Oh, a new clerk? Your hips are really big~."
While saying that, he patted Ophelia's hips with a "Pang".
"Eh, ehh...?"
No, that's not allowed. Mister.
Haru was in a state of shock at the unexpected event and cut off her words.
She glanced at Ophelia's face.
She said that if she was too angry or dumbfounded, she wouldn't get angry.
She had a dazed face, like 'What kind of situation is this...?'
"Hey, your thighs aren't joking either."
At the moment he tried to touch Ophelia's thighs.
Kwang!
His head was stuck into the table.
The wooden table was smashed, and the man's head was stuck in it.
It was a scene that could appear in a funny gag manga, but in reality, it was impossible to laugh.
The noisy gambling table fell into silence.
Everyone was staring at us.
In the cold atmosphere where even the air seemed frozen.
With over a hundred eyes staring at her, Ophelia opened her mouth.
"... Here, the boss, please come out."