The City of the Wind, Windenstadt (3)
Inside a small guest room at the inn, morning sunlight spilled across the creaky old bed.
“Huaaam…”
Brita, who had spent the night tossing and turning while glaring at the ceiling, stretched as she dragged her sleep-heavy body upright.
“Ugh… My back feels like it’s about to snap. Did they stick an iron plate in this mattress?”
She grumbled, roughly sweeping her tangled hair out of her face.
Suddenly her gaze drifted toward the window.
People hurrying off somewhere.
Merchants deep in preparations for the day’s trade.
The city was just beginning to wake.
“Everyone sure is busy.”
With that, she turned to the clock hanging on the wall.
It had just passed six.
“Shall we get moving? Hey! Kri—”
Zzz— zzz—
“…”
Zzz— zzz—
She’s sleeping.
Clearly sound asleep.
…
Brita thought.
‘If I try waking her the normal way, she’ll never get up.’
“…Wake up!!”
She snatched the blanket covering Krimhild.
“!?”
Krimhild’s eyes flew open in shock.
“Uh… wha… what’s going on?”
Still half-drowned in sleep, she tried to make sense of the situation.
???
What the hell is this.
Why is she holding the blanket up.
I still want to slee…p…
……
Zzz…
“Wake up!!” “!!”
Why though.
“What? What is it? What’s happening?”
She protested, curling her body tighter.
“Get up, you idiot! The sun’s already high in the sky!”
?
The sun’s high in the sky?
She rolled her sleepy eyes toward the clock.
6:02.
……
Zzz…
“Hey!!!!”
“Haaaam…”
So sleepy…
“Why did you wake me up so early… We still have three hours before the gates even open.”
With half-lidded eyes full of complaint, I stared at Brita.
“You need morning air to clear your head and get work done smoothly! Don’t you think?”
“What are you talking about… My head works better when I’ve had enough sleep…”
“What time did you go to bed?”
“Around eleven.”
“Then what time is it now?”
“Six thirty.”
“…Isn’t seven hours enough?”
“I need nine…”
Ever since I took up Gram, I gained the ability to wield wind magic, but…
Using magic leaves me exhausted.
I had wanted to sleep even a little longer to prepare for the battles ahead.
“Hah, what? Is this that ‘girls need lots of sleep’ thing?”
“It’s not that. I just get tired after using mana. Haaam…”
She yawned again before continuing.
“I was concentrating hard yesterday looking for clues in the back alleys.”
“Yeah, yeah. That makes sense.”
…Except her face clearly said she didn’t understand at all.
9 a.m., Windenstadt city gates
“Open the gates!”
Boom! Rumble—!
At the guard’s command the massive gates slowly parted and the bridge lowered into place.
Clatter— clatter— rattle— thud— thud—
The sounds of peddlers coming and going echoed through the open gateway.
“Ugh… It’s finally open. What? You’re still not awake?”
“…”
I looked at her with half-lidded eyes.
I could have slept a little longer.
“…Same as before. Wake up already. We have an investigation to do.”
Investigation.
The request we received yesterday in the slum back alleys.
Find the children who had gone missing from the moat outside the gates.
“They said the kids went east from here.”
The direction that strange noise had come from.
This incident was almost certainly the work of those who used patterns.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Uh. Hmm…?”
I felt eyes on me and glanced sideways.
The two guards seemed to be deliberately avoiding my gaze.
Who are they? The ones from yesterday?
Well… they were pretty shaken.
“What are you doing?”
Brita turned toward me.
“Nothing. Let’s hurry.”
Somewhere near the moat outside the gates
“We came out without a plan, but I don’t see anything…”
Beyond the gates stretched a plain thick with grass.
If the children were lying down, this was no easy place to search.
“Hmm…”
I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of mana.
“That way. There’s a concentration of mana over there.”
“Oh ho, you’re finally awake. Let’s go!”
…She does it when she puts her mind to it.
We were pushing through the grass following the mana when it happened.
“Grrrr…”
“Grrrrr…”
With rasping growls, a pack of wild dogs appeared.
They had been prowling after catching the scent of magic power.
Their coats were caked in mud, as if they had rolled around on the ground.
“Pests showing up first thing in the morning. Get lost!”
Brita swung her massive double-bladed axe in annoyance.
Bang—! Crack—!
The heavy blade split two skulls clean in half.
“Ha!”
“Yelp!”
The blue blade that flew from my hand pierced straight through the last one’s heart.
In the space of a few breaths the beasts crumbled into black ash and scattered.
“Hah, not even worth warming up.”
Brita grumbled while shaking mud off her axe.
“Brita, look at that.”
I pointed at the muddy patch where the dogs had stood.
A single small, worn shoe.
It belonged to one of the slum children.
“This is…!”
Brita’s eyes widened as she rushed over.
“Phew…”
She quickly scanned the shoe and the surrounding ground, then let out a sigh of relief.
“What is it?”
“No blood or flesh. It just slipped off.”
“So they’re still alive.”
“Yeah. They must have dragged the kids off somewhere.”
Brita’s eyes grew a shade colder.
“There must be something nearby. Let’s search.”
Even if the children had been taken alive, it didn’t mean they were unharmed.
I carefully scanned the area.
An open plain with clear lines of sight.
The water flowing in front of the castle.
The mountain that had fallen quiet.
Where could they have gone?
Not the mountain or the plains.
No matter how useless those guards were, kidnapping people in plain view would have been noticed.
Into the water?
I approached the water’s edge and peered in.
“Find anything?”
“I thought there might be something. It doesn’t hurt to check.”
The sewage flowing from the castle had been almost perfectly purified, so the bottom was clearly visible.
“Let’s see…”
Brita came over and craned her neck.
“The sewage from the castle comes out through there…”
“Does it look wide enough for a person?”
“Yeah. Sewer rats could slip in and out easily.”
Which meant they might have infiltrated the castle from here.
“Let’s assume they entered through here.”
Let’s trace their possible route.
“Yeah.”
“If they’ve been slipping in and out of the slums through the waterway, there should be a path from here to their hideout.”
“Makes sense. But as you can see, this place is too exposed. Even those idiot guards would have noticed.”
Brita gave a dry laugh and continued.
“Unless they really missed it?”
“Let’s rule that out for now.”
If that were true… whatever happened to them would be their own fault.
“Did they teleport from here?”
“That can’t be. If they could do that, they wouldn’t bother with something so underhanded.”
Teleportation wasn’t something just anyone could use.
With that kind of power they could have destroyed the castle outright.
There would be no need to hide beneath cloaks.
“Then only one possibility remains.”
“An underground passage.”
“Yeah. Don’t you sense anything?”
“I’ve been watching. The trail ends here. It looks concealed.”
Which meant at least one of them could use magic.
“What do you think? Anywhere around here look like a good spot for a hidden passage?”
“Let’s see…”
Brita shaded her eyes with one hand and scanned the area carefully.
“Hmm?”
Her head turned and her gaze locked onto a particular boulder.
“A rock?”
“Why that one? Something strange about it?”
“Look underneath.”
A bit of mud clung to it.
Which meant…
“It’s been moved. Let’s check.”
The boulder itself was ordinary.
But hidden behind it lay an abandoned house.
“An abandoned house?”
A crude, cramped old shack.
The rotting planks that had fallen away suggested it had been left untouched for years.
Except for a few signs.
“Traces of a fire…”
Brita kicked lightly at the ground.
“It’s been out for a while, but the firewood doesn’t look that old.”
“So someone’s been using this place.”
A small well caught the corner of my eye.
“There. That well.”
The lid lay to one side and the vines that had once blocked the entrance had been cut away.
“It’s obviously here.”
Inside the well, not a single ray of light reached; it was impossible to tell how deep it went.
The perfect lair for those sinister bastards.
“Ready, Krimhild?”
She adjusted her grip on the axe and looked at me.
“…”
I nodded silently, resting my hand on the hilt of my sword.
“Then let’s go!”
Whoosh—
Huh?
“Hey, wait!”
Brita leaped straight into the well.
Just like that?
Swish— whoosh—
In a hurry I summoned wind and wrapped it around her.
Jumping when we don’t even know the depth…
I understand she’s anxious, but…
If she gets hurt… how am I supposed to carry her up from this depth?
Sigh. Let’s just follow quickly.
Whoosh—
I softened the fall with wind and threw myself into the well.
Whoooosh—
Tap—
After falling for what felt like forever while slicing through the air, I landed lightly on the bottom.
“What took you so long? You could have just jumped.”
Brita, already down, complained with clear irritation.
“Isn’t this height jumpable?”
“…We fell almost a hundred meters?”
“That’s totally jumpable!”
If that’s the case… why are your legs shaking?
“Uh, anyway. Look at this.”
At her words I turned my head.
The inside of the well seemed to connect to a passage somewhere.
Why would there be a tunnel in a place like this?
We’d find out soon enough.
“Here it is.”
“Yeah. Let’s hurry.”
Step— step—
And so we slowly advanced into the darkness.
Our footsteps echoed through the silent space.
The enemy is in here.
I don’t know how many there are, but I’ll cut down every last one I find…
The hunt begins.