‘…’
Some cities told Riley that things would not have turned out badly if he was not there. Some cities told him that things would not have turned out badly if he was there.
‘So, I’ll ask you for one favor.’
In his past life, Riley was cursed and hated regardless of the choice he made. Riley was at his limit at that time. In tears, the favor that the children asked of him was just one thing.
‘Comfortably, without pain, kill us like that.’
‘Mister, it hurts so much. We are suffering so much.’
‘Mister, hurry.’
Having heard their request, Riley…
“… Young Master?”
“Uh?”
Riley was thinking about his past, but having heard Ian’s voice, Riley responded vacantly.
“Are you sleepy? You have a blank look on your face all of sudden.”
“No, that’s not it. I was just thinking about something from the past for a bit…”
Riley woke up from the useless thoughts. As if it was nothing, he shook his head and took a step forward.
“This job, I’m going to handle it in a flash and go to sleep.”
“Young Master, you look a little different today.”
Ian, who was following Riley walking in front of him, said Riley looked a little different today. Having heard that, Riley stopped walking.
“Really, how so?”
“When I told you that you may need to slay some orcs, it didn’t faze you at all. You looked like you were going on a walk in a park. But now that you heard about the missing children… you are taking it very seriously.”
During the day of fighting against Astroa to bring him down for once and for all…
Riley chose to ask kindly to the kid who Nainiae had with her during the battle. Riley chose that instead of just blocking the kid’s mouth by force because of what happened in Riley’s past life.
“… I’m not sure?”
Riley still remembered clearly about the city that he abandoned and the children who were turned in to monsters and had to be slayed by the Holy Sword.
“Maybe it is just the atmosphere?”
Riley was more concerned about the missing children than the scheming orcs hiding in the forest nearby because of this reason.
It was to avoid repeating the same mistake from the past life.
“No.”
Ian calmly shook his head and said,
“I am certain that it isn’t because of the atmosphere.”
“… Well, that’s not important right now.”
Ian was being sincere in his response, but Riley tried hard to ignore it. Riley started to walk again.
“Time is gold. Even at this moment, the children…”
“See? As I thought, you are worried about the children.”
Riley mumbled without thinking. As if he was thinking he made a mistake, Riley corrected himself.
“… The time for my nap is getting shorter.”
“Yes, that is true.”
Ian figured he shouldn’t question Riley about this anymore. He smiled gently and brought out the next question to change the topic.
“Well then, what are you going to do? We examined the map, but we didn’t find any evidence that would lead us to finding the children… The orcs that must be at beyond the forest look suspicious too.”
Riley arrived at the barn and got to the luggage storage on the carriage. Riley asked Ian,
“What do you think I’ll be doing? Isn’t it obvious?”
Riley picked up a few swords from the carriage’s luggage storage. He showed the swords to Ian and wiggled his eyebrows.
“I said time is gold, didn’t I?”
* * *
Hiding in the forest nearby, there were men surveilling the orcs’ activities. Riley brought all of these men back to the village and went to the forest with Ian. Riley was walking as he opened and closed his hand.
‘Thirty children have gone missing, yet they disappeared without any trace. It is highly unlikely that orcs are responsible for this. They don’t have the talent for kidnapping children that way.’
Riley have read about orcs before in the mansion’s library. He decided to be mindful of a few possibilities and pulled his chin.
‘No. There could be an extraordinary orc among them. I can’t discount the possibility of that special one being responsible for it, can I? If orcs took the children, this would be the most plausible explanation. If the children were not taken by the orcs…’
Riley, who was thinking about several possibilities, suddenly cringed.
“Tsk.”
If Riley have chosen to save the city in his past life, he might at least have a feel for what to do at this moment… Riley was having a hard time getting a feel for the situation.