Chapter 202 : Chapter 202
Chapter 202 - Kidnapping
The Youngest Son sought out Raymond even before the sun had fully risen in the dawn.
"Please grant me this one thing before you go."
It seemed like a nuisance, but at least not to Raymond. He was already prepared to enter the palace and was armed in his uniform.
"...Please just go to sleep."
"You must know that if you keep us locked up like this, the justification of the delegation's safety will gradually fade."
"Sigh. What is it that you want?"
Inside the mind of the general who would be traversing the clear sky on his mothership today, dark clouds had recently gathered. The source of those dark clouds was the Fifth Son, who was smiling while leaning against the outer wall.
"It is nothing much. I just want our people to be able to get some sunlight. Even if it is just two of them during the hours the sun is up."
"How far do you intend to go to get this sunlight?"
"The Imperial Capital near the palace. Everyone is very curious about it. As am I."
"Sigh..."
Every word the dark clouds uttered became thunder and rain, lashing against Raymond. No matter what storm approached, the mothership would push forward silently, but that wind approached his ear to whisper and entice him.
Two people going to see the Imperial Capital did not seem particularly dangerous. However, the one suggesting it was from Millesdusk. It was the Youngest Son, who was no different from the one who had started the East-West War.
Raymond remained silent before fluttering his white cloak and approaching.
"If any problem arises from this outing, I will hold you entirely responsible, Young Son."
"Naturally."
"Very well. Do not forget to tell David when you head out."
"I understand, so go to work now. I have held back a busy man for too long."
"......"
"Go on. You will be late."
The Youngest Son walked to the front gate as if he were a son seeing his father off. Raymond sent him a suspicious look until he got into the carriage.
"Have a safe trip."
In contrast, the Youngest Son did not erase his faint smile, as always. It was a peculiar smile with the talent for making people feel uneasy.
***
Josephine finished her preparations to head out around lunchtime. Since it was a two-person team, the other person she chose was Kairos.
"The largest city of the humans. I am looking forward to it."
He wasn't exactly chosen, but he had volunteered as he had nothing else to do, and at the same time, he was the right person for the job.
"Lord Kairos. You know the reason for our outing, right?"
"Of course I do."
Kairos, who was rubbing his sunglasses with his sleeve and readjusting them, looked excited even at a glance. That made her even more worried. It felt like she was going out with a child rather than a dragon, and she didn't know who was supposed to look after whom.
Even before getting into the carriage David had prepared, Josephine repeated what she had said before.
"Wisdom will have already started identifying who has come as part of the delegation. They might not know about you, Lord Kairos, but I will have been discovered."
"So you are saying that Wisdom will send those humans called Pursuers. And you, Josephine, are the bait to capture them instead."
"Exactly. So you must not look away."
"Of course."
Kairos laughed heartily and answered with confidence, but today it was a somewhat unsettling confidence. And for good reason, as the Imperial Capital was truly a heaven of curiosity.
Rattle— Rattle—
The carriage David had prepared carried the two out of the Imperial Palace and toward the capital. This carriage had wide-open windows, and the dragon’s eyes behind the sunglasses indulged in the world to their heart's content.
"Since it is a land with good sunlight, the city is also very beautiful."
The ground was well-paved with stone tiles, and the buildings were neither old nor dilapidated. People were energetic, and the various voices and the sounds of carriage wheels blended into a pleasant hum.
"Josephine. What do they call this city?"
"It is called Parfe. It is so vast that it is said to take a whole day to walk from the west gate to the east gate."
"Ooh..."
The carriage stopped near the city center. The coachman looked back at the two and reminded them of the time.
"I will wait here. Please make sure to return before the sun sets."
"We understand."
Kairos stepped out of the carriage. Already, his head was turning left and right. Josephine followed, but she looked a bit different than usual.
"Are you not going to use it? The hood on those clothes."
"No. I will not use it this time. Why would a bait hide their appearance?"
Josephine did not wear her hood and let her blue hair flow freely. When she first came to the East, she had cut her hair short to signify severing her ties. However, after meeting the Youngest Son and settling in Eclipse, her hair had gradually grown longer, now reaching down to her back.
Josephine let her blue hair wave like a tide as she walked comfortably ahead of Kairos.
"I will walk a little ahead. We must act as if we are moving independently from now on."
"I understand."
"It may be called independent action, but you must keep in mind that you have to keep me in your sight at all times, okay?"
"Of course."
She had reminded him over and over, but the amber eyes behind the sunglasses had already found something interesting.
'I might actually get kidnapped once.'
Josephine turned around, imagining a bleak future. She walked among the crowds and blended in. Without the hood, the sunlight pouring from the sky hit her eyes directly.
The sun resembled the one in the West. It reminded her of her room in Wisdom and the mornings she used to spend there. As she thought of it, she naturally squinted her eyes. It was not because of the glare. The memories left by those called family were all like that.
"I guess the sun really should be black."
Josephine walked through the city center, murmuring to herself. She held her chin high and walked confidently, as if saying, "Look at me if you want." She let her blue hair flutter in the wind.
As the sun tilted toward the west, more scents caught the wind. It was enough time for bees to swarm around a blue flower.
"What great confidence. Traitor of the family."
Thump—
They were bees with sharp stingers.
***
Kairos realized his mistake. It was around the time he had put about five sugar cubes into his mouth.
"Josephine!"
He called her name and shifted his amber pupils in all directions, but he could no longer see the blue hair.
"...You idiot..."
The fifth sugar cube he had put in his mouth melted instantly. It vanished without a trace, consumed by the bloodflames that surged to the back of his throat.
BOOM!
He kicked off the ground with force and leapt up. The dragon, who quickly landed on a roof five stories high, took off his sunglasses. His black pupils were slit vertically. The amber eyes surrounding them flashed as he looked down at the vast Imperial Capital.
"Higher. I must be higher."
Kairos transformed into a hawk using the magic Polymorph that the lost Josephine had taught him. The red-feathered hawk spread its large wings and soared into the sky. His vision became incomparably higher than when he was on the roof, but the city was still vast.
However, Josephine was nowhere to be seen. He could not feel her mana either. Where are you? Where on earth are you?
One second felt like ten, and a minute felt like an hour. Time flowed stickily over his shoulders. He flew through the sky without blinking, but he simply could not see anything.
'Could it be outside this city? No. It has been less than ten minutes since Josephine vanished from my sight.'
It made no sense to say they had moved outside the city from there within ten minutes. To move that much, a significant amount of mana would have been required, and there was no way he could have missed such a mana wave.
'She is definitely inside this city. She is somewhere inside a building in this city.'
Kairos folded his hawk wings and stood on top of a spire in his human form. The city he looked down upon with the Imperial Palace at his back was now starting to light up. The sun was setting.
"This is no time to be picky about methods."
Thump—
He pressed his palms together. He applied force so they would interlock without a gap. Between those pressed palms, the dragon’s mana began to gather. An amount of mana compared to an ocean was compressed in the gap between his palms, where even a thread could hardly pass.
The mana, compressed so much that even the dragon’s physical strength could barely contain it, was a bomb on the verge of exploding. However, this was not mana for an attack, but solely for detection.
"Josephine. Please, even a sliver of mana."
Woooooooong—
As he spread his arms wide, his palms came apart. The compressed mana pushed out and swept through the city like ripples spreading across a lake. It was a wind just strong enough to make one's hair flutter.
However, the wind would seep into the small corners of the alleys and penetrate through the gaps in windows. If Josephine had shed even a minute amount of mana, the dragon’s five senses would be able to catch it. To achieve this, he had spread his mana across the entire city.
It was a tremendous waste of mana, but for a dragon, it was nothing more than a casual eccentricity. Furthermore, the eccentricity even showed its effect.
"...Found you."
He leapt from the spire. Kairos, who landed between buildings, found the mana Josephine had shed on the main road. The kidnapping had happened here. Josephine had only dropped a tiny amount of mana and had been unable to resist.
But this was enough. He absorbed an amount of mana that a human wouldn't even be able to feel through his fingertips. As he had felt when he first saw her, it was mana as clear as spring water. Now that the dog had picked up the scent, all that remained was the pursuit.
"Please be safe. Give me a chance to ask for forgiveness."
Kairos ran in the direction where the sunset was gradually fading.
***
The Head Maid quietly visited the Youngest Son’s room through Full Body Spirit Form. She then proceeded to report instead of knocking.
"Lord Kairos and Miss Josephine have not returned."
"Is that so?"
The Youngest Son was sitting in a chair, reading an Imperial book provided in the room. It was a story about Imperial myths. However, Imperial myths were not what was important right now.
"In a short while, an attendant will report to General Raymond, and the General will hold you responsible, Young Son."
"I suppose so."
"You seem to have already expected this."
"I am the one who threw the bait, and the fish bit it. There is nothing to be surprised about."
"Did you also expect Miss Josephine to be kidnapped?"
Rustle—
The Youngest Son turned a page of the book.
"I thought that might happen if Kairos went along. He is quite curious, and the Empire is a place where new things from the North, South, East, and West all gather."
"Even so, did you allow the pair because you trust Lord Kairos?"
"Yes. If it is Kairos, he has enough capability to find Josephine while also considering our position."
"What do you intend to say to General Raymond?"
"I will think about that, so head out now. A guest is coming."
"......"
Just as the Youngest Son had said, the Head Maid, sensing a presence outside, vanished from her spot. The Youngest Son, who was suddenly left alone through her Full Body Spirit Form, welcomed the guest.
"General Raymond. You are back early."
Raymond, dressed in his uniform just as when he had left, had a face full of fury.
"Should I thank you for letting me get off work early? Do you truly not know whose loss it is the more you cause trouble like this?"
"I am sorry. How was I to know my subordinates would act like this?"
Even when Raymond arrived, the Youngest Son’s eyes did not leave the book. His pale hand continued to turn the pages.
"If they do not return by sunrise, I will offer my head six days earlier."
"......"
BANG!
Raymond closed the door and left. I am sorry to him, as the weight on his shoulders as one of the Three Generals is already heavy, but I could not yield on this.
This was because the big fish I would reel in using the bait of Wisdom's illegitimate daughter and the fishing rod of the Fire Dragon was quite important. The Wisdom Pursuer that Kairos would catch was the first smelt.
Starting with that first smelt, the next smelt, and then more smelts would be pulled up in a row. What I had to worry about from now on was deciding whether to fry or grill the smelts I had gathered.
However, the thing that had to be fried first was the elixir they would be hiding.