I still wasn’t fully awake. I could hear someone shouting something, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Dad and Mom must be up now, too.
Before long, I heard the sound of a door opening. It must’ve been Dad who opened it. Hopefully this customer isn’t too much trouble...
Ugh, I still can’t understand what they’re shouting. And it’s so noisy. Give me a break...
...Thud, thud, thud.
That was the sound of someone climbing the stairs. From the sound of those footsteps, it had to be Dad.
The footsteps stopped, and a voice called out from the other side of the door.
“...Anti, are you up?”
“I am now. Did somebody stop by?”
“He’s still here. Logg, I mean.”
“Logg...?”
What’s he doing here at a time like this?
“Apparently he’s got something to talk to you about.”
“Me?”
“Sorry, but could you come downstairs and see what he wants?”
“What does he want, in the middle of the night...?”
“I wasn’t happy about it, either. But he started crying and going ‘Please, please!’ He sounded really desperate.”
...? What’s going on? Usually that runt is super arrogant. Is it something urgent?
Hmph, guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll give him a chance to tell me what he wants, then give him a scolding.
Dad and I went down to the first floor and entered into the restaurant proper. Mom and Logg were waiting there. Dad wasn’t kidding. Logg really had the waterworks going.
“Hey! Did you and Yuuta fight again or—”
“Antiiiiii...!!!”
The moment our eyes met, Logg ran over to me as fast as he could and hugged both my legs.
I-I can’t move... And he’s seriously sobbing. It’s not normal for him to be crying this much. But just what exactly happened?
I tried to keep my tone as calm as possible. “Okay, we’ll forget how late it is for now... So, what happened?”
Logg’s sobbing slowed a bit, and he looked up at my face with a sniff, sniff.
“...went...”
“Hmm?”
“Yu... went...”
“Hey, Logg, you’re a man, right? Speak up.”
Tears spilled from Logg’s eyes. What he said next caused my heart to skip a beat.
“Yuuta and... Ana... they... left... to... defeat... the bergbear...!”
.....
You...
You’re messing with me, right...?
If they do that, they’ll die, right...?
Clutch!
I grabbed Log by his collar and pulled him closer as hard as I could.
“You mean outside?”
“Eep!”
“Did they go outside?”
“Y-yeah...”
“You... why didn’t you stop them?! Don’t you get it?! This is no joke!! You know what’ll happen if kids go outside now, right?!!!” I pressed him with a tone I would normally never even think of using with a visitor.
Logg was a good bit younger than I was, but that didn’t matter right now. Despite the angry look on my face and his trembling, he forced the words out.
“I tried! I tried to stop them! But they didn’t listen, and Yuuta... he was all, ‘I’m not a fake!’ He said he’d beat it... with a Fire magic stone from the kitchen... then he and Ana ran off!!”
“Damn! What about their parents!! Do they know?!!!”
“Things were real noisy... at their houses... so it’s probably... already out... that they’re gone... I saw that... from up in my room! I was scared, but... I was... I was too scared to tell their parents!”
“You idiot... So then why did you come to me...?”
He was just using a roundabout approach...
“When was this?”
“A-about 3 hors ago.”
“The gate was already closed by then, wasn’t it?”
“They said... the irrigation gate... was open...”
Damn...! That was some knowledge they would’ve been better off without...
“This is bad...”
“I’ll alert the gatekeepers. Sola, go wake up the neighbors, and let Yuuta and Ana’s families know what’s going on.”
“I’m on it.”
“Dad...! I’m coming, too!”
“Me, too...!”
“You two wouldn’t be able to do anything!”
“Would you be able to just sit and wait at home, Dad?!”
“...Good point.”
“Logg! Run like your life depends on it!”
“Y-yeah!!”
The white light of the moon pierced through the deep darkness as the three of us ran to the place where the gatekeepers were on night watch. Logg fell behind, but he ran as hard as he could to keep up.
Of the two people on night watch, one of them was that familiar old-timer.
“Hey, what’s going on, Derek? Annie, and Logg...? What’s up? What are the kids doing with you?”
“Torne, two kids went outside the town walls. Yuuta and Ana.”
“Please... tell me this is a joke, Derek...”
The old-timer’s shoulders sank weakly when he heard Dad’s words. They’ve known each other for ages, so he already knew it wasn’t a joke just from Dad’s tone.
“But the gate was closed! Nobody left!”
“They apparently used the irrigation gate. Logg heard them say so.”
“Damn it!! Konobo, go get everyone from the station! And some oil! We’re mounting a search!!”
“R-right!!”
The other man, a young guy wearing leather armor, took off running.
The number of voices and flames in the dark town behind us were growing.
Cardiff was a small town. The remains of the former village lay before the gates to town, and among those who were in the know, rumors spread fast. It wouldn’t be long before everyone knew the kids were missing.
As the moonlit town grew steadily noisier, an awful, inexpressible feeling welled up inside me.
It was then that it happened.
...Rooooooar...
“Stop...! Just please make it stop... I haven’t even had a drink today...” the old-timer said, as if he was pleading with the darkness.
“...The search has been called off.”
...Huh?
“Tell me why,” Dad said, not wasting any words.
“We’d need to use fire for the search.”
So what? Is that reason enough to just abandon children to their fate?
“What’s the matter with that?”
“If we were just talking wolves or something, they’d run from the flames. But this thing’s different. Fire would just attract him. We’d end up getting eaten before we could ever find Yuuta and Ana, without a doubt.”
“But...”
“So that’s reason enough?!” I shouted out without thinking. “That’s a good enough reason?! There’s two kids! We know they’re out there, and we’re just going to leave the gate closed and go on like nothing’s wrong?!! Old-timer! You’re a gatekeeper, aren’t you?! Are you really okay with this?!” I hounded, tears in my eyes.
“That’s not the only danger! The fire would lead it to the village... If we keep the gate closed, we could keep from provoking it. But if people come or go, it’ll learn that there’s food here. And a bergbear never leaves a place where there’s food to be had. It would settle down here and target us relentlessly... If that happened, it wouldn’t just be trade that dries up. We wouldn’t be able to travel to the adventurer’s guild. The town would die...”
“So... so that’s enough to—”
Dad’s hand shot out, motioning for me to be silent.
“What do you intend to do?”
“Searching the forest would just provoke it. Besides, we’re weaklings. If we ran into it, we’d just get eaten. We’ll send an envoy to Donius. That roar just now came from the small mountain in the depths of the forest. It should still be far enough from the highway that we can slip by it.”
“Will we be able to send out a search when morning comes?”
“...That’d be difficult. The best armor we’ve got in this town is two partial bits of orc leather armor. I can’t tell my subordinates to head off towards the threat of certain death. We’ll just have to pray that Yuuta and Ana can stay hidden until an adventurer arrives from Donius.” The old-timer choked back tears. It was true that the thought of going out with Dad to search for them made me want to call it quits. But even so, we wouldn’t ever accomplish anything if we just sat around waiting. Even if we just looked around a bit nearby, there was a chance we could get lucky and find them.
“Anti, Logg, go back home.”
“But...!”
“Go back!”
I could tell by the look on Dad’s face that he was serious, so I silently took Logg’s hand and walked quickly back in the direction of our house.
“M-Miss Anti...”
If we used fire, it would endanger the town...
But, the moon’s so bright tonight. The old-timer and his group are by the gate, so I can’t get out there. Isn’t there anywhere to slip out past the walls...?
“That’s it...!”
“Miss Anti...?”
I have to get there as soon as possible!
I let go of Logg’s hand and took off running.
“Miss Anti! Where are you going?!”