Reinforcements Arrive
Afterward, I patrolled the town with Elina and Amira, resolving incidents as we went.
Eventually, the Knights Order arrived at last.
Perhaps realizing how bad things had gotten, they showed up in considerable numbers.
Among them were some familiar faces.
“Well done, Justin.”
“Miracca? You came too?”
Miracca, a peer from the same class as Gary, had come over to get a detailed report from us.
“When you entered the town ahead of the others, what was the situation like?”
“It was a mess. The moment word got out that there was no force left to maintain order, a bunch of thugs started running wild as they pleased.”
“But! In order to save the townspeople suffering at the hands of those villains, our senior here drew his sword and cut down the fiends left and right!”
“You *cut them down*?”
“I didn’t cut them down. I merely engaged in a painful negotiation.”
“Not much of a difference, is there?”
Elina passionately delivered her speech, but the way she said it made it sound like I went around killing people, which could easily cause a misunderstanding.
She got so worked up that even the much younger Amira had to step in and say, “P-please calm down,” trying to smooth things over.
… Did I go a little too far?
—Anyway, time to pull myself together and get some information from Miracca as well.
“Did you find anything on your side?”
“Not a thing. There’s supposed to be a post here with several stationed members, but it was completely deserted.”
“So they vanished entirely… That’s suspicious.”
Being a knight is a tough job, and there’s always the risk of death.
Sometimes, people let their fear get the better of them and abandon their duties, never to return—but I don’t think that’s what happened here.
Several people disappearing without a trace isn’t something that can be chalked up to just work-related reasons.
Just then, a thought crossed my mind…
“It might have something to do with the Goethel Mines.”
“That’s the mountain in the Abbott region where those new mana ores were discovered, right?”
“Yeah… I don’t have any solid connection or evidence, it just… feels like it might be related.”
“But your gut feelings like that tend to be spot on, don’t they? Can’t you ever get a hunch about something good for a change?”
“Don’t be ridiculous…”
If I could control them at will, I wouldn’t be struggling with this.
“Anyway, we’ll handle the aftermath from here. If we learn anything new, I’ll be sure to report it.”
“Got it. We’re heading back to Curtis Village.”
That’s our actual post, after all.
We can finally return to regular duties.
—At the time, I was still underestimating the scope of the incident.
In reality, a massive situation was unfolding behind the scenes…
And I had no inkling of it whatsoever.
What do you think about this chapter?
Thanks for the chapters