ODD 12

Chapter 12

As soon as the carriage came to a complete stop, Aidan opened the door and got out first.

A warm breeze brushed my cheek. So this is the East. Unlike the capital, which was full of tall buildings, the East had endless rice paddies and fields, with irrigation canals running elaborately along the river.

When the wind blew, the wheat and barley rippled like golden waves. It was fertile land with abundant sunlight and a wide river flowing through it, so grains were grown in the fields, and fruits were cultivated in the forests and mountains.

Most of our empire’s food came from this place.

Perhaps because they had heard in advance that we were coming, a guard approached and greeted us.

“Hello, I am Sage, in charge of guiding you through the Eastern Central Neodymium.”

“How is the patrol done here?”

“Not much different from other places.”

Leaving Aidan to examine the duty roster Sage handed over, I approached the Central Neodymium.

The structure was identical to the one in the capital. Even down to the empty Core in the center.

“Mm.”

The traces I felt when I ran my hand around the area.

This too was taken by my dad.

“When did you find out the Core was missing?”

“Three months ago. Since we patrolled daily, we discovered it quickly. The shift change found it around dawn.”

“Was there anything unusual? Like strange sounds…”

“They said there was nothing special. As you know, the Eastern Central Neodymium is in the middle of the forest like this, isn’t it? If someone took it, it would have been late at night, but realistically that’s impossible, isn’t it? Who would come here?”

Sage shrugged and looked around. Certainly, coming here at night wouldn’t have been easy. It was far from the village, so you’d need a carriage, and there was no separate lighting, so it would be dark.

“Are there no villagers who come to this forest to gather things?”

“Oh my, it’s fine now because it’s daytime, but at night, wild animals come out quite often.”

“Wild animals?”

“Yes, things like boars and wolves. That’s why we also take the carriage together from the village entrance to get to work. Ordinary villagers can’t come at night to pick herbs or mushrooms.”

If even trained guards found it dangerous enough to commute together, then certainly no one would have thought anyone would come in the middle of the night.

“So the ones on night patrol just patrolled roughly?”

“…Excuse me?”

Sage’s smiling face slowly stiffened.

“In the middle of the night like that, they thought no one would come all the way there because it’s dangerous, so they relaxed and played around. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh no, that’s not it. How could we do that! Even if our working hours are at night, we don’t neglect our duties!”

“Young Master, here.”

Just then, Aidan’s coachman politely held out a bottle. It was a liquor bottle.

“As you said, Young Master, when I searched the corners, they were piled up over there in the bushes. Judging by the fact that it’s not just one or two bottles, it seems to be a habitual thing.”

It was exactly as the coachman said. I had only lightly parted the bushes, but the stench stung my nose. Along with the alcohol smell, there were plenty of half-eaten food cans too.

“Ugh, the smell. This has fermented quite a bit.”

I didn’t know when they ate it, but there were fruit peels and even meat bones.

Perhaps intended to be eaten later, the liquor sloshed in a closed bottle.

“Th-that’s…! At night, at night, we need to drink like this to forget the cold… We’re scared too, so we rely on alcohol for strength, and time passes well, hahaha!”

“Wow, this is quite strong liquor. The proof is… whoa~ 40 degrees?”

I said, examining the bottle this way and that.

“It’s amazing you could work after drinking this. No, rather, since you didn’t work properly, you didn’t notice when someone broke in.”

“Exactly. With strong liquor like this, you wouldn’t notice even if wild animals came down.”

And especially if that someone was my dad, who could conceal his presence as well as a wild animal, they would have noticed even less.

“N-no, it’s not! We don’t drink that much…”

“Don’t you?”

Green eyes sharply scanned him. Sage quickly averted his gaze. It seemed he really did drink that much.

Honestly, at this level, even one glass would get you drunk quickly. Just smelling it makes me feel intoxicated.

“Don’t worry, I’ll report this in detail to the higher-ups.”

“Y-Young Master Winslow!”

“What. Do you have more to say?”

Sage eventually dropped his head, seemingly giving up at the face that suggested complaining would be useless.

“Tch, there’s nothing more to gain by staying here.”

I agreed with Aidan’s words and got back into the carriage.

Inside the carriage that started moving again, Aidan let out a sigh as he watched the Neodymium recede outside the window.

“Pathetic. To think those kinds of people were guarding the Neodymium.”

“I know. What if other places are in similar situations?”

“At least the South won’t be. The Southern Central Neodymium is built right in the center of a tourist area. The North too—if you drink and fall asleep, you’d freeze to death.”

That would be a relief then. But if the Core there had also been missing for a long time like here, it would be hard to find any remaining clues.

“So it would have been easiest for my dad to take the Core from the East.”

“Certainly, it would have been easier compared to other places. Concealing your presence was probably basic for a mercenary. Quietly extracting just the Core from among drunk people would have been no trouble at all.”

Aidan crossed his arms and nodded.

“Your father’s sword marks, were they there too?”

“Yes, they were.”

“Any other traces?”

“There was nothing special. Other than the fact that he took the Core the same way, there didn’t seem to be any information to gain.”

“Hmm.”

Aidan’s head must be as complicated as mine. Enough time had passed for any notable clues to disappear.

At least, if the guards had reported immediately, what clues might have remained?

No, anyway, this world had erased all traces of my dad’s existence except for me. They probably erased even the clues Dad left behind.

“It’ll be a bit troublesome if this keeps up, won’t it.”

Perhaps those words became a seed.

We had gone to the trouble of moving to the South, but here too, other than the fact that Dad’s sword marks were present, we couldn’t obtain any special clues.

Faced with the hopelessness that we wouldn’t find anything at this rate, both Aidan and I fell into thought.

“What should we do. We could move to the West like this, but it seems like it would be the same.”

“I think so too. It feels like we need a different approach…”

Going to the Central Neodymium, there was nothing to discover except Dad’s sword marks. I checked if there might be other clues in the diary, but similarly, there was nothing special.

Anyway, in this world, except for me, no one even remembered Dad, so asking them if they’d seen someone with this face would be futile.

Even if the Core is taken, the magnetic field exists, so the gate doesn’t open. If so, it was correct to see that the gate was opened using the Core.

But wasn’t the Core only capable of interfering?

“First, since we’ve come all the way to the South, the city of tourism, how about resting properly for a day before leaving? Sleeping in public lodging is fine for a day or two.”

“Ah, shall we?”

During our travels, when night fell, we stayed in official residences or public lodging for traveling officials, but honestly, the conditions weren’t good.

Bunk beds were crammed together in one room, the building was old, and only cold water came out.

I can sleep well even in places like that, but Aidan, who was raised delicately, must have had a hard time.

“Then I’ll go to the village and check if there’s an inn.”

“An inn?”

Aidan tilted his head.

“What’s the difference between a local inn and public lodging?”

“Inns are proper accommodations, at least.”

“Public lodging is also accommodation.”

Then what are you suggesting we do?

“There’s a family villa near here. We can go there.”

“Ahh.”

Then you should have said from the start that there’s a villa and we should go there. Grumbling inwardly, I got into the carriage.

The carriage slowly exited the forest.

That’s when it happened.

Clunk-

The carriage suddenly shook violently, and then the sharp cries of horses could be heard.

“Kyaa!”

The moment the carriage tilted heavily to one side, Aidan quickly wrapped his arms around my head.

Thud-

Soon the carriage completely overturned on its side.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-yes. I’m fine, but Young Master…”

“I’m fine too. But what on earth is going on here?”

We opened the carriage door, which was now on top, and looked outside. Through the rising dust, someone was faintly visible standing there.